Frances Elizabeth Lewis

Today is the most beautiful day I have ever seen. I woke up and noticed it was sunny and looked out the window to see red robins and blue jays everywhere with the tiniest of snowflakes fluttering around them. My back yard seems to catches snow and blows it around like a snow globe, its a wonderful thing to watch.

Monday morning I woke in a panic; sweating and smelling something terrible. So I woke up Matt and he assured me it was a skunk and I fell back asleep. Soon after I awoke to my mother calling me and I knew what she was about to say. Granny had passed away around 6:15; not long after I had woken up earlier.

    I am thankful I got to see her Sunday, she wasn't able to talk or even open her eyes, but the movement in her eyebrows told me she knew I was there. I sat in the floor all day alongside my mother and we talked quietly. She quilted and I worked on making flowers with a flower loom her grandmother had given her. Granny got worse through out the day and I moved down into the sun room, which serves as their life's gallery. The walls are covered in her paintings, family work that was gifted to them, and kills that provided the family with meat for the winter. All of these things were a reminder to all the great memories Granny and Papa had together; wether it was the trips they took out west or just enjoying the land God had provided them with.

    Papa is the strongest of the family, he stood by her side and took care of her until the end. He is the first to tell you how much she loved her family and loved God. Their faith alone is a testament to what He can do. She believed that God wanted her to go through everything she did and that there was a reason beyond her knowledge for all her suffering and pain. Maybe what she went through was to show us, her family the power of God. If He can get her through such an experience He can get me/us through anything. One of my favorite Bible scriptures is Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things though Christ who strengthens me" and I believe what Granny and Papa went through is a result of this.

    Today is her funeral, it will be held at First Baptist Church of Pinewood. They were part of the community that founded this church back when it was held in the back of a grocery store and stuck with it even when the congregation was going through hardships. She will actually be buried right behind my parents house in a cemetery that dates back to 1860. Her son took charge in cleaning it up and preparing it for growth when she decided she would be buried there. It is now called the Lewis-Dodd cemetery and I am sure that when our time comes that is where we-The Lewis'-will choose to be buried. I in fact had my graduation pictures taken there, it is quite beautiful.

    I have a very strong family and no doubt is is the work of the Lord. My mother is one of those, she sat by Granny's side though out the end and talked with her even when she wasn't in her right mind. Mother arranged what Granny wanted in every aspect. She quilted one last piece  for her and Papa, it has Proverbs 31:28 on it with beautiful appliqued flowers on it in red and green. Granny loved red.

   Pray that the Lord is with our family today as she is already with Him. Pray for peace, guidance, and, understanding. We will gather to remember her love and all that she has given us. She was an important role in all our lives and will never be forgotten.  Thank you Frances Elizabeth Lewis for being such a wonderful woman, wife, mother, daughter, grandmother, great grandmother, and friend, you will truly be missed.