It's been a crazy week...

Hello Family and Friends!
Most of you know that it has been a crazy week. Last week I taught band camp at TLU in Seguin. Scott was landscaping at his parents (in New Braunfels), so I spent most of the evenings and nights over there. Wednesday is either Bible Study or Home Group (alternating Wednesdays) so we were at the LaNoue's House. We left our phone in the car. When we headed out, around 9pm, we got the message that Scott's Grandmother, Nita, passed away at 7pm. So the week has been spent finishing band camp, doing funeral arrangements, travelling and every thing that has to happen when there is a death.
The death didn't come as a suprise, because Nita has been ill for a very long time. We're thankful though that it happened in New Braunfels (near family) instead of in Irving (where they had been living. They moved to NB in March). The Viewing was Sunday evening, the funeral Monday morning, and immediately following the funeral we drove up to Rhome, Texas (DFW area) to the graveyard for the burial. After the burial we drove back; needless to say, it was a very long day. I don't think we went to bed until one am. Scott sang a couple of songs at the funeral, it was at a Church of Christ so the music was all a capella. At the burial though, Scott sang some songs, led the liturgy and gave a very powerful homily (sermon) speaking of all that we take with us when we die: our relationship with Christ, our relationship with our family and friends, and an account of our life. He did a very good job and made me very proud. If it was baseball, he hit a homerun!
It's amazing how death can bring healing too. Family members that had been distant came and were able to reconnect before she died. Some, who didn't reconnect before the death, showed up at various services and were able to have their closure. It was very much a healing time for the family.
So now I'm at the comupter sharing all of this with you. It's been a week since Nita died. Thank you all who had known about this loss and were able to support us as Scott and I supported the family. I ask for your continued prayers for Scott's Grandfather, Ern. I can't imagine losing my spouse after three years of marriage, and they were married for thirty eight years. As I close this missive, I want to share with you an amazing story of death:
Wednesday, the evening Nita died, Ern was in the kitchen making dinner. The hospice nurse came in and told him the time was close. He sat by her bed and held her hand. Ern told Nita that he would take care of all the animals (she was an animal lover), and named them by name, and told her not to worry. The Hospice nurse had a tradition of reading Psalm 100 to her patients when they were about to die. She began reading. When she reached verse three: I will enter His gates with thanksgiving, I will come into His courts with praise. Nita squeezed Ern's hand and then released. She had died.
What a beautiful way to die. Psalm 100 is refered to as a Psalm of Joy. To me, joy is beyond happiness or sorrow, Joy is knowing your relationship with our Lord and Savior. To die in Joy, knowing exactly where you are going, knowing this life is not the end... I hope that when it is my time that I can enter His gates with thanksgiving and come into His courts with praise.