A month without her after a lifetime with her

It's been roughly a month since my sweet mom went to be with Jesus. With each passing day, some things get harder while some seem to get a tad bit easier. And then all at once I am completely overcome with grief at the mere mention of her name. Grief is such a strange emotion. It feels selfish in a sense. I mean I fully believe that my Mom is healed and whole, walking with Jesus, the only One she loved more than her family. But I can't help but want her here with us at the very same time. This past weekend we celebrated our first holiday without my mom and it seemed so fitting that it was Easter. You see, my mom believed fully in the redeeming, life giving, power of the cross of Jesus and the everlasting life that is promised through Jesus resurrection. The fact that she is now experiencing that everlasting life with her Savior, that is grounds for a celebration! So, for my precious daughter's first Easter and my first without my precious Mom, I dressed Hannah in one of the beautiful dresses my mom had hand sewn for me when I was her age and we posed for this picture in the garden at my church where we celebrated my mom's life and homecoming just a month prior. So, when I look at this picture, I see my mom, there with us in the garden, whole and healed, standing proud next to her daughter, with her hand resting on her precious granddaughter. That's how I choose to remember this day. I think that's how she would want me to remember it because she was there with us in the garden. I know she was.