Mother Load!!

Last week one day I decided it was time to tackle the large chest freezer in Mom and Dad's garage. After Mom passed away Dad and I went through each room in the house and the basement. Part of our cleaning was to get rid of all old food, and organize what was left. We kept meaning to get to the outside freezer, but never did. Mom always did lots of canning and freezing. Last summer Dad did a little freezing of his own, mostly strawberries. I cleaned out the freezer, throwing away frozen fruits and vegetables that no longer looked edible. In my search for expired foods I hit the mother load...
a container of Mom's homemade chocolate chip cookies!! She probably baked and froze them about twenty one or twenty two months ago. I'm going to suggest we eat them during our family picnic the beginning of next month. Freezer burnt cookies can't hurt, can they?

Missed picture

Here's the picture I missed!Dale and I at Dad's funeral.

The Interment

Dad's place of burial is in Mohrsville, PA, about one hour and forty five minutes from Gettysburg. We were the first car behind the hearse until the funeral director had to pull over to use the bathroom, then we were the lead car!
Family and friends gather in the Mohrsville Church of the Brethren parking lot.

Pallbearers from left to right: My three brothers, Mike, Tim, Dave, my oldest son Brady, husband Dale and nephew Ridge.

We started out with a little bit of rain, just enough to get on the lens of my camera and mess up my pictures!

Cousins Ridge and CJ

Cousins Kaden and Mitch

My three girls

CJ smells his flower from Pappy's spray of flowers.

The funeral director picked this plaque for on the top of Dad's burial vault... perfect!!

My brother Dave and his daughter Brooke

We were tickled to be able to see the side of Mom's vault so close to Dad's!

Lowering of the vault lid

Bryson
The grandchildren take turns shoveling dirt onto Pappy's grave.

Mitch

Joey

Kenzie

Avery

Brady

Ashton

Kaden was being bashful, so I helped him.

This picture is funny to me! My uncle is a soil scientist. You can see him in the background examining the soil!

When people were no longer watching, then Kaden decided he wanted to throw some dirt onto Pappy's grave.

I love this picture of my parent's final resting place!

I took some of the coxcombs from the arrangement I had been sent and placed them at my parent's graves.

After the interment we all went out to eat at Infinitos.

Cousin Fern is currently in the States from South Korea. Here she is giving each of the kids a Korean coin.Seeing the Korean money was a big hit, especially when everyone got some to keep!

The rain ended early and left us with a very nice day for Dad's burial. Parting with family at the end wasn't too bad knowing we'll see each other in one week for a family reunion.

Dad's funeral

Dad's funeral was held at the Gettysburg Church of the Brethren, the same church he and Mom were married in. The services took place on Saturday, July 31, 2010 The viewing started at 9:30 am and ended when the service started at 11 am. The service lasted well over 1 1/2 hours. Toward the end my oldest brother Mike spoke, giving a beautiful eulogy. My niece Brooke spoke after Mike, making us all laugh with her memories of Nana and Pappy. A friend of the family then said a few words about Dad being her Sunday School teacher and then her employer when she got older. This part of the service was set aside for anyone to speak. My daughter Kenzie, age 10, fully intended to say a few words herself, but because the service lasted far longer than planned, the minister cut it off and Kenzie didn't get her chance.

One of the stories Kenzie wanted to tell was how she spent the night with Pappy shortly after Mom passed away. She had been in bed for some time, but was unable to sleep. She went to Pappy, who was in bed, and told him she couldn't sleep. He said to try again, and then if she still couldn't sleep, to come tell him. After trying again, but still unable to sleep, she went back to Pappy. Kenzie then says, "Pappy got up out of bed and we stayed up the rest of the night playing games!"

Kaden helped carry in the chips for our fellowship meal after the funeral.

At the end of Dad's casket we had a picture of his fourteen grandchildren and his church softball uniform.

Before the viewing was open to the public, a few of the cousins played UNO in the church nursery.

My oldest brother Mike and his wife Lauren.

Second oldest Dave and his wife BrendaYoungest brother Tim and his wife Maria. I'm between Dave and Tim. I had my picture in here too, but it somehow got deleted! Look for it on the next post!

Fellowship meal following the funeral service.My brother Dave and two friends we grew up with in the Gettysburg COB, we attended youth group together.

Because of the traveling distance for the burial, we held that two days later.