Missing "LaLa"

On July 4, one of her favorite days of celebration, my mother-in-law joined the greatest celebration imaginable--around the throne of God.

After a whole morning and afternoon of having music played for her from the laptop she used in the hospital (everything from a version of the 23rd Psalm to "Amazing Grace" to our son's "1st recording" of "Jesus Loves Me" on YouTube), we finally played a song she loved, and had requested for her funeral. That song was "I Can Only Imagine" by MercyMe.

She was breathing as the music began. But with the the first words, we who were beside her looked at her again. She had slipped away. She no longer had to "imagine" the moment described in the song. She knew the glory of that time.

Now, just over 2 weeks later, her family is missing her a great deal.

"LaLa" gave her all to parenting her three children: my husband and his younger brother and sister. She took care of the husband she married at age 18 for 43 years. But the greatest joy of her life came with the births of her grandchildren...6 of them. It was with the first that she took on her new name. As a toddler, he was the first to call her "LaLa," because of the way she sang to him all the time.

On Wednesday, we will mark 2 weeks since the worship celebration of her life. It was grand...a celebration of who she was.

And I'm still giving thanks to God for bringing me into this family so I could know her, love her, be loved by her, and watch her love my child, for 7.5 years. She was a teller-of-the-truth-as-she-saw-it, a fun-lover, a lover of life, an adventurer, a Christian, a loving mother and grandmother, a care-taker, and quite a fighter through her 4.5-year battle with cancer.

She is missed, and she will be for quite some time. But thanks be to God for Judy, "LaLa," and her witness of faith, fight, and love. Thanks be to God for all the prayers and love that have come our way in this difficult time. And thanks be to God for the promise of eternal life with her and all the others who have gone before us in life and faith.

I hope you you enjoy the pictures of the time she and "Jed" shared...