Father's Day - Round 1

 Today is the first Father's Day since Josiah's death. We opted NOT to have a big family Father's Day today. For our family, celebrating people and events are more important than celebrating them on the "correct" day. We often saved up all our birthdays when Michael was deployed and celebrated them all when he got home. LOL  In any event, we decided not to include an emphasis on Father's Day at our family gathering yesterday as we knew this would be a hard one.  We decided to have all who want to come over to celebrate Father's Day NEXT SUNDAY for homemade ice cream and toppings. That leaves today for individual families to have their own celebrations as well. 

We went to church. It was SWEET to have so many of the kids nearby. The tears didn't start until - well - the Father's Day tribute at the start of service. The church was giving away a home forged knife made by one of the men at the church in each service. Michael won the knife from our service. Carrie said it felt like a "nudge" from Josiah.  We went out for lunch with Jamin, and JaRissa. Noah entertained me with song and motions. 

Izaak had to work so Bre and the kids came over. Nolan also came over. The weather was beautiful! We enjoyed sitting in the yard and visiting. 

Stacia and Jojo

A plane flew DIRECTLY overhead! Since we met the Rath family in San Antonio, planes flying overhead, means DQ Blizzard or ICE CREAM.

Nolan, Trudy and Allie

Trudy

Allie jumping with Bella and Annie

Trudy and Gideon

The kids brought kites. It was fun to watch Michael patiently untangle kite strings, fix broken kites and teach the finer points of flying a kite. It brought back happy memories. 

Go, Annie!

Papa and Annie

Krista had left a gift before she flew out this time. 

Bre and the kids gave Michael a great measuring tape. 

 Jojo and Trudy inspect GG's puzzle. 

Gideon

Bella helped me stretch and fold bread dough. I remember learning how to bake bread, cinnamon rolls and pies with Grams. 

The kids wanted Bre to race Uncle Nolan home. They are next door neighbors. Michael helped out by keeping Nolan in place while all the kids loaded up. 

Directing Bre

As we prepped for Sunday night Ice Cream we saw a couple of moose checking out the garden. WHAT? She's licking the electric fence. Something is certainly amiss. We'll check it out tomorrow. 

We hadn't expected to have time with so many of the kids today. That makes this Father's Day - Round 1. Next Sunday we'll do round 2. 

A Dreaded First by Carrie

Carrie's post. She is eloquent.

Father’s Day - the “first” that I’ve been dreading the most. I mourn Josiah as my husband, but I mourn Josiah as the father to my girls far more. He was patient, tender, kind, and so much fun. He would wrestle, have snowball fights, go sledding, frequent bike rides, and lots of ice-cream dates. He strengthened her faith and made her brave. He showed Olivia how a man should treat her by how he treated her and me. I know he would be soaking up every moment of our new baby girl. We miss you so much, Josiah Goecker. I pray every day that I can be half the parent you were.

Photos are just a few of the favorites I have saved on my laptop. I suspect most were taken by Carrie.