Honoring My Grandfather

This past week we did our first road trip with Malia to Oregon. It was a fun trip but also bittersweet given the circumstances. We gathered with my family to put my grandfather, Merritt Daniel Middaugh, in his resting place at the Willamette National Cemetery. The service was beautiful and it was so good to see all the people who gathered to honor him. My grandfather was an amazing man who I loved dearly, and it pains my heart that he is gone.

While at the funeral, I had the opportunity to meet the military chaplain who visited on a regular basis with my grandpa. My grandpa was of the generation where you didn't really talk about your faith, so we had very few conversations regarding our faith. After talking with the chaplain I felt more comforted knowing that my grandfather and him had many conversations about Jesus and his faith. I know he is with the rest of his family in heaven now, and I am at peace with his passing even though it hurts.

Yesterday at church we sang the song Your Beautiful by Phil Wickham. The lyrics moved me to tears as I thought about my grandpa.

I see Your face in every sunrise

The colors of the morning are inside Your eyes

The world awakens in the light of day

I look up to the sky and say

You're beautiful

I see Your power in the moonlit night

Where planets are in motion and galaxies are bright

We are amazed in the light of the stars

It's all proclaiming who you are

You're beautiful

I see you there hanging on a tree

You bled and then you died and then you rose again for me

Now you are sitting in Your heavenly throne

Soon we will be coming home

You're beautiful

When we arrive at eternity's shore

Where death is just a memory and tears are no more

We'll enter in as the wedding bells ring

Your bride will come together and we'll sing

You're beautiful

I see Your face, I see Your face, I see Your face

You're beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful

I pray that someday we will all arrive at eternity's shore, and there we will no longer feel the pain of death that we experience when we lose someone we love. I am thankful that the God I follow loves us so much that He sent His son to die for us so that we could have eternal life. Someday I will see my grandfather again, along with the many others I loved who have died.

Gathering with my family was a special time. It was especially important for me that my daughter Malia could meet her great-grandma. One of my favorite things was getting a picture of the women in our family, four generations gathered together. My grandma, her three daughters, my cousin, my niece, myself, and my daughter.

Left to Right: Aunt Patty, Me (Lisa), Malia, Mom (Debbie), Grandma (Dorothy), Aunt Marilyn, Stephanie, Alyssa.