| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| KellyA |
Posted - Sep 30 2009 : 04:46:06 AM
Dear farmgirls...
It has been a sad few days here. My mom took a turn for the worse on Sunday when her kidneys started to fail. The doctors determined that because her blood pressure was so low, the kidneys were injured because the could not push out the toxins. They are giving her medicine to help heal them, and it seems to be working, but she is not breathing well and is very confused. The doctors met yesterday with my parents, and agreed to transition to hospice. We will have a family meeting this morning. My heart is aching and I know yours are too. Thank you for your prayers...please widen them to encompass all her family and friends in the next phase we are entering.
Kelly
When a cookbook is in hand, life is good! |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Tammy Claxton |
Posted - Oct 12 2009 : 8:44:50 PM
Kelly, I just read the posts and I am so sorry for your loss. I had bartered a few times with her and she was so generous. I hope you and your family find peace in knowing that she is sitting with our Lord and is painfree now. God Bless and prayers being said for you and your family.
Crafty Bay Farmgirl Chapter
"What doesn't kill you will only make you stronger"
Farmgirl #152
http://countryintheburbs.blogspot.com/
http://bigdogmom130.etsy.com |
| oldfashioned girl |
Posted - Oct 12 2009 : 10:14:53 AM
Kelly, I read this last week and couldn't type through the tears. It's still hard to type now! My prayers go out to you and your family at this time! I can't imagine not being able to talk to my mom! Your mom was such a sweetheart and I am so glad that I got to know her even a little bit! I even had the great pleasure of sending her a book about making dolls. She will be missed by all of us here!
Monica
farmgirls rule!
www.justducky48.etsy.com
www.justducky48.blogspot.com
www.duckystreasurechest.etsy.com |
| kristin sherrill |
Posted - Oct 12 2009 : 07:18:49 AM
Kelly, my mom and I talk all the time, too. I just can't even imagine what it would be like. Any time you need to talk, just come on here and let it all out. Sometimes I need to do that, too. Mothers are so special, especially as we get older. We realize how smart they really are when we get older. There's nothing like asking my mom for advice or suggestions about how to do something. I know I'll miss that so much. But you have such wonderful memories of your mom that can never be taken away from you.
Hugs, Kris
Happiness is simple. |
| KellyA |
Posted - Oct 12 2009 : 04:38:22 AM
Thank you for your kind words and expressions of friendship for my mom. I am hoping she can see these in heaven so that she knows how many people she touched.
It is so strange not to call her every day after school and tell her about my day! I have already told my dad, who hates talking on the phone, that he better get used to talking to me every day!!
Kelly
When a cookbook is in hand, life is good! |
| Lynner |
Posted - Oct 12 2009 : 03:58:19 AM
Kelly,
I too extend a heartfelt message to you. In one of the most difficult times of life, God is there to comfort you. He knows full well your pain. He experienced it too. What a blessing your Mother has been to you and your family. What wonderful memories. She will be blessed as she beholds the face of God. And you will find comfort to know, that she is in His very presence.
Blessings to you and your family, as you make difficult decisions, and the hardship you are in during these last days.
May the God of all comfort, comfort you.
Sheri
Many Hands Make Light Work!
...God made the seed to grow...1 Cor 3:6
The best fertilizer for a farm, are the farmers footsteps... |
| miss wilma |
Posted - Oct 11 2009 : 7:49:14 PM
Kelly I am so sorry, your mom was a very special rose,my prayers are with you. I will buy a rose plant for a special friend in remembrance of her Miss Wilma
Farm Girl #96
http://www.picturetrail.com/misswilmasplace
http://misswilma.blogspot.com/ |
| levisgrammy |
Posted - Oct 07 2009 : 5:25:04 PM
Kelly,
Thank you for including us and sharing those sweet memories with us. The eulogy was beautiful!
I know the cemetary you spoke of as I grew up in that area up there. I hope sometime when we go home for a visit that I can visit there.
hugs,
God is good....all the time.
Denise
www.torisgram.etsy.com |
| nubidane |
Posted - Oct 07 2009 : 10:33:28 AM
Kelly, that was beautiful, Zhenelle is very talented. I do not know how she could read thrugh that without crying. What a tribute |
| Marcy |
Posted - Oct 07 2009 : 09:45:55 AM
I am smiling through my tears. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. It was a perfect tribute to such a wonderful lady.
