It Still Seems Like Yesterday Sometimes

Today is a good day, a great day. Sissy won a writing contest and we are going to an awards event. It will be fun and Katie would have been so proud of her sister.

However, I am melancholy for some reason and missing the one that is no longer here. Sometimes the only way to get past the heartache is to face it... so I come to this blog for a tear which turns into a smile.

One year after Katie went to heaven, I wrote this song for her... I feel like this today...

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Seems Like Yesterday

Has it been a year
Since you grinned at me
And said I was your very favorite mommy
Oh, you loved to make me laugh

Has it been a year
Since you batted your eyes
And smiled . . .
It seems like yesterday

Has it been a year
Since we watched you play
And run barefoot in the grass on a sunny day
Oh, you were seven years old

Has it been a year
Since you cuddled with sister
And giggled . . .
It seems like yesterday

It seems like yesterday
Wasn’t it just one hour ago
Was it a moment we captured in time
Just how precious, we did not know

Has it been a year
Since I held you close
And sang the “Angel” song that you loved the most
Oh, I rocked you one last time

Has it been a year
Since you closed your blue eyes
And slept . . .
It seems like yesterday

Has it been a year
Since God spoke to you
And said, “I have your wings and your halo, too”
Oh, heaven called your name

Has it been a year
Since we said our good-byes
And cried . . .
It seems like yesterday

It seems like yesterday
Wasn’t it just one hour ago
Was it a moment we captured in time
Just how precious, we did not know

a song for katie by mommy
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"Sissy's Song"

Sissy & Kate-Kate (proudly posing with the Alan Jackson poster)

Sometimes God puts us in the right place at the right time in order to teach us a lesson. More often than not, it is a very simple set of circumstances ...

Yesterday, Shannon and I went shopping as part of our Girls Day Out. We were in the Treasure Mart, and I noticed that country music was playing over the intercom. As you may have read on a previous post, country music makes me very sad, so I was doing my best to ignore it.

Then I heard an unmistakeable voice - Alan Jackson. He was Katie's all-time favorite singer and her hero. The song they were playing was slow and sad; I didn't recognize it but caught some lyrics about heaven and angels. Needless to say, the song was on my mind the rest of the day.

I finally got the nerve to consult my "friend" Google to learn about the song I heard over the intercom. It is called "Sissy's Song" and Alan Jackson wrote it for a housekeeper who died suddenly.

What gets me most about this song is that Sissy is the name that Katie gave to her sister. We still call her this nickname to this day. Shannon's nickname for Katie was Kate-Kate (or often Meanie, depending on what was happening at the time.)

It's funny how a coincidence like this can make us feel like Someone in heaven is looking down with compassion and sending a tiny bit of comfort our way...

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Be Still... And Know...

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

~ Psalms 46:10

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Are There Birthday Parties in Heaven?

Baby Katie

Today is Katie's birthday - it is hard to believe that she would be 18 years old today!

I have often wondered about what heaven is like for Katie... is she still 7? Will she recognize us when we get there? Does she remember us right now as she sings with the angels? I know that my questions will be answered one day.

About a month before Katie was born, I wrote this song for her; it is to the tune of "What Child is This (Greensleeves)." I did not realize how prophetic some of the words would be.

Happy Birthday to my angel daughter.

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Katie's Song

Oh Katie dearest love of mine
As you lie gently sleeping
Ten thousand angels watch over you
A close watch on you they are keeping
Precious baby just close your eyes
Give in to dreams of such sweet surprise
Little one that the Lord gave to
A mom and daddy that love you

Oh Katie dearest of my heart
As you sit quietly playing
Your angel friends take care of you
And each one of them is praying
As you play with all your games
And books and dolls and toys
You will smile and remember them
And your heart be filled with joy

Oh Katie dearest little one
As I hold you in my arms today
I know you’re sent from heaven above
Oh what a beautiful babe
You are only ours to treasure
For a borrowed time I know
And we vow to take care of you
‘Til it’s time to let you go

for katie by mom 1991
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Self-Portrait

This is a picture of Katie by Katie...

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:1

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Happy Easter!

Katie - Easter portrait 1993

Spring bursts today,
For Christ is risen and all the earth's at play.
…Sing, creatures, sing,
Angels and men and birds, and everything …
~ Christina G. Rossetti

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