rgryllsurn:uuid:c6c702df-a205-3ea9-5c40-baefd6d5eae72009-06-12T23:56:28-04:00rgryllsHiurn:uuid:52f6911f-29e9-7487-e28e-cf3a5d9075f42009-06-12T23:56:28-04:00
We are doing OK in many ways - the kids are fine, everything moves along, plans for the summer, visits to family, work, graduations, weddings, life...
Lael is expecting a baby (due at the start of November). We call the baby "Solomon" as a code-name. You bible scholars might get a chuckle out of that. :)
I only appreciated recently how brave Anna was in the last week of her life. When I am approaching death, I can only hope to face it with such fortitude and courage. She was such an inspiration.
We planted a peach tree, nectarine and plum in her memory in our front yard, on what would have been her third birthday, May 15th. We ate the first ripe peach today. It was sweet and delicious.
I still follow the progress of many near-drown kids around the world. I marvel at the progress that most all of them make, and wonder why Anna never made significant progress. She is for sure in a better place.
I will probably post some pictures of "Solomon" once he or she is born, otherwise I doubt I will be posting anything until then.
God bless you all, thank you all once again for your support.
Thank you Jesus for healing Annie B! Please give her a hug for me.
God bless,
Richard
]]>Updateurn:uuid:0c555b6e-cf79-bd05-1d88-386b838dcad62009-01-25T10:22:15-05:00
One was to write about all the decisions that we made during 2008 that didn’t get written down on this blog. We had to make some really tough decisions, particularly toward the end…
Another was to write about all the testimonies of reconciliation that have come from Anna’s life. I know of a number of broken relationships that have been mended.
Another was to write about forgiveness. The fact that we’re not sitting here, constantly thinking “if only…”, “we should have…”, “Why didn’t I…”.
But when I start to write about them I don’t make it past a sentence or two, and it dries up. So I guess God doesn’t want me to write those things down yet. I feel like I’m hibernating a bit. Just hunkered down for a while, looking at the snow outside.
On Friday we shipped off most all of Anna’s equipment, most to families we know who have kids in Anna’s situation. Her bed went to a local family. It’s good to know it will all be well used.
To Jack Miller (who left a wonderful comment on the last blog): Thank you. You have a true servant’s heart. We will stop by and see you sometime.
God bless,
Richard ]]>A few more thank-you's and other thoughtsurn:uuid:aa878b76-e848-b491-ecad-e0a281e79c372009-01-16T23:15:13-05:00
Many thanks to everyone who traveled so far to be at the funeral. My Mom and Dad, and Ju and Cindy, from England; Jay, Chris and Reuben from Arizona; Sy and Bridget from Washington; Lael’s Dad and Susie from Arkansas; not to mention all the Michiganders, Hoosiers and Ohioans! It meant so much to us to see you all there. The volume during the last verse of “Oh the Glory of your Presence” was just tremendous…
Many thanks to Bible Believers Church, to Bro. Craig and everyone who helped with the sound etc. To Bible Believers School, and everyone who helped set up and brought food. It took us a week to finish the left-overs! Thank you all.
Many thanks to Siferd-Orians funeral home, who gave all their services without charge.
To Bro. Ray, Brian, Ben, Lucille, Levi and Josh, and Bro. Franco and Sis. Kelli, thank you all.
To everyone who sent flowers, cards, gifts, and blankets, thank-you. The blankets are particularly handy right now, it was -16F (-27C) here at 8am this morning…
Particular thanks to the Israeli Ericksons, who sent an oak tree. It just happens to be my favorite…
And to everyone who contributed to Anna’s memory chest, thank-you, it’s beautiful. Here’s a picture. Thanks Brother Mast! We are filling it up with things to remember Anna by.
When Anna was here with us she brought so much clarity and reality to life. So many problems and cares of the world disappeared because they didn’t hold a candle to what she was dealing with. We cherish every moment we had together.
But life goes on. I am sitting writing this in the exact spot where Anna slept. We are planning a trip this summer. Basketball games. Snow. Meetings. So many things seem less important.
Emily saw Anna in her classroom one day at school last week. She was a young woman, and she walked around, her eyes worked, and she didn’t have a scar from her trach. I told Emily to cherish that memory in her heart forever.
Thank you Jesus for healing Annie B!
God bless,
Richard
]]>Funeral photos and videourn:uuid:435f9778-31df-01c2-0e9d-c4b45fe451092009-01-10T15:02:57-05:00here. WARNING - tissues may be required!!!
MANY thanks to Sis. Kohli for taking the photos.
