March 30 was Brendan's birthday and Ian went to Woodland's for the weekend and spent time with Brendan's precious family and then with Danny. That bonding time with Danny was a well-timed gift straight from God!
Then Ian went home. [For those who think we have it altogether when we say this - we don't. It sucks. Often. Often in fetal position. Or with the need to hit something.]
Then insurance money started coming in for all the expenses - mostly doctor, medication, tattoos and therapist visits [see - we aren't THAT strong, weird, but not strong]. We also wanted to tithe from the insurance money in Ian's name as it was his money and we didn't want to spend a single penny on something that did not honor Ian. (By the way, he had the minimum of life insurance - highly suggest for all parents to invest that small amount each month for the unexpected.)
Ian's last Facebook message post the morning of his homecoming talked about a week long mission trip to El Salvador we took as a family three years ago and the (clear) lasting impact it made on his life. When we heard that Brendan was moved by Ian to be involved in missions this summer, we prayed one Saturday morning about just tithing all of it to Brendan and not trying to figure out over the next 'whenever' to 'whomever' to give the money and we knew Brendan (and found out later Ian) wanted to go to Africa maybe next year after saving up the funds.
So first we called his mom on a Sunday. She said "YES, he wanted to go to Africa this year and that this would be a blessing." We then called Brendan and here is a picture someone just happened to snap of that phone call we made to him while he was on mission in Norman, Oklahoma (God is awesome and confirming that we were being obedient):
He was so grateful for the gift God provided him through Ian's generosity. [We had zero to do with it, God spoke and we obeyed.] The only thing we asked is that Brendan take a bit of Ian to Nairobi, Africa with him and leave a part of him yet on another continent.
So here is the Beautiful-Totally-God-Thing: We immediately hung up with Brendan and he called the church to find out they were booking tickets and had he called several hours later he would not have been able to go!
Go God!
Now, the hard part for us. Brendan came this past Thursday on July 4th and left this morning. I am so very happy for our adopted son and the stories we heard over the past few days, many of which had us in stitches and some in tears. We learned lots of things about Ian and college life we didn't know, but nothing that surprised us. Ian lived life to the fullest and did not want to be bound by his health limitations (you would not know existed looking at him). But, in our heart of hearts, we would much prefer to send Ian as a whole young man still anxious to serve God here on earth to Africa rather than just a small part of his earthly body.
We dearly miss our man of God. And we know he is with us and we will see him again, it just isn't none too soon!
[More on Brendan's journey - "My Journey"]
Please leave a brief comment - maybe even your initials for each post? Just curious to who the readers are! Love to you each.
No comments:
Post a Comment