My Grandmother

I was going to do Sophia's Three Month post, but that will have to wait. Today I need to talk about my Grandma.

In March, just before I had Sophia, my grandma was admitted to the hospital. I don't remember why. I think her stay there was three weeks? Or maybe a month. Anyway, she did get to go back home, but she never really got better.

My family thought that she maybe caught some sort of infection from her hospital stay, and in May, just before my mom came to visit me, my grandma went back to the hospital. The doctors had a few different ideas as to what might be wrong, and very recently, a nurse told my mom that they thought my grandma was experiencing heart failure. They figured it wouldn't be long before she died. I asked my mom how long "not long" was, but nobody knew.

"Not long" turned out to be two days. This morning, my 91 year old grandmother died. My family has lost a great prayer warrior.

It's a funny thing about grief. My grandma wanted to go to heaven, and we didn't want to see her suffer. So I'm not exactly sad that she's in heaven. I don't grieve for her. I grieve for me, because I won't get to be at her funeral. I grieve for Sophia, because she never got to meet her great-grandmother. I grieve for my sister's unborn baby, who also never got to meet his or her great-grandmother.

I grieve for my cousin, who will be getting married in August, that grandma won't be at that wedding. I grieve for all the future spouses and babies that have yet to join our family, that they didn't get to know this tiny, wonderful woman.

At the same time, it feels almost selfish to think that way. My grandma isn't dead, she's just not alive here on earth anymore. But she is very much alive in heaven. She is with her husband now (my grandpa died in 1986). She is with most of her brothers and sisters (I think my mom has one aunt who is still alive). And most importantly, she is with Jesus.

I don't have a recent picture of her, but I do have a happy one. (I stole this from my sister.)



I love you, Grandma. I'll miss you. I am so very blessed to have had a grandma like you. I pray that I will also be blessed with many years on this earth, but more importantly, that I will become a prayer warrior like you were. (And as my sister said), I pray that I will raise up prayer warriors.

Her race is finished. Now we pick up where she left off. She may have been a tiny woman, but she leaves some big shoes to fill. And that's a good thing. That's the way it should be.

So I will be sad for what we all have lost. But I will be happy for what heaven has gained. My grandma was a good and faithful servant, and has received her reward: Paradise.

A Series of Events - Tale #3: Family and Friends

Once upon a time, one week before my birthday, my mother had a surprise for me: she came to visit! It was a last-minute decision made by my dad.

You see, he's been very very busy for about a year now, and he promised that by May of this year things would finally slow down. So my mom has really been looking forward to having her husband back. But when the Canadian May long weekend rolled around, he decided to go fishing!

He must have felt guilty about it because he asked my mom, "How about I buy you a plane ticket to go see Art and Jenene and Sophia?" Well, my mom didn't have to think twice about that one!



It wasn't a complete surprise. As in, she didn't just show up at my door. That was actually her original plan, but she ended up telling me, because she found out that her visit was going to overlap with another event: my friend Kat came to visit me too!





Kat is one of my best friends. We met at Bible college, and though we don't speak or see each other that often, we have one of those friendships where we can pick up where we left off, no matter how long it's been.

Also, look at how happy she is, holding Sophia. Would you believe that a year ago, she was terrified of holding babies? She's had a bit of practice, and now she's a natural!

We took her and my mom out for dinner a couple of times, once to Art's favorite brewery, seen here:





Okay, so you can't actually see the restaurant at all.There was someone playing a lively piano song in the bar part of the restaurant, and Art was making Sophia dance. Don't you love her little sheep feet?

We also took Kat to our favorite Cajun restaurant. She was game enough to try the frog legs and alligator dip, and she actually liked them!

We also took her and my mom out for breakfast at that creperie I mentioned in the last post. We kind of love that place. (Fine, we love a lot of places. There are just so many great, unique restaurants around here!)

Art and I had a proper breakfast this time (not dessert), and Kat had a fruit and chocolate waffle that would make my sister jealous (my sister LOOOOOOOOOOVES waffles). I don't remember what my mom had, but I don't think anyone actually got crepes! And their crepes are excellent.

We also did some shopping. Kat bought Sophia a cute little Fourth of July dress [I'm so glad she supports our patriotism ;)], and she bought me two pairs of jeans as an early birthday gift! (Not that she needed to. Her coming to visit me was a great birthday gift in and of itself.)

And remember how I mentioned Sophia's early birthday gift to me? Well, Kat's first night here, Sophia slept through the night! Like a typical new mother, I did NOT sleep through night. I think I checked on her four or five times. How lame am I?

I'm sure there is more to tell of this tale, but seeing as how I failed to take more than five pictures, I can't really remember what else we did. If you click here, you can read all about it from Kat's point of view.

The End!

A Series of Events - Tale #2: Mother's Day

Once upon a time, it was Mother's Day. We went to church (where the picture below was taken),



I got flowers,


and we went to our favorite creperie for brunch, where we basically ate dessert for our meal. (Ever had Black Bottom Cupcakes? To die for.)

Sophia loves that place, as you can see.


What you can't see is the cute white sleeper she is wearing with the tiny pink and purple flowers on it. And she might never wear it again. :(

Art's parents came over, and Sophia greeted them with a huge poo-splosion that has forever stained that beautiful sleeper (despite my efforts to get rid of that large yellow circle in the back).

They took us to a Chinese buffet for an early dinner. Art's mom LOVES her a Chinese buffet, and was happy to be able to take us to one again. My hating Chinese food while I was pregnant was really hard on her. ;)

Art didn't get me anything for Mother's Day at that point because every time he asked me what I wanted, I told him I didn't know. Well, what I wanted was for Sophia to sleep through the night, but that isn't something he can control.

A week later I remembered my Amazon wishlist, so I chose four items from there as my belated Mother's Day gift. I got three books and one DVD. Two of the books cost one cent! The DVD was less than two dollars, and the last book was around $7. And then there was shipping, of course, but that's quite a lot of entertainment for $24, and it will keep me busy for some time.

So what did Sophia get me for Mother's Day? The fussiest evening of her life. Oh well. Her early birthday gift to me made up for it. Which is a story for another post.

And that was my very first Mother's Day!