Andrea L Held

I think of Andrea often- with a smile on her face, a big laugh ( and a sweet song. )
Happy birthday my friend! I hope you are happily celebrating with Jesus today!
Love you💜
“Lina”

I finally feel like I can contribute here, today, for some reason. A memory that always makes me laugh: a few years ago, either just before or just after COVID lockdowns, my mom would stay with my partner and I in our home in Edmonton for a week or so at a time. She was getting her ascites addressed, and would occasionally have multi-day stays in the university hospital when the encephalitis got bad and she needed closer care. We had just finished appointments with the nutritionist - eat more protein! was the general message there. So we got home and she fixed herself up a delicious bagel of... mayonnaise, peanut butter, and banana. Whatever, she was eating, there was protein, I was satisfied. Nick and I left to run an errand, leaving her with her bagel and our two cats. We came home some time later and mom was on her last bagel half! Hooray, she ate most of! I commented as much and she said "Oh, no I've only eaten the one half". Seeing my confused expression, given the absence of the other half, she explained: on her way to the table with one bagel half in her hand and the other on a small plate she was carrying, the half on the plate slid off and fell. Directly on top of one of the cats, Felix, who happened to be walking beside her, goop side down of course. By the time we got home, both cats had cleared most of the mayo off of Felix's back, but the mental image of my mom dropping a goopy bagel on my poor cat had Nick and I in absolute stitches. We still laugh about it, years later. Her last years were messy, she was very sick, and new issues seemed to pop up every day. But even loopy, full of ammonia and a failing liver, she was always willing to laugh at herself and with us, finding the humor in a mayo-covered cat

I was thinking about her today - and Michelle LaFountain used to sing ‘ Andy Dandy she’s my sweetheart… born on the 10th of July’ to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy . Jesus said in John 18: .. of them Thou gavest me, I have lost none. ! Happy heavenly birthday ! though I suspect that date is incredibly insignificant in the light of eternity. ❤️🕊️

My earliest memory of Andrea, was when she was 13 or 14 and had been asked to babysit me and my siblings in our cabin one evening while my mom was at teacher’s meeting. When a mouse ran across the living room rug, Andrea screamed very loudly and jumped up onto the wood box. I can still see her there screaming, while us three kids looked up at her, wondering what all the commotion was about!
Andrea had a beautiful, clear voice and the songs
that I most remember her singing were “To God be the Glory” and “Broken and Spilled Out.”
We were also birthday buddies, and through the following years Andrea never missed a year to text on July 10th to wish me a happy day. Many times we would chat for a bit and catch up on life.
I have always imagined heaven to be full of worship and praise, and I’m sure that Andrea’s happy voice and love of singing will be a great addition there, and a special joy to her mom, Betty, who loved to hear her daughter sing. 💗

Anne and I were out berry picking way up behind the ranch. Close to 1.5 to 2 miles from the tab. We were singing because we heard rustling nearby. We thought it might be a bear. Auntie Freda heard us from nearly 2 miles away. I think we were singing Broken and Spilled Out, which Anne could hit those high notes crystal clear.