Kansas Family - Grief trip part 2

We are having an amazing week traveling about in Bessie (our trusty motorhome) making memories with our new family structure of 5.  We had always wanted to visit 2 of my mama's sisters and their families in Kansas and decided now was the perfect time. Time flew but I managed to snap a few photos along the way.  This will be mostly for my family but you are welcome to tag along.
Before I start let me tell you about how vast my extended family is so you will understand how special time with any of them are.  My daddy comes from a family of 19 children - 12 boys and 7 girls.  I haven't recently counted but I think I have 50 or 60 cousins from that side alone.  My mom is number 2 of 11 -5 girls and 6 boys and a multitude of cousins numbering more then my Marner side, close to 70 I think.
If there is one thing that has been really close to my heart in the last 8 weeks it is the importance of spending time with those you love.  Hence the decision to spend time with family and friends as we work through the pain we are processing.
We decided to spend one night with each aunt and they spoiled us royally. One morning they took me to visit a friend of theirs, Rebecca who lost her 18 year old daughter in a car crash one year ago this week.  It was strangely comforting to sit and visit with her and watch how she is walking through her process.

Aunt Rachel organized a balloon release party in honor of Abby's birthday the evening we arrived.  My cousin Emily's car was piled full of bright colors, some of which bore the message Happy Birthday.

We counted down like we did at her funeral...11, 10, 9....

We watched till they were nothing but small black dots.

Lester and Rachel made a giant bowl of popcorn over the fire in their very own Henry D "schisel"

Lots of games for the children.  My little cousins all somehow grew up and are adults now but how they played with and entertained my children and the rest of the next generation...

Kali took to my cousin Titus' little sweetie who not only happens to be 3 but has so many Abby "traits".  

Aunt Rachel took us on a tour of the country side on our way to lunch in Hutchinson.  I found the fields of Milo and the old cement grain bins/storage intriguing and beautiful. 

We all went for lunch at Freddy's Frozen Custard (similar to our Iowa Culvers) 

The girls all wanted to sit with Nathan.

Sweet miss Olivia 

You'd think after a few days I could tell which one of the twins are which 

Nana Rhoda (my kidos name for her) had one excited boy waiting for an ice cream party on the beautiful back deck area.

Dawdy and his twin Grandsons

My cousin Gideon and his family were able to join us as well.  He is from another branch of the Yutzy tree.  His mama, Naomi is my mama's sister also.

Marvin and Rhoda's house has so many unique and very beautiful features.  Alexia and I loved the different porches.

Aunt Rhoda took me on a 4 wheeler tour of their beautiful spread.

We got up this morning and had a scrumptious breakfast that included my very favorite tomato gravy made in typical Wagler fashion and fresh donuts.  Both mornings we woke to smells of baking. The children wished we could stay longer but we needed to make the trek to Nebraska today. We left with lots of hugs and promises of getting to see each other at the Wagler Thanksgiving in a few short months. I am so thankful for my heritage and for the extra special blessing of family who loves me!

Happy Birthday in Heaven

Dear precious Abby
 4 years ago tonite I went in to labor on my due date with you which was a first for me.  Beings you were baby number 4 I figured I could just head in and pop you out.  How wrong I was.  You were my longest birthing process, almost 12 hours.  You were different from the very start and soon after you were born and I sat holding you I had this strange emotion come over me, just a fleeting thought but very real and scary. It was simply this, that I may not get to hold you for very many years. I wrote it off to hormones and didn't think much more about it till that fateful night in the hospital on July 14 of this year (2 months before your birthday) when daddy told me he had the same premonition also.
You came into our lives at a spunky 7 lbs 11 oz (also Hunter's birth weight) and took over the rule of the roost almost instantly.

You brought so much joy and like we have all talked about how God gave you to us for a brief time because He had a job for you to do.  Part of that job was bringing joy into our home that was scarred from daddy and my's separation that had just ended right before I got pregnant with you.

You were strong and opinionated and a spitfire. You loved living and did everything you did with fervor and such joy.

Then all of a sudden your life was ended and you were gone.  We know Heaven is more beautiful with you there but we sure miss you here.  

We are on a special trip this week in honor of your birthday.  We are enjoying so many wonderful things and moments together as a family of 5 now.  

