Psalm 46:10New International Version (NIV)
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
October 11th ... Today, My mom found true peace as she came to know God face to face. The woman who bore me and allowed me to breath for the first time, has breathed her last. Such a beautiful woman inside and out with strength to endure the harshest of times as she fought a decade and a half of cancer. If you ever knew her, you were blessed. May her memory continue to bless others. Miss you Mom and your perkiness quotes like, "I love you Oodles Gobs and Bunches" Just so there is no question, she is a born again believer in Jesus Christ as her redeemer. - Mark
Today
we grieve as we heard the news that The Lord called Diana home.
She has loved me since I was 9 months old. I am so grateful to have known her,
loved her and been loved by her my whole life! She accepted me as her daughter
in law but treated me as a daughter. She will be MISSED but we are thankful she
is not in pain anymore! We will be heading to Texas to celebrate her life with
our family and friends. - Alicia
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| Luke went outside to spend some time alone. |
Within a few hours on Sunday afternoon, we knew we needed to make a trip back to the States. It was important for us to be there for our daughter, for Mark's sister, Diana's husband and the rest of the family as we celebrated the life Diana was given to live.
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| Tuesday we were on the plane |
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| Wednesday we were all back together again! |
Her Memorial service was held on Thursday afternoon. Mark was asked if he would speak at her service. I woke up on Thursday morning and Mark was already out of the hotel room. When I went downstairs I found him spending some time alone preparing for the day. I never get tired of finding my man studying and spending time alone with the Lord!
I was so proud of Mark.
He had a very difficult task of standing before a room full of people and sharing about what his mom meant to him as well as
other people. How she loved the Lord and
her family and friends. Here is a copy
of what he shared that day. 
Hello my name is Mark Raley.
For those
who don’t know me or have not met me,
I am
Diana’s Son.
I am not going to take too much time but I wanted to take
enough time to talk about this woman’s impact on lives.
This woman has been known by different names and titles:
I know her
by, Mom.
She carried the names of Diana Louise Bybee, Diana
Raley, and Diana Barhoover.
She is known as a wife,
by her husband she often called, Mr. B.
She is a daughter
and a daughter-in-law.
She was known by her nephews and nieces as, Aunt Sissy.
My children know her as, Grams.
Maybe you know as: Diana
or Di.
She is not only a daughter, sister, wife, mom, aunt, or
grandmother, but she is known by many as a Friend.
As we celebrate the life of my mom, we would like you think
of those special moments you had with her.
This morning I was looking at her facebook page and found
different names and nicknames with those she had come across in her life:
Janice Overby referred to a time when she and my mom had called
each other
Frick
and Frack, Thelma and Louise, Lucy and Ethel, and the Dynamic Duo
Diana Chatfield refers to my mom as a Treasure.
Steffani Moskovitz called her a Shining Light.
Some have called her Princess
Di, Sweet Lady, and A Very Special Lady
However you remember my mom, may it be in such a way that it
celebrates her life and was impactful.
My mom was definitely gifted in giving.
I am not talking about money but a giving that was unique
and special.
I want you to remember a time in my mom’s life that she gave
to you.
Maybe she gave her time during a joyous occasion or maybe it
was a time of sorrow.
Maybe it was a time she saw a way to make you happy by
giving you a gift.
Maybe it was nothing more than a phone call, email, or hug.
When she gave she did not do it for selfish or impure
reasons, she did it because that is how God used her.
Just to give you a few scripture references from the Bible
to share with you.
In Romans 12:6 Paul writes:
We have
different gifts, according to the grace given us.
As we continue to read the list of gifts that God gives, we
will find two that stand out more evident in my mom’s life:
Romans 12:8
says:
If
it is encouraging, let him encourage;
If
it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously;
Paul writes in Romans 12:9-16
Love must
be sincere.
Hate what is evil; cling to what is
good.
Be devoted
to one another in brotherly love.
Honor one another above yourselves.
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your
spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
Be joyful in hope, patient in
affliction, faithful in prayer.
Share with God’s people who are in
need.
Practice hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless
and do not curse.
Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn
with those who mourn.
Live in harmony with one another.
Do not be proud, but be willing to
associate with people of low position.
Do not be conceited.
When you see how Paul is describing how a Christian should
be, I see my mom.
I hope you also saw those characteristics.
Just so you have know:
My mom, is a born again believer in Jesus Christ.
She knew that she could not be perfect but believed in Jesus
as her savior to be her atoning sacrifice for her sins so she could be
confident in her relationship with God.
She was given the Holy Spirit to dwell inside of her.
The only reason she could display those characteristics Paul
writes about is because the Holy Spirit lived inside of her.
Sunday, was the day that my mom went to her heavenly home.
Before she left this place, she gave a little bit of herself
to each one of us.
May you never forget gave
her perky smile, her sweet laugh, her love filled hugs, and her quirky
statements. 
We made sure that we did two of the MANY things Diana loved to do ...
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| Eat Mexican food at one of her favorite places... |
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| Steph, Brit and Alicia went to get a pedicure at her favorite salon ... |
We headed back home to South Africa at the end of October. We were thankful the time we could be with our family.
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| saying "see you later" to Brit |
The Princess Project was started in honor of Diana. They provide food and fellowship to home bound cancer survivors to remind them they are loved and that they still matter.
Brit had to write a paper in English and she was able to share about her part of this journey...
Never Truly Prepared by Brit
Never Truly Prepared by Brit
I woke up to my phone ringing. It was 6:15 on a Sunday morning, so I definitely
wasn’t expecting a call. I looked to see
who was calling; it was my Dad. Still groggy,
I answered with a lethargic sound of “Hello.”
