San Jose Memorial Service - Arrival

It was hard to fathom having my dad’s memorial service at HP Pavilion... aka the San Jose Arena... aka the Shark Tank.  The thought of it was overwhelming for me in so many ways.  Since I was putting this event together, I had to look at it from a production stand point...and I was totally overwhelmed.  

We planned to have the service at church.  How would we make the huge Shark Tank intimate?  How could we create an atmosphere that was warm and personal?  And how could we do it in a week!?!?!?

Jumbo tron outside the HP Pavilion

I was so afraid the Pavilion staff would say to me, “Okay, we will unlock the doors for you, and then you’re on your own.  Good luck.”  

Well, thank the Lord, that scenario couldn’t have been further from what happened.  Mr. Jamison, Mr. Hamnett, and the HP Pavilion staff blew us away.  I cried through our first meeting. They made their team available to us and provided us with everything we could’ve hoped for.  

Then, I called on my ‘A team.’  Boy, I have the most amazing friends....

Saturday June 19, 2010  11:00am

Our friend, Craig, had an awesome idea to include former and current football players in the service.  

The HP Pavilion has two entrances, and Craig lined up the players outside the doors – flanking both entrances.  

  

When we arrived we drove by both entrances and it was really special to see all the players lined up.  

 

People begin to enter the Pavilion

On arriving, we gathered in the green room to worship and pray before the service.

 

Mom with Brent, Coach Cattolico, and Judy

With my brother, Kale, and my niece, Noe

Coach Mariucci greets Craig

The amazing vocalists and musicians who came to help me

Tim Abbott, Annabel Blanchard, Karyn Harline, Diane & Bill Allison,
Jeanie Nuia, Mark Kenoly

Amy is the director of Family & Kids/ Early Childhood at our church.  She contacted me early on with specific ways that they could help our family.  We were deeply grateful for this gesture.  The support from our church was invaluable.   They didn't say 'call us if you need anything.'  They said, 'Here are some specific areas we can help with.'  One of those areas was with our kiddos.  On this day, Amy showed up early to the house to help with the little ones.

Our dear friend, Suzanne, flew in from Hawaii. 

Kale and Noe (18m)

Mom with Kili (3)

Ti leaf leis made by the lovely ladies from New Hope Church in Hawaii
who flew in  to dance at the service

Michael Nouri

Pastor Mike Kiley leads us in prayer

Kale and Coach Mariucci

The Andrys

As you go through these photos you will see the dark circles under my eyes.  I hadn't slept in 2 weeks.  Every moment was spent pulling all the details together for this service.  I didn't have time to think about other things, like what we were all going to wear.  Friends just showed up to help...and they were an incredible help.

Thank you to Auntie Judy who provided all of the wonderful matching Hawaiian outfits for our children (among many many other clothes, gifts and goodies she brought.)  And thank you to Nadine who provided shoes for all of our children!  This is an example of how friends appeared and helped us in so many ways we couldn't have imagined.

I'll do a separate post just on all the ways people were there for us.  It may help you in figuring out how to be there for others when they are in a similar situation.  I know it will help us to be able to be a blessing to others in the future.

Many have contacted us asking for a copy of the Memorial service.  We don’t know what we are going to do about that yet.  I don’t know if we will make physical copies available, or if we will just post it  online.  Will keep you posted...

Our Newest Addition

 This time our newest addition has four legs and a tail.  I’m not quite sure how this happened.  Keith has been talking about getting a puppy for quite some time, but so much has been going on in our lives... and I was not up for training a puppy.  I trained our lab mix, Maile, who is now about 11 years old.  The dog training school was expensive, but so valuable.  In no time she was trained to obey and heel while off leash. If only it was that quick and easy training children!

One day we were looking on the Pet Finder website just for fun.  Wow – there are lots and lots of dogs needing homes.  We found this guy – and he was not far from us.  He’d been rescued as a pup and is now about 5 months old.   Keith made plans to see him the next day.  We took the kids and visited a nice family who is a ‘foster home’ for rescued dogs.  They also had some little puppies – who were very tempting!!  If we were living on some acreage we would’ve gone home with at least two dogs.  

We had to ‘focus’ - and we definitely made the right choice.  We named him Gideon, although everyone had different ideas for names, so for the first couple of days he was called all kinds of things...Chip, Micah, Mordecai (Kapena’s choice.)  

Gideon has a wonderful demeanor, and has slowly won over Maile – the resident old lady.  He is still considered a puppy, but he is just old enough that we could read his personality.  He is great with the kids, he is already protective of them and our home, he is affectionate and friendly and is attaching to us very well.  Honestly, we didn’t give my mom much warning...about this new addition...but thankfully, Gideon won over Nani too!  

This pup has brought a welcome level of energy, curiosity, and newness into our lives. He and Kawika are the two 'littlest boys' in the house, and those two have become fast friends.  

Kawika crawls on the floor and Gideon licks him to pieces while Kawika laughs and giggles.  It will be fun to watch them grow up together.  

This new addition is a blessing!

We could just...be

It has now been more than two months since my dad went to be with the Lord.

That morning , everything seemed to stop for a moment.  Nothing else was important, or needed to be attended to.

We could just...be.

Be quiet.

Be sad.

Be reflective.

Be tired.

