Funeral for the Best Mom Ever

After the family prayer we went into the funeral service. 

The program turned out beautiful.

This was the back of the program.

We sang "Jesus Once of Humble Birth" as an opening song and then Ron gave the opening prayer. Caitlyn was the first speaker.  She talked to all the grandkids and shared all of the things they remember doing with grandma, the list was very long.  Grandma was there for everything for the grandkids and loved spending time with them. Caitlyn said she looked through her old texts with grandma and grandma said, "lets stay close forever."  She ended with, "we will stay close for ever grandma."  She did an amazing job, it was an amazing tribute to an amazing grandma. 

Pam spoke next.  She did a great job of capturing how mom has always been so great and so loving, even when she was young.  All of the siblings agree that you could never fight with mom, even as a kid, she just didn't do it. Pam also talked about what a great listener mom was, how she would listen to see how she could help and remember what everyone told her and check in on them.  Losing mom is definitely a big loss for the Hawkins family. She quoted Paul, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." That describes my mom perfectly. 

After that the a group of the grandkids sang "Peace in Christ."  Wyatt's emotions hit during the song and he cried through the whole thing. 

Lindy played the piano for the song.

I spoke next.  I wanted to speak. I knew it would be hard, but I needed to write and express myself and gratitude to my mom, that is how I process things.  I talked to my siblings and had notes about what we wanted to say and when I sat down to write the talk on Tuesday it just flowed out of me. I talked about all the things that mom did that made her an exceptional mother and helped us know how much she genuinely enjoyed being our mother. I talked about her love of people and how she loved everyone and took an interest in them. I talked about how she had the ability to love you just the way you are while helping you want to be the best you could be.  I talked about her love of Jesus Christ, that influenced everything she did! I was able to get through the talk without losing control of my emotions.  A lot of people told me I captured her perfectly and that was the best compliment I could have received. 

Gary spoke next. He gave a great talk.  He read in Proverbs about a wise woman and it described mom perfectly.  I love the story he told about when I got lice as a kid and we had to wash everything in the house and everyone's hair and it was a lot of work.  Gary said he looked up and said, "why is this happening? Doesn't He know we have enough problems?"  He said the look on mom's face told him everything about her love and Faith in Heavenly Father.  He said she looked like he had just insulted her best friend.   After that Bishop Jones gave some remarks.  It was nice to have him conduct the funeral, since he has known and loved mom and dad for so long. The closing song was, "I know That My Redeemer Lives" and Kyle gave the closing prayer. 

Rachel with dad.  She told us that she remembers the first night she stayed at our house and mom was making a fuss over them and getting them everything they needed and she said that for the first time she knew that she was safe and that mom was going to take great care of them. 

Mom and dad had pre-paid funeral plans and it included a limo so the six of us rode in the limo to the mortuary and then back to the church.  It was nice to all be together and not worry about driving or parking. 

The pallbearers. The sons-in-law and the other grandsons who couldn't be there were honorary pallbearers. 

We have the best men in our family.  They are amazing.

Mom will be buried next to Jen.

I loved seeing Matt show Damon what to do.  Damon loves Uncle Matt!

Matt dedicated the grave. 

He gave a beautiful prayer and dedication on the grave.

I can't adequately express how much we are going to miss mom.  She has worked so hard to make us a close family and I'm so grateful for that.  Nothing will be the same without her.

I could never adequately express what an amazing grandma mom was.  Each one of her grandkids loves her so much and knows that she loves them and is so proud of them.

Grandpa was excited to meet Isaiah.  He is so tiny and so perfect! Chelsey was a trooper for coming for such a long day so soon after giving birth. 

After that we went to the church for lunch.  So many of the Hawkins family came in for the funeral and it meant so much to us. 

The lunch was great and we were all hungry after a long, emotional day.

Keith was glad he got a chance to visit with Pam.

It was nice to have some time to visit. 

I'm so glad my kids are so close to their cousins.

Caitlyn and I stayed for the rest of the evening and visited with everyone at dad's. I took everyone to the airport. 

It was so fun to see Damon playing with Zariyah and Clara. They loved playing with Damon.

They would run and then all fall down. Every time Zariyah would stoke Damon's head and ask him if he was okay. It was so cute!

When I was saying goodbye to EJ and Ofa, Judah reached for me.  I was so happy to hold him.  I gave him back to EJ and he reached for me again so I held him and walked him out to the car.  That was such a sweet way to end a hard day.  Judah knew I needed that, what a sweet boy!

When we came back to the church for the lunch we  moved the table out of the way.  We moved it over by the wall which happened to have this picture of Christ above it.  It captures the beauty of the day well.  We are heartbroken and will miss mom every day, life will not be the same without her and we all wish we had more time with her. AND Christ has risen and broken the bands of death, so we rejoice knowing we will see mom again and that she is happy with Him.