Jeff just celebrated 25 years with Cutco!  We love and are so thankful for Cutco!  They have been so good to us!  At a meeting they acknowledged him and wanted us to each write a note. They were put in a book along with many wonderful, kind, encouraging letters from fellow Cutco people.    Here's what we said: 

Daddy, thanks for calling me! Thanks for taking us places. Thanks for giving me a bath. Thanks for taking us hunting. Thanks for working so hard that we can buy stuff. I like Cutco that you can cut stuff up, but I can’t touch it!

Love you Daddy!

Lydia Faith

(5 years old)

Wy I am thankfull for Cutco is becase you can cut stuff up. Wy I am thankfull for my Dad is becase he teaches me a lot. Thank you for all the fruit and cookies, mostly the cookies!

Love you!

Ben

I am thankfull

(7 years old)

I’m thankful for Cutco knives and things, for hunting and for cutting and lots of other stuff! I’m thankful for Dad cause he takes time to take us hunting! Fishing! Fun trips! And so many other things. He is the best preacher of the bible and works so hard so we can heat and cool the house. You are AWESOME and SWEET, loving us at all times! Dad, you are the best dad!

Love you tons

Joey

(age 9)

Dear Dad,

I love you so much. I like how you put Christ first. It has really encouraged me. I love to hunt with you, fish with you, go somewhere with you, talk with you, hear you preach, be around you, to bush-hog with you, hang tree stands with you, to drive you around, Dad, YOU’RE THE BEST!!!!!!

Love you!!!!!

Love, Matt

Cutco,

I like that my dad works with the company. I also like the Cutco products, especially my own knife, thank you Dad! I’m thankful for Cutco and my dad!

Thank you all for the packages! They are very tasty!

Love Matt

(11 years old)

Dear Dad,

Thank you for working so hard for us (for 25 years!!), and for being the Spiritual leader in our home.

Some of my favorite things about Dad are: when he takes me hunting, when he calls me “Emmylou”

and asks how I’m doing, that he does Bible studies with us every night, and tells me he loves me. I love you Dad!!
~Emily Grace
To Cutco: Thank you for all the fun packages we get in the mail, they are delicious!

(14 years old)

Congratulations, Dad, on 25 years with CUTCO! Thanks for being the greatest Dad EVER! Also, thanks a bunch to CUTCO for being such a wonderful and SHARP company!

-Daniel Kunkel

(16 years)

Dad,

Thanks for being a great example of someone who works hard to provide for his family. I really appreciate all that you've done for our family, and the example that you show of integrity. I can only hope to be as good of a father as you are to all of us.

Love, Rob

(19)

Dear Dad,

Congratulations! 25 years is impressive! Thanks for being a great Dad. Thanks for taking me to the orchestra concert when I was younger, and for going with me to the fiddle concert last winter! Thanks for trying to teach me how to swing a baseball bat. ;) You've been an incredible husband and father. Thank you for giving Elijah and I an example of a family that follows after God. I love you!

Megan (21 and happily married)

To the love of my life;

Of the 30 years I’ve known you, Cutco has been a part of our lives for 25 of those years. It seems like a branch of our family tree. I deeply admire your genuine love for the product, the company and those you work with. I, personally, have been abundantly blessed by Cutco time and time again! From a paycheck that meets our families' needs and wants, to an awesome product that is put to great use on our counter several times a day. From a group of amazing people who seem more like family than friends, to special holiday gifts, dinners and trips. I am in constant awe by such generosity and ever so grateful!

I remember how excited you were when you first got the job to sell Cutco! The practice presentations on me and my roommates. The cutting and polishing. More cutting and polishing. The moves throughout the Midwest, raising babies and reps. What an incredible privilege to see you grow into a man, a business man, husband and father. I’m so proud of you! It's been a joyous, most thrilling run so far!

Thank you for being you! Thank you for being passionate, fun, purposeful, loyal, intentional and driven. Thank you for your integrity and character! Thank you for calling home every night you're away to tell me you love me! I so appreciate all that you do for all of us! I have more love and respect for you in my heart than should ever be allowed!

Forever yours,

Karen (a bit older than Jeff) Psalm 62:12 And that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love. For you will render to a man according to his work. 1 Corinthians 3:13 Every man's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. Col. 3:23 Whatever you do, do heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.

Merry Kissmas and a Happy New Year!!

I, Emily, LOVE, taking pictures!! :-) So, you are subject to lots of photos! We are enjoying the snow, by sledding, of course. (and Mom went into the creek...) Anyway, the top couple ones are when we went to go get our Christmas tree. Dad and a couple of boys were hunting and a storm was coming, so we were missing a couple of people.

This is Mom, she had her hood snapped on wrong, which was entertaining. ;-)

There was alot of discussion going on about which was THE PERFECT TREE. (ok, I'll admit, it was mostly me saying it wasn't perfect.) Joey is saying "Come on."

Lydia kept saying, "This is our tree!"

Once we finally found THE TREE, Robbie made sure... "This is the one?"

Joey, dragging the tree.....:-)

We had to imitate Love Come's Softly.....By riding the christmas tree!

:-) This was funny!

The dog at the Christmas tree farm. Isn't it cute?

And big? And strong? YES. Mom was having a real tug of war with it!

?????? UMMM, not so sure about this....

This was on top of Dad and Mom's wedding cake. They got married December 16 and just had their 23rd anniversary!

Making Christmas cookies!

