Beauty Through Pain

A lot has happened since last I wrote, and I apologize this post may be long. Last Friday my Grandpa Harold Roedema passed away. So rather than waiting until Wednesday to fly to Michigan (as I was planning for my law school visit), I flew in to Grand Rapids Saturday. I’m so thankful that everyone was so flexible with me. I had a great experience on one of my flights. I sat next to two women who were Christians, Brenda and Nina. Nina Fuller is an author of some books about children with special needs and also speaks at conferences. We talked about life and faith and my grandpa’s death for almost the whole flight. After getting off the plane they wanted to pray with me.

Our family definitely experienced sadness in these past days. This was the first time my parents and brothers have lost anyone close, so it was a learning experience for all of us. We spent plenty of time crying and hugging one another. We spent most of Sunday at the funeral home and then yesterday was the funeral. I had the privilege of singing with two of my cousins. We sang “There is a Fountain”, a song Grandpa had wanted at his funeral. Though I was nervous about singing at a funeral and did not want to start crying, everything went very well and I was even able to look at my family and my grandma without crying. It was probably one of the most meaningful performances I have ever done. My brother and Dad also took part in the service and everything was beautiful.

Despite the sadness, our family experienced much joy over the past days. We were able to have our whole Breen family together, and almost every member of our extended family. I met Jericho for the first time and to have my parents, brothers and sisters, and babies together all at once was so wonderful! My grandma got to meet Jacob and Faith for the first time too.

The fact that Grandpa was no longer suffering was wonderful for us to know. He had such a strong faith and every time I talked to him he said he told me he prayed for me every night. I think he was always a little nervous about my interest in politics and talked about how corrupt it all was (though he had very specific political views of his own). The last time at Christmas when I was talking to him though, I told him how I was interested in doing family law and helping people in need. He seemed much more excited about that. I admired him for so many reasons and hope that when I am his age my faith will still be the most important thing in my life and that it will be evident to others.

So it’s been a roller coaster of emotions over the past couple of days. Most of the family has gone home now. I have the rest of the week here with Tim and Tami, so I’m going to try to rest, spend time with family and friends and check out a law school.