A Bittersweet Time at Home

Over the past few days I went home to Indiana for my grandfather's funeral. I was so happy to be there to be with my family through this hard time. I know my parents and family really appreciated it and I wouldn't have had it any other way. Even though it was a sad reason to come home I did truly enjoy my time there. I was able to spend time with my nephew who I hadn't seen since Christmas break and was also able to celebrate my birthday on Friday with my friends and family. Here are a few pictures from the unexpected trip home.

The cutest nephew in the world!

Eating his rice for dinner.:)

My sister and Matt

What a great aunt. She got her nephew to fall asleep! :)

My Grandpa

As most of you know I am home in Indiana for my grandpa's funeral. He was a loving Christian man who just turned 90 this past October. He was still driving, paying bills, going out with his friends and enjoying life until he contracted pneumonia about a week and a half ago and couldn't beat it. My mom asked me to write a few words to be read (not by me!) at his funeral and I wanted to put it on my blog. So here it is.

When I think of my grandpa the first thing that comes to my mind is love. He had a love for everyone, rich and poor, young and old, everyone everywhere. But the greatest love he had was for the Lord. For he knew the greatest commandments as spoken by Jesus in Mark 12:30-31- “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
As young grandchildren he always tried to instill in us the importance of having a relationship with God. He followed the advice in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 5-7. “Love the Lord your God with all you heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. The commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” When I was away at college and in North Carolina he always asked about the church I was involved in and the friends I hung out with. He wanted me to stay close to God throughout my life and I am grateful for his consistent urging of me to develop that relationship with Christ.
My grandpa also had a love of music. I remember him telling me about the times he would sing with my grandma, mom, and aunt at churches around the area. He’s always been involved in a church choir, singing tenor all the way! I know he was so proud of my mom and her musical abilities. I loved watching him listen to her play the piano, nodding his head and humming the whole song through. I think he was also proud of his grandchildren who learned to play the piano and sing. It seems as though we would always play or sing a song whenever we would go to my grandparent’s house for a family get together, a gathering of friends, or just for my grandpa and grandma to hear! I know he was so proud of each and every one of his grandchildren.
There are so many wonderful things I remember about my grandfather. Here are a few snippets of memories.
Growing and picking vegetables from his garden in the summer.
Him staying with me when I was home sick from school.
Trying to get me to eat a radish and mayonnaise sandwich.
All the different foods he would mix together to eat and sincerely enjoy the taste of!
Riding on his lawnmower to my parent’s house just to stop by and say hi.
A knock on the door and a “who-who”
Every prayer starting with the words “our kind ‘n heavenly father”
Watching him dance at my sister’s wedding
Sitting at the table and playing Uno together.
The red cap.

When I think of him now I know I shouldn't grieve. He’s up in heaven with his Savior singing his heart away in that tenor voice of his. And I can’t wait until I see him again!

Thank you all for your kind words and support through this difficult time for my family. I appreciate every last word, prayer, and thought!

whoa

Hi all,

These past few weeks have been pretty busy. Let me tell you of a few things that went on. I'll start with Valentine's weekend. My wonderful dad came down to visit me over the weekend. He was here from Friday night until Tuesday morning. I enjoyed spending time with him and really appreciate him coming down to see me. We went to Raven Rock state park, went out to eat at Red Robin, (which I hear you northerners are getting up there, try it out, it's good!) we also went to church, watched some movies, and played a few games. Seeing my dad make the effort to drive all the way to NC just to spend a few days with me makes me realize how wonderful my parents really are. They are a true example of the love a parent should have for a child. But thinking of his love makes me think of just how much more love God has for His children. How could He love us anymore than our parents love us, or we love our children or our spouses? I don't have the answer for that but I know He does and I know I'm thankful for that love and forgiveness everyday.

The weekend after that I had some girls from Bible study come over for a girls night in.:) We ate tacos, played games, and watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2! It was a fun time to get together with the girls and to get to know them more. It also made me realize how much I love hosting things at my house. I don't get to do it often because I live so far away from everyone and I'm all alone. But I think I'm going to try to do it more often because it was way better than staying home alone on a Saturday night. There are so many women here whose husbands are deployed and we're all just sitting home alone. Why not get together and enjoy the time that we can be with our girlfriends? God is giving us that time so we should use it up.

And last, this past week was chock full of "stuff" to do.

• Monday I took dinner to a friend who had just had a baby, met with my financial adviser, saw Lindsay's new house she is renting, and was blessed to have dinner with my friend Emily. It was a busy night and I didn't get home until after 7:00 that day but it was worth it.


• Tuesday I had my bimonthly staff meeting after school then stayed and worked until Bible study which was at 7:00 so on that day I didn't get home until 9:15. Another long day.


• Wednesday I started tutoring after school, then I went to a National Board meeting from 4:15 until 6:15. Which by the way I'm working on and hopefully will be able to attain by the end of school year 2010. Teachers you should look into it. It's a big pay raise and your state should help you with some of the costs. I know in NC they pay for you to go through it and in the end it's a 12% pay increase!


• Thursday I left school asap and went on post to get my taxes done! I waited for about 45 minutes and then actually sat with the tax guy for about 2 1/2 hours! But I can't complain. Fort Bragg does them for free for military, we got a huge chunk of change back thanks to the new homeowners stimulus, and I invited the tax guy out to bible study and he seems interested! So even if it took a good part of my afternoon, it was all worth it.


• Friday (finally!) I tutored after school, then I HAD to go run. I hadn't been able to all week long and I was feeling the stress levels rise. So I did a quick run then had to get to a friend's house to babysit for the night. Unfortunately traffic in the middle of the city on a Friday night at 5:00 on payday was not very conducive to my amount of time I had to be there. So even though I got there a half hour later I still made it on time. I enjoyed watching Wall-E with the kids, playing games and just hanging out.

And now I can relax a bit. Even though all the activities kept me busy and the time went by quickly, I still like to have some down time to just sit and relax. Oh, and let me leave you with this. Steven emailed me and told me he got a new puppy! I know what you're thinking. "Isn't he in Iraq?" Yep, he said he found it around a dumpster, took it for his own, and is calling her Scout. I don't think I've seen him with such a big smile on his face since he's been there so of course it made my day and made all the worries and stresses of the week disappear. So even though Steven and I are thousands of miles apart, he can still put me in a good mood. God is good! Have an awesome week everyone!