Papa Is In Heaven

 A beautiful start to Sunday!

I love the fog and the beginning of the sunrise.

We hope to get back to services next week but due to Covid - we are still at home online.  Boo.

I also had to take Addie for a Covid test so that she will be allowed to return to work.  Thankfully we got it all taken care of that day.

I also got everything ready to head out for Reno Monday.  We decided to take my father-in-law back to his home.  That is his wish and we asked him to at least come for the holidays and we could go from there for the future.  It was his wish to go home and we were granting it.

We got started a little after 7:30am Monday morning.  The sunrise was beautiful over the mountains in the distance.

This was the Willamette Pass in the Cascade Mountain range.  It was just gorgeous with the snow and the evergreens and the blue skies!

The roads were a little crazy as we got to the top but we just took it slow and carefully.

What a beautiful view of this mountain - I am not sure which one it was.  I also got to see a bald eagle right by the lake on one of the telephone poles.  Wow!

I'm sorry to have to share what happened in just a short time later.  We stopped at a gas station to fill up, use the bathroom and get a bite.  My father in law seemed out of it but my sister and I helped him to get out of the car and walk into the bathroom.  Once we got him sat down in the bathroom, he stopped responding to me.  It appeared that he was sleeping - I thought maybe he was just exhausted from the excitement and anxiety of leaving and going home.  However, I became concerned and asked an employee to call 911.  

When they arrived, I believe he was already gone.  They could not detect a pulse.  They worked on him for a long time there on that bathroom floor and then took him in the ambulance to the hospital which was less than a mile up the hill.  It wasn't long after arriving and registering that the doctor officially told us he had passed away.

This is the last picture of him - after he had left this earth.

It was a tough call that I made right there to my husband to tell him that his dad was gone.  

I'm not sad - as my dad said, He wanted to go home and God granted his wish.  There was little quality of life left for my father in law.  Even though he was saved, he had a great fear of suffering in death.  Because he had COPD, he feared suffocation and just not being able to breathe.

I had prayed since he arrived six weeks ago that God would grant mercy and let him go quickly and not suffer anymore.  It truly was an answer to prayer and I'm grateful that my father in law is in a much better place - with His Savior.

Hubert "Sonny" Joseph Tastet Jr.

August 14, 1943 - December 28, 2020