(Psalm 23:4
4Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.)
I am sending this email out to ask that you pray for our family. At the same time I want you to rejoice with me; you will see why as you read on.
For some of you part of this email will be a repeat of what I shared almost two years ago, for others of you this will be a new story.
I have grown to love and care very deeply for Robert’s (Nick’s – my grandson’s daddy) family over the past six years. We are together very much a family; I know that I can count on them for anything as they can count on me for anything.
Two years ago, back in July of 2006, Robert’s little brother Matthew (age 21) and his wife Nicole (age 20) were expecting their first baby, a little girl. Everyone was so excited, I remember Matt calling one day toward the end of June, I didn’t even stop to ask how he was, all I could ask was, “is she here yet?”
At the last minute this precious little angel decided to do a summersault and went into a breach position. This meant a cesarean delivery, because Matt’s birthday was on February 2nd, Nicole wanted to follow suite and have the delivery scheduled for July 7th (in case you don’t get it, 2/2 & 7 /7). Everything was put into place and we were all excited. She was given the beautiful name of Summer Nikki, the middle name of Nikki to be named after her beautiful mother, Nicole.
On the 4th of July, Robert’s little sister, Brittney was at Matt and Nicole’s home helping with last minute décor in the nursery. Matt mentioned to Britt and Nicole that he had started to not feel good, the girls decided to put just a few more items of clothing away and then would take him to the ER and have him checked out. Not more then a couple minutes had passed and Matt went down to the floor. Many hours were spent trying to revive Matt both at home and at the hospital but there was no success. The coroners ruled that he had passed away of a massive heart attack.
The funeral was delayed until the arrival of this beautiful angel who was to be born just three days later. During this time Summer’s name was changed, she was now to be named Summer Matti, to be named after her father, Matthew, who would have loved her with everything in him.
With a countless number of family members and friends in the waiting room the news came… Summer was not perfect as all the ultrasounds had shown. Instead, she was born with a cleft pallet, a dislocated hip, and several broken bones. Later we were to find out that she had been born with a rare gene that was going to cause her life to be a difficult one.
The following week was Matt’s funeral, it was a difficult time but as a family we were able to focus on the life Matt left behind, little Summer. Regardless of the fact that she would face many difficulties growing up, Summer would always be a part of Matthew’s life that we could celebrate.
Nicole, being a window at the young age of 20 and now a single mother of a very sick little baby was having a difficult time. She moved in with her parents and they became her rock. Between then and now little Summer has gone thru countless surgeries and procedures, she has grown by leaps and bounds. Maybe not like that of a healthy baby, but she has grown on a scale that only the mother of a special needs child could appreciate.
This morning, March 25th, Summer went in for yet another surgery. This surgery was for one on her hips, being 20 months old this surgery was hopefully going to aide her in being able to start crawling.
At 11:40 this morning I received the phone call that Summer went home to be with Jesus.
I would ask that you first celebrate the fact with me that Summer went straight to heaven to be with Jesus. The comfort that we have is that she has a new little body and is running around for the very first time in her little life. I can only imagine that she has already jumped up on Jesus’ lap and may now be sitting at His feet.
Then I will ask that you take a moment and pray for us, meaning the entire family. This will be a very difficult time; it has already been a very difficult day. There are many in the family who still do not know about Summer’s home-going. The reason for not informing everyone is that this news is going to be taken very hard by some in the family.
I would ask that you please say a special prayer for Nicole who at the age of 22 is not only a widow but within the next several days will be burying her only child.
Nicole does not have a relationship with Jesus Christ, please pray that thru this she will come to know the Lord in a very special way. At this point in her life the only peace she can find will be thru (for those who are Born Again) our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Diana
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