Lessons In Life

With the death of Grandma Combs came the lesson of life and death with our girls. Aaron and I tried very hard to explain how useless our bodies are when we die and that when we are believers, we go to heaven and don't need them anymore - also explaining to them the process of visitations, funerals and burials. Grandma's funeral was beautiful and so many people sent beautiful arrangements of flowers. Rockford Baptist put together a wonderful luncheon as well. I thought I had explained everything to the girls well enough until the pall-bearers started walking away with the coffin and then Natalie started crying "where is my Grandma?" and "I can't see her - Grandma Grandma". Everyone that was within ear-shot started crying harder. That was the rough part for me as well. Every time a loved-one passes it feels like the world will never be the same and it isn't. The day after the funeral Bella came down with influenza and was sicker than I have ever seen her for eight solid days. Then in the middle of that Nat got it for four days, but not too bad. Then after Nat, I came down with it as well. Can I just say that I will never go without the flu shot in my life again? It has been over a month and I am still coughing. I didn't know it was possible to feel that sick and not die. Thank you to all my small group who brought me dinner while Aaron was gone and to Jess who brought me groceries and to Jenn who brought my kids to church for me! Thank you to my momther-in-law who spent 24 hours at the house so I could stay in bed. What a blessing you all were to me. I will forever be greatful! March 4th my grandma Roath turned 90 and we headed to Joliet for a quick trip of 6 hours to celebrate with her. All the family that could attend, went to church with her that Sunday morning and then we all went out for brunch. It was such a gift to see the joy that all of us brought to her when we surprised her at church. She is one of my favorite people on this earth. She is 90 but she says she feels the same as she did 30 years ago. She still lives in the house that the kids grew up in and is still active in her church. I am so thankful to God that I still get to have her as my grandma down here for a while!
The kids are doing good. Bella does great in school and when we spoke with her teacher at conferences she described her as an old soul, which made me feel happy, because that's what we have always said about her too and it makes us feel good that with so many kids in the classroom, that her teacher has taken the time to get to know her. I feel so blessed that Bella has had nothing but beautifully sweet teachers since preschool! What I also love about Bella is her imagination. It's so neat to listen to her play with Nat or by herself because she comes up with some of the best stories. She constantly cracks me up. I still miss her everyday when she is at school. She's taking swim lessons right now, so I feel like between that and AWANA, she's busy until bedtime. Natalie hasn't had confrences yet, but her confrences are going to go totally different than Bella's. Natalie also has a wonderful teacher at gymnastics preschool. She has to be a saint to handle Nat - she can go from crossing her arms accross her chest and giving you the stink eye, to hugging you with a big smile and telling you she loves you in half a second. Mrs. Jen is going to get a special crown in heaven for dealing with our sweet little handful:) Right now she's into princesses. She wears her dresses from the time she wakes up until she goes to bed and when she has school or church and I make her wear actual clothes she throws quite a fit. We all play prince to her princess and she makes up dance with her constantly. Her naughty of the month is when Bella is getting in trouble for something, Nat is right behind us telling us how much she loves us and how wonderful and perfect parents we are. She learned how to suck-up really early in life;( Everyone who gives her love is her best friend, but if you ask her who her bestest friend is, it's Aunt Carrie. She's loving her swim lessons too and her funny for this month is: the other night I was talking to her and she was hiding behind the curtains. When I asked her what she was doing because I could not hear her talking, she told me "be quiet - I'm talking to Jesus about something very important". I wish I could remember what was so important, but it has escaped me now. That's why I write this blog. Someday I am going to compile it into a book for the girls and I, to remind us of this funny little journey we are on together. Well, spring is here and we can't wait for summer weather where we can be out in the garden and the swingset. I hope spring is finding you all well!