Love For Sale: Only $6.87 at Walmart!!

Not too long ago, Brooke from Livin' La Vida Garcia wrote the most beautiful post about her wise Grandma. It inspired me to drive to Yuma, Arizona and visit my grandma so I could write one of my own.

So, this past weekend we went to visit my grandma. She will be turning 95 this July. Isn't that incredible?! She is one of the sweetest joys of my life, and I count it all joy to have the privilege of being her granddaughter. I remember always thinking of her as more of a 'cool' aunt, than a grandma. She would tell us these great stories about the cute blue-eyed boy that lived next door to her when she was a teenager. Or the story about the man whose nose fell off because he would iron his clothes with his hair wet everyday. I totally believed that story for soooo long. She told us a lot of those old wives tales, but that is for another post. But, one of my fondest memories of my 'Gramma' was sharing in worshipping the Lord together. We, my sister Amanda and I, would grab all the blankets she had in the house, build our own little temple in her bedroom with those blankets and chairs, slip on some of her church heels, and pop in a worship cassette (Remember those?). The tape was in spanish and she would sing her heart out to Jesus. I would see her close her eyes, raise her head to the ceiling, and lift her arms up as if she wanted to grab ahold of Jesus with the tips of her fingers. Such humility, such grace, such reverence. And, I got to witness it first hand.

My Grandma has been through many life experiences and I will continue to admire the tenacity within her to face any and every thing that comes her way. She has never doubted that God will carry her and that HIS WILL is what matters. She was telling me this past Friday, "We can go to God for anything, but we have to put in our part, too." I know exactly what she meant. A relationship goes both ways...just as Jesus loves me and seeks to be with me, I must do the same: In reading His Word, in prayer, and in sharing about Him with others.

As my Grandma gets older, she has also gotten spunkier. Really spunky and she cracks me up! Just before we were all going to head out to lunch at Hometown Buffet, Tim saw the biggest, baddest, and ugliest bug on the wall. He heroically took off his new shoes, (You know the ones I told you he still puts back in the plastic wrapping with the little packets of silica gel?) and killed it. He doesn't do this kind of thing at our house, but for Grandma, he would do anything. So, he then went in to the kitchen to wipe up the nasty remains and my Grandma had something to say about his lack of conservation with the paper towels. She educated him on how 1/2 a paper towel could have done the job just as well as the 3 paper towels he had helped himself to. This was hilarious and I wished my sister, Amanda or my cousin, Jackie had been there, because they would know that is such a Gramma thing to do. So, after Tim's schooling, we went to have lunch. This little thing of woman was able to have, not 1, not 2, but 3 full plates of food. She wouldn't even stop to look up at the camera! She was already on her plate of dessert by the time I was finishing my 1st plate. She has always enjoyed food and I know that is where I must have gotten my hearty appetite. The boys fought over who was going to sit next to their 'Mama Lina' and they talked to her about themselves all throughout lunch. When we returned to the van, my Grandma pointed out to Tim that her son in law always carries a stool in his car so she can get in easily. Tim apologized for not thinking ahead. He had a look like, I think she is mad at me, but I told him, that it means he is loved by her because she is comfortable enough to let him know what she is thinking.

After lunch we headed to the Super Walmart with Gramma. I love how they have those one stop stores like that there. We had decided we should go and pick up some more paper towels to make up for the fiasco back at her house and surprise her with a stool to get her into the van on our way back home. Who knew that $6.87 could buy you love?? When we presented the stool to her at the van, she was so touched and it was worth every penny to see her climb up on it and not have to work so hard to climb into the van. She was happy to get a pack of towels from Tim, too. I think he made up for the lack of conservation earlier by replenishing her stock.

The kids love their Mama Lina very much and saying goodbye was hard for all of us, but we are so blessed to have had a chance to share some adventures with this Godly woman. I love that my children have been able to get to know their Great Grandma and have their own memories of her to carry in their hearts.

I also love the fact that our children make up 1/4 of all the great grandchildren. My grandmother birthed 10 children, only 7 survived. She has been blessed with many grandchildren, and great granchildren. I keep reminding Tim that our arrows are investments for us. We will hopefully be blessed with many grandchildren and great grandchildren of our own someday!!

***On a seperate but very important note: MckMama is requesting prayer for her little MckMuffin, Stellan, over at My Charming Kids. The sweet little guy has some serious heart issues going on and is in the PICU. Please lift him and his family up in prayer, and go to her site for more details.

Also, I ask that you please pray for my niece, Gracen, over at Raising Miracles. She seems to have a virus or something going on that is effecting her breathing and now seems to have spread to her sister and brother, Sonoma and Skyler. I know that Natalie can use our prayers. Thank you.

God bless your Monday!!