Friday, April 30, 2010

One year....

Yesterday was April 29th.  It doesn't seem possible that a whole year has gone by since Frank completed his journey and went to be with Jesus.  We still miss him and think of him every single day.  I still want to pick up the phone and call him about little things that happen to us.  I still miss our late night recap of the day as we got ready for bed at night.  That was when we solved all the world's problems!

This milestone didn't sneak up on any of us.  We have been talking about it openly around the house and within our family.  The last few weeks have been much harder as we've mentally retraced our steps of a year ago.  Some of us have remembered things others had forgotten, so as we've retold stories, it's been interesting to see a little bigger picture.  We've laughed and cried and hugged on each other a lot more these past few weeks.

But April 29th.....  a day that our lives changed forever - was sad last year.  I was determined to find a way to change that somehow.  April 29th was going to come every year - for each one of us.  I wanted to find a way to honor Frank's life, his personality and fun-loving spirit and still not take anything away from what this day means for us as a family.  So, we formed a plan....

I was awake early yesterday.  I spent time alone remembering the events of our last morning together.  As a thousand memories went through my head, my heart came back to the same conclusion.  We were so blessed.  God was so merciful to Frank.  I believe every detail of that morning was covered by God's grace.

Thank you, Lord.

We had a plan.........  We couldn't think of a better way to honor Frank's memory than for Zach and I to skydive!   God worked out the details of this too!  Jumps are usually during the weekend only, but German military (equal to our Navy Seals) were training here this week.  The planes would be up, and they allowed us to jump with them on Thursday.

Zach and I enjoyed the experience so much.  We loved flying through the air! And our family and friends on the ground seemed to feel secure in their position too.  It was a beautiful day and we all had our minds on Frank and his wonderful spirit. 

Heb 11: 1-2  Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Thank you Frank, for giving us such a wonderful example of what it means to live out our lives to the glory of God, in every situation.