Precious moments

This morning, my mom had me go through a few of Grandma's things she thought I might want. 

Lots of these...

I will have to write another time about how much these things mean to me, and how much my grandma means to me.  I can't even begin to process it right now.  So much love.

Before they went to church, Travis and Erin and the kids came over to say goodbye.  Tessa is playing piano at church this evening, and she was so sweet to play her song for us!

VIDEO:

VIDEO:
And then, she was super sweet to let me play the teacher duet part with her! 
What a privilege to make music together with my darling niece!

Bryce and Grayson asked Uncle Jeremy to "shake the moneys out "of their pockets!

And we relaxed in the sunroom for a little bit before leaving for home.

There was a lot of love packed into every moment of this whirlwind trip.  A lot.

Celebrating Grandma C

My sweet Grandma C passed from her earthly life to her heavenly life on Saturday. I love her so much, and we all miss her, but I am honestly so happy for her to get to be in heaven with Jesus! She was ready to go home after a long life well-lived.  I have no doubt that when she arrived, Jesus said to her, "Well done, good and faithful servant."  I am so fortunate and blessed to have had her for my grandmother, and I treasure the memories shared with her and life lessons she taught me. 

During this busy week of running auditions and casting the fall play, I didn't have a lot of time to practice the music for Grandma's service.  So, when I sat down to run through this song, I decided to record myself so I could hear what I needed to work on most/correct.  I have very few recordings of myself singing, so I decided to keep this one even though my piano is very out of tune, my singing is rusty, and it's not perfect in any way. I do love this scripture and this song, and  I am thankful for the opportunity to help celebrate my grandma's life through music.  

We left for Indiana after the girls performed in the halftime show of the football game last night. We arrived at my parents' around 2am this morning.

 Jeremy took me to the funeral home at 9am to meet Susan, Alicia, and Jim. We ran through Hymn of Promise a couple times and asked Jim to switch to melody on the 3rd verse in case we 3 girls couldn't hold it together.  (It turned out, Jim was the one who got emotional on the 3rd verse during the service.) We sang this song at Grandpa C's funeral almost 18 years ago at Grandma's request, and it was very sweet to sing it again today for her.

This isn't the photo I really wanted to get, but it shows a little bit of the family gathered just before the service started. I had emailed all of my cousins and asked them to bring their afghans that Grandma had made each of us when we graduated from high school.  We put them over the backs of the chairs both to comfort us and as a visible reminder of how Grandma was so giving and always wrapped us in her love.

Grandma's service was beautiful.  Pastor White read something my mom had written about Grandma that was such a lovely tribute.  Aunt Patsy spoke about Grandma's life, family, homes, and traditions.  And, my amazing and brave brother shared through tears about how much Grandma loved everyone, and how the one thing she asked of each of us was to love Jesus so that we could spend eternity in heaven.  He even played a recording of her praying, which was extra special.

Grandma's beautiful rose gold casket was probably the fanciest thing she ever owned, and it was carried by her grandson pallbearers who love her so much.

The Churubusco Nazarene Church held a wonderful funeral dinner, trimmed in Grandma's favorite color--pink!  The food was just like Grandma would've cooked it--yummy and lots of it!  The Collins church provided desserts--starting with 19 pies.  And it was so nice to visit with our family.  Grandma sure taught us how important it is to celebrate and love our family.

Grandma's grandkids

Tessa had fun playing with Sylvia's hair.

hair mustaches

After the dinner, we went back to Mom and Dad's house and relaxed.
We enjoyed spending time with Travis' family in the evening.

doing the tornado dance

Last home football game

There were only 3 home football games this season, since we are in a co-op with Lexington HS.  So tonight was the last time the band got to perform their Nice Guys Finish Last show at home.

warming up in the band room before the pregame show...

I love seeing these sisters enjoying their high school moments together!!!

VIDEO: The band taking the field at halftime...

VIDEO: Nice Guys Finish Last

RHS Marching Mustangs 

Fall is near

My favorite season is coming!  

I love seeing these sights as I drive! 

1st BNYS rehearsal

A few weeks ago, Sylvia auditioned for the Bloomington Normal Youth Symphony (on her cello),  and tonight was her first rehearsal with the group!  There was a parents' meeting, then we were invited to watch the last portion of rehearsal.  

Sylvia is excited about playing in a real orchestra with all of the instruments (not just strings), and playing big orchestral music!  She has rehearsal every Monday night from 7-9pm, so it shouldn't conflict too badly with any of her school activities.  What a great opportunity and adventure!

Homecoming Dance

Our lovely girls went to the homecoming dance tonight.  It was a fun afternoon of getting them ready and beautified at our house.

I got the privilege of doing their hair.  They have such beautiful long locks, and I had such fun giving them the styles they wanted.

Before loosening those curls...boing!

Caeden tried to stay out of the way, watching football.

All done and just how she asked for it...

When we bought the girls' jewelry, Annah got a free set of nails, and they look really nice!

Sylvia did her own nails last night, and I think they look so cool!

While Annah put her nails on, we started pictures with Sylvia and Jillian.

Jillian actually was Annah's "date" to homecoming, but we're all friends!

Jeremy took Annah and Jillian into Bloomington and chauffeured them to McGraw Park for photos, Avanti's for dinner with friends, Orange Leaf for frozen yogurt for dessert, then out to the school for the dance.  

About 5pm, Sylvia's friend Lexie arrived at our house to start getting ready after her all-day volleyball tournament!  Sylvia worked quickly to do her make up.

Meanwhile, Annah and Jillian were having pictures taken at the park.

The group:

Jalen, RJ, Shelby, Jillian, Annah, Alexis, Keegan, Chloe

They combined with other Ridgeview friends who had met at the park for photos too.  I think this was the group that originally planned to go to dinner together, but it got too big.

Todd and Kim met the girls and Jeremy at the park for pictures too!

We are so thankful for this beautiful friendship!

Back at our house, Sylvia had moved on to speed styling Lexie's hair...

This guy...still trying to keep out of the way...playing Xbox.

We had originally planned to meet at the Arrowsmith park at 5:30 for pictures, but we finally made it by 6:15.  

Another friendship we are thankful for...

The boys gave the girls wrist corsages and told them funny stories about how they nearly injured themselves on the playground while waiting for them to arrive!

A great group of freshman friends!

We had the golden hour of light, but needed to move out of the direct path of the sun...

That's better!

Cameron, Lexie, Sylvia, Kyle

Such good buddies.

We were ready to leave, when they decided we needed pictures on the playground too.  I think the boys just wanted to play some more.

Authentic.

Realistic.

Sylvia's friends came back to our house for dinner.  While I cooked, they joined Caeden for a few rounds of Mario Kart.  

I made waffles...

and sausage links...

and fruit--which no one but Sylvia touched.

They even had a few minutes for more Mario Kart after they were done eating.  I really appreciated how these kids included Caeden.  A great group of kids.

Sylvia wanted a picture with Caeden before heading out.

Everybody covered their nice clothes so they weren't covered in syrup for the dance,
so they had to touch up.

I drove the group to the dance, and promised Cameron's mom I would embarrass them because she wanted a picture of them at the school.

Jeremy picked up Annah, Sylvia, Jillian, and Cameron from the dance and brought the girls back home.  They all said they had fun and danced the whole night!