I can hardy believe that the time has come to finally say goodbye for the last time. Ever since I could remember, my grandmother would pray the same prayer before going to sleep and that was “Dear Lord, if tonight is the night you want to take me home to be with you, then I am ready.” One time when I was about seven or eight years old, I finally found the courage to spend the night at her senior center home. We had a wonderful day together and in the evening we said our prayers before bed (of course she had prayed her famous prayer) and she went to sleep. I on the other hand stayed up praying most the night, that the Lord would not answer her prayer and not take her home that night. Thankfully my prayer was answered and she lived that night and many more to come. Needless to say I never spent the night at her house again. Haha.
A side note about senior centers, I loved visiting my grandma, it was always so peaceful and it smelled like piroshki in her apartment. My grandma loved to cook and bake and never came over empty handed. We took slow walks, smelling flowers and it was funny to hear her disapproving comments about the older male seniors there, that would be interested in talking with her. She would just say “I don’t speak english” and keep on walking haha. Those moments spent with her really taught me to slow down and soak in the moment. I didn’t realize that she was teaching me that with her life, until I was older and I would witness how irritated people could get with the elderly, with their slower life style, maybe speech or actions. And just in general a lot of people don’t take time to slow down, to shut off all the noise and screens and soak in the every day moments of life.
Before COVID happened the kids and I would try to regularly visit the senior center in our town. My grandmother didn’t live in a center anymore but something about them drew me there. We would go for a few hours and spend time with the elderly people. Doing projects, playing dress up or coloring pictures. It would bring the seniors so much joy to see my kids, some of them didn’t have any family at all. It also taught my kiddos how to interact with older folks and they weren’t as afraid of them anymore.
From the stories my grandma shared with us growing up, she had a rough start to her life. Being raised through times of famine and communism in Russia. She was brought up in a dysfunctional home and didn’t come to know the Lord until her mid twenties. She worked as a mail lady and I believe a co worker shared with her about Jesus, she would invite her to church persistently. Finally my grandma figured that life was at it’s lowest point and she had nothing left to loose. But the love of the Father drew her in and she got saved. She gave everything up for Christ, and walked for miles to get to the church gatherings.
I don’t think she was shown very much love or had any sort of wholesome up bringing. As far back as she could remember she had to rummage around for food, ate grass and grasshoppers, or had to share one chicken egg with the whole family on some days. She started work at an early age and didn’t get the highest education.
In her twenties her first husband died (he was unfaithful to her and had a drinking accident the night he died) leaving her with a young son as a single mom. After that is when she came to know the Lord, no one in her village or family knew God. When her brother found out that she was sharing Christ with his wife, grandma told me that he used to chase her around with an ax trying to kill her. That didn’t stop my grandma from praying for him and continuing to share Jesus with them. Eventually that brother and his family came to know the Lord as well and they were the best of friends. Her brother and the rest of her siblings stayed in Russia and I remember grandma living for the first of the first of the month just so she could receive some money and after she did, she would send it to her family and give most of it away. She on the other hand would live as frugal as possible and refused to own very many possessions.
Her story of the way she met my grandpa was that one day she was chopping wood in her front yard and a man came up and offered her his help, she accepted. After a few times of that he asked her to marry him, she said she didn’t trust men and didn’t need one in her life but figured why not at least he’ll help around the house with chores. The two of them by that point knew the Lord and eventually grew to love each other and had six kids together, one son (my dad, who was the oldest) and five girls after him.
My grandma and grandpa. I can hardly get over how much my dad looks like my grandpa.
My grandma and grandpa, my dad on the top middle and all the sisters around them.
They raised their kids and lived in Russia all those years, farming and working hard to provide for their needs. When I was about two years old my grandpa died and my grandma was left with a teenage daughter. The rest of her kids were married and had families of their own, soon after that her youngest was married too and I would imagine that’s when she began praying her famous prayer, to go home to be with Jesus. But she still had a lot of life left to live and would probably not believe the impact she still had to make.
My family moved to America when I was five years old, a year or so later my grandmother moved to live with us too. She helped out a lot with watching us kids when our parents had to work. I remember her teaching us how to plant peas and potatoes and telling us stories about how hard life was back in Russia and how grateful she was to be living in America. She would marvel at the fact that a country that was not her own would welcome her in and would support her living here, without her working a single day of her life for them. As a kids I didn’t really understand why she would always say that but now I get it. She worked her whole life and possibly still would have had to if she had still been living in Russia. But here she was able to finish out her days peacefully enjoying her kids, grandkids and great grandkid. In total she had
7 children, 30 grandchildren, 31 great grandchildren (with 4 on the way) and 3 great great grandchildren.
This was the latest family photo we took at our last family reunion. New Years 2020-2021 that’s not even everyone!
Grandma never missed a chance, to say thank you to our Creator for anything and everything! Starting with our country, her home, and every meal was another chance to share her gratitude. She noticed the beautiful weather, be it rain or shine, the trees big or small. I remember driving with her at times and thinking would she ever run out of things to be grateful for?? Honestly she never did! After she began forgetting things she started to be even more thankful, because everything was always on repeat after that. Haha. What a great reminder it always was, to slow down and appreciate what we we’ve been blessed with. Grandma started to forget things at the end of her life, her husband, kids, even how many of them she had. But the one person she never forgot was Jesus. She always prayed and read her Bible even until her last last days.
