From Brian Kivell

Brian never wrote on the blog for the past year but he wrote this to his dad for Father’s Day and I wanted to share it. I hope he does not mind. J





You’re my brother you’re my sister



I remember my phone ringing March 17th, 7am. I had just walked into the Home Depot store in Sarnia 5 minutes before, ready to start work. Mom tried to hold her voice together when she told me where she was. “We think daddy has had a heart attack” I had already put my tools away and started for the car before mom told me not to leave work. Mom had gone with dad to the hospital in the middle of the night and not called anyone as she did not want to wake us. She had waited till 7am to call because she knew I would be up by then. I kept mom on the phone most of the drive as I sped toward the Chatham hospital, I had already past Wallaceburg before she realized I was driving. I arrived at the hospital at 8am and tried to make mom leave to get some sleep. Only after Sue, Syndie and Ben were called, and I promised to call with any and all information would she leave. Honestly, I do not remember who came first or second or when they arrived, how long anyone stayed for the first trip. I only remember each of them saying “I’m coming”. I tried as mom had with me-- to tell them not to come, and we would call with updates, but it is a fact that my family invented being stubborn and if they said they were coming-they were coming. Why did we all feel the need to be there? At that point we had no idea how incompetent the next 100 + professionals would be. What good would come of us all just sitting there? The simple fact is that there is strength in numbers. Dad needed mom, mom needed us and we needed each other. On the first trip to London for the “just to make sure we are right and its nothing to do with his heart angiogram” Ben and I were able to convince Sue and Syndie to stay at work and we would take care of mom. It was not supposed to be a huge deal anyway, but we promised news as soon as we had it. They both called my cell MORE THAN ONCE! (Hey, remember back then we were worried about getting in trouble for being on the phone in the hospital, LOL) Mom, Ben and I sat and waited. I remember waiting for the Dr to come so I could called my sisters and tell them they could be glad not to have made the trip all the way just to hear all was fine. After all, “this was not his heart”! Mom went in to see the Dr, while Ben and I waited. I was not prepared for the news we were given that day. I remember moms face when she came into the hall. She honestly had the same face that Grandpa Pearson had when he came to tell Ben and I about mom and dads “fender bender”. I don’t even know which sister I called, I just tried to tell the facts without crying. I do not remember the whole response I was given, only “I’m coming”. Over the next year there were so many trips to London . We all worried about mom so much as her whole life was displaced. As us 4 Kivell kids gave all we could, our families made great efforts and sacrifices for us to be there. Our families were Great! Our employers were great…. Well some were. NO NO NO MINE WAS NOT!!!! Ahhhh things are much better now. Mom and Dads friends (you know who you are) were amazing. My siblings and I had always been close before last year, but as our families came through this together we are closer now than when we used to drive from concert to concert in our sweet KFS van. Jim and Steve pulled A LOT of double duty at home while BJ and Sarah watched there babies turn to toddlers in the waiting rooms of the London hospital.



Good Mother



We watched and waited for the inevitable to happen. At some point mom would hit a wall and we needed to be there for her when she did. To my surprise, it never happened. In fact that is not true. There were many teetering moments when I was sure mom was done, nothing more to give. But just as the song says “His strength is perfect when our strength is gone. He’ll carry us when we can’t carry on. Raised in His power the week become strong. His strength is perfect” Every time mom hit a new wall, she knocked it down. It is clear to see that God gave mom the strength she needed. We remember when they took dad for the first surgery and mom basically collapsed on Ben and Syndie and we had to get her a wheelchair and a Dr to see her. It is good the doctor never did any work on her though; she might still be in recovery. Mom endured what not many people could have. Now after 50+10 yrs on earth her life is completely changed. She has learned to seize the day.





He knows what to do and He knows when



Although people that do not know what they are talking about still think dads fall off the stage at church started all of this, we know the two were not related. At the same time, I was telling dad he needed to go to the hospital to get his ribs checked the day before he went in with his chest pain. Maybe God did want him to go at first but as I said before, we are all stubborn. One of the things that we are all grateful for is that dad does not remember so much of what happened in that year. There is no sense in rehashing all the indignities dad suffered, from the countless days of waiting NPO and still having food brought, to being treated like a Guinea pig or worse a corpse.

Dad was so helpless through all of this. Even though it seems like he was at the mercy of the Dr’s, he was always in Gods hand. Lets be truthful, all of us at one point or another thought we would lose dad to this, but despite the best efforts of London to have a cool stat to brag about, dad is still here.

