Family Memorial Service
Last Wednesday night we had our own little McCann family memorial service for Mom. Stephen could not make it, being 300 km away in Kingston, ON, but all the rest of us gathered in our living room at home.
We sang 3 songs: I am the Bread of Life, the Prayer of St Francis and Here I Am Lord. The last two are hymns that Ingrid remembers were songs that were especially liked by her mom. (Half way through the first song, which we opened with, somebody knocked on our front door to sell us fixed-rate electricity)-:
We read two passages from Scripture - Romans 5:5-11 and John 6:37-40. The first one was especially significant for me. Around the time that Ingrid and I got married we spent a weekend, as we often did, with Ingrid's family in Silverton, Pretoria, Ingrid and I living in Johannesburg. On the Sunday evening I took Mom to church at "Die Kasteel", the gathering place for the student Catholic Society (CathSoc) of the University of Pretoria where Father Jan Haen (the very same) was student chaplain. It must have been an amazing sermon because I can still remember that that he preached on that passage from Romans 5. It just so happens that this was also the Scripture reading for the day that Mom died - November 2nd.
We also spent some time thanking God for memories and events from Mom's life, as well as a good period of time just sharing informally with each other about some of our memories of Oma. A recurring theme was her smile and laugh.
This little family gathering to remember Mom and pray for her and the family in Holland and Scotland was an important "closing" event for all of us.
Queen's University Science Formal - 2006
How bizarre and surreal to have this event situated the day after Judith's final chemo and just two days after Mom's death, and on the weekend before her cremation.
Over a year ago, Stephen successfully applied for the position of construction manager for the 2006 (actually, class of 2007) Sci Formal at Queen's. The Sci Formal is the major dinner-dance event of the year for science and engineering students at Queen's University. There is more than a year of preparation and planning that goes into it with a crescendo of activity in the last weeks and days. Mark had the honour of doing exactly the same thing four years ago when the theme was "Fairy Tales". For a totally comprehensive explanation follow the link to Kingston Literacy. (On page 7 is a photograph of the Tower Bridge structure from Mark's year.)
So, Saturday of last weekend, the 4th November, saw all of us except Sean taking the three-hour drive down to Kingston to go and admire the work done by Stephen and his engineering and science buddies.
Ingrid and I joined Stephen and his girlfriend, Heather, for the formal dinner attended by members of The Committee and their parents, followed by a reception hosted by the Dean of Engineering. It was a grand affair and, along with all the other parents, Ingrid and I felt proud - doubly so, because we now have two sons closely associated with this event.
Ah well, now Stephen can get back to his books and labs. Here is a link to the photo album I put together.
Judith - Quo vadis?
Judith had her final chemo last week on Friday, as said previously. Where to from here?
The week of the 20th November she has another Gallium scan (Read what that is using the link on the left.) Then we have to wait till the middle of December for a CT Scan and an appointment with the oncologist who will give us the results of these tests. Please God the tests will all be negative (clear.) If so, he will tell us at what frequency she will need follow-up tests. Please continue to pray for her.
The week before Christmas Ingrid, Judith and I are booked to fly off to spend Christmas with family in Holland and Hogmanay with Ingrid's brother and his family in Scotland.