Everything she saw in creation was a gift. The only thing I could think of that she despised were flies and boy did she have some good hand eye coordination! Sometimes when I spend ages chancing a fly around the house, I think of grandma and how she would pass her time in Alaska, in the corner of my parents house by the trash cans where all the flies were. After she was done with them, there would be hundreds of them dead on the floor.
Grandma had a great impact on my life, I may not be able to even pin point every single thing or find the right words to express what she did but just the way she lived and the stories she would tell played a huge role in shaping and forming me into who I am today. For example I’m all about recycling and up cycling. My grandmother would even rinse off plastic disposable plates, we wouldn’t let her but it didn’t make sense to her to throw something away when it can be reused. She found a new purpose for anything and everything haha. My parents also “had” to live that way growing up so they found freedom in not having to anymore but for me, I grew up grew up in America, it’s a choice and I “want” to live that way. Recycle and up cycle what I can. My sweet mother still laughs at me sometimes but each time I keep a pretty jar, wash a ziplock bag or find a multi purpose use for a container, I think back to my grandma and I’m thankful that she taught me how to see worth in the every day things that we might take for granted. Not to mention the impact it is making o our planet and environment, Grandma had no idea!
She taught us to never forget to pray before we eat and to be thankful for every bite because we never know if one day we won’t have anymore food. Yes maybe she was traumatized as a child and was a bit extreme but I’m still grateful for the life lessons.
I miss her piroshki, marinated Salmon, and the delicious sauerkraut she used to make.
I don’t have many birthday memories from my childhood but one of the earliest I have was, when I came home from school one day and there were flowers on the table and a freshly made cake by grandma. It made me feel so special when I saw it and she even came and gave me a hug.
She wasn’t really one for showing too much affection and didn’t exactly use the right words and methods to get the importance of her messages across to us sometimes. As kids I feel like we were more annoyed of her then enjoyed her company. But now that I am grown and I have children of my own, I’ve realized that what she did back then, was all out of love and sincere care for each one of us. (Her kids and grandkids)
She spent hours praying for our safety and salvation. Yes she may have made some mistakes along the way but her intentions were good and from the deepest part of her heart.
She taught me a lot about hard work and helping others. After we would eat, she would usually be the first one up from the table cleaning up and washing dishes. When she was up there in years, her dish washing was not up to standard, so most people would stop her from it but I personally made dishes just for her to wash (I would later just rewash everything) because I saw the joy that it brought her to be helpful. I would ask her to sweep and do other things around the house just to watch her light up and serve with such a happy heart. She didn’t need to and it felt disrespectful to ask but knowing that it brought her delight made all the difference.
Every time I throw away a paper plate or wash a ziplock bag I will be thinking of her. When my kids get too loud at the table I tell them about how she used to say “Когда я ем я глух и нем” when someone asks “как дела?” I always want to say “как видишь или слава Богу потихоньку” Those images and phrases have been engraved into my memory.
I remember how I was striving to get as tall as her and now I have a few kids who surpassed her hight too. She ended up being around longer than she expected. Babushka lived through a lot in her life and passed on a wealth of lessons to us all. Her strong will, hard work ethic and perseverance will definitely be remembered.
Thank you Babushka for answering the prompting of the Holy Spirit and receiving Jesus into your life and for passing that legacy on to us. I may be biased but I’ve seen a lot of families in my years and I’ve yet to come across a more loving understanding and close knit family like ours. And not to mention as big as ours. I mean, we celebrated the Goy reunion (80 plus people) without much drama and said our goodbyes with happy, fulfilled hearts , already wanting to plan for another reunion.
That many people and such overwhelming love is only because of Jesus, and the obedience that Babushka had all those years ago. The diligence to pass on her faith not only to her children but her grandchildren and her great grandchildren as well. Thank you again Babushka for passing this gift on to us. I will forever and ever be grateful.
Although at the end of her days she began to forget things, even us but the one thing she never forgot was her savior. She prayed diligently, believed unwaveringly and generously blessed all who came across her life. To think that she didn’t remember me or my kids but every time we went to visit her, she would look at each one of us and speak life and a blessing over us. Complete strangers to her at that point.
Speaking of generous though she was very giving and every time she gave me money she had her left hand behind her back, she would say “quick take it, the Bible says don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” I’ve come to found out that it’s written in Matthew 6:1-4. What an awesome example of giving that is.
I can honestly say that I would not be who I am today without the influence and impact that our sweet Babushka Lida had on my life. She was a true treasure and I hope she lived out her days knowing that.
Dearest Babushka you will be so missed thank you for all the beauty and love you brought to all of us. Thank you for the lessons you have taught, until your last breath. We grieve your loss. But we also rejoice with you and are so happy that you are finally with the love of your life whom you have never forgot and that is Jesus. We celebrate your life and you will never be forgotten. Until we meet again.
You will stay in our hearts forever Babushka.
With all my love,
Natasha.
Lidiya Trofimovna Goy.
July 6, 1932 - March 18, 2021
