Pulling of a GRAND surprise

A couple months ago I was talking with my sister Kendra. Neither of us were going to be able to make it home at Christmas time so we devised a plan to surprise our parents for Thanksgiving. Although it would be a quick trip we were going to pack in a lot of fun.

Well, in the meantime my Grandma Kueser became sick and it started to look like her time here on earth would soon end. On Monday November 16th I got the call that my Grandma and passed away. Her funeral would be the week before Thanksgiving. I got on the phone with my sisters who live out west and we decided that we really wanted to go to Kansas, especially since if we did it meant that all twelve of us siblings would all be together (this doesn’t happen very often).

As plans were made for the funeral we were able to have the day pushed back to Friday so that we could meet at a central location and drive to Kansas. We all prayed for good weather and safety and were very blessed in our traveling. We left at 4:30 in the morning with the minivan packed to capacity. Four excited sisters and 3 babies 3 and under. We got to our hotel at 10:30 that night just a half hour away from where the visitation and funeral would be the next morning. It was truly a miracle. 18 hours in the car with such young kids and we only made 4 stops.

The next morning we were giddy with excitement.  So far our parents hadn’t heard of our arrival. We did feel a little silly that we were surprising them at a funeral but we hadn’t wanted to cause them any more stress on top of what they were already going through. So as we walked into the visitation prior to the funeral we gave the brothers our children to walk with in front of us. My mom first saw Eli and thought “Hey, that looks like Eli” and then my dad saw me. They both looked at each other and then back at the long line of children entering. They then realized  we had all made it back and we were all overcome with emotion.

My dad had the opportunity to share some thoughts and memories of grandma and I was so grateful to be able to be there to hear him and to attend her funeral with so many of the relatives in attendance. It was a very nicely done service, the music was beautiful and the flowers were outstanding. I think Grandma was probably very pleased that day and I am glad that she is now in a better place where she can be comfortable and happy!

* One of the most important things I took from Grandma’s funeral was her example of service. It was so nice to hear of the many times that she gave of her time to help others. My dad said she was often the first to show up to help when someone was in need. Whether it be meals, clothes, or a helping hand Grandma would see to it that she did all she could to make others comfortable.

Love you grandma