Christmas

This Christmas season has been so bitter sweet. We have been surrounded by family and friends. Rick's sister, Gail, and her daughter, Leslie, came out to be with us over the holidays and it was wonderful. We brought Sean home from Penn State, we cut down a Christmas tree together and decorated it, we celebrated the season and we got to have fun at the Carnegie Sports Center. What a joy it was to have them both here with us. It was a gift to us. We also have been spoiled by people with home made cookies, bread and other goodies. We spent time with our church family singing carols and celebrating the birth of our Savior. We were surrounded by God's blessings.

It was hard singing carols without Tonia. We also watched White Christmas, our traditional Christmas movie, without her to sing all of the songs with me. So I did cry and feel very blue and very sentimental. But we made it through the holiday with new traditions mixed with the old, with a smile thinking about Tonia celebrating in Heaven, and knowing that we continue to look to God for our strength and for everyone he placed in our path.

As we look forward to the New Year, I wish for you:
a new or deeper relationship with God
friends to hug you throughout the year
family to love you day in and day out
a focus on the things of eternal importance

But I especially give you my love and a hug from the bottom of my heart. It is because of your prayers and love that we have been able to move forward and begin to see that we will survive and we will even be stronger.

May God bless you and yours as we move toward 2008!

All of my love!

my brother, Chris

This morning, after 3 days of being in the open heart unit at the hospital, my 27 year old half-brother, Chris, died. Chris and Tonia were only 15 months apart so they grew up together. I have pictures of them together as babies! When Sean was born I have a picture of them both sitting on the floor with him, wondering what this new baby was all about. My heart is hurting for my dad. He has lost a grand-daughter and now a son. He doesn't have a relationship with God to help him through this sorrow. Please be praying for him.

My heart is hurting so much. It is so hard to believe that these two young lives are gone. Our strength is not coming from within because I feel as if I have aged 10 years in the last 5 1/2 months. I have nothing left to give, yet God is very present. I cried with my sister, Lisa, on the phone last night and then again in the wee hours of the morning when she caalled to tell me that Chris was gone.

I have so many memories of Chris; talking about rock climbing and jumping his bike and just being a boy. I remember Christmas mornings when Todd, Chris, Tonia and Sean could hardly wait to wake us up. I remember when Chris would show me how to do stuff on the computer.

Chris leaves behind a 4 year old daughter who will need our prayers.

This Christmas will be bittersweet. We will be surrounded with family and friends but there are special people who will be missing. This Christmas will be much more about the promises of Christmas than ever before.

God is weeping with us today as I remember.....

A Fact about Grief

I learned something new this week. I am not usually someone who cries at the drop of a hat or who cries in public but this past weekend I experienced a loss that knocked me for a loop. In talking to a friend who runs a grief support group I learned something about human beings and God.

GOd wired us to survive! He created us to be able to handle the tough things in life with His strength and not our own. But because we are human we handle stress in a very unique way. My grief over our daughter, Tonia's death, has come in small bursts. GOd has protected us because He knows that we can only take so many emotions at a time. We have a very long journey ahead of us and our grief will continue to be there and we will have to revisit her death over and over. So God only gives us what we can handle.

This weekend I experienced the loss of another kind, the temporary loss of a passion and a way of life. My grief was like a torrent of water falling over my head and almost drowning me. I could not see through the pain and I could not understand this deep grief. But God in His wisdom understood that when we are going through stressful times we need to grieve with all of our passion and lean on Him for comfort. My friend said that since this is a grief that I can allow myself to feel right now that I am grieving much more than I normally would because of all of the grief I have stored up in my body. God created us to grieve, release the stress, lean on Him and survive to face another day.

So today I have weathered a storm of emotion hanging onto God and friends who have been my diligant prayer warriors. Today I am a survivor not by my strength but through God's grace and mercy.

The sun is shining and I am feeling God's comfort in my heart.

May you know the comfort, compassion and grace from our Heavenly Father.

After Thanksgiving

What a very emotional several days. We were blessed with family (my mom, dad, sister, and nephew) as well as dear friends of Tonia's. Amelia & Jeff and their children came to visit us this past Tuesday. What a joy to have these very special people in our home and in our lives. Thank you! Then on my birthday, Tonia's friend Wade came to spend the entire weekend. Wow, it was wonderful to have Wade, Sean and Rick to cook for and to just share precious memories. Wade has been a part of our family for years so I have my guys around!

