Missing John

How blessed I was! 

John 1944–2016

The good thing was that I knew that every. single. day. I loved him; he loved me; 'twas all that mattered. I know that I will miss him until the day I join him.

~love light in his eyes~or maybe a leave me alone~trying to get ready for church~

So we, my family and I, are finding our way through the grief of losing John. I have sometimes heard Christians huff that their loved ones are not "lost." While we know that John is safely home with The Lord, he is definitely lost to us here on earth. 
Sam and Jakob, my grandsons, have struggled a fair bit. John is their first loss; they have not even suffered the loss of a pet to prepare them for this thing — death. We met with John's pastor and the pastor's wife on the Sunday afternoon just after John passed and talked things through. When the pastor was readying to leave, he said that he would pray when Jakob interrupted asking if he could himself pray. The pastor said, "Sure, Jakob, would you like to pray first?"
Jakob's prayer:

Thank you, God,  for John in our lives. We know that he is still with us in our hearts and that one day soon we will see him again. Well, in that day. 

Not a dry eye in the room...
Dear Ones, I want to thank you for the love and support, prayers, cards, calls, and emails, and for reading here at A Haven for Vee. A special thank you to Abby at Little Birdie Blessings for holding down the fort when I had to remind myself to even breathe. I do not know what the future holds for blogging because, as Sam says, "Everything was better with John." I do have some stories to tell, though, so perhaps I will find my way back one day.

This was John on a hot day in May holding a bookmark the Texas Quads made. He was so pleased to have it and called it a real "day brightener." He sure loved my little corner of Blogdom and all the dear folks in it. This was the last photo I took of him. 
Closing with a reminder from Lorrie who had been doing some reading in my archives. Precious reminder!

As we strode along the path through the cemetery just enjoying the close of day and being together, John leaned down a bit and whispered, "Every grave will open one day." That's a thought worth getting excited about! Then we passed a grave well over a hundred years old where the inscription read Meet Me There. I can't think of a much better message to those of us following after.

August 3, 2008