When Joey Feek woke up to celebrate her daughter Indiana's second birthday on Wednesday, it capped quite a week — and quite a stretch of four months. The Joey + Rory singer bursted into tears, grateful she'd achieved her goal of living through the Grammys, the release of her album of hymns and Indiana’s second birthday.

“We made it,” Joey said, according to husband Rory in a new post at his This Life I Live blog. “We made it.”

Rory talks about watching the Grammys with Joey in her hospice bed. They didn’t win the Best Country Duo/Group Performance award during the pre-show, but felt honored to be nominated. He goes into greater detail about Valentine’s Day, sharing how he braved ice and snow to get sushi — her favorite — and return for date night. When it was over, Joey requested to be helped to the side of her bed so Rory could cuddle up to her.

“I haven’t been able to be in the same bed with my wife or hold her in my arms since the beginning of November,” he writes, “when she made her last trip to the hospital. But for one sweet half-an-hour … that changed on Valentine's Day.”

Sales of Hymns That Are Important to Us are strong, Rory reports, which he’s grateful for, as he admits after Joey dies he won’t get any income from new music or live shows. In closing, he shares photos and stories from Indiana’s big day. Boxes kept arriving from FedEx or UPS as those who know them showered her with gifts. Indy's face tells the story, covered with chocolate as she eats her cake. This little girl knows only joy and love.

I’ve said before that just being nominated is enough. But after having more time to think about it… that’s not actually true.  Instead, I would say that just being able to wake up and look into the eyes of the people we care about and tell them that we love them is enough. Everything else is just icing on the cake.

 

The truth is, God has blessed us with the gift of something even bigger than a Grammy award this year… perspective.

“There’s always next year,” Rory joked to his wife about the Grammys. She smiled and agreed, saying he needed to go to the ceremony if they were ever nominated again.

“Then her smile widened and she winked and said, ‘and guess what… I’ll know the winner before you do.’”

See Photos of Joey + Rory's Daughter Indiana

See Some of Joey + Rory's Best Songs Over the Years

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