SOCIAL MEDIA

and it was a beautiful day...

9.09.2011
DSC01807

We celebrated my grandmother's life the past couple of days and it was truly a beautiful event. It was so good to see family that I haven't seen in years and I couldn't help but think that I was going to see grandma rounding the corner with some directions for someone to get out more cookies or move some tables and get out more chairs. It reminded me of a passage from Matthew 18:20, For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. I know that she was there watching over us and smiling down on us from heaven...she was probably chuckling a time or two as well due to the stories that were being shared.

DSC01801

DSC01806

She was buried with her husband in Jug Prairie Cemetary which overlooks beautiful, rolling farmland where she lived when raising her children in Brooklyn, Wisconsin.  She had sixteen grandchildren, eight step-grandchildren, twenty-five great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.  I'm pretty certain that she made us all at least one of her handmade quilts.  I am proud to have seven...three are baby quilts and the other four are full sized.  One is made from all the flannel scraps that were left over from the nightgowns that she made me every year when growing up.  It is the warmest blanket that we own and the one that we all fight over to snuggle up with in the winter months.

DSC01812

DSC01811

DSC01810

DSC01791

DSC01797

DSC01798

DSC01800

DSC01795

My Aunt Sharon shared some words from grandma with us and then some of her own.  I'm pretty sure I got the gift of loving the written word from her...she is an amazing and thoughtful writer.  At the funeral the pastor read words from my blog that I wrote previously about my grandmother.  That made my heart so happy and is a gift to me and will be always.

DSC01794

My Uncle Bill and cousin Scotty and my cousin Natasha sang Amazing Grace.

DSC01784

DSC01783

DSC01782

DSC01796

DSC01803

DSC01804

I will tell you this, being with these amazing and wonderful people, that are mine, made my heart swell with pride. I love that I am from this family. I love that we do things the way that we do. I love that everything is done matter of fact, and with a little sweat and with nothing short of all of our love. It's how my grandmother was in how she lived her life and what has been passed down from generation to generation now. We know how to work hard and we know how to play hard, and are expected to do both.

DSC01828

DSC01825

Below is my cousin Nick and we are proud to call Bobby Bullet part of our family too.

DSC01821

DSC01816

And my cousin Scotty...it's no secret that he's my favorite, he's the rock and roller of the family.  We all love him to pieces and it was so awesome that he flew down to be with us.

DSC01818

DSC01844

My family is so talented!  At one point my little sister got up and sang a song too but of course I didn't have my camera then.

DSC01814

I am so blessed for getting to have the relationship that I did with my grandmother while she was here in this earthly world. I traveled with her to the Alamo, and visited family in Florida with her. I spent time in the summers with her at the farm and rode horses and picked apples. We had private jokes...like the time that we were shopping and went into a store that unknown to her had a wall that was a mirror and she looked up and exclaimed (to her reflection in the mirror) "Oh, you have my pin!" We NEVER let her forget that one! Just saying that phrase would make me laugh so hard I would almost pee my pants and would make her just roll her eyes in disgust and say, "Oh Jenny, be quiet!" :) I loved this woman so much and because of her, I know how it is that I want to live my life and what kind of woman I want to aspire to be.

What a beautiful gift.

post signature
Vicky said...

such beautiful memories Jennifer, thank you for sharing the celebration of your Grandmother's life with us. What a privilege to have her in your life and now forever in your heart.

Diana Waite said...

what a beautiful celebration of life, thanks for sharing...

Denise said...

So beautiful to hear your story of your grandmother and your dear family. That is what this life is all about. Thanks so much for sharing this.

lisa said...

Jen, that's so beautiful xx