It's A Special Day

Today, February 25, 2024, would be our son Matthew's 51st birthday! That in itself doesn't seem possible, but the fact that he has been celebrating his birthdays in heaven ever since he arrived there in May of 2014 means that this is his 9th birthday spent in heaven.  When I try to wrap my brain around that I really can't. So I don't actually dwell on the number of years since he left this world for his eternal home. In some ways it seems like it's been forever, and in other ways it seems like he was just here with us yesterday.  Time is relevant...or is it irrelevant? I'm not sure, but all I know is every year that goes by puts us another year closer to being reunited with him in heaven, so from that stand point, let the years fly by! This world is not our final home and we are just passing through.  The sooner we can reach heaven's shores the better off we will all be.

 So in the meantime we do things to pass the time and to also mark the day in some way so that we can focus our attention on his life.  We don't always talk about him, because I think in some ways that is like peeling off a scab that has finally started to heal.  It stirs up emotions that we find difficult to contain, so we just try to do something positive and pleasant and family oriented to mark the day.    

Therefore, today, after church the "kids" all came home to our house for Sunday dinner.  Scott came down from his place and Benton and Rose and the grandpups came over.  I don't always cook a big "dinner" on Sundays anymore due to the fact that we have to leave the house by 8 a.m. for Sunday School and then church, so there's not much time to prepare anything.  But today I wanted to do something a little more special than sandwiches, and we didn't want to go out to eat.  I had a pork tenderloin ready to roast, and the nice thing about that is they only take about a half hour to cook in the oven at 425 degrees.  So that is pretty easy to do after church and still eat at a reasonable time.  I did go ahead and peel and cut up the potatoes and put them in water before we left for church so they would be ready to cook as soon as we got home so we could have mashed potatoes.  I also prepared fresh carrots and broccoli, and had it ready to start cooking as soon as everything else was cooking. I actually par-steamed the carrots in the morning since they take a little while longer than the broccoli to steam cook.  I don't like overcooked broccoli.  When we got home from church I put together a tossed salad while we waited for everything else to cook.  We sat down to eat by 12:30. (we get out of church around 11:20).  We also had a homemade chocolate pie to eat for dessert that I made yesterday. (with a little help from Marie Callender's frozen pie crust!)  Our sweet DIL Rose had to work some long hours yesterday so I didn't want to ask her to help with anything.  But everyone pitched in to help get things on the table and then clean up afterwards so we could do some other special projects after dinner.  (I'm calling it "dinner" because it was more substantial than what we normally do for "lunch"...does that make sense?) Believe it or not I didn't take any pictures of our delicious meal.  Just try to imagine it. LOL.

So after all of that we went outside to do our "special projects".  I recently purchased some plants to put in our butterfly garden and hadn't planted them yet.  Then on Friday I found a beautiful rose bush and decided that would be a lovely addition to the garden, and that would be our "memorial plant" in memory of Matthew.  It isn't going into the "Memorial Garden" per se, because that area is too shady and I've found that roses and other plants just don't really grow very well there. The wonderful rose bush that had produced so many beautiful blooms over the past almost 10 years finally seems to have given up. It made me very sad to have that happen, but I think it is because of where it was planted, so I wanted this new rose bush to get more sunshine.

Below is a previous picture of a blossom from the "old rose bush", or "the Memorial Rose Bush" that we have had ever since Matthew passed away. It was originally planted in the first Memorial Garden at our old home in Salt Springs, and then we brought it with us when we moved here almost 5 years ago, and until this past year it has always bloomed on special days.  I have cut the stems back and it is starting to show some signs of new growth, but I still wanted to have a "back up" rose bush.

So today the "boys" helped us plant the new rose bush along with the other new plants in the Butterfly garden.

Here "Daddy" is showing the boys where to put it.

Scott and Benton did the digging and planting and watering

And here it is all planted.  I wanted it where I can see it from inside the house and enjoy it's lovely flowers. Now let's pray it grows and thrives here!

After this project was done we had a few other little jobs that the boys could help us with, like finding the big tote filled with the spring/Easter decorations in the shed and bringing that into the house for me. It was under a stack of a lot of other heavy totes and other items and hubby and I just could not manage it alone.  I also found my Valentine's Decorations that I couldn't get to in time for Valentine's Day so I had to pick up a few new things at the Dollar Tree this year.  Hopefully next year I will be able to find everything and not have to buy anything else! LOL.   Anyway, now I have my work cut out for me to get the spring decorations under way this next week.

After all that work we all came back inside and relaxed for awhile before the "kids" had to head back home.  Sugar and Spice were especially worn out from all the excitement and activity:

Oh to be able to sleep like a Puppy again!  (of course they aren't really "puppies" anymore, but don't tell them that. LOL)

All in all it was a fitting and special way to honor the memory of our dear son Matthew.  He would have enjoyed the day and being with his brothers and family doing projects together.  Someday we'll all be together again.

This was the last time we were all together, for Matthew's 41st birthday.  He passed away exactly 3 months later after a 4 year battle with cancer.

L to R: Daddy, Benton, Noah (our grandson and Matthew's son), Matthew, and Scott

And again, l to r: Matt's wife Nicole, me, Benton, Noah, Matthew and Scott

and one more time:

front row:Daddy (hubby), Me, "Nanny Steiner",

Back row: Noah, Benton, Scott, Matthew and Nicole

I will close with this comforting passage from John 14:1-6

14 “Let not your heart be troubled; you 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 to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 

4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

I am thankful to know that our Matthew is there with Jesus in our Father's House, and because we know that Matthew loved Jesus and believed in Him for salvation, we will one day see him again.  That is why I can spend this day with joy in my heart and a peace that passes all understanding.  This home is not our final home...and someday soon Jesus Himself will come again and receive those who believe in Him to Himself, that where He is , there we may be also. 

Today we sang this song in church, "Oh How He Loves You and Me".  You may enjoy singing along with us...

Lyrics:

Oh, how He loves you and me, Oh how He loves you and me. 

He gave his life, what more could he give?

Oh, how He loves you; Oh, how he loves me; Oh, how he loves you and me.

Jesus to Calvary did go, His love for sinners to show. What He did there brought hope from despair.

Oh, how He loves you; Oh, how he loves me; Oh, how he loves you and me.

Copyright:

1975 Word Music, LLC (a div. of Word Music Group, Inc.)

Amen.