Tender Mercies

My heart has never felt so many different feelings in such a small amount of time. Matt's dad, Mark Hadley, passed away January 2nd, 2009 of a heart attack. Needless to say it was a great shock to our family. Although, my head spun and the tears began to flow uncontrollably as we sat in the waiting room at the hospital, I felt a sense of overwhelming gratitude for that short time we had with him the week before. As we have pulled together and faced the following weeks we have kept a list of the blessings, the tender mercies, that have come in all of this. How grateful I am for the privilege to be apart of such an amazing family. Each child and their spouse has been sealed in the Temple. We are all active in the church and it is because of the testimonies that we have of the Plan of Salvation and the Everlasting gospel that have given us strength to make it through. So many blessings have come and will come because of Mark. The Lord has allowed us to receive so much. We just happen to live 3 minutes away which gave Matt the opportunity to see his dad on a daily basis for the last 10 months. Porter just happens to be the only brown eyed grandchild. We get to look at him everyday and be reminded of Mark. Although these may seem small and insignificant, it's these very things that we consider tender mercies from the Lord. I am so grateful I got to know Mark. He is the only father that I have ever really known. He taught me how to laugh, he taught Matt how to work hard for his family, he taught our boys respect and to love baseball. I am so thankful for these tender moments that we had and we were able to share as a family. Thank you for bringing us closer together. I thank Heavenly Father for the time we were given to have him as part of our lives and for the desire to work that much harder so we can be together again someday. Carry on.