A Difficult Question

Source: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/question-mark-question-response-1019820/

I was talking to someone while I was at Simulations Week and they asked me how many siblings I had. That was a very hard question to answer at the time. Did that include siblings in heaven? I almost wanted to reply that I had four siblings, because that was my usual answer. But now it was different, because of the birth and passing of Abby.

Luckily, families can be together forever. In fact, Families Can Be Together Forever is like Abigail's theme song. We sang it to her when she was born as shown here:

I had been asking God for quite a while for a sister. That is exactly what I got last February, just not in the way I thought. I expected a sister that would live on earth for a long time, but that wasn't quite the case. Abigail is even more special than I had imagined. An angel sibling is still a sibling.

So obviously, this question was not as difficult as I thought it was at the time. I have five siblings. Layne, Ben, Daniel, Corbin, Abigail, and any other siblings that may be waiting in heaven to come to live on the earth.

And I want to share my life with them through all eternity.

Abigail's 3-Month Birthday

Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/babe-smile-newborn-small-child-boy-2972221/

Tommorow, Abigail will have been 3 months old. She would be chubby and nap a lot. She would be able to respond to sounds, and make them as well. She would begin to smile a lot and start learning how to roll around on her blanket. I would hold her every time I got the chance and look into her beautiful face.

Today I asked my family how they are going to celebrate Abigail's 3-month birthday (Daniel and Ben couldn't do it because they are at their grandparents house).

Here is the video:

https://youtu.be/U-N4p5tjXHo

And me? I'm going (try) to sketch a picture of Abigail and put it on one of my mirrors so that I can see it every day when I wake up.

Happy Birthday, Abigail!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! We went to visit Abigail's grave today. We are hoping that the grass over Abigail will grow green soon. My mom cut a tulip out of Abigail's garden to put it in the vase on her grave. I joked that this was because Abigail had only one lip.

I really apreciate how much my mom cares and loves her children, even though we are sometimes hard to handle (or always hard to handle). My mom wanted to visit Abigail and show her love for Mother's day, so that is what we did.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Abigail Angelo est (Abigail is an Angel)

Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/love-romance-nature-desktop-angel-3020862/

Deus est Bonus. Deus in caelo est. Dues angelos creat. Angeli sunt in caelo. Angeli Deum amant. Angeli cantant. Estne caelum bellum? Caelum est bellum.

What language are these words in and what the heck do they mean? Don't even try to ask Google Translate. I can asure you that it won't be acurate at all. In fact, it will be hilariously wrong.

So what do these words mean? I'll tell you eventually.

Abigail is an angel. No doubt about that. What exactly is an angel though? An angel is one of God's living creations that don't have a physical body.

This is the dictionary definition.

"a spiritual being believed to act as an attendant, agent, or messenger of God, conventionally represented in human form with wings and a long robe."

So Abigail must have been a messenger, right? I'm not sure about the wings and robe but the rest of it is pretty acurrate. There is more:

"a person of exemplary conduct or virtue."

Was Abigail virtuous? Is she virtuous? Does she have high morals? It's hard to tell since she didn't have long to live on this earth. She didn't do anything wrong, so she is not sinful. I don't want to say that she didn't do anything right because that would be far from true.

She brought love from heaven. She is a messenger of God and from God.

That first paragraph was in Latin. Here is the translation:

God is Good. He is in heaven. He creates angels. The angels are in heaven. They love God. The angels sing. Is heaven beautiful? It is beautiful.

Yes, heaven is beautiful. And so is Abigail.

Salt and Pepper

Sparky Mama, Binky, and Sparky

We got three chicks yesterday. We are getting 8 more soon to make 11. If you were one of my siblings the day we got them, you would see how protective I am of them. I still am that way a day later because I don't like it when someone picks up a chick by their wing or drops one from too high up.

This is because I've had chicks before.

The first chick that died in one of our homes was named Salt and Pepper. He was a gray ball of fluff with little black and white specks covering his body. He never did anything wrong and was the smallest out of all the chicks we had. Guess how he died? Pasty butt.

Pasty butt is when the chick's rear is covered in waste, preventing it from going to the bathroom. The waste builds up until the chick passes away. To prevent this, someone must wipe the baby chicken's rump clean of the waste with a warm, wet, paper towel.

Salt and Pepper never did anything wrong. But his owners didn't know there was a problem so, sadly, he had to go. It brings me comfort to know that Salt and Pepper is smiling down from the clouds, watching to see how carefully I take care of his kind.

He wasn't just a piece of meat and neither are any chicks. They are all creations of God that He loves very much. Abigail is one of his loved creations as well. She never did anything wrong, but she had to return to her Heavenly Father, just like Salt and Pepper.

And I think they are great friends.

Dedicated to all of the chicks who have passed away in our home.

Nature and Abigail

Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/chicks-easter-chick-easter-yellow-5014152/

Today my family and I went on a little walk around the block and were trying to notice nature all around us. What helped me focus on that was taking out my camera and recording animals, plants, and trees. I was grateful for the nature that God has given to everyone on earth and it made me wonder how heaven looks. 

Every living thing will be in heaven, including the plants and trees. Nature will be everywhere. The only difference between heaven and earth will be that heaven will look like Spring all of the time. The scriptures clearly tell us "...not a hair on your head will be lost" (Luke 21:18) and so will it be with the plants, trees, and animals. Not a leaf, branch, hair, feather, nor piece of fur be lost.

But how does this relate to Abigail?

Abigail's body was like all of ours. Imperfect. Jesus Christ's body was imperfect as well, but his spirit was completely perfect. So is Abigail's. I know Abigail is beautiful because all of the love she brought me.

We visited Abigail's grave after the walk and my mom told everyone to tell Abigail what we would give her when she is resurrected. Of course my mom stole the best one: "I will give you a hug and cry" so when it was my turn I responded, "What she said". 

I'm not just going to give her a hug, I'm going to give her a really big, brotherly, bear hug. When I cry, I'm going to cry a lot. And they won't be sad tears.

They will be joyful ones.

Thoughts About Abigail

I have not written in a while because I wasn't sure what I would say after Abigail left. I have different feelings everyday, but I always find myself in deep thought whenever someone says her name.

Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/baby-hand-infant-child-father-2416718/

Abigail's name means "gives joy" and is very, very accurate because of the angel she is. In Hebrew, it means "my father's joy" and though I'm not her father, she is my joy as well. In fact, she is her brother's joy. According to Wikipedia, Abigail is "an itelligent, beautiful, loyal woman" which I am sure she would have been if she had lived longer on this earth. It brings me peace to know that that is exactly how she is described in heaven right now.

You would almost think that Abigail would have been able to stay on this earth and that she would be completely fine. It would seem that the two cleft pallets would soon heal and there would only be two identical scars on either side of her face that would hardly be visible. Maybe her brain would finally fully develop and the placenta would be able to be carefully removed from it. She would grow up just like any other child except for her undersized feet and fingers.

But this was not to be. She would return home to her Heavenly Father in 22 and a half hours, letting every one of her siblings hold her before she had to do so. Abigail would leave her oldest brother in tears once he held her. He is now very thankful that someone had donated blankets and that he had one to cry into. He has promised that he would never wash the tears out.

If I had to use one word to describe Abigail, it would be love and--if you gave me another one--I would choose joy. Not just because that's what her name is, but because that is what she is. She is my hope, she is my heart, she is my joy.

And I am glad that she's mine.