Glory

Grandma with her flowers and "Brady Bear"

Four generations! (Never mind that Jolee is the size of Brady Bear!)

She was so happy to see Jolee. She called her the "quiet one" :)

"When we all

get to heaven,

what a day of rejoicing that will be!

When we all

see Jesus,

we'll sing and shout the victory!"

My Grandma began rejoicing in Heaven with Jesus last week. Its so hard to think that she isn't here anymore...but I know where she is...and she is having a grand time there, reunited with Grandpa, and enjoying the presence of her Savior!

In her last days she told my mom she was bored...she was content with this life...she was ready to go. What a blessed place to be. I mean, as Christians we say we are ready to meet Jesus. But really? If the truth were told aren't there so many things we really want to experience and do and live out before we meet Jesus? Grandma was at a place where she was truly, honestly ready to meet Him. Wow! When I think about that, it is so comforting, so peaceful, so....just the way it should be.

I don't have many memories of Grandma from when I was little...we didn't get to visit much because it was just too far away. But the times we did go visit I remember as being very special. Its just a feeling that I remember more than actual memories. I do remember spending the night at Grandpa and Grandma's once...it stands out in my mind because it was so stinkin' hot and humid! Everything felt wet. The change from Colorado to Florida was a bit extreme! I remember trying to go to sleep and I kept kicking my covers off...and Grandma would always know and she would come in and gruffly tell me I had to at least have a sheet on or I would catch cold. In my little girl mind I thought she was nuts! Catch cold? How could anyone catch a cold when it was so hot? There couldn't be any colds in Florida because it was hot all the time. :)

Another time we stayed with them I remember tickling Grandma's feet just to be funny...whoops! I found out real quick that NO ONE...EVER...TOUCHES GRANDMA's FEET!!! She had the most sensitive feet of anyone I've ever known. I think she knew if you were just thinking about touching her feet.

When I was little Grandma had an orange lava lamp that she would put by the bed and I would fall asleep watching the glow of those orange globs as they traveled up and down. To this day I still love watching lava lamps.

Once I went swimming in the canal behind their house...it was all fun and games until I kicked a big ole fish with my foot. I came up screaming and climbed out as fast as I could. I can still picture my Grandpa chuckling in his quiet little way...with his shoulders bobbing up and down. I think that was the last time I went swimming in the canal.

Grandpa used to make us sausage sandwiches for breakfast...I can remember waking up to the sounds and smells of sausage in the frying pan. He would almost always be sitting at the little round table in the kitchen...the one where we played marbles on his homemade game board. If he wasn't at the table, he was puttering around in the garage making something. The scent of sawdust still reminds me of him. And if not in the garage, then he was playing his guitar and praising the Lord. We would all gather around and beg him to play the Noah song.

The first time Andy met my Grandma was very memorable! Grandma had a stroke and she had been in rehab for awhile. We were the ones who got to pick her up to take her home. We were told to come late morning to get her. Well, we arrived somewhere around 10 am. Apparently the feisty lady had been up and ready for quite sometime. She ranted on and on about how we were just going to leave her there to rot. Poor Andy was a little surprised, but we reassured her we would never forget her and got her out to the car. Well, Andy was driving cautiously so he wouldn't upset her anymore...we stopped at the light, then he slowly pulled out to make the left hand turn when the light turned green. Grandma pounded on the back of his seat and screamed, "Go man, Go! You trying to kill me? Go man, Go!" Ahhh, this still makes me laugh. Partly because Grandma was so feisty that day, and partly because I don't think anyone has EVER accused Andy of driving too cautiously. It was a good laugh!

More recently...I went to visit Grandpa and Grandma and Aunt Rachel in their new house. Brady was just a few months old. I hadn't seen them interact much in the later years...mostly because illness had come to separate them. But on this visit, Grandma graciously gave up her room and stayed in Grandpa's room. We had all gone to bed, and I was laying awake when I heard a commotion outside my bedroom door. I opened it up to find Grandpa and Grandma both in the hall. I asked them what was going on and Grandpa told me a cockroach had run out of their room and down the hall. He had trouble walking and really couldn't bend down because of the swelling in his bad leg. He wanted me to squish the cockroach...I told him he was nuts! That thing was the size of a mouse! Somehow poor Grandpa managed to bend down enough to squish it with his shoe while I was squealing and covering my mouth with my hands. I think I ran all the way down the hallway...I admit, I freaked out. I can still hear the crunch. He asked me to clean it up and I told him straight out that Aunt Rachel would have to do it in the morning! After all the excitement we all went back to bed...but I could hear Grandpa and Grandma giggling together long after the lights were turned out. They thoroughly enjoyed my disgust! Anytime I mentioned the cockroach later, Grandma would burst out laughing.

After Grandpa passed away, I actually got to see Grandma a lot more. She was well enough to travel quite a bit and Aunt Rachel did a great job of taking her out. They came up to Ohio for Brady's first birthday party and since then I was blessed to develop a close relationship with my Grandma. In fact, not only me, but Brady developed a special relationship with his GG as well. I am so thankful for that, and I hope that he will remember her as he grows up. He played balloons with her at his first birthday...he loved her from the start and was never startled or afraid of her. Grandma had a gruff side to her...but it was a side that I loved. It always made me chuckle because I knew the sweetness that was inside. Last November Brady made it his job to walk GG down to her room, help her get into bed, and tuck her in. He talked to her on the phone, sang to her, and even took his first plane ride down to Florida to visit with her this summer. She was bedridden then, and he took his favorite book "Roar of a Snore" with him and read to her in bed. The last time he talked to her on the phone, he sang to her the song he learned in kindergarten. "You sing a song and I'll sing a song, and we'll sing a song together. You sing a song, and I'll sing a song in warm or wintry weather."

I was able to visit her in June after we learned of her diagnosis. She met Jolee...and she told me she had prayed every day for us both throughout the pregnancy. I was sitting by her in the hospice when she sang "Happy Birthday" to Brady for his 5th birthday over the phone. I gave her a stuffed bear that she held onto until her last day...she called it her "Brady Bear". I am so thankful to have spent that week with her. I would sit and hold her hand and listen to her talk, or watch her sleep, and pray for her comfort. Those quiet moments were such a blessing to me and I will truly miss her. I look forward to the day when we can join her in Glory.