Homegoing

My Grandma Davies went home to be with Jesus on Wednesday, February 24. I am so thankful that I and the kids were able to say our goodbyes on Tuesday, the previous day. We sang, read Scripture, talked, and hugged. Although, she never opened her eyes, I truly felt that Grandma responded with small smiles and hand movements to our presence and words. It was so sweet to hear even Alden sing "Nothing but the Blood of Jesus", a favorite of Rhianwen's.

While there I read Psalm 139 to Grandma, and just loved reflecting on the following verses:

16 "Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." What joy and comfort to know that every second of Grandma's life was ordained by the lover of her soul!

11-12 "If I say,"Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night," even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you." Even though death can seem so dark and sad, even here God's light shines for Grandma, a child of God.

Later dad read this to me:

Hebrews 12: 22-24 "But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel." She's there, made perfect. What joy!

It's a strange blessing to be able to introduce death to the children at such an early age with a loved one who loves Jesus. Especially for Rhianwen, I feel like it helped set death in the proper light. It's not dramatized or hidden from her, but just a stage in our walk with Jesus.

Our craft project was unfolding before and during all that was happening with Grandma. We were reading The Apple Doll, a children's story, and I decided to make one with Rhianwen.

The apple peeled and face carved. Rhianwen did the eyes and mouth. I did the nose. You let it dry for about a week, and it is transformed into a little wrinkled face, just like a Great Grandma. The timing of this project was just surreal to me.

The finished doll. So adorable! Rhianwen made the pink cheeks, we glued tiny blue beads for the eyes and used batting for the hair.

When in Conway, we were able to spend significant time with many of my aunts and uncles and cousins. It was a sweet time.

Enjoying dinner and a movie (Thomas the Tank Engine). Rhianwen "likes Trevor the best".

After the funeral we took a walk down the path near my Grandparent's old home. In the past, we traversed this trail just about every day we were at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I love the time of the afternoon when the sun is low in the sky and everything is still, golden, peaceful.

With Uncle Christopher. This and a similar picture that mom took of Alden on Wally's shoulders reminded me of the quote by Isaac Newton "If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants."

I saved the lighter news for last. Warmer days have us out of doors for longer periods of time, and Rhianwen has learned to pedal her big girl bike! We took a video to catalog our future racer...

Amazingly slow, but she's doing it all by herself!

Our Bible memory verse was 1 John 1:9, and Alden learned a lot of it! Listen to him say some of the words!


And one of my favorite moments to date:

There's not much sweeter than hearing siblings say "I love you".