Katie

I have been writing this blog in my head for over a week, and now that I am sitting down at my computer to write it, I feel completely speechless. One week ago today, mine and Whitney's dear friend from home, Katie Whitlow, passed away. Her unborn son, Bascom, went with her as well. I appreciate so much the thoughts, emails, and prayers that have been sent to me from so many of you. Katie was truly someone who was set apart from the rest. I want to tell you about so much: my memories of her, other stories I heard over the past weekend, how people had to stand in line for over an hour at the funeral home to speak with her family, how our friend, Rusty, spoke the most perfect message at her funeral, how she prayed for each and every one of you, even if she did not know you. I want to tell you about her sweet daughter, Merriweather, and how she is still laughing and smiling, about her husband, Jacob, who is so strong in the face of so much heartache, about how Katie touched the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of people, both before, during, and after her illness took her life. I want to tell you about her family, especially her immediate family: Curt, Melody, Curt Jr., Annie, Caleb, & Brock, and how wonderful they are. Please put Katie's entire family in your prayers. I could go on and on forever, but I am going to leave you with the email from Jacob when he let everyone know that Katie & Bascom had passed away. I am going to end with an email from Katie wrote last year to somene who is desperately seeking the Truth. May God bless you through these words the way Katie blessed everyone around her.

"I am sitting in Merriwether's room, watching her eat apples and pineapples, trying to explain to her the difference between the two, but all she can say is 'apple appie apple appie apple.' And she's telling me this story about this crazy cat she saw the other day at her memaw's house, except it wasn't a squirrel, it was a cat, and we don't think it was crazy. Katie was at the hospital on Friday getting blood and platelets. It took a long time and she just about had a nervous breakdown waiting for them to finish giving her the last bag of blood. I took her home and from that point her condition deteriorated quickly. She lost a lot of blood over the weekend and on Monday. Her mouth was filled with sores and her skin had little red bumps on it. She was in some pain, but she continued to believe that God could heal her. You are receiving this e-mail because you know my wife and you know that she lived her life with God and for God. Last night, around 3:30 AM, her mother Melody and I watched as Jesus took Katie to Heaven. He took our little unborn son, Bascom (after Katie's maternal great-great-grandfather) Ancil (my paternal grandfather) Whitlow. I do not know why this happened, why Katie died at the age of 26, why we had just two years and three months together as a married couple, why she died one year, to the date, of her being diagnosed with Adult Myeloid Leukemia. I don't know why she won't be there to make my daughters' wedding gowns or sing their grandchildren to sleep. I do know this though, and I know that Katie knew this until she breathed for the last time, because she was, in the midst of horrible pain whispering it, 'God loves me.' And she loved you too, even if she never met you, because Katie loved people. And God commands us to love him and love each other and Katie did those two things like no one else I have ever met. Merriwether is sitting in my lap now, wanting to go play, and she has no idea what is happening. Please pray for her, for my family, for Katie's family. The funeral will be on Saturday, I believe at Grove Level Baptist Church. The visitation will be Friday at some time at Julian Peebles Funeral Home in Dalton. I am an English major, so pardon any bits of the melodramatic in this e-mail and I am sorry if this news seems impersonal in this most impersonal of communication forms, but I hope you know it is written with sincerity and sorrow, but joy too, because Katie and my son are with Jesus. In her first e-mail to me, Katie closed it by saying 'My cup runneth over' and I remember thinking 'Who uses that expression?' and now I know what she meant. And when she wrote her last e-mail a week ago telling everyone the news we were having a boy, she finished that one with the same words, 'My cup runneth over.'" Jacob (written on 12/20/07)

Written by Katie last year:
" I am a Christian. Not because my grandfather is, not because his grandfather was...not because Grove Level planned the best activities when I was in middle school. I am a Christian because I have studied the life of Christ and it is good and it is love...and it is triumphant. I have never thrown my arms up in excitement or run around the sanctuary or shouted out to God during a sermon or fainted or swayed or been “slain in the Spirit” or spoken in tongues…or handled snakes(smile), It’s all I can do to clap in time to praise music…but I can hear Him whisper and I have felt Him only inches away if any at all and He has touched me and my insides stand in attention and my heart is red and it beats hard and fast and if you turn me inside out like an orange there would be some fantastic celebration with parades and ferris wheels and fireworks and marching bands and jelly beans and pinwheels and fire eaters and hula hoops and…..fat ladies in polka dots and lions and popcorn and acrobats. I pray that you might know my insides and realize that although I don't believe as you do...I believe with passion and with love and with direction of thought and purpose...not with a simple, gross obedience to a church or a pastor or a cause....All I know is that in the end it will be as God has planned and man can not interfere. And God is love. Love is everything. - Katie Hammontree [Whitlow]
Amen (smile)"

Have You Ever Prayed For A Miracle?

Many of you received an email from either Whitney or I about a month ago regarding our dear friend from Dalton, Katie Whitlow. I am just now having the time to post the information onto my blog so that more and more people can see what is going on. If you go back in my blog "archives" to the end of 2006, you will see that Katie was diagnosed with leukemia, and immediately began treatment for it during the holidays. The treatments were successful, and Katie has been being monitored ever since. The doctors told Katie that her treatments would make her infertile, but in the fall, Katie, Jacob, and Merriweather found out that they were going to have a new addition to their family, Katie was pregnant! Please understand that the pregnancy in itself is a miracle from God, the doctors told Katie she would not be able to have children. Unfortunately, about 3 months later, they found out that Katie's leukemia had returned, and have had to make what could possibly be one of the hardest decisions ever: do they treat the leukemia, and harm the baby, or leave the leukemia alone, saving the baby, but leaving Katie sick? They have prayed and prayed about their decision, and have decided that Katie will not treat the leukemia. I wish you all could have the chance to meet Katie and understand what an unbelievable example she is to everyone around her. She is patient, kind, and loves everyone around her. She has a way about her that makes you feel at peace even when there is turmoil all around. In the past, I have asked for prayer requests for this or that, but in this specific instance, I ask that you specifically pray for a miracle for Katie and her family. Thank you to those of you who have already prayed about this and written to me, I know Katie's family appreciates it as well. I'm posting a picture that I swiped from Whitney's blog of Katie, Jacob, and Merriweather. Please tell others about this, and thank you for praying for a miracle for Katie.