Knitting and reading

I have decided to join Yarn Along in her weekly post about what is on your needles and what are you reading.
I just finished these socks today for my grandson Levi.  He needed some snow socks for inside his boots. I used Patons Kroy and a basic sock pattern that I have memorized.
Reading two books at the time. Heaven is for Real sent to me by a friend as reassurance, (I do not need it, but I appreciate her for taking the time to love me in this manner.) because of the loss of my beautiful daughter two weeks ago.
Obama's America because I am a political Junkie. I keep this book in my car and read it when I am waiting to pick up my granddaughter from the school bus.

Comfy Pepper?

                                     
                                More Wordless Wednesday

Can there be anything better than Cousins?

Olivia, Jonah and Cooper at Disneyland.

Amanda holding her son Jayce and Ben at Jayce's dedication. Ben is the proud Godfather.

Cannyn and Levi

Jonah and Darius

Helping decorate Gramma's Christmas tree.

Olivia and Darius admiring their work.

Jayce and Trynity.  A new generation of cousins.  The first of second cousins.
(Did that make sense?)

Alysa and Amanda cousins
Trynity and Jayce second cousins

Most of the cousins in Gramma's stairway.
Top to bottom:
Brystan, Darian, Amanda, Jayce
Cannyn, Jesse, Shaylene, Ben in blue striped shirt with glasses.
Caleb, Cooper, Elizabeth holding Levi
Abigail, Olivia and Jonah.
Missing from this cousin picture are:
Chelsea, Breanne, Alysa and her daughter Trynity and Darius
as well as Brandyn and Andrew.

Ben (the God father) and Jayce

Caleb Olivia and Elizabeth in the foreground
Jonah and Cooper in the back

Olivia and Cooper
 

Caleb and Ben
Cannyn on the couch.

Shaylene and Darian

Maybe this year I can get more candid cousin pictures. Family is the greatest gift God has given me, aside from my salvation.

On January 10th, 2013

The day after God took our daughter Kris home, he blessed us with our 21st grandchild.

Just hours old.  Maybe about three in this picture.

Her daddy, my son. 

Welcome Isabella Katherine Rosebrook.  We love you so much.  What a wonderful God we serve.

July 10th was our 47th Anniversary

But since I was not doing much blogging at the time I don't think I wrote about Pepper here.
Pepper is my little ShiTzu that was given to us by some friends.  She was the runt of the litter and they could not sell her.  In June Angela sent me an e-mail asking if I wanted her.  We have been without a dog for over 20 years and I was not too sure I wanted to be "tied down" again.  But I told her I would ask the "Doc." When I asked, he said no citing the same concerns I had.  I thought that was the end, never gave the puppy another thought.
On our anniversary Stan sat on the couch beside me and asked if I wanted to see what he got for me.
 He had a piece of paper folded up in his hands.  Since my laptop had died, I thought it was a picture of a new laptop.  I opened the paper and looking at me was the sweetest little puppy face I had ever seen. I think, in all fairness, I should disclose I am not an animal lover.  Every dog we had when the children were growing up was a Damn dog.  You know, like: "Get that damn dog out of here." There was only one dog that was ever really allowed in the house at all. That was because we lived in Alaska and it was far too cold to leave him outside.  To be sure he was NEVER allowed on the furniture. But I digress.
Towards the end of July, the puppy was delivered to us.  It was the tiniest little creature I had ever seen. Not wanting to be one of those old women who are crazy over their dog, I put down some ground rules right away.  She is NOT fed from the table.  She would like to be but she isn't. She does NOT sleep with us. (Except for on New Years Eve when the fireworks were scaring her to death.) Really, she does not even ask to.  She goes to bed in her bed every night and in the morning we find her curled up all cozy on the couch.  We started kenneling her but she really did not like it.  She has never been destructive and has house trained very easily so we do not worry about it anymore. House trained, but has regressed a little on the poopy job. But given the stress of the past couple of weeks we do not blame her too much.  We know she felt our pain last week.  She wanted to be held and close to us all week long.
Needless to say, I am afraid I may be one of those old women with her dog.  Pepper has brought Stan and I so much pleasure.  She has the best (cutest) personality. She is very quick to learn.  The only problem we have with her is that she does not respond well when she is called.  If she gets loose it is a major production to corner and catch her.
I said earlier that she is not allowed in bed with us and that she doesn't even ask............but, a Grand spends the night and guess where I find her in the morning.  Yep, curled up right next to them in their bed. So, without further ado, please say hello to Pepper.

