May 21 – After a miserable rainy afternoon, the day finally cleared up around 5:30 and my husband suggested we go visit Liliana at the special place.

We were almost there when something made me turn around to look at my daughter. Let me preface this by saying that I rarely turn around unprovoked unless she wants or needs something. When I saw her, she was looking up at the sky through the window and the sun was shining down on her beautiful face. With her mouth wide open and smiling, she had the most joyful look on her face. It was as if she was having a spiritual encounter. I nudged my husband to look through the rear-view mirror and he saw what I saw. We both got emotional as we knew exactly what she was looking at – Heaven. Whenever she sees the sun, she says ‘Look mommy, heaven. That’s where Jesus and Liliana are.’ After fluttering her eyes at the sun for a few seconds, she just closed her eyes, and for a good minute let the warmth of the sun and the presence of God fill her soul with pure joy.

I so badly wanted to capture a photo of this blissful moment, but the second I tried to take a picture, I interrupted her and she turned toward me (I still got a picture of her precious smile, but it was looking at me and not the sky). Still, I wanted to hear her say the words aloud, so I asked what she was smiling about. And just as I knew, she said “The sun… I was looking at heaven.” Oh my sweet girl. That was such a beautiful encounter for all of us and I know Liliana was with us.

The next day I went to send the photo I took of my daughter to my husband and I happened to notice the time stamp on the picture – 6:45 p.m. – the time Liliana went to be with the Lord. I don’t know exactly what my daughter felt that day, but I’m pretty sure Liliana was at work and was most definitely with her sister.