Mary Jane Winterburn (1921-2007)

"The Lord is my shepard; I shall not want. He maketh me lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." Psalm 23

It has been a difficult week to say the least. My grandmother passed away last Saturday afternoon. She went into the hospital the previous week because of dehydration and lack of appetite. They found that she was bleeding internally. She had a blood transfusion and was appearing to be much better. Then she started to digress again, at which point my dad and Linda went quickly to Ohio. I wanted to go, but they told me I should wait. They did not want our last memory of her to be one where she was not herself and difficult to see. She stopped talking on Wednesday last week and slept most of the time. It seemed as if she was ready to go. Her wishes were that there would be no drastic measures to keep her alive, as she did not want to be alive on machines. She wanted to meet Jesus! I was able to talk to her on the phone, I think she was able to hear me even though she could not respond. I told her I loved her so much, and I talked to her about the miracle growing inside me. I told her I would miss her so much, but I was excited for her to meet and dance with Jesus and my grandfather. What a hard thing to swallow even though I am excited, it is hard to let go... She passed away after being moved to hospice care. My dad and Linda were with her. She opened one eye to look at my dad for a while, and then she passed on.

I flew up on Monday to Ohio. We had a memorial service on Tuesday afternoon. The service was nice, a lot of great memories were shared! Her wishes were for cremation and to be buried with my grandfather in Michigan. That will occur sometime this summer.

We know that her soul lives on, but it is hard to let go of someone who is a part of who you are. She was an amazing woman, a very special woman! She held nothing back, not out of spite but out of love. She loved her family dearly and was so proud of everyone. The last time I had a conversation with her was to tell her we were having a baby! She was soooooo excited, but made sure to tell us that she wanted us to have a girl like we had anything to do with it :-) She loved babies! My cousin is expecting also, and we are due within days of eachother. We have the same birthday, born a year a part, so we are hoping our babies will share the same birthday like we do.

She loved to dance. My last memory of her was at our wedding dancing with one of her best friends. I am so thankful she was able to share in that special day with Michael and I. My last memory is an awesome one! I know she is dancing now, rejoicing because she is finally home! We love you so much and will miss you dearly!

This is a picture of her (on the left) dancing at our wedding with her best bud Betty.