Carolyn and Corinne

Diane and I are overjoyed with the presentation of our Fathers Day referral, but before we share with you some of our joy, I would to take of few moments with our greater FANA family.

For the Kedge friends and family members that come to this web site without the underlying back ground about what I am about to touch upon, our FANA family has suffered the sudden and tragic loss of Carloyn Van Schaik, a vibrant and engaging member of our very tight community and the mother of two precious daughters.

Carolyn Van Schaik

Over the next few weeks our FANA group will look to the Kedge's Caringbridge page for diversion, a diversion from much pain in our loss of Carolyn, a diversion of hope, a diversion to the promise of long held dreams fulfilled, the diversion that binds us all, a diversion that I promise to deliver on. But, before I can begin, I need to do what most all members of the extended FANA family need to do before we can carry on with our joys, our work, our responsibilities; I really need to let the tears flow as they will.

Crying is a uniquely human gift we (especially us guys) too often feel we need to suppress. To cry is to allow ourselves to escape the spiral that attempts to make spiritual sense of something that cannot possibly make sense. To allow ourselves to cry gives us the opportunity to reach a peace that will eventually allow grace to intervene. Tears will allow us to sleep so that we can handle the challenges of our days ahead. It will expose our vulnerability to our partners and even our older children who seek to validate and share with us their own fears.

Predestination never did it for me. If I am to believe freewill, then I have to believe that my god is as devastated as I. He cries with me. He holds me as I collapse in His arms and encourages me to let the tears flow. Please borrow Him.

I consider myself fortunate to have been acquainted with Carolyn. I will hold with me her excitement at the home coming for her second daughter. I will remember her disappointment at coming home so soon, because "...we were having so much fun!" I will remember her enthusiasm and grip on the crowd while she spoke at the annual board meeting; a command that needed no balky microphone. And I will remember and hold dear our casual conversations at FANA events.

To Carolyn's husband Rob: Let your God and your FANA family carry you. My heart, thoughts and prayers are with you over the next few days. I cannot comprehend you and your girl's loss, but I can promise you that I will go to Bogotá to seek and return with the joy that binds us.

Now onto that joy! Diane and I have come to a decision on that bundle of joy's name. Her FANA given name is Diana (Dee-anna), which really put goose bumps on Diane's goose bumps upon getting the referral. We will retain that special name as her middle name and her first name (trumpets sound) will be Corinne!

Sorry if I go on too much, but rambling is a tendency that is hard to break, but I wish to share with you a short story. When I was 9 or 10yrs old, I brought home a cat. Mom and Dad relented and Oscar the cat became a member of the Kedge family. Well, little Oscar wasn't “Oscar” for long, probably not more than a day. In a family filled with 4 boys, when Mom found out Oscar was female, not only was the poor feline renamed, but also it wasn't my cat anymore!

Like myself, Diane's siblings are all brothers. We have 5 wonderful nephews (no nieces). The extended Kedge family now has their princess! I share this with you for two reasons: 1) FANA has made Diane's and my dreams of a family with children come true but to try and put words to that joy for all our FANA friends would be a lot like preaching to the choir. So, we would like to take this last opportunity to give voice to the joy that FANA has brought to the extended Kedge family. Like most FANA parents, our extended families patiently endured with us our long journey extending every prayer and every hope. They all bask in a joy that FANA has made possible.

I did say two reasons and the second falls into the "public service" category: 2) If you are looking for a small cute pink dress, you may have to mail order from a distant land or wait for fall fashions, since Mom has already canvassed the Buffalo Metropolitan area.

We would also like to extend a note of appreciation to Peter, Deb and Mathew Cullen who have long journeyed with us and got to present Corinne’s referral to us on a magical Fathers Day! At the end of that night, Nick said to Mat, “You are a good friend!” To which Mat replied enthusiastically, “YA!”

Stay tuned for more caring on about Corinne...