Greetings,
Thank you to everyone for your support in making Lisa's Labyrinth a reality -- it is now complete! It looks amazing and we are planning on a dedication on September 10 at 1 pm at St Timothy's Episcopal Church (8101 Beechmont Ave, Cincinnati 45255). Even if you are unable to attend the dedication, I hope you are able to come and walk it at your convenience. I know Lisa would love the labyrinth and would receive great joy in people making it a part of their spiritual discipline. 

I also want to thank all of you for your amazing generosity. Thank you for the meals, gift cards, flowers, gifts, notes, emails, texts, and phone calls. It has been overwhelming. I have struggled to send thank you cards and too often, have failed to reply to texts or emails. I am sorry--I am truly grateful and please know that my poor response has nothing to do with how grateful I am. 

I think many want to know how we are doing. It is a hard question to answer and when asked, I often go with, "we are hanging in there." Let me see if I can do a better job here. The kids seem to be doing as well as can be expected. I have been able to take a lot of time off from work and will not be returning until October, providing me time to dedicate to the kids. The return to school has gone ok. Each milestone we cross is hard, and starting a new school year without Lisa is no exception, but the kids have done their best. The kids and I stayed busy over the summer, spending time in New Hampshire, riding a lot of roller coasters here in Ohio, and swimming nearly daily. My cooking skills have improved, although I still have a ways to go: Tom told me last week that my home made biscuits were not just a little dry, they were so dry that they sucked all saliva out of his mouth... I told Tom that perhaps he didn't need to be so honest! The blog post, Widowhood Is More Than by Alisha Bozarth, better sums up where I am than I possibly could. This is hard. We are getting plenty of help (professional and from friends and family).

We miss Lisa more than words can say. It is painful joy to talk about and share memories of Lisa--when you visit, please do not hesitate to talk about her! I am always thinking of Lisa, so don't think you should avoid the topic, but as one widow shared with me, "don't feel uncomfortable by my tears." We all love and miss her.

Thank you again and I hope to see many of you soon,
Chris Bernheisel