She accomplished a huge amount in a single day as a busy farmers wife would do. She would get up each morning at 4:00 AM most of her life to help milk the cows, then go inside to make a cooked breakfast every morning. She tended to the chickens in her huge chicken house there on the farm. We are talking like a large quantity of chickens and so this brings on a huge amount of eggs. During the week she would sell cartons of eggs to friends and neighbors. She had a garden, a very big garden by most people standards and she would do her canning and freezing of every lush green vegetable she grew. On the farm we would butcher our own meat so we would wrap and freeze a whole beef. Oh yes and I watched her over the years removing the hair from many of a dead chicken for us to later consume. She had her set days for laundry and cleaning. You always knew on a Monday this was the day to do the laundry and it was going to be hanging outside even on the coldest days. This brings back the memories of the beautiful smell of wash when she would hang it outside or walking into her kitchen while she was ironing it all, even the sheets. (Shh! Don’t tell my hubby this or he might want me ironing our sheets.)

A picture of her and my grandfather with the milker hooked up to milk the cows.
Okay, so by now are you getting how hard of a worker she was? Since a hard worker is not the most note worthy thing to mention about her, I need to share with you her love for family. She was very devoted to her family. She was surrounded by her family every day. Living next door was my Aunt and Uncle with their five boys (my cousins) and my family lived on the adjoining farm, my father and mother and my two brothers. All I had to do to see her was go through the corn field, up and over a fence (when I was little I went through it or under it), walked through the pasture watching for the cow patties and climbed over the next fence. Sometimes I would ride my bike through the connecting lane that was at the end of some long fields and ride to see her. She was my bright spot in my day! She was always and I say always so happy to see all of us. She loved to have us all visit her! I remember her always baking to make sure she had something special to serve anyone who stopped in for a visit.
She had a love for children and loved her babies. She served in the nursery for over sixty years faithfully nearly every Sunday morning. She served babies who in later years became the mother or fathers of babies she was taking care of. When the parents brought in their babies to be cared for by her she would tell them in her sweet voice “I used to change your diaper too.” I heard her say this to many and I mean many parents through the years. To no surprise the parents responded only with their face a bright shade of red.

This picture is her with my oldest She loved my boys so dearly.
This love for children she had reminds me of the love Jesus has for His children.
But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” Matthew 19:14 NLT
My grandmother loved us unconditionally and even as we made mistakes, she still loved us. Yes, she was a wonderful grandma to me and my brothers and cousins but she loved on her great grandchildren too. I witness this when my oldest son was born. She adored him and always took advantage of the time she could sit and read to him or get down on the floor (in her eighties I must add) with him as she would with any of her offspring. She taught my boys compassion, love, grace, kindness, laughter as she did with any of us grandchildren or great grandchildren.

Here she is holding my oldest son

and here she is down on the floor with my younger son.
Friday is my grandmothers birthday! Happy Birthday Grandma! Love you! You are still having an impact on my life in wonderful ways! I am blessed to have had such a wonderful Grandma!