Easter And What It Means To Our Family

Happy Easter everyone,

I wrote this years ago at the DN, and since I’m writing with a club on one hand, I’m cheating by copying and pasting the following. I hope all of you have a blessed Easter, and please keep in mind the men & women in uniform who can’t be with their families today because they’re fighting to protect our freedom. A special thank you to all of them!

From 2015

I debated whether or not to write this, but I felt an obligation to do so. For me, the following story describes what Easter is, and for many, the hope it brings. I write this not only to explain the meaning of Easter to many of us, but also to honor our daughter’s memory. I haven’t said or written much about this in the 6 months since our daughter passed away, and I feel I should.

As many of you know, our daughter Natalie passed away in October when she was 28 months old. She had a small left ventricle, and underwent 3 open heart surgeries, a dozen catheter procedures, and many other things a child shouldn’t have to endure. You can check out our blog by clicking on this link if you want to see more about her journey, we kept it throughout her life on earth. Our friend put this video together for us last year, she just used images we had posted for family and friends on our blog and facebook. Natalie was a beautiful girl with an amazing spirit, and she touched many lives in her short time with us on earth.

Beautiful smile – Also, a Vikings fan (her jersey is signed by Bud Grant)

For us, as believers, Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. The importance of the resurrection is that we can have eternal life, and someday be reunited with our daughter. We believe that there is something much better after we leave this earthly body, and that we can once again hold Natalie and laugh and play with her again. We draw comfort in the fact that she is in a place much better than we can imagine, without pain and with a perfect body. Today, we aren’t mourning, we’re rejoicing in the fact that someday we will meet again.

Again, happy Easter everyone. I hope you all enjoy time with your families, and I hope reading this helped in some way. I also hope you all are eating something special today