End of a chapter

This is one of the last photos I have of my dad's parents. In August 2013, my grandma died and just a year later in August 2014, my granddad joined her. Somehow it was harder when my granddad passed. I suppose that is for several reasons, the biggest being that he was the final tie giving all of us cousins, aunts and uncles, a meeting place for holidays and reunions. I also felt a little irritated knowing that he and grandma and many other family members were probably having a crazy awesome reunion party that I wasn't invited to... yet. And by golly, I hate missing family parties!

This may look like a fairy tale home but it's actually the home of my grandparents. I have many cherished childhood memories here: catching crawdads, floating down the canal, avoiding wet dogs, chasing kittens, stealing garden peas, playing volleyball against the house in the rain, waiting on uncles for Christmas morning to start, painting with Grandma, scrapbooking with aunts, popsicles from the Popsicle Man, playing house in the broken cars, swinging on the rope, playing the organ, hundreds (it seemed) of Christmas stockings, getting stung by a bee, spraying water through the house from the kitchen sink, and so many more!

This is sweet little Abi with her flower from the casket spread. I was excited to get a sunflower because that felt so personal to my Kansas heritage. Plus, we both wore yellow!

Why did we not just wear black? Because I don't believe in black at funerals. Black is such a bleak color to wear to funerals and while I'm one of the world's best funeral-criers, I also believe funerals are a celebration and something of a graduation ceremony. I believe there is life after death. In fact, I believe we lived with God who is our Heavenly Father before we were born and that we knew him better than we know our parents now. And when this life is over, I believe we will return to meet with God and that this life is how we prove to Him our willingness to follow His commands. So while I cry at funerals, it's not from sorrow for the person who died as much as it is from anxiety for the long wait it will be before I see that person again. To quote The Princess Bride, "I hate waiting."

Katie and I and our children joined my parents and Jenny in their van for the 11-hour drive to Colorado. Yeah, that's eight people - three of them two years old and under. We watched Frozen an obscene amount of times.

But look how happy they were to be together!

Here are some of my favorite people in the world!