Sad News...

Im having a hard time putting this post together, so bare with me...this AM i came downstairs to check my email. My brother in Brazil sent me an email to tell my our father died Oct. 31st at 1:30pm. He was buried later that day in the Lages Cemetary where our mother is buried. It was exactly this day 2 years ago that i made the decision to try to find my father. My initial intent when going to Brazil with jon was to just see where i came from-thinking that there was no way i'd ever find any family. I decided on Nov. 2nd, 2005 to find my father and siblings. I made a few calls and then we left for Brazil Nov. 5th and my life changed forever in a way that i will never be able to explain to anyone. I remember the joy and excitement and really just the shock that i was able to find anyone, let a lone my entire family! I remember the 1st day i met my father, how nervous i was, how many questions i had etc. I thought he'd be a huge german guy-then meeting him and seeing that instead he was just a small & simple quiet man.

He was the one that named me Cristina. My parents wrote names on a paper, crinkled them up and put them into a bowl, then my mother pulled out my 1st name which was Luciana, and my father pulled out my 2nd name which is Cristina. He was so excited that i have been going by the name he picked for me. This man has lived many lives. He married a wonderful woman he was madly in love with and 10 years older then he. He quickly had 4 children with her. She passes suddenly and was heartbroken ever since. His life spiraled down and he ended up losing all of his children and lived his life on alcohol ever since. Towards the end of his life, he got better and worked and lived in a convalescent type home helping all the nuns that worked there, he would clean the kitchen, prepare meals, make everyone happy. He seemed to be a joyful fun loving carefree easygoing kind of man, much like myself.

Timing is such an interesting thing. I now know that HF certainly had a hand in making my Brazil trip and meeting my family a possibility. Too many things came together that dont normally happen. I will forever be grateful for following the promptings of the Spirit and having faith that "what will happen, will happen" and stepping on that plane that has changed my life for the better. Im grateful especially this day that Jon was healthy and we were in a position financially, emotionally and spiritually to take this journey together. I will forever be grateful for those 17 days of my life. This is harder on me then i thought it would be. I didnt know my father like most children know their father, but im grateful for him and what he did for our family when he was healthy and happy. If it wasnt partly for him, i would have nothing here today. My life, my family, my membership. I know that he is now healthy once again and will be working on making things correct in his next life. Im sure my mother was the 1st in line to greet him. I bet it is just beautiful.