I'm Back! (An Update)

Hello Everyone!

   Man, it feels like it has been so long since I posted.  It has been a long time since I have done anything online, really.  First off I want to apologize to everyone that has commented on my blog, sent me emails, messaged me over Facebook, etc, that I have not gotten back to yet.  I have a good reason, which you will see in a moment.  Thank you for your patience and willingness to allow me a break; this week was crazy.

    First off, last Saturday my grandmother on my dad's side passed away.  She was 91, and was living in an assisted living facility.  She had a hard life, and so by the time I was old enough to get to know her, she had already given up living.  So even though I didn't really have a personal relationship with her, it was still hard. 

   She had gotten married pretty young and had given birth to three girls in pretty quick succession.  At some point during that time her husband went off to fight in World War Two.  His submarine was hit and he alone survived; floating in the ocean for over three days, until he was discovered and brought back home.  Because of this tragic incident, he had many physical and mental problems.  They then had my dad, at the same time their oldest daughter was having her first child.  When my dad was a little older, but still young, his father left suddenly and was never heard from again.  To this day he is still missing, and there is almost no doubt he has passed away.  My grandmother then continued to work and pay the bills to supply for her family while my dad grew up.  As my dad became a young teenager my grandmother had a serious relationship with a man whom she was planning on marrying.  They had decided to marry once my dad was out of high school and living on his own.  When my dad was one year away from graduating high school, my grandmother's boyfriend/fiancé died suddenly.  After that she really just gave up.  While her life was hard and full of tragedy, it wasn't all bad.  My aunts say that she loved to play jokes.  She was stubborn, and even in her old age she made us laugh.  She loved all sorts of chocolate.  And she was a Christian.  She was also a very beautiful woman.  She always made sure that her outfits matched and her yard, when she lived alone, was always taken care of.  She loved to do up her hair.  With her passing has come a lot of grief and sorrow, particularity on my father's part.  She will be missed.

   After that long overview, I will now get into my full excuse ;) hehe.  On Saturday night, we received a call from the nursing home/assisted living that she had passed away.  This was at about 10:15 pm.  We all climbed into the car and started on the 45 minute drive to where she was staying.  We saw her and made arrangements for meetings to happen later.  While we where there, it struck midnight, making it my birthday.  My grandmother missed my 15th birthday by about an hour and forty-five minutes.  After we got home we hurried off to bed, and barely made it to church the next morning, which is also about a 45 minute drive.  After we got home I cleaned my room while my mom made my birthday dinner, lasagna. (My favorite!)  We ate and I opened presents, although my dad had so many calls to make that he was hardly there. 

  The week went by super quick.  We where busy/out of the house every single day, I think.  I can't even remember what we did each day specifically.  Although, on Tuesday, my mom and I went to get my driving permit, something I have been waiting for over 9 months.  Well, because of the stress and my not getting enough sleep, I failed it...By one question.  I was so angry at myself.  I cried all the way home; also because of my lack of sleep.  A few days later my mom took me again, after I had gotten a few nights of sleep.  I practically aced it.  Out of 30 questions, I only got 1 wrong. 

   On Friday we went to the funeral.  Our church provided a lunch for us.  It was wonderful.  Everything tasted so good and it was all ready when we got there.  They provided lunch for 15 people, and we all left full.  They even had dessert!  At the funeral I tried not to cry but I did.  It was really good though.  Our pastor preached and the Gospel was presented.  The music was beautiful.  Afterwards my three aunts and one of my cousins (He is about 27) came over.  We ate and talked and then they all left.  I finally got to bed at a decent time.

   On Saturday we had to get up early and go to a teen event at my church.  There is a young couple that has two young children, and they are moving.  Which is very sad because they are such a sweet family.  But we had a teen event to help them clean out their apartment and help pack.  There are about ten teens, including my sister and I, but at the event there was only 8.  We had a lot of fun.  Even cleaning is fun when you have workers.  I have a friend who is the age of Julia, my little sister, but we are pretty good friends anyway.  We started out by cleaning the bathrooms.  Total, all of the teens together washed windows, cleaned the kitchen, including the stove, swept and mopped the dining room and kitchen, carried boxes down the living room from upstairs, emptied the attic, babysat the 2 year old, changed diapers (Guess who got that job. *wink wink*) rocked the baby to sleep (yes, also me) cleaned a deck, tidied the living room, cleaned bathrooms, boxed up baby clothes, and made trips to the dumpster.  We got quite a bit done.  We also ate pizza, which makes the work worth it! ;) haha

  I also drove a couple of miles on the way to and from the teen event.  I drove our big conversan van, which is huge.  On Sunday I drove about 2/3 of the way to church, but I was driving my dad's little 4-door car.  Much easier to handle! Haha!

  And, of course, today is Monday.  A lot more happened this week, and frankly, I don't remember much of it.  Once again I am sorry for all of you that I didn't email back, I will do it in the next couple of days, I assure you!

So, how was your week?  Hopefully a lot less stressful than mine!  But overall, God is good.  It is so wonderful to know that we can go to Him with our struggles.

More coming soon!  Sorry for all the words and the lack of pictures!  I probably made some grammar error in here, too, so I'm sorry for those!

  In Christ,
~Jessica.

ps. This is my 50th post.  Can you believe it!?