Many days have passed... The sun rises and sets and, by God's grace, we go on.

Everyone (including us) has gone home. Elizabeth and Ray were the first to go on the Sunday night after the funeral, being called home by work and doctor's appointments at the start of the week. I (Dan) maybe should have left at the same time, in the opposite direction, but a burned out headlight and the prospect of separation from my beautiful wife made for sticky feet. So, I left Monday morning, drove back to Ottawa, showered at home, then headed to work.

Darlene flew out of Toronto Monday afternoon.

Donald and the Noble kids stayed until Wednesday before beginning the colossal trip back to the Valley in NS (Donald, you impress us so much!).

Sheri and Susan drove to St. Catharine's and spent the night in the Hildebrandt home before bringing Elizabeth back to Belleville with them on Thursday. Dad took Mark with him to work and they drove Dad's usual Thursday route into TO and back.

Thursday night, just the four kids and Dad were home together... Mom would have enjoyed that, I think. :)

Friday night, I came back... After many years of being alone, I've very quickly become dependant on God's greatest gift to me; it was a lonely week without her and I longed to see her again. And as I type that... I realize that I have no conception of what Dad is going through. And my heart breaks for him.

It was good to be together again. I know not why God has been so good to me, but I thank Him from the bottom of my heart for the amazing souls, of whom I am hardly worthy, that call me son and brother...

Saturday had pretty good weather, so Mark, Dad and I, added insulation to Dad's attic. Mark did the real work of scuttling around the attic in the insulation dust with the output hose while Dad and I took it relatively easy, feeding bales into the blower. A few hours of work followed by a bite at Timmy's made for a good day with the boys.

The girls were shopping. And made good work of it, too. All of us guys had new shirts by the end of the day...

Sunday we went to Dad's church for another great message from Pastor Visser... "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."

Dad took us all out for lunch at Swiss Chalet... and then we went our separate ways. Dad took Elizabeth to the train station before heading home himself. Sheri and I brought Mark and Susan back to Ottawa where we delivered Mark to the airport for his flight back to Calgary. He got back to his home late Sunday night and was back at his workbench first thing Monday morning...

We were lucky enough to have Susan in our home again for Sunday night and most of the day Monday before she too, took wing and headed home.

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And here we are. Sheri went back to work yesterday (Wednesday)... her coworkers have been amazingly supportive and understanding (ThankYou!) but I know they're happy to have her back.

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Thank you everyone for all of the calls, all of the cards, the gifts, the flowers, the emails, the words of encouragement... We really do feel very loved and we appreciate your care and support more than can be expressed.