The video of the funeral service is here. It's about 90 minutes long. BIG WARNING, boxes of tissues may be required!!! I won't be watching it for a few years at least... I just skipped through it and realized I didn't want to watch it at all...!
MANY thanks to Bro. Grillo and everyone who helped make the video!
God bless,
Richard ]]>Tribute to Annaurn:uuid:c6ad487f-1c31-9e1a-6e5c-edfa3fd09fd62009-01-08T23:13:28-05:00here takes you to the video that was playing at the viewing, and that played before the funeral service.
Turn your volume up to hear the music!
Thank you Jesus for healing Annie B!
We just got the photos of the funeral today, I will post them before too long. Hopefully the video of the funeral service will be ready soon also.
God bless,
Richard ]]>Anna Grylls update January 5thurn:uuid:85a63795-4a2a-a02f-1dc5-76621b09dec12009-01-05T12:37:35-05:00
I don’t have pictures or video yet, but I will post them as soon as I have them. They speak 1,000 words, so I won’t try now...
If you will allow me though I would like to try to explain one thing, which is to describe how we are feeling right now. Writing stuff like this down helps me understand it myself.
When Anna nearly drowned last year, and we spent those two months in Columbus Children’s hospital, for the first few days and weeks, it was just a shock. I traveled down there without even any shoes, just a pair of slippers, and without anything to keep me warm. I got a hold of a blanket and wrapped it around myself, and shuffled round the hallways of the hospital in slippers and a blanket. I felt like Job and his friends (Job chapters 1 and 2), sitting in ashes, just shocked and numb and grieving.
When Anna passed away last week, I felt much more like David when his son passed away (2 Samuel 12: 16-23). Now I need to make sure there's no misunderstanding – stop reading at verse 23, we are not claiming verse 24. Anyway, Anna battled for 17 months, and God was incredibly merciful to us to give us time to prepare our hearts. So when she passed away, the greater emotions were relief that she wasn’t suffering any more, and joy that she gets to run the aisles in heaven. We still miss her of course, and we grieve with everyone who loved her too, but the greater feeling is joy and rest for her.
I pray that all made sense and no-one misunderstands me.
More later once I have some pictures.
God bless,
Richard ]]>A few more funeral arrangementsurn:uuid:3f2517be-6f09-3e39-07b0-40a757f8a1332008-12-31T11:28:45-05:00
If anyone would like to make a donation, you are also more than welcome to do that. Unfortunately I haven't had time to decide exactly where any donations will go, but there are several charities that help children who have nearly drowned. I need to investigate them a little more to make sure any donations would be used wisely, and then I would choose one and give any donations to them. Unfortunately, brain injury is apparently the costliest type of illness or injury to treat, so there is always a tremendous need. Donations can be sent to me here at home, or care of me at Siferd's.
Thank you,
Richard ]]>Anna Grylls Funeral Arrangementsurn:uuid:aa690b1e-bd8f-0b6d-ccea-146397ce1b002008-12-30T18:04:08-05:00
Viewing will be on Friday, January 2nd, from 5pm until 8pm, at Siferd-Orians Funeral Home, 506 N. Cable Road, Lima OH 45805.
The funeral service will be held on Saturday 3rd January at 11am, at Bible Believers Church, 3500 Spencerville Rd, Lima, OH 45805.
The burial will immediately follow the service, and will be at Woodlawn Cemetery, 1751 Spencerville Rd.
We will then return to Bible Believers Christian School, which is located next to the church, for lunch. I will add more details about lunch probably tomorrow.
Everyone is invited to the visitation, to the service, to the burial, and to lunch.
We are really happy with all the arangements so far. The burial site is in a really beautiful part of the cemetery. Both our parents are coming, which is wonderful.
I was a little premature in the blog yesterday, when I said that the strangest part of the day came at 7pm, when Anna’s nurse for the night didn’t come walking through the door. The strangest part was when we went to bed, and I switched off the lamp in Anna’s room. Except for power outages, that lamp has been on for 15 months – ever since we got home from Columbus hospital. The room was awfully dark…
Anna, we are so glad you’re having a wonderful time in heaven today!
God bless,
Richard ]]>Anna Grylls update December 29th #2urn:uuid:fae54c1f-8ff6-a139-dc27-985ac087a71e2008-12-29T20:44:17-05:00so much for all the comments, texts, emails, calls, food... I’m reminded of how I started out the very first blog on Anna, 17 months ago: “We are awed and humbled at the outpouring of love we have felt in the last day over Anna. God's love has been poured out across this country and around the world, and we are so blessed to be a part of His family.”
