~^~Diary Of A Godly Mom And Dad~^~

 
~^~ Diary Of A Godly Mom And Dad ~^~
Dedicated to : David and Cindy Lester
 
Days on end Maddie's Mom and Dad kept an online diary
Keeping the world updated on their precious Lil' Maddie
The strength they drew daily from up above
Is a living testimony of God's abundant love
 
Even right up to the very end
Their inspiring words brought comfort within
If their faith could be bottled it would help others through
That is why I felt inspired to share some with you
 
The love and faith of a Godly Mom and Dad
With trusting in God what strength they both had
Although Maddie had days of both bad and good
Applying the scriptures brought life they understood
 
They never wavered no matter what they heard
For the peace they knew was found in God's word
Each one of us could benefit from the faith they shared
As they also drew strength from prayers everywhere
 
I shutter to think what Maddie's final day would be
If they hadn't felt the peace of The Almighty
But faithful He remained and they did too
Below I'll now share what blessed me with you
 
Lovingly In Christ ; Pastor Linda Begley
Jan. 23, 2008
Wednesday January 16, 2008 (Maddie went home to be with Jesus)

We are crushed today.Last night Madeline's pupils failed
to react to light, so an emergency CT scan was ordered.  
The image revealed that Maddie's precious little brain had
hemorrhaged and was severely swollen.  We were hoping and
praying for good news, but the opposite came.  
Maddie was pronounced brain dead last night just past midnight.
  We said goodbye and took her off of all life support and
 she died peacefully in our arms at 10:15 this morning.
We are stunned and speechless.  Our hearts are broken,
and we are so very sorry to have to announce this news to
all of you faithful and beautiful people.  
Today the King of Kings welcomed our princess home.
 The worst day of our lives was the best day of hers.

We are on the way home right now to let Anna & Sam down.  
They love their baby sister more than words can express,
so this will be a hard one.  Please pray for peace for our
 family in the weeks ahead.  Leaving the hospital today was
like leaving our best friends.  Every day for six months,
the staff was our family, and then in one day it was all gone.
There is joy somewhere in all of this, but I cannot see it yet.
 I am praying for that clarity.

Sunday January 20, 2008
Cindy writes:
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every
activity under the heavens;
a time to be born and a time to die...
a time to weep and a time to laugh...
a time to mourn and a time to dance...
a time to be silent and a time to speak..." Ecc. 3:1-8
How interesting this verse. All of the things in it that
Dave and I and our family are doing right now are just the
opposite of what Madeline is doing. We are crying, weeping,
mourning, but she has been born anew and is now finally dancing,
laughing and speaking her little heart out!(Oh how that child could speak!!- shhhh! Was not a concept she understood). It is true though,
our hearts have quite the Maddie shaped hole carved out of
them right now and it hurts. It is just too painful.
However, it does not diminish our hope and we praise God
that this all is not truly over, it is merely a time out.
 It is something like this that helps to keep us from
clinging to this old world too much. It is something like
 this that helps us to long for heaven, and that is good.
I do believe that's how it's supposed to be.

The visitation went very well and I am delighted to say that
there were over 72 pints of blood donated yesterday
(probably just a drop in the bucket to all that Mad's had
consumed in the last 6 months, but it's a start).
You can still donate in her name and honor at any blood bank
 - we think it is such a wonderful act of love. I can't tell
 you how it blessed us to see so many people come out to give
of their selves that way. It probably would have been much
 much higher but they just ran out of beds, time and volunteers.
 Wow. I couldn't imagine doing a "visitation" any other way.
Maddie was not your average kid, and therefore no average
service will do.

There were a whole lot of people that came out. It was mind
 blowing the love and support that was poured out upon us.
We had people come from Spokane and Puyallup, (not to mention
our families from Kentucky and Tennessee), the chaplain from
Children's came, as did some of our nurses and our favorite
Children's family and even one of Maddie's doctors appeared
(a little bit late, so we took him home for dinner)!
It was amazing. And most of all, we made it through.
I'm finding the verse, "as your days are, so shall your strength be.
", to be true to word. These are the hardest, saddest days of our
lives. My heart is groaning within me, and yet, the sun came up again today. Glory be to God. Dave and I will both be writing some
thoughts later in the week about all of this. But until then,
 please just know how much we've appreciated all of your words,
 all of your prayers and all of your love. You have cocooned
us with it, and we can tell.


