Father's Day - 2008

Can't believe that on Friday, June 13 (just two days ago) we had our tenth anniversary of Mike's homegoing to eternity. The time has flown by so very quickly and so much as happened in all of our lives that we wished Mike could have been here for. Weddings, graduations and grandbabies are among the good things that we wish he could have smiled with us about. Health diagnosis, tours overseas, accidents, the way the world is and other things are among those that we wished he could have been here to cry with us. We all miss him so very much and speak of him often. We are very thankful, though, that we know where he is right now, rejoicing and praising our heavenly father in the heavens and someday soon, we will meet up with Mike and will also spend our eternity praising God, too. What about you? Do you know if you were to die tomorrow where you will spend eternity? I pray that you do. If by chance you're not sure, I would love to speak to you and show you The Way! Please give me a call - my phone number has not changed.

As a memorial to Mike and something that we've done for years is to go to the cemetary on Father's Day. We stop at the local "White Castle" (Mike's favorite), pick up a few burgers, take our chairs and sit at the grave site remembering. For those of you that knew Mike well, you know that he loved those sliders and that it became a family tradition of seeing which of the boys (including Mike) could eat the most at one sitting. The funny thing is that just back a few years ago, Kristi actually beat out Eric - so I guess it wasn't just a "male" thing. Most year's when we do this, it's only Kristi, Jeremy, the girls, Eric and I since the others live out of state and are not home usually for Father's Day. They are missed as we share this special time.

Anyways, we have now entered a new decade without Mike and it will be interesting to see how God leads. I look forward to seeing how God works out His plan through us.

A family update: Todd is still in the Marine Corp - a lifer. He and his family reside in Jacksonville, NC where he is crew chief for the V-22 Osprey. They are expecting child #4 in November. Jeffrey is still in the Coast Guard and is also a lifer. He and his family live Cape May, NJ where he is an instructor for new recruits. He had an accident a month or so ago and lost part of his left thumb. He is doing well though. Kristi and her family are here locally in Clinton Township. They are doing well. Eric is still at home and is working full time job at Exco Extrusions. (same kind of work that Mike used to do). Eric will be 21 in a couple of weeks and has a pretty steady girlfriend that he is quite serious about. I'm still working with CBMC part-time at home and loving it. Doing well physically - good days/bad days and the meds they've given me seem to be helping for the most part.

Thank you to everyone who has stood by us and supported us the past ten years. I've had to go through a lot of things that I never thought I'd ever have to go through in my life and I'm thankful for God's peace and for the friends that He has given to us.