We slept a lot today - the last week has been exhausting. It was a kind of emotional day, but in a good way. The children kept us laughing. I think we all “heard” Anna needing to be suctioned at some point during the day, or went to check on her, only to discover that she wasn't there… We are all just so glad that she is not suffering any more.
Since we spent the day sleeping, we have not been able to make any firm plans regarding Anna’s funeral, but we hope to get it all worked out tomorrow. Our very tentative thought is to have visitation on Friday evening, and funeral service this Saturday, January 3rd. But this is very tentative so please do not buy any airplane tickets yet – we will hopefully confirm everything by tomorrow evening. The location of the service etc. is to be determined but it will be in Lima OH somewhere. Everyone is welcome. Everyone.
For those who can’t make it in person, we are not sure whether we will be able to stream the service live on the internet, but we will at the very least video it and get it online as soon afterwards as we can. We’ll let you know.
We are also working on the question of flowers. We’ll let you know on that also.
The strangest part of the day came at 7pm this evening. Stephanie (Anna’s nurse for tonight) didn’t come walking through the door…
I will keep posting on this blog at least until after the funeral, and until all is said that needs to be said.
Anna’s life, and death, are to the Glory of God! Thank you Jesus for healing Annie B!
God bless,
Richard ]]>Anna Grylls went home this morning December 29thurn:uuid:faad0841-35eb-2686-4abb-580d97154dc02008-12-29T05:16:23-05:00
She was surrounded by her family and friends. All was peaceful.
She ran with endurance the race that was set before her.
Thank you all.
Above all, thank you Jesus for healing Anna! Revelation 21, 1-7.
More later.
God bless,
Richard ]]>Anna Grylls update December 28th #2urn:uuid:f18d22e7-912b-e967-3c69-e1e371315f002008-12-28T22:15:31-05:00
We didn’t get to go to church today, but we really appreciate everyone who came over and brought church to our house this evening!
We are just holding her and keeping her comfortable. Everyone is tired but we are OK.
Thank you Jesus for healing Annie B!
God bless,
Richard ]]>Anna Grylls update December 28thurn:uuid:a119dfa3-6a99-401a-87bf-66c1b7b0a2ca2008-12-28T10:24:38-05:00
Jesus, please hold her in your tender loving arms.
Thank you Jesus for healing Annie B!
God bless,
Richard ]]>Anna Grylls update December 27thurn:uuid:5e2196cd-a640-f793-3204-3848a4708cfc2008-12-27T21:10:27-05:00
Anna can’t lay down at all now. We are holding her 24/7. Our rocking chair’s cushion is getting seriously flattened… (btw, that’s a comment on the quality of the cushion, not the weight of the people sitting in it) :)
She also isn’t tolerating aerosol treatments any more – it’s too much moisture in her lungs.
There has been little if any response from Anna today. We are swabbing her mouth with pedialite and that is the only liquids she is receiving as everything else goes straight to her lungs. She is tolerating yoghurt into her G-tube just fine though.
As I mentioned this morning, we've been thinking about her current symptoms and wondering why her lungs are constantly filling up with water, and realized that they have been like that since way back in Columbus hospital, but we never once connected the amount of secretions with her heart. We now realize that she has quite possibly suffered from congestive heart failure from the beginning, but because she had the trach, there was an outlet for all that fluid. This may also explain why she has required constant suctioning and why she was always drooling pools of liquid out of her mouth and trach. Or maybe not.
We thank you all again for your prayers and support. Thank you Jesus for healing Anna!
God bless,
Richard ]]>Anna Grylls update December 27thurn:uuid:a1c3c1f3-0d20-b7dd-b641-4bfa23b0ff5d2008-12-27T08:26:42-05:00
She is quite weak now, even when she stresses out, she doesn’t have the strength to...
Hindsight is amazing. We’ve been looking at some old blogs and remembering past illnesses and struggles that Anna had. Now we see her current symptoms so obviously, we look back at how she was even more than a year ago, and appreciate that her heart and lungs have been struggling for a long time.
Lael got an internet radio for Christmas, so we are listening to Gospel music from Tennessee all day and night :) We have been sleeping on the couch the past five nights, so we aren’t too far away to help if needed. Sarah Mast is doing a wonderful job making sure we’re all fed and watered!
Thank you Jesus for healing Annie B!
