A Very Different Christmas

Steve, his mom and his sister took his dad to the doctor on Monday. After examining him, the doctor told them that she was sorry that there was nothing else she could do for him and she would have Hospice start coming to their house the day after Christmas. The first thing that Steve’s dad said when he heard the news was that it was going to ruin Christmas.

I know that a lot of people are praying for our family because I could feel it on Christmas. There were a lot of tears but there was also such a sweetness in the mist of the sadness. Everyone was at their house: the 5 kids, their spouses, 12 grandchildren, and 1 great grandchild. Everyone was together at the same time. With 24 people all in one room, the love and unity that everyone shared was a beautiful gift to experience on Christmas. No one wanted to leave or for the day to end.

My son summed it up on the way home from their house on Christmas:
He said, “Usually when Christmas day is over, I am sad that I am not getting anymore presents. This year, I don’t care about the presents; I must be maturing.”

I told him that I thought PawPaw was helping us all keep Christmas in the right perspective this year and he agreed.

Today (Saturday), the Hospice nurse told us that she did not think that he had very long and it could be any time. Please continue to pray for Steve’s Dad, his mom and our whole family.