March 16 - 31 - Potts Newsletter - Link's Death and Funeral (Many, many, many pictures!)
Kezia swinging in her basement
Dan took charge of the breakfasts
McKinley made a banana cell phone
Lena knew just what to do and say
Sorry this is horizontal...I must learn more. This is our beloved painting
Heidi spent hours and hours on Link's slideshow
decorating eggs
This is the book that Trisha wrote about Link for Heidi...such a labor of love and a miracle that it came on time!!
Trisha took care of the nails project
G G and Uncle Burton. Mom thought a lot about Bart when Heidi lost Link
Dan coming back from his run
Grandma Devenish is busy hand sewing
Great Uncle Burton with little Spencer
The beautiful Llardo statue from Toni and family
Trisha is always serving and doing all she can for Heidi and family
Display table at the viewing/funeral
Saying our last goodbyes on earth
A sweet and amazing drawing by Kalli
Cindy keeping the kids occupied at the graveside
Kezia is "stuffing her face" with a brownie
Easter morning surprises. We are all so thankful or the Resurrection
Letter to Link
Graveside memories
We went to Zions National a few days after the funeral with Bill, Jason's dad from Texas
Camary hanging in there with Kezia
Once a tree climber...always a tree climber-- Michael
Tea anyone? Cindy bought a tea set and became Brittish as she served
Link's program (I still can't figure out how to
change positions from here)
Kezia spends a quiet moment with Link
Always a great reader Cindy not only read this book to the kids but made it come alive with a tea party
Cindy helped the kids build a Fairy garden, house and all. Isn't she beautiful?
I found this picture in my phone...just wanted to share
Dan's gift of love
Link and Maddy
Shopping with Spencer
A house warming basket for Trisha and Darrin
A random picture I found when I was a teller and pregnant with Cindy
Another oldie goldie photo. Dan taught his girls to fish young
This is the day Margaret was sealed to her deceased husband, Bjorn. Salt Lake Temple
Parker on a shopping day
The kids love to be around Adam
Trisha gave the Link book to Heidi
Playing paper dolls in McKinley's play centers
McKinley puzzling things out
M
A memory box we found at the store
Making cheerios necklaces
She ain't heavy, she's my cousin!!
Making paper hats
McKinley and Ireland's school teachers made them (and Kezia) soft, fuzzy, personally initialed blankets. In turn they each got a tour of the house
Blanket city
Kezia asked me to take this picture and include it
Trisha and Darrin hosted a Sunday dinner in their new house
Birthday fun or Spencer
This is the gift from our neighbors...the same painting as Heidi's
FAMILY
Yikes! We left the
freezer open all night!
- We had our big Easter dinner,
FHE and egg hunt. It all turned out
very well. Mom, Cindy and Donna
came as well as Trisha, Cindy and families
- Loosing LINK (My thoughts aren't all in the right order and I'm sure i forgot or missed things...please forgive me)
26- when I answered the phone it
was hard to tell that it was Heidi. She cried as she explained that Link
had taken his nap and when she went to check on him she found him on with his
face down and he was blue. The paramedics came and took him away in the
ambulance. Later she learned that he had died even before the paramedics
came. Heidi and I prayed and she begged God to help him breath
How can it be that he is gone? Such a pure, beloved little boy. He
had lived through so much pain, so much of life in so little time. I
believe that he spent more time with his mom and dad than any little one had
with his parents in a year.
Dan and I are on our way to cedar city to be with Heidi and her
family. Thoughts ripple through my mind...the pain of Heidi having to
stop nursing too soon...Ireland's bond with Link because she always wanted to
be with him...Jason loosing his son...just a few of the reason I continue to
use Kleenex after Kleenex... Kindness of joseph helping me get ready to
go...friends who have put our names in at the temple...many calls and
concern...holIowness...sadness
'''
The
last few days have been a blurr...family in and
out...flowers arriving ..many people bringing food and flowers and
hugs. This morning I woke with a headache and a nightmare and sobbing.
