John David Pate-3years old

James Daniel Pate-3years old

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Remembering an ANGEL...Ian Andy Ellis






This post is dedicated to a precious little angel boy who was given his wings about two weeks ago. Ian Andy Ellis died Friday, October 9th at 3:00 in the afternoon. Many of you might remember me asking for prayer for him several months ago on my blog. His caring bridge page is www.caringbridge.org and then search for his page by his name..ianandyellis...if you would like to see pictures and read the latest updates from his mom. The journal posts are pretty powerful. I find myself going back from the past month reading them and finding so much strength to deal with my days after reading what that poor momma had to endure for 2 years...PERSPECTIVE my friends..everything we deal with in life can be better understood by simply putting things in perspective.

I will remember that little boy for the rest of my life. I do not know him personally but our family has prayed for him for months now. We have been following his story on Caring Bridge for about a year now. I vividly remember reading his story as I was strapped to a hospital bed last year during Thanksgiving and Christmas time. I would pray for God's power to save our babies as well as Ian. My heart soon became attached to Ian and I looked forward to daily updates. My girls (especially Claire) would ask about him daily too. We enjoyed watching the joy that was shared on the glorious days and then we would have tears on the not so good days. Explaining to an 8 year old and 4 year old why little kids get really sick and sometimes die is very hard. There is an innocence that kids feel when they pray to God. They don't bargain or pitch deals..nope, they just pray BIG, mighty prayers of healing. They point blank ask God to "fix Ian's heart cause the doctors can't". Well last week when his two year old little body finally couldn't take any more, he drifted to Heaven to go be with Jesus. I got the message on my phone email as we pulled up to our condo at the beach with super excited kids...excited kids and HEALTHY kids. My heart just quivered at the thought of that poor mommy sitting in her chair (she and Ian had a special chair they sat in ALOT together every single day) holding her baby boy that just literally died in her arms...at the same moment I was holding the hands of my girls sharing the news with them. SO sad, so upsetting, so undeserving, so tragic, so not what we wanted, so what GOD planned for his life. We don't understand. We aren't suppose to understand it all though. That is what our Faith does for us in this kind of time. I looked at my girls with their watery eyes and said, "Girls, just know that Ian is not suffocating anymore in his body that didn't work well. He is free and free is so awesome for him. We don't have to pray for Ian anymore because he is in Heaven and there is NO PAIN in Heaven" So now, we spend our days praying for his mommy and daddy (who by the way are incredible witnesses to the goodness of God. I would just ask that you pray for them. I can't even imagine their pain. They are wonderful people. If you have a moment go to his site and read about him. I remember him all through my days. I remember his mom all through my days as well. And Ian buddy, you caught our hearts and we loved you and prayed for you each day you were fighting that awful disease~

1 comment:

Shannon said...

Dana, I remember your post asking for prayers for him. I, like you, have followed her blog almost every day since you first posted it. I had missed about a week and when I went back a few days ago, I saw that he had passed. My heart hurt with hers. Continuing to pray for Ian's mommy and daddy. Can't imagine their pain.