There isn't a day that does not go by that you are not on my mind. Your son is growing up to be a young man who looks excatly like you. He misses you so much and I can see the hurt in his eyes that he wishes you were still here being his dad. We will see you again, I know you are watching us everyday. Love you sooo much SLICK.

In January Matt was baptized on a Sunday evening. Matt's grandparents came over to see him get baptized. Randy was happy to see it. On Wednesday the 26, everything changed. We went to church as normal. Well during church, Randy's arms and hands went numb. He was trying to adjust the sound system and he couldn't feel them. I was in the nursery so he didn't say anything. When we got home, he started saying things that scared me.I tried getting him to go the hospital, but he said he would be fine in the morning. He put Matt to bed and then at 9pm we went to bed. We laid there and talked for a few minutes I leaned over and gave him a kiss. His left shoulder hurt when I did that. His last words to me was love you, Michelle. We went to sleep. At 9:45pm, I woke to him gasping for air. I called 911 and he was taken to the hospital. When I got to the hospital 2 people from the church was there. Randy had a heart attack. He had seizures every time I went into to see him and touch him. They life flighted him to Wichita. Over the next 11 days, he was hooked up to machines and was in a coma. On February 5th, I had to make the decision to take him off life support.. He lived for 9 days longer in the hospice unit of the hospital. He knew we were there in the room with him because he would follow our voices. His son came to the hospital the Wednesday before. He was scared to go into the room. The second day there, he did go in to see his dad. Randy knew he was there. Randy looked over and smiled at him. Matt ran out because he was scared. Randy reached out his hand for him to come back but he wouldn't. Then Friday late afternoon after Matt and Randy's parents left.That night Randy got to a sitting position and leaned his head on my chest. That was the last time I got to hold him. About 5 minutes later a nurse came in and he laid back down Randy started getting real fidgety. He kept trying to get out of the bed and he would get his leg stuck between the rails. It continued for over 3 hours, After 3 hours, I went to the bathroom and prayed to God that if it was his time to go then take him because i couldn't do it anymore. I started crying  Well i went home the weekend to go to the valentines banquet with Matt. On Monday Feb 14, when I got to the 8th floor his parents were standing out in the hallway crying. He had went home to be with his heavenly father.  The hardest thing was about to come next, I had to go home and tell his 8 year old son that his father had died. When I walked into get him, he knew. When we got outside the only thing Matt said to me was he died, didn't he. I nodded at him and couldn't say anything else.

There isnt a day that goes by that i don't miss you Randy. I will see you again but it's hard to go on without you. You were my best friend and I will never forget how much you loved God and you could see it through your life.  

The next 2 years Randy spent time with Matt some. He watched him play baseball. In September 2004, Randy woke up to his foot swollen. There was a knot there. He went to see what was wrong. The doctor gave him medicine to help with it. In November, Randy received a phone call that Matt accepted Christ. He was so happy. We were looking at change in our life. We started looking for another house. At the end of November, we had someone coming to buy the house we were in. We had made an offer on another house pending the sale of our house. The Sunday night we prayed that if it was God's will then make it clear. Monday morning at 6:30am he received a call from the people saying they were not going to be able to buy it. I was a little sad because I was looking forward to a bigger house. Randy reminded me about praying God's will for it. At that time I was a little sad because it fell through but things happen for a reason.

Over the next five years, we spent our time raising our son. We joined First Baptist in 1996 before we had our son. We were both active in the church. Randy's job was going good. Our son Matt was being raised in church. Randy's first father's day at church a guy sang the song I want to be just like you. After church Randy told me he wanted his son to be like him. Randy and Matt did nightly devotions and he would pray with him afterwards. Randy loved shooting baskets with Matt in his room. I couldn't of asked for anything else.

Well in January 2002, Randy went to the family doctor. He was told by the doctor he wanted him to go get his heart checked out. Well he had an appointment on March 11 to go to Wichita for some tests to be done but he cancelled it. On March 9, He lost his grandfather. Randy was very close to his family and when Gramps died, Randy was sad. His grandfather was a Godly man. That was the third time I saw him cry. The second time was when his brother left his first wife. Randy told me he was going to be there for life and that he loved me for everything I did. Well his appointment was rescheduled for April 2. 