My heart breaks all over again as I think of going today to help dress
little Links body. I keep thinking of the moment when Heidi found him
face down. She had been with him just 2 1/2 hours earlier.
She has videos....many happy videos of him and probably 1,000
pictures from his short 4 1/2 month life. Oh, how my heart aches. I
can only imagine their pain.
I wonder if Link knew before he came here just how short his
little life would be. I wonder if a part of him knew when he would take
his last breath. Heidi showed me a picture of him taken the day before he
died. His eyes hold so much love and they were so intense as if he had so
much to say and as if he knew so much.
Now he is gone and we are here left to wait and pray and yearn for
him.
Heidi is preparing a display for the funeral. There are
pictures and little toys and memories o him. There are some little
shoes...all of it brings fresh tears laced with the knowledge I have of life
after death. Experiences with my brother Bart and with my grandpa that
assure me that he is yet alive and will be waiting for another place and
another time to reunite with his beloved family... in the meantime we will have
to learn to let these pictures and memoirs be enough though they will hardly
fill the hole in our hearts so we will have to turn to our brother Jesus to
help make up the difference.
My
Thoughts ramble like wind in the grass tossing the elements to and fro in an
endless effort to find peace...yet knowing that sometime there will be peace,
there will be still and there will be warmth and light again. My thoughts
ramble like waves in the ocean refusing to be still...yet knowing that the
master of ocean and earth and skies will calm the tempest and bring peace
Heidi has posted her love, her tears, her thoughts and memories of this time in an amazingly insightful way, so has Trisha:
The funeral was beautiful. So many people came and filled the chapel. Jason shared memories with Link and the Bishop, Stake President and others spoke. The display the girls put together was perfect. The dresses the girls and Heidi wore were so beautiful topped with "the sisters" touches and Jason looked handsome in his new suit. The mortuary did a beautiful job. Everything for the day Jason, his mom an brother helped dress his body to the "angel pins" that were given just before closing the casket.
The support and love that was shown by everyone was amazing.
Cindy and Michael and Joshua I stayed for about 5 days after the funeral to help. Heidi and Jason took 2 1/2 days to go to St. George to go to the temple and have time to talk, to grieve and to begin to rebuild their lives. Cindy and I did many activities with the girls (especially since the family was on a media fast to prepare for General Conference.) We posted many pictures from our activities. One of them is of Kezia when she sat on the little table and cuddled up to the shadow box of link that the sisters made. Another day she found a funeral program and sat by herself looking at all the pictures and touching them. Ireland and McKinley both stated that Link is in heaven and we will be with him again. If Ireland caught us crying she would reach up and brush away the tears.
I do remember a moment that happened before the funeral when I put Spencer in the exersaucer and fed him bread bits. That was one of Link's favorite things and I wished I hadn't used it.
The neighbors were so kind. They brought food, a cooler full of drinks and greatest of all a painting of Jesus holding a little baby the looked like Link (the amazing thing about that also was that our sweet neighbors gave us the same painting!!) There was money and flowers, cards and hugs that poured in from everywhere as Heidi worked on the slideshow and the funeral program.
The funeral was on Monday and we loft Friday afternoon. Cindy was the driver as we headed North with a prayer that our sweet Hamilton family will receive extra angel help (including Link) and lots of it.
Additional notes: My friend Margaret, came all the way from Salt Lake to be there, Tiff from Minnesota, Lena (who lost their twins) from almost 2 hours away, their friend Molly( who lost their 2 year old) from Park City, Bill, his Dad from Texas...and on and on...
another note: Trisha took nearly 2 days and put together a priceless book for Heidi and Jason. That was a miracle. The other miracle was that it actually arrived before the viewing!!!!!
another note: There was an amazingly incredible rainbow that appeared the day of the funeral bringing the promise of better times.
DAN
- Dan and I went to Mark Dean's
birthday/retirement party. It was
wonderful.
