Credits:  I Believe in Angels by Boomersgirl Designs (coming Friday to GS)

Journaling: Goodbyes are hard to say. Multiple goodbyes are even worse. Our family has been seriously challenged the past 18 months. Starting in March of 2014 when we lost our grandson Ares due to miscarriage. Only 9 days later we lost our grandson Matthew to a miscarriage as well,Matthew was far enough along that they were able to hold him. Two months later due to poor choices and violence, two of our grandchildren were removed from the home of their mother and step father, This led to me to leave my home to take care of them and that meant I had to say goodbye to my husband and youngest daughter for a year, missing all of my youngest child’s senior year of high school. The next March another daughter gave birth to a son who we had to say goodbye to only 8 hours and 41 minutes after bringing him into this world due to multiple medical complications. In May, the grandchildren I was caring for were court ordered to go to California to live with their dad. THIS was a good thing, but it meant after being their sole caregiver for a year, I now had to say goodbye to them without knowing when we will see them again because California is a long way away from Tennessee. Things were looking up for us when tragedy struck again. In June we lost our 8 year old grandson in an accident. In August we dropped our youngest child off at college 771 miles away from home. This was a bitter sweet goodbye as we know it is exactly where God wants her, but she is our baby, our last child and we left her with her new family at Abilene Christian University, so far away. With this last goodbye, we are praying we are done for a while, but we know only God has control of this and until he shows us His plan we will move forward with our life. We will learn our new normal without the grandsons we have lost, all six of our grandchildren with their parents where they should be, our baby at Abilene Christian University where she is meant to be and we will learn our new normal of an empty nest. We will triumph, we will grow, we will love and we will learn. Through our Faith we will persevere.