As we drove today, daddy and I cried as we listened to one of our new favorite songs that talks about how we feel and how homesick we are to come up to live with you and Jesus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM98oFIrwQA

We are doing our best to go on living and sharing Jesus and his love with those we meet.

Just like our grieving the last 2 months is a place we have never been, we are literally in a place we have never been before - Kansas City. There are so many wonderful things here and I can only imagine your face and hear your oooing and ahhhing.

We are just taking our time and taking lots of pictures and making lots of memories as we never know how many more we will have the chance to make...

Kali, your never wear a dress sister found Elsa and Anna dresses while we were shopping and insisted we get them for her and Alexia.  They have worn them with pride all day and we talked of you.  At one of the places we stopped there was a huge Frozen display and we stopped and gazed and pointed and talked of which one you would have begged for.

We stopped in Kalona at the Amish bakery and got some fresh donuts to eat with our yummy Farmer's Creamery chocolate milk.

When we actually got on the road Daddy convinced me to take the wheel so he could see what it was like to walk around.  I was terrified but managed to stay on the road.

It has been raining all week, and we were getting so tired of cloudy skies.  Today God gave us a special gift...Sunshine.

This is the life for me...

Kali taking her first selfie

I captured a rainbow in the background.  We so enjoyed this fountain at Crowne Center.

We ate at a delish little cafe called Crayola Cafe where everything featured was to do with crayons.

I was expecting artificially flavored and colored things and was pleasantly surprised to find hormone free beef, ground turkey and yummy sides like hummus and pita chips plus whole wheat buns that were specially yummy!

We sat a table for 6 and colored pictures of course.

We took a walk over to Union Station via a long walk way called the Link.

Daddy called this the waffle ceiling

Alexia saw this view and said "mama the city is sooo beautiful, we must take a picture"

The inside of Union Station is breathtaking.

We were bummed that there were events taking place  in both Crown Center and Union Station blocking off some of the things we wanted to see.

Waterfalls everywhere...

We got back to the campground just in time to get some more play in.

Hunter was very taken with the roller coasters in the distance.

Kali's Sunday school class got her that Ripstic you all wanted and she is quite agile on it and does lots of tricks even in a skirt.

While everything is beautiful and we are enjoying our time together just relaxing, I catch myself dissolving into tears at just the slightest thought of you. 

I never imagined that we wouldn't have you here with us to celebrate your birthday.

Nana and Aunt Rhoda planned a small party tonite in your honor.  They are going to release balloons and reminisce.  Nana Rhoda and Great Aunt Rachel are planning something similar for when we get to their house on Monday night. 

Your life taught me so much.  And now I am learning more about God and life and the reality of Heaven since your death.  Hardly a day passes that we don't talk about coming there.

I love you Abby Marie and I know you will have the best birthday ever up there with Jesus.  I can just imagine how it would be to have the angels singing Happy Birthday to you...

Until we get there have fun dancing and twirling and know that we will come as soon as Jesus is ready for us.

I love you Abby Marie!  

Mama 

Peace

Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of God - unknown

How does one experience peace in the midst of complete chaos and the deepest pain one could fathom?
I used to question how one could remain calm and appear peaceable after having their life shattered by terrible tragedy or loss.
I am learning so much more about the large unseen presence that keeps one grounded when the current of constant tears, fears and doubts threaten to blow one away.
I can not explain it.
I am a worrier - always have been, probably always will be. I am constantly in a tizzy about life, especially when it comes to my babies.  Even though 7 weeks ago,  pure adrenalin carried me out to the cold cement where my daughter lay I did not feel terror as one might have expected. I felt an odd calm. Peace. I knew she was gone.  I knew Jesus had her.  Somehow that comforted me even though I cried out to him to please save her, meaning in my terms...please,  please let me have her for a while yet.
 He did what I asked, just not in my way.

