I'm now starting to figure out that maybe school wasn't the reason why I can't stay updated on blogging. But if school wasn't the problem, then what is? It just might be that life is crazy and sometimes everything we want to get done, doesn't always happen. Anyway, no excuses from now on, if I blog yippee, if I don't, I'll get to it someday.
On May 23, 2011 my Grandma Josephine Verplank Veenker turned 94! Pretty big accomplishment if you ask me. The day before we had a big family party to celebrate it along with Lexi's, Afton's, Zach's and KyLee's birthdays. It was the typical family party, Dinner, visiting and a little show put on by the girls. We also took a quick family picture with Grandma and her posterity and it's a good thing we did because a week later Grandma returned home to live with her Heavenly Father.
My mom and Grandma. She's getting ready to blow out the candles.
Afton and Lexi blowing their candles out.
Everyone getting ready to dig into some very yummy cupcakes
The show put on by the girls
The Veenker clan minus my brother Craig, nephew Stockton and sister-in-law Katie (she was taking the picture). I'm no expert but that's a pretty good posterity just from one son! The Utah Veenker's always doubled if not tripled the family gatherings when we would get with the California Veenker's.
Grandma was so vibrant and funny this day. She made a couple jokes, visited with grandkids, ate food and was her typical self. That night my mom came down to my room around 2:30am and told me that they had found grandma on the floor and that she was freezing cold, shaking and mumbling. They thought she was dying right then and didn't think she would make it through the night. We don't know for sure but we assume that she had a stroke either from falling or a stroke caused her to fall in her bedroom. After my mom and dad found her on the floor they put her in her bed and stayed with her the rest of the night where she soaked through a couple of nightgowns from all the sweating she was doing.
The next two days she was able to get up, walk around, go outside, and eat but her speech had definitely been effected. All of the words she spoke were slurred and nothing made sense. She could still read and the words she read were very clear. She slept more than she usually did during the day, but we just thought that she was tired from her hard night on Sunday. We called hospice on Monday and they brought a bed in for her and got her all set up with anything she might need.
Tuesday night my mom was helping her upstair to bed and when they reached the top of the stairs Grandma's legs gave out and she had no strength to get back up. Unfortunately no one was around to help my mom get grandma in bed. My dad was at church meetings, Clint was at work, I was downstairs sleeping because I was going to be taking the night shift with grandma and couldn't hear my mom yelling for me. My mom said a little prayer and asked for strength to get Grandma into bed and she did it! After she showed me what she did to get her in bed I know it was the Lord that gave her the strength and idea to lift a 100 pound women into a 3 foot high bed! It was A miracle!
Wednesday we thought we were going to loose her, she didn't get out of bed, wake up or eat. The color in her face was gone. My dad had asked some of my brother's to come and give her a blessing. In the blessing my dad asked that if it be possible to wait until his brother Bruce came (which was going to be on Friday), until she passed, it would be nice. Right after the blessing she WOKE up, ate some food and the color in her face came right back.
Thursday we moved her hospital bed down stairs in the family room so she didn't have to be upstairs all by herself. I gave her a hair cut, we changed her nightgown and even though she didn't have enough strength to do anything on her own or stay awake for more than a minute, I think she enjoyed being pampered and being around the family.
Friday my uncle Bruce and cousin Jodi came. They spent Saturday with her at her bed side and then left Sunday morning. Grandma ended up passing away at 5:10pm Sunday May29th with my mom and dad right at her side. It is sad to have her go, but the last week of her life she seemed like she was suffering from pain and was in such confusion that it's good that she didn't have to suffer any longer. She was a fighter though, there were several times after that Wednesday night that we thought we were going to loose her, but she would all the sudden wake up with a determined mind as if she was saying, "I'll go when I'm ready!"
I'm sure her reunion on the other side was amazing, she finally got to see her husband Louis Veenker, who had died 25 years earlier, I'm sure her mom and dad were there along with her two brothers and two sisters. Thanks Grandma Jo for being such a wonderful example in my life of what a true Christian person should be like. She wasn't a member of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, but I know that when the time comes she'll except the Gospel. I love and I'll miss you Grandma, thanks for sharing your last 5 weeks of your life with me!
Here is one of my favorite pictures of my Grandma and Grandpa Veenker in the Summer of 1984. Aren't they just adorable!
