No one is ever fully prepared for the reality that life on this earth does end.  Today when I received the tearful phone call from my mom, I was on my way to get ice-cream cones for the kids.  Something so sweet, contrasted against the harsh bitterness of death.  After fighting cancer, Aunt Lyn went to be with Jesus.  Heaven just go better.  In Africa, Aunt Lyn was my mom’s best friend.  I remember very clearly seeing them together outside under the frangipani tree, praying.   I would run past them in my bare feet, carefree and happy.   I didn’t understand the tears accompanying those prayers, but I’m sure now, they sometimes had to do with me and Aunt Lyn’s daughter, Nadine.  Just like I cry too now as I pray for my Nadine and Elijah, Jack, Elsie, & Betty.  I’m so proud to have my middle name from her.  Lyn with one n.  I remember Aunt Lyn always looked pretty, with beautiful nail-polish (often blue!) and stylish earrings.  Her British accent was the finishing touch of her outward elegance.  Her inward beauty went far deeper.  I don’t even know the depths of what she did with her full life, but I know she touched countless lives in war-torn Congo.  She and her husband co-founded an amazing organization called HEAL Africa.  I also know that she raised a beautiful daughter, whom I am blessed to have known my entire life.  It’s on days like this that I wish Africa weren’t so far away.