Robbie making his cookie!

Robbie and Mom laughing at ???

Ben, frosting his cookies.

Which he decided to do very thickly.

Lydia was very careful...

And very focused!!

However, they tasted delicious!!

Elijah and Megan!!

Lydia eating her chocolate bar! (I don't think she ate it alllll.?????)

Lydia and her hat, which she wore alot!

Matthew and the book "The adventure's of Jimmy Skunk"

Daniel and his M&M shirt!

Megan and Elijah when they opened a present which said "You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you" (which is from Pride and Prejudice)

Emily with her purse!

Dad when he opened Ground Kangaroo!!

"!!!!!!!!!!"

Joey and his burger t-shirt. (if it is far away, it looks like a "scenery scene," which kinda made Joe go "huh?" then when he figured it out, he loved it!

Ben getting ready to eat a crunch candy bar!! :) Then, I asked if I could take some pictures of Megan and Elijah, and they most obligingly agreed!! :D (Be fore-warned....kissing pictures ahead...you can't stop 'em. (But I didn't try) :D

We had a Christmas dinner, and had some friends over from church!!

Then I went outside, after it snowed (YEAH!!!) and took some pictures!

So anyway, we had a awesome Christmas! Now we're looking forward to New Years and Dad's Birthday, which is Dec. 31st! And, Daniel got two "wabbits," which will be very tasty!!

January 11, 2012

This was the date of Robbie's EP test.  Going into the test both of his cardiologist were 99.9% sure that he would need a pacemaker.  His heart monitoring was showing his heart slowing and then actually skipping beats.  A pacemaker would kick start his heart to beat more regularly.

A pacemaker would mean a drastic change of life.  No sports, no wrestling, no flipping siblings because of the sensitive spot the pacemaker is positioned.  And Robbie has always known a life full of all the above!  But it would allow him to function normal, not be so tired and drained.

In attepts to try everything we could to avoid a pacemaker, and prove those doctors wrong, we suggested to Robbie that he cut out everything that would potentially cause heart problems such as caffiene and sugar.  So for 3 months before, during all the festive holidays, he complied to no avail. 
He actually got worse.  In our minds it assured us that he really did need a pacemaker because he was like an 80 year old sitting in a chair most of the day unable to do much of anything.

One of the most encouraging part of all this was the friends and family that surrounded us with uplifting, encouraging, prayers, visits, and cards.  We affirmed that we are surrounded by so many amazing, godly people, who poured out such a love that makes such a trial bearable.

Robbie's CP friends collected money for him to fly to the west coast for a retreat.  This was to take place just 10 days after his surgery, and worried a mother's heart.  But I had the assurance of Sam as a guardian.  This meant so much because it gave Robbie something to look forward to, assurance that life would go on with a pacemaker.  It touched all of us to witness such generosity and love from these young folks.

Before the surgery we went and played lots of basketball.  Jeff and Robbie had been playing on a church league and it was a sad last game.  All the players gathered around and prayed for Robbie and the upcoming surgery it was really a touching moment.  The night before we all went to the college for a family game, split up and had a blast.  Bittersweet for sure!

Jeff, Robbie and I went to stay at the hospital the night before to be sure we were ready at 6am!  The hospital accommidations were fine, except we couldn't get the shower to work.  We called the maintenance man and he tried to explain things over the phone, "Pull this lever."  Me, "Uh, sir, there is no lever."  Him, "Oh, there is a lever!" He finally came and looked and couldn't believe there was no lever.  So we showered with a bucket.  Fitfully slept, with the heat stuck on high so the windows had to be open, listening to a lullaby of sirens around busy Detroit. 

When we woke up Robbie suggested we read Psalm 91, his favorite, before we go, and we prayed.

Things moved quickly and other than a small wait in the waiting room, just long enough to realize that our problems aren't nearly as bad as to what other's are going through.  In a timely fashion he was ushered into surgery and we waited.  Oh, that is always the worst!  It's so humbling, so hard to see so many people hurting!  I would look and wonder if these people had the Lord to lean on and trust the end of the day to.

Jeff and I were quiet, this was no fun.  They were taking longer than suggested.  Finally, our doctor with a strong Indian accent called us into a room.  He started explaining things in a foreign terminology.  I was lost the first 5 minutes of the explaination, until I heard him say, "so he doesn't need a pacemaker".  What?  Jeff and I looked at each other in unbelief.  That was just what we wanted to hear!  We hugged and cried and thanked God!

Until we could see Robbie we tried to piece together what the doctor explained.  He has a hyper active vagel nerve.  This nerve is what calms the adrenalin that our bodies build from exercise or excitement that can make our heart beat fast.  The vagel nerve slows the heart back to normal.  But normal isn't good enough for Robbie's vagel nerve, his likes to go extreme, slowing the heart too slow, even skipping beats.

So the cure?  Caffeine!  That's why he was getting worse when we took him off of caffeine and sugar the previous months.  Caffeine will keep his vagel nerve more active and keep his heart rate from dropping.

It's been an experiment to see how much caffeine and how often to get to a point to feel back to normal, but it's working!  And without it he's quickly back to feeling bad and not functioning.  He's adapted to rich, hot, black coffe, but truly loves a cold Mountain Dew!

The doctor said he may outgrow this in a couple of years, so we'll see.  For now he's so thankful to be active and living and enjoying life as normal as we know it!

Hebrews 12:1  Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the reace that is set before us.