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<\/a><\/p>\nEvery facet of my life has been marked by her…from the perfume that I wear, to the food that I cook, to the colors in my home, to the colors that I wear, to the dishes that I use, to the words that I choose, to the way I serve the Lord, to the way I love my husband.\u00a0 She has touched literally every aspect of my life, and for that I am truly grateful.<\/p>\n
MamaSara was adored by everyone that knew her.\u00a0 She was such a servant to our family, constantly cooking amazing feasts for us and cleaning up after us.\u00a0 If you fixed yourself a drink, you better hold onto it, because she had some kind of internal sensor that went off if a cup hit the counter, and she immediately put it in the dishwasher.\u00a0 I did not receive that gene.<\/p>\n She served her church from the time she was 14, until October 2011, at the age of 81.\u00a0 She faithfully played the organ for 67 years, every single week, and at every wedding and funeral that she could attend.<\/p>\n My grandmother was a woman of class and grace and beauty.<\/p>\n Every phone conversation I had with MamaSara involved her asking about every single member of the family, and always ended with “Well, kiss Brad for me, and kiss those babies for me, and tell your mama and daddy that we love them.\u00a0 I love you, honey.”<\/p>\n I can still hear her saying it.<\/p>\n She couldn’t come visit without bringing a little treat, that she always called “a little happy.”\u00a0 And my MamaSara loved to shop, or “bump around,” as she called it.\u00a0 That woman could sniff out sales from miles around.\u00a0 She loved only the finest things, but only if it was a good deal.\u00a0 My dad always joked that she would buy a dead dog if it was 75% off.<\/p>\n In our hometown, there were “SAKS” sales, and MamaSara is famous for buying a single Farregamo shoe at one sale, hoping that one day she would find the mate.\u00a0 She found a solo match at the next sale.\u00a0 It was a size off, but she made it work.<\/p>\n I loved to call her to ask cooking questions.\u00a0 She never had exact answers or measurements.\u00a0 Just a little bit of this and a little bit of that.\u00a0 My cousin Amy Lauren and I have compared a few recipes of hers and you would think that they were from two different people.\u00a0 She just cooked things until they tasted right, and her food ALWAYS tasted wonderful!\u00a0 She and my papa have cooked many fabulous Italian\/Lebanese meals together for our family.<\/p>\n MamaSara loved to fish with her grandbabies and she loved to play the piano with any babies that would sit with her.<\/p>\n MamaSara loved to hold babies.<\/p>\n MamaSara loved for us to come visit, and she would wait up for us no matter how late it was when we arrived.\u00a0 She would greet us at the door and want to start feeding us immediately…even at 1 in the morning.\u00a0 And when it was time to go back home, she would walk us out kissing us and hugging us, and trying to give us any food she had in the house so we wouldn’t starve on the way home.<\/p>\n MamaSara loved her family!\u00a0 Her children certainly arise and call her blessed.\u00a0 She was a wonderful mother to 5 children.<\/p>\n MamaSara loved Papa!<\/p>\n MamaSara and Papa were married for over 60 years!<\/p>\n She loved her husband, and I know that the reason she was alive this last year, was so the whole family could witness the love they have for each other.\u00a0 Papa cared for her every single day.\u00a0 It was a 24 hour job, and it was a HARD job!<\/p>\n They moved in October 2011, and her health spiraled downhill from there.\u00a0 She had cancer and Alzheimer’s.\u00a0 Papa talks about how it was a blessing that she had both diseases and not just one.\u00a0 I know that sounds strange, but it was truly a display of God’s mercy on my sweet grandmother.\u00a0 If she had cancer alone, she would have been in excruciating pain.\u00a0 But she did not have much pain at all, because her brain was so greatly effected by Alzheimer’s.\u00a0 If she had Alzheimer’s alone, she would have lived longer, but it would have been a sad, sad, confusing life to live.\u00a0 With both diseases, she was relatively pain free, and she only suffered about a year and a half.<\/p>\n My Papa was the perfect example of “in sickness and in health…until death do us part.”\u00a0 I have never seen anyone love another person as he loved MamaSara.\u00a0 He told her he loved her a million times a day.\u00a0 He brought her sweet gifts, and took care of her every moment of the day.\u00a0 She was uneasy if Papa wasn’t around.\u00a0 She asked for him, and wanted him near her at all times.\u00a0 Papa was the only person that she always knew.\u00a0 Even until the end, she would poke at him and tease with him.\u00a0 They had the kind of love that the Lord wants us to have for our spouse, and I pray that Brad and I will love as they have.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>The most precious part of her<\/em> funeral was the music.\u00a0 They had recorded MamaSara playing the organ a few years ago, and every single note played at her funeral was played by MamaSara’s strong, talented, beautiful hands.<\/p>\n<\/a>I will miss her hands.\u00a0 Even when her mind was gone, her hands remained the same.\u00a0 I could still see MamaSara in her hands.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>She did not involve herself in drama or gossip.\u00a0 If she heard us say something unkind about someone, her response was, “Well, just pray for them.”\u00a0 And everything she said, was with a thick, southern, Mississippi accent.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>She was a wonderful grandmother to 16 grandchildren.<\/p>\n<\/a>And a wonderful great-grandmother to 24 great-grandchildren (with 4 more on the way).<\/p>\n<\/a>She has left quite a legacy!\u00a0 MamaSara and Papa instilled incredible morals and values in their children, which have been passed throughout the generations.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n