Life Goes On.

It's been an exhausting week. My mind and body are tired. We spent two days this week in Buffalo with Adam's family. Grandma's wake was on Wednesday and the funeral was Thursday. The funeral was done in a Catholic church and was very different from any funeral I had ever been to. It left my mind reeling and I was very grateful that I know my relationship with Jesus Christ is a personal relationship. I don't live in fear of not being accepted into heaven because Christ has already paid for my sins and has extended his free gift of salvation to me. My sins have been washed away and I look forward to seeing my Savior face to face someday. I am forever grateful.
This week I met family members that I had never known before and became reacquainted with some that we hadn't seen for a while. Together we mourned the loss of a wife, mother, grandmother, friend, and neighbor. We laughed with each other and at each other. Shared food and hugs. Together we said goodbye to the woman for whom we had all gathered together. When the time came to go home, Adam and I were both exhausted. We left Grandpa behind while lifting him up in our prayers. It will be difficult in the days ahead as this new way of life becomes the norm. If you think of it, you can pray for him too. Hmm, I think it is bed time.

Antoher Goodbye

When we arrived at the hospital in Buffalo yesterday morning, it was very apparent that we didn't have much longer with Grandma. We took turns holding her hand, telling her that we loved her. We witnessed a man kiss his wife and his best friend goodbye. Tenderly holding her hand, stroking her hair and whispering "I love you" into her ear. He recounted the story of how they got together. How she had reached over and held his hand on the way to a dance and how she had asked him out first. His eyes misted over. This woman was his best friend. His wife of 55 years. His heart already ached with thoughts of her being gone. The cancer had taken it's toll on her body. She lay in the bed, her arms and legs worn thin, and an oxygen mask covered her face, to ease her toiled breaths. This was the girl he went dancing with, the mother of his children, the woman who shared his house and home. And now the time had come to say good-bye. His children had come. As had nearly all of the grandchildren. At 10:30 last night, Grandma slipped into eternity and in doing so, left a hole in the hearts of those she left behind. Good-bye dear Grandma.

Baking Adventures at Grandma's House

Yesterday we went to Grandma Jo's house. Adam likes to take Molly for walks with his own Dad and their dog Maddie, so we had gone to visit them. Earlier that morning, Grandma Jo and Grandpa Bob had purchased some rhubarb at the public market. Unfortunately for Grandpa, Grandma Jo is not a baker. But his daughter-in-law has a few tricks up her sleeves. (Who just so happens to be me.) The plan was that while the guys were walking the dogs, I would whip up a rhubarb pie. Not too difficult. But as I mentioned before, Grandma Jo is not a baker. We headed off to the store for some much needed supplies; flour, sugar and Crisco, along with a few items for lunch. Now I knew that I would need a pie plate, so I brought that. But I had forgotten a couple other kitchen gadgets that make my baking adventures a bit easier. Before I go on, in her defense, let me mention that Grandma Jo's house was not the first place where a pastry blender has come up missing. I had to smile as I thought of ladies in the old days who were also found wanting a pastry blender. I cut in that Crisco the best I could using two butter knives, and I think I did a pretty good job. But anyone would've laughed to see me rolling out that pie crust with a cold can of Genny Light! I guess I know what I'm getting Grandma Jo for her birthday, even if she only uses it to roll out play-dough with her favorite grandson... In all honestly, Genny Light rolls a pie crust almost as well as a real rolling pin, just a tad slower. And the lack of baking tools set me off in an adventurous spirit. I loved having to use a bit of innovation. I was even inspired enough to make another rhubarb pie after we had gone home for the evening. Though the second time around I used a real rolling pin.

The March of Time

My brain feels empty. Not that I don't have anything to think about. Cause there is a lot on my mind. I have found myself with more spare time these, having let go of my restaurant hours and working every other Friday at daycare. It is a very good time to have "extra"time, with Grandpa being sick. I love being able to go visit my Grandparents on Thursdays and being able to help my Mom watch "her" girls so she can go visit too. Like today for instance. I am here at my parent's house with the two girls she babysits, so she can go see her own parents. I guess Grandpa had a rough night last night. It's hard to know what to think and how to sort out thoughts about his sickness. We know where this road is going, but the journey there is difficult and trying. Please keep him and Grandma in your prayers. They seem to be taking it all in stride. Grandma is strong and she knows that Jesus is waiting on the other side, so she seems unafraid to say good-bye. Grandpa is reflective, speaking always of God and things of God, and of those who have gone before. Yesterday, he made me smile. He and Grandma got talking about this deli they used to go to together, before they were married. Grandpa was describing this sandwich they would eat. "The ham was sliced so thin... Paper thin. And the cheese was sliced thin. The bread was freshly baked. That was the best ham and cheese sandwich..." And Grandma agrees... I had to smile. Grandpa hasn't been able to enjoy food for a while. Of course he hopes that will change. He had a bowl of peaches in front of him which he was poking along at very slowly. Every once in a while, Grandma would say, "You ARE going to eat that, aren't you?" or "Are you going to eat those?" They are such an example to me; loving each other so much for so long. What an encouragement. What a Godly heritage.

