We haven't been up to much lately. Last Tuesday I got a call from my Grandma Penner. It was not a good call. My Uncle Cecil (my Gma's brother-in-law) was on his way to his granddaughter's wedding and had collapsed in the airport. They had transported him to the hospital and the results were not looking good. He had had a stroke and a collapsed lung. Things continued to get worse and he passed on Thursday.
My Grandma called and asked if I could drive them to the funeral service. We left on Saturday morning and headed to my Aunt Eva (my Gma's sister) and Uncle Benton's home in Nevada, MO. Brinley doesn't know her Great Grandparents very well only because we don' get to see them often. So she was a little leery of them at first but soon warmed up. She really enjoyed Aunt Eva and Uncle Benton. She loved Aunt Eva's baby rocker!
My grandparents are Mennonite, a Christian religion with very different beliefs. There are very few pictures of them because they don't believe in it, so no family pics on this trip. After cleaning up we headed to the church in Rich Hill, MO (about 25 minutes from Nevada) for family dinner and the viewing of Uncle Cecil. dinner was delicious. It is very rare the the entire family gets together so when they do I have to try to remember them all. My Grandma has 12 brothers and sister (5 of which are deceased)! After dinner and visiting we headed back to Eva's for the night.
Brinley was in a great mood Sunday morning so I quick snapped a pic of us before we left to go to the service.
She also had to play with Gma's cane.
The service was at 10:30. The church congregation served us lunch after the service. Lunch once again was delicious. After that we headed to my Aunt Maggie's home. (Maggie is Cecil's wife). We stayed there all afternoon and late into the evening. It was so wonderful to spend time with family I rarely get to see. Brinley loved all the attention (this was the first time any of them had meet her). I hope that we get to meet up again soon...but not to lay someone to rest.
We got up Monday morning to head home. We decided to drive through Joplin to see the tornado damage. I have never seen first hand any sort of devastation like this. It absolutely took my breath away. We drove by he hospital and through the center of the tornado path. It was amazing (I don't mean this is a wonderful sort of way!) There was absolutely nothing left standing. Piles of debris were everywhere. The most horrifying thing I saw was a home that had been completely destroyed and all that was left was the cement pad and the steps that led to what once was the front door. I tried to take a picture while driving. It's not very good. This used to be neighborhood with houses everywhere.
We stopped in Tulsa at Hideaway Pizza to eat lunch and B wanted to sit with Gma. Gma was just thrilled, as you can see by her expression in this photo.
Brinley did wonderful on this unexpected trip. I am so thankful that I got to see m Grandmother's side of the family once again. Thank you so much Aunt Eva and Uncle Benton for opening your home to us and for the wonderful breakfast every morning and nightly snacks. Brinley especially enjoyed them. We hope to see you again soon.
Family members who Brinley met on this trip: Aunt Eva and Uncle Benton and their children, Aunt Maggie and her children, Aunt Hannah, Uncle Henry and Aunt Gladys, (Eva, Maggie, Hannah, and Henry are Gma's siblings), and many more cousins that I can't even begin to keep track of.
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