a historical cemetary, the sun shining, a cold wind blowing, and laughter mixed with the tears... this was the setting for the celebration of uncle mike's life. and it was exactly the way he would have wanted it.

aunt joyce had written out some memories to be read which captured the man he was perfectly.

He was a very proud man, give the shirt off his back and Joyce's too. Usually without telling her. If you needed anything, be it a bag of milk or $500 for the orthodontist, if he had it or Joyce had it, it was yours. No matter where you went it was, "How's Mike doing?" and Joyce's reply would be, "I am going to kill that man." You would be sure to have a laugh at her expense. "what had he done now?" Did Mike loan out the motor home and here she thought they were going away? Or had he loaned or given awaysomething of hers. You just never knew for sure. The biggest change in Joyce's life is that she will now know who owns what in the yard, and she will have an idea what is in the house. Joyce's pet expression, as she shook her head, was also, "What a man," after he had done something no to her liking. Mike was a Gemini, the twins. Joyce would say one half doesn't know what the other half is doing, when he had done something totally contradictory to what he had said he was doing.

i held hands with my sisters as we gave tribute to this fabulous man who was so much a part of our lives. the sun warmed our faces and our hearts, even while the wind chilled us to the bone. we all took turns putting the dirt on the grave, and it was such a personal moment... a moment to say goodbye. while i cried, i felt such a sense of peace... a sense of knowing that uncle mike is now in the Lord's arms, not hurting, and that he is there to watch over us in the days to come. until we meet him again.

because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.
Luke 1:78-79

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields. ~ John McCrae

i think that it is so important that we remember this day and give thanks to all of those who gave their lives in order that we may have freedom. the only way to keep these kinds of things from continuously happening is to remember, and to teach our children about what could have been.

A new arrival, a small, fragile, bundle brought into a world of love and hate. The first of everything, first child, grandchild, and niece. So much importance is in one small being.

On March 29th 2002 at 7:00 am the house was woken up by the telephone. After hearing "its baby time" by my mother everyone dressed and, filled with excitement, headed out the door. I was shaking. I didn’t know what to expect was my role of the youngest up? Or would I forever be known as "the baby"? After driving for about an hour, we arrived at their apartment, and waited for that one last call. Not soon enough at 9:31 am, after much talk of boy, or girl, a baby girl was born. Jamie and Jason named her Keyzia Micah Dawn Wolters. After the struggle with her name, it was off to the hospital.

We headed down in2 separate cars. My sister Glenna and I in one vehicle, and the rest of the family in the other. Even though given directions we managed to still get lost, we ended up on the other side of town at a totally different hospital. After stopping for directions and 15 minutes of driving we made it to the right hospital. Ignoring all of the comments about getting lost we walked into the delivery room.

So much chaos doctors nurses, and family members, all for one special child. I remember the first time I held her and exactly what I said "she is beautiful" and she was. With this abundance of hair and these large crystal blue eyes, she was a sight to see. She had this power to make a once feuding family stop. The room was filled with smiles. It was like we all looked up to her, she was an angel, our angel.

The year has gone fast and coming up shortly Keyzia will be one year old. It seems like time won’t stop, like it’s almost gone too fast. That one small bundle that didn’t know what to do with her hands is now almost walking. Her mess of dark fine hair has grown past her shoulders has lightened to the colour of strawberries and has been cut several times. Those eyes, those huge crystal blue eyes still make a room light up and anybody melt. Everyday she looks more like her mother, the bea uty inside and out is amazing.

Although she is not the baby anymore, with a younger cousin and soon to be sibling on the way, she is still special. She was and always will be the first child, grandchild and niece. No one can replace that.

Written by Ashley Hubel (aka Auntie Ashley)

So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you!"
As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
JOHN 20:21

Did you ever think that when Christ was dying on the cross,
He made a will?
Perhaps you have thought that no one ever remembered you in a will.
If you are in the kingdom, Christ remembered you in His.
He willed his body to Joseph of Arimathea; He willed His mother to John,
the son of Zebedee; and He willed His Spirit back to His Father.
But to his disciples He said, "My peace, I leave that with you;
that is my legacy. My joy, I give that to you."
"My joy" - think of it. " My peace" - not our peace,
but His peace! ...

