A rainbow in the sky (part II)

 

Sunday, we took up almost a whole row in church.  Claudia, Dad, Lauren, Ashton, Jennifer, James, Juliette, Jamie, Chris, Kaitlin, and I were there.  It was the Sunday before the fourth of July.  The choir was singing patriotic music.  I noticed Claudia was crying, and I assumed it was because of the words to the music.  Ashton was sitting between Claudia and me, so I put my arm around Ashton and patted her on the back.  Later, I asked Dad why she was crying.  He said it was probably the words to the song at the beginning of church because they are going to have that song sung in their wedding.  He told me she was a very emotional person. 

We went over to Claudia’s pool at her condo.  Before we went back to Dad’s house, we were standing in the parking lot, and she brought up the conversation about why she was crying in church.  She mentioned about the song being sung in their wedding.  She then said she looked down the row in church at all of us and thought, “I don’t deserve to be so blessed.”  I hugged her and told her we were blessed and everything will be all right.  Before I left to go back home, I hugged Dad and Claudia goodbye.  As I hugged Claudia, she said, “I love you.”  I replied, “I love you.” 

I talked with her today to make sure it was okay that I write about these things.  I told her it would just put an exclamation point on the book.  She told me I could write whatever I wanted to.  She said she did love all the girls and our kids.  She talked about Mom and how Mom and Dad raised us, and she said, “How it was a tribute to your mother.”  Everything to her was just a confirmation.  I guess everything is right, and it is God’s will.  But we are the ones who are blessed.  Dad could not have done any better!!

Dad approached me and told me he wanted to get a set of chimes to put at Mom’s gravesite.  I had been sporadically looking, and the other night I found just the right set.  On the chimes I bought, there was a beautiful angel playing the trumpet.  It was perfect!  I wanted to see if my sisters wanted to help pay for the chimes and suggested to them the chimes could be a “birthday present” for Mom, since her birthday was August 28^th.  I told them I could take the chimes to the gravesite when Dad got married.  I have a shepherd’s staff I will put the chimes on.   Everyone is going to chip in and pay for the chimes.  Ashton wanted to spend four dollars of his money to help pay for the chimes.

**The photos of the rainbows were taken when I was on a cruise not the night I wrote this posts.  It blessed me to see it.  The photo from today shows you how big it was.  It was the biggest rainbow I have ever seen!