Farmgirl #170
Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give...Eleanor Roosevelt
http://marcysworldofcreativity.blogspot.com/ |
| dutchy |
Posted - Oct 07 2009 : 09:39:59 AM
Oh my6 gosh, that ois beautiful and a lovely tribute to a wonderful, sweet and kind lady.
Hugs from Marian/Dutchy, a farmgirl from the Netherlands :)
My personal blog:
http://just-me-a-dutch-girl.blogspot.com/
Almost daily updates on me and mine :)
|
| Merry |
Posted - Oct 07 2009 : 08:52:34 AM
Kelly, thank you for sharing that, what a beautiful lady, your mom.
Merry
Farmgirl #536
http://afarminmyheart.blogspot.com/
"Nobody has ever measured, not even poets how much the heart can hold."
Zelda Fitzgerald |
| Lainey |
Posted - Oct 07 2009 : 08:07:15 AM
That was so beautiful, thanks so much for sharing it. Kelly, your mother meant a lot to me too. As she lived with cancer she inspired me with her grace and honesty about how things were going. When I went through it this summer too I would think about things she had written about how she was dealing with it and I tried to be like her, taking things as they came.
I sit here with tears now thinking how much we will miss her, but also I know she's in a better place now. And I'm still remembering how much she taught me and will always be inspired by her and her life. God bless you and your family Kelly.
Farmgirl Sister #25
http://countrygirldreams.blogspot.com/
An Angel says, 'Never borrow from the future. If you worry about what may happen tomorrow and it doesn't happen, you have worried in vain. Even if it does happen, you have to worry twice.' |
| Ga Girl |
Posted - Oct 07 2009 : 06:01:18 AM
Kelly, As all the others have said that was a perfect eulogy, and I will remember you mom as "The Rose". Thanks so much for sharing this with us. Blessings,Karen
Create in me a pure heart,O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalms 51:10
www.KKJD1.etsy.com
http://farmgirlingastyle.blogspot.com/ |
| KellyA |
Posted - Oct 07 2009 : 04:42:01 AM
Alee...I so agree! There was not a dry eye in the church, but the tears were happy remembrances...
Thank you all for your kind words...she was-is- a lovely lady.
Kelly
When a cookbook is in hand, life is good! |
| Alee |
Posted - Oct 06 2009 : 7:19:09 PM
Oh Kelly, that eulogy was perfect and I am sitting her smiling and bawling my eyes out at the same time! Your mom is a very special lady and I am ever so grateful to MaryJane for giving me a chance to meet her via the forum. (Hugs)
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
www.allergyjourneys.blogspot.com
Put your pin on the farmgirl map! www.farmgirlmap.blogspot.com |
| Autumn Leaves |
Posted - Oct 06 2009 : 6:03:23 PM
Kelly, thank-you for sharing that, it was beautiful. Nothing like having a family member do the eulogy, it is so much nicer and means so much more. After all it is family who knew them the best. With tears in my eyes I know exactly where Zhenelle is right now, I lost my beloved grandma on Easter sunday this year. My thoughts are with you and your family, I pray for you all.
Warm Wishes
Jennifer
Never let yesterday use up too much of today - Will Rogers
http://jenscountrylife.blogspot.com |
| KellyA |
Posted - Oct 06 2009 : 5:12:19 PM
Thank you for that, Jessie!
Kelly
When a cookbook is in hand, life is good! |
| Sitnalta |
Posted - Oct 06 2009 : 4:42:47 PM
Thank you so much for sharing that with us, Kelly. You can just never know how much your Mom meant to me. As I am reading this tribute to her, I am sitting her shaking my head, thinking to myself. Yes! That is exactly right. That is just the way she said things. That is just what she would have told me. There were many many times when my toddlers were being a handful, or my heart was too full waiting for God to move in my life, that your Mom stepped in and reminded me of the kind of woman that I really wanted to be.
She will always be remembered and though she asked to be remembered as a rose, I like to think of her as my special rose, that God send to be my sweet friend to speak the words to me in ways that only she could have done!
hugs & prayers
Jessie
People are like stained-glass windows.