God bless,
Richard ]]>Anna Grylls update December 26th #2urn:uuid:f2cea2c2-1215-0a38-38a1-7a14db1e25b52008-12-26T19:55:13-05:00
She has lost weight, and looks a LOT thinner than she did in the photos we took earlier this week. At times she has been extremely floppy, like a newborn, and seemed to prefer being held today and would get rather agitated if we laid her down, so we spent most of the day taking turns to hold and rock her - no lack of volunteers there! Her oxygen levels remain about the same, in the mid to high 80’s running on 3 liters of oxygen. Her lungs are full throughout and we have found that occasionally we are able to do a deep suction via her nose to help relieve that somewhat.
Meantime, in the next room, there’s Wii tennis, Wii bowling, Wii golf…
Thank you Jesus for healing Annie B!
God bless,
Richard ]]>Anna Grylls update December 26thurn:uuid:c1c510f7-cc56-1097-fa7f-008fb0bd204c2008-12-26T08:05:07-05:00
We are very grateful to Anna’s nurses, Sue, Nan, Stephanie and Janet, who often arrive with no clue what’s going on and just have to dive in and cope with it!
We covet your continued prayers.
If you feel led to come over to see Anna, you are more than welcome.
Wishing you all a peaceful Boxing Day.
God bless,
Richard ]]>Anna Grylls update December 25th #2urn:uuid:8bf13eeb-b833-258f-a190-89314086e8302008-12-25T21:44:27-05:00
Bliz, Jake, Em and Jonathan came back home this morning. The house is full of noise again! They wanted to come home to open presents, but they would have been happier if the presents had been delivered to Mary’s house!!!! We give many thanks to Mary and Darren for looking after them these last few days. We also continue to give very grateful thanks to Sarah Mast, she gave up Christmas with her family to be here with us. She has been an incredible help this past year. All praise to God!
Anna continued to deteriorate today. Her eyes were rolled back in her head for a while. Her blood oxygen is the lowest it’s been.
Her current diagnosis is congestive heart failure. Today she didn’t even tolerate an ounce of fluids over a 2-hour period.
She continues to be very peaceful. She opens her eyes occasionally, but not very often. Her eyes aren’t tracking any more – when you move her head, they stay fixed straight ahead.
If she continues at this rate, it is hard to see that she will be with us for more than a day or two.
Lord Jesus, please have mercy on Anna, please either raise her up and make her completely well, or take her home to be with you for all eternity. Whatever you choose, we give you glory and honor and thank you Jesus for healing Annie B!
God bless,
Richard ]]>Anna Grylls update December 25thurn:uuid:337deaeb-6033-f492-d46f-e485d7b3c3592008-12-25T08:53:58-05:00
This is a picture I took Monday, and below that a picture from this morning.
The teddy bear she's holding is the same one that lay by her side the very first night in the ICU in Columbus.
We wish everyone a peaceful Christmas Day.
Thank you Jesus for healing Annie B!
God bless,
Richard ]]>Anna Grylls update December 24th #2urn:uuid:5eec3fd9-1b17-c212-93fc-ffdf8fc339132008-12-24T20:18:08-05:00
Her breathing is now quite shallow, and there’s getting to be a longer pause between each breath. She’s not tolerating fluids (her lungs fill up), which of course is not sustainable for very long at all. She now has her eyes closed most all of the time.
Psalm 97 particularly struck me this afternoon:
The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad;
let the distant shores rejoice.
Clouds and thick darkness surround him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
Fire goes before him
and consumes his foes on every side.
His lightning lights up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
before the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
and all the peoples see his glory.
Jesus, we trust that You are in control of Anna’s situation, and that You will make sure you guide all our decisions and care of Anna. We trust you to heal her completely, and we recognize that You are the one true living God, and You will choose how to do that.
We wish you all a peaceful Christmas. We will be trying for a little Christmas time tomorrow afternoon with Bliz, Jake, Em and Bubba :) Apparently they are quite keen to open their gifts…!
Thank you Jesus for healing Annie B!
God bless,
Richard ]]>Anna Grylls update December 24thurn:uuid:052d3114-38da-c51d-c711-f2996642b0ce2008-12-24T08:46:14-05:00
It always takes 6 hours to go to the ER...
Her breathing is very shallow now.
Jesus, hold her hand.
if anyone would like to come see her, you are welcome. Just come by, but beware, the driveway is a sheet of ice. Literally.
I just skipped through it and realized I didn't want to watch it at all...!
Anyway, Anna battled for 17 months, and God was incredibly merciful to us to give us time to prepare our hearts. So when she passed away, the greater emotions were relief that she wasn’t suffering any more, and joy that she gets to run the aisles in heaven. We still miss her of course, and we grieve with everyone who loved her too, but the greater feeling is joy and rest for her.