Dad told me that most of the time he was lucid in the hospital he was praying. I was worried at points that he did not care either way if he lived or died in there, and who could blame him. I am just so thankful the God give him the strength to hold on for his life once again. When I thought back about it, I remembered just how much dad prays. I remember going to his room after a bad dream and having him pray. If we were sick he would pray, when we drove somewhere he would prey, after a getting spanked- he would pray, at bedtime, meal time, practice time for patience, after practice time for forgiveness, and more. I remember countless times finding him on his knees in front of his chair with his bible in front of him crying and praying. Sometimes I would listen (is that rude?) more than anything else he prayed for his family. I am just so glad that I am not typing these things about someone who is not here to read it. It is also nice to know I can talk to him, and he is dad again.

I am done now. WOW, if I put this to music it could pass for one of Syndie’s songs

Happy 40th Anniversary

Well beloved friends and family,



I told you I would keep the blog going until the end of June and here we are.

I was so overwhelmed and excited to see so many of you at our huge celebration party. That day will go UP in history for sure ---- as one of the most wonderful days of remembrance that we have shared in our lives.

2008 went DOWN in history with huge negative thoughts and feelings and emotions and 2009 is the year that has gone UP in history. We have sooooooo sooooooo much to be thankful for and YOU are one of the things that we thank the Lord for.

Thank you for your ongoing love and support. Last year we had so much wonderful support—emotional-physical-financial-spiritual and so many of you became such a blessing to our entire family. Now, we in turn are being allowed opportunities to bless other people the way that you blessed us. It sure is a nice to be on the giving end of things this year. God is so good.

We indeed are blessed as a family. All of our kids are doing well also. Brian is working and that is an answer to prayer as we know so many people are still without a job.



I have shared the following news personally with a lot of you and I have absolutely loved your reactions. A number of our friends were actually in joyful tears with us. A few of my co-workers at CCAC said that it made them shiver all over. Thank you for sharing our excitement. Yesterday at the party at church when I told some of you personally about our exciting news you expressed such joy. So for any that I did not get to share this news with personally---here is the story.

After going through the year from “the pit” last year and now to have had so many positive things happen this year---it so unbelievable. So for the BIG HUGE GREAT WONDERFUL AWESOME EXCITING THRILLING BEYOND BELIEF OVERWHELMING GRAND SPLENDID TREMENDOUS MARVELOUS INCREDIBLE FANTASTIC INCONCEIVABLE UNIMAGINABLE news read below.

Gary and Sherrill are going on a 6 night Cruise to celebrate the fact that they have been married for forty years and that Sherrill had a milestone birthday (50-10) and most of all that to celebrate the fact that Gary is alive and well and still living on planet earth. J J

You know how I like to make my stories long and detailed but I will keep this a little bit shorter. Suzie and Steve asked if we would mind if they joined us because they had always wanted to go on a cruise with their girls and the price we got the cruise for was called and “Early Booker” and was 80 percent off the list price. It was too good to be true.

A few days after the booking was complete Ben called to ask me for details and said-Mom—you are not going on the Freedom ship are you because that is the same ship that Sarah and I are booked on. Yup-you got that figured out!! Suzie had called Ben and they decided to be part of the celebration party. It was so great to think of spending a week with a couple of kids and their kids. We did talk a little too much about it in front of the other kids though. A couple of weeks after that we were at Brian and BJ’s and little five year old Gracie said grace. “Dear Jesus—thank you for making Papa all better and thank you that we can all go on the cruise together.”. I felt really sad and told BJ we would try not to talk it about it so much in front of the kids because poor little Gracie thought she was going to get to go on the cruise too. BJ’s eyes all filled up with tears and she said—“That is because she is going mom”. I literally dropped my place on the ground. They had received the call from Suzie and Ben and booked their tickets the same day. Now it just left Syndie and her family. They could not go because Jim is supposed to only take his vacation during the summer months. But how could the entire family be on a ship and not have the Best’s with us? It took a little bit of finagling but by the end of that week all of the rooms had been booked and the ENTIRE Gary Kivell family –the Lord willing-will sail away from Fort Lauderdale on November 1st. If you know our family well at all you know that there has been lots of hooting and hollering and yelling (and yes—even tears) and excitement as the news has been shared amongst the siblings that they were all going to be together on the ship. The whole works of us spent many many many long hours and days and nights in the Intensive Care Unit and crying on each other’s shoulders and now to think of being together to play and celebrate life and to enjoy the beautiful creation that God has given to us is just nothing short of a huge miracle for us.