We saw a great movie last night that made me cry; Ausgust Rush. It is definatley worth seeing. Today we went to the cemetery together. What a wake-up call to me. My wonderful, beautiful daughter is no longer enjoying the holidays with us but how grateful I am to know that she is in Heaven celebrating being with God! My emotions are all over the board. Happy for friends and family, sad over the loss in our life, and even angry that we have to deal with this. But through it all I will continue to trust that God is right here with us. He weeps when I weep and shares the memories and joy.

May God continue to bless you and your family during this very special season.

Holidays

Next week is my birthday and also Thanksgiving. I understand how the Holidays can be bittersweet. Tonia's high school friend, Wade, is coming to spend Thanksgiving with us which is wonderful! But the idea of Tonia not being at dinner is leaving me feeling lost, very blue and wondering how manu other people are feeling alone over the holidays.

I am thankful that we had her in our lives for 25 years. We would be starting to sing all of our favorite Thanksgiving songs by now. Christmas music would be playing on Thanksgiving Day especially Amy Grant's Christmas albums. Heirlooms was one of Tonia's favorite songs. We would sing it over and over together. Music will continue to be the link that binds my memories together.

As the holiday season begins I will remember the songs, the love and the memories and nothing will ever take those away from me. My prayer is that God will bless all of the people in our lives who have reached out to us in love.

May your Thanksgiving be filled with God's love and blessings!

Legacy

Last Friday our daughter's headstone was placed at her gravesite. I haven't been there to see it yet. It will be a reminder of how final this life is and I am not ready to see it yet. I will be going with purple carnations and some other things to mark her final resting place here on earth. But once more I am reminded that she is not there. She is in Heaven with God and she is singing and dancing and celebrating for all of eternity.

I miss her so much and even though I know that I will see her again some day I forget that she is gone. I find myself thinking that I need to tell her how her puppy Pixie is growing. How I heard a song on the radio that she would love, or I want to call her up to take a walk to see the leaves. This was our favorite time of the year. We loved going to Indiana Dunes State Park to walk among the trees and marvel at the leaves. I miss this time together. Our lives will never be the same.

God has wrapped His arms around us and I can feel His comfort and peace; otherwise I think that I would go crazy with my grief. But he comforts me as I mourn.

This season has been so hard yet I have never felt closer to God.

Tonia, I miss you sweetheart. Dance for joy and my heart will dance with you!

Waiting and Trusting

As we wait to hear about all of the legal ramifications in our daughter's death it reminds me of all of the times that God told people to wait and trust in him. Waiting seems to be God's way of telling us to trust him to be in control, to know the best possible thing that can happen in our situations. But my human side cries out to hurry up, take care of this, give me an answer and even, what is taking so long? Patience has never been one of my stronger gifts so God has really had to work on this part of my life. But amazingly something else has occured while I am waiting; I have slowed down enough to hear God's voice! His voice that tells me, "I will never leave you or forsake you" and "for I know the plans I have for you". It is His voice that gives me peace on nights that I have trouble sleeping and His voice that says I share in your tears, I will comfort you. Without God in my life I do not know where I would turn to for strength.

So as we wait, we wait with God's arms around us, holding us very close.

Do you know the God I am talking about?

Thoughts on Forgiveness

I have been doing a lot of soul searching and reading about what forgiveness is and what it isn't. The Bible tells us to forgive 70 times 7 times. That is about how many times are human nature needs to be reminded to forgive. It is so true that we can get to a point where we say, I forgive you, and then something happens and the hurts flare back up and we need to remember that we have already let that one go and forgive again.

Forgiveness is:
letting go of the anger that is only tearing me up inside
it is not forgetting about what happened.

Forgiveness is:
letting go of the judgment in my heart and allowing God's judgment to stand

Forgiveness is not:
reconciliation. It takes two to reconcile but only one to forgive.

Forgiveness is not condoning an action.

Forgiveness is not taking away the consequences of the action.

In order to move on and live the life that God has planned for me I need his strength to forgive. I need his strength not to become bitter.

As I near the three month mark of Tonia's death I find myself praying to continue my journey toward forgiveness; to JC and his friends, to family members who have said bitter things, and to others who have sometimes unknowingly hurt me during their grief process.

I am missing Tonia as I look at the leaves changing and remembering our walks at the Dunes. We has so much fun kicking up the leaves and rolling down the sand dunes. Walking in the woods was always so peaceful.

