My Dearest Mother,
5 years have already passed since your birth into heaven. What a beautiful sunset we saw that night. How happy we were to know that your were indeed with the Lord. Even now I continue to feel your presence and your intercession in our lives. 
I'm remembering the day I took you a rose. As I handed it to you, you told me that you were expecting a rose as you were praying a novena to St. Teresa.
So today I'm thinking of roses and sunsets and the blessing you were and are to us. I love you Mother!
Carolyn
(ONE of your favorite children)

How fitting that "on this day oh beautiful mother" was played at Mass on Jan 1,who had a bigger devotion to our blessed Mother than our Mother?! My memories of her are huge, but not as large as her heart and smile, still missing you Mother! Rest with Jesus!

Thinking of Grandma today!

Thinking of Mother, now two years since her death, brings both tears and smiles. Tears because she is truly physically gone from our lives, but smiles because she has left so many happy, joyous memories, and because she is with our Lord where she was so ready to be. No more do we hear, "Am I STILL here" as she awakes in the morning. Now it is so easy to "feel" her presence and know that she continues to pray for us, intercede for us and guide us to Jesus. How can we not smile as we recall her smilingly saying, "Who has more fun than people?"

Just wanted to share a link to a wonderful video by Kim Poeppelman in memory of Elfrieda. Thanks for sharing, Kim!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swdbywVHBE4

I just wanted to leave a rose today for Grandma. One year ago she left us in body but not in spirit. I remembered that at my wedding, I asked both of my grandmothers to leave a rose by Mary to represent the longevity of their marriages in hopes that we could carry on the tradition. Today I changed the background of her photo to roses too. In this snowy, freezing winter where it feels so barren and long, we remember that roses come in the spring! Love lasts forever, and so does the rememberance of such a wonderful lady. Love you Grandma!

We played a lot of cards with mother and she may have missed something once in a while but never lost the ability to play the games. Couple things: She would look at her hand for rummy and say "what a messy bessy". When I (Charles) would win, she might say "you play a lot more cards than we do, so you know how to play". We cherish the time we spent with her. Charles & Erna