Happy New Year!!!!
I am taking care of two post in one by posting the kids fall pictures throughout this post. These were taken in November.
Honestly, I do not know were to start with this post. I think this is the hardest post ever, but ending with the best!
On Monday November 10th a dear friend of many years passed away. She had her back turned from God for several years, and in September she came back to the Lord with a few months to live. (note- since her passing, several of her family members have found salvation!) Her funeral was held on Friday November 14th. Jay was honored to help officiate, and I was honored to be asked to sing. Right before the service started, my phone started ringing. I answered to hear Jay's sister Kathy crying/saying, the doctor had just given Dad Wright only a few days left to live. I kept my composer (not saying anything to Jay/knowing that he was soon to speak) and went back inside. Jay also had to do the grave side service, so with Gods help I continued to stay calm. As soon as I felt clear, I broke the news to him. We rushed home, packed and caught the first flight out to Washington on Saturday morning (Nov. 15th).
After our arrival, with all Dads family by his side, he improved! Two days went by, and he continued to improve! The doctor told us that he had never seen someone alive with his condition! A miracle! On Wednesday (the 19th) dad was brought home with IV, via ambulance. His wish was to be home to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas. The next 12 days was filled with celebrating LaDessa's 8th birthday/Thanksgiving/Christmas and a surprise 49th wedding anniversary celebration with a house full of friends! We had lots of food/fun/laughter/pictures/memories/and much more! On Tues. December 2nd, we had to take him back in to the hospital. With nothing else left to do, he decided to be taken off of everything except pain meds, through IV. He was moved to the end of life care room, much more private/bigger and we could make it home. We decorated it for Christmas, and had a blast! Jay, Benjamin, JaHanna and I moved in. It was very roomy with a extra bed and sofa, so we brought JaHanna's play pen in and made it home for a week. Jay and I would take shifts keeping our eyes open, ready to help dad in any way we were needed.
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One morning I was alerted to a very different noise from JaHanna. I ran over to her to find her unresponsive, jerking, not breathing. I ran to Jay, then we ran out the hall, pleading for help! It was a shift change, so there were lots of doctors and nurses at the nurses station. Not knowing how to help her, they called for ICU to come. 3-5 minutes has passed and she still isn't breathing...I could see her color changing. I knew she had to get help fast! With all the nurses and doctors around us, I looked at Jay and said, LETS PRAY! We began to call out to God, in the name of Jesus, and he moved! I immediately felt the healing power God flow through my baby's body. One of the doctors making his rounds came over to check her, listened to her, and said, She has just had a Febrile Seizure, but she is ok. The nurses was gracious to keep Benjamin entertained while we were wheeled to ER to have JaHanna checked out. All was due to a fever spike (UTI related). She was put on a very strong antibiotic in which she had a allergic reaction to. With an infection, and without meds, and god still took care of her. She gained many friends!!!! People heard about it throughout the hospital and came to check on her. Dad soon realized that the nurses wasn't always coming to check on him, but they were in to check on JaHanna. ha!
I wondered why this all had to happen during such a terrible time... But we will never know the impact this incident had on all the nurses/doctors/visitors and etc. Everything has a purpose!
On Thursday night December 11th, with everyone gathered around his bedside, dad Wright so peacefully crossed over into the glory land! The day that we had been dreading, but he had been waiting for, all year. What peace! I must say, I felt a little jealous! I just wanted to take flight and go along with him!
The service was held on Dec. the 18th. Dad asked Jay to preach his funeral, and with Gods help, he did! And, as always, he done a wonderful job! He also wrote his Dads eulogy, and read it in the memorial service that was held a few days later for friends that could not attend the funeral. Again, it too was wonderful! God's arms of comfort and hands to wipe the tears was there with all of us, each step of the way. We could never repay him!
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On Sunday December 21st, we drove to Portland, OR (3 hour drive) to take our flight back home. That was the only way out, it being in the middle of the holiday travel/rush. All other flights were booked. Thankfully, it was a smooth/on-time flight! We were so excited that we were finally on KY ground!! It had most definitely been a long/hard/stressful 5 weeks for us all, but our kids were amazing through it all! God is such a wonderful babysitter!! We took the shuttle bus to our lonely awaiting vehicle, piled out, loaded up...And...Set! Dead Battery! It had sat there for several weeks, so we were expecting that to happen. After a long wait, we were on our way!
With Christmas only 3 days away, and no gifts, the madness begins! There were no decorations out, so I pulled some family favorites and a few extra things to add some color here and there and the kids were thrilled! On Monday evening Jay and I went to get gifts out of what was left. Surprisingly, we was able to get (almost) all that we had in mind! On Tuesday morning I gathered in all my ingredients for our extended family eve party and after Jay got off work, he gathered in the rest of the gifts.
On Christmas Eve all three kids got the virus! On Christmas Day Jay got it! And the day after, I got it! So our Christmas was much different. Our traditional Christmas breakfast was put on hold, to say the least.
Although, sickness had intruded...we made the best of it and we had a wonderful Christmas! The kids got gifts, and that all that mattered. ha!
We finished out the rest of the year counting our blessings! Looking back, it has been a very hard year. These last few weeks was full of spiritual/mental/financial/physical drain (I only wrote the highlights), but through it all, God has shown himself faithful! We have learned a lot through all of this! Our kids have seen the healing hand of God perform miracles before there eyes that they will never forget.. and Our faith and trust in God has been increased by leaps and bounds! In the times that we thought we could not take another step, God was there to hold us by the hand and lead us! I am so Thankful! For us to be able to hold our babies, read to them, play and wrestle with them, and most importantly, teach them about Jesus, means everything! We is worthy of our praise!
Many times I would hold Dads hand and night... I would often look at him and say "God is good isn't he?" He would reply with saying "ALL" the time!"
From the Wright Family to your and yours..... Happy New Year!! 2015!!
