cora's heaven birthday {2012}

cora's heaven birthday  ::  february 8, 2012

We have always called this day Cora's heavenly anniversary. But this year it changed. As I talked with Levi about his sissy and what we were going to do on this day he kept asking, "Cora's birthday?". I told him that it isn't Cora's birthday, it is the day Cora went to be with Jesus. The day Cora went to heaven. But as we talked throughout the week we finally decided it is kind of like Cora's birthday. It is actually even better than a birthday. It is Cora's heaven birthday. Levi looked at me and said, "Cora not sad. Cora sooooo happy." So true baby boy, so true. When we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be!

Yesterday was a very dreary day around here and we were feeling it both inside and out. Joel thought he was getting over the flu but barely made it out the door to go to work yesterday morning and was throwing up again. Talk about making an already hard day even worse. Poor hubby. We were planning to start off Cora's heaven birthday by eating donuts together. But instead Joel went back to bed and the boys and I went to eat our donuts and pick up some flowers for Cora. The donuts were yummy and Levi had a fabulous time riding in the car cart at the grocery store. (Really, who invented those things? The car cart is Levi's dream ride but totally impossible for me to push around the store. I was just thankful to make it through the isles without running into someone or something!) We picked out some pretty pink roses for Cora and went home to check on daddy.

After lunch we drove down the road to the cemetery. Joel was sweet and drug himself out of bed to come with us. Levi and I had made a happy heart banner for Cora earlier in the week. I figured he would forget about it, but every time he saw the one we had hung up in our kitchen he would ask about Cora's happy hearts. So we found some sticks and tied up a happy heart banner in front of her memorial stone. I think that it is the prettiest spot in the whole cemetery right now. This was Griffin's first trip to the cemetery with us...he slept through the whole thing. The rest of the day we spent at home hanging out and trying to let Joel recover from the flu. My sweet sister and brother-in-law brought us out dinner last night so we didn't have to cook. So nice.

We went to bed thankful for the Lord's compassion and grace that brought us through another year without our Cora. Thankful for the eleven months we were blessed to be Cora's parents. Thankful for Cora's life that was short but full of purpose. Thankful for Cora's little brothers who now fill our arms each day. We prayed that Cora's life would continue to impact others for Jesus and that we would always be faithful to share her story and the Lord's faithfulness to our family. And that was Cora's heaven birthday, February 8, 2012.

Thank you so much for your comments, cards, emails, texts and phone calls yesterday. We know that our sweet girl is not forgotten and we appreciate your prayers more than we could ever express. We felt loved and covered in prayer all day. You all are a huge part of this journey through grief with us. Thank you for walking beside us even on these hard days.We love you all!