About twenty people showed up including Amy, a former student of mine from Pepperdine, who now lives with her husband and their daughter in Idaho. My parents “adopted” Amy a few years ago after a couple of His Little Ones mission trips to Bucharest. Sonyah, Amy’s one year old golden locks angel, is here too.

Later in the day Amy, my parents, and I launched a bright yellow balloon with blessings and prayers and signatures of all the loved ones who came to the party or shared their wishes for mom via emails/texts. A collective prayer to the heavens. A balloon broadcast with blessings to honor my mother. Again, mom shed joyful tears as the four of us huddled in my backyard and watched together the bright blessings balloon rise to the sky and melt into the Texas sunset.