Elizabeth

  Last Friday, August 9th, was my dear Aunt Ruth's Funeral.  She is my mom's older sister.  She passed away tragically 2 weeks ago from accidental gas poisoning.  She was warming something on the stove in the night when the flame went out, but the natural gas continued to concentrate the air.  My Uncle slept with an oxygen mask on and we believe that was one of the reasons he was able to survive.  He was in very critical condition and hospitalized for almost a week though from all the inhalation.  My Aunt Ruth had two children-Thomas and Nikki.  Thomas passed away a few years ago and so Nikki dealt with a lot of her mother's tragedy on her own as her dad needed time to get well and heal in the hospital.  She had many worries on her plate with the funeral details and the caring for her father- to make it all even harder she was supposed to get married on last Wed., the 7th (but she was able to postpone it).  She was able to spend a lot of time with my family through that hard time. I gained a great admiration for her as I watched how she handled everything so well.  She was amazing and unbelievably strong- a great example of carrying on!    We decided to name our baby Kate Elizabeth.  I have always wanted to use the name Elizabeth, but didn't have a real reason behind it.  At the funeral I noticed my cousin Nikki's middle name is Elizabeth.  Now that everything has played out this way- I feel that this baby needs her middle name- she is going to need that strength that I admire in Nikki.  I also know that my Aunt Ruth is with this baby telling it to just wait.... and loving on her before she makes her way down.   I believe the veil between this earth life and heaven is very thin and although Kate is here with me she also is being taken care of by loved ones in heaven.