Tonight was Grandma’s viewing. A few hundred people gathered to celebrate her life and give their well-wishes to her family. It was a great time tonight at Bethany Wesleyan here in Cheryville, PA.

For most of the night, a group of cousins gathered together in a make-shift circle of chairs and shared stories together and found out what each other was up to in the last few years that we hadn’t seen one another. It was a great time – and I’m sure Grandma would’ve been pleased with the relationship-building her family was doing during tonight’s viewing.

Remarkably, I heard one phrase over and over again as people would come up to our “circle” and see our beautiful daughter, Ella being held by either Jess or I – or even one of the many other Ella-holders tonight. The phrase was, “There’s that beautiful girl I’ve seen on the internet!”

Apparently Ella has way more admirers than she ever knew! :) Kind of makes a daddy proud to know that his work to share his family with the web is well worth it!

Some pictures from tonight:

Praise the Lord, my Grandma Miller went home to be with her Savior yesterday afternoon around 12:45.

We are staying here in PA for the viewing (Friday) and the funeral (Saturday). We grieve Grandma’s death, but we all have mixed feelings knowing that she is experiencing no more pain and sorrow in Paradise!

We will leave Mom and Dad’s house tomorrow morning and head to Allentown where we will check in to a hotel for the night before we had quickly to Cherryville Wesleyan Church for the viewing all afternoon. We will then head back to the hotel for a quick-nite’s rest and go back to Cherryville Church for the funeral on Saturday morning. This church has QUITE the history with our family. This is the church that Mom and Dad were married in, the church we had my sister – Stacia’s funeral in, and now the church where we will pay our last respects to Grandma Miller.

We are visiting the D.C. Coffee & Tea Co. here in Mifflinburg, PA – they have free wireless (and they’re closed). The lady working behind the counter was quite nice enough to let us hang out in the dark and continue using the Net as she finished closing up!

This morning I got up and noticed that it was the perfect day to hike up the mountain in Mom and Dad’s backyard. So, I readied myself and headed up “Jack’s Mountain”! About three hours later I returned to the homestead with stories of the adventure of climbing Jack’s! I also captured a few video clips of the hike and put them together, but don’t have time to upload the video yet – so stay tuned.

Continue to remember the Miller families during this time of grief. The funeral will be a special occasion with families coming from all-over to share in the celebration of Grandma’s home-going.

Jess, Ella, Sherilyn, and I will be heading back West on Monday morning!

Ella is enjoying every aspect of PA – she’s doing such a great job of meeting new people, too! Check out the latest Ella pics:

Got a phone call about an hour and a half ago from my parents in Pennsylvania and already plans are in motion that could use a good prayer-covering.

My Mom’s mother, Grandma Miller, had another major heart attack this afternoon as she was preparing with my Grandfather to move in with my parents for a 2-week trial run of living under their roof at their new home in Middleburg. Grandma Miller has had a LOT of heart trouble these last few years with things getting worse each time she would have an episode. The doctors have done as much as they can and are certain that Grandma’s time here is short.

As of right now, Sherilyn will be heading here tomorrow morning and the new Sheets van will get loaded up and head Eastward by Noon.

We will meet up with Mom and Dad at their home and then on to Allentown as soon as Monday morning to be with Grandma Miller who, as of yet, has not met her newest Great-Granddaughter, Ella.

Please pray for these and many other details that are surrounding this situation. Sherilyn is giving up some much-needed jobs in Chicago this week to make this trip and Jess and I aren’t exactly where we need to be to make a trip like this ourselves. We know, though, that we serve One who is able to take care of EVERY aspect of our lives – including an emergency trip to Pennsylvania to be with our family during uncertain times.

So please pray for us, my “Internet family”. We’ll try and keep you updated as much as possible.

I now have a facebook!