A great, great woman

I have some sad news to share - Russell's sweet, precious Grandma died Sunday morning around 3 am.  She had been suffering from Alzheimer's for a few years, but it had not gotten severe.  She was diagnosed with lymphoma in the early fall of 2010, and she began chemo treatments.  At that point, she largely stopped eating, even after they stopped the chemo.  Between the cancer, chemo, and Alzheimer's, she just couldn't do it anymore.  Even when she had to be reminded that she had cancer, she took it with dignity and pleasantness.  Grandma was one of the kindest, most precious people I have ever met.  One of my grandmothers passed away when I was in 5th grade, and the other one has had dementia for over a decade...so Russell's Grandma became my Grandma, too.  And what a blessing that has been.

Russell's grandfather, who we call Papa, is having a very difficult time, so please keep him in your prayers.  The wonderful thing about the timing of Grandma's passing is that she finally got herself a little girl.  As I've mentioned in this blog sometime before, Grandma had 2 sons, 5 grandsons, and 1 great-grandson...until Emma arrived.  For a while there, Emma even had strawberry blonde hair, and the only person in our family with red hair was Grandma.  Grandma was very much aware that she finally had a little girl, and she was also aware that they shared that red hair, even if for only a little while.  You should all know that our earthly world has lost a treasure, but heaven was just made more glorious with her arrival there.