Grandma's Passing

Great Grandma McMillan died Saturday morning. It is now Sunday night. Emily just went over to Great Grandpa’s house for the First Presidency Christmas Devotional with all the relatives (such as her father, brother and aunt) who are already here to support Grandpa. The kids just went to bed.

Emily was going to stay home and make cookies for Hayley's birthday party at school tomorrow. I thought Emily should be with them—since they flew all this way and she already lives here—so she decided to go over at least for the Devotional.

I could be baking the cookies for her right now but the dough is already made (Emily did that earlier) and is being chilled so the cookies hold their shape better when cut into shapes. So I'm not baking them. They only have to bake for 10 minutes - she can do it between breakfast and party time—she'll go to the school, hot cookies in hand (along with Matthew and Nathan), because Hayley wanted Emily to actually come to the school and be there for the birthday party.

Great Grandpa was playful and enjoyed joking and connecting with Nathan and Matthew at dinner tonight. I am glad that so many in his family have showed up to give support and love so quickly. He knows that Great Grandma is with our Father in Heaven now and that she has spent her whole life preparing for that. Grandpa has been taking care of her for a long time—since she broke her femur months ago—so I think he's capable of caring for himself well enough; I am only hoping that when the loneliness and pain really set in that some of us are with him to really listen and love him. He is a wonderful man with a deep and loving heart. It's hard for me to imagine him being really depressed. If it happens, I hope we're there for him.

Well, I've got to go make a place for my dad to sleep—he's catching a Boise plane early in the morning tomorrow before I leave for work and I'm taking him to the airport in the wee-wee hours.

I also should note that we were visited by some grand old friends from BYU days. The husband used to teach with me at the MTC so long ago and Emily and I were very close to them both. I was there to participate with the blessing of their first son and they gave us parenting advice (and taught us how to make our own cheep baby wipes) when Hayley was born shortly thereafter. It has been many years since we've seen them and they felt just as good friends now as they did then. Truly good people. I am thankful to God that such people have been placed in our lives and that they chose to take a little time out of their schedule to come by our house today.

I’m excited that we may get to have all of Emily’s siblings stay at our house Thursday. The funeral is scheduled for Friday, noon.