Glory to God in the Highest!

On this first Christmas since our sister Deb is home with the Lord, please continue, as always, to pray for Tom and Charity, Nellie, Jordan, and their families. Many have offered words of encouragement and blessing. Your kindness in remembering them in this season of Joy is quite a Gift.

The Prince of Peace!
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom
a light has shone.
You have brought them abundant joy
and great rejoicing,
as they rejoice before you as at the harvest,
as people make merry when dividing spoils.
For the yoke that burdened them,
the pole on their shoulder,
and the rod of their taskmaster
you have smashed, as on the day of Midian.
For every boot that tramped in battle,
every cloak rolled in blood,
will be burned as fuel for flames.
For a child is born to us, a son is given us;
upon his shoulder dominion rests.
They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero,
Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.
His dominion is vast
and forever peaceful,
from David’s throne, and over his kingdom,
which he confirms and sustains
by judgment and justice,
both now and forever.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this!
(Isaiah 9:1-6)



Be Not Afraid!

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus
that the whole world should be enrolled.
This was the first enrollment,
when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town.
And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth
to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem,
because he was of the house and family of David,
to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
While they were there,
the time came for her to have her child,
and she gave birth to her firstborn son.
She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger,
because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields
and keeping the night watch over their flock.
The angel of the Lord appeared to them
and the glory of the Lord shone around them,
and they were struck with great fear.
The angel said to them,
“Do not be afraid;
for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy
that will be for all the people.
For today in the city of David
a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.
And this will be a sign for you:
you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel,
praising God and saying:
“Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
(Luke 2:1-14)

A love note from Tom - October 12, 2007

Dear friends in Christ,

Today my dear wife Deb went to be with Christ Jesus and the saints who have gone before us. Her healing is now complete. God's sovereign purposes are also complete. I often quoted Wimber in dealing with the tough times on Earth, "Earth aint heaven." But today I am finding comfort in being able to say "yes, but heaven is heaven." And Deb is healed, Deb is soaking in the beauty, Deb is singing with one of the awesome praise teams, Deb is telling the angels about her awesome five grandkids.

Our hearts ache. This big old farmhouse is silent but her legacy has just begun.


I do not have the words to tell all of you in the lovingdebsmith congregation what comfort we received from reading your blog entries. Our computer room is on the second floor in our home so I would have to print things out as Deb couldn't do stairs. Then Darla began bringing her laptop out and letting Deb see your letters with her own eyes. Yesterday the Holy Spirit prepared Deb for her homegoing by Darla playing a CD that brother Drew Grounds, worship leader at Central Christian Church, had made for Deb. But in the middle of it, Darla stopped and played Deb's 7 Calls To Worship, which magician Michael Cristiani reproduced on the blog. Deb could not speak the past three days. She made sounds that we tried to interpret but during one of the praise songs, she was able to sing along, by saying, "hallelu, hallelu." The hospice nurse could tell something was moving in the room and asked Deb, "What are you seeing?" Deb said, "angels." The nurse asked, "have they come for you?" She said, "not yet." At the end of that day, the nurses told us they believed she would go to be with the Lord in 24-48 hours.

At 3 am, Jordan and I decided to move her onto a pillow wedge in her bed to help relieve the coughing. In her broken language, she began to speak to Jordan and Jordan began to speak to his mother amidst the tears. He kissed and spoke of his love for his mother and began to pray for his mother. The Holy Spirit used this moment mightily for all three of us. I then gave Deb another round of meds in her IV port and then laid down with her and rubbed her head, arm and shoulders and she talked to me for quite a while also. Then she became silent but was still breathing and at about 4, I said, "If I'm going to work tomorrow, I've got to go to the couch to get a couple hours of sleep." For the past four months, I would be awakened by Deb's strange, unusual sounds. Today, the house was silent. I ran to her bed and her spirit was gone to be with Jesus.

We are sad but we are grateful because as Paul told the young church, "we are not like people of the world who die without hope."

We are going to honor Deb and her Savior in two Memorial Services, Lord willing. Next Saturday, October 20 at Grace Community Church in Mt. Vernon, Illinois at 11am and Sunday, October 21st at 3pm at New Hope Community Church , originally known by most of us at Fellowship Christian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

I cannot close this love note to all of you without saying thank you for your generous gifts which have enabled us to combat the financial challenges of cancer medical care. You have kept our heads afloat, financially. We are still not out of the woods, in that our insurance company has not paid the first dollar because they are still looking in Deb's medical history to find a preexisting condition. They have renegotiated some of the prices with the hospitals and testing agencies. But they are still refusing to pay real money for the outstanding bills. Again, thank you.

Let me close by saying that Deb loved teaching art at a small college--Frontier Community College. Our family is establishing a "Deb Smith Memorial Fine Arts Scholarship" in her honor and to continue her ministry of helping discover students gifted to "do art." Deb's greatest joy was discovering the kids whom God had wired up to paint, do sculpture, do architecture. The administration originally told her they had to have a Fine Arts teacher to meet Humanities requirements for the State but not to expect any one to be very serious about Art and certainly no one to go on and major in Art at a 4-year University. She and her students surprised them as she has sent, the last time we counted, nine students on to major universities in Fine Arts, Graphic Arts, Art Education and Architecture. If you want to contribute to this scholarship fund, simply make your check out to "Frontier Community College" with Deb Smith on the Memo line and mail to our home address at 10517 North Panzier Lane, Ashley, IL 62808. Thank you.

Deb and I would read the blog and we would remember you and relive stories of our young life in Christ together. And our faith would be renewed in the midst of the most vicious battle of our lives. Surely friendship in Christ is eternal. God bless you all. Tom Smith.

