January 24, 2011 At rest at last!!

Tonight January 24, 2011 at 7:15pm Martha Marie Harvey Ormsbee went home to be with her best friend, Jesus Christ.  She entered the gates of Heaven accompanied by, we believe, her earthly love Bucky.  We had the honor of singing Mom into heaven.

This is how it all went.  Stacie and Amie had been at the house nearly all day.  Stacie brought Aunt Lorraine and Aunt Bev over for while.  I decided to bake cookies, so Mom could smell them baking. Mom was getting worse and worse as the hours went by. Dolly got here about 6. We sat down and ate dinner. After dinner Stacie felt an overwhelming need to go in and check on Mom. She called out to us, and told us that we'd better get in there. All day Mom's mouth was wide open, and unmoving as she struggled to breathe. Now her mouth was moving rapidly, like she was trying to talk. We all (me, Dolly, Stacie, Amie and Shannon) gathered around Mom's bed and talked to her.

Dolly kept fluffing her hair, telling her she loved her and that she was the most amazing mother. Then she told her that she had talked to Pat and Pat said she couldn't get home til tomorrow, but she loved her, and not to wait, just go home. Mom appeared to be looking at Dolly, but then we noticed she was looking toward the end of the bed. We asked her if she could see Dad, because he was coming to get her and take her to heaven. He was going to take her hand in his big calloused hand, and escort her to heaven. Dolly said, "Remember Mom, you always said, when Daddy held your hand it made your heart skip a beat."

I thanked her for being such a great mom and great grandmother. We told her that we were all going to miss her, but that we wanted her to go to heaven. I told her that the house wasn't going to leave the family, and that we'd continue to have parties and Easter egg hunts and picnics, just like we used to. We'd also bake cookies and Dolly promised to help me with the flower gardens. We'd also plant vegetables.

Stacie suggested that we sing to her, so we turned Alan Jackson off and started singing hymns. We sang a couple Sunday School songs and then, "When the Roll is Called Up Yonder." All of a sudden her breathing calmed and was very slow and peaceful. Then we decided to sing, "Amazing Grace." We were all gathered around her bed singing, (and I have to say, we sounded really good.) Shannon said it was because we were singing with the Angel choir. Each of us had a hand on her. Michael came in the middle of the song. Then her color began to fade and her breathing slowed dramatically. She smiled slightly, closed her eyes and as we sang the words, "And grace will lead you home...." she took her last breath.

We made our calls and then gathered at her bed, holding hands, and praying, thanking God for giving us such a wonderful woman for all these years.

Johnny came to say good-bye. Then Hospice came to prepare her body for travel. Next Jim Westcott and Frank Slocum came to take her body to the funeral parlor. We all stood on the porch, and waved until they were out of sight, just like Mom used to do when we would leave. The Hospice lady thought it was awesome.

This won't be my last blog, and the "Honoring Martha" series will continue until everyone who wants their post published has sent them in. Thanks for all your prayers and support through all of this. It's meant so much to all of us.

As Dolly has been saying all along, "If each day we do ONE thing that Martha would have done, the world will be a better place."