So today was school picture day – the day we dread…the hair, the clothes, the EXPENSIVE pictures…suffice to say, we’re opting for the class photo & a couple of wallets option.

At any rate, Jac was upset b/c we didn’t know where her sparkly pink barrettes were (I just don’t take care of my stuff good enough! Can we say “tired little girl”?) not a big deal, the purple butterflys are way cute & pretty – let’s just use those. And then, “I just don’t want to wear these grubby old tennis shoes on picture day” (what was I thinking??…her “new” tennis shoes have lost ½ their outside in the week she’s had them, so they will be returned for a refund – yea, they’ll actually do that since I still have the receipt!)

Bless his heart – Rob tried to help…”Jaclyn, those aren’t grubby, they look really….ummm, nice – they look…really nice.” And that’s when it happened…the look. She’s 6 & she has “the look” down to a science. Noticing this, I shielded my first-born with a bear hug hiding his face & quietly whispered “Thanks, Rob” into his ear & realized, hmm, he has his hood up. So I took it down & asked, “did you do” but didn’t need to finish as I saw his locks screaming for attention! Laughing I yielded a perfect pitched “Robert Wilkie – you look worse than I do!!”

Did I mention the bus driver had already honked??? Quick to the bathroom & under the shower hose the head went. Grab the mousse – mom, that’s a LOT of mousse – trust me Rob, you need it & out the door he went.

Meanwhile, there’s Tom – easygoing, free-spirited Tom… shirt buttoned to his chin, toes in one shoe & strings on the other shoe stuck….got him laced & tied & unbuttoned to avoid the geek squad calling for interviews, when suddenly, my beautiful dainty princess returns (she had forgotten her backpack) and yet, she’s holding her jacket (it was crisp this a.m.) and crying….Jac, honey, what’s wrong?? I fell. I FELL on the WET, SLIPPERY, SLIMY GRASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Many kisses, hugs, one backpack & a gentle shove out the door & they’re off – all three are on their way to school. Looking wonderfully spiffy for pictures too rich to purchase, but feeling good (?) about themselves – well that was the goal – at least we (some of us) had some laughs to start our day. I shut the door & sigh with relief, one more picture morning checked off the list & marvel at these wonders God has blessed us with. Meanwhile, wonder #5 sleeps peacefully & I settle in with a steaming cup of coffee (thanks, honey!) to get some work done before he arises and am reminded once again, that yes, God is good. He is so very, very good.

(Pictures will be posted upon arrival…perhaps I should repost this when I add the pics??)

Many of you that read this blog have probably noticed that it’s usually pretty easy to decypher which posts are written by myself and which ones are written by Jo. Mine are usually very factual, almost newspaper story in flavor. However, Jo is usually very eloquent in including thoughts and feelings much better than I am. I would have to say that this will probably be a small exception (so just be forewarned that it is actually Chris doing the writing this time).

Today we said our final goodbyes to a wonderful man that had quickly become such a large part of our lives. Pastor Al Somers is celebrating life in heaven this week. Six years ago when we moved to the Avon area, we accepted an invitation to visit Checkrow Church. We had been commuting back to Canton for church to try and ease Robert’s transition (as with the twins joining us earlier that year, and hence trading in a vehicle, the poor little guy was about over the edge!). As we got in the van and left Checkrow that very first morning, Robert asked “Do they do that every day? When are they doing it again? Can we come back tomorrow?” We were thrilled to say the least. The folks that we did already know there were wonderful and those we managed to meet that first morning were fabulous as well. I don’t recall the exact message that morning, but do remember it was quite impressive.

It was shortly after that, we had a call and then a visit from “Pastor Al”. He stopped over for the evening, had some pie and shared some wonderful information about the church. Robert (to Jody’s horror) gave a COMPLETE tour of the house including closets etc. Al tagged along for the ride and just in over-hearing the conversation, you would have thought he was getting a personal guided tour of the Whitehouse. He was so interested in every little detail that Robert had to share and show him.

We very quickly fell in love with Checkrow (and Pastor Al). There was something different about Checkrow. It was a great group of caring people and a place of great teaching about what the Bible was all about. It was also a place of great fun through Shot and Shell club, ATV Rides, Spud Shoots, Chili cookoffs (and the list could go on for a long time!) Later came Awana that gave the kids (and often Jo and I) the opportunity to get to spend time with the great people and Al more. I only wish I could describe the genuine caring that Al felt for all of God’s people. Just a wonderful example for us all.

A few years ago, Jody started working as the secretary at the church. It was at that point that the family really started to get tied into Al and his family. Jo of course spent time each week with Al getting ready for the service on Sunday and handling many other items through the week. Even beyond that, the kids (when not in school) would often go down to spend time with Jo (and Al of course). Everything from copying feet on the copy machine to scaring each other through the church. It was great to sit back and hear the stories of the antics from the day. When Robert went through his issues with stomach trouble and found himself in the hospital, Al was quick to visit, and bring the gift of toy cars. Robert was so impressed (as were we all). When Jo and I had to make the early morning trip to the hospital to take care of things with Speedo, I’ll never forget sitting in that waiting room so quiet and alone as we were the only ones there that early. I was sitting there just holding Jody, and glanced up to see that wonderful man walking across the hospital lobby. We both were so touched. He stuck around long enough to sit with me so I wasn’t alone while Jo was in surgery, and then he ducked back out again. I’m not sure if he ever really knew how much that meant to me.

A few weeks ago when Al became ill and we were really afraid that it was the beginning of the end, we told the kids we were going to the hospital to see Al. Robert promptly asked for a gift bag and gathered some cars to send to Al. He even made sure one of them was a Mustang as he knew it was Al’s favorite.

