Day 6, Grateful Journal

1. My Gramma passed away today.  I am grateful for the knowledge that, like Jesus, she lives!  And she would laugh at having her name so compared with Jesus.  Last Thanksgiving was our last time together.  There was a feel to our hugs and goodbyes at the end of that trip, something in her misty loving eyes, that told me that I might not see her again in this life.  How I loved sitting next to her, laughing at her quips about this or that.  She has an incredible talent with humor.  If you walked into her house, you would see where her heart is.  There are pictures of her family, children, grandchildren, everywhere.  There's a really cute one of her and her eternal companion, Grampa, when they were dating.  She made sure that relationship ended with the two of them.  She calls herself a "Jewish Princess" because of what a wonderful husband Grampa is to her.  Oh, how I miss her!
2. I am grateful for the gift of prayer.  I know I'm not s'posed to say the same thing again, but last time I called it, "power of prayer".  Today it is a gift.  Last week, the kids were playing capture the flag, the flag being Lance's camoflauge jacket "because it's easier to hide".  I told them I didn't like it, but if they were sure to bring it back inside, they can use it.  Of course, the friends that were here that day had left when I called the kids in for dinner and the rest of the evening took our minds off the camo jacket that was still sitting out in the dark somewhere.  The next day, Lance could not find it.  It's been about 4 days, and by this time, Lance wanted to play capture the stick.  I told him that he could play it after he looked again for his jacket  and said a prayer.  He looked, but wasn't big on the prayer part.  After a bit, he came back to me after having said his prayer.  He was bummed that, although he had said a prayer, he still hadn't seen it.  However, he was excited that now he could play the game and move on to other things after doing what was asked.  A few hours later, I happened to glance outside in the backyard.  There, in the middle of our yard, was Lance's jacket, as if it had landed there from heaven.  I asked all the kids if they found it, and none had.  Needless to say, Lance was pretty excited to have witnessed this gift and miracle from prayer.
3. I enjoyed a good conversation with Grampa this morning.  He told me that Gramma's been in a great deal more pain lately.  She even woke up yesterday while her Visiting Teacher was with her and, dissappointed, asked, "I'm still here?"  Even at a time like this, she's making us laugh.  In our family and couple prayers, we've been praying that Gramma might have the desires of her heart.  But later today after talking to Grampa, I said a pleading prayer.  "Please let Gramma be relieved of this pain."  Hours later my mom called me with the news.  I'm so grateful that she is no longer suffering.  I love thinking about the reunions she is having with so many, including our Evan!