- Joseph made us a yummy dinner
for our anniversary. Thanks Josephgi
- Dan and I went to his work
for our wellness check up. We are
both quite healthy.
- Dinner at Doug and Darla's
and Dan did their taxes
- For our date we rented skis
for Dan, went to Marie Callendars for dinner then took mom's favorite pie
to her and played IMAGINEIFF. It
was fun.
- Dan and Joseph went skiing at
Brighton
PATRICIA
- I had a flu--like thing going
on in the morning and I had to leave Sacrament meeting early.
- I made an anniversary
breakfast. After exercising with
Margaret we worked on my cruise clothes then I gave her a massage. :)
I went visit teaching. I finished listening to THE LOOKING GLASS by
Richard Paul Evans
- After m wellness check up I
took Trax back to Murray. That was
a different experience :)
- Darla stopped by and we did a
neck massage trade!
- Helped Cindy at her school
- I bought food storage for 2
days at walmart and all a dollar.
- I went with the Allens to
Margarets sealing at the temple. It was a beautiful morning.
CINDY
- Trouble with lice at her
school and also she has been sick for about a week.
- Cindy and I had a
neck/shoulder massage trade. It was
great
- April 5- Cindy came after
Link died and helped with flowers, display and everything before the
funeral and then stayed many days afterward with me to help Heidi and
Jason
HEIDI
Heidi and Jason have
just gone through the most difficult time of their lives. After Links death (see above and the
obituarty there was so much to do before the funeral. From choosing the casket to helping dress
Link's body to writing the obituary to getting clothes for the event and the
huge task of gathering things for the display and creating a slideshow that
took hours and hours and hours and more than one box of kleenex. It was used for the display for the people
attending the viewing.
Somehow the day
came. It was a beautiful spring day and
the chapel nearly filled with friends and family. The display the girls put together and the
pins they made with forget me not flowers was beautiful. The funeral was wonderful. From Jason's
memories to the Stake President's
"thoughts from Link." The
viewing before hand had many loving people and many tears.
Special helpers
included Lena and he husband Leif who drove 2 hours and stayed for 2 days before the
funeral. Leif helped with the kids and
Lena helped us know how we could help.
They were there and blessing us.
Molly and her husband who lost their little girl came from Park City and
stayed much of the day, giving understanding and solace to Heidi and Jason. My
brother, Burton, came from Idaho and Mom brought her own kind of understanding
because she lost 7 year old Bart.
Many family members
stayed to be with the family on Saturday.
Sunday was Easter and by Sunday afternoon everyone needed to get back
except Cindy and I.
TIFFANY
- We got to skype with Tiff,
Adam and Maddy
- Tiff and Adam and Maddy left
the night we lost Link. They were
here and helping the very next day. Tiff helped put on Heidi's make-up.
She helped tirelessly with the display and anything else Heidi needed. Tiff and Adam from Minnesota and Bill
(Jason's dad) came from the farthest away. Thanks Tiff and Adam.
TRISHA
- Trisha and her family left
right away to be here with Heidi.
Trisha worked 24/7 on a book about Link prior to coming. It was such a labor of love and such a
beautiful tribute… the miracle was that she was told there was no way the
book could arrive in time for the funeral but miraculously is came the day
before and was such a beautiful addition to the viewing/funeral day.
In
addition to this Trisha fixed hair ,painted nails, helped with the display and
organized many parts of the funeral day.
JOSEPH
- Joseph has been fishing the
past 3 days. He has caught and
eaten catfish with Shelisa, trout with us and has declared that this week since he has no
school it will be FISHING WEEK!! He
also had Shelisa cut his hair into a mohawk.
- Thanks for making us dinner
for our anniversary
- Dan and Joseph went skiing at
Brighton
- Shelisa joined us for our
Easter celebration. Joseph made
yummy sweet potatoes and together they hid candy for the hunt. Thanks
JOSIE
..................................
stake conference
- my savoir, my employer
- Jesus took care for his
mother while on tree cross
- pray for dan in his calling
- when having trials...open
thes criptures
