In Memory of a Wonderful Man, Our Son Matthew

Our son Matthew, December 4, 2009, just after earning his yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do

Matthew and his son Noah, who also earned his own green belt at the same time.

Matthew in action...

These pictures above were taken in December of 2009, just a few months before he was diagnosed with Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor, a rare and deadly cancer that would take his life after a valiant battle for over four years. It's amazing to me to see him above as a picture of perfect health, and then just a few months later to receive the devastating news that he had terminal cancer.

Here is the Tae Kwon Do instructor, "Thy", presenting Matthew with a black belt for his bravery and courage in fighting this horrific foe for four very difficult years, April 2014, just about one month before Matthew passed away on May 25, 2014, at the age of 41 years and 3 months.

This is what I wrote on Matthew's Facebook page this morning. Yes, he still has a Facebook page. I'm so glad it hasn't been taken down, as there are a lot of sweet memories and messages there from Matthew from over the years:

"Today, February 25, 2025, is your 52nd birthday, Matthew Steiner. But you've been celebrating your birthdays in heaven since you arrived there on May 25, 2014. I can only imagine what joys and blessings you've been enjoying for all these years. Today I found myself looking back at these photos of when you were in Tae Kwon Do, and first when you earned your yellow belt on 12/4/2009..which was just a few months before you were diagnosed with cancer. And then when your Tae Kwon Do "Master" Thy presented you with your Black Belt in April of 2014, after you had been valiantly fighting your battle with cancer for 4 long years, and just about one month before you entered heaven, where you received your greatest reward ever...meeting Jesus face to face and being welcomed into heaven by the true Master of Heaven and earth. Someday we will join you there, and we look forward to that day with all our hearts.
John 14:1-3 KJV
1 "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
Happy Heavenly Birthday, Matthew Steiner. We love you and miss you here, but we know we will see you again someday! Praise be to Jesus!!"

Every year at this time I struggle with what to say and what to do, but I don't want the day to pass without doing something in his memory.  In times past we have usually planted something in the "Memorial Garden", or the "Butterfly Garden", or somewhere on our property in his memory.  Sadly, you'd never know it to look at our gardens today. Of course it's still "winter", and we had a big freeze a couple of weeks ago which froze a lot of our plants...but hopefully most of them will come back.

So this morning hubby and I went to our local Ace Hardware garden center and picked out this healthy looking Hibiscus plant.  It has lots of buds on it, so hopefully it will bloom and thrive.  I just spoke with our son Benton about helping us plant it, and we decided to wait until Sunday when hopefully our other son Scott will come down and we can all plant it together. That's what we've done in the past, made it a family affair.  

Hopefully I can keep this alive and growing and blooming!

Here's a Link to a post written on February 25, 2024, where we planted a rose bush.  That bush is still alive at least, but it hasn't done much blooming recently. Hopefully with all the rain we've been having this month it will come back and start blooming again. Likewise the same for the rose bush that is in the Memorial Garden that I've written about many times in the past.  I do see new growth on it, so hopefully it will start blooming again soon.

Memorial Garden Rose Bush 2/25/2025

Link to post I wrote on this day in 2023, Matthew's 50th birthday. Within this post there are links to many other previous posts that I wrote over the years about Matthew's life.

Yes, we want his memory to live on, until we meet again someday in heaven. And then it will be someone else's turn to keep the memories alive...but for us in heaven it will be all JOY and Thanksgiving!

This picture was taken at Matthew's last birthday party here on earth, February 25, 2014. It was a day of a lot of laughter and joy, as our whole family gathered together to celebrate his birthday! As you can tell, he was having a great time.  That's the way I like to remember him...our happy, goofy, wonderful Matthew.

Happy Heavenly Birthday Matthew! Until we meet again.

Monday Monday on Still Waters Pond

 How shall I begin this Monday morning post?  Hmmm, let me go back over the  past few days in photos and see what we shall see, okay?

This was sunrise, Saturday morning, February 22, 2025.   (George Washington's Birthday!)

What a glorious way to start the day!

And this was the amazing sunset on that same evening on Still Waters Pond:

The verse for the day from devotional readings was this:

Psalm 31:14 NKJV

14 But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord;

I say, “You are my God.”

Our choir sang this song in church Sunday morning...which seems appropriate for these photos:

Above all powers, above all kings

Above all nature and all created things

Above all wisdom and all the ways of man

You were here before the world began

Above all kingdoms, above all thrones

Above all wonders the world has ever known

Above all wealth and treasures of the earth

There's no way to measure what you're worth

Crucified, laid behind a stone

You lived to die, rejected and alone

Like a rose trampled on the ground

You took the fall and thought of me

Above all

Amen.