April 2 changed my life. The doctor came in after the test and told us that he needed to heart surgery. I asked when. The doctor told that he had family commitments the next week. The second week, Randy told him that was our family vacation. The doctor told us to go enjoy it and that we needed to be at the hospital on Sunday April 21, that the surgery would be on Monday morning. Well I was very nervous and scared.  April 22, 2002 Randy had open heart surgery. He had a valve repaired one and replaced. The surgery started at 8am and was done at 2:35pm. When we finally got to see him he was still out of it. Tuesday night the doctor said everything was going good and possibly Wednesday getting to go into a private room. I went back to the hotel and was at peace. I slept real good that night. Wednesday morning the hotel phone started ringing at 6:20am. I was told that if I wanted to see my husband before he goes back to surgery that i needed to get there. The nurse would not tell me anything. I went to tell his parents and then I headed to the hospital. He went back into surgery because of fluid. That surgery lasted the same amount as the one on Monday.  Well once out of the hospital, Randy started changing. We were going to be going back to the heart doctor every 6 months for followups.



 

Our first anniversary we had to celebrate in October because my doctor told me He did not want me traveling out of state the last month of my pregnancy. We went to Eureka Spring, Arkansas the last weekend of October. It was an amazing trip. The baby started being very active and Randy would sit there and watch my tummy ripple as the baby was moving and kicking in my belly. So in December, I started seeing the doctor every week. The doctor changed the due date three times and then he told me the baby will come when it was ready. On December 29, I woke up and my water broke. Well if you knew Randy he had to look good to go to the hospital. He took a quick shower and fixed his hair. Well when we got to the hospital, the doctor said it shouldn't take a long time. Randy was with me the entire time. That night around 9pm, he was kicked out of my room and was told to go eat a hamburger that his dad had bought. A nurse stayed with me. Well Dec 30 at 2:47am the doctor delivered our baby. When he said It's a boy, Randy started getting tears. He was so happy. When they took our son away to go check him out, Randy said this is the second best day of my life. He was so happy to have a son and looked forward to playing sports with him.

After he started work, we set a date to get married. Neither one of us wanted to wait, so we set Dec 2. From August to December, we spent every Saturday going to Joplin to plan our wedding. We started looking for a church to attend in Cherryvale. We went to several different churches and we decided until after the wedding, we would go to Chanute with his parents. We did that a few weeks and the drive neither one wanted to drive so we started going to First Baptist in Cherryvale but it was only on Sunday mornings. We were married at South Broadway Baptist Church. After that we just enjoyed being married. We had talked about waiting a year or so before starting a family but God had a different plan. The first of April 1996, I started feeling sick in the mornings but I did not think anything about it. Well a friend convinced me to take a pregnancy test and it was positive. I went to a pregnancy clinic to make sure. Well I was pregnant. Randy was speechless when I told him. Once it sunk in, we waited until after our first doctor's appointment. Once we told the families, we started preparing for a new baby. Over the next 8 months, he went to every doctor's appointment with me and watched our baby grow in my belly. We did not find out what we were having because we wanted to be surprised.

After he graduated in May, He did not know what he was going to do in the fall. In June he attended a softball game where I met him. We talked after the game for a long time. Right before he left he told me he would not see me the next weekend because he was going to be helping friends Larry and Rhonda move to another city in Kansas. We exchanged phone numbers. After that night we talked on the phone alot. In the fall of 1993, I moved back home due to my roomate getting married and moving. Randy and I had a long distant relationship for the next year or so. Randy and I's relationship strengthened while we were apart from each other. In 1994, i moved back to Pittsburg to be closer to him. He went back to college. We started talking about spending the rest of our life together. We got engaged in May 1995. In May of that year he accepted a job in Kansas City. He had a wierd feeling about it and so he prayed for God's guidence. The job, he had 1 week to find a place to live and he was to start at the end of May. After us talking and praying together, he called the place and told them he had to turn the job down. The very next day he got a call from Four County in Independence. Well he got the job. He started working there in June of 1995. We moved to Cherryvale.

Randy went to Pittsburg State University and graduated in May 1993 with a degree in secondary math.  He attended South Broadway Baptist Church while he lived in Pittsburg. He did his student teaching in Riverton, ks in the fall of 1992. In December 1992, he was baptized. It was at this point when he wanted to live for God and wasn't afraid to show it. He accepted christ at a younger age. He also attended the FCA at PSU.