In Honor Of Our Beloved Baby & Grandpa

May 23rd. Four years ago, today, I delivered our Premature, still-born baby. Brant was just barely 7 and Jacob was 5. Jacob was still not very verbal yet, and Brant, being extremely verbal, had already picked out a name for his little baby brother--Timothy James Joyner. He wanted to be able to call him "Timmy", for short,so that's what we named him! I'll never forget all the mixed feelings while holding him there in the hospital! So sad, but even more, we felt amazed! Amazed that such a tiny little baby could be so perfect! I still can't believe that it's been 4 years!!
May 23rd marks another loss in our family. Last year, on this day, we said goodbye to Marty's father. His burial service was on this day, which-a year ago-was Memorial Day. How perfectly fitting that was!! Lilburn (aka "Grandpa Joyner") served in and Retired from the Air Force. His funeral was an experience that was both, amazing and full of ...I really can't even find the words to describe the other side of it! It was an experience that totally brought all of us closer together, that's for sure! Long story short: A horrible, horrible virus wiped out AT LEAST half of us by the day of the funeral!! It was seriously like we were in war!...People dropping like flies left and right!! It landed my mother-in-law in the hospital to the point that she wasn't able to attend the service! There were a lot of hardships, but it was also such a testimony of what FAMILY is all about! He was Honored with the 21 Gun Salute, and that was Amazing! It was something that we all knew he would receive, but never imagined what an awesome thing it would be!! Each of the grand kids were able to keep a casing from the bullets and that was very memorable for them, to be able to go find them in the grass and take it home in memory of their grandpa.
The Lord has a way of Healing us. Time has a way of Healing us. I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life! I'm grateful for the truths and understanding of the Plan of Salvation! I'm grateful that the Lord blessed me with the Courage to "try again"...twice (one was a miscarriage), b/c if I hadn't, we wouldn't have our daughter with us now.
Tonight, In Honor of Our Beloved Baby & Grandpa, we sat as Family and talked about the Plan of Salvation. We wrote down 'Things that we love about Grandpa' and 'Things that we want to do with Timmy' when we see him again, and then we all Kissed two Helium filled balloons and we sent them up to Heaven to our loved ones. We Cried and Prayed together as a Family and then we did a Family Bear Hug and laughed some! We know we'll be with them again.


One last thing that I want to note, for journaling purposes, is that while we were talking about the Plan of Salvation Jacob asked us if we remembered when he was young and almost drowned in a pool. (He was 4 yrs old). He said, "Well, the Angels saved me. They helped me. I'm still here b/c Heavenly Father sent me an Angel". I know that one of those Angels was my grandfather. And I think that talking about Jacob's experience also helped the kids realize as well as Marty and I to reflect upon the fact that we do have loved ones on the other side of the veil that are "helping" us! They are cheering us on to make right choices and to serve one another and to learn the things that we need to learn. I will just close this sermon (lol) by saying that I hope that, when it's all said and done, that I can look back at my life and know whole-heartedly that I have done the best that I could do! That I have done 'my part' here on Earth. I look forward to the day that we can be reunited with all of our loved ones that have passed on. And I know that if I live an Honest, Righteous life, that I will be given those blessings.