To our family members and dear friends,
It is with heavy hearts that I write this letter to you
today, to tell you
that our beautiful little angel baby, Haley Nicole Kincaid,
went to be with
our heavenly Father in the middle of the night last Wednesday,
August 17th.
Although our hearts are "heavy", we rejoice because Haley is now with the Lord. Some of you (those living in Saginaw), as well as relatives, already know of Haley's "promotion". We know you all prayed for her during the first month of her life, and we thank you for each prayer.
We left for Saginaw to see our little angel on August 7th, and we spent 6 short days getting to know her - hold her, and love her. Haley had already crossed many hurdles, and appeared to be growing stronger each day. You each received our e-mails telling you of her progress. On Friday, the 11th, I took Tammy and Haley into the hospital to have a "dye" test to see exactly what her sucking and swallowing abilities were.
To make a long story short, the specialists taking the test told us that Haley was able to do some sucking and swallowing, but it was "delayed" and "out of rhythm". We praised the Lord for we felt that with therapy, she would slowly be able to suck and swallow more on her own each day, until the feeding tube could be removed forever. However, God had a different plan than we thought.
On Sunday afternoon, the 13th, Tammy fed Haley (via the tube), and laid her down to sleep. About 15 or 20 minutes later, Tammy checked on her and she apparently had refluxed, had aspirated, and was starting to turn blue. Joel tried CPR and Tammy called 911. The ambulance came and on the way to the hospital they finally were able to resuscitate her, but they didn't know how many minutes she had been without oxygen. She was put on life supports, but the doctors didn't give them much hope, if she did survive, that she would ever function normally again.
We spent the next 3 days in the hospital. Then God, in His tender love and mercy, took her Home to be with Him that Wednesday night. His ways are far above our ways, and His thoughts far above ours. We know no reasons, and we have many questions, but no answers have been given us. However, we are told to trust Him completely, so we are doing the best we can in His strength. God makes no mistakes, and we know that.
We are so proud of Tammy and Joel, because of the prayers of all of you, and hundreds more across the country, they (and we), have been able to get through these past days and weeks. We loved Haley so much and wanted her with us, but God must have wanted her more for His own reasons. We have already seen God's love being shown to all of us in many ways. Our sons, Steve and Thom, were able to fly out and "meet" their niece and show their love to Tammy and Joel.
Other family members - Joel's two brothers, drove all night to be able to be at the memorial service which was last Friday, as well as Todd (Tammy's cousin), and his wife, Jennifer, [who] drove all night from Minnesota.
Our friends and relatives have all shown us their love with their hugs and tears. We thank God for each one. We thanked God also that Tammy and Joel didn't have to make the decision to take Haley off the ventilator - that was going to be done the morning after Jesus took her Home. God spared them of that most difficult decision, by peacefully taking her in the middle of the night.
God is so good! Our hearts are broken, and it will take a long time for them to heal, but we have the assurance that we will see Haley again. She has touched our lives in the brief 5 1/2 weeks that He allowed us to have and hold and love her, and none of us will ever be the same. Our entire family is bonded together with love. We thank God for His goodness to us.
Please pray for us, but especially pray for Tammy and
Joel. Haley's 3 1/2
year old brother, Kyle, was so precious to us during
the past week. He
sensed that we were all hurting as he saw our tears so
many times. He
repeatedly came up to me and Tammy (and probably others),
and patted us and said, "it's OK, it's going to be all right". What a precious
little boy he is. Tammy and Joel are so thankful they have him, and so
are we.
We covet your prayers each day for our wonderful daughter, Tammy, and her wonderful husband, Joel. We thank God for each of you.
With Christ's love and ours,
Tim
and Sylvia
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Dear Family,
As we all know, the last couple of weeks have been extremely
trying and
difficult for Tammy and Joel. When we left for Saginaw
on August 7, we went to meet our new granddaughter. Little did we expect
that God would promote her to heaven the following week. However, He did
and we who remain must deal with that loss.
We have been so gratified by the cards, calls, letters
and support from all
of our family and friends. Hopevale Memorial Baptist
is the church that
Tammy and Joel attend. The pastor was just super in dealing
with our
situation and did a remarkable job at the memorial service.
We did not get a count, but I expect 125-150 people came to the service
last Friday. We were gratified by the support of these friends and family.
Todd and Dan both came and we know that was an effort for them, especially
Todd and Jen who drove all night to come.
Joel also had two brothers who put the same effort to
get there. Of course, Steve and Thom had flown in earlier in the week to
be with
us for the last few days that Haley was with us. Tammy
was very moved that they came and showed how much they love her and care
for her. As a parent, there is nothing sweeter than observing your children
loving each other.
There was a letter also sent today by Sylvia. She has gone into greater detail about Haley and the condition that led to her homegoing. So, we covered ya two ways.
Please keep praying for Tammy and Joel. Tammy said, "My arms feel so empty" and I guess that feeling of emptiness is there for all of us, but especially her. There is always a special bond between baby and mother and I am sure this is what she has lost.
By the first of September we will have Marty and Phil here, with spouses of course, and we really will welcome them here anyway, but now, even more so. We look forward to visiting with them and showing them "God's Country" which we are fortunate to call home.
Love you all. Thanks again for all your love and prayers. The Seagren's are the best!!! (I mean Olson and Arvidson too, you know that!)
Love,
Tim
GOOD NEWS!!! Tammy and Joel Kincaid are delighted to announce the arrival of twin girls, Arianna Brooke and Taylor Nicole, born on November 28, 2001. Our best wishes are extended to Tammy, Joel and Kyle and their Grand Junction, CO grandparents, Tim and Sylvia, along with the rest of the Seagren/Kincaid family. To see the girls at three months, scroll down.To see their cousin, Gannon, born to Thom and Shari Seagren, click here
Taylor
Adrianna
Gannon Seagren, cousin to the Kincaid twins
