God's will be done.......

Our dear cousin, Ryan Arnold, went to be with Jesus Tuesday night and we are all still coping with the news. It seems not true but yet the beauty in it all is Ryan saved his brothers life and was rewarded with eternity in Heaven.

So why this heart ache? Why this ache in my gut? My heart aches for his wife, Shannon, and their 3 adorable boys. Their world has been flipped upside down! Those boys now have to deal with life without their dad who loved them so much. Shannon has to deal with raising 3 boys into men without the help of Ryan. I'm just trying to wrap my mind around it all.

Ryan was an incredible man of God, husband, father, son, and brother. God and his family always came first. He had a smile that could light up a room and compassion for people just like his dads. Those that don't know the Arnold family personally cannot begin to understand the love this family has for one another. It doesn't matter if you were born into the family or married into it. Grandma Arnold sees us all the same.......her family.

I was fortunate enough to meet this family in May 1996 and joined them in Sept 1998. Grandma Arnold has become more of a grandparent to me them some of my own grandparents. She loves and worries about her family. Our cousin emailed me a picture yesterday of Ryan and put it so well "We love like no other........" and that is so true. We had our reunion in July and you could feel the togetherness, love, and pain that others were in. We celebrated upcoming adoptions and prayed for healing in those that needed it. Ryan and Chad were on our minds and hearts the whole reunion. Ryan actually got the call while at the reunion that he was a match for Chad and the surgery was a go. I remember asking him right after the call if he was ok. He told me "Its not something I am looking forward to but I would do anything to save my brother." So you did Ryan......you are a hero in my book. We didn't know what the near future was going to hold but we cherished every moment at that cabin in the Black Hills.

Our whole family is hurting, not in a way of devestation because we know that Ryan is in Heaven and he fulfilled his calling on his life. We hurt because we miss him and can't wait to see him again in Heaven. We rejoice at the fact that Chad is doing well and we can't wait to see what the calling on his life is. Fasten your seatbelts.......God is doing something amazing.