I realize it’s been a bit too long since our last update. Sorry about that! Better late than never, right? 🙂
I’ll start with what is most recent. Last weekend (Feb. 1) my Papa Traf passed away, it was unexpected to say the least. He had previously had surgeries and cut it close but had been doing better and had actually gotten a clean bill of health and all restrictions lifted maybe about a week prior. Jeremy pointed out how that was in fact a gift, that if Papa’s time on earth was drawing to a close he at least got to finish out getting to be free from labeled restrictions (and that is a huge sense of freedom). It’s hard to have been so close to getting to celebrate Jeremy and I making it through surgery and me getting my health back and the freedom health brings both of us in person; but we are so thankful that he lived to know we made it, recovered, and that I am well once again. He lived to see his prayers answered. Though I would have loved to actually go fishing with him once more as we would often talk about in our emails back and forth; when I was well we were going to go fishing like we used to when I was little.
We had his viewing and funeral this past Thursday and Friday, please keep my Dad and his four sisters, as well as their spouses and all of us grandkids, well the whole family, in your prayers as we continue to mourn and process the loss of Papa. I have faith that in the past couple of years he came to see that Jesus Christ’s atonement for our sin on the cross pays our debt. That all we have to do, all we can do, is to put our trust and life in His hands and accept his sacrifice and payment in our place. He read through the gospels and more after my Grandma Traf passed away a couple of years ago, Mom sent him the book “Heaven” written by Randy Alcorn and he read that too. He told Dad later that he “got it” that “heaven is not the default”. He was right, heaven is not the default; but Christ came to earth to make a way for us. Luke 14:6 says, ‘”Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’
“Jesus came to show us that one way, that one truth, to that one life is Him.”
There is no room left for other options, it’s not mean spirited, in fact it is the opposite; there is only one way and Jesus came to show us that one way, that one truth, to that one life is Him. That is love, that is grace. I wrote some more about this on the post I wrote the night before transplant, so if you have questions please check it out and or ask away in the comments.
Another gift in the midst of losing Papa was that I was able to travel to go to Ohio and celebrate his life. It was my first time traveling since getting to Minnesota for surgery. I came in a wheelchair, hardly able to rally enough energy to be wheeled around and sit on a non-stop flight, my legs and feet would swell even more than usual and I would need a week of laying on the couch to get back enough energy to return to my usual level of wearied exhaustion. This time, we couldn’t get a non-stop flight, I walked, there was no wheelchair, we had delays and flight and terminal changes and all sorts of craziness, we spent 9 hours in O’Hare before finally landing and sleeping in a hotel near the airport by 2 am. The next day we had to get to my aunt’s house and leave in an hour for Papa’s viewing and then had the funeral the next morning. And though I was sad and missing him, physically I was okay. It was and still is weird for me to do a lot and be fine. Part of me keeps waiting for the inevitable crash, except, that crash is no longer inevitable. That is such a gift. I had forgotten what it felt like to go out and do things days in a row, and quite frankly, I wasn’t sure I’d ever experience that again.
This was also the first time the four of us had seen our family since the transplant. It was a weird mix of joy and sorrow. It was good to be together, mourn together, and reminisce together. As hard as that was it was and is evidence of God bringing joy in the midst of pain; that He is good no matter what happens simply because that is who He is. God is good no ifs, ands, or buts, His character does not change with circumstance and that is why we can trust Him.
So again please pray for us all as we continue to process our grief and deal with the logistics to be sorted out as well.
I also have my final (Lord willing) ERCP this Tuesday at 8:45 am central (9:45 am est.) when they are planning on removing my biliary stents instead of replacing them. Pray that goes well and that I don’t get sick after it so we can finish packing up our lovely temporary home here and get back home to Northern Virginia.
To those of you who we got to see Thursday and Friday, both those we knew before and those we didn’t, thank you for coming to share your grief and condolences as well as for telling us how you’ve prayed for us through all this and have gotten to see God answer those prayers. You encouraged us so much. And to all of you who so graciously read this blog and follow our story and have joined Team Traf, thank you. Prayer I think we so often see as the bottom of the list of ways we can help people, but really it is at the top. I firmly believe praying for someone is one of the greatest things you can do for them.
Keeping Up with the Trafs 