Tuesday January 22, 2008
David writes:
 
When I rose yesterday morning, the first thing I did was pray
that the day would pass quickly, convinced that it would be
one of the hardest, saddest days for our family.  All week
I envisioned my legs buckling at the sight of Maddie's casket.
  I imagined falling on my face and sobbing at the cemetery.  
I thought about Anna and Sam and how they would be affected
by the overwhelming gloom of the day.  But you know, none of
those things happened.  There were occasional quiet tears and
a few runny noses, but somehow peace prevailed.  I looked over
 at Cindy a number of times and asked, "Are you okay?"
and she looked back at me with the same curious disbelief
and said, "Yeah, I am."  I could not understand why we were
not overcome with the grief I was expecting.  My suspicion
was that all of you ever-faithful prayer warriors were still
 lifting our family up (a fact that was confirmed by the
 flood of emails and guestbook entries).  I failed to take
the advice in Philippians 4 that says, "Do not be anxious about anything . . ." but the next familiar verse that says
 'God will provide a peace that transcends all understanding'
 showed up anyway.  I've said it.  I've read it.  
Now we have experienced it.  Madeline endured long-suffering
and managed to wear a smile through most of it.  How could we
 possibly do less?  In the end, the day went by too fast.
    Attendance was completely overwhelming, which blessed us
 tremendously, but also left us wishing we had had more time.
 I can think of a dozen people right off the top of my head
who caught my eye, but were never able to make contact.  
There were so many familiar faces from our families at
Christ Memorial, New Life and Cornerstone Churches.
 Then there were numerous families we had never met before,
who learned of Maddie through friends of friends,
and had been praying for her and following her story.  
Some of them traveled a considerable distance to say
hello and goodbye.  Finally, there was the hospital staff.
 We knew Becky and Maree were coming, because they were in
the program and we figured that a few others might make it
as well, but we had no idea that half the team would show up!
  Just about every department and discipline was represented,
 with doctors, nurses, specialists, therapists, etc.  
It felt like we were on rounds for the last time.  
You cannot imagine how much it meant to all of us to
see you there.  (Actually it kind of ticked me off,
because I was holding it together until you showed up!)
 I know there were many more who wanted to come, but couldn't.
  You were in our thoughts as well.  Maddie loved you all.
    We were overrun by people telling us it was the most
beautiful and uplifting and hopeful funeral they had ever seen.
  We agree.  We are so grateful to everyone who shared our
Madeline and contributed to make it a perfect day.  
The message was perfect.  The music was perfect.  
The weather was perfect.  The walk from the church to the
cemetery and up to the hilltop was perfect.
The reception was perfect.
  And the food . . . Did I mention the food?
 No one is going hungry in our house, thanks to the
never-ending river of food that is flowing through our front door.
  If eating is supposed to ease pain and sorrow,
then I am the happiest guy on earth!Can we just say thanks to
 everyone for everything?  You are in our hearts and on our minds.
    When the curtain came down and the crowd dispersed,
Cindy and I had a chance to walk back up the hill and share
some quiet time alone and consider the day.  The sun was just
setting over the Olympic mountains and Liberty bay below was still.
  It was hard to look at the ground and imagine her buried there,
 having just had her in our arms last week.We tell the kids that
that is just an empty shell, but I still long for it.
 – just human I guess.  I have lump in my throat that I can't
 quite clear and my voice cracks if I travel too far down
memory lane.  She lived with grace, but I never would have thought
 a three year old could die with grace.  Then again, Madeline
did a lot of things that surprised us.
    We're not sure what the future of her legacy will be.  
Some folks have mentioned keeping the web page alive, but
Maddie was pretty much the cornerstone of that effort.
 We believe that God used Maddie for His own glory.  
He spared her by taking her out of this place, but I cannot
 believe that the He would have wanted the ministry to cease.
  It has always been bigger than us and we really want to keep it.  However, when Maddie was first diagnosed and we searched the
internet for information on her condition, we found no hope
in stories that ended in death.  For that reason we agreed
when we started Madeline's web site, that we would take it
down in the event of the ultimate bad news.  We don't want
to sap the hope from another family.  We will be praying and
listening for direction in the coming weeks and months.
 Maybe we'll slap the story in a binder and publish it.
http://madelinelester.com/   << You can see more while her
site remains
More Pics Below :

Please Comment On This Poem Select a comment or add your own Great Work! Awesome Site! Love It! Two Thumbs Up! looking forward to more! Comments  Email Address   Vote for this poem