Wednesday, September 16, 2015

A very special birthday for a very special lady!

September 4th marked 99 years my amazing grandmother Ida has blessed us on this earth. What's more amazing about this feat is she is a TWIN and her twin brother Ira made the trip from his home in Michigan (with the help of his family) to celebrate this very special day with family and friends. The turnout for their party was so heartwarming and I know they loved reuniting with family they hadn't seen for awhile. People came from 6 states to help them celebrate. Ira's son Stephen read excerpts from a book Ira is writing called From Iowa Soil, a collection of stories of their life as children growing up on a farm in rural Iowa, up to his life now. I love hearing stories of how life was long ago, and the challenges they overcame as well as the changes they have seen throughout history. I can't wait to get my copy of his book! Oh, one of the best stories in the book was told from their mother's perspective (my great grandma) on how she endured 19.5 lbs of babies being born on "Labor Day"  (a state of Iowa record) Yep, my grandma was born first at 10 lbs, with Ira following an hour later at 9.5 lbs, born at home, without electricity or running water or modern day drugs to ease the pain. I never met my great grandma but I wish I could give her a big hug for her bravery and thank her for giving us our grandma and Uncle Ira! 
Don't they look completely amazing? 
My whole family! 

As Ira was getting ready to leave the party to head back to Michigan, they gave each other a hug and said, "God willing I'll see ya next year" I also heard him tell grandma if they live to be 100 they will get a birthday card from the President of the United States! I did a little research on twins and age, and there are 4 sets of twins living in the united states at age 100 or older (102 being the oldest) BUT all of these sets are female/female twins. If they keep it up they may make the record books again! 

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