During the time my dad was in the ICU his cousins went to visit. It was Chaua and her husband Martin. You could only have two at a time. When Martin left to let someone else go in, my dad's cousin Norma tried to go. She called the nurses station and the nurse said I'm sorry one at a time. Norma said I know but my brother came out. Then she went back to the waiting room to make sure everyone was there except Chaua. Then she called again. The nurse yelled and said I'm looking at the room right now and you can't have any more than two people at a time. So Norma and everyone waited until Chaua came out. When she came everyone asked who was in there with her. She said no one I was praying with Rigo by myself. I don't know if any of you have ever experienced something like that, but I believe now.

Why I really wanted to Blog was because I have been a Christian with my older sister Amanda for about 5 years. We prayed for my dad to recieve Christ and to stop drinking almost everyday. We used to witness to him and my family every chance we got no matter how stupid they thought we sounded. My dad must have noticed a change in us, because I believe he saw Christ. We were supposed to have a Catholic Funeral for my dad, because of his heritage. After it was all set up through the mortuary on Thursday the day before the funeral the Father of the church called my mom, stating that he wasnt going to do the funeral, because my dad was not a member of the church. How can you tell the widow that? My sister had met this Christian Pastor Bill who knew my dad as a customer. He was doing the Burial part of the funeral. We had called him to do the whole service now. He said that he would be honored. Amanda and I went to a meeting to talk about the agenda of the service with Pastor Bill. He then told me the story of how my dad became a child of God. Over a month of telling my dad about the Bible, Bill found that my dad was facinated with the Old Testament. (That explains why he always wanted me to read about Kings and things while he was sick). So about a year or so ago, Bill came in as usual to eat lunch. My dad saw him thru the window and when Bill came in my dad didn't let him sit down without saying I want salvation. Bill told my dad "Rigo this is serious, I want to make sure you know what you are doing" My dad said "I know" and then he went into the kitchen to grab his brother who is also a cook and pushed him down into the booth and said "He does too"! Then Pastor Bill along with his wife, my uncle, and dad recited the sinners prayer. After hearing that story I was so overjoyed with happiness that it washed away my sorrow. I knew that my dad believed in God, but I didn't know that he accepted Jesus into his heart. Bill shared that testimony to all of the people in the funeral service. Along with me sharing how my dad quit drinking.

It was Christmas 2004. My family came up from California to Phoenix. We spent the day with a very good Christian family the Tejada's and my Uncle Greg's family as well. We got home that night and my dad was experiencing severe cramps all through his body. He got this beer that my sister had bought him and dumped it down the drain. He said attention this is my last beer. We all cheered him on but knew he was going to drink again. My dad really did quit cold turkey that day. While he still had the cramps we tucked him into bed and I figured it was a good time to witness to him so I put on the Passion of the Christ movie. He said I don't want to watch this crap. But he couldn't move so I had it on anyways. I heard him moan and cry in pain even louder. I asked him if I could pray and he said no I don't believe in that. So I prayed anyways but just put my hands on my lap so he couldn't tell. Out of habit I bowed my head. He said what're you doing? Are you praying? I said no why? He said I saw you don't lie. I said that I was sorry, but he said no, thank you, because the pain is gone. I told him Praise God, because He heals. I believe that God healed my dad that night and gave him these last three years to live because of his obediance to stop drinking. I know that because on March a few months later my dad called me up saying that he needed a liver transplant. The doctors asked him if he felt any pain leading up to that point. He told them what happened on Christmas. The symptoms he complained about were more severe than we thought. They asked my dad what he did that night. He said nothing my daughter prayed. They told him that night your liver was shutting down. You could have died. He told me that the doctors and nurses thought he was crazy and didn't believe that praying stopped the symptoms. I told him every non-Christian will think your crazy for anything having to do with God. God's Mercies are new and exciting everyday. That is how I hold onto life after my dad's death. Knowing that we will reunite in Heaven one glorious day!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for reading.

It was the morning of August 31st. I had brought some oatmeal to my dad in his room. He was on 10 meds for two weeks since he was out of the hospital the second time. We were waiting for his appt. with the Lung Specialist to see what was wrong with him besides the fact that he had burned his lungs with chemicals. As he picked at his oatmeal he said Cellina I see 3 black shadows. I asked him if they were good or bad. He replied that he didn't know. He just knew that they didn't like what he was watching on T.V. I asked what it was that he was watching. He said that it was Court TV and murder investigations. So I told him not to watch those shows anymore. So I read to him David and Goliath because he wanted me to read something out of the Old Testament. Then he fell asleep. I went to clean the kitchen and my mom came home. It was lunch time and my dad was craving a carne asada steak with tortillas. So when he was up I gave him insulin and he went into the living room huffing and puffing. I cooked him steak, strawberries, and tortillas with a sugar-free jello. All healthy foods all the time and organic, to heal his liver. He didn't even really eat a lot of it which was unusual. So he went back into his room. Then my mom tried to get him to take a shower. He refused. He told us that he wanted to go to the hospital ER again for the third time. I knew it was serious because the other two times we had to force him to go. My mom put a clean pair of clothes on him and his red ball cap to hide him from the sun which he couldn't go into. As she put his slippers half way over his swollen feet He said to my mom "You know that I love you, but I'm not coming back here" Then he said the Lord's Prayer in Spanish. He walked down the hall and into the kitchen and stopped and said "This is the last time I will see this house" He recited the Lord's Prayer again in Spanish. We just thought the medicine was making him go nuts. We drove to the hospital which was an hour away and through a really windy road. There was a huge car accident and two cars flew off the cliff in this canyon road. We then finally got to the hospital and waited 6 hrs for a bed. Of course because of Labor Day Weekend and all of the drunk drivers. They finally rushed my dad into a bed because he threw up half a grocery bag of blood in the waiting room. I was scared. Then when he got into a room they told my mom and I that his organs were shutting down. His lungs were still burned from the chemicals so they gave him an oxygen mask. My dad still didn't complain about any pain that he was having. The tests all proved otherwise. He was suffering this whole month and never told anyone. I felt guilty like I should've known. The nurses asked him "Sir, Sir have you ever had any Heart Problems?" My dad replied after catching his breath, Yes once my cow died! That was my dad and that was the last joke I ever heard him say. After two hours they got him to be stable and said that it was good that he was urinating. That doesn't usually happen. My mom and I had to leave, but my brother wanted to stay with him. We had to go to take care of the restaurant for the next day. It was about 3:00am. I had kissed my dad and said that I was praying for him and that is why he was urinating with bad kidneys. He nodded with the mask on. The doctors told us in another room that they were going to put a ventilator on him and comitose him. I never thought that that was going to be the last time I would talk to my dad. In Loving Memory of Rigoberto Moreno Palomo born Aug. 12, 1961-Sept. 14, 2007.