Sunday, October 4, 2009

Uncle D....we will miss you.




Jason's uncle passed away last Friday morning.

It still doesn't seem real.

This uncle, Uncle Durward, lived on the farm with us and his sweet wife Aunt Debbie. Over the last few years, we have grown extremely close to them since we have lived life alongside them.

He passed away in their home with all of us around him. We prayed many prayers and cried many tears as we watched him slip away from this earth and into the Kingdom of Heaven last Friday. We felt the presence of the Holy Spirit right there with us each step of the way. It was one of the most beautiful and most difficult things I've witnessed.

Aunt Debbie was truly by his side "till death us do part." I've learned so much from watching her serve him through this entire battle with cancer. She is an amazing woman and I'm blessed to have her as such a huge part of my life.


We will miss Uncle D so much. Kaylyn, our oldest, has cried many tears- as we all have.

She summed it up at the funeral by saying these words behind her tears,"Mommy, I'm glad he is in heaven. But, I'm going to miss him."

That is so true my sweet one. We KNOW where he is.

Death is hard and inevitable. One of the things that the pastor of the funeral said that resonated so beautifully in my heart was,"Let death be a teacher to you." Jason's sister wrote about this too. Her words are beautiful.

Death can be used to show us whether we belong to Christ or not.

We have confidence that Uncle Durward knew Jesus and sought after him throughout his life. This makes the journey of death a little less heavy because we KNOW where he is. The body we saw shortly after he made his exit from this world was but an empty shell.

We are going to miss so many things, Uncle D.

Your silly songs.

Apple fritters and Dr. Pepper for breakfast:).

The sound of your pick-up truck driving up and down the driveway as you came and went on your many journeys to church, to serve, to help.

Your uncontrollable laugh.

"That's powerful good."

You knocking on my door just to hold one of my babies.

Cashew cans with coins.

Plaid shirts and wranglers.

Watching you model before us one of the most GENEROUS hearts we've ever witnessed.
We love you so much and will miss you.

3 comments:

Gwynie Pie said...

I am so sorry for your great loss. Sounds like Uncle D was quite the memorable character. What sweet memories you have and how wonderful to know you'll see him again in heaven one day. My prayers tonight are for you and Jason and your children, Aunt Debbie and the family.

Gwyn Rosser
www.gwynrosser.blogspot.com
The Pink Tractor

Kimberly said...

All who knew him will miss him mightily. I never even met him face to face and it feels like I've lost a member of my family. My heart just aches for Deb through this time. I have so enjoyed reading your blog and jasons - I've even passed your addys on to a friend of mine at church interested in pursuing organic farming with her family farm. God bless.

Anonymous said...

what beautiful words for such a great guy..hearing all his friends say such good things about him and funny stories warmed my heart..he will truly be missed by many...and yes, we all need to uplift debbie daily so that she will seek GOD's love for her as HIS child to make it thru this ..one day at a time sweet JESUS..that has always been one of my favorite songs...laugh but the words are great...the picture of maroon bells ...is one of my favorite places on this earth..lynsey i love all you said about durward..your truly love for GOD, durward and debbie shows thru all that you said..and yes, i am praying for all the kramer's too..i know how he will be missed by all..he was a great friend always to me..love mom