GOD FIRST

I've often wondered what made Grandmother Bouterse so special.......
She didn't go to school,I don't think.....
Her mother was Alberdeena Sleuiter Ryskamp, and I think she had 5 sisters, because I remember meeting some of them,and hearing her talk about them. I remember brother's names, but I don't remember how many. She gave me my very first white,zippered Bible, which I have given to my daughter. She even allowed me to pretend that their silver gulfstream trailer was a cruiseship, and we were cruising on it, while I would stay with her! (What an imagination I had!)
She had a Mockingbird, that she named "Petey", that would fly onto her hand and eat out of it! ........No kidding!
She got in lots of trouble in the Baptist church in Miam"uh", when she got her hair "bobbed" for the first time. As a preachers wife, you just didn't do this!!!
I think I have with me, her two greatest treasures, and probably the two most important things to her. Besides her wedding band,which I have,was her little Singer Featherlight sewing machine! There are stories that go along with this machine that would mean something only to me.....
Then, there is a little broken glass frame....not worth anything, except for what it says! This little frame was placed over her bedroom door , and is now over my kitchen sink,in the window.
It's words are what mark my grandmother as being so very special. They are the words of her character, and what made her who she was. They were her whole philosophy on life and she lived every minute of it this way......
The placque simply said: "God First"
....and she believed it with all her heart!
Becky