The Funeral

Hi everyone, what great friends and family we have! The out pouring of support, condolences, emotions, messages, and gifts has been truly amazing. To my sister, you gave us the opportunity to mourn and not have to think about the little things. You stepped in when I needed you most and used your gift of listening to me perfectly to create something that was “perfect” for me. To Alex you also took the pressure off of me and handled the details with perfect execution and maybe some pressure from Wendy. To Shannon you stepped up and took pressure off myself and helped Wendy to put Eli to rest with beautiful dignity. You gave us time to cry and build strength.

The Funeral was perfect. What is perfect for a funeral? The perfect funeral  in my eyes sums up what a persons life was like, their accomplishments, and the hope of a beautiful future. Elijah’s funeral encompasses all of this. It was held in a little chapel that sits between  two stunning golf courses, a water fall sits out in front and the chapel is filled with light. Stunning black and white photos of Elijah sit at the alter surrounded by lilac bushes of lavender and white. A memory box sits on the alter as well  with Elijah’s ashes next to it and a bouquet of roses and hydrangea. 26 of our closest family members sit in tears as they hold a picture of Eli and the Brave little soul poem. Paul our pastor reads from David and Psalms. Paul pulls passages from the blog to explain about Elijah being  named, he talks about Elijah’s strength and fight for life, he talks about our loss and grief, Paul describes what Elijah was brought to earth to accomplish by bring people together in compassion and love! Dan and Kristen who sang over Eli while he took his final breath in his earthly body, sing live the beautiful Music “Son of God” and “Trust”. Ryan Mae sings out loud with the music and I sway and feel all the emotions build inside from my time of kissing Elijah’s little body and singing these very words in Eli’s ear as he lay fighting for his life. I read the brave little soul poem for everyone, I look at the family while the kids sit crying for their baby brother and the other family members fight to hold in their tears for me. Paul closes in prayer and I hold Ron’s hand and tell everyone we will walk the kids over to lunch. The doors of the chapel open and the brightest sun ray is beaming through the door I feel the light and warmth on my face. It is Elijah I know it, he is happy and being held in gods arms.  Lexi is holding her daddy’s hand and Ryan has mine, Lexi looks at her dad and says “I cried so much dad that I am thirsty”, then she runs ahead with all the other kids. We walk and the kids laugh and skip down the street we are blessed. We arrive to a beautiful lunch on the veranda of the golf course where we are overlooking a wedding garden, the 18th hole and lake Eagle Eye. The food is amazing and we have little fairy gardens in the middle of every table for people to take home and everyone got a large lilac bush to plant in their yard “Eli’s bush”. It is perfect.