Death, where is your sting!?

These last few days have been HUGE. Physically, mentally and emotionally tiring...
I had the honour of being asked to do all the flowers for Roses Funeral... a little daunting as I have never done a casket arrangement... but still an honour and privilege. Ordered flowers Wednesday afternoon, picked them up from the city Thursday morning, de-thorned (if thats a word) 160 roses by Lunch time, wired about half of them that afternoon...Friday I finished wiring and arranging them...and then... made 70 Corsages! Finished about 4:30pm and drove it down to the Edwards family to take to Brookton that night for the funeral  the following morning! Home by 6:30pm....

Roses only seemed appropriate for Rose :)

Saturday was the funeral at Roses home town in Brookton. About 2 hours drive from our place.
It was a gorgeous funeral at the town hall and decorated with beautiful wild flowers. It would have been exactly as Rose would have wanted it. Geoff, Renee, Roanna and Roses Sister spoke of great past memories and  Roses character and wit! Everyone had a laugh and a cry and thought about their times with such a awesome woman!
From their we went to the cemetery where she was buried... and I lost it! This was my time of grieving! I didn't realize it would effect me so much...
The minister said a few things that made me think... he said "we don't cry for Rose, we cry for ourselves"
I never thought of it like that...We cry for what we have lost and how we will miss her. But the thought of knowing she is in heaven brings so much peace... What was I crying for... I was crying as I stood watching one of my best friends, Ro, and her sister Ren, grieve over the loss of their mum, their friend, a pillar in their lives, their advice and shoulder to cry on. It just wasn't fair!...and I don't understand. I cried watching a husband lose the love of his life...and a grandchild grieve over his gran, not fully comprehending what was happening on that day... I cried for my loss and I cried for their loss too...

1 Corinthians 15v55-58

 Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
   Who got the last word, oh, Death?
   Oh, Death, who's afraid of you now? It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!

   ⁵⁸With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don't hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort. 

A few things I loved about this special time of remembrance and celebration of Roses life...

1. All the men in Roses world (her husband, grandson, brothers and nephews) wore pale pink shirts with a pink rose corsage. Pink was Roses favourite colour... and you could tell! Its was everywhere... The girls wore pink too... but there was something special seeing these big buff men who would probably never wear pink, put on a pink shirt to honour a very loved lady!

2. They had about 100 pink and white balloons that the kids and family held and let go together to symbolize her spirit going to heaven!

3. The community of volunteers to help at the wake. There was people making tea and coffee, making food and more food and more food...people were buzzing around helping out where ever they could... Its awesome how people can come together and do something positive to bless others!

4. All the memories shared...

5. That I could speak to anyone that day and know that I had something in common with them... we were touched by a very special person somewhere and sometime in our life, Mrs Rose Edwards!