Thank you for any part that you have played in our life story over the past year. Thank you for your love and your prayers and your time. Thank you for letting us know how much you care. Thank you for being you.

May God richly bless each and every one of you as we continue to travel this uncertain road of life. The time seems to go past so much faster than it used to and we want to seize every moment to make wonderful positive memories and to help others in need as we have been helped, to make their load a little lighter. Thanks for being part of our lives.

My oh my--- the time just keeps going by so quickly. We are doing great and life is so good and we are so thankful to God for all of His blessings.



This past weekend I had my 50-10th birthday or I guess I could say my 30th birthday with 30 years of experience. Or was it the 10th anniversary of my fiftieth birthday. As you can see-I am having a little trouble saying the sixty word. I think my parents made a mistake when they told me the year I was born. J I am still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. J



We went away for a couple of days and everything just seemed so normal and natural. We talked a lot about the past year and how God had brought us through the darkness of that deep valley and now we are walking in the bright sunshine on the mountain tops.



This weekend is our 40th wedding anniversary and we plan to go to see our kids in Waterloo and we will stay at the Barnum motel. (thanks Kerry and Anna) Bend and Sarah are still getting settled into their new home and they no longer have a guest room. However—they live just a few blocks from the Barnum’s so it works well for us.



On the 20th we are have a big celebration party at the church and we would love to see any of you that are free to come and share a piece of cake with us. We are celebrating our Anniversary and my birthday but more than that we are celebrating the fact that God allowed Gary to stay and be a part of our lives. 40/60/ Gary’s alive. All of our kids will be home and we are looking forward to a fun day of celebrating.

Gary’s sister Sharon is coming to Chatham for a couple of weeks so that will be fun too.

So---check the blog one more time after the party and I will have our last BLOG update for you.

Thanks for your love—your support-your friendship-and your prayers.

God bless each and every one of you.



Sherrill

OK---this one is just going to make you laugh. It is time we sent an email that was uplifting and happy and positive.

Yesterday afternoon Gary and I were sitting outside in the back yard and I told him I thought that very soon he would be able to go into the pool. His tummy wound is very tiny now and nearly healed over and the small one on his derrière is nearly gone as well.

He said—when do you think I can swim? Well—the pool is open and the temperature of the water is between 74-75 degrees.

I said—“um—maybe tomorrow” and he said—“what is wrong with today?” and with that he went and got his bathing suit on and you got it---------he went in for the first swim in two years. Of course I had to join him and it took my breath away since it was so cold ---but he did fine. Oh my goodness!!!!! Our pool is now partially a salt water pool because we both cried a lot because last year we wondered if Gary would ever be able to swim again. Isn’t that great??? We cried and then we laughed and we thanked the Lord over and over and over. Then today we went in again for a few minutes.

This summer is going to be the year to enjoy every single day and every single opportunity and every single event that happens.

Last Sunday night we bundled up in our warm jackets with hoods and gloves and went to see the fireworks in Dresden-in the convertible. It was very chilly but we had the heater blowing on high and we had fun. Gary said he does not want to miss one thing this year.

So----I am going to keep writing until the end of June and then we will close the blog and keep in touch by email.

Next weekend we are attending a wedding in London of our great niece. My oldest sister Ruth Ann’s oldest grandchild Kayla is getting married. Where does the time go???? We are looking forward to this special event too.

Love to you all

Sherrill

Hello Blog Friends
I writing on behalf of my sisters and brother and we wanted to extend a very special invitation to you.
Last Fall we had hoped to have a little celebration party for all of our friends that had supported us through the days and weeks and months following dad's EIGHT surgeries. However--as you all know---dad ended up not getting better as soon as we had hoped and then surgery number nine took place and now it is over a year since this all started.
Now that we would like to have a little party to celebrate the fact that dad is alive, we also have within reach two more special occasions to celebrate.
So, on Saturday June 20th we are going to have a combined celebration for three special events.
1. dad surviving the past year
2. mom's 50 plus 10 birthday (she cannot say the word 60) June 06.
3. dad and mom's 40th wedding anniversary June 14th

So please mark it on your calendar and plan to drop in to have some dessert and coffee with our parents and the rest of our family.

We are hoping to see you all that afternoon.

See the invitation below.

So much time has gone by since I wrote an update on the blog and we have so many more exciting things to share with you but I have been having computer troubles and have not been connected much. I think those issues are solved now (I hope and pray) so we will be able to be a little more regular with our updates in case you are still checking in with us. If you have written to me and not heard back please do not give up. I think everything is good again.

