Update from The Helstad Family:
Our sweet, spunky, and spontaneous little 8-year-old girl, Blaire Lania Helstad, was promoted to heaven yesterday morning. She’s now in the enviable position of being in the presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We are grateful she’s no longer suffering but our hearts will never quite be whole on this side of heaven.
Blaire made the room come alive with her tireless zest for life. Her energy and excitement would often overwhelm the room in a delightfully distracting way. She was “best friends” with people from 1-99. (But, she may struggle to remember her “best friends’” names! 😊 )
Blaire was not in short supply of talents and abilities the Lord blessed her with. She saw her big brother Bjorn play lots of different sports in her 8 years – she was his superfan running around the stands! Because of her natural competitiveness and boundless energy, she announced to us one day that she wants “to play every sport she can.” So, from the time she was able, she played soccer, volleyball, basketball, and was in swimming. She’s loved water from day one! If the sun is shining and it’s remotely warm outside, Blaire declared it a “beach day” and begged us to go to the beach – even if it was 60 degrees in northern Wisconsin!
Besides sports, she was talented artistically and musically. At the last 8th grade boys travelers basketball tournament, she and friend set up an art “store” where they would custom make art for people to buy. 😊 She made $17 that day (thank you, patronizing parents and grandparents!), but she never to spend it because her first seizure happened only a few weeks later. She created a polar bear and northern lights chalk art at school this past winter and her art teacher selected it for the Barron County Youth Art Show at Northwoods Tech this past Spring. We were planning to go see the art the week of Spring Break, but it was our first day in the hospital the Monday morning of Spring Break.
Blaire was our nonstop background music at home and everywhere we went. She always had a song in her head – be it one she made up, one she heard on the radio, at school, or at church. There’s so many songs that Blaire loved. She had the ability to hear a song only a couple times and she could sing the chorus on pitch. At her funeral or visitation, we will likely be playing her favorite songs on repeat. Of course, we will be playing the song she created and performed, “One True God.”
The most important aspect of Blaire’s life was that she was a child of God. She realized about 1 ½ years before this ordeal began that she was a sinner who needed God’s saving grace. She asked Jesus for forgiveness of her sins and we saw evidence in her life that she wanted to do what was right and live like the Bible teaches. It only takes a child-like faith to believe that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world. And she had that faith. She genuinely believed. This is only a temporary separation from our sweet Blaire. She has a brand new, healthy body. She’s not suffering anymore. We will see her again someday in heaven. For those who personally knew Blaire’s zest for life, like us, you can probably imagine that heaven is pleasantly overwhelmed by her energy right now. We will miss her so much, but God will continue to get us through the difficult days ahead.
Lamentations 3:22-23 says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end; They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.”
We love the absolutes in these verses:
-His love NEVER ceases.
-His mercies NEVER end.
-They are new EVERY morning.
We chose these verses early on to help us through this terrible trial, and we will continue to lean on the truths of these verses in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead.
Praises:
- Blaire is no longer suffering in her broken earthly body. She is in heaven with Jesus and other children of God!
Prayer Requests:
- That the details of Blaire’s funeral arrangements will fall into place. We will post the information when we know the details.
