Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Even though I know Ardina was ready to go home to the Lord, to see Emily and her hubby Delos and her brothers and other loved ones who had gone to heaven before her, I’m so sad to realize I can’t pop in to see her and have a nice chat with her anymore. Ardina came into my families lives when my oldest daughter Jenna was just 6 months old. I was in desperate need of a babysitter and Emily had told me her mom might be interested in watching Jenna for me. Who would have thought that lucky day would bring one of the most kind, caring, loving people into my kids lives for the past 22 years. Ardina was so much more than a babysitter to my kids. She was Gramma Ardina to them. She opened her home and her heart to them and truly was an angel sent by God to help me raise my kids. First Jenna, then Jared and finally Jadyn. I think she was 69 years old when she started taking in my kids, a time when most would like to slow down and enjoy retirement. Not Ardina, dust wasn’t about to settle under her, besides she had too much love to give and she just enjoyed taking care of people. She told me many times she always wanted to be a nurse, but in her day you got married and started a family. But her love of caring for others was passed on in her family like Chelsea who is now a nurse and also my Jenna who is a nurse and Jadyn who is also thinking of being a nurse. I really believe she rubbed off on them. So did her love of animals.
Since I spent so much time talking with her I feel I got to know your family through her stories of you all. She was very devoted to her family and looked forward to anyone’s visits at anytime. She loved company. She really really loved her family. I heard about her heartache at the loss of her brother in the war, of taking care of her parents late in their lives. She talked to me about raising her family on the farm, planting flowers every summer along the side of their long driveway, how she loved to garden and raise their vegetables. She spoke of square dancing and polkaing with Delos and how they loved to get together with friends and family for cards and games whenever possible. How she cared for Delos when he was sick and how much she missed him. She taught my kids so many great card and marble games and they loved playing with her and Debbie. She usually had game show network on in her living room, she loved her games. We are all really going to miss playing with her. Debbie I hope you call us to get together to continue the tradition of playing all the favorite games with the kids. We’d all really like that. When I broke the news to Jadyn that Gramma Ardina had passed, she started crying because she loved her so much and also said “we won’t be able eat her cooking anymore” who didn’t love Ardina’s cooking? I would get a recipe that my kids loved from her, make it exactly as she had written and the kids would say, “it’s just not the same as Gramma’s”. I will treasure her hand written recipe cards she wrote for me forever. Jadyn LOVED Gramma Ardina’s cooked carrots. Jadyn called her one night from home to get her “recipe” Ardina laughed and laughed at that and told her they are just cooked carrots. Jadyn insisted she write out a recipe card for her so she could make them exactly like hers. Ardina thought that was just too funny. Every meal she made with so much love, that’s why it tasted so delicious. Her bars, her cookies, all just perfection. Jared would get her chocolate chip cookies out of the freezer and pick the chocolate chips out of them, they were the best! Her Christmas cookies and treats will be missed. I think Ardina kept every greeting card she ever got. She had stacks of them and my kids loved to look at them all when they were little. She really liked to keep in touch with loved ones and hearing what was going on in your lives. We all loved her sense of humor and appreciation for a good joke. I extend my deepest sympathy to you all. Thank you for sharing her with us. We are forever grateful for the love and care she provided us and may her soul Rest In Peace with God in Heaven. We love you Ardina❤️
