Ruby Mae Bufkin Fadal, age 88, died Tuesday evening in Pasadena, Texas. Graveside services and burial will be held on Saturday, February 11, 2012, at 2:00 P.M. at Oakwood Cemetery. . Mrs. Fadal was born in Lorena, TX, to Isaac and Bessie Mae Bufkin, January 10, 1924. She and her husband, Louis, owned and operated Fadal's Café at Ninth and Franklin for 22 years in Waco. Mrs. Fadal later devoted herself to working in the health care field in both Waco and Baytown for many years before retiring. A member of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, Mrs. Fadal loved the Lord Jesus Christ and loved taking care of others; most especially, her family and her pets. Mrs. Fadal was preceded in death by her husband and love of her life, Louis Fadal, Sr.; parents, Isaac and Bessie Mae Bufkin; brothers, James, Isaac, Jr. (Buster), and Edwin Bufkin; and sisters, Thelma Sargent and Mabel Collins. She is survived by her son Louis Fadal, Jr. and daughter-in-law, Debbie; daughter, Syandra Ingram; grandsons, Christopher Fadal, David Ingram, and Stephen Ingram; great-granddaughters, Peyton Fadal and Annika Ingram; great grandsons, Tyler Fadal, Noah Ingram, and Lucas Ingram; sisters, Flora Belle Marrs and Maxine Leaser; brother, Billy Ray Bufkin; and numerous special friends, nieces, nephews and cousins from both the Bufkin and Fadal families. Condolences may be offered at www.connally-compton.com.EULOGY:Welcome: Bubba and I want to thank you for being here today – at a time like this, it's good to share both our grief and our happy memories with family and friends. Mother just wanted a simple, closed casket, graveside service, and asked me to officiate, and Bubba and I are trying to honor her wishes. When Mother asked me to officiate when the time came, I told her I didn't know if I would be able to do it. But she told me that's what she most wanted, so I told her I would try. And that's what I am going to do today. I believe that Mother's presence is here with us today, and I know that she wants me to tell each of you how much she has always loved you.Prayer: Our Father, we thank you that You are the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. We thank You that we are not as a people with no hope. For we know to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. While today our hearts may grieve and we may shed tears of sorrow, at the same time, we rejoice that Mother is in the midst of a glorious homecoming and reunion with You and her loved ones. We ask that You bless this service. That You bless each person here with health, safety, peace, prosperity, love and abundance. And we pray and we thank You, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.I would like to call your attention to the obituary in the program. I am not going to read it to you, because you are already familiar with the information.Instead, I want to spend a few minutes talking about Mother. First of all, she lived a long time. During those 88 years, she had good times and bad times; times of joy and times of sorrow. Mother's sensitive spirit made her especially vulnerable to hurt and disappointment, so there was a lot of hurt and disappointment in her life. Mom didn't spend a lot of time in a church building. But her faith in and love for Jesus were rock solid, deep and abiding. No matter what happened, she never lost her faith and trust in the Lord.One of my favorite stories of her faith is from something that took place a couple of years after Daddy died. Those of you who are here know how much she loved him, and what a hard time that was for her. She said she was lying in bed one night, just trying to go to sleep, when suddenly she started having very intense suicidal thoughts. Before long, she realized that these were not her thoughts, but rather, the thoughts of the enemy. So she got up out of bed, went to the back door, opened it, told the devil to get out, and slammed the door behind him. Like Job, even in the midst of pain, loss and confusion, Mom could still declare, "Devil, no matter what you say, no matter what you do, I know that my redeemer lives! I know that God loves me! I know He will never forsake me!" I love that story because I can see her doing it. When Mother was riled up, she could be a warrior, and the devil had definitely riled her up.Yes, there were bad times, there were hard times. But there were also times of joy and gladness. Mom loved to fish, and some our happiest times together revolved around fishing together in Corpus Christi as a family, and, then, later, after Daddy died, fishing on the pier at Bubba's bay house. It was always amazing to me how Mother could fish all day, end up with a big stringer of fish, and still look like she just stepped out of a beauty salon.Mom had some good times during her 88 years, lots of them. Mom loved Daddy, Bubba and me, and when we got married, our spouses, Debbie and Dwain. Bubba, Mom was so proud of you, and you