I've had a blog for years and never posted an obituary, but this makes the third, and hopefully last, one since July. David and I spent this afternoon at a beautiful "celebration of life" service for a fellow homeschool mom. Her two youngest children are in our Families Learning Together co-op. Ramona and I met when I first started homeschooling, but our paths did not cross very often last year. When I saw her in August to plan for co-op, she had beaten (we thought) breast cancer. I did not even recognize her at first due to her enormous weight loss. About three weeks after that planning meeting, Ramona was diagnosed with brain cancer. We all knew her death was coming, but it is still sad. Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers. She leaves three children, ages 17, 11, and 6. Here is the obituary from the paper.



Ramona Lea Ryan, 49, of Waco, passed quietly from our presence into the fullness of God's love Saturday afternoon, Nov. 10. Ramona's life celebration will be 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18, at The World Hunger Relief Farm, 356 Spring Lake Road, for directions call 799-5611. Ramona was passionate in her love of music, languages, children, conversation, diversity, education, teaching, simplicity, friendship, peace, justice, Oaxaca, Athens, Waco, cultural understanding, Hope Fellowship, and the body of Christ around the world. She is survived by her husband, Luis Matias-Cruz; her children, Gwendolyn, Gerson and Paloma; her parents, Bill and Gladene Ryan, and a host of family, brothers and sisters in the faith, and friends who are left with both sadness in her absence and gratitude for the gifts that she gave us. August 13, 1958 - November 10, 2007