BB’s Home-going by Mom (Jeanie Strenge)

BB was always our angel-child. We always thought of BB as our visiting angel. Though BB was a challenge, he was never a burden.

BB never met a stranger. He was a people magnet from the day he was born. His infectious smile and giggles attracted all people. If people were shy and looked like they want to know more, we always encouraged them to come on over to meet BB and ask any question they wanted. And he so loved to be talked about. He loved that people weren’t put off by his many isms which included his excessive drooling, coughing to clear his airways, talking when Pastor was preaching; accidentally letting his arms get away from him and hitting the person nearest. He loved to match Pastor Bill word for word or just laugh with that laugh that stated that he probably knew more about what Pastor was preaching about than the rest of us. He loved noises– volleyball and the sparring that goes on within the game; Bern’s booming voice (it was like he waited and listened for when Bern would come in an speak to him); and the windshield wiper and dad’s desk chair squeaking and even his own snorting would drive him into fits of laughter. He was a funny guy!

There was a common game that the siblings played with BB. Because BB was cortically blind, his hearing was suburb. The game was to see who could sneak up and scare BB the most. I let them do this because the rule was that they had to laugh with him afterwards so he would know it was a game. And laugh he did. He loved that they played games with him; and he loved to be in the room when we had game night; like on New Year’s Eve, us playing Pitt with spoons.

It was always an unspoken rule that we included BB in everything that we did. It came so naturally. Like we say, BB was so easy to take care of.   With God’s wisdom and out network of friends and family support, it was easy. We fought hard to keep life with BB as normal as possible and I believe that he felt that because of the smiles he gave and the love – oh my goodness, the love this child poured into us.

I want to stop right here and say that BB’s siblings are the best! I have never seen kids that so loved BB. Each one of them contributed their own special talent with BB. My daughter stepped up early in life to be the extra mother for each of her brothers, especially BB. When we were doing our Trust, we talked about who would take care of BB should something happen to both Bob and I. Without hesitation, Kelly said, “Me. I want to take care of BB!” and then the other kids in line of birth, said that if she couldn’t, they would. We have always declared that BB would always be with the family unit, never in a facility.

BB absolutely loved music – any and all music but his favorites were Southern Gospel and Hymns. I was always singing to him. I would make up songs from songs about Jesus – like “I love him better every day.” Became our special song (May I sing it for you?) He absolutely loved “Yes, Jesus loves me” and he would either smile or be so touched that he would stick out his lip and cry. He absolutely knew that Jesus loved him. We had a game we played with him saying the words very slowly “I     Love   You “ and prod him repeat it. Sometimes he would and sometimes he would just laugh at us. One time when we were having TLC at our house, Ellie Dieke was holding BB and we were doing the closing prayer and BB was talking up a storm and the more that Ellie tried to quiet him, the louder he got. After the prayer, I went over and asked Ellie if she knew what BB was saying. She didn’t. Because I was across the room, the words came together clearer so that I understand and BB was saying, “I uve oo” over and over again. When BB wanted, he’d get his point across.

BB had many challenges in his young life. For the most part he was the healthiest of us all. God gave him an amazing Immune System. Even the time when he had the bleeding lungs/gallstone problem and the doctor gave him a 50/50 chance of living; I knew that he would pull through because God was on his side.

BB loved life. He loved the people of this church because they accepted and loved him so unconditionally. He loved Pastor Bill & I think BB was one of Pastor’s favorites, too. And he loved Ian Edwards’ accent– the Christmas times when Ian was the Narrator, it was so hard for BB to sit still and not make noise – he tried, but his giggles would win out every time. He loved his JCC ladies that came to rub his back or pat him on the shoulder and they loved the smiles he gave in return. It was awesome to watch people in the church walk by BB and see them not be able to resist touching BB whether on the head, the arm or a pat on the knee. No one could resist BB.

BB taught me early on an important lesson. If he was upset, then I needed to be as calm as possible. The calmer I could be, the calmer HE would become. This helped me a lot when his sister and brothers came along too.

