I wasn’t planning on including this Lincoln Brewster song until it became a constant in our soundtrack after what happened on Father’s Day…

It was our first Father’s Day without Michael, and we had all forced ourselves to push through our feelings, to not be too punchy with each other [even though we were all SO VERY GRUMPY], and to get out of the house to Cre8 with friends.

That night, something so astonishing happened. The kids had already shut down their electronics for the night and were in their beds. My phone battery was dead, so the house was silent [I play Mike’s recorded messages every night from a wifi speaker in the center of the house, but hadn’t started it yet because I still needed to plug in my phone]. I was standing at the bathroom sink brushing my teeth, and THIS SONG started to play from our music room speaker! From the very first note of the song, it played, and at the end of the song, there was no more music.

While the song was playing, I went to check on the kids — toothbrush still hanging from my mouth! — and they were both in their beds with tears and smiles. This meant the most to Jeffrey because he had been praying from December to June to have a dream with Mike in it. Both Sadie and I had by that point, and he was still waiting for his sign of comfort. This was the first. And so much for my son. And on this most difficult Father’s Day. So, of course, J. Michael needed to lead this one.

This was one of Mike’s favorite songs and he wanted wholeness and healing for families more than anything. When J Michael and I would lead this song at Cre8 Family Gatherings, Mike and Sadie even had their special dance moves that they’d do together.

If Mike wanted other families to find healing and to be made whole, then how much MORE would he want that for his own?

The next day, we got in the car to go somewhere, and when I started my Pandora shuffle, THIS SONG played FIRST. Right away, in fact!

So, the kids were wholeheartedly convinced that this was a sweet message from their Dad on the first Father’s Day separated by the unseen!

I’m going to leave it at that, and show you some images of us playing in the leaves last week. [the kids chose red and blue for the clothes for the photo shoot. Why? Superman, of course!] We are doing our best to rise and to go, to heal and to stand. I know that we are on a journey of restoration and wholeness. And that’s okay. We have made it through a full year of seasons. Winter felt like everything had died, but nothing is truly dead in the winter — the season breaks open in the spring, flourishes and shines during the summer months, and now here we are in the fall and winter once more. If there is one thing that we’ve learned, it is that EVERY season leads to …
LIFE.

Even death.

So, enjoy the leaf wars… I even included a fun shot of us with Nana in her new sassy purple tinted hair [it’s a season]!

Another side note: when we were finishing the images with Nana, there was a BUTTERFLY in the cold!
Signs of …
LIFE.

May your heart wrap around these lyrics today.

Be Made New!