7 months

It has been 7 months since Jennifer passed away and I still feel a sense of sorrow. Summer has passed and soon the holiday season will be here without Jennifer for the first time. I know it is hardest for Jeff and Aidan as they struggle through this first year without her on this earth.

I think a lot of us did not realize how much pain she was in constantly. She was always concerned more about other people. That just makes her giving spirit that much more Christlike because she did not "wallow" in her own problems.

I have found comfort in reminding myself that "she knows"! She does not walk by faith anymore like we do, but "she knows" all the things of God that we hope to know and see oneday. How exciting is that?! She has seen her parents and family and knows her ancestors. She knows what her mission on earth was and that it is completed. She knows her new mission in Paradise and what the eternities hold. She was sealed on earth to Jeff and Aidan and knows and understands how they will be a family forever. She knows and has felt God's mercy and Jesus love for her. She knows perfect peace, freedom from pain, and joy beyond measure.

Jennifer has her eternal eyesight while we still only have our earthly vision. Joseph F. Smith said, " Beyond the veil that separates us from the spirit world, surely those who have passed beyond, can see more clearly through the veil back here to us than it is possible for us to see to them from our sphere of action. I believe we move and have our being in the presence of heavenly messengers and of heavenly beings. We are not separate from them...We are closely related to our kindred, to our ancestors... who have preceded us into the spirit world... They know us better than we know them. I claim that we live in their presence , they see us, they are solicitous for our welfare, they love us now more than ever."

Take comfort that Jennifer knows, that she still loves us, and that she can be an example of faith that we can follow.