Emily’s headstone finally arrived on May 22nd and it’s given an earthly finality to things. Her final earthly place is situated between where her father and mother will be buried, but in heaven there will be a beautiful reunion in the Kingdom that will never end.
Always believing that every day was an extra day beyond what she was ever supposed to live with cystic fibrosis, Emily had at the ready a written order of how she wanted things done at her funeral. She thoroughly listed everything she would like for her service. You can see her love for scripture (especially Isaiah passages) and hymns. We encourage you to dig into the Word and read those passages she held so dearly.
Below are a couple offered tributes that her father and her current “ghost writer” wanted to share as encouragement that God is there in the midst of suffering, even in the little moments, and that God’s the author and finisher of our lives.
A Moment of Reassurance
(from father, Carmen DeArdo)
“When she was in the ICU and it was not looking well at the end, it was the middle of the night and I was walking around the hospital and they had this Robo coffee machine so I went over and I entered Emily‘s name as the person for the order and I ordered a coffee. They gave me the option of having some message written in your coffee, which was the last stage of the process of the choices you had. There were Christmas designs of Santa, reindeer, those kinds of things, and of course I really wasn’t in the mood for anything cute so I skipped that step and just ordered the coffee without anything on top. When the coffee was being made, I noticed it went to the stage where it was gonna put some message on the top and I was surprised because I hadn’t ordered one and then I was shocked when I saw what the message was because it sounded just like something Emily would say.
So even though she was no longer with us in terms of consciously being with us, she was still communicating with us and I think that’s the same for now. Maybe it was just God’s way of reassuring us she was in good hands.
Even now that he headstone is officially in place at her grave and we visit her, we know she’s really not here. She’s in a better place and she’s still with us spiritually. until we are reunited in heaven with her.”
Finished in Heaven
(from Megan Krueger)
“Emily’s father, Carmen, asked me to help him continue her blog in January and I honestly didn’t know if I’d be able to be of much help when I started. I unfortunately never got the opportunity to meet Emily (although I had heard a lot about her and the DeArdo family from her father when I worked with him), but I was always amazed at her ability to have a positive spin on what was happening to her and around her. She has only continued to inspire me, like so many others.
She was bright in both attitude and intelligence and I could see her passion in the many videos, podcasts, and writings I’ve gotten the pleasure to include these last 6 months. She really did allow Jesus to work in her life and use her to her fullest capacity here on earth.
And yet, I still feel her work isn’t finished. She’ll still continue to impact others for years to come every time they read her books, writings, listen to a podcast or watch her old videos.
This portrait sketch is a reminder that what’s not finished on earth, or what appears to be not quite complete like Emily’s time on earth, has been completed in heaven. Made perfect in our Savior’s loving arms and with a timeless clock that never runs out.”
Pick up a copy of Emily’s book:
Amazon
Ave Marie Press
Seton Shrine