Grandma Annabelle

I just got off the phone with my step mom Annabelle. Please lift her up in your prayers. Good days are starting to come more in between the bad days but I hear the sadness in her voice.

We chatted a bit and she asked if we were still coming for Thanksgiving. She was excited to hear that yes we are coming for Thanksgiving. The sadness was there though. The holidays are coming up and it's a reminder that Dad won't be there.

I have something funny to share. At least I think it is funny. It's a shake your head in disbelief kind of funny.

Annabelle is an amazing cook. Every meal is home cooked. I don't think anything she makes has less then four ingredients! Bless her heart she is forever in the kitchen. Unless I made fresh coffee and convinced her to take a break with me out on the front porch, she wasn't leaving her stove. Well, she always makes all the fixin's. From early in the morning you could smell the dinner comin'. Between the warmth of that kitchen and the coolness of the front porch ... let's just say ... you are in heaven.

Finally it's dinner time. Grace has been said the kids are served first. We all would circle around the table (we ate buffet, too many of us to sit at the table!) and find a nice comfy spot somewhere. We all would stuff our face, praying that we would be able to let out the button on our pants so we could have a slice from every pie! Annabelle makes 5, yes F-I-V-E, different pies!

Well, here comes my Dad. He would keep pouring salt and pepper on everything! One of us would ask him what he was doing. The food is perfect! "No, no it isn't. Not even salt and pepper!" Here is the funny part ... he had no taste buds! LOL Between two bouts of throat cancer and all the chemo and radiation from the other cancers, the man couldn't smell and couldn't taste! What a nut!

Even though that would drive me crazy, I will miss it. I know she will too. For 26 years she cared for him. For 7 of those years she bravely took care of him while he died. They were and still are each other's world. She misses him terribly. Understandable so. My uncle Benny, her brother, came to visit and help her around the house. She told me that the whole time she kept calling him Bill. She asked me if I thought that was bad. I said no. I would be surprised if she did anything different.

Please pray for God's love and comfort. I know He is there with her but I want her to feel it deep in her spirit. I remember the week of the funeral, as she told us (us girls) the plans she was making, she kept asking 'Do you think that is okay?' 'Is this alright?' Of course we were fine with whatever decisions she made. I find her still doing that today. Pray that I can share with her God's peace and my assurance that she is O.K.

Thank you mighty warriors. The enemy and loneliness is tearing her up. Thank you for praying.