...No judge or jury can set that aside.
Christ rose to execute His own will.
If He had left us a lot of gold,
thieves would have stolen it in the first century;
but He left us His peace and His joy for every true believer,
and no power on earth can take it from him who trusts.

A great many people are trying to make their peace with God,
but that has already been done. God has not left it for us to do;
all that we have to do is to enter into it, to accept it.

D.L. Moody, late 1800's

my great uncle mike died last week.

he had cancer for a long time, and he died peacefully sitting in his favourite chair at home. no hospitals, no tubes, no more suffering.

i already miss him immensely.

uncle mike was a fabulously rough and down to earth man. he belittled the lazy and respected those who worked hard for what they had. he loved my sisters and i as if we were his own.

uncle mike was my aunt joyce's second husband. i don't remember her first husband at all, rather, i don't remember a time when uncle mike wasn't around. he was always a part of my life, and encouraged me to no end. he was so proud when i graduated highschool, then college, and eventually university, and, he let me know it too.

after meeting jason, giving him the third degree, many times, and finally, his approval, he attended our wedding. our first child is named after him, and i hope that she gets his tenacity, his need to work, his love of life and of children. the cancer never seemed to get him down, and he was active right until the end. i hope that keyzia micah dawn deals with adversity in the same way.

my biggest regret with uncle mike is that we never made it down for him to meet ephraim. i have no excuses. i can only hope that one day he will get to hold ephraim and know him in the way that i wanted him to.

my solace comes from the fact that i know that uncle mike loved me. he was the grandfather that has never been much a part of my life, and i will always remember him for that.

while i don't remember a time when he wasn't in my life, i know that there will never be a time when he isn't continually in my life. i hold him in the many memories i carry, i hold him in my heart, and i will carry him on as i tell my children about what a wonderful man he was.

"I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
I will guide him and restore comfort to him,
creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel.
Peace, peace, to those far and near,"
says the LORD . "And I will heal them."
Isaiah 57:18-19

you know, i would post some comments about survivor pearl islands, but really, guile's world seems to have it all figured out!!

check it out!

i just posted some new pics in new albums to photo ops. there are some absolutely adorable halloween pics, and i finally got around to posting thanksgiving pics too!

enjoy!

halloween was so much fun!! (yes, auntie russell, you can say you told me so!) we zipped down to port hope to do the trick or treating thing with jen, todd, noah and dalton. noah and dalton were both dressed as harry potter, and were very excited about going out.... that is, until noah got tired.......




noah: "i don't think i should get any more candy, uncle jay."

uncle jay: "are you sure? why not?"

noah: "my pumpkin is too full!"

and then he proceeded to say, "no thankyou" to the candy that was offered to him!! he is quite the three year old, that's for sure!

keyzia had a grand old time dressed in noah and dalton's old leopard costume. she had some trouble keeping the hood/head up so that she could see, and she was initially a little thrown off until she realized that if she said "trick or treat" then people put things in her pumpkin!! however, at first she thought it would be easiest to simply fill her pumpkin herself with auntie russell's candy, i mean, why bother going to all that work of walking around? she wouldn't let anyone else carry her pumpkin, even though it got pretty full... she was very possesive, except that she was more excited by the fact that she just had "stuff"... she didn't seem to care what that stuff was.

ephraim stayed in with me, and we did try to dress him up in the lion outfit, but he was not impressed with that.... poor guy!

anyways, much fun was had by all, and some very tired kids were the result of the whole evening!

Welcome to the new Photo Ops section of my blog! My topics section was getting a little too crazy to make sense of, so I put all of the pics in this new section.

So, for Keyzia pics, click on Photo Ops and then on the best of the beastie. For Ephraim, it's lovin the leech, and sierra is our niece.

i think that everything else is self explanatory!