The preparation for Mettie's funeral (May 10-May 15, 2014)

Saturday, May 10, after Mettie died we visited the Mesa Cemetery.  My parents bought 4 plots a few years ago.  My mom wondered why my dad would buy 4 plots but she now knew.  We are grateful for their intuitiveness.  They gave us two of them.  It is comforting to know we will be by each other.

Later that day we went to Bunker Mortuary to plan and pay for Mettie's funeral.  We picked out a small beautiful white casket.  It was metal and had handles so her 3 brothers and dad could carry her together without any problems.

Sunday, May 11 (Mother's Day), we opted not to go to church today.  Instead we found ourselves at the Mesa Temple.  We watched a movie in the visitor center called "He is Risen".  We had just experienced Mettie's passing and then watched Christ's death and resurrection.  We were able to really talk to our children about the second coming, where Mettie is and that we will see her again.

Monday, May 12, You would think we could get a lot done with Matt and I home but we struggled the rest of the week.  It is hard to describe what we were feeling without Mettie with us. We went back to the cemetery, they showed us the new area and we felt more at peace there and found four plots together under a tree that will only get bigger and provide shade.  We exchanged plots.

Tuesday, May 13, We tried to finalize the funeral program but things kind of changed all week until Friday morning.

Wednesday, May 14, I actually forgot it was our wedding Anniversary until Matt said to me, "Happy Anniversary."  We went to Cox Printing to pick out Mettie's Funeral programs, add pictures to it and pick out font.  Matt and I then went to lunch together.  We have been married 15 years, 7 beautiful children.  We would have never thought this is what we would be doing on our anniversary but this trial has bound us together.  We miss Mettie so much but are so very grateful that she is a part of our lives.

Thursday, May 15, Matt and I went to the hospital where we had spent all of Mettie's life at.  We wanted to thank them for taking care of our sweet Mettie.  A flood of emotions came over me.  Oh how I wanted to be able to walk back into room 5106 and be able to see, feel and kiss my baby again.  We are very grateful for all the doctors, nurses, and medical staff at Phoenix Children's hospital.

We then went to the Mesa Temple.  We needed to go out of gratitude for our answered prayers and for all the tender mercies we experienced in Mettie's short 26 days with us.  Life needs to continue on, we have 6 amazing children that we still need to care for.  Tate and Ellie both were invited to their school's award assemblies for tonight.  So we divided up and cheered our hardworking kids on!