Random Five

1. Kyndal and I went to view my grandma at the funeral home this evening. Her funeral is tomorrow morning. I don't know how to say this without sounding strange, but she looked beautiful! She looked healthy and peaceful. She really looked like she was just laying there sleeping and at any moment she would wake up. Everything was perfect. Her hair looked so pretty, she was wearing her glasses with the little crack in the corner of the lens, and her lipstick was just as she would have worn it. She almost seemed to have a small grin on her face when we were talking to her. It made me happy. I am happy because I know that she is in Heaven. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind or heart. It is impossible to look that peaceful in death to not be rejoicing on the streets of Heaven. I will miss my grandma a lot. But knowing that she is waiting for me on the other side provides a great deal of comfort.

2. And now as I finish typing all of that I am crying like a baby. I really am going to miss my grandma.

3. Dawson, Eli, Brynne and I are traveling to Oklahoma tomorrow after the funeral to spend the weekend. Dawson is staying at Tonio's to help him celebrate his 18th birthday. The rest of us are staying in a hotel. It's a yearly tradition for us. Since we moved to Missouri we have gone back for a weekend just before Christmas to see Santa at Bass Pro Shops, to go see the Christmas light display at Rhema Bible College, and to celebrate Christmas with Rick's sister and her family. This year we will also be attending Rick's company Christmas party while his niece stays with the kids at the hotel. And we will get to spend some time with our best Oklahoma friends on Monday before we come back home. It's going to be a fun weekend!

4. I only have one more Christmas gift to buy and I am done! I do think Kyndal and I will get up early on Christmas Eve and go do some last-minute stocking stuffer shopping, looking for extreme bargains. That would be a fun tradition to start with her.

5. I haven't posted a Weekly Wrap-up in a couple of weeks. I do want to post about our last couple of days of On the Banks of Plum Creek from Prairie Primer. I just need to sit down and do it. We are doing an author study of Tomie dePaula right now, reading many of his Christmas books and doing related activities. But I think I will wait until the end of next week and do a full post on everything that we have done. It is a fun and interesting study and I would recommend it for you and your kids.