I am so grateful for our nurses that were there with my mom, my brother, and I that morning.  I call them ‘nurses’ here, because that is how they initially came into our lives.  They knew my dad pretty well, as they were his caregivers.  These ladies are not just ‘nurses’ to our family.  They are friends... sisters in Christ... ‘Aunties’ to my children.  They are part of our family.

On my dad’s last day with us, a few of our nurses got the word (or the ‘text’ I should say), and came in at the wee hours of the morning. For those early morning hours at his bedside in the hospital we prayed... we wept... we sang... and we laughed as we shared memories and stories my dad so would’ve enjoyed.

Finally, we slowly started to gather my dad’s things...

took down all the pictures we had plastered all over the walls...

tucked away the bible and books my mom had read to him...

packed up all the supplies we brought...

and slowly rolled out his empty wheelchair...

Quote of the day

Kapena (4) was chatting with my mom.
"Nani, is Grampa in heaven.......with Jesus?'
My mom assures Kapena that Grampa is in heaven.
pause.......pause........"When does he get out?"

Count it all JOY

 We are fervently packing up some final things and getting them out of our house.  This is all in preparation to get our house on the market.  We haven't had the time to fully settle in at my parents' house, so we are living out of boxes, which are everywhere.  We are also packing our bags to head over to Hawaii.  The memorial service there is scheduled for this Sunday – 2pm at Punahou in the chapel.


Philippians 4:4-7
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice...And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
 
This morning’s study in my daily devotional was very timely, as things with the Lord usually are.  Here is a small excerpt:

Every day we are told both explicitly and implicitly that real joy cannot exist apart from success in all our relationships and happiness with our standard of living.

...joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23), and it must be evident at some level in the life of every believer.  Joy need not be tied inescapably to our circumstances, for we have the Holy Spirit, and we can decide to rejoice always (Phil 4:4).

Of course, Christian joy does not deny the existence of pain or the legitimacy of grief.  Being made in God’s image, we are complex creatures who can be both sad and joyful at the same time...

We can grieve the death of loved ones because we no longer have personal communion with them.  At the same time, we can have a deep, abiding joy, knowing that death for the Christian is only temporary.  Christ’s death and resurrection have crushed this enemy, and now we wait for God to finally and fully defeat death when the new heaven and earth dawn (1 Cor 15:20-28; 2 Tim 1:10)

TABLETALK from Ligonier Ministries and Dr. R.C. Sproul

I think this describes well what my family is going through.  

There are tears, and we are very sad....the void, is so big... it is deafening.

But there is no despair here.  There is no hopelessness here.

We do rejoice in the Lord.  He is our rock...our strength...and all of our hope.

Warming up, rehearsing, and worshipping the Lord before the service. 


 I sang ‘Amazing Grace’ at the San Jose memorial service last Saturday.  When looking at the verses, I was interested to learn that there are more than 16 verses – some not part of the original version.  In addition to the first verse, I chose two that seemed the most fitting.

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be,
As long as life endures.

            My chains are gone
            I’ve been set free
            My God My Savior
            Has ransomed me

            And like a flood
            His mercy reigns
            Unending love
            Amazing grace

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

This is our blessed assurance...it is available only through Christ....  

Celebrating Charlie's Legacy

As you can imagine, the last 5 days have been a whirlwind for the Wedemeyer family. Even with Charlie being terminal ill for the past 34 years, we truly never planned that this day would come... and how it would impact us.  

We are resting on the promises of God, but our finite minds still wrestle with saying good bye to our husband, dad, and grandpa.

We have had an amazing outpouring of prayer, support, emails, and cards.  Again, as mentioned in prior emails, we wish we could respond to each of the hundreds responses, but Lucy and Carri are truly overwhelmed at this time.  

We are in the throes of planning Charlie's memorial service and have finally confirmed date/time/place.  This will be opened to the public.

Celebrating Charlie's Legacy  
HP Pavilion (The Shark Tank)
Saturday   June 19th
11am

A reception will follow at Calvary Church in Los Gatos - 4pm


Carri and an abundance of her friends will be working together over the next 10 days to pull together what may be the celebration of a lifetime.
 
In His Grace,
Keith Andry 

 ______________________________________________

  **** HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYERS  ****

The Wedemeyer Family would like to invite all high school football players (past and present) to wear their jerseys to the memorial service.  This includes all CCS teams.  

Please contact Craig Williams for more detail: ckkmwilliams@sbcglobal.net 

Charlie's Memorial Service TBD

Dearest Friends and Family,

First, I want to personally say thank you on behalf of the Wedemeyer family for all of your emails and phone messages.  In as much as I know they would like to personally respond to each and every one, you can imagine things are are hectic in the Wedemeyer household.

Second, many of you have asked about the memorial service.  A date and time time have not been confirmed for the service.  June 19th has been mentioned, but we are still working through the particulars. We should have a confirmation this weekend. Carri will try to email and post an update on the blog no later than Monday.

Again, we do thank you for all of you heart felt prayers.  Our hope is that all of you can rejoice with Charlie and his family, for we serve a Mighty King.

I have posted another videoclip from Don Mapes' amazing documentary "Courage to Live; The Charlie and Lucy Wedemeyer story".

In His Grace,
Keith

Charlie & Lucy Wedemeyer - Testify to Love