R.I.P. G.G.

The Late~ Ms. Marguerite Anderson

My dear great-grandma (a.k.a. G.G.) passed away last night around midnight.  

We're all glad that she's with Jesus where "'God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.'” (Rev. 21:4).  But at the same time, we miss her.

G.G. was so thankful and loving her last few days, always whispering "I love you" or "bless your heart" whenever we came over and gave her a kiss, sang to her, or held her hand.  On Monday night G.G. fell into a deep, peaceful sleep and never really woke up out of it.

G.G.'s memorial service will be held on Saturday.  Any prayers for the family during this time would be appreciated!

The Wassenberg Family

Singing at Covenant Woods

"Sing out the honor of His name; make His praise glorious."

Psalm 66:2

My great grandma has a heart aneurysm.  About 2 weeks ago she wasn't doing very well at all...she ended up in the hospital but was released 3-4 days later.  The next week she had another pain attack on a Sunday morning.  After church we went by to visit her.  I really thought she was going to die that day.  When we came in the room, we gently gave her a hug (she was in bed), and then she started crying.  She reassured us that she didn't have any pain, but that the tears were tears of joy at seeing the ones she loved.  Of course, it made me cry! :)  We left after about an hour or two visiting with her.

That whole week she had relapses of pain and so she was moved into a higher level of care at Covenant Woods (her retirement home).  We visited her about every day and my Aunt Stacey and her daughter, Kaitlyn, drove 3-4 hours to be with her.  We didn't know if this was going to be the week that Jesus would call G.G. home.

But, G.G. still had lots of life left in her and she's now back in her regular room.  She's already attended one of the families birthday parties and is her usual (even thought she gets tired quicker) self! :)

 To give you a little background, G.G. loves to hear us all sing and play instruments.  When we would have her over for dinner that was about all she'd ask...that we'd sing and play the piano, guitar, etc.  She had tried to get us to have a little concert at Covenant Woods before, but we'd never finalized anything.  So, anyways, we were talking to G.G. and then decided to go for a walk to see some finches they had in a cage down the hall.  (My Aunt Megan and her children, Na-naw - G.G.'s daughter, Aunt Stacey and Kaitlyn, plus a few other visitors, were all at Covenant Woods that day.  Cadence, Justus, and Lydia loved the birds!)  G.G. decided to come along and, once by the finches cage, G.G. sat down in a chair and asked if we could sing for everybody.  So we sang a hymn or two and then we went a little further down the hall.  There G.G. asked us to sing again, and so we obliged.  (It was like a little travelling circus! ;)

As we were singing to a few older men and ladies the activity director for Covenant Woods showed up.  When we had finished another few hymns, she asked if we would be available to sing that next week in their multipurpose room! :)  It was very unexpected, but Mama said yes!

So, you would think that we would spend hours practicing, but, with the chicken processing and everything coming up (yes, this post is out of order!) we kept putting practices off.  The next week we were busy boiling, canning, and making soup with 6 or so of our chickens (and with other things), so we didn't practice at all until...2 hours before we left. :-/  Phew...I'm glad I got that out! :-D

Poor Mama typed over 10 hymns for around 2 hours before we practiced, and when the songsheets were finally ready, they started printing out wrong.  So that was frustrating but she soon printed the correct papers!  After *very quickly* skimming through the songs (especially the ones we barely knew ;), we rushed out the door and into the van. 

When we arrived at Covenant Woods we went back with my Grandma and Great-Grandma to the Multi-Purpose room where we would be singing. After some quick trips to the bathroom, we practiced a little bit.  Then people walked or were wheeled into the room.  We had around 15-25 people show up.  When the activity director gave the "all clear" Daddy introduced all of us and then we started singing.

Hannah and Lexi played the piano as people were coming in (and when they left).

Singing.

As you can see, we all tried to dress in black and white.  Josiah was the only one who didn't really match.

Singing again!

(Thank you, Na-naw for taking the pictures!)

Some of the hymns we sung were:  Amazing Grace, It is Well, In the Garden, Blessed Assurance, Sweet Hour of Prayer, and more!  After singing for about 30 minutes, Mama asked if anyone else had a song they wanted us to sing.  No one answered and then Miss Lindsay (activities director) came up, told us thank you, "that was beautiful",  and then everyone was dismissed.  While people were leaving we went and talked to some of them.  I had two people tell me that they were the only ones of their family left.  It was pretty sad. :(  After everyone was gone we went back to G.G's room and visited for a little while before leaving to get pizza.  After pizza we went back home to drop Mama, Josiah and sick, little Lydia off and then we went to church (after a little relaxation time!).

