Rory Feek Fulfills One Of Wife Joey’s Final Wishes, Takes Her Sisters On Trip Out West

Rory Feek has been keeping his fans updated on his life since his wife, Joey, passed away in March, and recently he shared a story that had everyone whose life Joey touched in tears.

The country singer wrote on his blog that before she passed away from cervical cancer, Joey asked him to figure out a way to take her three sisters on a trip out West, something she’d wanted to do since she was able to make the trip herself in 2002 when she and Rory honeymooned in Montana.

“This past February, with snow on the ground outside her window at the little house by the Gaither pond in Indiana, Joey looked at the beautiful view from her bedside, and remembered another view that she loved. And then with her three sisters gathered around her, Joey told stories about our trips out West to the Big Sky country. She showed them pictures we had taken during some of the adventures our family has had out there over the years. And then she asked me to find a way to take her three sisters and their families out West for the first time this summer,” Rory wrote.

It was one of her final wishes, and Rory has made it his mission to try and fulfill as many of those as possible. He says he took her sisters and their children on the trip–along with his and Joey’s daughter, Indiana–and, while it was a lovely time, it was bittersweet.

“For all the fun we had… the trip was hard on me. Hard on us all actually. We all wished that Joey was there with us. At the cabin, I would watch Joey’s sisters all playing with their kids and I it broke my heart to know that Joey couldn’t be there to play with Indiana too. And I know that it hurt her sisters too. But still, we all carried Joey’s memory with us on every mountain we drove up and every trail we walked down.”

Rory also talks about carving all their names on a giant table in the cabin where they stayed, adding them to his and Joey’s, which he put on during a previous stay. The blog features tons of photos from the trip, including one of a beautiful rainbow that seems like a message from Rory’s wife.

Joey and Rory have served as inspiration for millions of fans who connected to their faith-based way of life, and the loyal fanbase has stayed true even after Joey’s death, supporting Rory and their daughter Indiana as they navigate through their days without her and following his blog faithfully. One post that stands out is from Valentine’s Day, in which Rory talks about his love for Joey and how the two of them expressed how they felt about one another. For Joey, he says, it was all about showing someone you care by doing something for them.

“I’ve had a few good moments through the years, but overall, I was never really very good at giving gifts. Thankfully, Joey never really wanted them either. That wasn’t who she was. Joey’s love language was service. That is how she gave and received love. In the book ‘The Five Love Languages’ that we both read early in our marriage, we came to understand that different people speak different love languages… and my love language was ‘physical touch’, and Joey’s was ‘acts of service’. She showed you how much she loved you by serving you. And she was brilliant at it. Whether cooking a meal for you at the farmhouse, or serving you coffee at Marcy Jo’s or helping you plant flowers by your mailbox, it’s how she expressed her love for you. And if you wanted to tell her that you loved her… she didn’t want to hear you say those three magic words – she needed to see it in action. So I learned to show her that I loved her by fixing door hinges, or keeping the yard mowed, or making it so she could stay home and still have a music career. It is how she knew – how she really knew – that I loved her,” Rory wrote.

[Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]