saying goodbye...

Yesterday, we said goodbye to a friend.

A friend who was only 43 years old.

A friend who has a wife and 4 children.

A friend whom we will dearly miss.

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Scott and Jeremy have known each other for over 15 years. Their friendship began when JP worked for Scott - actually, JP worked for Scott, Scott's dad, and Scott's brother at various times. Needless to say, he learned a lot from the Higbe family.

Scott has been sick for the last few years - he was on dialysis and awaiting a kidney and pancreas transplant. About a week and a half ago Scott received the blessing of a new kidney, but unfortunately, the kidney did not work like it was supposed to, and Scott passed away on Saturday.

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Death is never easy. For anyone. I know this.

And I've always struggled tremendously with the loss of someone special. But it seems when you lose a friend, as opposed to a grandparent or older person, it's a different kind of sad.

Disclaimer: I'm going to be very honest with my next thoughts.

I believe very strongly in God, and I have total trust and faith for what happens after we (as Christians) die, but then there's that human part of me - my emotions, my heart.

I know that God has a plan for all of us, and I know that we are not to question His plan, but over the past few days I continually found myself wondering WHY?

Why Scott?

Why so young?

Why did Heather have to lose her husband?

Why did those children have to lose their father?

Why did his parents have to lose their son?

Why....well, you get the picture.

I've done A LOT of praying about this - that God would not only give peace and comfort to Scott's family, but that He would give me peace and comfort and understanding.

As I sat down at Scott's funeral, I said a quick prayer for the family and then I sat there, waiting for the service to begin.

My mind wandered a bit, and if I'm being honest, the only thought I had for those few moments was:

Thank you God. Thank you for allowing me to sit on this pew, with my husbands arms wrapped around me. Thank you for blessing me with him. Thank you for giving us one more day together.

When I realized what I was thinking, I immediately felt guilty.

Now, I know that it's not wrong for me to be thankful for my husband. In fact, I'm usually not thankful enough when it comes to him, but I guess the fact that we were sitting at someones funeral, whose wife just lost her husband and would probably give anything to have him sitting there with her, is what made me feel bad.

I cannot fathom the loss she feels.

I cannot imagine the emptiness inside of her.

I cannot figure out how her life will go on.

Then I remember she is not doing this alone.

She has a loving God who will help her through this - who will give her strength beyond anything she has probably ever experienced before.

She is not alone.

We are not alone.

And that is something that can never be taken away!

While we are still very sad over the loss of Scott, I have the comfort I prayed for. I know that Scott lived the life God planned for him to live. And while it may seem like it was a short life to us, we are never promised tomorrow.

The following are two of the scriptures that were read at his funeral. When I heard them read, it was almost instant comfort:

'The Lord watches over the strangers;

He relieves the fatherless and widow;

But the way of the wicked He turns upside down.'

Psalm 146:9

And one of my favorite Psalms:

The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

For You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord

Forever.

Psalm 23

my miracle

We had the opportunity to go back to WeeSee yesterday. It was amazing to see that sweet little girl moving around in there! She has changed so much in the past 8 weeks since we last saw here. Here are some of the ultrasound pics - it's still hard to say who she looks like. Only 12 weeks left until our due date:)



sticking out her tongue



sleepy girl



profile




she's a very active girl - check out the foot in front of her face

sweet face

pouting already????

chubby cheeks

my sweet girl

Update on the nursery - we finally got it painted this week. The furniture and bedding has been ordered and should all be here in the next week or two! As soon as we get all of that set up, I will post some pictures:)

Happy New Year

I absolutely cannot believe that it is already January of 2010! So much has happened over the past 10 years - and to be honest, it's a little scary when I think about just how fast time has gone by. It's a little bittersweet. I certainly wouldn't change anything in my life - I love where I am at and who I have become, but it scares me to think that another decade has come and gone.
Ok, so enough of my hormones talking, back to the post.

My students keep Writer's Notebooks, which is where (as you probably guessed) they do a lot of their writing. Anyways, I was looking back through mine today and found where I had written my resolutions for 2009. It brought a smile to my face thinking how much my life has changed in just one short year - 12 months - 365 days.

For instance, we finished building our house. We moved into our house. We found out we were pregnant. We found out we are expecting a sweet little girl. We both now call ourselves Christians.

We are certainly in a very different place in our lives - our family has changed, some friendships have changed, and we have several 'new additions' in our circle of friends. We've seen heartache this year and we've cried tears,but we've also seen miracles and happy times. And those, by far, outweigh the bad stuff.

If I had to describe 2009 in one word (because one day someone might really ask me to do that), it would have to be BLESSED!

I hope that as you look back on your 2009, you can see all of the blessings God has given you!

Here's a look back at our 2009:

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Now, we have reached 2010! Needless to say we rang in this New Year a little differently than normal:

Hey, at least we made it until midnight:)

So far, 2010 has been a pretty good year.

We found our nursery furniture that my mom (aka GG) is buying for us!

AND, we ordered our bedding that JP's parents (aka Grandmama & Papaw) bought us!

And on the way home from shopping for that nursery furniture I mentioned above, I hit a deer!

Not the best part of 2010 and hopefully not a sign of things to come!

But that's ok, because we have reached 25 weeks of pregnancy. So, only 15 to go!

Much love,

The Pyles