A Long Jumble of Goings-On

What a delicious week it has been. The Friday before Labor Day, we held a family meeting to determine what we were going to do to help my Grandparents, since Grandpa was going on hospice care and was told that they needed someone there 24/7. It was decided that we would all take turns, my Mom, Aunts, and the older cousins. This did put me in a bind though, since I was currently holding two jobs, one at the daycare and also working one day a week at the restaurant. I have for a long time contemplated giving up my weekly hours at the restaurant and being solely backup help. So I had to make the decision. I don't like saying good-byes, but telling myself that I could still go to the restaurant anytime I wanted and that once in a while I would be called on to come in to work, really helped ease my mind. I have worked there for almost 4 1/2 years now, so I have made many friends, mostly old wrinkly folks, and you kinda get attached. But this really opens up my schedule to be able to help my Grandparents and visit them more often. It's amazing how one extra day a week can make you feel so much more at ease.

The daycare where I work reopened on Tuesday, after two weeks vacation. The vacation time couldn't have been more timely, with all that conspired during that time. It was good to be back to work, I guess. The school year has started so our "big kids" have all started Kindergarten and it's strangely quite without them. Josh was glad to see "Lange" again and repeatedly asked to go there on Friday, which is the day I happened to have off last week. He, of course, also asked to go to "Bubba's" house. We had been to at least one Grandparents' house a day for a week straight, so he naturally thought we should go visit again. Who could blame him? I love going to Grandma's house too.

Speaking of going to Grandma's house, that is where we went on Thursday. It was my turn to visit... Weird saying it was "my turn", like we were playing a game or something. I was glad to see Grandpa looking so well and it seems that Grandma had an extra burst of energy. I think she has more motivation, now that Grandpa needs her help. Over the course of the day, I watched Grandpa go from perky, to peakish, back to perky. He slept on and off and had a couple of visitors. I set up Josh's port-a-crib at nap time and while he slept I vacuumed the hard-to-reach spots of Grandma's living room. It was nice to feel useful and it seemed to be a good trade from packing chocolates, which is what I had been doing the previous Thursdays. I am glad to have an extra day now to be able to visit them.

On Saturday, I took Josh to the library. We found a couple puzzles to borrow and I set about trying to locate some materials to help me learn Spanish. To learn Spanish is a goal of mine, ever sicne I went to El Salvador. I typically annoy people with me usage of words, especially if they don't understand me. But I am just a beginner and feel the need to practice my newly learned words once in a while. Anyway, back to the library. I have decided that it is not a fun thing to take a almost-two year old to the library by yourself. Especially since that cataloging system, our library has in place is none-so-helpful. I felt like I wasted a whole bunch of time and annoyed the librarians since it is very hard to watch him nonstop when you are trying to find materials. Next time, I will leave him home. Or maybe I just won't go to the library.

After the library trip, we stopped at our local grocery store. It was a rainy Saturday, late morning and the grocery store was packed. We live in a mostly agricultural area and during the fall season, we see many farm workers come and go. Mostly Hispanic or Hatian. And on this rainy day, the grocery store was a popular destination for many of them. Now, I always have my Spanish tracts (left over from El Salvador) in my purse, for these kinds of reasons, but for some reason, I was feeling a bit nervous and only gave out one. (Stupid me, to miss so many opportunities!) But this young Mexican man wanted to know where the church was. (¿De donde es la Iglesia?) And I had nothing to tell him. I don't know where there is a Spanish speaking church in the area or if there is one, for that matter. But it opened my eyes, to an area of ministry that is completely lacking in our area. Here we have a continual influx of people, who don't speak Spanish, who are here only temporarily for work, but there is no place for them to gather to worship our God. And who is telling these folks about Jesus? And so we may be trying to get our church to translate our service into Spanish or at least have a translator available, if thereis a need. It would have been such a blessing to have been able to tell that man exactly where he could come for church, but God could've just used this to open our eyes to a need. (PS, I don't care if they are illegal, they still need Jesus.)

Ok, so rambling on here. If you've made it this far, kudos to you.Oh, and here are some flowers I bought for myself about a week ago. Aren't they lovely? I think I might just get into the habit of buying myself flowers once in a while. I think it's kind of nice.