Mom's Funeral Service

My mother-in-law's funeral service was so beautiful and so uplifting! I was impressed that her children were brave enough to be a part of it. It made it so much more personable and the spirit was so strong!

Her daughter, Kimber, gave the life sketch and shared a document she had found on mom's computer (another tender mercy!) that June had recently written titled : Top 10 for Grandma (Her top 10 reasons that she loved being a Grandma). Here they are:

10.  Our 15 year old granddaughter, Christina June, was about 2 months old and I was holding her up over my shoulder and she was looking at our big portrait of Christ in our living room and smiling…that was so impressive to me that I wanted to make sure that all our grandchildren know their Savior and how much He loves them.

9.  I decided early on that I wanted to help our children in raising our grandchildren by making them special “treasure books” – meaning, FHE, Book of Mormon Stories, scripture stories, family history books, special Christmas and Easter books….I knew that the moms would not have enough time to do this.

8.  Read to them and play games with them.  We go to our children’s homes when a new grandchild is born – great opportunity to interact with the other children on a smaller scale.  We have 8 children and 27 grandchildren so it is a real treat to go visit with them when it not so hectic.

7.  Always try to make things for them from Grandma.  Always make a new baby quilt for the new babies – Christmas gifts (always give them a Christmas ornament so when they get married and leave home, they will have a stash to take with them.

6.  I love to make their birthday cards and they are always sent in their favorite color envelope.   Their 8^th birthday is very important and we purchase a hymn book to match their new scriptures and imprint their name on it. 

5.  Always plan to be available to teach the girls how to make bread (which I always make) and cinnamon rolls and cookies.  These are special treats in our family and the kids love to learn.  Some are getting to the age now where they like to make treats for the family when they are visiting.

4.  I think it is important to have pictures of our children and their families.  The grandchildren love to be on “the wall of fame” that is our front entry wall.   They think it is cool to see everyone on the wall.  I also have a world map and have put the pictures of our family missionaries on it.  The grandchildren are anxious to add their pictures someday.  I am also going to make a patriotic wall hanging to spotlight our Eagle scouts as they earn their award.  We just had our first one in December.

3.  In our kitchen below a beautiful picture of Christ I have a cup for each grandchild with their name on it.  They love having their own cup.  Red for the girls, blue for the boys.  Also there is a cookie jar on the counter that always has cookies in it.  Our grandson who lives in Boise always goes to the cookie jar when he comes through the door.

2.  I love to keep in touch with them as much as possible.  Technology is awesome – with Skype and Face Time.  I like to send them emails, stories that will encourage them in their life and send texts to those who have an ipod or cell phone.  Since 22 out of our 27 do not live in Boise, it is so important to me to be in touch with them as much as possible – to know what they are doing in their life and the activities they are participating in. 

1.  And the number one thing that our grandchildren love is having our family reunions every year.  We have one, no matter what, and so far, most everyone has been able to attend.  The grandchildren get so excited to see each other that they make count-down chains to count the days.  Our grandchildren love to be with each other and I really think that this is important so that they will grow up being good friends as well as cousins.  Along with planning and having our reunion, there is a family reunion book made (usually by the family who is in charge) and it sits on our living room table and it is the most favorite to look at and read when the families come to visit.

Traditions are important and we find that our children are passing some of our traditions down to their own family. 

Teaching our grandchildren truth and light is so important – being a good example and showing how much you love them – what more could a child want.

Hailey (daughter-in-law) sang and Heidi (daughter) played the piano for "Abide with Me; 'Tis Eventide. Travis, June's son spoke and shared so much about the wonderful person June was, the grand-kids sang her favorite primary songs (Kade even got up!) and Chad, a son-in-law spoke about the spirit world. Brad and his sister Lesa gave the opening and closing prayers. It was such a beautiful service!

That morning we were able to have our own little family viewing together. It was very special Tenley couldn't stop giving Grandma hugs and kisses. I was curious to how the kids would react to seeing her body, but they talked to her just like the would have if she were here.