They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,
but when the darkness sets in,
their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.
www.messiejessie2.blogspot.com |
| katie-ell |
Posted - Oct 06 2009 : 4:07:50 PM
Kelly, thank you for sharing the eulogy. Zhenelle expressed so well the love and joy of your mother's life. And what a gift to all of us to read about Linda, a rose. I will remember her.
www.youaretoocreative.blogspot.com |
| KellyA |
Posted - Oct 06 2009 : 3:48:22 PM
Hello, fellow farmgirls...
I wanted you to know the funeral was beautiful. My neice Zhenelle gave the eulogy, and it was perfect. I am including it if you want to get a glimpse of the life of "a rose". By the way, if you ever make it to Saratoga National Cemetery, and look up my mom's headstone, it is inscribed on the bottom with "Remember me as a rose".
Grandma's Eulogyþ
From: Zhenelle
My grandmother was 35 years old when I was born in 1980. My entire life she was like a mother to me, and for most of my childhood, I saw her every day. If I learned one thing from her in the almost 30 years I've known her, it's this:
We are nothing without our family. Loyalty, trust, forgiveness and love - all values she instilled in me throughout my life. These things she gave to all of us, so generously, so unconditionally.
Linda grew up not far from here in Troy, NY. She was the daughter of Leon and Genevieve, and sister to Allan, Raymond, Joyce, John, Carlton, Debra, Albert, David, Lee, Gary and Michael.
Her childhood defined the person we have all grown to love so deeply. She was the oldest of a large family, and her mother depended on her to help take care of her younger brothers. She credited her mother with her own strength and self-assurance, and admired her for keeping them all together, for trying her best with what little she had.
Grandma told me once, "The best part of my teenage years began when I met your Grandpa."
She met my grandfather, Timothy, in September of 1959 at the 10th Street Park in Troy. Timmy was playing tag with some kids, and he stole the scarf right out of Linda's hair.
She asked for it back and he said, "Maybe tomorrow."
He asked to kiss her for the first time on her front porch, and it was the best kiss she ever had.
He told her mom that when she was 16, he was going to marry her.
3 years later, he did.
They were engaged through letters they wrote to each other while he was stationed at El Toro, California, and he sent her her engagement ring in the mail.
Tim was the one and only love of her life. Her very best friend. They were everything to each other.
I loved being with my grandparents - even when they were bickering, you knew they were crazy for each other. He'd call her Fudgie or some other silly name that'd get her worked up and calling him a whole list of names I can't say here in church.
She was a spitfire, and if anyone was going to be honest with you, it was her. There was no question what was on her mind - she'd come RIGHT OUT and tell you. I get that from her. It drives my husband crazy.
Her children were her next and greatest love. Kelly, Lisa and Timmy, Jr. Her pride and absolute joy, through good times and bad. Each one their own special person - Kelly, quiet and sweet, nose in a book… Lisa, a pistol from the time she was in diapers, so determined to live her life on her own time… Timmy, the little boy, made her furious and proud. She raised three incredible individuals, and best of all formed a strong and loving family of her own. She embraced her new sons and daughters in much the same way – Dale, Paula, Peter and Brenda – a close bond formed with all of them through the mutual love of her family.
We all meant the world to her, and she made it her life's wish to make sure you knew you were loved. In every corner of my home I see something that she made for me - toiled and stressed over and tried so hard to make perfect. She'd make the most beautiful thing, and apologize that it wasn't good enough.
"It's perfect, Grandma" I'd tell her.
"I suppose…" she'd answer back. I wanted her to always know I loved it, whatever it was. Paintings of us as kids, quilts put together with so much care, ornaments at Christmas time. She was so thoughtful in such a tangible way. She left us a legacy of memories and mementos, scrapbooks and stories.
She spent years pulling together the family genealogy on both sides. She reached out to perfect strangers, accepted them as family immediately, and made sure that they knew about their loved ones, where they came from, who they were. If you wanted to know about your family's history, you came to her. No branch was too far extended to be close to her heart - children, grandchildren, sisters, brothers, in-laws, nieces, nephew, aunts, uncles, first cousins, second cousins, and on and on - all were cherished by her.
She was good at making friends, too. She started going to Curves to work out a few years ago, and there she found some of the closest friendships she'd had in her whole life. Women who truly understood her, and admired her for her strength and personal beauty. I had the pleasure of meeting these women yesterday at the wake and I saw immediately what connected my Grandma to them. I found comfort in their words, and felt gratitude for their memories of her. She touched so many people, and once she had you she wasn't going to let you go.
