Oh When the Saints Go Marching In

Dear Family, Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Friends, and Loved Ones,

I am hoping by forwarding this from Aunt Martha's email I am able to capture more of you but.... if as you read this you see someone that I have missed please send this on.

It's Sunday morning and about a quarter of this crazy loving family is here at the hospital the rest of you are in our thoughts and prayers and we are wrapping our arms around you across the miles. Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Janice got in on Friday evening, and Uncle Ron and Aunt Donna got in Sat. afternoon around 3 p.m. Grandma has talked with Uncle Lester by phone so she has touched each of her children and has talked to lots and lots of Great Grands. Uncle Jim and Aunt Janice spent the night last night so Mom and Aunt Martha, Kathy, and Linda were able to get some much needed rest. Steve, Brenda, Stephanie (Muffy) and Stacy have been here since Thursday evening and even had a pot of chili made for when their Mom and Dad got in from Florida. Kent and two of his girls came down from Chicago and ALL of Aunt Martha's have been here. Rusty has been in and out and Kristen has been a huge support to Mom and Dad.

We have laughed and talked, reminised, and shared stories about so many things from the stairs at the old house, corn cob fights in the barn, Christmas's with flannel night gowns, and John Deere Tractors, and many many stories about Door Knobs, Noodles, and Mashed Potatos. NO ONE has been left out so... know that you ALL have been apart of this very special time. We have listed and counted and double checked and decided that there are 116 of us in the immediate family we have added these names to Grandma's Journal along with all of the calls and visitors who have taken the time to check in. Up until early last week Grandma was still writing notes and even made sure that there was an article for the paper this week. At some point we will send these over the air ways so you can all share in her thoughts.

On Thursday evening Grandma asked us all to come to her room (28 joined in) for a prayer meeting. Kent read the 23rd Psalm, Ronnie lead us in prayer and we sang Amazing Grace, The Old Rugged Cross, and others with Grandma singing right along. Friday we pulled together again and Kent lead us in prayer and we sang the songs that Grandma taught each of us in Bible School. Again she joined right in and smiled the entire time. We are all smiling... now because it is taking me 2 plus hours to finish this but that's ok because we have made several trips down the hall to check on Grandma and share some more. We just got back from spending some time in her room where we sang some more of her favorite songs and then finished with the Lords Prayers. Some of you will especially enjoy this... when we sang How Great Thou Art we all stood on the last verse. Grandma used to say "I just hate that..." so there have been lots of tears and lots of laughter. For others of you we also sang He Lives and Aunt Martha helped so it sounded exactly like it used to at Enon.

Today they took away the oxygen because it has been frustrating her and at this point not doing any good so she is resting. She will open her eyes slightly but hasn't really communicated since late yesterday afternoon. Although... we all believe she knows that we are here and especially feels your prayers and thoughts lifting her up.

So, as I close this know that none of us are alone in this process and the best part is that Grandpa, Aunt Mary, Mike, and the list goes on and on are waiting to welcome our beloved Grandma with open arms.

With Love,
Rue Ann (Granddaughter #1)

p.s. If you are one of the 17 Grand's you might want to pull out a copy of "Oh When the Saints Go Marching In?" More details to follow.