when Uncle Koen visited...

It was a bittersweet Christmas.  We all missed Ann.  We were so glad to have Koen in Iowa with us.  

After a few days of celebrating the holiday with our whole family together, our family headed home.  We were excited when Uncle Koen came with us!  We had no plans for his time at our house and our little town - just our normal family time.  

Playing the board game "Sorry." 

Entertainment by a three year old...

Hannah, Ryan, Uncle Koen.  

Koen and me.  

After the kids were in bed it we had some good conversations and what I have referred to as "therapy." Reliving some of the moments of the last year.  There are moments that only Koen, Brent and I experienced.  It was comforting to discuss them and recall thoughts, feelings and conversations.  

There was wine… and some tears… laughs, too.  

A really great story from Christmas was the thought that Koen put into his many gifts to our family.  Ann's hello ducky was a staple in her treatment.  Yellow Duck accompanied her to every appointment, chemotherapy, laid with her on the radiation table and slept in her bed at the hospital and St. Peter's (hospice).  Yellow Duck accompanied Koen to Iowa for her funeral, too.  

Koen searched and searched for additional yellow ducks to give as gifts.  There were none to be found.  The company that manufactured yellow duck was purchased by another company ten years ago and they no longer produced them.  Koen tracked down a staff contact from the new company website.  He inquired if there were any yellow ducks to purchase.  Anywhere.  Sofie, the staff person who responded to the email, did more than her due diligence to look… she found three yellow ducks in a cardboard box in the basement.  Koen was ecstatic and would've paid much more than they were worth to purchase them.  He was so thankful he told Sofie the story of why these hello ducks are so important to our family.  She must have a kind heart because upon hearing Ann's story, Sofie mailed them to Koen at no cost and told him the trio of ducks was anxious to meet their new family.  There are still good people in the world.  

The new ducks meeting their long lost duck friend at Koen's new home.  

This is Koen's sense of humor:

Ready to go to U.S.?

No, master! 

Upon arriving at the hotel in Chicago...

U.S. isn't so bad!  

(apparently the ducks were ready to party - that's alcohol, cigarettes and a telephone with the ducks)

Ducky is fitting in well in our family.  :-) 

We are so thankful that Koen is a part of our family.  No one ever plans on going through what we've experienced in the last year and a half.  There was no one in the entire world that could have made her any more happy than Koen - before the cancer diagnosis and certainly not during her illness.  He promised us more visits and I know he will be with us (even thousands of miles away) for more of life's milestones.