Heaven is For Real

I have to start this by first saying that Husband brought a book home for me this week, titled “Heaven is For Real.” It’s about a little boy who had a near-death experience and in the months following, provided very detailed accounts about heaven and specifics about relatives he saw there, that on earth he had never met. Husband read it in a day; I have not read it yet but it’s been on my mind given some of the conversations we’ve been having with Lucy lately. It was a book that my mother-in-law, Betty, read before she passed away last fall (a gift from her brother). It has been recommended to us by many people.

Fast-forward to this morning. We were all in our bedroom and out of the blue Lucy declared, “today is great-grandma’s birthday.” Husband looked at me, and I said, “it’s neither of my grandmas. Yours?” He thought about it for a minute and noted that he thought maybe one of his grandmas had a birthday in February.

We had not been talking about great-grandmas; we had not mentioned birthdays. We chuckled at how weird that would be if Lucy had it right.

You see where this is going?

It stayed on Husband’s mind, so he reached out to his sisters and a couple of uncles and cousins. He works at a law firm, so just to make sure, he had someone pull a few records. This is the email he sent:

“Good Morning,

I just sat down with our legal research person. They were able to pull up grandma’s death certificate, obituary and her birth certificate.

Grandma Mabel was born today February 3rd 1914..

Lucy was right this morning… it is great grandmas birthday today!!!”

When I read this, I was shocked. Looking at the words now, it still gives me chills. Husband called me, and I had tears in my eyes. Grandma Mabel, consequently, is Betty’s mother. Someone she was looking forward to seeing again in heaven.

How did Lucy know, when her own dad didn’t even know his grandma’s birthday? If you ask Lucy who told her, she gets a big smile on her face and says, "Grandma."

Heaven is for real, folks. There is an angel among us.

 I didn't meet Mabel until her 90th birthday in 2004,

but I've always heard about what fun she was!

Betty is in the striped sweater and Mabel in the middle.

Betty and Mabel, not sure what year this is.

Brandon and Mabel in 1997.

He always had a special relationship with his great-grandma.

  

At our wedding in June 2006.

She passed away that fall.