Achia
I don't know where to begin; words escape me. My aunt, who truly felt and seemed like a sister, passed away April 17. Before reading on, I advise you read Achia's life story (in her obituary ) and the updates from her hospitalization (on my mom's blog ) to have a context for what I write here. She breathed her last in the hospital, surrounded by her parents and most of her siblings, after a three week battle in the PICU and hospice care. Her stomach had been left open after two surgeries which removed a majority of her small intestine, she had not been able to eat or drink anything and the sweet girl we knew slowly faded in exhaustion. However: "outwardly we are fading away, but inwardly we are renewed day by day. For our light and momentary struggle is achieving for us a glory that far outweighs it all." Achia traded thirst for streams of the River of Life. Hunger for the banquet table of the Lamb. Blindness for eyes which saw for the first time, her gaze imme...