Thank You

We want to thank you for honoring dad and our family with your presence at the celebration service last night. So many people came that when we entered the sanctuary I heard my mom gasp a little. You all filled the church and literally took my mom's breath away :-) So many people offered their support that I told mom that I don't think she has to ever worry about doing ANYTHING on her own! We are certainly surrounded.

We are realizing that much of our grief had climaxed before dad's actual passing, so in some ways his passing was easier for us then for some of our friends. There is still a very present aching, just not quite as visceral as it had been throughout. Soon we will begin learning the "re-footing" aspect of the whole process, and what our new normal will come to look like on a day to day basis. Not that we seek to forget, but that we will seek to press in to the full future that God has for us, a future not burdened with timidity or fear of any kind. The future that dad dreamed we would have.

Celebration Service

Thank you so much for your support of who my dad is and his healing...which he received early Thursday morning. We smile when we think of dad with full walking, talking and thinking abilities, praising the Father along with his parents.

There will be a celebration service on Monday, February 8, 2010 at 7:00 pm at Community Covenant Church (15700 W 87th Street, Lenexa, KS)

Come and celebrate Larry's life on earth and the eternal Life that he is living out right now.
Love,
The Heidebrecht Women

Larry J Heidebrecht

August 16, 1949-February 4, 2010

Larry passed away gently at 4:15 this morning with his family surrounding him.
Here's to a life full of Love, Joy and Fun.

Details about his celebration service will be posted soon.

Our Protector

Today dad continued to "interact" with us in sweet, but slight ways. Although, we all agreed that his eyes do seem a little more vacant. Throughout the day he has at least one of us holding his hand because he seems to like the "anchor" that this provides, and possibly also just knowing that we are near. My mom's parents are here and are such a support as they hug, cook, clean and answer the doorbell whenever it rings. My mom's sister and my mom's close friend also camp out in dad's room with us and create an all-encompassing feel in the room. Dad peacefully rests and occasionally we can get him to make eye contact with us or blow a sweet little kiss. I felt a little extra teary today, but not in a completely sad way. Emotions are funny as they can be a whole mix of different things. There was some sadness for his physical condition, some tenderness towards who he is and has been, some joy for what his eternal future is bringing, some anxiousness about "the end"...all combined in one. We all agree that this is a very surreal time.

Mom reminded us today of one of dad's trademark characteristics as "protector". This would play out in a number of sweet, but humorous ways. For example, all three of us would find ourselves having to explain to any friend who happened to open the trunks to our cars, what exactly the suspicious looking large and bulky suitcase was doing back there. Dad had compiled a suitcase full of road safety items for each of our cars, packed them in suitcases and stuffed them in our trunks. These items included things like tire pumps, extra gloves, flares, light-reflectant road triangles, "Call 911" signs, and much, much more! He did not take our safety lightly.

He also bought knives for Lyndsay and I. He gave them to us "secretly" and told us not to worry mom about it. He showed us where to keep it in our cars and how we could whip it out quickly in case of an attack. It felt laughable storing these weapons in our cars, much less to imagine ever using them. But he was insistent and we appreciated it. Of course we both went to mom to tell on dad and how he had just equipped us with dangerous weapons. But later mom told us that he had come clean to her himself!

He loved us well.

Dad-isms

Dad is doing much better today. He talks to us and opens his eyes and even sits up with our help. What a strange time this is...

There are some fun things from this past year that we wanted to share with you.

We like to call them "Dad-isms". With his language and reasoning abilities inhibited, some things dad would say and do became sweetly apart of who he is. Some little things he taught us this year:

-Dad taught us that you could cook anything in the microwave simply by pushing the "Potato" button...and then watching it until it seemed done. Amazing!

-When something was too difficult, we learned that we could just "leave it a go".

-When something was really important, you could simply respond by widening your eyes and saying, "HUGE!" This gets the message across quickly and concisely.

-If you need anything at all, you can just stop by Home Depot! We (along with dad's friends) would end up driving him to Home Depot about 3-4 times a week. He loved it. When he couldn't think of the name of the place he wanted to go, we could suggest Home Depot and be correct 95% of the time.

-His favorite snacks varied through out the year. In the beginning he loved huge, pecan cinnamon rolls. But they were too huge to eat at once, and he couldn't say "cinnamon roll" so we learned that when he asked for a "half" that he was wanting a half of a roll.

-He got tired of cinnamon rolls and moved onto Oreos. Whenever he would go to the store he would by multiple packages of various types of Oreos. We learned that when he asked for "two" he was wanting to examine his Oreo "buffet" and choose two cookies.

-If he got tired he could just pop a couple "happies", the name for what he would call his pain killers. They pepped him right back up and helped him be himself again.

Although markers of his illness, these things helped us have fun and smile about this whole thing throughout the year. Dad taught us especially how to do that.