God said that there is a season for everything: a time to laugh and a time to cry. I just never realized that sometimes it is the season for both at the same time. I am watching Tonia's puppy, Pixie, who has joined our home. She is ALL puppy. Knocking everything over, chewing on every bone I give her and jumping on my lap, even when my computer is there first! She makes me laugh. I will be crying and she jumps up and tries to lick off all of my tears! She tears around the house having a surge of energy and everyone gets out of her way. How can I not laugh? Tonia would have been clapping her hands and laughing hysterically at her antics.

So life goes on and I continue to pray that God comforts me, teaches me, and uses me for His purposes. The journey of forgiveness is an ongoing one but in the end I know the outcome. God wins! In Heaven my soul will be at peace and I will be dancing and singing with my Father.

May God's peace fill your heart and may you see the world through His eyes!

I Love You!

Sermon we heard the morning Tonia died: Freedom Through Forgiveness by Warren Sullivan

Saying Goodbye!

Over the last month and a half I have been trying to move on after the death of our daughter, Tonia Brundage Amato. I was taking care of everyone else except for me and my grief. It took having an argument with a family member to get me to finally start to unload everything I am feeling. This is the beginning of that process:A love letter to my daughter, Tonia.

Tonia,
I miss you so much. We were just beginning to heal after the tough years we went through together. We were just starting to forge a better relationship between a mother and a daughter but also as friends. We had plans to get together to make cards together. You were searching out a church home. It was fun looking at the churches on the internet and reading about their beliefs and their activities. I saw God working on your heart as you drew closer to him. I heard the wonder in your voice as you told me that you had never felt as close to God as you were that day. I will miss seeing you blossom into the beautiful women you were becoming. I will miss finding out that you will become a mother and me a grandmother. I will miss watching grandkids grow up and hearing from you when they take their first steps. I will miss shopping for maternity clothes and baby clothes. I will miss hearing your voice and singing with you.I know that you are celebrating at the feet of God; that your voice is raised in songs of worship to Him. I know you are out of the despair over JC and your marriage. I know that your pain and anguish are over. I know that God in His perfect way knew when you needed to come home to Him. His timing was perfect but it was not my timing and I need to trust Him even when I do not understand. My girl, I need to say goodbye but just for a little while. We will be together again and we will be singing together again. I cannot promise I will not cry because I do miss you but I will not ask God to bring you back to live in this world when I know you are living in His love! I will continue to pray for JC and maybe one day he can come to know the peace that only God can provide to him. I promise that I will stay very close to God and that I will seek out His will for my life and I will accept whatever plans he has for me. Be in peace my precious girl. We love you!
Mom

Friends,
When Tonia died I was given several gifts:
I was given the gift of knowing that she was gone even before I heard it from the Sheriff
I was given the gift of a church family to love, support and pray for me and over me
I was given the gift of a husband who walked by my side as we journeyed through the days together
I was given the gift of a sister who I thought I had lost forever
I was spared the knowledge of how she died until I was strong enough to hear it
I was given the knowledge that she had come to know the Lord both from her own lips and in written form
I was given the knowledge that God knew exactly what she was going through and took her at the perfect time to spare her from what is coming
I was given the Peace, that only comes through God, that I will see her again
I have been given so much and now God wants me to give to others.

I will continue to proclaim His name as the Only way to Heaven, as the merciful and gracious father, and as the comforter through all trials.

But it does take action and effort on your part. God knocks but he is not rude. He will not come into your life until he is invited in.

I Love you!

Guest Book for Tonia

This is the online guest book for our daughter Tonia Brundage Amato. We will be keeping it open for the next year if anyone wants to write a favorite memory or comment.Thank you for all of your prayers!
http://www.legacy.com/PostTribune/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=90196906

Your Prayers Are Lifting Us Up!

On July 1, 2007 our 25 year old daughter, Tonia Amato, was killed in her home. We do not know all of the details but we are standing firmly on our strength in the Lord. We would ask for prayers for all of our families. Tonia's in-laws are hurting and need our prayers as do our extended families. Our daughter is with the Lord and we know that we will be together again someday.In this time of sorrow we are holding onto the promises that God has given us. He is our rock and our salvation. Thank you for your prayers and your hugs are being felt!

In Lieu of flowers, donation to the Chippewa E. Free Youth Group are requested!

All of our love!

Interview with WTOV9