I remember the time that BB had a fall in his wheelchair down the outside steps and his ministering angels prevented him from getting hurt. BB was so angry at the injustice of falling and was screaming his head off – of course, we knew that it scared him, too. His grandpa picked him up and told him it was ok and BB wasn’t having any of that. Finally grandpa understood that “alright” was NOT the right word, but rather Papa stated in a matter-of-fact tone, “No, it is not ok. It was not right that you fell, and we will do our best to not let it happen again!” BB calmed right down. He had gotten his point across.

Someone once asked me if BB had received Jesus as his Saviour. I always that that because BB was so innocent and child-like that I didn’t have to worry about that, but I took the opportunity to talk with BB about Jesus and Salvation and to pray with him to receive Jesus. BB was ecstatic about doing this.

The last 8 days of BB’s life were the best I’ve ever had. He had just had that 24 hr virus/flu. His stomach doesn’t always bounce back immediately, so I decided to keep BB home and we just hung out singing songs, watching Christmas Movies and just enjoying each other’s company. The nighttime when we’d try to get him to sleep, he would laugh for hours, not wanting to go to sleep. Looking back, I believe that God told BB that it was almost time for his healing and he just didn’t want to miss a thing. We’d give him meds about 9 and he was still giggling @ Midnight. He knew that something good was coming.

I want to state that BB WAS NOT SICK. God showed me that you don’t have to be sick to go home.

The evening before BB went ‘home’ was one of our happiest times together as a family. BB giggled all the way to Virginia Beach where we were going to have Christmas with Kelly and her family. Randall stopped and picked Marcus up and we all were there for the evening. BB laughed and giggled all evening and was still giggling @ 1am on Christmas morning when Bob came to bed. At 1:30am he decided to go to sleep and everyone else settled in to sleep so that when the grandchildren woke up, we could have Christmas with them. I was having a rough time of sleeping with my shoulders aching, so I was up and down all night and when I wasn’t, then Bob was. So, if BB would have needed us, we would have heard him. At 1:30am when BB went to sleep, he was snoring like crazy. Randall had come down to get away from Marcus’ snoring only to have BB snoring, so Randall went outside to sleep in the van (it was a very muggy, not so cool night). Somewhere close to 6:15am, BB saw Jesus and when BB saw him, it took his breath away and stopped his heart, broke all chains that tied him to his body and he flew straight into the arms of Jesus as happy as could be; leaving his body at peace so that we would know that he didn’t struggle to go. Shortly after that, it was like God knocked Randall off his van bench to wake him up and to go in to see BB at peace-gone from his body, but alive with Jesus. Randall went in to check on BB and found him still and unresponsive, checked his pulse and picked up him arm. He wouldn’t have been able to pick up his arm if BB were still in his body as he always kept his hands clutched. Kelly was coming down the stairs to get a bottle for the baby and checked on him too. He was still warm, so she thought he was ok, but Randall insisted that she check him closer, so she turned the light on and checked his eyes and knew that he was gone. Randall came upstairs and very calmly asked me to come downstairs for a minute and when I saw BB, I knew. I shook him and hit him over the heart, but he was gone – there was no pulse and no breath. Jesus had come and BB went with him. Bob came down and picked him up and held him close listening for his heartbeat; nothing. Then Kelly called 911 and we walked through the procedure. Mike came downstairs and started CPR until the fire department came and took over, then the EMT’s came, and they worked on him, going through the motions and called him gone @ 7:23am Christmas Morning. Then the police came to stay with BB until we could make arrangements for him. The detective called his doctor’s office and did as much of the leg work as possible to help us. We had the most amazing police officers. God saw to that.

God orchestrated every moment until he took him home. God is so good and he does everything for our good. We are so thankful for the 34 ½ years that God gave us with BB and we are so honored that God chose us to take care of BB. That challenge brought us so much love and made us stronger for having known and being able to love BB. BB, although we will miss you greatly, we know for a fact that you are in a much better place – who could ask more than for you to be in the Presence of the Almighty sitting at the feet of Jesus and able to do everything there that you could not do here. Goodbye, my son, until we meet you there. We know that you were ready to go, and we would encourage everyone here to receive this Jesus that BB loved so much.