October 12

Although, in Canada, we celebrate Thanksgiving today – I cannot help but look at the date and think of my Dad. If he were still with us, he would be turning 77 today. There is much in my heart . . . a memory from here . . . a memory from there . . . ah-ha moments of understanding, a feeling of gratefulness, a feeling of loss . . . I think a visit would be good today.

Dad . . . although it’s not even been quite three years since we laid you to rest, it has been a lot longer since we could really talk. Your strokes began about fifteen years earlier, leaving you with mental and physical disabilities, such that you had to retire sooner than planned. Five years after your first strokes, which already left you mentally defeated, you had a stroke that paralyzed one whole side of your body. Speech became difficult and was almost non-existent the last years, possibly, sometimes just because it took too much effort. These were years in which you changed against your will and it was difficult to look beyond what we saw.

It’s funny . . . but when I watched your face turn up and behold eternity in death, the hardships and bitterness of the latter years of your life just seemed to vanish. A hush filled the room, and all was well . . .because we knew you were released and that one day . . . yes, the next time we see you . . . you will be whole . . . well . . . smiling, with arms open wide.


With the release came memories of the Dad who loved me in the most unselfish way. The Dad who never had a father to teach him, but did his best to be what he thought a good dad would do. I bet that sometimes you were frustrated that you had to carve the way for yourself – raising, disciplining, providing and caring for a family, when you didn’t know what it was like to have a brother or a sister or a father.


I remember you had dreams for us. I was about five or six years old when you told me that one day we would live in Canada. I see that dream now as desiring a better future for your children than you had. You worked hard to achieve what was needed – a sponsor, paperwork and finances. I remember trusting you implicitly, jumping off a high wall, knowing you would catch me. I also remember my first day of Grade one. I was playing in the playground during recess and I saw you by the fence on your bicycle . . . checking. I didn’t know then . . . but I know now . . . the love of a parent watching a child in a new situation.

I remember coming to Canada as a 10-year-old, and how you took me through the bus route I would need to take to school. As a child I did not realize the changes and sacrifices for you. Leaving a good job, friends and a beautiful home in Brazil, you also had to learn the language and I must say, that when I look at what you did, I’m proud of you . . . with your broken English you applied at UBC and began night classes while working during the day. Ten years later, often working through the night, you graduated as a General Certified Accountant, having your own practice on the side already.

I don’t know if it was the loss of most of your family and the war that hardened you, but we never saw you cry in those years. In fact, you hated it when I cried. Tears seemed to trigger something in you . . . an attitude that they don’t help – so don’t bother! I never really understood, but I do remember that on my wedding day your voice broke. The grandchildren came along and you softened more. It was like seeing another generation for the first time gave you a whole new perspective.

One of the most precious memories I have is of my 33rd Birthday. We were camping in Washington State with the other side of the family, when someone brought a parcel to the campground for me. This was very unusual and to top it off, it was a gift from you, when usually Mom would take care of those things. I kept the box, because the words written on it were the only “card” I ever received from you. Inside the box was a gold bracelet with the shape of two hearts which, when you line them up in the right direction, they form into the number 33. This was you … always finding significance in dates and numbers. A mind that could store details like a computer and calculated as well as any adding machine.

It was a short time after that, when you had your first stroke. It happened too soon, because your strokes did not only make you forget, but sadly they made me forget who you were.

But I remember now . . . and how I’d love to tell you what has all happened! You have grandkids and great-grandkids – some in yet another country – but loving God and serving the people there. With the way you loved to travel, I know you’d be one of the first to go and visit your grown up “Liebling”. Then there’s Kristal – who’s little girl would remind you so much of your “Crispie” – and she sings just like her Mom. And can you believe it - Benji will be a daddy? He’s quite the businessman, you know. I know you would like to give him advice, but he seems to have inherited some good genes.

Dad, you were always into the latest technology and willing to try new things. I remember you spending about ten thousand dollars on your first computer, thirty years ago. It fascinated you! If you could see my computer now and what I’m doing, you would not believe it! But then, maybe you would believe that the computer has become my place to journal, store photos, receive and send my mail, store recipes, share recipes. It’s an encyclopedia, a dictionary, a map. We can listen to music, pay bills, book airline tickets, shop, see the news . . . you’d like that! And it doesn’t even cost that much any more!

Well, it’s been good to sit here and have a good cry. Do you understand that now? Wish you could tell me what it’s like where you are. Are you waiting? Or is it so perfect that eternity is already there? Something our finite minds do not yet understand, but one day we will. Until then . . . Happy Birthday, Dad

Appropriately Named: The Family Circus

I kept this from a long time ago . . . must have meant something.

The Only Grandfather I Ever Knew (Part II)

When David awoke he saw a light through the forest and wondered if he could dare go there for help, since he didn’t know exactly where he was. He decided to knock on the door and, to his great relief, a Czech woman answered! The woman said she’d help him because her husband was also at war and she would want someone to help him should he be in trouble, so she gave him some of her husband’s clothes and let him sleep in the hayloft. In return for the favor, he took care of her livestock and chopped wood for her.

In 1945, as the war was coming to an end with the Allied Forces attacking Germany from the west, David became a prisoner of war once again as a German. When the war ended the captives were allowed to return to their home countries, but David did not want to return to Russia, knowing the fate that awaited him there. Since Germany was devastated from the war, he applied for immigration to Canada, but was denied because of the S.S. tattoo on his arm. He had been forced to get it while working under the German army and had tried to remove it, but it was to be a lifetime reminder of a time he’d rather forget.

