The casket...

  There is a story that goes with my Dad's casket that I don't think is JUST a coincidence!  Back in June, Brandon got a remodel job for an older couple named Jim and Annie Houser.  He came home one day and said 'lets go for a drive.'  I asked him where we were going and he said he wanted me to meet the couple he was working for because he knew I would LOVE them.  They are the cutest couple, constantly arguing, but have been by each others side for years!!  There is something about little old men that I have always loved, maybe it's because I loved being with my grandpa Porter so much, but whatever it is, I instantly fell in love with Jim(I love Annie too!).  While out meeting them and visiting with them, I commented on how I loved all the old barn wood in their home.  Jim looks at me and says, 'you know where I bought that wood?...I bought that wood at Tenney's old lumber yard in down town Heber back in 1968-69.'  Brandon then broke the news to him that I was 'Tenney's' daughter.  We had a great conversation about how much they liked my dad and how he helped them get power to their property years ago.  Well...the next day Brandon went back to work and started tearing this old barn wood down to replace it with sheet rock.  Brandon asked Jim & Annie what their plans were for the old barn wood.  Jim informed Brandon that he would just be having him haul it to the dump.  Brandon then said, 'my wife would love you forever if you would let us buy it from you!'  He told Brandon we didn't have to pay for it and that we could just have it if it meant that I would love him forever:)  So that day Brandon came home with the most beautiful old barn wood I've ever seen!  I was so excited thinking of all the different things I could put him to work doing with it!

 The old Barn Wood!

  Well...that night we went out to the ranch and my Dad pulled Brandon aside before we left and said 'I know it would be a lot of pressure but I would love for you to build my casket.'  Brandon then told my dad, 'well dad, i have the perfect stuff.  it came out of your lumberyard (which was milled at my grandpa's sawmill) back in 1968-69.'  Of course when we told my Mom she was having a hard time picturing burying my Dad in old barn wood, but of course my Dad and Brandon could see the vision of the end result.  Little did I know that my old barn wood would be used for such a sacred cause...I think it turned out beautiful!!  It's not a coincidence that Brandon got a remodel job that happened to be removing old wood that came from my Dad's lumberyard years earlier...I know that God is in the very details of our lives!!

After it was all planed down

I soon learned what my dad meant when he said the 'pressure' of building his casket.  Although there was pressure there to make it good enough, big enough, nice enough, we wouldn't have traded that privilege for anything!!

A big THANK YOU to Jane Duncan for doing the beautiful drawing on the inside of the casket and to Donna Bigler for doing an amazing job on the lining of the casket!!  They were two of the many Angels sent our way in our time of need!!