(missing you)Janice Lou Zollinger2/18/44 - 11/28/09
Two days after Thanksgiving, 2009 my sweet Mother-in-Law, Jan, left this world, and left all of her physical limitations and health problems behind her.
The phone rang at 2:30 a.m., Saturday morning, November 28. it was Jason's dad, John. He told his son that his mother was gone. The first thing we did when Jason hung up the phone was pray for comfort. That prayer was heard. And answered. The second thing we did was call our trusty home teacher. (Thank heavens for good Home Teachers!) He drove right over so that we could leave the kids sleeping and I could go with Jason to his parents house. I didn't want to send Jason alone.
The next couple days were a blur. Planning. Arranging. Coordinating...between sobs. It was so surreal. Jan was such a caring, loving, gracious, classy woman. Always doing things for others. In 2006 she had heart surgery and never fully recovered. She had a stroke in the recovery room and was left with some serious limitations. Which left a huge void in our family. Corbin wasn't even a year old and Jenalyn was just shy of 4 years old.
This is my favorite picture of Jan, holding Corbin just months before her surgery.
This was the last picture I took of Jan with the kids (not a very good shot of her, but it's all I've got!). It was taken at a restaurant on Jason's birthday this year (8/25/09).
We had a beautiful funeral service for Jan the following Saturday. The talks were so sweet and really captured Jan's character. Jenalyn sang a solo(!) "
Families Can Be Together Forever." She practiced in the chapel, probably 5 times before the service. She sang strong and beautifully. It seemed like she loved being in front of the microphone. But when it was show-time...she froze up. The corners of her mouth were pulled down and her sweet little voice was barely a whisper. I wanted to run up there and throw my arms around her. But she finished strong. I was so proud of her for getting up there. (Afterward, she
refused to admit that it was stage fright! She insisted that she just missed her grandma. I'm sure that's true too.)
Jason and his dad, John at the cemetery. It was a
very cold day!
Five of Jan's 7 siblings were there - three drove all the way from Colorado! It was so nice to have them here. Despite the circumstances, we were able to spend some good time together and make some memories. (L-R: John, Dale, Marleen, Dori, Nancy, and Jim. The only two missing were Davie and Bill.)
I was so overwhelmed with all the help we got from our ward. Talk about a "family" pulling together! WOW! It helped that our ward is Jan's ward too. She lived in this ward for almost 20 years.
Into this:
Jenalyn decided that she really really really wants a FurReal pet. Since Christmas is over, and her birthday isn't until October, we decided she can EARN IT by doing chores for money around the house. Today she cleaned her bedroom for $3. She already had $4 from the tooth fairy. So she's up to $7...we're well on our way. This evening she asked if she can take her "Earn It" can around to the neighbors and see if she could do any chores for money *LOL* if I knew our neighbors, I might let her do that. We'll talk about hitting up the grandparents though.
