My Faith and Joy… and Boys!

My mom flew back to California yesterday, and boy, I was tempted to make her miss her flight!  She has been a lifesaver around here these last two weeks, changing diapers, feeding mouths, brushing hair, washing dishes, doing laundry, cleaning bathrooms, running errands, rocking babies, pushing swings, reading stories, cuddling kids, and basically preserving my sanity!  I can’t thank her enough for helping to ease Daniel’s transition into our family, and ease my mind during the whole bringing-baby-home process (I highly recommend having a NICU nurse for a mom!).

Mom, you’re the BEST!

Tomorrow marks the first day I’ll be one-on-four.  Those odds are rather daunting, but I’m excited to see how it goes!   

Danny has had some lovely ladies come to see him already.  This boy is spoiled!

Last weekend, Ramona and Ashley came for some cuddles…

…and then cousin Alli and Aunt Julie got to meet their newest family member. 

We’re so thankful for the visits!

When I first moved to Connecticut to be near Jim almost ten years ago, I didn’t know anybody besides his family.  My best friend, his sister, soon moved away to Arizona to be with her husband’s family, and I found myself in a new state with a new marriage and a new job and truth be told, I was kind of lonely.  And then I realized there was someone else who was in need of a friend: Jim’s Nana.  She and I quickly became each other’s companion.  I drove over to her house once or twice a week, where she would either cook me a meal, or we would go out to Wendy’s, where she would unfailingly order a small chicken sandwich and a chocolate Frosty.  She showed me how to get the best deals at the Dollar Store and the discount grocery store, and afterward we’d sit on her back porch in sunny weather and drink instant coffee from her well-loved cups.  She told me stories about life when she was a new nurse during the Hartford circus fire of 1944, about how sad she was when her eldest son Jim moved away to Pennsylvania and she could no longer hear him playing the organ in the room next to her bedroom at night, about how much she loved playing with her great-granddaughter Alli and giving her a Teddy Ruxpin doll, and about how she missed going window shopping at Talbots with her dear friend Olga.  She filled my days with her stories, and my heart with her warmth and good humor. 

A few years after Jim and I were married, Nana’s memory began to fade, and her stories turned into jumbled words that only made sense to her.  She’d still try to fix me instant coffee, but she wasn’t sure what or how much to put into my cup.  Her fingers could no longer use the microwave to heat me up her beloved cheese danish.    When the girls were born, she was still physically fit enough to help me push their double stroller through the grocery store, and she loved getting stopped by other older ladies admiring her grandchildren.  She laughed as the girls crawled, then toddled around her apartment, and she would babble to them as they would babble back.  Even without the ability to speak, she communicated her love for her family.

In the last two years, I don’t think Nana knew who we were when we visited her in a memory-care facility.  But she never failed to smile and laugh when she saw the kids come into the sitting area.  She’d reach out her hands to touch them, to bring them closer to herself.  When Jimmy was born, she protectively cradled him in her arms.  She’d clap along with the kids when they sang Bible songs to her, and she smiled broadly and pointed at the girls’ twirling skirts as they danced along with the singing. 

Last week, we were told that Nana had taken a turn for the worse.  I wanted her to see her newest great-grandson, so I took Danny over to meet her.  She was lying in bed, unresponsive, but I held him up beside her and introduced them.  They were both sleeping, their chests slightly rising and falling.  They were both so fragile, so weak, so dependent on others.  One soul had just entered this world, and the other had nearly departed. 

Nana went to be with the Lord on Friday evening.  She is no longer bound by the frailties of her earthly mind and body.  Instead of stuttering, she is now singing.  Instead of laying, she is now leaping.  Her big, beautiful eyes are no longer clouded with confusion, but are bright as she meets the gaze of her Savior. 

I have the assurance that I will see her again one day.  Through Christ’s forgiveness of my sins, I have the amazing privilege of joining her for eternity.  The Bible says of Christ in 1 Peter 1:8 & 9, “Whom having not seen,  ye love; in whom, though ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”  Nana now is with the One in whom she has believed.  Her life here was characterized by unspeakable joy, and now she has received the end of her faith, glory with her soul’s Savior.       

And when I am ushered into the presence of the Lord, I look forward to hearing the hymns that Nana once hummed in her house, now ringing through the halls of Heaven with her clear, strong voice.

***

Here are the links to some of my favorite pictures of Nana that I have posted on the blog over the last few years:

Heaven Bound

What I Love

Namesake

Little Visit

Matters of the Heart

So You Think You Can Dance

I’m so thankful my mom is here to help out with everything during the first few weeks of Danny’s life.  Not only is she amazing with him (and with me in my sleep-deprived state!), but she’s immensely helpful with the big kids.  Grammie makes everything more fun!

She’s teaching the girls how to use ink stamps…

She’s making books come alive with her voices and expressions…

She’s cuddling on the couch during TV time…

And she’s bringing new toys and games to entertain everyone.

I’m thinking we may need to book Grammie an extra week or two here!