my sweet great grandma pearl

My sweet sweet great grandma pearl passed away a couple weeks ago. I miss her so  much but I know she is so happy to be reunited with loved ones and our Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ. Oh, what a joyous reunion i'm sure that was! I had the opportunity to take her to the Provo City Center Temple open house a couple weeks before she passed away. She had a golden ticket and she kept asking me why she got one. I just answered "because you're special grandma." She is so special to me. I feel so blessed that I got to go with that special special lady. The temple was absolutely beautiful, and pushing her sweet spirit around and listening to her comments about it made it even more special. Her powerful testimony is every part of who she is. She was so strong in her faith, obedient, and shared her love for the gospel until the day she died (& i'm 100% sure she is sharing it in Heaven too)

oldie & goodie 

This was last year after spending another beautiful Saturday afternoon with her! One of our favorite things to do was make fresh squeezed OJ together! Oh, how I cherish those Saturday afternoons I got to spend with her. She would always say what a blessing I was to her, but i'm absolutely sure that she blessed my life so much more. She taught me so much about faith & obedience, turning to our Heavenly Father in our weaknesses to make them strengths, and so much about our ancestors. I learned so much from her about truly enduring to the end and laughing while doing it. 

Here is a special part from her obituary that I feel explains her wonderfully: "Pearl was a lifelong earner with particular interests in family history, nutrition, politics, and world news. She is fondly remembered for her keen mind, quick wit, loving heart, joyful laugh, contagious faith, fierce independence, amazing hair, and queenly poise." 

I'm so thankful for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and that we will be reunited with our loved ones again. Because of this knowledge, her death and funeral was not one bit sad. She was so ready to return home to our Father in Heaven and Savior, Jesus Christ. When I went to say my sweet goodbyes, she told me to please pray that she would return home soon because she was so ready. As I talked with her she really emphasized that family is everything! We must do everything we can to keep the commandments and cling tight to the iron rod so that we can return back to our Heavenly Father together. 

She wondered why she had lived this long (94 years), but I know for sure that one reason was to help me and so I could learn from her sweet spirit.