Road Trip to Minnesota

This past weekend Garrett, Nicolas and I traveled to Minnesota along with Kimra, her children, and Mema (my mom) and Papa. We went to Duluth to visit with family and for the funeral of Steve Wark. He is my cousin and was 58 years old. He died of cancer within 2 months of being diagnosed. I have very fond memories of time spent with him and his family...Christmas and dinner at Perkins....and camping in our backyard...to name a few... But what I want to tell you is Steve was good person, a good husband and father, and he led an amazing faith driven life...and though that may not mean much to those that don't know him...This weekend I witnessed the most inspiring funeral I have ever been to...We laughed, we cried, it was uplifting and inspiring...During the sermon, the preacher had asked us to close our eyes and if we never had before prayed the following prayer (paraphrased) to feel free to join in...it went something like...

Jesus is the son of God. He is my Savior...The truth. The light. The way. He saved me from my sins so that I may live with him in Heaven forever!

Well, I had Nicolas' hands folded together and I prayed this prayer for me and for him...and as tears fell from my face I knew I wasn't the only one praying. The pastor asked for those who prayed to raise their hands so that he may pray for them... Well, Garrett at first was timid and slowly raised it inch by inch until charged and confident his arm burst into the air! His cousin Jack hugged him immediately! My sister saw this, as she was sitting next to them, and cried. Later he said, "Mom, I want to go to Heaven." and as we talked about this he asked, "Am I going to get baptized?" So I told him what that meant and that it was his decision to make. And he said, "I want to be baptized!" I'm filled with an unspeakable sense of pride and joy. I plan to start making arrangements for this and to have Nicolas dedicated as well.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving and head into the Christmas holiday I want to focus even more intently on what we are truly celebrating and what the birth of the precious baby Jesus has meant for my life, my family, my friends and for everyone who truly believes. Thank you God for the many gifts you have given me but most importantly...thank you for sending your son!

Happy Thanksgiving,

Felisa

Here are some photos from our trip!