Sara Gene

I cried twice today. Once while I was doing laundry, and once after I ate a no-bake cookie.

When I was doing my laundry I came across a white shirt. It was my Grandma's. I complimented her on it once and she gave it to me.

When I was little my Grandparents came and took care of us while my mom was sick and in the hospital. My Grandma made no-bake cookies. I was eating one and getting crumbs all over the floor, so she took my cookie and told me how to eat it properly. She put her entire mouth on my cookie to take a bite without making crumbs then gave it back to me. I looked at it and realized it was all covered in Grandma' s spit. I nonchalantly threw it away and got another one. It makes me laugh every time I think of it.

The reason it makes me cry is my grandma is sick. She has a brain tumor that will eventually take her life, and probably soon. This makes me sad.

I've never known my grandma to be sick before cancer. In fact, she was always the pillar of health. She was up early and worked all day until she went to bed. We used to joke that she wore shorter shorts that my sister and I did. She was such a young, active, sarcastic, vibrant grandma. I love her so.

The thing I will miss the most is knowing that Grandma is praying for me everyday. But, I guess having her with Jesus just might be even better. Grandma is a humble and faithful prayer warrior. She knows Jesus.

When I think of Grandma, I think of comfort. When I am sad, I think about being at my grandparents house. The sweet memories of swimming in their pool, playing in the snow, sleeping in their pretty guest room, eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, watching Disney movies, dressing in her clothes, her singing us to sleep with"Froggy Went A'Courtin." So many memories, all wonderful and good. When I think of my Grandma, I think of my many blessings.

When I think of Grandma, I think of love. Mainly the love between her and my Grandpa. My Grandpa is taking such good care of her. He loves her so much he cut off her pajamas in the middle of the night because she was hot and he couldn't get them off fast enough. He loves her so much he turned their hall bathroom into a shower when she could no longer get in their tub. When the door was too narrow to get her wheelchair in, he took a chainsaw and made the door wider. He does what needs to be done. He'll go around the world a million times for her.

I don't know how much time Grandma will have left on this earth, but I know she has lived a wonderful life. She was influential in so many peoples lives, including mine. Because I knew her, I have been changed for good.

Love Story

Our love story began the summer of 1999. The first time we spoke was at an airport. We were on our way to Toronto, Canada for the Nazarene Youth Conference. We lived about 2 hours apart, but we were both active members of our youth groups which occasionally met for district wide events. The only reason I went up to talk to him at the airport was because I knew he was going to room with my friend Bryan the upcoming school year. He was going to be a freshman at MidAmerica Nazarene University, the same school I was planning on attending the next year. Our conversation went something like this:

"So, you're rooming with Bryan next year?"

"Yep." Awkward pause.

"So, you're from Nixa?"

"Um, yeah. How did you know that" said in a paranoid tone.

"Um, because you have Nixa in giant red letters on your t-shirt" said in a sarcastic tone.

"Oh, ha ha, yeah." End of conversation.

Wow, couldn't you just feel the magic in the air? The next conversation was when Cody asked me if I would switch plane tickets with him to sit next to another girl. Um, rude. So, needless to say I didn't think much about Cody on this trip.

The next time I saw him was spring of '00. We were at "Nazarene Night" at Worlds of Fun. We were in separate groups that met up for a bit and talked. I remember Cody seemed way more attentive and was smiling at me a lot. Weird. Much later he told me that it was then he thought I was really cute and asked Bryan who I was. Um, I'm the girl you tried to switch plane tickets with. Yeah, I didn't let him live that one down.

Then, that summer I attended summer camp for the last time. Little did I know that Cody was also going to be there as a Junior High Camp Counselor. I saw him while I was standing in line for registration. He came right up to me and started talking like we were best friends. Again, lots of smiling and very attentive. He told me later that he told his sister, "See that girl in line with the green tank top on, I'm going to marry that girl." I'm glad he didn't tell me that, because I probably would have ran the other direction.

Over the next few days Cody seemed to show up wherever I was. We spent the week sitting on rocks talking, me pretending to be interested in his basketball games, and him catching me when I fell every single time we walked down the rocky path. He liked me, regardless of the fact I was a total spaz and talked way too much about stupid things like about how I didn't like tomatoes. He thought it was sweet when I started crying during praise and worship. Oh Lord, if he had only known what was in store for him. I found myself lying in bed at night smiling and thinking about him. "Why the heck am I thinking about Cody Swearengin? Stop it!" I told myself. I was getting ready to go to college, and I didn't want to walk through the door with a boyfriend. No way. Not going to happen.

During the rest of the summer we saw each other twice. Once in Joplin at some district event, and another time he came to visit me. Once I felt school approaching I felt myself getting too attached. So, I tried to keep Cody at a distance. I told him I didn't want anything serious. So, he stopped calling me. It lasted about 1 day. I couldn't stand it. I just wanted to spend time with him. So, over the next couple of weeks I would ask everyone who knew him what they thought about Cody. They would all say the same things, "Cody is the nicest guy you'll ever meet", "Cody is hilarious and always happy", "Cody is wonderful." Then, I tested him. He called me to go eat lunch with him at Campus Center and we were to meet in the lobby. I showed up with about 6 of my girl friends from my dorm. Some of the guys I knew would have said "I just wanted it to be us, why did you invite other people?" Not Cody. He smiled and introduced himself and didn't bat an eyelid. We were in a relationship before Labor Day rolled around.

The fear I had of having a boyfriend was that I'd be so wrapped up in a relationship that I would miss out on the college experience. I realized that Cody still allowed me to be me. We didn't have to be together every waking moment, although deep down I wanted to. I realized that I was completely myself around Cody. I could already tell him anything. Absolutely anything. He was perfect for me. I was a little freaked out about how easy it was to find him. I was only 18, but I knew he was the one.

We dated all 4 years of college. While our friends would start dating and then break up over summer break, we stayed strong. We did have a point where I almost broke up with Cody my sophomore year. It was me again feeling like I had missed out on something. I wanted to date some guys that were wrong for me, just for the heck of it. Cody was like "Ok, that's fine." I don't think I even made it back to my dorm before I turned around and told him I was wrong. I couldn't chance losing him. He was definitely the one.

Cody and I were married July 31st, 2004. It was the most perfect day of my life. So easy, and so much fun! Over the last 7 years we've gone through some wonderful times. New jobs, buying a home, the birth of our beautiful baby boy, vacations, answered prayers and more. We've also been through some hard times. Sickness, surgeries, a miscarriage, my parents divorce, and now cancer. Cody has been diagnosed with testicular cancer. He just finished his first round of chemo. It's just another season that we're going through. Some of them easy, some of them challenging, but all of them covered by the grace and peace of a loving God. I am looking forward to Cody being Cancer free and going away for the week-end, just the two of us. Even though we don't have to spend every waking moment together, I still want to.

To be continued...