She loved to talk about her friends from CHP before she retired from nursing, and more recently she found a network of crafty country girls online and began chatting and swapping handmade treasures and ideas. They voted her "Country Farm Girl" of the month this past summer. She was so happy to be thought of, to get back the same kindness she was so good at giving.
A few days before she died, she picked up the telephone receiver, and in her confusion talked to her best friend Pat about going shopping. There had been no one on the other end, but she told Grandpa, "Pat wants to go shoppin’." "Oh she does?" Grandpa said. Her mind was going to special places - visiting her friends, talking to her grandkids, things like that.
We all knew where she was when she left us. My mother, Lisa, came to get her, to go "garage saling" - after 13 years they are together again. As much as it hurts to have lost her, I know she is happy now. The thought of their reunion has helped me more than I can even describe.
My Grandma was always happiest, though, with a grandchild on her lap, smiling and giggling. We filled her heart up right to the brim - me, Michelle, Timmy the 3rd, Dennis, Joshua, Justin, Alyssa and Michael. Christmas was the best - all of us together. Grandma would make us crowd together so she could take our photos, moaning and groaning but obliging always because we knew it was important to her. We're lucky now, all of these photos have been passed on to us - each one carefully labeled to help us trace our lives backward in time.
I look back now and feel so blessed for the way she loved all of us, cherishing each child for who they were, never who they were supposed to be.
I so wanted to give her that again, to make her a great-grandma and see her hold my child with the same love and affection she once held me. I know we all have these things… these wants, regrets, hopes and plans. But she wouldn't want us to dwell on those now. She'd want us to go on doing what she always did best… carry on through the struggles, love each other with open hearts and open arms, and live every day in the light of God's love.
She always told me, "Remember me as a rose." I close my eyes now, and I see red roses. You were beautiful, Linda. You were everything to all of us. We will always remember - your smile, your laugh, your eyes and your forever open arms. But most of all, we will remember you as a rose.
Kelly
When a cookbook is in hand, life is good! |
| Lainey |
Posted - Oct 06 2009 : 09:10:49 AM
Kelly,
I'm so sorry to hear this. Your mother was/is a beautiful spirit. Her strength and grace throughout all she went through inspired me with what I went through this past year. Like others have said when I see my roses outside I will think of your mother and her kindness. You and your family are in my prayers and if there is anything I can do please let me know. Your mother will be missed by us all.
(((Hug)))
Farmgirl Sister #25
http://countrygirldreams.blogspot.com/
An Angel says, 'Never borrow from the future. If you worry about what may happen tomorrow and it doesn't happen, you have worried in vain. Even if it does happen, you have to worry twice.' |
| Marcy |
Posted - Oct 06 2009 : 05:55:05 AM
Kelly,
I read this a few days ago and was so sad at the time, that I simply could not write anything. Your lovely mother touched my heart so deeply as she did, I am sure, all of the farmgirls. She was such a wonderful lady. Always had a kind word, a good thought for everyone. She was always a sweetheart, even when she was sick. Know that she will be so terribly missed. There is now a whole in the fargirl circle that can never be replaced. Keepng you in my thoughts and prayers that you get through this very difficult time. And if there is anything that I can do, please let me know.
Farmgirl #170
Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give...Eleanor Roosevelt
http://marcysworldofcreativity.blogspot.com/ |
| laurzgot |
Posted - Oct 05 2009 : 7:27:05 PM
So, So sorry Kelly for your loss. You and your family are in my prayers.
Laurie
suburban countrygirl at heart |
| melanie47601 |
Posted - Oct 05 2009 : 09:57:40 AM
Kelly, I'm sorry for your loss. You and you family are in my prayers.
Melanie
Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says "Oh Crap, She's up!"
Blog~ http://wheelsarealwaysturning.blogspot.com/
Swap Blog~ http://mels-swapshop.blogspot.com/ |
| Tina Michelle |
Posted - Oct 05 2009 : 12:49:20 AM
so very sorry to read of this. sending you hugs during this time.
~I Dream of a Better World..where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned!~
blogs:http://gardengoose.blogspot.com/
and http://thevictorygardener.blogspot.com
magazine: www.stliving.net
etsy shops: http://GardenGooseGifts.etsy.com
and http://myvictorygarden.etsy.com |
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