remember

We're remembering Mike's Grandpa Krol today.  He passed away this morning after struggling with his health for awhile.  We're so glad he was able to meet and hold Caleb and Logan.  The above photo is from a visit soon after the boys were born.  We had more visits over the last several months, but I did not take photos as Grandpa just didn't look like the man we knew and want to remember.  The last few times we visited he was still able to hold the boys a bit, and they both smiled real nice for him too - I was so proud of them!  :)

This is a bittersweet day.  Even though we can rejoice that Grandpa is with his Heavenly Father, and be thankful that he is no longer suffering, it is still sad to see someone special go.  He's probably pretty busy praising God, but hopefully he's had a chance to be reunited with Mike's dad after 15 long years.

It wasn't that long ago that Grandpa was still able to joke around and tease - when we would visit and one of the boys would cry he would say that must be a Steenwyk trait...  Before the boys were born he insisted on calling them Claus and Jake (he would say it like Yay-kee).  This past fall when his health was failing and we weren't sure if he would get a chance to meet the boys, we wanted him to know the names we planned on using even though it was a secret to everyone else.  He didn't want us to tell him because he was worried that with all the drugs he was on he would just blurt them out sometime.  :)  So, we just made sure he knew that one of the boys would have Harold for a middle name, and we didn't tell him anything else.

We certainly appreciate the good example of a Christian man that Grandpa Krol has been, and also Grandpa and Grandma's lasting marriage.  The below photo was taken at their 60th wedding anniversary celebration a couple years ago.