A tribute to Grandpa

Grandpa went to be with Jesus on Wednesday, February 15th. I just returned from his funeral yesterday. All six of his children were able to be there for the events surrounding his funeral, and also 18 of us grand kids. Many of the great grandchildren were also able to be there. We cried and laughed as we remembered the life of this great man.
I lived some treasured moments over the week-end. For starters, thanks to Don staying home with my three boys, I was able to stay with Grandma in her apartment. The first night that I was there, it was just Grandma and me. Mom needed to spend some time with Dad, so they spent the night in a hotel. The time that I had with Grandma was priceless. As I laid next to her in her bed, we talked for a while before drifting off to sleep. The Lord gave me a special gift in being able to spend time with her like that. Who knows if that will ever happen again. I feel like I have gone so long without seeing her, or Grandpa. One of my heart breaks is that I had planned to finally make the road trip this summer so that my boys could spend some time with them before Grandpa passed away. Now that is not possible. But the Lord is full of unexpected blessings. He continues to provide. The afternoon after the funeral, I was laying next to Grandma once again because she needed a nap (I needed one too:). She said that she had so many good things to dream about. I said thank You Lord. She prayed and thanked God for the celebration of the life of the one that we love so much. Precious.
The second big blessing of the week-end was spending time with everyone else! I haven't seen most of my Lewis family in ages. We're talking 10 to 12 years for some of them, or more! It was so wonderful to catch up on everyone's lives. I am INCREDIBLY blessed to have a family like this one. Thank you, Grandpa, for leaving us such wonderful gifts in each other. I barely recognized some of my cousins.
The third big blessing was the trip there and back. I got to spend all of the car time talking to one of my favorite people in the whole world: my Dad. We pretty much solved all of the world's problems. We philosophized, theorized, chatted about everything and nothing. Dad and I are alike in a lot of ways. It was so much fun. I love you, Dad.
As I am typing, many of my family are gathered in Little Rock for the burial. My heart goes with you as you close the chapter on Claude Lewis' life. We all loved him dearly.
He was very brave, active, not shying away from the mission on his heart to take Jesus to a variety of third world locations. He was a doer. He loved to buy us hamburgers from McDonald's, and snow cones or ice cream cones. It was just fun when Grandpa was around.
I love you, Grandpa, and I can't wait to see you on the other side.
One of my favorite stories that we recount in my family is about one of the times that he came to France, and wanted to go get some croissants from the baker all by himself. He also tried to hard to say "fraise". Finally he burst out with "oh, why can't they just say "strawberry"! :)
Here are a few highlights from the week-end. My Aunt Cheri was a champ and opened up her home multiple times. We were so blessed with food from so many friends in Searcy.


.Above: Grandma and her daughters.
Below: Grandma and her children and their spouses.

Grandma and her children:

The grandsons (ALL 12 of them!)

Grandma and her grandchildren.

Below: the grandchildren except for Sarah... who is in Kenya. We missed you!!

Below: the Granddaughters. Sarah, Harper Claire represents you! LOL

Grandma.Below: David.
Below: (left to right) Daniel, Micah, Uncle Tim, Aunt Ann. Very front: Uncle Joel.


Below: Alisa.Jordan and Jon Scott.
Julie and her two sweet girls: Reese and Kellen (sp?..)

Right to left: Joel, Chad, Amanda.

Center below: Jordan.
Left to right: Jon Scott and Eric.

Charles and Thomas.
Claire, Robert, and David.

Aunt Merilyn and Uncle Jimmy Allen. (Aunt Merilyn is Grandma's little sister).

Melanie, Grandma, Uncle Jon.

Hayden and Daisy.