In Michigan

Becca and I are in Michigan right now. We arrived last Tuesday to come and say a temporary goodbye to my grandpa and Becca's great grandpa (we call him Bopie). We spent Tuesday evening and then most of Wednesday afternoon and evening with Bopie and Gramie at the Faith Hospice center. Bopie was hardly responsive when I was there, not opening his eyes and only squeezing my hand to let me know that he knew I had come.

After we left on Wednesday night we got a call around 10:30pm that he had gone to be with Jesus. Gramie, his wife, got to hold his hand while he drifted off, just as she had wanted to. It was sad, but also a great relief since he had been declining in health over the past two weeks and been in the Hospice center since Friday the 21st. We have the visitation tomorrow and the funeral on Monday. We head back to Texas on Tuesday.

Bopie (pronounced with an "ah" for the "o") was my dad's dad. His full name is Lionel Drooger. He was never given a middle name by his parents, but we always said that his middle name was Cole after his mother's maiden name. Most people never called him Lionel, though, because he was known to most as Bud, and to us as Bopie. Bopie always had a nickname for everyone--Chadaroo from Kalamazoo for my brother, Trish-the-dish for me, Tomas for my dad, Stevanovich for my dad's best high school friend Steve. He was extremely laid back and pretty easy to get along with unless you got in the way of his dessert, which he always called "dee". I didn't hear him talk about his faith in the Lord much, but I know he believed. He always read from the Bible after meals, sang or whistled hymns around the house, and prayed before meals. Bopie was married to Reanne Marie, my grandma, for 59 years. Some of his last words to my grandma were "I love you too".

I don't think it has hit us all yet. It's hard being the ones left here to miss him. My grandpa was in his nineties, but I never thought it would happen this quickly. We will miss him so much, but are also rejoicing that he trusted in Christ for his salvation and is now in paradise awaiting the day when Jesus comes to judge the living and the dead and give him his renewed body. What a glorious day that will be for those who are saved!

I leave you now with one of the songs I sang to Bopie during our vigil by his bedside:

On Jordan's stormy banks I stand,
And cast a wishful eye,
To Canaan's fair and happy land,
Where my possessions lie.

All o'er those wide extended plains,
Shines one eternal day,
Where God the Son forever reigns,
And scatters night away.

No chilling wind nor poisonous breath,
Shall reach that healthful shore,
Where sickness, sorrow, pain, and death,
Are felt and feared no more.

When shall I reach that happy place,
And be forever blessed,
When shall I see my father's face,
And in his bosom rest.

I am bound,
I am bound,
I am bound for the promised land.
I am bound,
I am bound,
I am bound for the promised land.

Update

My head hurts right now, so I'm not thinking clearly enough to write this, but I realized it had been quite a while since I posted.

I have much to write, but I want to update certain people via email before I write it on here.

So I guess you could say this isn't really an update. Just a small post to say that I will post real news soon and that we are still alive and well.

Hobbies

I have many hobbies--probably too many, but that's the way it is because I don't want to give any of them up. The scrapbooking that I took up a little over a year ago is put on hold until we move into a new place in the next month and a half (Lord willing). I am quite behind on Becca's babybook/scrapbook, but once we are settled it will be my main hobby priority.

Lately, crocheting has been my hobby of choice. I was a faithful knitter for many years (my grandma taught me how to knit when I was in grade school, but I really picked it up in college) always saying that I liked knitting better than crocheting, but that was because I had no idea what I was doing when it came to crocheting. I was inspired to pick crocheting up again after a friend made a simple crocheted car seat blanket for Becca and then to seriously get into it after seeing another friend make adorable baby booties at GameFest. At this point in my life I have found that crocheting is more appealing than knitting because I can finish small projects very quickly. It takes me two evenings after Becca is in bed to finish a baby hat with a cute hat topper. Completing something creative is therapuetic in the midst of days filled with lots of repetitive things...laundry, diaper changing, housecleaning, etc. I'm thankful to stay home and most days I enjoy it, but there is just something helpful about making something and not having to do it over again. Plus, with all the women around me having babies it makes for cute, handmade gifts that are fun to give. I'm not completely giving up knitting, though. Once I find some yarn I like, I plan on making another Easy Peasy Sweater.

Yay for creative outlets. I love being creative because it reminds me that I am made in God's image by showing how I make/create things too...though, not so much ex nihilo. Thank you God for fun and therapuetic hobbies.

The Zombie Walker

Becca continues to walk more and more, often choosing to walk over crawling to get somewhere. She has these two funny/cute things she does with her arms when she walks: sometimes she walks with her arms kind of out in front of her, which makes me think of a zombie...and the other cute thing she does is wave her arms up and down if she is really excited while walking. Too fun.

Watching Becca learn to walk and both of my grandfathers and Nate's grandmother struggle to continue walking has made me appreciate how easy it is for me to keep my balance while walking. I am so thankful for how easy it is for me to walk around.

My picky eater

I'm sitting on our bed blogging and I can hear the fireworks going off downtown. I'm a little sad that I don't get to see any this year, but I'm accepting that it's just not our time right now with a 13 month old to get to go out to fireworks. I did get to see them last year (even with a one month old) as we drove back from Nate's parents' house--we had the view of a sweet display all along the horizon, since outside the city limits people can light them off from their backyards.

But anyway, this post is not about fireworks, it's about Becca (big surprise, eh?). By "picky" in the post title, I mean that Becca was eager to pick food off my plate today. That was okay with me because it meant that she finally ate scrambled eggs and begged for more. She also wanted my brown rice at dinner with her sweet potatoes and chicken. At Whole Foods this evening, she eagerly tried the samples of honey dew melon, Australian cheese, and chicken, and she shared a Jamba Juice strawberries wild smoothie with me. It was kind of nice to have her so eager to eat new things since she has been so picky over the last month. I just hope it lasts.