What a day! We had Jhanelle's funeral today. This was my first experience at a Jamaican funeral. I wanted to go because of Jhanelle, but I also felt like I needed to go for Quest as well. I did not get to be at his funeral so it was good for me to be able to go and grieve for him as well. It was a beautiful service. Joel, Angie, Chad, and myself took Damille, Chavar, Shaquille, Lungpheng, and Dean with us. We were all surprised when we walked in and saw the size of
the casket. It was about 3 feet long and a beautiful pink. There were lots of people there to say goodbye to Jhanelle. People sang, read scripture and remembered Jhanelle's beautiful smile.
Our kids sang Jhanelle's favorite song, Jesus Loves Me. They did such a good job. Joel was asked to give a remembrance. Talk about emotional! I know that Angie and I were both losing it. He loved that little girl!! When the service was done, the pal bearers (Joel was one of them) carried her little tiny casket out of the church to the back where her grave was. It was a cement box partially in the ground. Jhanelle's aunt had painted the inside beautifully. It was pink and had some amazing pictures on the walls. Once they put the casketdown in, they covered the top with a sheet of plywood and began cementing the top. We stoodthere singing as they did it. Once they were done, we walked across the road to Jhanelle's moms house. They had a feast of food for everyone that had attended the funeral. We stayed and talked to Jhanelle's mom, Joy, for a while then headed back up to the Nest. Something pretty amazing happened during the service. The pastor presented the gospel and invited people to give their lives to Jesus. About 15 people stood wanted to accept Christ as their Savior, including Jhanelle's mom! It was amazing! So neat to see how God uses difficult circumstances in our lives to bring glory to himself! Because of one little girls death, 15 people now have e
ternal life! He is so good! When we came back up to the Nest after the service, we came back to no power. So frustrating! We were going to have the kids watch a movie and eat popcorn for their incentive, but the TV doesn't work when we are running on the generator. So they played a few quiet games and then headed to bed. I went down to O'Dell's for a bit to hang out in the dark. I called Becky and talked to her for a while. It was so good to talk to her! I miss her so much! I also got totalk to Laura for a while. We are trying to make plans for Thanksgiving so we can see each other. I haven't seen her since last Christmas! I miss her!! Well, that's enough for now. In the morning we are heading to Bay Life again! I am excited! Then we are off to the beach! Hopefully it is a great beach day! We haven't had a Sunday beach day in too many weeks!
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