Things Missed - Part 3

Continuing my series of posts called "Things Missed" - this series is about important events in my life that took place during the time I was not posting on my blog. I'm calling them "Things Missed" because I missed the opportunity to share them, and you missed the opportunity to read them. This event was a sad one, but I hope you appreciate it.


Grandma passes away

My maternal grandmother passed away on April 10 of this year, less than a month shy or her 97th birthday. The pictures below are the ones used in the her funeral program, with the exception of two: one that I linked, and the last one. I always referred to my grandmother as "Mama Grandma". She was referred to as "Nana" by some of her grandchildren, and all of her great-grandchildren. Ofelia was born on May 6, 1911, in Mexico. She came to the U.S. with her mother, brothers and sisters in 1928 when she was only 17 years old. Here is a picture of her taken that same year:

Tragically, Ofelia's mother (my great-grandmother) passed away a year later in 1929. The siblings were left to care for themselves, including the youngest child Grace, who was only 8 at the time. They persevered though, and all eventually married and raised families of their own. My grandmother met Joseph, and they got married on June 24, 1934. Here's a picture taken of my grandmother on her wedding day:
The original of the above photo, which of course included my grandfather, was displayed at my wedding reception. This was my wife's idea, for which she received many accolades and compliments. Also on display were pictures of her grandparents on their wedding day, and each of our parents on their wedding days. It was so nice to see all of these pictures on display as our guests entered the reception hall.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. This picture was taken at my youngest sister's wedding reception in 1998. My grandmother personally selected this picture (well in advance) to be placed on her casket at her funeral. We also used it as the cover photo of the funeral program:

In this next picture, which was taken with my mom standing behind my grandmother, better resembles how my grandmother looked in recent years:

Here's a link to to an earlier post I wrote, which was in honor of my grandmother's 95th birthday. It shows pictures of Ofelia's two children, five of her six grand children, and eight of her then eleven (later twelve) great-grandchildren. Also, here's a link to a picture of Ofelia and her sister Grace. This next picture was not included in the funeral program, but I wanted to include it in this post because it was taken less than two years ago, and includes my two kids:

In closing, I'd like to share a poem that my sister wrote about our grandmother, which was included in the funeral program:

Nana

Diminutive in stature
Yet her strength of will
Dwarfed her petite size
When filled with joy
Her radiant smile
Outshone the sun
Those who knew her
Cannot deny the power
Within her small frame
A remarkable life
That nearly reached
A century long
She was impressive indeed
To be so small
And influence us all

Things Missed - Part 2

Continuing my series of posts called "Things Missed" - this series is about important events in my life that took place during the time I was not posting on my blog. I'm calling them "Things Missed" because I missed the opportunity to share them, and you missed the opportunity to read them. Please enjoy.


Baby Jonathan is born

In March, my sister Donna gave birth to her second child: a baby boy named Jonathan Toshi. Jonathan was 7 lbs., 7 oz., & was 20" long. Here are some newborn pictures of him. First up - sleeping like, . . . well, . . . a baby.

And here he is smiling to something off camera:

And here he is with big brother, Timothy:


It didn't take long for Jonathan to go to his very first Angel game. There were a lot of people there for the first time too, because this was taken on opening day. Here he is with mom, brother, and cousins Erynn on the right, and Justin on the left:

And here's one from their seats:

Unfortunately, the smiles turned to frowns as the Angles lost their home opener to Texas 6-11. And now moving upward to the Heavenly Angles, here's a picture of Jonathan being Baptized:

I'll leave you with this one of Jonathan taken about a month ago. To me, it's as if he's looking over his shoulder and saying: "So long for now."

Things Missed - Part 1

I'm going to start a short series of posts called "Things Missed." This is the first entry of that series. The purpose is to share some important events in my life that took place during the time that I was not posting on my blog. Most of these events were happy, but one was not. I'm calling them "Things Missed" for a couple of reasons: the first reason is that I missed the opportunity to share them. Sharing these events and the few pictures I take of them is something I like to do; it was one of the reasons I started this blog. The other reason is that you, the handful of readers of this blog, missed them. Some of you readers are family and already shared these events with me in person. But to those of you who only know me through this blog, I want to share these events with you too.

Nina's First Communion

In the Catholic faith, Communion, or more appropriately, receiving the Blessed Eucharist, is one of the seven sacraments.  If one is raised in the Catholic Church as a child, they typically receive their First Communion at about 7 years of age.  Nina has been attending religious education classes for two years now, and has been learning about Jesus, and learning her prayers, and learning all the other things about the Catholic faith that is taught to children. When I went through it - it was called Catechism.  In other faiths, it's sometimes referred to as Sunday School.

After much preparation, the day finally came when Nina was ready.  Here are a few pictures we took of the day.  First up is Nina and Brady.  (yes, Brady does have a piercing above his eyebrow.  This was a birthday present we granted him when he turned 14)

Here we all are squinting in the bright May sun light. We received many compliments on Nina's dress.

Here she is by herself:

The church frowns on lavish parties for First Communion recipients.  They actually have several rules particularly with regard to attire.  The girls' dresses must meet a certain standard, and are required to be approved in advance.  During the parent meetings that took place in the months prior to the big day, we were instructed on what is appropriate.  I recall the coordinators telling us "these are not bridesmaids".  We (err, Laura) planned a party, but kept it appropriate.  Her big thing is decorations.  Here is a gift bag from the party that was given to all the child guests, complete with some religious articles:

And here is our backyard with the borrowed EZ-ups and rented tables and chairs.  Thanks to our friend Liz for the butterfly decorations and the purple ribbony stuff you see.  (I don't know what it's called, I'm not in charge of decorations)

So that's it for my first installment. Please check back when you are bored and have run out of interesting blogs to read and maybe I'll have another Things Missed post for you.