Tonight we are at the end of all that needed to be done concerning the “Celebration of Spring”. That is what we called the memorial service for the baby of our dear friends. The last two days have been full of plans for the funeral (graveside service) this morning and the service tonight. But I’m pleased to report that it all went so smoothly and perfectly, I couldn’t help but keep pointing to God and giving Him all the glory. All through the planning process, with each of the ladies who were helping me pull off my dream of having a church memorial service, we kept sensing that God was directing our paths. At the end of this blog, I’ll copy the journal entry that Bethany wrote the morning after she delivered her baby. They named their little girl “Spring Promise”, and the journal tells you why.

I made myself a memorial necklace to commemorate the baby I lost earlier this month, as well as a souvenir of my trip to Michigan. It has “bloodstone” beads, which was the March birthstone for many years before the aquamarine replaced it, and it has petoskey stone beads which originate in Michigan.

This Friday we will have our annual “March Birthday Party” at my folks’ house. We’ll celebrate Michael, Miguel, Judah, Todd and my dad. Since I have three of those birthday boys in my care, I’ll need to do a fair amount of the preparation for the party. Michael has requested “anything with chocolate and peanut butter”. My mother and I will go together on a raspberry shortcake in Miguel’s honor, and I don’t know yet what I’ll do for Judah. He has recently started noticing buses around town, so I’d at least like to get him a toy bus, even if I don’t do a special cake for him.

Right now, I’m exhausted. I’m looking forward to a good sleep tonight and a day tomorrow that has nothing to do with a funeral.

So to close this out, here is Bethany’s journal:

Why Spring? Because Spring reminds me of so many beautiful things that are treasures to me. Thunderstorms with lightening making the darkness light, diamond raindrops flashing in mirror puddles, trees with tinges of green, pink, and red softening their winter starkness, small green shoots pushing their way out of the dirt, crocuses giving bursts of color in a grey mist.

Why Spring? Because winter is like death to me. The cold that sinks into your bones, the bushes frozen in stiff gestures. Every year I long for the first signs of spring - sudden rainstorms, that peculiar cast of light that is like light seen through translucent paper, new green leaves showing in the lavender. Spring has always reminded me that there is life after death, that a new morning will come, that after the end - there is a brand new beginning. That winter isn’t a permanent death. It is just life hidden, dormant. The bulbs that lie hidden in the frozen ground are ready to spring into life anew at the first touch of the sun. The skeleton trees that mourn all winter with their dead arms raised to the sky live again. They are clothed in blossoms and green life, and they dance with joy in the brisk spring breezes.

Why Spring? Because Spring is the physical representation of all of my hopes, and the yearly sign that my God is a God of life. Death is but a short season, and life is for eternity.

Why Promise? Because God has promised that from everlasting to everlasting, his covenant love is with my children. And because God does not change, I know that my littlest love is his special treasure also. I know that since she is now absent from her body, she in now present with Lord. Her little eyes that never saw the light that I see, are gazing into the eyes of the Lamb, who is all the light she will ever need. Her eyes feast on that which I only see in signs and shadows.

Why Promise? Because God does not break his promises. His words are certain and trustworthy. I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him until the day of His returning. And God, in His mercy and kindness to me, has given me a season each year that is a physical sign of the things that I don’t yet see, but that I long for. I can feel the warmth in the air and smell the blossoms that bring hope. I can see new life springing up out of its cold winter sleep, and remember that even in small things, God does not change. He promised that Spring would follow Winter as long as the earth shall last. And I see every year how He keeps his promises. And He has promised that those of his precious sons and daughters, whom He sings over with delight, who are not present with Him here on this earth are present with Him in heaven.

From the Journal of Bethany Ross