The day she came to our house.

The bed the kids made for her.

Her first visit to the groomer.

Does she know she is a princess?

Comfy Pepper?

Christmas.

She used to curl up on my shoulder.  Hasn't done this in a long time.

Cookies when she comes inside from a potty trip.

Sleeping with Cooper

Less than 3 pounds when she came to us.  Stan weighed her tonight.  She is just over 8 pounds.

I have not been a very steady blogger

for the past 18 months.  Life took me down a road I did not want to travel. The journey ended on Wednesday January 9, 2013 at 1:17 A.M.  I know many others have traveled this road as reluctantly as I did. I hope if you have not, you never have to.
She was my fourth child. My Kristina Colleen.  Krissy Colleen, Krissy, Kris when she became a woman.
What an amazing woman she was.  She loved with a fierce loyalty of a mama grizzly.  Her faith was lived every day. She was a living breathing testimony of her faith in Jesus as her Savior. It never faltered.  Even in the final days when the pain was so bad she was in complete agony. She took only enough drugs to dull, never kill the pain.  She wanted to be in control, she wanted to know what was happening around her.  She wanted to be able to respond to her husband and her two boys when they came into her room. She did not want to miss a moment of her time with them.
This summer she made the decision to quit Chemotherapy. The Dr. told her it was no longer working. She decided she wanted to feel as good as she could and enjoy her last few months with her kids. They played as hard as she could. They camped and explored.  She had been working on a 1964 Datsun pickup before she got too sick to do any more.  Her husband worked every spare hour he had to get it on the road so she could enjoy it. She could be seen tooling around her town in her cute little green machine.  They took it to a couple of shows where she always took away a prize. As her health deteriorated she set two goals. She wanted to see her youngest son reach 16 and get his drivers licence.  He did that in November. She also wanted to see her eldest son graduate from the University in December. At 20 years and 5 months he did.
She managed to hang on through Christmas, even going to a Christmas Party with friends. On the morning  of January 8th she awoke and asked her husband to help her with her toilet and to change her clothes and brush her teeth.  Once they finished, she settled into her recliner and slipped into a coma that she never recovered from.
I had made arrangements to move over and stay with her as we knew her time was very short. It did not work out that way though.  I went over on Thursday and spent Friday with her. I returned to my home on Friday night for the weekend. Intending to return to her home on Monday morning.  The thought was that I would not infringe on their special family time but be available during the week so her husband could go to work.  On Saturday, I became ill myself and was flat for the entire weekend and Monday and Tuesday.
When we got the call on Tuesday that she had gone into a coma, I was laying on the couch barely able to move myself.  What a hard decision.  I knew her home would be filled with her friends and my going over would possibly spread my germs. BUT MY DAUGHTER WAS DYING  and I had to be there.  I went. Adrenaline kicked in and I was able to stay alert and awake to the end with her. She never woke up but the Dr. said even though she could not respond, she could hear. I was able to tell her how much I loved her and how much she would be missed.
Her sister Tricia lives in a village in Alaska.  Accessible only by air. The flight from Anchorage alone is four hours, not counting the time it takes to get there and then make connecting flights.  Earlier she had told Tricia that she would wait so she could be there too. She waited.  She held on so Tricia could also say goodbye. It is amazing what the human spirit can do. Her brother was there in the afternoon and two of her sisters got there just as she was pronounced.
We held a Celebration of her Life on Tuesday this week.  What a celebration it was!! The head count was anywhere from 470 to 500 people in attendance. A testimony to the person she was.  Her one request was that the Gospel be shared in such a way that no one leave the church without knowing the truth. I know there were some who went in as non believers. I pray many of them left as believers. That would be the culmination of a life lived in complete faith in Him.
Today, she is holding her baby brother Jeffery Matthew and probably sitting close to her Grandma while she watches her Special Aunt Meg sing and dance down one of those streets that are paved with gold.
The hole in my heart is enormous, sometimes I think it will never heal.  I know it will...........but it will never truly be the same. I have to continue God has much for me to finish and in honor of my Kris I intend to do so.