My Grandpa

My dear Grandpa passed away on Dec. 30th. It truly is a blessing as he has suffered with alzheimer's for the past 5 years and the man who once was has been gone from us for awhile, but it's still just so.....final. There are so many things about this man that I will miss. He LOVES babies so he and my grandma came to visit us in the cities a lot back when Abby was little.... before the disease took it's toll on his mind. They even came a few times after Emily but he was already suffering quite a bit by then. He did get to hold Kenan several times too. In fact, one time when we went to visit him at the nursing home he held Kenan and he told me, "please don't take him away from me." Several times he pleaded that with me... we did eventually have to take him and replace Kenan's body weight with a life size doll in his arms. It was so sad. To see a grown man who was once healthy and whole now not even knowing the difference between a baby doll and a real baby. He held 6 of his own-27 grandchildren and 6 great grand-children.

Alzheimer's is such an awful disease.. seeing it firsthand with my grandpa and the devastating effects it has on everyone is just such a horrible thing. I know my grandpa is now in heaven, seeing more than we can even begin to believe is our future for those who believe in God. I know he loves it there.


I haven't been to a lot of funerals, which is a good thing I guess, but my grandpa's was very special. The whole time I just felt such a feeling of peace and even awe. I don't know if it was the big stained glass windows in the church letting the sunlight streak in or just the presence of God there but it was so serene and unreal. After the seating of my parents and aunts and uncles they had all 27 (well, 26 since my sister was gone in Africa, but my sister-in-law Paula took her place) of us lay roses on my grandpa's body and see him one last time. They even had the great grandchildren do it too. It was a very loving picture to see Joel lift first Abby and then Emily to lay roses on their great grandpa. My next favorite part was that my little brother Caleb who is in the army presented the flag... the really neat thing about it is that my still living grandpa presented the flag to Caleb who then presented it to my grandma. Talk about a tear jerker. It was one of those things we'll never see again in our lives but was super neat to witness. The sermon from the pastor was also very special, and he cleary did the salvation message. The other neat thing was several grandchildren got up to talk and so did several of my aunts and uncles. My sister Leah (who was not there) wrote something and my little brother Jonah read it. My dad who is a funeral director also did this funeral as one last thing he could do for his dad so it was neat to see what he does all the time and understand this part of him.

My Grandpa was in the air force so he had military honors at his funeral. The 27 bullet salute at the end was very neat. Having Caleb's presence there made it all the more special.

I love you Grandpa and I'll miss you but I will see you again one day.. when their will never be another good-bye.