The end of life...

And so... 44 days after his 89 birthday, dear grandpa is gone. Soooo much happened in those weeks. Gpa looked pretty good on his birthday. He was able to walk down the hall, and sit in a lil room where all his great grandkids and grandkids were (minus Kathryn and Rob, unfortunately), smile for some last pics with the kids. He was cute... he had a mini portable oxygen machine, and so he didn't want us to light the candles... afraid he might blow up! Then he made it through colon cancer surgery with apparently flying colours... they got all the cancer, and life was going to be good... or so he thought. Complication began and off to ICU he went... miraculously made it through those complications to last another week on a ward... and then off to ICU again... whatever the final decision was on why, I'm not sure. Perhaps a stroke, perhaps aspiration... a combination... Anyways... the breathing tube was removed and Gpa was moved back to a ward on April 5th... last a few short days, passing away on Thursday, April 8th.
We have so many memories... but my favourite memories will always be the last few weeks of his life. Hearing him say, "I love you." Choice words for a man who really never spoke much, and they certainly weren't words that flowed freely from his lips... a flaw in our family unit.
God has been so good to Gpa and to our family. I think we've all prayed desperately over the years for him. And in the end, God answered our prayers. I've been thinking of faith... we need faith when we pray for those outside... and now I've learned in this experience that we need faith afterwards to believe that God has in fact answered our prayers. Maybe it's easy to doubt, but I do believe that in God's mercy, He brought gpa to the exact place he needed to be to be willing. We witnessed gpa's spirit softening... to think of a man who just a few weeks before refused a Bible... didn't want it in his room... to asking for it... to his precious conversation with Marion... God is good. Marion mentioned to us that she noticed the change in gpa when he realized just before he went into ICU the last time, that he just might not make it through... he wasn't going to live to 103 like his mother... facing death and admitting that life was going to end, brought a softening affect. I just think it's soooo precious, and feel so at peace that gpa made it.
Some say he professed, others say he had a change of heart... but isn't it the same? God sees the heart... He sees the change... He sees the intents, the thoughts, the desires... so call it what you want, but I just want to be more thankful for answered prayers. Words aren't necessary... gpa couldn't speak... but the squeezing of his hand... the lil smile on his face... the nodding of his head... all a wonderful testament of the rest within.
Thank you Gpa for the memories... we love you too.