A while later he heard of an organization that was taking Mennonites to South America and this is how he ended up in Paraguay. Upon arriving there he got word that his family in Russia had perished in the war. It was not long before he met my widowed grandmother, they fell in love and got married. In this way he acquired an instant family, my mom being the oldest child.

But the story does not end here. One day, after the birth of two sons, David received mail from Russia. It was a letter from his first wife, Helen, who was still living in Russia! She had been released from the labor camp and was trying to find her family. What was he supposed to do now? Of course he was happy to hear that she was alive, but by now he was happily married to someone else. The mixture of emotions churning in him were impossible for him to describe. After much agonizing he decided to write her and tell her that he could not go back because the Russian government would still see him as an enemy and not allow him the freedom to live a normal life there. And obviously he felt an obligation to his new family, as well.

I cannot imagine being in Helen’s shoes at this time. Like she hadn’t gone through enough already! But she was a gracious woman who decided that this was just her fate in life and all she asked for was a picture of him with his new family. My grandparents, David and Liese were married 37 years and she died of colon cancer in 1986. I loved my Opa and have very fond memories of him, always making me feel special.

In 1993 a new Russian president allowed people more freedom to emigrate and Helen, along with some of her family moved, to Germany. My Opa, being widowed, and still living in Paraguay, decided to visit her in 1994. Yes, after 53 years of separation! The amazing thing was that we just happened to be in Germany with our three children and we got to meet Helen, her daughter and some grandchildren. We listened with rapt attention as Helen and my Opa each told their story. It was a very emotional time in which I was struck with the reality that these (his) grandchildren never got to know their grandfather, while I had been blessed by their loss. What a privilege it was to meet this sweet lady and hear her side of the story. She passed away about a year later and my Opa died in 1999, back in Paraguay. They never did get re- married.

The Only Grandfather I Ever Knew

Caught between opposing
nations at war – captured as
an enemy by both – he escaped
and lived to tell about it,
but a surprise awaited him
many years later.
I will tell this story in the
best way we remember
him telling it to us.


David was born on May 6, 1909 in Russia. He worked as a bookkeeper and a livestock inspector for his village. He married a woman by the name of Helen and they had three children together. In 1941, Hitler ordered the march of three million troops into Russia and the Russian army sent David to take their best horses east, away from the Germans. This plan failed when the German army caught up with him and took him captive.

As their captive, he returned to his home and found that, while he had been gone, his village had been evacuated by the Russians. (It most likely had to do with the fact the Mennonites were culturally tied with Germany. Whole villages were being removed so that when the Germans would arrive, no one would be left.) The women and older children had been sent to work in a labor camp in Siberia and the smaller children were scattered in a number of orphanages. All that was left of them were their toys lying in the yard.

David was obviously devastated and torn as to what he should do now, but it turned out that as a prisoner of the Germans, he didn’t have any choice. When they found out that he actually spoke German, they used his abilities to their advantage and made him mayor of a group of villages. He was put in charge of rebuilding them in order to feed and support the fighting German army. This went on for a couple of years, and in a sense the Germans became the liberators from the communist rule for those Mennonites who still remained, blinding them to the atrocities that were inflicted upon non-German people.

In the winter of 1942-43 the Germans began losing the war with the Russians and eventually David was recaptured by the Russians. By now he was despised by the Russians because he had served under the Germans and they thought that he had collaborated with them.

As the Russians were pushing the German army westward, David and some of his fellow prisoners, knowing that their days were numbered, discussed a plan to escape. The day came when they were able to get away and hide until nightfall. They went into the forest and tried to cross a small river which separated the Russians and Germans, but they were spotted and became the targets of the Russians. David jumped into the river and hid under some plants, while bullets were landing all around him. Finally they stopped and he managed to make it to shore. He didn’t know where he was and he was so exhausted that he fell asleep on the bank. (to be continued - click here for next part)

Travel Thoughts

This travel brochure has been lying around our home office for a while now. Every time I tidy up or re-organize paperwork, it gets moved around with it. I really haven't looked inside much. Maybe I should. I've wondered . .. who could possibly have thought about the fact that one could do a holiday on a ship? I mean . . . not just go somewhere, but do your vacation on it!
We have never been on a cruise. We have always felt it might be too restraining . . . crowded . . . obligatory . . . are words that come to mind without having really expressed them. But . . . we've been thinking about it. Maybe one shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. Maybe trying something new would be the beginning of some new adventures. What do you think?

Happy Birthday, Chris

Chris, it's been about ten years since you moved

to the Fraser Valley in order to

spend time with a girl you got to know in College

a few years earlier.

You made your agenda quite clear . . . and I always

liked that about you.

I remember one of the first times you walked into the

front door and called out, "I'm home."

As a single guy, living on your own, our home

became your home for suppers and laundry.

Yes, I got to fold your socks and underwear,

just like I did for the rest of the family.

It was easy to have you around, because you never

acted like a guest.

I loved it when you'd check to see what was cooking or

just sit down at the piano

and play old Keith Green songs for fun.

At the wedding, the following year, we said that we lost two kids,

not just one.

Chris, you're not a kid anymore! You have grown in favor with God and man in so many ways. You've dreamed dreams and are living them out as you serve overseas. You are a great dad and a wonderful husband and son-in-law!

We wish you God's continued blessing and protection.

"Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they walk and not be faint."

Isaiah 40:30,31

Happy Birthday!
Love, Mom and Dad