Ellie Belly

Ellie Belly
Our Little Cutie

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Grandma Petersen

This week has been a little bit crazy. My Grandma Petersen passed away early Monday morning. We started getting phone calls around 8 am after my cousins, who were staying with her for a few days, found her when they woke up in the morning. She died from a heart attack. She had not been feeling well the night before but this was still a very unexpected thing for all of us. I was able to go to her house and help the morticians remove her body. It was a very special experience.

Even though it is sad that she is no longer with us, we know she is having a great time with my Grandpa Petersen who passed away 16 years ago. My grandma had spent the last 15 years caring for her brother Willie who had Downs Syndrome. Willie passed away about 2 months ago. My grandma had told my uncle Ron about a month ago that she had a dream several times. In the dream her parents and her brother Willie were taking a family picture in heaven. Each time she had the dream she had a very distinct feeling that she was supposed to participate in the picture but she was late. No one thought much of it at the time. But as we look back at the last couple of months, my grandma had actually been preparing for her death. She had put money aside for my younger cousins to use for their missions, she cleaned out her freezer, she prepared birthday cards for most of the rest of the year that only need to be put in the mail, and many other things.

Today we had her funeral services. It was a great tribute to her and the example she was to each of us. Even though it was sad, we are comforted by knowing we have an eternal family and that we will see her again. We believe the night she died, that she woke up realizing she was having a heart attack. As she got out of bed she saw my grandpa and her family in her bedroom. She then went and opened her bedroom door, straightened some things up in her bedroom, and peacefully laid on the floor (so my cousins wouldn't think she was sleeping in) with her hands together and went with my grandpa and her family to take their family picture.





Ellie couldn't figure out why Grandma Petersen wouldn't wake up and play with her. But Ellie did love all the flowers that were all over the room.










This last picture is of my Grandma Petersen and us in February when her brother Willie passed away. The last time we saw my grandma was at General Conference breakfast. WE LOVE YOU GRANDMA!