Now before you go thinking I am all perfect and have it all together, let me put your mind at ease... be assured I do not. I still worry and fret and get really really angry (still working on that part big time!) and all that yucky stuff.
Since Abby left, my health for example has thrown some GIANT curve balls at me.  We have the flu at our house right now. I am one of the lucky recipients along with several of the others. That is no fun and I keep having giant pity parties for myself.  Why this now? Com-mon GOD!  Give me a break...
Another thing I wasn't expecting at my physical a couple of weeks ago was to hear my doctor say I had a lump somewhere I wasn't supposed to have one. My little cocoon of peace kind of exploded right then and there. My kidos just lost their baby sister.  Please God they really can't lose their mommy....big worry...little or no peace.
I have been tempted to be quiet about this particular worry/fear because of it being more private in nature. I mean, lots of people have lumps that are nothing. Not everyone needs to know about mine. Ha! I can hear the sighs (ah that is so Dorothy-ish) and clicking of tongues as people ponder my insanity at blogging about things of such nature.  Mine is supposedly also nothing..we just have to watch it and wait. Does that make it any less frightening? Not exactly.
  But then as I ponder about how God has worked the most in me I see it is usually when I am "blunt" for Him, something that believe it or not is not always easy for this jabber mouth.
The evil one loves nothing more then for me to curl up in a corner and cower in fear.
 Fear, my friends, is the greatest enemy of peace. Sometimes I fear that because I am vocal I am a bigger target for the enemy. Makes sense right? hmmm?  He after all doesn't like when we get the word out about the great God we serve. If there is one thing I keep learning though, it is simply the re-occuring phrase that keeps running through my mind...GOD IS BIGGER.
He is bigger then my fear.  He is bigger then the hole the size of Texas that has taken over my heart. He is bigger then the cancer my dear friends Jan and Danielle are battling. He is bigger then financial woes and wars and rumors of wars and obama care and all the other politically charged things around that strike fear and worry in many of our hears.
That, in and of itself, is why we can experience peace even when our circumstances are less then peaceful and far from perfect and when things do not go according to our plans.
He will carry us.  He is carrying me. He is the ability to put one foot in front of the other, the strength to get back to work.  He is joy in the small details like figuring out what we want to do on our vacation.  He is provision of prayer warriors, who like one of my favorite stories in the old testament, (Exodus 17-  Aaron and Hur held up Moses' arms when he was to tired and weak and the battle was won) lift my family and I up when we are to weak to pray on our own. He is being able to face each new day and remember that even though it is still so dark and ugly and painful to open our eyes, each moment of each day is truly a gift from HIM.
He is and will always and forever be Peace.

Thank you....

I am using this format as a means to say THANK YOU from the bottoms of our hearts.  You all have been and continue to be such a huge strength in our journey of grief. 

It has been 3 weeks now that Abby officially went to live with Jesus. You all have been so faithful in cooking meals, cleaning our toilets, cleaning our flowerbeds, washing our dishes, feeding hundreds in the various meals and filling our freezers, staying the night with us, bringing us Panera bread and treats for the kids, and the list could go on for pages...

My dear family started a Go Fund me page that has helped us tremendously with the expense of death and has enabled me to take some time off of work to spend figuring out our new normal.

Pretty much daily we get cards and notes and checks and gift cards.  The children are always delighted when they get mail in their names.

Some of you have been asking for the links to several pages we are associated with.

The first is our Grieving for Abby Facebook page.  On it I share day to day prayer needs and how we are processing our grief.  If you want to be a part of that group you will need to ask to join.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/663096610434067/

Here is the You tube tribute created by my friend Regina Yoder.  We played it during the funeral. I am hoping to get the tribute from the viewing soon also.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA4F1ehHNWM

Abby Marie Miller ~ Gone but not forgotten.....