took such good care of her after Daddy died. She depended on you and respected and followed your business advice. She loved you, and I think she always felt a little safer when you were around.Mom loved her grandchildren, David and Stephen and Christopher. She had her favorite stories of each of you, and I'm sure you each have your favorite story and memory of her.She was happy to be a great-grandmother to Tyler, Peyton, Noah, Annika, and her newest, Lucas. Family was important to her; both the family that she came from, the family she married into, and the family she and Daddy created.Mom had a hard time expressing her deepest emotions verbally, but she would literally sacrifice herself with actions to demonstrate her love. There is no doubt in my mind, that if it had been needed, Mother would have laid down her life to save any one of us. Bubba and I have been talking a lot lately about how much we've missed Mom's cooking over the years. Mom was a great cook, that's for sure, but maybe what we've missed most of all was hearing her say, "I love you" through her cooking.I think the song we are about to hear, Wayfaring Stranger, expresses the way Mother felt at the core of her being. We probably have all felt this way from time to time – that we are sojourners in a strange land; that we don't really belong here. But sometimes I think Mother felt that way more than most of us. Her heart yearned for acceptance, peace, and love; and too often, she found the earth to be a very unaccepting, unpeaceful, unloving place, and she didn't know how to handle that. But the good news today is that Mother is back where she belongs: Where there is no more sickness, no more toil, no more danger. Where there is unconditional acceptance, total peace, and boundless love. She's gone home.II Timothy 4:6-7For I am now ready to be offered. The time for my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.For the past 3 years, Bubba and I have realized that Mother has been making preparations to leave her earthly body behind. After every battle with pneumonia, we've realized her physical body was a little weaker, and that the yearning and the pull of the other side was a little stronger.One of the meanings of "departure" in II Timothy 4:6 is to unmoor a ship. People standing on the docks watch ships sail into and out of the harbor. As a ship sails over the horizon, you might hear someone say, "There she goes!" As Bubba and my sister-in-law Debbie, my best friend Debbie, and I were with Mother Tuesday evening, we realized that we were watching Mother's spirit leave the harbor of earth. I was holding her right hand, Bubba was holding her left hand and stroking her hair, and as we watched her breathing slow, we knew she was getting closer and closer to the horizon. And then, so gently, her breathing just stopped. "There she goes," we knew. Jesus had taken her hand, and she just slipped over the horizon. She was on the other side. On this side, the tears and sorrow began.But on the other side of the horizon, on the other side, there was a whole different scene going on. I can imagine hearing and seeing it now, and I ask you to imagine it with me. As I look out the faces of those gathered here, I can see that we have so many loved ones from both Mother's and Daddy's sides of the family on the other side. I can see them, hear them. I can see Grandma and Grandpa and the rest. I can hear them excitedly crying out to each other, "I can see her!" "She's coming!" I can see Daddy asking, "Baby, what took you so long?" I can see Mother, beautiful and smiling, being joyfully welcomed home by all of her loved ones over there. I can see her with Jesus, and, from her favorite hymns, Precious Lord and Just a Closer Walk, which we are about to hear now, I know that she now has what she's always wanted most – a closer walk with the Lord.Heavenly Father, we've gathered beside this grave today to lay to rest the body of our loved one, Ruby Mae Bufkin Fadal. We thank You that You have already taken her hand and led her home. We remember another grave, in another time and place; the tomb that received the body of our Lord Jesus. And we know, that as Jesus rose again, so also shall we. As we commit her body to the ground, Father, we do so in perfect peace, remembering Jesus' victory over death. God of all comfort, comfort our hearts today, strengthen us with your presence; pour out Your blessings upon those gathered here. And may your peace, your grace, and Your love be ours both now and forever. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever, Amen.I Corinthians: 15-51-57Behold, I shall show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting: O grave, where is thy victory: The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law, But thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.Hallelujah!On behalf of Mother and Bubba and I, thank you for being here today to share this moment with us.