Service to Celebrate Mom's Life:

A service to celebrate Pam’s life is scheduled at 4:00 PM this coming Friday February 11th at the Jerome Prairie Bible Church, 2564 Walnut Ave., Grants Pass, OR. A potluck dinner is to follow.

If you are not able to attend the service for my mom on Friday, you can watch it life at:
www.digitalvibemusic.com/live_event.html

Precious Moments: the Morning my Mom saw the Face of Jesus:)

Psalm 116:15says, "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants."

The morning that the Lord took my mom home to be with him was truly an amazing, beautiful, and peaceful experience!

I woke up to my alarm going off at 4:25am, the reminder that it was time to give mom her meds. My sister Joy was already sitting by mom's side. She told me that mom was having very unusual breathing and her touch was beginning to be cold: we knew things were getting close. After waking up Dad and calling hospice, we were told that mom had 3 minutes to 3 hours left. All of the family gathered around mom, and Geni Shields came over. Dan recieved my text message (that was a miracle in itself: he was staying at a house with no cell/internet connection, but had been able to get a small signal). John and Kenize were not there yet.

It was not the scary, sad experience that I/we had thought it would be; rather, a uniquely peaceful experience. Dad began to read some Bible verses and prayed with mom one last time. He told her how much he loved her and how she would be immensely missed! Josh was serenading mom on the piano; she always loved Josh's music, and it calmed and quieted her heart many a time.

Dad was reading the 23rd Psalm to the family, Joy and Dan were keeping track of her breathing and pulse. Just as Dad got to the end of the Psalm, "...And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever," mom took her last breath. In that same moment, John and Kenzie came through the living room door and walked in to hear Dan say, "That was it! She's gone."

What followed was moments of peace and awe, mixed with tears. The most amazing thing of all was mom's face a few minutes later. She was smiling! Just a few minutes earlier, she had no smile on her face, but in that moment, she had the smile of a child who was seeing Daddy after a long time. That smile has given me an extra measure of faith that mom saw Jesus right then and there as her soul left earth and entered the glorious presence of Jesus!

A Time to Say Goodbye

Over the course of the past few days, we confirmed with hospice that mom's time is near. So much has happened so quickly these past two days. She is now unresponsive and we are expecting that our time with her is probably 24 hours or less.

Last night, Pastor James and Suzie came over to lead our family through a time of releasing mom. I know this might sound a little strange, but it was actually really good. We all took our time to say our last words to mom, tell her we love her, and let her know its ok for her to go. I know each of us will cherish that time of closeness and sharing together, forever. We don't know if mom heard us or not, because she was unresponsive. However, as I have said before, many people can still hear while in an unresponsive state. There were some signs that she heard us. To everyone present, she was the center of attention, and definitely heard us!

Thank you for your prayers. We know our time of grief has only begun. Yet, God remains faithful and good, right? The Cunninghams send their appreciation and love to everyone of you!

A Theme of JOY :)

Yes, a Theme of Joy has emerged in the face of a tragedy. "What an oxymoron!" You may be thinking. "That isn't the word I would think of when pondering the death of someone I love so much." But, yes, it's true. Throughout the past few weeks, God has been repeatedly bringing this theme to mind.

Just the other night, I randomly opened my Bible to Psalms 98-100. As I read, the apparent theme of each psalms was... Joy! The next day, a teacher/friend from New Hope emailed Psalm 100 to me, as her class was beginning to do some work with that passage and she thought it would be encouraging for me.

Psalm 100

^1" Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

² Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

³ Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."

The week before I left to stay home with mom, God brought this theme to mind in my classroom. That particular day, I asked my students to share different Bible verses and songs throughout the day that had to do with joy. I am blessed with a class that likes to participate. We were not short of songs and verses!

So how can a person have joy in a trial? If one's heart trusts in the Lord, there is hope and a future...a wonderfully, unfathomable future! Death is not the end, but a beginning. Trust me, I don't even begin to understand this, but I know it is true for my mom. And God does give joy in sorrow.

I am not trying to say that I never have a sad day or cry. Rather, knowing Jesus brings joy in the midst of sorrow. It helps us to keep our heads up and move on...towards hope.

Isaiah 61:3

"...and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor."

This, my friends, is a glimpse of Heaven!

Mid-Week Update:

Its been a few days since I've posted, so I will give you a generic overview of how mom is doing. On Tuesday and Wednesday, she was eating still, yet less every day. She is taking in very little fluids as well. Her nurse encouraged her to stay near the bed, but she is a very determined lady and has wanted to come out to the living room to be near her family (with help, of course) on Tuesday and Wednesday. Today (Thursday) she is staying in her bed and we are coming to her.

She has been napping more and more, waking up here and there. Some people have told me that when a person is towards the end, they are still able to hear what is going on, even though it looks like they are sleeping, or not able to verbally communicate. That has been true of Mom! She is pretty aware of what is going on and will join in conversation here and there. When she speaks it is getting harder to understand her.

It's been so good to be here with her, even though every day we see her fade away a little more.