Grandmother's Fostoria

I can't believe that next month we would have celebrated my Grandmother's 96th birthday.  If I remember correctly, she never expected to make it to her 95th birthday, but when she did, she smiled and told my dad she thought she could make it to 100. 

I am thankful that her Heavenly Father knew the quality of life she was recently experiencing and had mercy on her...and took her home...home where so many people were waiting for her...especially her blessed Savior. 

A few years ago, she made the move from her hometown of Wichita, Kansas (where I was born and raised until the middle of my 7th grade year) to Tulsa, Oklahoma to live in an assisted living retirement community.  Can you imagine moving in your 90's?  Me neither.  Grandmother was brave and made the move "beautifully" as she would later say.

While helping her get packed for the big move, she asked me to take six of her beautiful Fostoria glasses home to Texas with me.  I couldn't possibly imagine why until she explained that she really wanted me to have her Fostoria collection one day, but for now she wanted me to have the six glasses. 

I enjoyed those six glasses for three years...and last week, I was blessed with the rest of her collection.

It is all placed carefully on my dining room table where I can see it daily.  I'll make room in my china cabinet soon.  I'm thankful to have my Grandmother's Fostoria...and that she wanted me to have it too.

Oh, and the stocking?  She made that for me many, many years ago when I was just a child.  She made one for all of her grandchildren.  When my dad was in Tulsa going through her things, he asked me for a wish list.  I asked him for a piece of her sheet music (Grandmother loved to sing and play the piano and the organ), one of her thimbles (she was a beautiful seamstress and quilter), the green ring she let me play with as a child (someone else already has it), and my childhood stocking she made for me.  Dad was able to bring home a piece of her sheet music, one of her thimbles, the Fostoria, a snow girl blanket I had made for her years ago, a hat box I made for her many years ago, things my girls had made for their great-grandmother, and my stocking.  What treasures to have!  Thank you Dad!