Life and Death

The past week has been full of celebrating life and death for our family.

Peter's grandmother, Babci, died last Monday. Deciding it was best not to make a long trip so late in my pregnancy, I stayed in VA. Thankfully Larry, Stephanie, Katie and Peter were able to converge on Long Island from various parts of the world to attend the funeral. Babci lived a beautiful life that touched so many people. During my short visits with her over the past 8 or 9 years, she taught me so much about being a loving wife, about rejecting self-pity and getting satisfaction from embracing life's challenges, about loving Jesus through the big and small choices we make in everyday life, and much, much more. I'm grateful for every second I was able to spend with her. Katie has written a beautiful reflection about Babci on her blog.

As for celebrating life, amazingly we still had a family baby shower for me on Saturday. Somehow our Long Island relatives summoned the strength to come down for the shower the day after Babci's funeral. So we celebrated Baby Kraft's pending arrival in the midst of Knights, Krafts, Entresses, Gronaws, Cleckners, Kolhenbergs, and Paredes's. People were incredibly generous in helping equip us for the little bundle of joy that's coming in mid-September. But more importantly, they showered us with love, prayer and support - reminding Peter and me that we won't walk the path of parenthood alone.