...........
My grandmother died on Sunday. It was good for her to go as she'd been living in a nursing home and was mentally out of it for years. I haven't had much contact with her throughout the last 10 years as every time I went home my dad and stepmom thought it would be best for me to not visit her so that I could remember her how she used to be.
I've been thinking about her a lot this past week though - even before she passed away and am so thankful for the impact that she'd had on my life.
When my dad left my mom my grandparents did something that forever changed our lives. At the time my mother was a stay at home that had dropped out of college to marry my dad. She hadn't worked in 6 years and had spent all of her time investing in us kids (my brother was 5 at the time and I was 3), so naturally when my dad came home drunk and said he found someone else (who is now my wonderful stepmom) and wanted a divorce, my mother was at a loss as to what to do. I couldn't imagine how she must have felt with no job, no home, two kids to take care of and all the emotional baggage of a marriage that was ending.
It was then that my grandparents stepped in - keep in mind that these were my Dad's folks. They were so horrified by the choices that my father had made that they gave my mom what would have been his inheritance. They had a home on a nice piece of property that they had been renting out and signed over all of it to my mother and us kids - free of charge. That's the house I grew up in and to this day my mother still lives in. It wasn't long after that when my mom got a job working a secretary for the county water district and had a wonderful boss that saw she was in a hard place and helped her out with childcare for us kids and made sure that she could always leave work to go to every one of our basketball games or school events as we grew up. Now, my mother is the manager of that same water district and treats her employees (and their families) with the same love and respect.
When I look back on that time of our lives I am so grateful for the wonderful people that God provided us with. I could make a list of hundreds of little miracles that at my young age can recall, and can't even imagine the hundreds more that must have happened that I was oblivious to. It used to be that I could only remember the bad things that happend during that time, but in the recent years God has been bringing to my memory all of the way that His hand was on our lives protecting us through all of it.
I am so grateful for my Dad's folks that took care of us, a wonderful work environment for my mom who had to put her kids in daycare and work hard to provide for us all on her own and with no child support, and of course my mom's wonderful parents who completely remodeled the house we were given free of charge so that we could start fresh.
God has blessed me with the most wonderful grandparents ever and all of them have impacted my life in a special way. I don't remember much about my Grandmother Struck throughout my teen years, but I will never forget what she did for us through the most difficult time of our life.
Through a series of bad circumstances God has brought about so much good into my life, most of it has been good that I haven't even been able to comprehend until my adult years. Not only did God bless me with a wonderful set of grandparents on my Dad & Mom's side, but I have also been blessed to have grown up with wonderful grandparents on my stepmom's side that have taken us kids in as their own flesh and blood from day one. They are both still living, along with my mom's mom, and I want to cherish every moment that I have left with them.
Although my grandmother is gone she will never be forgotten for the way that she forever she changed my life.
I've been thinking about her a lot this past week though - even before she passed away and am so thankful for the impact that she'd had on my life.
When my dad left my mom my grandparents did something that forever changed our lives. At the time my mother was a stay at home that had dropped out of college to marry my dad. She hadn't worked in 6 years and had spent all of her time investing in us kids (my brother was 5 at the time and I was 3), so naturally when my dad came home drunk and said he found someone else (who is now my wonderful stepmom) and wanted a divorce, my mother was at a loss as to what to do. I couldn't imagine how she must have felt with no job, no home, two kids to take care of and all the emotional baggage of a marriage that was ending.
It was then that my grandparents stepped in - keep in mind that these were my Dad's folks. They were so horrified by the choices that my father had made that they gave my mom what would have been his inheritance. They had a home on a nice piece of property that they had been renting out and signed over all of it to my mother and us kids - free of charge. That's the house I grew up in and to this day my mother still lives in. It wasn't long after that when my mom got a job working a secretary for the county water district and had a wonderful boss that saw she was in a hard place and helped her out with childcare for us kids and made sure that she could always leave work to go to every one of our basketball games or school events as we grew up. Now, my mother is the manager of that same water district and treats her employees (and their families) with the same love and respect.
When I look back on that time of our lives I am so grateful for the wonderful people that God provided us with. I could make a list of hundreds of little miracles that at my young age can recall, and can't even imagine the hundreds more that must have happened that I was oblivious to. It used to be that I could only remember the bad things that happend during that time, but in the recent years God has been bringing to my memory all of the way that His hand was on our lives protecting us through all of it.
I am so grateful for my Dad's folks that took care of us, a wonderful work environment for my mom who had to put her kids in daycare and work hard to provide for us all on her own and with no child support, and of course my mom's wonderful parents who completely remodeled the house we were given free of charge so that we could start fresh.
God has blessed me with the most wonderful grandparents ever and all of them have impacted my life in a special way. I don't remember much about my Grandmother Struck throughout my teen years, but I will never forget what she did for us through the most difficult time of our life.
Through a series of bad circumstances God has brought about so much good into my life, most of it has been good that I haven't even been able to comprehend until my adult years. Not only did God bless me with a wonderful set of grandparents on my Dad & Mom's side, but I have also been blessed to have grown up with wonderful grandparents on my stepmom's side that have taken us kids in as their own flesh and blood from day one. They are both still living, along with my mom's mom, and I want to cherish every moment that I have left with them.
Although my grandmother is gone she will never be forgotten for the way that she forever she changed my life.
Labels: family
1 Comments:
Jenny that is amazing. You just don't hear of that kind of stuff happening. It also puts your mom in a whole new light for me, realizing all that she had to endure to make sure you and Andy had a good childhood. I am so thankful God is helping you see all the good in these adult years. What an amazing story of God's hand on your family!
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