Dear Kids,
We took a spur of the moment trip up to Idaho this past weekend in order to take the chance to see grandparents. Your dad had a greenhouse to deliver to Montana, and so we decided to drop by Idaho Falls at the same time together.
So we drove up Friday and got there late Friday night. Saturday Papa was going over to Boise to be there for Tate's ordination to the priesthood. Since we were there I had Gabe hop in with him so he could go with him to support Tate. I'm glad he got to go over.
After we met up with Papa to pick up Gabe Papa told me he had to talk to me about Shayla. He took me aside and told me that he went over there with full intention of giving her a blessing of healing. But he woke up at 4am that morning before giving her a blessing and it was given him exactly what to say to her. And he was told that it was time for her to be released from this life.
He was emotional while telling me this of course. He said it was a beautiful blessing full of things that she is going to do on the other side. By the end of the blessing Casey and Elaine (Casey's mom) were both crying so hard. He said, "She might last another few weeks, but she might just last another couple of days, we don't know yet." So I asked him if we should go over to Boise that night to see her, but he advised me to keep my plans to go up to see her this next week to help with her family.
Seeing my father tell me about a blessing that he had to give to his daughter, my sister, about being released from this life, was extremely humbling. This life is so fragile and so tender. I hugged him tight and told him how much I love him. He told me, "I don't ever want to do that kind of blessing for another one of my children ever again. So don't do that to me A." I told him I would do my best not to!
He told me to talk to the girls in the family and he would call Jonathan. I called Kalea and Mesha and told them what dad had told me and then told them that they should give him a call. We cried together and talked together about it. It shocked everyone.
I've been waving with lots of emotions ever since then. That was almost a week ago, Mesha went up this week to be with Shayla the last few days, and I am leaving tomorrow morning to be with her for the next week and help at their house. I'm so glad to go over and support her and take care of her. But it is going to be hard. It is going to be hard to be there with her while she is so miserable.
The way this all started in the last few weeks is that her sciatic nerve has been really bothering her for a couple months. Then on New Years Eve she went in for emergency surgery because she couldn't walk. They went in and took a tumor out that was pressing on her spine. Then after that surgery it really started to blow up the other tumors in her body. In just a couple short weeks the tumor in her stomach and in her shoulder got so big that they are extremely uncomfortable for her. And that is when Papa went over to giver her a blessing of healing, but instead was told to release her from this life.
Mimi at this point is in denial about the blessing. For good reason. I don't know how any mother can try and accept the fact that their child is going to go before them. I am praying that my mom can have a dream or a vision that can help her understand all of this.
Mesha is up there right now and she has told us that Shayla is in pain. They are trying to control her pain as much as they can. I am going to go up tomorrow together with Joshua for this week and be there to help at the house and help with the kids. Shayla needs her family right now. Siblings should be the longest relationships of our lives, longer than our parents or children, they are the longest relationships of our lives and it hurts to think about this relationship that is ending. No - not the relationship that is ending but her life on this side that is ending.I trust God. I want all of you, my children to know, that I trust God completely. And it doesn't take away from the pain of it all to trust Him. The pain is still there, the grief, the sadness. All of it. I have thought of the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abendego from the Bible a lot throughout my life. I love their story so much for many reasons. I thought about that story again throughout my processing with all of this. I have thought of them going to King Nebuchadnezzar after they wouldn't bow down to the idol set before them. How they testified of God, Jesus Christ. How they said they knew that God could deliver them from the fire.
Then they said, "But if not.... we will still worship the Lord!"
I have thought about that a lot during this last week. That I KNOW God can save Shayla from this fire. I know He can. But if not.... I will still trust in Him forever. I will still worship the Lord and love Him, even in the midst of this trial. I hope as I go up to Boise that I can deliver some happiness and light to everyone in her home. I hope to be a light. I hope to give some peace and happiness while I'm there. I pray that the Lord will give that ability to me to bestow upon her family and upon her household. And I will keep trusting in God. I will keep trusting in Him no matter what the outcome is.
I want to know and trust the will of God in all things, even in death. This is helping me to process all of that part of my testimony.
My biggest heartache is for her children. No one loves their children like their mother. No one. And her kids are going to have identity crisis inside of all of this. It's going to be really, really, really hard. I hope that they can feel their mom near as much as possible. As much as she is given to be around them. And raise them in the Millennium. Especially sweet Summer, who won't remember her :-(. It's just so sad.
I love you kids. Remember, it's true. No one loves you quite like a mother does. No one.
Your Mom