Now, we make the adjustment to life without Al here. Oh, he’ll always be there in our memories and in our hearts, but it won’t be until heaven that we get to see him again. There are so many lives both local and around the globe that he touched and had such an impact on. Today’s service was a wonderful celebration of the life of the man we all loved so much. We’ll all adjust (each in our own way) and enjoy the fact that he is actually having a fabulous time on those streets of gold. However, there is no question about it that Al Somers will be missed. He was a pastor, friend and mentor to so many.

38 weeks


39 weeks – “Go for the Gold at the Steer Show” … RTJ&B won the “Most Spirited” award for their entry in the decorated parade at the Afternoon of Fun for Kids at the annual Avon Fat Steer Show – BIG FUN!!!

40 weeks – this is one of our favorite faces — OOH! We thought the older three were animated, but Ben takes the cake! He’s even figured out how to whistle! He can’t quite get it every time, but it cracks him up when he does. Sometimes, he’ll even cap it off with a big “WHOA!” too funny…

34 weeks – a fun weekend was had with Mama, Gary & my nephew Bailey….Tom & Jac 6; Bay 8; Rob 10; Ben 34 weeks

35 weeks – B’s got a funny hat!

36 weeks – LOVE my tractor & wagon & especially HAY BALES

37 weeks – heading to Epa’s funeral. Not our idea of an ideal vacation, but Ben was great comic releif…even when the van broke down yet again…

At last count here, Ben was 28 weeks. Obviously, I got behind this summer. Life as I knew it ended when my brother died. I am slowly getting accustomed to this new normal….I don’t always like it, but I’m working on it. Regardless of all the loss we’ve experienced this summer, we are still a very blessed family. Here’s the weekly updates on Mr. B!

29 weeks – also happened to be the last day of school!!

30 weeks

31 weeks – also Father’s Day weekend

32 weeks .. the kids were waiting in line for lunch at church for our 4th of July celebration the last weekend in June…

33 weeks – waiting for fireworks with Papa & Linda on a very chilly 4th of July

Starting at the top…fun at Boo Park – we went to the park the day after my brother’s funeral. We all needed a fun getaway & an energy release. Too bad it was so hot!

Kids with all the g’s…Our trip south for my grandpa’s funeral was extended a day due to another van breakdown. Dad & Linda came down for a cookout & again, another fun night with Bailey. We finally got a picture with the kids & all the grandparents. Still hoping to someday get one with all of these guys & Logan, too.

Well, the summer has been extremely busy at the Janssen house. I find the date of the last post staring me in the face and realize it’s been a long busy summer. I’ll try and do just a quick recap, to bring everyone up to speed and then hopefully things will slow down enough this fall to stay on top of posts here.

Summer Baseball – Tom and Jac finished off another successful year of “T-Ball”. They enjoyed it all and it was wonderful to watch them develop their skills. They are already looking forward to next year. Robert had a season of making progress as well. At the beginning of the season he struggled a little at the plate, but managed to maintain a high batting average through the beginning of the summer. Then the coaches came up with the idea of having Robert bunt. He quickly became the bunting specialist on the team and actually got very good at it. I missed a few games but heard all the stories of the “perfect” bunts, and then got to witness them towards the end of the season. He really became good at what he was asked to do and we were so proud of him.

Job Transition – I’ve been making the transition into my new Principal position and have it’s actually been pretty smooth. The people I work with are so wonderful in helping me learn the “ropes” of my new job. It’s been a wonderful (and learning) experience so far, and I’m thinking that things will just continue to get better.

Losses – The biggest story of the summer has been in losses to the family. Most people that read these words are probably already aware of the situations, but we’ll give a brief overcap anyway. We started off June with a phone call in the early morning hours that Jo’s brother had been involved in a swimming pool accident and was being life flighted to St. Louis. Unfortunately he did not pull through, and we’ve had to adjust to life without “Uncle Buddy”. It was such a shock to everyone involved and adjustment has been difficult. However, I think it did actually make the other loss of the summer a little easier for the kids anyway. When Jo’s grandpa passed away the end of July, it was still a great loss, but I think at least the kids handled it a little better than they would have as they knew the “routine” so to speak after going through it with Alvie. There were still a lot of emotions, but as far as the routine, they knew what was happening.

Scout Camp – The boys again attended Cub Scout Day Camp (Robert for the last time) and loved it. Thomas managed to get awarded the “Camp Archer” of the week for having the highest archery score all week and then went on to get the Marksman award for his den (group of kids his age). Way to go Thomas! Thomas also survived staying overnight with the “big boys” since I was staying with Robert. We camped out in the tent and all went well.

Fat Steer Show – The last hurah of summer as usual was the Avon Fat Steer Show. The first night of scrambles was great as Thomas and Jaclyn both caught a chicken and Robert did manage to get a pig in his heat. It was a tough struggle, but he got it accomplished. Jaclyn managed to win the girls division of her age group in the peddal tractor pull. Robert became the first annual winner of the Photography Sweepstakes award by achieving the highest point total with 5 or more entries. The show also went very smooth (which was a blessing with Chris as Vice President of the Businessmen’s Association that puts on the show).

That has pretty much been our summer in a nutshell. Due to the circumstances we’ve got to see a lot of folks we don’t normally see very often and that has been a blessing through the tragedies. We’ve also got to spend time with those we do normally see (living at the ball park together). Overall it’s been an extrememly busy summer, and tragic summer, but also filled with highlights.