Out of the mouths of babes...

Today we headed out to New Castle PA for Great Mom-Mom's funeral. It is about a six hour ride but we packed snacks and movies. The ride was a bit rough with misbehaving children. John and I both worried about how they would behave at the service after being cooped up in the car all day and then having to sit in church. We prayed and hoped for the best.....


The evening started out a bit rough, our youngest not handling the whole funeral situation well. I had to talk with her for a while to calm her and after she settled down she came over to me and handed me a note. She asked me if I could go out and put it in Great Mom-Mom's "basket" (that what she thought it was called.) I told her I would. As I was going to the casket I opened it to read it. It brought tears to my eyes. She wrote

Dear Mom-Mom

I hope you have a good time up there with God.

I love you
Anna

We left it open in her casket for all to see. She really loved her Great Mom-Mom.

During the funeral many people spoke about Mom-Mom. Uncle Dave pointed out that without Mom-Mom there would have be no Reverend Nicholson(Pop-Pop) When Pop-Pop asked Mom-Mom if she would go out with him Mom-Mom told him that she would go out with him if he would go to church. He did just that and went on to become a pastor and serve over 60 years in the ministry! One cannot not imagine how many lives Mom-Mom has touched. Then the Pastor asked if anyone would like to share or say something about Mom-Mom. We heard other wonderful stories about Mom-Mom but our biggest shock came when our son Adam stood up to speak. He told everyone that he was her grandson and the we should not be sad because the casket just was holding and empty shell and the real Mom- Mom was in heaven. He also said the we would miss her and how he would always remember how every year she would give all the grandkids McDonalds gift certificates for christmas. He really can be such a sweet boy! I was touched by his strength and courage to get up and speak.
As the time of sharing was coming to an end little Austin stood up. He started telling everyone that He too was one of her grandsons and that was as far as he could go. The poor boy broke down and wept. What Austin was able to say with those tears spoke volumes. He is such a dear child.

I love my kids and how God uniquely designed each one. I love them more than they will even know. I am also so thankful for them and proud to be their Mom.


All is all it was a good trip and was nice to spend time with family.