Process

July 14, 2014 will forever be marked down in our history as the day that changed everything - literally.
It marked a new process, one that has so dramatically turned our world upside down.
Some days I feel lost.  I wonder around feeling like I should be doing something but find the what to be evasive.
Some days I feel angry.  If God is a God of love then why must He dish out a pain so deep it threatens our very existence?  And why couldn't he take someone who was old and had lived their life or at least taken someone who was not so loved?  I mean that makes sense right? So many people live in secluded alone-ness not knowing anyone who truly loves them.  We lavished love on Abby. She was our spark and kept laughter in our home. Why her?
Some days I feel nothing. I look into the mirror and the woman who stares back at me is just a shell with a vacant empty despair. I don't know who she is. I can't remember simple things like my passwords used to place orders or where I left my shoes. Then I feel like I am in a bad nightmare and that if I can just truly wake up then life will be right again and I won't have a stuffy head from the constant weeping.
Some days I wonder how this process called grief really works.  "O it's just a part of it" they say.  You're reacting normally. What's normal about grief? Absolutely nothing.  My list mindset goes absolutely bonkers - there is nothing I can check off except for the fact that I took another breath that maybe didn't hurt quite as deeply as the one before.  I took another step by simply telling my feet exactly how they  need to work..one in front of the other.  Lowell works and it helps him cope. For me, I get irritated when  people tell me I should get on with life and get back to work so I don't have to sit around and think about this all.  Quite frankly even the thought exhausts me.  I am tired all the time and can barely keep up with the necessary things of daily life.  It confuses me though.  My clients and work have always been a joy and something I look forward to. Maybe someday normal will reign again....
Some days as I wonder around the store trying to get my bearings together, I find myself pondering if everyone knows I am in the grief process?  Maybe I should wear a sign. I find myself crying as I tell total strangers how I just buried my baby.  Most are wonderful and I end up with hugs which help most days.
Some days I worry about my precious very alive children and how in the world I am ever going to help them "process" correctly when I can't even "process" myself? Alexia hasn't touched the barbie dolls and pollypockets her and Abby always played with daily.  She told me the other night "Mama, I just need Abby to come play barbie with me".  Hunter seems to be ok most of the time but  recently told me that even tho I tell him it wasn't his fault that he still thinks it is because Abby asked him for a floatie and he didn't get it for her. Kali still can't sleep in her bed because she shared it with Abby. Last night was the first time she didn't cry herself to sleep in many nights.  Her usual question before she drifts off is "mama why can't we just go to Heaven too?"  My main answer is usually "because God still has work for us here precious one". In my heart,  I know He does but man, this grief stuff really stinks.
Some days I wonder about what is really important and what in the world God is trying to teach me. I have always avoided the subject of death, simply finding it to morbid and not really ever focusing on it. Since spring of this year, death, terminal illness and sadness seem to envelop my small existence. My Grandmother died and tho I know she hasn't really "been here" over the last several year and the fact is that we actually celebrated the fact that she could go on, it is still the final page of a chapter of our lives.  Just a few weeks before Abby died, my dear friend Jan was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.  She has been a faithful prayer partner and friend. I know she is ready to see Jesus but I am irritated that it is her that has been chosen for the process. I need her yet. Why are the things most dear to me being taken away? Some days it makes me scared to love...
What ties this mumble jumble process together? God's love. It's as simple as that. He loved Abby so much that He knew she would be better off with him. And hey, with the condition of the world and all the dangers and evil it really seriously isn't that bad of an idea.  Some days I question how He could really love us and allow this to happen to us. But He is showing love to us left here too. He has surrounded us with praying saints who have shared with us how they wake up in the middle of the night and can't sleep and spend that time praying...for us! He takes care of physical needs in ways that blow our minds. He also blesses us with promises of hope and the reality of the fact that we can go to be with Abby.
Our life is not a series of meaningless events that make up our existence but is carefully orchestrated and planned by God to bring glory to His name.  I have always enjoyed writing and blogging but never really got anywhere with it specifically.  The past 2 weeks have increased traffic to my work in ways I never dreamed.  People who wouldn't ordinarily have any connection have happened by over 50,000 times. It isn't about me but about that work that God wants to do through Abby's life and her death.  I have a platform to share Jesus and his love.  Even though some days I shake my fist at Him and scream why, I am truly awed and humbled that God chose me to be a part of the process.

Photo Journal of Abby's funeral ~ Take 3 ~ July 19, 2014

So my sweet artsy friend Alaynna Schwartz of Playlife Photography showed up tonite with her absolutely amazing photos of Abby's funeral.  They represent so many special details of the day that said ABBY loud and clear. Each tells a story in a very personal way and leaves no need for captions. I am in love with the detail, expressions, lines, feet, people
So with our further ado.....here they are!  I hope you will enjoy seeing them as much as we did the first time.

I have no idea who this little cutie is?

the tribute brought laughter amidst the tears...

Even Uncle Steven had bare feet

Hunter insisted on opening Abby's "lid" once more...I can still hear his words here

"bye bye Abby"

Abby's little Sunday school classmates/friends 

Leah 

Maggie

The releasing of the balloons ~ symbolic in many ways

I can not say enough about my siblings...they literally did everything for me during the blur of horror

from telling me what to wear, to doing my hair and making sure I ate and drank to bossing the line along when I hyperventilated at the viewing....Love them so!