my sister Terri

It's Sunday night as I write this, and for the last hour I've been reading old blog posts about my sister Terri. Many of you have heard me talk about her here before, and how she almost died nine years ago almost to the day. At that time in her life, she became really sick with pneumonia and it severely damaged her lungs, which later turned into pulmonary fibrosis. If you read about her disease, the amount of life lived after such a diagnosis is varied, I guess depending upon the overall health of the patient who is sick. 

Terri was my dad's oldest daughter, or his oldest baby girl, as she referred to herself as. Dad had Paul and Terri by a previous marriage before he married Mom, so Paul and Terri are (were) quite a bit older than me. Terri had this beautiful and infectious laugh about her, and a twinkle in her eyes when she smiled. She loved to joke and poke fun at the people she loved most, and she was full of life until all of a sudden she wasn't. She was the first one to boast over giving Todd his first sisterly kiss on the cheek the second we were married, and she never let any of the other sisters forget that. 

Terri had become really sick after Christmas and went downhill pretty quickly. Even though we knew it was coming to this, somehow it still surprised us all that it happened so fast. I say that, but I am thankful that she passed away quickly, and feel like that God was merciful in not letting her suffer for much longer. People can live for months and months on hospice, but she passed away on Saturday, after a day of being put on that. God is always merciful and good, and He is sovereign over time and circumstances. He allowed this to happen when my brother just so happened to be here to celebrate Daddy turning 92 on Wednesday of this week. I'm so glad it worked out this way, because I think they both need each other this week. So, I wanted to share that here for you today. I have no idea if I'll be blogging anymore this week. I'm taking it a day at a time, and at the encouragement of my principal, I am taking a few days off from work to be with my family. I would love for you to pray for my dad! His memory is just not what it once was, and as you can imagine would happen, he keeps forgetting that Terri died. It's heartbreaking! Thanks for your prayers, thanks for your love, and for your well wishes. Know that I am also praying for many of you today as well, particularly one dear friend who reached out to me last night. My heart breaks for her as well. Life is hard, friends, even with Jesus, but I can't imagine life without Him. Do you know Him? 

I'll leave you with a couple of old pictures of Terri. 

I'm thankful for the hope that we have in Jesus and that what we have believed in faith, she is now seeing face to face.