You are my Father

As I was searching for a poem to help me explain how I felt I found this and it explains everything so well. At the end I did change the author's name to mine.

You are my Father

I will not look at this as a goodbye.

I will not allow the sorrow of this event to destroy me.

I will embrace what you have taught me through the

years and carry that with me.

You have not died. You will forever be a part of my life,

and through me you will forever be a part of my

children's as well. We are your legacy.

I am proud to have had you in their lives.

I hope they inherit your charm, your good nature, and your

charisma. I know with your influence they will grow to

become good men.

You have raised me to the best of your ability

and for that I want to thank you.

Thank you for being kind, thank you for being stronger than

you know, and most of all, thank you for loving us.

You have inspired me to live life to the fullest,

and never back down.

I will not be taken over by the anger and

frustration of your loss.

Instead, I will remember the days when I was young

and you were my hero.

I will see you in my dreams.

There you will forever be healthy and strong.

In time, I hope to embrace your freedom, freedom from the

pain, and freedom from the weight of your illness.

Sorrow is inevitable, but I will face this with the same

courage you did, because I am you, and you are my Father.

Always your daughter, Emily

Dad with his namesake, baby James

My boys hiking in Vegas

As I sit here with tear streaked cheeks I think of how much I have loved my father. I feel so lucky to have had a father, to have known him. He was not perfect and we did not always see eye to eye, but nonetheless he always supported me. I will miss that support as I continue through my life. I only hope that I can give that same unwavering support to my children. No matter what I had chosen he was always there to back me up. He might not have agreed with me but he supported me. How I enjoyed staying up late with him talking and reading. How I knew no matter what time it was when I called that he was always ready to talk to me. He gave me great advice, he may not have been great at following his own advice, but he gave great advice. I will miss him calling and singing happy birthday and happy anniversary to me! I will miss his loud voice ringing through his office. I will miss his boxes of dollar store items for birthday gifts, the boys loved these by the way, wrapped in comics. But most of all I will miss his strong hugs. His hugs always felt warm and protective. Nothing could harm me while I was in one of his bear hugs. I love you Daddy and I will miss you greatly!

James Barry Juenger

July 15, 1950-November 30, 2010

James the Avatar

We went to a church halloween party and the sister missionaries did a face coloring booth and this is what they did with James. He picked it our cause it was his whole face, plus he thought he was super scary! They did an amazing job in making my boy into an Avatar.

Beautiful Autumn Trees

I just really loved the colors of the trees this fall in Ny. It was beautiful to see the bright oranges and reds and yellows. It was so beautiful! Being there in the fall and winter just let me know how beautiful Ny really is. I loved every season while we were there.

T-burg Mini Golf Fall Festival

Another one of the activities was the fall festival at the T-burg mini golf. We did this while Trent was there. They had this great apple toss, which the boys loved. I was amazed to see how far they could sling those puppies. It was a great autumn time. My boys don't get to do these type of things in Vegas so it was so much fun to share these activities with them!

James slinging an apple

Trent helping to put the apple in the sling

Lil'Will just let go of his apple!

The boys took a hay ride.

Will and James coming down from the bouncy house.

A night with the Dinosaurs

One of the halloween activities was a night at the museum. It was a wonderful night at the paleontology museum in Ithaca. They had the kids dress up in costumes and they had all these amazing science booths set up. The boys were in heaven. At each station they were handed more candy, which was awesome!

This is the bones of a whale that hangs at the front entrance

Will has a walking stick on his hand. He loved it!

Here they are petting the snake and lizard

Helping press some cider

This was their favorite station, the homemade ice cream! It was made with liquid nitrogen!

Pumpkin Carving

Its time to update the blog. While I was at Dad's I uploaded a bunch of pictures and was going to post and then he passed so I am working with old material but things that should be posted anyways. We really had the best time during Halloween in New York. There were all sorts of events for us to attend. Here are the pictures of the boys carving their pumpkins. I was shocked at how cheap pumpkins were in New York, granted we are in the country, the heart of the Amish, so I guess I shouldn't be so surprised by how inexpensive the pumpkins were. We bought them at my favorite Amish farm and we carved them a few days before Halloween. It was a lot of fun. Dad came out to watch the boys carve their pumpkins. He loved watching them squeal when I made them take the guts out and just how happy they were to be doing something that is so much fun. Aunt Amanda helped with the carving. After the pumpkins were all cleaned out the boys picked their design and they went to sleep. Aunt Amanda and I finished the process.

Wills completed pumpkin

Here he is taking all the guts out. He really didn't like that part.

James's pumpkin.

James taking his guts out. He also didn't care for it but didn't put up such a fight about it.

The pumpkin cleaners!

The hospice house

Dad went into a hospice house on Tuesday and here is some pictures of his facility. It is beautiful and the people are wonderful. They are so full of love and patience. I am thrilled to have him there and have him be taken well care of.

Dad took a stroll outside yesterday with his rolling bed. He loved every minute of it.

The sign in front of the facility.

The great room. When you walk in the front door this is what you see.

From the door looking into Dad's room. He is in room #2

Dad's room. The hoist is not usually there. They used it to get him out of his bed and into the rolling bed.

The view out of Dad's room

Looking from Dad's door. There is an additional living area out there.

The sitting area outside of Dad's room.

The kids corner of the great room. The kids love all the games and coloring.