"...Mourn with those who mourn." Romans 12:15

When I said I would be writing more, I never thought I would be writing the blog I am about to write...
A very dear friend died suddenly this morning of pneumonia.  It started as an everyday illness and just a week later, she is gone.

She has left behind a husband that loved her deeply and two 20-something children who respected, loved, and depended on her greatly.  She was so full of life, smiles, love, and care for everyone and everything and it seems unbelievable that she is no longer here on this earth.

She and her husband were some of the first people who we made an intimate relationship with when we first moved to Fairmont.  They have helped us in so many tangible ways, many only us, they, and God know about.  My family eats around the dining room table that they gave us and Bella's clothes set in the dresser from their bedroom.  They gave it to us when our rickety dresser fell off the dolly while they were helping us move into an apartment that they helped us find.  These are just two of the tangible ways I remember her kindness.  But the biggest, but least tangible, way is their relentless emotional support and love.  We are not the only ones that she has helped in uncountable ways.  She was like that to everyone.  She was a surrogate mother and sister to so many.

My heart grieves for her husband, children and siblings.  She was like a glue that held everyone and everything around her together.

I feel like I have no outlet to express adequately how her life and death have affected me.  So here is my attempt, as feeble as it is, to pay tribute to such a beautiful, Godly person.  "...mourn with those who mourn." seems like such inadequate statement right now.