Home! What Joy and Sorrow!

Dear Ones,

Our sister, Deborah Ann Smith, is home with Jesus, from early this morning, October, 12, 2007. Tom and Jordan were with Deb at the time. Here is a message from Charity:

Dear friends,

It is with immeasurable sadness that we write. Our mom passed away early this morning. She passed in her sleep. Please keep us in your prayers as we plan for the future.

All our thanks, the Smith family."

Please bring Tom and the whole Smith family before the Throne of Grace.

Please watch Loving Deb Smith for details on memorials, etc., as they become available.

Hebrews 12:22-24a
But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous ones made perfect, to Jesus ...

We have gathered at our parents' home ...

Charity has provided the following update, this evening:

I'm writing from my parents' house. Nellie, Zach and I came over late last night.

To all friends who are reading today's entry, our family sends out a thank you and a genuine appreciation for all the manifestations of love you have shown us.

We have gathered at our parents' home because the hospice nurses say that our mom's situation has become extremely critical. They are concerned that she does not have much time left because she has had a 103 degree fever, low blood pressure and terminal dehydration. She sleeps 20 hours a day. The nurses have recommended that we all be here with her now.

Please pray for us as we spend this time with our mom.... And as we attempt to plan for the future. She has expressed that she wants to be buried in Cincinnati, so we anticipate a great reunion with all our friends at a memorial service there, in addition to a memorial service in Mt. Vernon. We will blog about plans as we learn what they are.

With love, Charity

Deb's Family at home and around the world: A tireless service of Love and devotion!

Reports from those who have had the privilege to speak with Deb and serve her up close recently have reported some marvelous things.

Deb continues to be encouraged by the love and support folks are sharing, even to the point of breaking out in song/worship (singing the hymn Marla McNabb recalled in her recent comment.

Jordan has started a new fashion craze to support his mom by shaving his head (anyone want to join him?)

Tom and the kids and the grands encourage Deb tirelessly, and offer their service of Love and prayers without ceasing -- what a witness of the Love of God! Deb has often made it well known to friends lately how much she loves her family and how much Joy their times together bring her!

Tom's Aunt Vera, his mom, Louise, and his sister Darla have been taking turns with day time visits and helping Deb with here physical needs. Please lift them up in prayer.

Everybody's gotta eat Cincinnati's favorites!

Often, caregivers of seriously ill people have little time or energy to care for themselves -- little sleep, a bite to eat on the run, etc. You can help Deb and Tom concretely by providing homemade food for the family. But if you live in Cincinnati, or North Carolina, or Colorado, or Michigan, home cooking might be out of the question. Perhaps you would consider sending along some Skyline Chili, Montgomery Inn ribs, Graeter's ice cream, Busken's baked goods, or LaRosa's pasta sauce and all the fixins. Check out Cincinnati Favorites.com or Best of Cincinnati.com if you feel led to help in this way. You can find Deb & Tom's address in the left side-bar, along with those of Nellie and Charity.

Deb is doing well at home on her first day!

Dear friends, Thank you for visiting this blog, for praying, for caring so much about our mom. We want you to know how much we appreciate and recognize your love for our family!

The great news is that she is at home after 3 weeks in the hospital. Thank God!! Today, she said she was able to put on her clothes and walk around. Over the phone, her voice sounded better than it has in all these weeks. She was also able to eat a little more than normal. Right now, the goal is to get all of her medicines straight. My dad said a nurse visited the house today.

Shane (age 5), Jordan's son, came over for the evening and entertained her. Nellie and Zach came in from Cincinnati to help out.

She said her eyes are really bothering her. Since the cancer is also in her retinas, she has been having trouble with her vision. She says it gets blurrier by the day. Can you pray specifically that her eyes are healed as well as the rest of her body? Thanks again. --Charity

Shared Notes to Deb and Tom and the family

Dear Ones,

A growing number of visitors to Loving Deb Smith have clicking on the e-mail links in the left sidebar to send Deb, Tom, Charity, Nellie, Jordan and the whole clan amazing words of Love and Encouragement. Some of these notes have ended up here as comments to other posts. All those who have sent these notes have agreed to share them with the growing Loving Deb Smith community. Please feel free to add your memories and loving encouragement to the comments for this post.

MANY BLESSINGS!
Peace and All Good!

Visit the Loving Deb Smith photo album

Nellie and her husband Zach lovingly offered the several photos of Deb and her family that you can see here on the left side of this blog. There will be others. If you would like to see any of these photos in a larger format, please visit the Loving Deb Smith photo albums space. If you want to add an RSS feed for this photo album to your RSS reader, here is the link. Besides the photos Deb & family have posted, you may post your favorite photos of the time you have shared with Deb over the years. To do so, just send digital versions of the photos you want to share to the Loving Deb Smith e-mail box so they can be added to the collection. Most digital formats are acceptable. Deb & Tom, their kids and grands look forward to seeing how Deb has blessed you.

How are the rest of the Smith's doing

Nellie provided the following update of 6/15/2007 on what the rest of the family is doing:

My dad is driving to St. Louis every night after working two jobs during the day. I have been able to take some time off of work to drive back and forth from Cincinnati to cook, clean and do laundry for he and Jordan and visit mom in the hospital. My sister also makes the trip, but she has four small children, so it is not easy for her to get away. My aunt helps as well, by spending one day per week doing anything my mom needs. Please pray for safe travels for us, I had to drive home in the middle of the night Wednesday night in order to get to work on time Thursday. My dad is exhausted (though he will not admit it) and making a long drive every night.