Aunt Ruth

I have been missing from the blog world for about 3 weeks now and this is why:

My sweet Aunt Ruth passed away from cancer on August 20th. I spent a lot of the last week of her life with her and her family. It was so heartbreaking to watch her decline so fast. It was a relief to see her out of pain once she finally passed. This has been one of the hardest deaths I have had to go through. I was really close to my aunt. I miss her terribly.

I spent the next week helping my cousin, Shaun prepare a memorial service for her. We had a lot to put together. And this past week I have been trying to get the house back in order. I still haven't accomplished that.

This is the picture we used for the obituary, program and large picture at the services.

You can see the obituary here.

Now I just want to share some pictures of Ruth.

Aunt Alice, my Dad, Robert, Uncle Ernie and Aunt Ruth.

She was the baby of the family and those are only 3 of her siblings. There are 7 kids total in her family.

I had never seen this picture. My dad hadn't either for that matter, until we were viewing her at the cremation place. My Aunt Alice brought it with her.

I was so glad that we could go see her one last time before she was cremated. It was last minute too; we didn't think we would be able to see her one last time. We were informed the day of the viewing and we had to get my dad out of work. I was glad I got to see the beautiful dress Ruth had picked out for herself to be viewed in.

My Mom, my Dad, Aunt Ruth, Uncle Ruel and my Aunt Shirley is in the back.
This was my mom's graduation. This was before my parents were married. Ruth and my mom are really good friends.

One of her in a photo booth.

I love this one of her laughing!

I think she looks really pretty in this one. The little boy in the picture is my brother, Robert.

Here she is pregnant with my cousin, Shaun.
Shaun and I are the same age. The kids in the picture are my brother, Robert, once again and my sister, Marion is in the bottom left hand corner.

Here she is with Shaun.

One of her, my Uncle Cliff and Shaun.

This is a picture of my second birthday.
My Aunt is holding my cousin Levi and she is looking at Shaun. Shaun is also looking at her in the picture. That is what I love about this picture!

This one was on my brother, Robert's 4th birthday.
Once again, Ruth is holding Levi. I am in the front in the bottom left corner.

Here is one of her and my brother, Robert.
This was taken a little bit before her and her family moved to Alabama. We were all heartbroken to see them leave. We were a close family. We did everything together. I still to this day look at that house they lived in as I pass it on 3500 South.

This was taken on the 4th of July a year after we found out she had breast cancer. And a year after they moved back from Alabama. We all are so happy they moved back! When they got here it was like no time had passed. We just picked up were we left off.

Here is one of her on the 4th of July last year.
At this time she was in remission of the breast cancer. She looked fantastic.
A few months later, they found cancer in her bones.

Here is one of my Dad and her two Christmases ago.
My Dad and her were very close.

One of her and my Uncle Cliff.
It is so hard to see my Uncle Cliff in so much pain from her passing.

As for her memorial service, we ended up having it in her backyard. My Uncle Cliff is keeping her ashes until he goes.

My sister, Marion, my cousin Shaun and I put it all together. My sweet husband Kurt helped out too. He did the sound and the programs. And my sweet sister-in-law, Suzanne and her family bought most of the flowers. My other two cousins, Levi and Jed, also helped put up chairs and tables.

My Aunt has three boys: Shaun, Levi and Jed. I just don't have any pictures of Ruth with Jed, so I didn't post any.

It was a nice service and dinner.

Of course we had a few problems, one mainly being the wind. We had to put my Aunt Ruth up against the house, instead of having some pretty bushes as the background. The wind kept blowing things over. That is why her picture is so low to the ground. Notice the water spill in front of the picture? Yeah, the wind kept blowing the flowers over, so we had to move one of the vases of flowers next to the other. Every thing would have been balanced but what can you do? I was just happy it wasn't raining!

It still turned out very nice. And it seemed to give everyone a little closure. We had an open invite for people to say a few words. My Dad even got up (something he would never do). He said it was the hardest things he ever had to do but he had to for his baby sister and that he loved her. I am so proud of him. I know he needed that.

My Aunt is a beautiful person and I will miss her terribly!

Some of the things I will miss:

*Her laugh. (That is one my sister always mentions.)*

*Spending time with her.*

*Her being up for anything at the spur of the moment.*

*Her love for all her family. She is big on family.*

*And most of all, her hugs and her telling you she loves you.*

Like I said, this is one of the hardest deaths I have had to go through but I have a lot of peace in knowing she is on the other side of the veil. I know I will see her again.!

I know this because I know that my redeemer lives. I know that when she passed, she faced her maker, our Heavenly Father and brother Jesus Christ. They will keep her safe until we meet again.

Ruth, God be with you until we meet again! I love and miss you!

I want to thank a few people through this trial.

*My husband for being there to hold me when I need a hug.*

*My sister-in-law, Krista for watching Ayla on a drop of a dime and cooking some of the funeral potatoes.*

*My other sister-in-law, Suzanne and her family for the beautiful flowers.*

*My sister, Marion for helping me and Shaun bring the services together.*

*My Heavenly Father, for giving me my sweet little girl to bring a smile to my face.*

*To all of you that have been praying for us. I have felt your prayers hold me up.*