Goodbye Grandma Karen

Neal's step mother passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, August 30th from a brain aneurysm. (A side not: I hate the word "step mom" because it sounds so Cinderella and her evil stepmom-ish. )Karen was a blessing to Neal and then later mine and our children's lives. They married when Neal was 10 and she became a great influence in his life. She was a wonderful mother-in-law. She had such wonderful talent - woodworking, painting, cooking, organizing, decorating. And she constantly served. I enjoyed attending many church meeting with her including most recently one where Sis. Beck visited us here and Florida. We had such a good time being together and learning from a wonderful leader. I am thankful for the things she left behind -her wood art will always be a treasure, her recipes which she willing gave me before she left Florida, and her tamales (we were the lucky recipients of all the tamales they had in her freezer before they left Florida in May -yummy!) I knew she had a testimony of the gospel and tried her best to serve others. As a final opportunity to serve she donated her organs which helped 60-70 people.

The funeral was very healing and I am thankful I was able to attend. I was able to participate in making the casket (sanding it and cleaning the work area) as well as dressing her for burial.

One of the last photos we have of us attending the Monster Jam Festival together (it's not the best photo of her, but my computer crashed and I can't find very many of any of my photos from the past - Darn technology. Thankfully I have a cute one of her with Doug & Eli hanging on our hall wall already - a sweet reminder of Karen in our lives!)


Until we meet again!