Life..

The above picture is four generations of women/girls in my family. Some in the picture have a good life and some not so good. We are a combination of Ukrainian, Serbian, German. I have a mixture of all of them. Now I am going to tell you a story about a little girl.

This little girl was born in 1919. In a small town in Ukraine a couple hours away from the capital. She had parents, siblings, and a grandmother she lived with and she was loved very much. They were somewhat poor and her mother often just drank the broth after boiling perogies. Her mother made sure that her children never went hungry. They all worked hard. Her grandmother was a mean woman and sometimes tied this little girl to a table leg. This little girl grew up and was happy and then...

The time came when WWII started the girl's brother joined the war. The family continued to work hard in the fields and doing farming work. Well one day this girl and her sister were in the fields working and soldiers from another country came and took the girl away and left her sister. Her sister had a chance to hide...

I will not write about the time she spent during WWII...just imagine. She had seen many many things during that time including concentration camps. After the war was over she made it to a safe country and a place to work a little bit before she decided where she would go from there. Well she met a man and they decided to come to America. They were married and had a little girl. When they traveled, the daughter of the little girl was four years old.

After they finally moved to America, she got a job the same week they came. She did not speak English but she worked hard with her husband and they bought a house in a neighborhood with other people from her country.

Time went on with this family..not so good..the husband of this now woman was very abusive and I will leave it at that. Life was very hard for this woman and her daughter. It continued for a long time. The woman kept working hard and living her not so good life.

Many years passed and this woman's daughter grew up and married. She ended up with four children. Her daughter raised these children to love and respect their grandmother. Now this woman's grandchildren loved her! They watched her work hard and also see the hard life she had to live with.

The woman finally was able to have a better life when her husband passed away. He suffered very much because of lung cancer and a brain tumor. But before he died the best part is that he accepted and trusted Jesus before he died! So the woman was happy and grew older by herself. She was able to retire and spend time with her grand kids. Her grandson moved in with her for quite some time to be there for her. Time went on and the grandson got married and moved away. The rest of the grand kids helped her out as well.

One winter a granddaughter and her husband started spending part of their week living with her and taking care of her. It was very hard on the granddaughter and her husband to go back and forth. Then it was decided that the grandmother would move in with her granddaughter and husband. Big change, and it was a difficult change for the grandmother.

Fast forward almost seven years and the granddaughter is still taking care of her grandmother. The woman daughter works full time and is gone during the day. So the granddaughter takes care of her.

The granddaughter was blessed with children. A daughter that the great grandmother just adored! So on the life went. The woman got older and older and her body and heart gave her trouble..and just seemed to fade away a little.

Now this woman is very old...ninety one and a half. She has pain everyday and has a hard time walking and also a hard time talking as it is getting harder for her brain to translate from Ukrainian to English. She is now losing her short term memory.. It is very sad to see.

During this time of fading and even continuing to the present this woman has wanted to go to heaven. She cries and begs God to take her to heaven, and doesn't understand why he doesn't. Now it is an everyday occurrence with many tears and sobbing. And suffering with her health.

It is a hard life for this woman...she loves the Lord and still praises him, but oh she is so ready to go to heaven!

Now, if you haven't figures it out yet...I am writing about my grandmother. A strong woman who I admire and love very much! So much so that my husband now says I act just like her! I take that as a compliment! :) It is very hard on me to see my grandmother in this state. When she shes Kristina she lights up like a light bulb! Kristina is her princess, and Kristina returns her love which is so wonderful to see.

I pray for God's timing for my grandmother..it will be VERY hard to have her go to heaven. My children and I have talked about it many times. Kristina has been to a funeral..so she somewhat gets it. Sorrow and joy on the very day that my grandmother gets to sit at the feet of Jesus. For some reason today it is hard to see her sad. Maybe because it is gloomy outside? Sometimes it is hard to understand God's timing..for many things. A birth, a death, and even an adoption! :)

I hope my grandmother lives a little while longer so that she can know our newest son coming home. Not to just see him, but to know him. Sounds selfish I know...but that is something I have wanted my whole life...my grandmother to know my children! God has granted that! Thank you God!!

Those are my thoughts today...now I must go back to my fall cleaning/getting ready for school to start/and preparing for an addition to the family! :) Busy Busy