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We, as a family, had never sung before anyone other than family.  It was a new experience for us, and I think we all enjoyed it (except for little, sick Lydia)!  There's nothing quite as special as seeing your Mama playing the piano, as you sing with your sisters, brothers, and Daddy for the glory of God.

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On another note, my lovely 18-70mm camera lens decided to stop working properly.  This is the second time this has happened and I'm starting to get frustrated with it.  For some reason it won't zoom correctly.  It gets stuck and doesn't go full range.  I mean it moves, but then it gets stuck half-way and I feel like I'm going to break it if I keep twisting it so hard.  Ahh!!!  The first time it malfunctioned, we sent the lens back to Nikon and they "fixed" it but now it is doing it again.  This lens is also the one I use constantly, so that is another frustrating aspect.  And then I don't know when baby will decide to come, and my main lens isn't working!  I don't know what to do...send it back, pray it'll fix on its' own?  Sending the lens is a forever-long process that I really don't care to go through again.  So, I'm very bemuddled!

  Thank you for reading long enough to listen to my complaint.  (I just had to tell someone! ;)  Any prayers for my sanity would be greatly appreciated! :-D

Okay, I'm just joking.  I'm not that frustrated.  Really. :-/

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On one more note, I'm contemplating buying a macro (a.k.a. micro) lens.  A macro lens is just a lens that can magnify a small object.  I want one so I can capture the preciousness of new life (babies!) in a better way.  My other lenses only let me get so close to things before they turn blurry, so I can't accurately portray some of the smallest and most precious things in life.  I love how tiny newborns' feet and hands are, and only macro lenses can capture them the way I'd want to. 

So, all that to say, if any of you have advice on macro lenses, please share it with me!  (Or, if you know of someone who is looking to sell their macro lens, let me know!!!)  The macro lens I'm looking at (105mm) is around $900 from Nikon but on Ebay you can find some for around $400.  I don't have a whole stash of money sitting around, so I don't want to spend rashly and, if this isn't something the Lord wants me to do, I don't want to buy it.  Any of your prayers would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much!

Kimber :)

A Catch-Up Post! :)

"That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all Your wondrous works."

Psalm 26:7

This post is mainly just to catch you up on all that we've been doing, so sit back and relax! :)

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Tuesday night Daddy went and picked up our Great Grandma (we call her G.G.) for her birthday dinner.  She turned 88 years old (I'm trusting Caleb for this!).  We had a roast with potatoes and carrots and greenbeans along with Hannah's 1st place buttermilk rolls! :)  Hannah played the piano for G.G. before dinner then after dinner was cleaned up we all sat and sang songs while Daddy watched Lydia in the schoolroom.   G.G.'s favorite thing is to listen to her grandchildren/great-grandchildren sing or play an instrument so we tried to do that for her.  After we finished off our singing we had chocolate pie!

All of us around G.G.

Daddy took her home shortly after our pie since she goes to bed early.

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Wednesday night Hannah, Alexis, and I (Kimber) went with Na-naw and Paw-paw after church.  We stopped first at Panera Bread to get breakfast for Thursday morning and then went to their house.  We were spending the night at our grandparents house because our cousins and their family were in for Thanksgiving and we wanted to spend some time together.  When we got there we all got to watch Paw-paw prepare the 20+ lb. turkey.  That was very interesting!  (Just to let you know, I don't like touching raw meat so seeing all the blood and giblets was a bit nasty!)  We stayed up late (of course) watching the movie Amazing Grace and were in bed by 1 A.M.  After saying "good morning!" we went to sleep and woke up at assorted times a few hours later! :-D  Breakfast was wonderful and we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, talked, etc. while waiting for everyone else in the family to arive for the 12:00 lunch!  Everyone arrived and we prayed over the food and went through the line.

Na-naw helping G.G. get some food.

Salty ham to your left and unsalted to your right!

There were all the Thanksgiving fixings:  ham, turkey, peas, greenbeans, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and more!

Getting food.

Eating!

Everyone in the family came except for Uncle Sean and Amanda who were eating at Amanda's parents house.  (We saw them Sunday at the Nash Family Luncheon though)

Most of the grandchildren were outside eating.  I ended up taking pictures of my cousins during lunch because I like doing that and they like being the models! :)

Erika

Erika again.