He replied, “Hey, sorry to wake you.”
I made a half asleep joke about it being early. Then Dad said, “Well, Grams got home from the
hospital last night.” At that moment I
knew something was wrong. I sat up in
bed, now wide awake, saying “Oh no.” Thoughts
began to run through my head. Is she back
in the hospital again? Is it
severe? Please don’t tell me she died,
please! Then Dad said, “Grams passed
away 50 minutes ago.” My heart sank. No, this can’t be happening right now. I broke down crying. He goes on to tell me in a weeping voice, “I
am coming to you.” At that moment I
wished he was already right beside me, hugging me. Grams had been battling cancer for 15
years. She had been in and out of
remission many times, and lately she wasn’t doing so well. I knew that this day was coming, and I
somehow convinced myself that I was prepared for it. I was wrong.
No matter how much I thought I had prepared myself for this day, it
wasn’t going to make it any easier.
While my dad was
talking to me on the phone, my mom sent a message to our family friends, whom I
live with. She let them know that Grams
had passed away and asked them to be there for me as my parents could not be. Pat and Mendi have always been like a second
set of parents to me. After I got off the phone, I came
out of my room and found Pat waiting for me. Since he already knew, no words were needed
and he embraced me as a father comforting his daughter. Tears ran down my face like a stream of water.
Afterwards, I went to sit on the couch; waiting for
any new information. Many thoughts began
to pop in my head. Is my whole family
coming to the States or just my Dad?
What exactly happened to Grams?
Who all knows Grams is dead? Do I
need to tell anyone? I hope not, I won’t
be able to make it through a whole conversation with them. I just moved back to the States from South
Africa, I was supposed to have more time to be able to see Grams. Why now?
Suddenly I remembered that I needed to call my Aunt Steph, my Dad’s
sister. She was with Grams in Dallas over
the weekend and was there when it happened.
So I got my phone and called my aunt.
She picked up and I can hear lots of people talking in the
background. “I love you” I said, trying
to hold it together but completely losing it.
She replied in tears, “I love you too.”
I could immediately tell it was a bad time to call. She said, “Can I call you back? Five people are trying to ask me questions
all at once.” I replied, “Yeah” and hung
up. I could only imagine what was going
on over there. She was by herself, just
lost her mom, and so many people were asking her questions. I had planned to be there that weekend. Grams was not doing well and had to go to the
hospital Thursday, so Steph flew to Dallas to be with her. I had made the decision not to drive by
myself to Dallas because I was uncomfortable driving in the big city. For some reason I felt guilty for not being
there. I sat on the couch with my mind going
a thousand miles a hour in every direction.
I knew that thinking of what could have been
different was not helping me. I got up
and found things to do to keep my mind from deceiving me. I first put on worship music to bring my mind
back to what was true; my Grams is in heaven worshiping God and the pain that
she had endured for 15 years was now gone. My stomach was growling, and I knew I needed
to eat something, so I made myself some eggs.
When I finished eating, I went to my room to get my laptop and began to
edit some of my photos. I found things
to keep myself occupied. I knew I would
drive myself crazy if I just sat down and did nothing else. I always over analyze everything. I would get consumed by things that I would
make up or take to the extreme. While
doing all of those things to keep me distracted, I was praying. I asked God to comfort me at that time of
loss, and longed for Him to give me peace that it was Grams’ time to go. I was trying to seek God at that moment.
I began to remember the times I had with Grams. When Grams came to visit us as I was a little
girl, almost every night she would sing special songs to me as I went to
sleep. I loved those songs and I treasured
those moments. She always had these
unique things she did for me and my brother.
She had a bucket in her house that she consistently put change in. Every time my brother and I came to visit her,
she gave us the bucket and we split the change evenly. One of her famous sayings to me was, “I love
you oodles, gobs, and bunches!” She was
spunky. As I was deciding to go to
college, she called me and told me that she was going to give me her car. That Sunday morning my car became even more
precious to me.
It was about mid morning now, and I felt I needed to
go to church. I made my way to the
shower, and once again I broke down crying.
Having all the emotions of losing a grandparent hit me. My tears were getting washed down the drain
along with the shower water. I was
petitioning God to comfort me in this time; I needed Him to wrap His arms
around me. After I showered, I got
dressed for church. I put some makeup
on, purposely leaving off mascara knowing I probably was going to cry. I got to church and found my seat next to a
new friend of mine. A good family friend
was sitting in front of me and asked how I was doing. I tried to fight the tears that started to
sneak up on me. They over powered
me. Once again, I lost it, now at church
where there are a bunch of people. I
told this good friend of mine that my grandmom had just died 5 hours ago. She hugged me and prayed for me. Sometimes its nice to be surrounded by the
love of friends.
Later that
afternoon I found out that in days my
parents and brother would be flying in from South Africa to be here for Grams’
memorial service and to spend a little time with me. Wednesday morning, I met them at the
airport. They had the hugs I had been needing
for 3 days. The following day was the memorial service. So many of my extended family came, along
with a large amount of people that my Grams made an impact on. My dad spoke at the service. He got a little emotional while he talked,
which made me shed some tears. The
service was short and sweet, just what my Grams would have wanted. We did the Macarena at the end, which was the
prefect way to say goodbye to Grams.
After all the people left, I felt such peace. Even though I knew this day was coming, I
wasn’t truly prepared for it. But God
gave me this contentment, satisfaction, fulfillment, and peace that no one else
could.
We want to leave you with this last post Diana shared on Facebook the day before the Lord called her home. What a song for her to share and leave with us ...
Click this link to listen
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