Samuel's 5th Birthday

The last nine days have been some of the longest, most exhausting, and most encouraging of our lives. Samuel passed away Monday night, Feb 18. He had several seizures earlier in the day, had suffered in the previous three weeks with numerous illnesses and infections, and had been 'worked on' for over an hour and half in the ER before there was nothing left to do but hold him, sing, pray and give him back to the One who gave him to us in the first place. 

We have been surrounded by family and friends - who not only watched our son die with us but also prayed and sang Samuel into the Kingdom of heaven and would not leave until we did; who have held us, prayed for us, and cleaned our house (twice!); who have taken Colin to soccer practice, Anna Catherine on fun girls dates and both of them bowling!; brought us an army's worth of food, given generously of their finances and given financially again!; who have wept with us, reminded us of God's love in Christ and given us freedom to grieve; who have, above all, actually been the embodiment of God's love to us in Christ.

Today is Samuel's fifth birthday. We celebrated tonight here at our house. We broke out glow sticks and spinning light toys. We looked at pictures and watched videos. We cried and we laughed. We are so thankful that this was by far his best birthday ever - free of pain and suffering and the limitations of his broken body, and present with the fountain of delights. 

We miss our Sambo. Our life is very different and we are just beginning to learn what that different looks like. We are grateful that God gave him to us for a time (nearly five years) - we have learned and grown so much!. And we are (learning to be) grateful that God has taken him from us - though more for Samuel's sake than our own.

(These photos were all taken on Dec 5, 2012.)