The hardest year

As 2025 crawls slowly to an end, I find I am holding my breath.

For many reasons, this has been the hardest year.

Fall of 2019 through most of 2020 was a gut punch.

But 2025...

2025 was a year of gasping for breath. Personal struggles, health challenges, among other things. But it is the loss and grief that were penned onto the pages of my life in 2025 that defined this year for me. A year of hard goodbyes and soldiering through.

I will not describe here all that myself or my family have experienced, except to say that I lost two incredible women within a month of each other.

Marjorie Lyons Jeffery, my paternal grandmother, passed away on August 29, 2025. Hers was a long goodbye as we lost her in "pieces" due to a 2023 dementia diagnosis. My last words to her (a prayer to God, really) were "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

Marjorie Lyons Jeffery 1928 - 2025

My beloved mother, Billie Jean Jeffery, passed away on September 24, 2025. Life is forever altered. Her life, and her death, were extradordinary. She was exalting in Christ even as she faced death; worshipping with arms outstretched until she fell asleep, only to wake up in the arms of her Savior hours later.

My mother wasn't perfect. But her Lord and Savior was. She was rescued, redeemed and renewed after placing her faith and trust in Jesus. I am a better person and a better follower of Jesus Christ, because I was Billie Jeffery's daughter. She loved lavishly. She was funny and creative. She was faithful and fervent in prayer. She was the BEST hugger.

I miss her. I will always miss her.

I intend to tip-toe back into blogging as I also try to step back into my life - whatever life is for me now. Whatever is intended for me to do or become.

Thank you for patiently waiting. I hope to blog again, albeit at an unfamiliar rate, in the near future. Who knows what we might discover and discuss here in the blogosphere?

Happy Thanksgiving to you. Wherever you may be and to whomever you might share it with. And in case you've ever wondered, yes, true Thanksgiving is possible, even in the depths of sorrow. I have found I can hold space for both.

Blessings,

Julie