Angels among us

I got a postcard in the mail last week for the Redwood Memorial Estates annual Christmas Devotional.  They were inviting us for a night of celebrating our loved ones who have passed on. A night that we could spend remembering our baby Cindy.  They provided each family with several luminaries to put around the gravesite and also a sky lantern, which is like a mini hot air balloon to send off into the sky.  Since the devotional fell on a Monday, I thought it would be the perfect FHE. 

It hasn't snowed here yet, but it does get pretty cold at night, so we all bundled up and headed to the cemetary.  The devotional was from 5-8pm....and we got there at about 530.  When we walked into the mortuary, there were tons of luminaries (paper bags cut with different designs...put inside a plastic bag with sand to weigh it down, and a candle) lined up along the wall.  They told us to go ahead and take as many as we needed and then head over to the table to customize them.  We grabbed one for each of us....to put around baby Cindy's grave....then headed over to the table where we all wrote little notes to Cindy and signed our names on the bags.

They had a light dinner there for everyone, but we didn't want to have to carry the luminaries around all night, so we decided to take them to baby Cindy's grave and spend a little time there....then we'd come back for the launch of the sky lanterns and then we'd grab something to eat.  I'm not going to explain in detail what happened the rest of that night, I'm going to post some pictures to show you.....  Pay attention to the sky in all the pictures!

At this point we're watching everyone launch their sky lanterns and Ova leans over to me and says "I feel her here with us".....right after that, I snapped this picture

And then this one...

And then my camera would not take any more pictures....I tried several times, but it wouldn't work.  The battery was full, I still had room on my memory card....but it would not take another picture.  I have no doubt in my mind that she was there with us, along with many other spirits.......I had been taking pictures all night with a clear dark sky.....not until this moment did these blurbs appear.  Then after about 15 minutes I tried one more time to take another picture and this time it worked, and this is what I got....

An absolutely clear dark sky.

I felt overwhelmed.  I cried.  I know my daughter was there with us.  There truly are angels among us!