Sweet Mary

Derek and I went to NYC a couple of weekends ago on a sweet little trip together. We had a wonderful time and I have lots of pictures to share, however when we got home we found out that Derek's grandma's health was rapidly declining and that she only had another 24-ish hours. So we worked for a few days last week, got unpacked and laundry done from our NYC trip and packed back up to head to Pennsylvania for the funeral.

Most of Derek's aunts, uncles and cousins live in PA, as do his brother and sister in law and our nephew. It was so good to be with family, but we wish it had been under happier circumstances. There really aren't words to describe the difficulty of saying goodbye to a mother and a grandmother. We are so thankful that Mary loved the Lord. I told Derek that I remember the last time we went to visit her we had to wait to see her because she was participating in a church group at her nursing home.

The priest at the funeral was right when he said that we are not sad about death, because we know that she is with Jesus and is no longer in pain, it is the separation here on earth that brings sorrow. Because we lived so far away, I didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with Mary, but from the things that her children and grand children said about her, I know that was a wonderful woman who loved people well, and who loved God. She will be greatly missed, but we look forward to the day that we will see her again, where there will be no more sickness and no more pain.