In the afternoon, between sunrise and sunset, I enjoyed some "porch time" for a little while...

And then I decided to move down to the Secret Memorial Garden and sit on the garden bench while I listened to the birds singing in the trees...

After a little while here came Mrs. Sand Hill Crane while out on her little respite from nest sitting.

Daddy Crane goes and gives her a break several times a day so she can get some exercise and food.

This would be a good time to go check on the nest, but I try to wait until "the changing of the guard", when one replaces the other on the nest, so I can see them stand up and reveal how many eggs there are...

But they weren't being cooperative in making the switch at a time when I was able to get back around to where I could watch.  So I stayed in the garden for a while and enjoyed the beautiful day...

Azaleas are blooming!!!

Eventually I walked around to the other side of the pond where I could see what was going on, and I noticed Mr. (or Mrs.) Goose standing up on Goose Island!  I wonder if they are building a nest yet?  I couldn't see any evidence of it, but they may yet surprise me. (I hope).

There was Mr. or Mrs. Crane, sitting peacefully on the nest...

And Mr. (or Mrs.) Goose decided to take a swim since they had been discovered up on the island...

Oh, there's also the Ring Necked Duck (black and white diving duck) in front of the goose, and that blue tarp thing over there on the other little island is a mystery item that has been here since way before we came here.  There used to be a dock there that spanned from one little island to the Goose Island, and something is under there and under that tarp, I'm sure, but I'm not brave enough to paddle over there and pull it off. I'm afraid it might be a good place for snakes to hide, so I will just leave it alone.  Maybe someday someone braver than I am will go pull it off and see what's hidden there.

There only seems to be one of the two ducks left here. I'm not sure where the other one went, but I haven't seen it lately.  Seems like last year they left the pond in stages, so maybe they fly back home with different flocks. It's about time for them to leave to back north for the summer.

Anyway, Mr. Goose and Mr. Ring Necked Duck swam away...

And since the Crane wasn't cooperating with standing up and showing off her eggs, I headed back around the pond to home.  The Carolina Jessamine is really blooming beautifully right now along the fence row between our house and the new house next door. Just think, if you lived over there in that house, we could meet at the fence and chat and enjoy the beautiful flowers at the same time!

They are a vine that grows up into the trees, which can be a bit of a problem, but it's a beautiful problem and I prefer to let them grow and enjoy them for this time period each spring.

Oh, when I came back, there was Mr. or Mrs. Crane again, waiting for me to throw him some bird seed!

I did, and after he (she?) ate it he headed back around the island to the nesting area on the other side.

During nesting time they never venture very far away from each other while foraging for food.

He (She) decided to venture out into the water a little ways to either take a bath or look for bigger fish. LOL. Although Sand Hill Cranes are more into smaller creatures and grubs and such than they are  fish.

By the way...it got quite warm here yesterday afternoon.  (Some of these pictures were from Saturday, and some from Sunday, but you don't mind, do you?)

Meanwhile, these Mourning Doves were enjoying an afternoon nap in the Pine Tree along the shore.

Uh, while Mr. Crane was out foraging for food, suddenly he discovered that Mr. Great Blue Heron was a little too close to where Mrs. Crane was sitting on the nest, and although I didn't get to catch the scene on film, there was quite a loud squawk as Mr. Crane chased Mr. Heron out of the water and up into this pine tree on the island!

And there Mr. Heron had to stay for a while, out of the way of the Crane Family.

He watched them from a distance for a while, but he knew better than to venture back too close to the nest, or he would have you know what to pay from Mr. Crane!

So he just decided to stand there and preen himself for awhile, and eventually he flew off to calmer waters to fish for his supper.

Things are a bit quieter this Monday morning as I am sitting here writing.  It's been raining since early dawn, and looks like it will be raining all day!  I still have to go across the street to feed the neighbor's cats in a little while, so I am hoping for a break in the rain when I go. Otherwise, it will be a good day for my rain parka and an umbrella!

Even in the rain, there is so much beauty here to enjoy. I'm not complaining. We need the rain to make the flowers and trees and grass grow, and also to maintain the waters of Still Waters Pond so we can enjoy all that God provides for us here.

Like these "diamonds" in the trees...

Let's close this morning's visit with these words of wisdom:

Good words to ponder..."Wait for me", declares the Lord...

Amen.