(I have a picture but it is in a different format so I can't dowload it. I will get another one soon so everyone will be able to see what a cutie he was.)
Last Tuuesday the 17th I was in my kitchen getting the girls some dinner when my phone rang. It was my sister calling to tell me that my brother Johnathan had just called and said that his sweet little 2 1/2 yr old boy Brycen had been ran over by a car and killed. I was in shock and just kept asking if she was serious. I couldn't believe her, I didn't want to believe her!
After being in shock for a day and a half I finally was able to call my brother and see how he was doing. I was fine untill he started talking. He was crying and just kept telling me to hug my girls. At this point I completely lost it and was a mess for the rest of the night. Randy was so nice, he brought pizza home for dinner and got a funny movie and some ice cream to try to make me feel better. It was a very nice jesture because he didn't really know what to do with me sitting their crying uncontrollably.
We left to go to Mesa on Thursday and I went to the funeral home with Johnathan and Alicia Fri. morn which was the hardest thing I have ever witnessed. Alicia (as you could expect) was basically like a zombie and just sat there staring and crying for most of the time.
The funeral was Saturday and it was beautiful but sad of course. Brycen's little casket was hard to see and Johnathan had to basically pick Alicia up to follow the casket to the chapel because she didn't want to go. It was very sad. There were lots of fun stories told about Brycen and a beautiful song that had everyone in tears again. The most amazing thing was as we were leaving J and A stopped and gave a long hug to the girl who ran over Brycen. It was a very nice funeral. The gravesite dedication was on Monday and it was beautiful as well. The funeral home did a dove release for them and they gave Alicia the first dove to release and when she let it go it jumped onto Johnathan's shoulder. After that it jumped onto the canapy until the other doves flew off then that one followed the rest. The releif society brought balloons and everyone wrote messages on them and we let them all go at the same time. It was pretty cool.
Johnathan and Alicia have been very strong through this whole ordeal and I have learned a lot from seeing the faith they have in Heavenly Father. They were able to go to the temple several times for comfort and were assured that they are loved and that Brycen was happy. I was also touched by their incredible forgiving hearts towards their neighbor and very good family friend, Heather, who was the one who accidentally ran over him. She felt completely aweful and it will probably take her longer to cope with the accident than J and A. They showed an incredibble amount of Christ like love which I admire them for. They grew a lot in a very short amount of time.
I am so glad to know the Lord's plan and that we have the opportunity to have eternal families. This was the only thing that got them through their ordeal. J and A got up in chuch and bore their testimonies and thanked the ward for all their help and they helped a lot! It was amazing the way they were just like an extended family and jumped in and helped in every way possible. Anyway, Johnathan said he was reading a talk and they said that some of us while in the pre-existance chose to come back early and he knew that Brycen was one of those people. It was an awesome testimony that they gave. I am forever amazed at their strength.
This is really long and if you made it through the whole thing good job. I just wanted to write down my feelings and memories of the weekend before they faded. This was an experience I would never want to have to go through again but there have actually been lots of amazing things come out of it. I will write them when I download the picture.
Moral of the story, hug your kids because you never know how long you will have with them. Trust the Lord and know that Jesus knows your pain because he took upon himself all of our sins and pain because he loves us.
Here is their latest family picture. Brycen was having a hard time sitting still as usual. He was known for his energy. Never stopped running and getting into everything.
They had a huge print of this one at the funeral. J and A said this was the perfect picture of him because it showed his personality. Such a mischievious smile!
The ward was so helpful after the accident. From the minute the accident happen there were people there helping. Wed. morning they had ladies over cleaning the house, someone came and cleaned their carpets, did their laundry, a plumber came to fix their toilet they had been having trouble with. They had enogh food and gifts for the other kids to last for weeks.
