My Grandmother A Glimpse Into My Life

This is My precious Grandma.

She is where I get my craftiness from. She was a commercial artist for years and is extremely talented!

I don't think many people know what my family situation is. I thought I would take time to post about one of the most important people in my life. My Grandmother is a very sweet Christian lady who has been more like my mother. She took care of me and my brothers throughout my life. My Mother and Father well lets just say its very complicated I may post more about that later. My Grandma and Papa raised us for all intents and purposes. 

We spent every summer with them at their house or at our special beach vacation!

They sent us to Bible camp every summer. They gave me all the values and morals I have.

I don't think I am normal by any measure. Normal is overrated. However I think the sanity I have come to know in my 20's came directly from there influences. The Lord took my wonderful Papa home to be with him in March 2006 and things for my Grandma drastically changed. They where married over 50 years and they where the example of love that I measured my life by and my Grandfather was the measure of a Man that only my husband could fill. He was strong loving and kind. Everything you want someone to be. He was amazing and I miss him dearly. Again he was my Dad for my entire life. Also the greatest Grandfather a girl could dream of. 

My Grandmother was raised in a family of 10 children. She had a tough life growing up in the 30's as you can imagine. She is such a strong woman. Her Father was the biggest spiritual influence on her life. She took care of him in his old age until he passed. I saw what a tole that took on her watching her mentor father and friend slowly lose his life over a long period of time. I was very young then but i wanted to be just like her selfless and kind. She never complained about how hard it was. It was her duty to take care of him.

Now I find myself in the same position. She is very sick. She has had lung problems her entire life. She had pneumonia as a very small child. Back then it was a death sentence but her Mother and Father nursed her back to health. The illness never really left her body she had pneumonia several times after that as a child and later on in life she had to have a lung partially removed, as a result of all the damage.

She now has Bronchitis's and COPD.among allot of other illnesses.

This makes it very hard for her to breath. She also has severe Rheumatoid arthritis. Her hands in the picture above are a small indication of the tole it has taken on her frail body. 

She struggled so hard after my Grandfather passed away.  She then had to deal with the tragic loss of her Grandson Alvin my oldest brother in 2010. A loss she has never truly recovered from. She is very strong in her faith as I said earlier. However the broken heart she has carried since both of there deaths has weighed her down.

She is now struggling she had a fall last month and she crushed her foot over 10 breaks. She then developed pneumonia again because of her weakened state.

She had to go to a Nursing facility for Rehab and at that time they told her she could no longer live alone. She has said to me several times that she does not wish to die in a nursing home. She wants to die where she and my Papa shared their home for over 45 years. So my husband and I decided that we would sell everything and move in her home and bring her to where she most wanted to be to finish her amazing life in peace. We have been her a little over a month taking care of her. The nursing home sent in Hospice to take care of her medical care. They have been truly amazing with not only her medical care but our mental well being. 

She has to be on oxygen all the time now and she takes allot of medicine to keep her going. She is struggling with allot of things in her mind and it's not as clear as it used to be.

She still reads her Bible daily even if she falls asleep doing so because her body is so tired and weak.

She has her moments of weakness just like the rest of us. She remains in spite of all her illness and weakness one of the strongest Women I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. She had a mini stroke last week which has made her confused allot and she struggles with what day it is and if she has taken her medicines or not. She recently got her cast off her foot and amazingly has suffered no pain from the break at all, A true sign of Gods amazing grace. She is able to walk very short distances and still require a wheelchair for most of her daily activities. This bothers her allot because she has always been extremely independent. 

It is a struggle to watch my Mentor and Best Friend slowly fade away.

I will keep the blog updated as things change for my family. I just thought a little insight into who I am and where I come from may interest some of you.

If you have been through a situation similar to mine and have any good advice please leave a comment below and all Prayers are greatly appreciated.


Here are some more pictures of My Grandma with my Family and I