Sarah, Erika, and Kaitlyn.

Sarah

Erika and Sarah.

Daddy.

I was taking a test picture because I thought that the above pictures were smoky looking so I didn't know if something was wrong or if there was something in the air.  So, Daddy volunteered to let me take a picture of him and everything was fine!

My youngest cousin, Rachel, Kaitlyn and Sarah's little sister.  (Isn't she adorable?!)

Before we left, the oldest girl cousins (Hannah, Alexis, Allie, Erika, Kaitlyn, Sarah, and I) ended up in Na-naw's living room.  While we were in a circle on the floor, we got to listen to Erika's hilarious explanation of what her wedding would be like.  She's the only one who really talked the whole time but it was so fun listening to her!  She had everything planned except for the groom!  What would we do without cousins? :)

We left Na-naw's and Paw-paw's house around 3 PM and drove up to Grandma and Grandpa's for another Thanksgiving meal.  We arrived a lot sooner than was planned so we had some time to visit before dinner.

Lydia on their steps.

My uncle and his family were there along with Aunt Amy's brother, Greg.  As soon as the dinner was ready we once again ate turkey, mashed potatoes, etc.!  As usual, we were overfed for both meals! :)

Grandpa and Hannah cleaning up afterwards.

Of course, after dinner there must be dessert!

Pumpkin rolls.

'Siah waiting for dessert.

After dinner was over some of us did a little Thanksgiving project that Aunt Amy brought.  She would pass out cards to everyone and they would have to answer the questions on them.  Everyone got to share something and it was a wonderful time together! :)

After dessert we were all just sitting around (some were playing the Wii) and then I suggested that we put the Christmas decorations up while we were there!  So, Grandpa got out the tree, lights, ornaments, etc. and we started assembling the tree!

It was fun putting it up together!  Seth got to put the highest branch on and Diana put the star up after everything was finished.

Some of the lights in the tree.

In the above picture we hadn't put on the silver beads, ornaments, or anything yet.  We just did things in a very relaxed way and enjoyed ourselves as we went!  The tree was beautiful after we were done but I don't have a picture with you to share (you'll have to wait til Christmas!).

We spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's that night.  The oldest girls were downstairs on the sofa or on the futon (Hannah had went upstais though) and, as normal, we weren't sleeping until somewhere around 12 that night.  We had a little popcorn before falling asleep too!

Breakfast that morning...Grandma's food leaves me speechless sometimes!  She spent the day before we came making Farmer's Crepes for us.  Something that takes forever and is a pain to make!  I had never had any of her crepes before until she made them for Daddy's 40th birthday this year and I'll just say that they are one of the best breakfast foods around!  I'm being serious too!  She also made pigs 'n a blanket and (my favorite) Cinnabon muffins!  Phew! :)  We spent that day together with everyone, playing on the Wii or the computer, talking about different things, or just laughing together! 

To sum Thanksgiving up...it was one of the best so far!  (I hope that isn't just because of the food!)

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Saturday night we put up our Nativity scene.

To explain:  We do a nativity scene every year instead of a Christmas tree, for assorted reasons.  Daddy always goes and cuts us some fresh wood as the border on the nativity and then we put lights, some ceramic figurines, and the manger we made by hand a few years ago inside the wood boundaries.  (The nativity is different every year.)  Then we add our fake "pine trees" to add to the homey appearance of it.  We put garlands on the windows and sparkling LED light around the top of our den.  We hung up ornaments everywhere and then, after decorating and making dinner at the same time, we just sat around in the den and stared at the lights.  That's one of my favorite things about Christmas.  Just sitting on the couch with my family and staring, forever, at those beautiful lights and the manger.  Saturday night the boys were wrestling on the couch, which really didn't make things very peaceful, but why does it matter?  We're a family and the time will come when none of us will be left in the house and we'll long to hear all those sounds we hear all the time, once again.  I love just about every moment that I have with my family!  How precious each and every single one of my siblings are!  And my parents...words can't express how absolutely wonderful they are.  What would I do if I didn't wake up to Daddy's genuine smile and jokes every morning?  Or Mama's cheerful self as she makes breakfast for us every morning?  The greatest gift I've ever received (other than salvation!) is my family.

Eden by the pine trees.

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

Matthew 5:16

All for Jesus,

Kimber :)