Thanks!
by nemerson
I just wanted to take a minute to say “Thank you” from the bottom of our hearts. Grace and I have been overwhelmed by the meals, cards, gifts, gift cards, and donations to SCS. Thank you to all who came to the services honoring Nathan. We are so very grateful to each and every one of you for all of your kindness and prayers during this challenging time. By God’s grace, we are doing pretty well…better than expected, I’d say. We are surrounded by God’s love in the hands and feet of all of you. Please continue to pray for us (especially at dinnertime when we miss him most). If you don’t know what to pray, these verses have been very meaningful to me lately:
“For this reason I kneel before the Father…I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Eph. 3:14-19
“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” Phil. 1:9-11
Operation Treehouse Surprise!
For those of you not on Facebook who haven’t heard about this yet, I want to invite you to a special event next Saturday, Dec. 8th, 8am till dark, our house.
Grace has been dreaming of having a tree house since she was 4 years old, but we’ve never had the time, energy or resources to build one. The last couple of months, she’s been asking and asking. I think now is the time. She’s given up so many “childhood” things to take care of her Dad all these years. I would love for her to have a place, a special space, all her own to laugh and play (and cry). I know there are many of you out there with the skills. If you are able to come and help in any way (even hauling brush or painting), please e-mail me (cmcjill@maine.rr.com) or post a comment here. My cousin, Andrew Lytle, is planning and organizing the building and will be creating several teams of workers to complete different parts of the tree house. We hope to be able to put it all together by the end of the day Saturday. Lunch will be provided.
Then there’s the matter of 2 little questions that everyone is wondering but no one dares to ask me:
1) How did Nathan actually die?
Well, the brain swelling increased to the point where he was basically paralyzed and even lost his ability to talk (we used blinks and grunts to communicate!). We went to the hospital the Tuesday before he died to get a spinal tap in order to figure out what was causing the brain swelling (the previous diagnosis of PRES just didn’t fit). They had to admit him to the hospital and give a platelet transfusion just to do the test. Unfortunately, none of the test results came back in time to help him, and his body just started shutting down. He wasn’t in any pain and continued to refuse any pain meds. The last few hours when his breathing became labored, the nurse convinced me to allow him to have some dilaudid (like morphine). Before the medicine ever made it to his room, he just stopped breathing—he really didn’t want that pain medicine! It was such a blessing that he was not in any pain and remained peaceful and cheerful to the very end. I’ve heard that dying of cancer can be excruciatingly painful, and I’m soooo glad he didn’t have to go through that.
2) How will you and Grace make it financially?
Yes, we do have a mortgage, and we did not qualify for mortgage insurance because of Nathan’s cancer. However, the mortgage (which is reasonable) is our only debt. Grace and I will both receive Social Security benefits (roughly the same amount we were getting while Nathan was receiving disability benefits) until she’s 16, then half benefits until she’s 18. With my part-time nannying job, this will certainly be enough to take care of our needs. Since Nathan was still employed by CSC (on medical leave) at the time of his death, CSC will cover health insurance for Grace and I for 6 months, and they also had a life insurance policy for Nathan. So, you see, God has provided for all of our needs according to His riches in glory. No need to worry. I’m not.
Finally, you can read Nate’s biography in this week’s edition of www.theweeklysentinel.com.
And those of you wanting copies of the songs Nate wrote and recorded (which are amazing!)…we’re hoping to have those available on iTunes soon. Look under Nate Emerson: The Wonder Years.
Also, feel free to leave comments here commemorating Nathan’s life. His family and I love hearing stories of how he touched your life!
the nate update 
Jill,
I have been in Florida for the past months and got the sorrowful news about Nath. Had I been in CT I would have gone to his service however; I will only be going up to CT for the Holidays
Nathan was an inspiration and special person while he worked for me at CSC. I was his manager for 4+ years and was so fortunate to have known him as a person and an employee. He was a terrific son, father and husband. I never heard him complain and everything that came his way no matter how challenging was OK with him.
We will miss him as I’m sure you all will. Our prayers will continue to be with you and Grace in asking the Good Lord to keep you strong and to watch over you and Grace as you continue going through these trying times.
We are so glad to hear that Nathan left this world peacefully, painlessly and am sure he will continue being with you and watching over you, Grace and family.
With all our Prayers and Love, Lorraine Gosselin & family
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Hi Jill and Grace! My connection to Nathan was thru a gal that told me about his computer skills and his need to compensate while he was home on medical leave. In thinking back, I would say I’ve known Nathan about 5 years. He was truly a computer wiz and honestly, I don’t know what I’m going to do if anything goes haywire!
Nathan was a blessing and a pioneer. I was blessed to have known him and will miss him.
You are in our prayers. Take good care of each other. Thank you.
Ann
Jill;
Thank you so much for keeping me in the loop.I knew Nate is a very special person. I was always inspired by Nate; his inner calm and grace in the way he lived his life. I am sorry for you loss. You and Grace made his life so rich, took very good care of him and found ways to live your lives fully as well. Nate would tell me all about it. He touched so many in his much too short life.