We were blessed to be able to spend the week after my great grandpa died at their house. Uncle T and Auntie Brooke flew in from Florida and everyone else (all 24 of us!!) came out the Palm Desert as we prepared for the service and looked through old pictures.
The service was a blessing and an encouragement to all of us. We are so thankful for the body of Christ and seeing how many friends from Grammy and Grandpa's church came out to the service to love my Grammy. We loved hearing stories about Grandpa...some that we already knew and some that we didn't. Person after person talked about how he genuinely cared for people, always was telling jokes (even though sometimes we didn't get them!!) and went out of his way to make sure people were doing well. Two of the custodians at the church came and both mentioned during the service that Grandpa would seek out to find them each time he was at church to check in on them and get the latest updates on their love life :)
We learned that Grandpa was at the time the youngest Master Sargeant ever in the US Army when he fought in the Korean War!
The video below is the slideshow we showed at his service. If you just watch the first few minutes, there's an awesome song by Enfield that talks about the first time we meet Jesus...so good!!
After a great afternoon at the church, some sweet friends made dinner for all of us and we enjoyed time together over the next few days.
The girl cousins
The boy cousins
Uncle T and Caiden!
Grammy and her girls!
Grammy, Tante Berit, mommy and the 3 oldest cousins. Tante Berit surprised us all when she knocked on Grammy's door with 2 of her sons who flew in from the East Coast! We're not really sure how we're related but somehow we are and we REALLY like their family :) Her granddaughter's name is Marin - that's where mommy and daddy got my middle name from!
The next morning we made Grandpa's famous Lake of the Ozark pancakes. Uncle T and Uncle Dean took over the pancake flipping responsibilities!
Cousins Kristen & Lauren
Caiden LOVED the pancakes...he ate 7!
I love to play house with Kristen and Jeff! If they weren't getting married this June, I think I might have married Jeff myself!
I'm thankful Uncle T likes me...that water was cold and he was the only one who would go in with me!
In my grandpa's book, he wrote this in his chapter on Heaven:
"The death of the faithful, while causing sadness among loved ones, can be spoken of with confidence and joy. The right attitude about death is best summed up in the Apostle Paul's statement in Philippians 1:21...'to die is gain.'"
While I don't understand this now, mommy and daddy have had lots of opportunities to talk to me about Heaven. I like to always remind them that we don't have to be sad about Grandpa because if we love Jesus and believe He died for our sins, we'll get to see him again in Heaven one day!
"Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds." Titus 2:13-14
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