Skip to main content

Memories of My Grandmother

Today marks the seven year anniversary of the day my grandmother went to meet Jesus. She was known as Mom to all of us, and she and my grandfather, Pa, left behind a beautiful legacy.

On February 13, 2005 I got a call from my grandfather. He had taken my grandmother to the hospital and said that we all needed to come quickly. I called my parents and we all went. When we got there the doctors told us that her cancer was back and she might live 3 days but they really didn't expect her to make it through the night. For the next nine days I spent every day getting up early and taking my mom to the hospital and coming home late at night. During these nine days I learned some things that are very precious to me now.

At some point during those nine days my grandfather told me that they would have been married for 55 years in just a few more months. I watched him love on my grandmother's almost lifeless body and realized that even after 55 years of life together and being in their 70's it was still possible to be deeply in love with each other. My grandfather said to me a few weeks before he passed that he missed and loved Mom so much still, that was after she had been gone for six years.

When I was pregnant with Grace, we made the decision not to find out what we were having. I wanted a boy so badly and convinced myself that was what we were having (boy was I surprised!). Before I had her my grandmother gave me a gift one day, it was a box full of baby quilts that she had made. They were ALL pink except one. I laughed and told her I hated that I wouldn't get to use any of them except the red, yellow and blue one. She smiled and giggled also!! This is one of my favorite memories of her! :) She loved Grace!! Anytime we were with them no one else got to hold Grace and Grace was perfectly content to sit in her lap, even when she was able to run around and play she still stayed right there with Mom.

When I was a freshman in High School my grandmother was diagnosed with bone cancer. The doctors said she might live for 3 to 6 months. I remember praying, asking God to just let her live long enough to meet my children. Her cancer went into remission and she lived for nine more years. Grace turned two a month before she went into the hospital for the last time. During the last nine days of her life God reminded me of my prayer and even though she didn't meet JC and Hartly God did answer my prayer. Grace still remembers Mom and still sleeps with a stuffed pig that Mom gave her. The day before she passed we got approval from the nurses to bring Grace in to see Mom, even though she was unconscious, I felt the need for Grace to say goodbye to her. When we brought Grace into the room Mom opened her eyes, looked at Grace, smiled and shut her eyes for the last time.

As a child and even as a teenager I would go and spend many weekends and some weeks during the summer with my grandparents. I still have many fond memories of going to their house and  spending Christmas together. Every Christmas Mom would buy herself a gift, wrap it and put it under the tree. It was always the kids job to pass out the presents and I still remember laughing when I would get the present that said To: Mom, From: Mom. I do not remember a Christmas without one of these presents! Since I have my own kids now I, too, buy myself a gift every year, wrap it and address it To: Mom, From: Mom and stick it under our tree!!

I am thankful for the memories that I have of my grandparents but more importantly I am thankful for the legacy of love, kindness, unselfishness, and faith in God that they both passed down to me and that I will, in return, pass down to my own kids and grand kids. I know that they are in heaven singing with a choir of angels and I look forward to the day when I will see them once again!!

Mom and Grace, December 2003


Pa and Mom
This is one of my favorite pictures of them together!!
 God bless,
Denissa

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A New Year...

I cannot believe the beginning of another year is upon us!! Every year during the month of December my thoughts always seem to drift back over what happened that year. Many things came to mind, I will share a few of the bigger things that happened in 2011 and seemed to shape my year; our oldest daughter was diagnosed with ADHD, my grandfather passed away and I worked my aunt's Walk to Emmaus but I have to say that the number one thing that changed my life in 2011 was a challenge I accepted in January. KLOVE radio challenged its listeners to ask God to give them one word for the year of 2011. Now, I must pause for a second and admit I really do not listen to KLOVE, I only listen to AIR1 but for some reason I changed stations and heard the DJ's talking about this challenge, a God thing, I would say so. So I thought okay God, I will do this, give me one word...immediately...PRAY...okay that seems pretty simple I pray pretty often....

Zambia Misson Trip Day 3- London

June 21, 2013 Daily Scripture (typed exactly like it was sent): Philippians 4:6 says don't worry about anything, instead PRAY about everything. Tell God what you need: and thank him for what he has done. AMEN! So stay the course. Keep believing!! You may be tired, discouraged and frustrated but don't give up... OUR GOD IS FAITHFUL!!! Happy Friday... Have a wonderful weekend! (I am getting glory bumps just typing this and remembering what all we encountered that day! (Grin)) We spent the night in the airport. I laid down in 2 hard plastic chairs and crashed. When I woke up I noticed people around Grace and me (she was asleep with her feet at my head in the next two chairs). I went around to get my glasses on the other side of the chairs from where we were sleeping. I slipped my glasses on, I looked up and the very first thing I saw was a girl dressed in black pants, with a black hoodie, with the hood on her head, with dark eyes, looking at me from under her hood. The stare...

6 Years

I am reading Beth Moore's book So Long Insecurity and doing the workbook. I never really thought I was one who struggles very often with insecurity but let me tell you this book is showing me otherwise. I highly recommend reading this book! My son's 6th birthday is this week and I am so happy and sad at the same time; happy that God has blessed our lives with another year of his sweet, loving presence but sad that he is growing up so fast!!! As I think back over the past 6 years I can recall so much joy and laughter that Justice has brought into our family but I can also recall a season of fear and insecurity that God has so graciously brought me through. In December 2008 I found out I was pregnant with our second baby, in that same month I lost that precious baby. At the end of January 2009 I had a very strong feeling that I was once again pregnant, against strong orders from my doctor to absolutely not get pregnant again for at least...