The Funeral

Grandpa's funeral was held Saturday morning. It was an outstanding tribute to a man who loved God and who lived like he loved God. I wasn't able to get very good pictures, but these will give you an idea of what it was like. They are mostly from the graveside ceremony. My cousins adorable daughters.

This is the back of the gravestone for my grandparents. Their children were their legacy and they wanted that reflected.

The bagpiper played Amazing Grace at the conclusion of the service as he slowly walked away. Very moving.

Taps being played.

Sam wasn't sure about the 21 gun salute and found his way to his cousin Jacob.

I love this picture of their hands.

My uncle Ron saluting his father's casket.

He's not a baby anymore

Tonight, for the first time, Sam is sleeping in a big bed. Up till now, he's slept in a toddler bed, but tonight, he is in the bottom bunk of his new bunk bed. Sigh. Seems like yesterday he was born, and now he's in a big bed. Slow down, time, and let me enjoy my little boy before he becomes a man.

(Pictures coming)

A Conversation with Sam

Today, Sam went with me while I ran to the grocery store. It was just him and I and as usual, he jabbered and talked the entire time. I was only half listening to him until something he said made me listen alot closer.

"I talked to God today" he said.

"Oh really" I said, trying to play it cool. "And what did you say?"

"Oh, God said he wasn't going to put me in heaven" he replied, non-chalantly.

He has had alot of questions since he found out my Grandfather died. He was a little concerned about dying.

"God said heaven isn't for little boys and He's not going to put me in heaven."

I knew he really didn't understand the concept of heaven and dying, so I didn't make a big deal of it. I asked him about Jesus.

"Jesus died on the cross and when I was at Poppy's house I saw it on tv and they put nails in his hands and feets but Jesus didn't stay dead because He was rosen."

You're getting it Sam, you're getting it.

Grandpa Benzing

We will leave in the morning to travel to Ohio for the funeral of my Grandpa Benzing. He is my mom's father and he went home to be with the Lord last Friday evening. He lived 90 years on this earth and left quite a legacy. He was a man of God and he will be sorely missed. "I want to leave a legacy, how will they remember me, did I chose to love?"


"Did I point to You enough to make a mark on things?"

"I want to leave an offering"

"A child of mercy and grace who blessed Your Name, unapologetically"

"And leave that kind of legacy"

Grandpa, you did it. You left that kind of legacy, for everyone who remembers you, remembers your love for your Savior.

Thank you for leaving me with that kind of heritage and for being the kind of example that I can point my children to.

Till we meet again.

In Case You were Wondering...

what my friend Chrissy and I looked like the last time we talked, here is a pic of us at our graduation celebration at church, 25 years ago. We're not that different, right Chrissy??

And here's a picture of us with our friend Stacey who was supposed to come but couldn't get away. (We're the ones with hats on- not really sure why we have hats on, but we did)
Ah, the good old days.

Pictures from Sunday

Oh. My. Word.

Did I have a great weekend. I met my friend, Chrissy, up in the North GA mountains for the weekend. I left Friday around noon. Now mind you, I haven't seen Chrissy since we graduated high school. 25. years. ago. (Wow. Even though I've said that alot, it's still shocking.) And, I haven't talked to her in that long either. We set this whole thing up over the Internet. I called her when we were almost there. She didn't sound like I remembered, and I got a little worried. What if we had nothing to say to each other? What if we were both totally different and didn't even like each other anymore?

We got there, and made the trek up 2 flights of stairs to our condo, sat down to catch our breath and didn't get back up for THREE HOURS. Literally. 3 hours passed without our noticing because we talked the whole time. So much for having nothing to say to each other!!

It was such a nice time. We didn't do anything all weekend but talk, look at pictures and go out to eat. We determined that once we got there, we were not cooking or cleaning, so we didn't! We ate out every meal (except breakfast on Saturday- we snacked on some cookies in between talking) and enjoyed every minute of having no one to watch and no one to take care of.

Our lives have been very different, but God has blessed us both with wonderful husbands and great kids. We were very thankful for our husbands for giving us this opportunity to get away and reconnect, and we realized more than once that not every husband is so generous.

It was a fantastic weekend. I'm so glad God allowed our paths to cross once more, and hopefully it won't be 25 more years before we spend some time together!