Glory to God in the Highest

 Okay, so I haven't put up the first Christmas decoration in my house.  Nothing on the front door yet.  I'm not even sure if I can find my new snowman tray Russ gave me last year for Christmas.  I put it up after Christmas so it would be handy.  That never seems to work.

The day BEFORE Thanksgiving, we were at the cemetery taking down the fall oranges and yellows and putting up the Christmas flowers.  I still have one more thing I'm looking for to put on the last hook.  I want a old looking lantern that's solar powered.  I've seen them online but just haven't had a chance to stop long enough to order one.

 You have probably noticed that Lynda's grass is still green and plush.  It makes me want to lie down on it and make a snow angel without the snow.  When it went down in the 20's a couple of nights in a row after the stone was installed I told Russ we didn't have to cover it anymore.  I was okay with it dying now because it had a good root system to keep it from being muddy all winter.  We went back a few days later to see the dead grass and there it was.  Greener and taller and thicker than before.  I had to laugh.  Lynda always marched to the beat of a different drummer.  How appropriate that when all of the grass is brown and dead throughout the cemetery, the grass on her spot is green like a velvet blanket.  It's really beautiful.  We planted a combination of winter rye and something else.  Still we had no idea it would be this hardy.

My grandparents (mother's side) are buried to the right of Lynda and the stone with the flowers in the distance is the CARPENTER side of the monument.  On the other side of the monument, it says ANDERSON and my Daddy's headstone marker is a flat copper military one that's on the right of the picture between the two large monuments.

Christmas season is going to bring with it many memories of the past.  It already has but Christmas season approaching has also brought an excitement that I had not anticipated.  The more I see the reminders of the first Christmas with Mary and Joseph and Jesus in a manger.  The prophecy becoming a miraculous reality from the unlikely birth of a King all the way to him being nailed to a cross ... I cannot contain my emotions of thankfulness that Lynda is with the same God who loved us so much He sent Jesus to provide a way for us to be redeemed.

Lynda missed out on so much while here on earth through no fault of her own but now she has been reborn and in the company of the most important people ever created.  She's with the other joint heirs of Christ taking part in the most incredibly awesome celebration like none we have ever seen among earth's royalty or the rich and famous.  It defies description.  It's an invitation only party that can be attended if and only if escorted through the gates by Jesus Himself. 

Lynda who never was invited to a birthday party.  Wasn't ever able to attend a prom or become a bride is now enjoying the most glorious life known to man.  What mother wouldn't be proud and thrilled for her daughter even if it meant that she would have to be separated from her daughter for a long time?  That's what I think of now when I see the angel wings hanging with the word Rejoice that I placed at her grave.  I'm sad only because I'm not there for the celebration but I know it's going to be going on forever.