Dear Alvina

 

My mother-in-law passed away on July 9 after a long battle with cancer.  Alvina helped me raise my children as she moved here when my oldest was 6 weeks old.  I cannot tell you in words the gratitude I have for her help in our journey.  She will be greatly missed.  Here is the letter I read at her funeral and the video that Delaney made to honor her life.  Enjoy!

 

Thank you Alvina…

Thank you for giving me the best husband a girl could ask for.  You’d be really proud of him today.  He’s strong and kind and He loves the Lord with all his heart. You did well. So very well.

Thank you for babysitting my girls every Tuesday until they were in junior high.  That time for me was a gift that allowed me to do ministry, but that time for them was priceless.

Thank you for teaching my girls how to cook and bake.  The hours of rolling dough and cutting cookies will be lifelong memories for them.

Thank you for helping us start North Creek Church.  You brought a depth and wisdom we needed, but you also kept us all fed.  Our team became a family over your breakfasts.

Thank you for baking 700 scones for our first baptism service at the park.  That was a feat, to say the least!

Thank you for coming to nearly every event my girls ever had.  Basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, dance, graduations, recitals, and even a few appointments with me.  An one epic ER visit with Kennedy!

Thank you for making family dinners, birthday cakes, and breakfasts in the park.  You created an environment that helped Mark and I to slow down and remember how important family is, which may have been easy to overlook in those busy days.

Thank you for letting me tell you the hard stuff we faced in ministry.  You held our hearts up in prayer and that will simply be irreplaceable.

Thank you for having a Bible on your table every time we were in your home.  Your love for Jesus’ Word is a great legacy.

Thank you for asking me to smuggle in maple bars for dinner on our Monday night dates.  Everyone should eat donuts for dinner now and again.

And thank you for letting me be a part of the journey of cancer over the last several years.  After serving our family so well, it was one of the greatest honors of my life to try and serve you where we could. 

But mostly, thank you for holding tight to Jesus through your entire life.  He was always first in your heart no matter what you were facing.  That is the gift we will all cherish the most.

I love you, Alvina. 

 

Stacy

 

 

On Alvina’s last evening with us we were blessed with a nurse that loves Jesus very much.  Our nurse, Elizabeth, was playing worship music as she prayed over Alvina.  She was about to change up the songs when she felt the Lord say to her heart, “No, let it play.”  And the song “It is well with my soul”  poured out as Alvina took her last breath on this earth.  I am confident that it was very well with Alvina’s soul as she left a legacy of love here and met our Savior face to face.  Because of that, it can now be well with our soul.

Delaney made a video of Alvina’s life to share with us.