I want to keep the blog going until the first of July and then I probably will sign off and keep in touch with you by email.

Your support for our family over the past year has been amazing and we cannot thank you enough for the love and prayers and kind words and support in so many many awesome ways. Only God will be able to repay you since we could not begin to do that.

We have a couple extremely exciting things to share with you and I will do that very soon.

We are enjoying every single day and Gary continues to heal and we are so blessed to have his health returning to the point where if you met him on the street that you would find it hard to believe that one year ago TODAY the Doctors gave us very little hope of him surviving. He went to the OR one year ago tonight (on Ben’s birthday) and we all feared for his life BUT God had other plans. We are so thankful and we will continue to be eternally grateful.

Mother’s day was special this year especially because last year it was soooooooo horrific. Three of the kids were home for Friday and/or Saturday and we went to Syndie’s on Sunday after going to Suzie’s church. Then on Monday we went to Jasmin and Jade’s soccer games and that was another huge treat.

Last year Suzie missed soooooooo many of her kids soccer games because nearly every Sunday and Monday were the days she came to be with us in London. Now—to think that we were able to be there with her to see the kids play was super treat. It is amazing how the small things because such huge celebrations when they are looked at through the perspective of “a different set of eyes”.

God has blessed us more than I can tell you.

So---stay tuned and I will keep you posted on a couple more super celebrations that we are excited about.

God bless you friends.

Love

Sherrill

As I said—things are so good here.

Gary continues to need the one wound on his chest/abdomen area packed. The first one has closed and now the second one is getting smaller every day.

I do the dressing except for a couple of times a week. The nurse wants to come all of the time but I can do it, so we are trying to save OHIP dollars. ;-)

To my utmost surprise I came home the other day from work and Gary was standing in the driveway beside the convertible. Brian had helped him get it unwrapped from the winter and then Gary took it out and got it all washed and ready for our first little outing. Wow---how much fun that was for us!!! We once again stopped in the driveway and prayed and thanked the Lord that we were back in our toy car and that Gary was driving and that we were together.

This past weekend we had the man come and uncover our above ground swimming pool. It is a little early for swimming but the fact of looking at the blue water is just so great. The big black cover is packed up now until the fall so we are thrilled about that. Last year we only opened the pool for such a short time so we asked the guy to please put us at the beginning of his list this year.

I think I might have mentioned that Gary was having some trouble with his hip. We think it might have been from all of the time he spent in bed last year, but whatever the cause was, he agreed to go to the massage therapist to see if she could help him. That has worked well and he has very little discomfort with that now.

Saturday we headed out in the “toy” and went to Sarnia. The sky started to look dark so we headed home and thankfully we stayed ahead of the wild hail and wind and rain storm that hit that area.

So for our big news Gary and I had planned a couple of years ago that in January 2009, we would probably plan to go on a cruise to celebrate a couple of special events in our lives. However---as you all know—THAT did not happen. This June, I am turning “50-10” (I just am having a little trouble saying the word 60) and also in June Gary and I will be married for 40 years and since Gary is alive and doing so well we have decided to celebrate all of our blessings by planning a cruise for the first part of November 2009. I told Gary that I wanted him to be able to help with the luggage before we booked a trip and if he continues to improve the way that he has been doing the last couple of months, then he will be able to handle it all alone. I have already got my time off from work approved and the cruise is booked and we will just have to book flights as it gets closer to the date of the trip. We are both so excited about the trip but we have decided we must put it on the back burner for now so that we can enjoy every single day of the Spring and Summer and Fall and not wish one day away that the Lord has given to us to enjoy.

With the pool being open in our yard this summer, I imagine that we will spend a lot of time gathered around there. Our grand kids all love the water and we love having the kids and grand kids home to enjoy it with us.

Our bad horrible awful year is behind us and all things bright and beautiful are ahead for us. As we watch the leaves bursting forth on the trees and we are seeing the flowers all starting to bloom we are just thanking God over and over and over that we are able to be here tougher to enjoy all of these wonderful creations.

Thank you for sharing our journey. This trip is one we were not have made it through without your love and prayers and support.

Tonight when Gary came outside carrying a tray with some of our supper on it—I just stood and praised the Lord for His faithfulness to us. It would seem like a small thing to most people but to us---it is just one huge miracle.

Until the next update in a week or so—know we love you all.

Sherrill