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At the Hospital
A couple of weeks before Joy passed on we started singing in the hospital. One time, our son Valiant (18) and I were softly singing some choruses like "Shepherd of Love", etc. and a sweet Welsh nurse came in and motioned "More volume, come on that sounds good." She joined us with her very nice voice and Joy sang along as well. Joy's sister Sandra walked in and started smiling just taking it all in. Two of Joy's brothers and 2 of her sisters were visiting this day and her parents were there as well.
Sandra remarked "I don't know the words, but it's beautiful, keep on singing." They noticed how radiant Joy's face was, she was beaming and singing along even though most of the day she was too tired to even speak (which, anyone who knows Joy, is very unusual) She had a radiance and a colour on her face which made her look beautiful,(!) just shining even though her cheeks were getting sunken and she stopped eating. This had such an impact on her family and they spoke about it to everyone.
Another time my daughter Angelina, the twins Shannon and Shane, their mother Maria, Tabitha and I were singing some of her favorite songs. We persuaded the same nurse to play "Shepherd of Love" on the guitar and she did. Maria also sang part of a song the Lord gave her for Joy which was beautiful. Joy's mum also tells everyone about her daughter's work with cancer patients, orphanages and the deaf in India, etc.
Joy had been in the hospice (palliative care) section of the hospital for almost 2 months as her cancer had returned. Every day that I'd visit her she naturally loved being with her little children, particularly the baby, Christia. If I came without one of them she'd send me home quickly so that they'd be OK.
Another thing she did that had a huge impact on her family was to rise up and give her brother, Colin a big hug and she told him. "Don't worry Colin, if you love Jesus I'll see you again. I love Jesus and that's all you have to do is just love Jesus, Colin." He broke down and cried like a baby.
When Thomas (one of our 3 adopted sons) came off the plane from Germany (where he now works as a computer net worker) he came into the hospital room and walked back sobbing. Sweet Grandma (Joy's mum) took him outside and cuddled him. A lot to be cuddled as Grandma is quite a big lady. Oh, it was so sweet. The same happened when our eldest daughter Rosa came from London where she works in a computer company.
The Lord really raised Grandma up to be a comfort to us all. Grandma insisted on sleeping at the hospital several nights with me and watched over her big girl like a hawk waiting and watching for any words and giving her a drink of milk.
The nurses at the hospital commented about the incredible family unity. Both of our relatives and our family were coming constantly to see her from close and afar. Jan, an Irish nurse said, "I've been nursing for 15 years now and Joy is right on the top of the list for bravery and a positive, trusting attitude." Shortly after Joy died, the same nurse prayed with me to recieve Jesus after I gave her a short history of our incredible lives of service for our loving Jesus.
The night before Joy graduated, she saw a vision: a "wide view, wide view." She could just whisper, but it sounded like it was a beautiful view! I whispered in her ear, "If Jesus is calling you, just go with him. Don't worry about the kids they'll be OK. I promise you I'll look after the kids." She whispered in a little English girl voice, "Everything O.K. Everything OK." She started panting like she was running a race this continued for about 15 minutes. You'd have to be really fit to breathe like that. Then she slowed down and stopped breathing.
