Happy Father's day

So this father's day was a bit different then those in the past. Growing up without a dad, we didn't really do father's day. When i married Josh we started celebrating with his dad and family. Then in 2008 we had Bella. It became Josh's day. Now it's a shame he's not here to actually celebrate it. He loved being a dad. He work so hard for his kids to have whever they needed. He had so many plans of things he wanted to teach our kids. It was the right thing to spend the morning of father's day with Grandpa, becuase clearly Bella picked up fishing from her daddy. I pray that Max will too. But at the same time I wanted us to be with daddy. 

This post is for you, Josh... Daddy to Bella and Max forever and always

 

The kids wrote letters for daddy. We put them in a box to keep at Josh's grave

We stopped for ice cream first, since Daddy would have enjoyed that. So it kind of looks like the ice cream is there for him. Not shown are the dogs that are int he back of my car. We brought them with since we hadn't been home in 2.5 days.

These kids love their daddy and have no fears about hanging out at a grave site. I think it's really  helped to have a place to go to connect with Josh. They often ask to go there and stop. This is just a part of our reality. 

There is always something interesting when we stop. Some new bugs, running around like an airplane, checking for birds and squrrials. I hope to some day catch the farmer in the field too. 

Posted to FB:Happy Father's day, sweetheart! You loved being a dad so much. You taught your kiddos so much. I see so much of them in you. Today your baby girl went o the spillway for the first time. She did great and so patient waiting for fish. I think you were there giving her little fishing tips. Maxs testing the waters because he wanted to make something or see how something works, just like you. Little things make us miss lots today. I hope that you were able to celebrate up in heaven with all the other dad's that are missed on eath.

(just to keep everything in one location)

The day he went home to God

Joshua Adam Warpinski

July 31st 1983- February 27th 2016

Beloved Husband, Father and Son

On the afternoon of February 27 2016, God welcomed into his eternal kingdom Joshua Adam Warpinski, age 32, from Lake Mills, WI.  He bravely fought a four year battle with pancreatic cancer before going to his eternal rest at Rainbow Hospice in Johnson Creek, WI.

Josh was born on July 31^st, 1983, to Martin Warpinski and Della Jahnke, at their home in Lancaster, WI.  He was the second oldest of six children.  As a child, he enjoyed being active, getting involved in hunting and fishing, working with farm animals, and participating in wrestling at school.  Josh graduated from Lancaster High School in 2002, and went on to study at Southwest Technical College.  In 2007, he married Katie (Allen) of Watertown, WI. Together in 2008 they purchased Brownie Farms in Stitzer, WI to fulfil Josh’s dream of being a organic dairy farmer. .  In 2008, they welcomed into the world their first child, a daughter named Isabella Marie, and in 2011 their family grew again with the birth of their son, Maxon Charlie.  They moved to Lake Mills, WI in 2014, after a recurrence of cancer, and Josh began work in construction and electrical assembly of Eaton.  He actively involved himself at Saint Clements Catholic Parish in Lancaster, WI, and then at Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Parish in Jefferson, WI, as an usher and a Knight of Columbus, and lived his Catholic faith in every aspect of his life.

He leaves behind his loving wife, Katie, and two children, Isabella and Maxon.  He will also be greatly missed by his father, Martin and Judy Warpinski, his mother Della Jahnke, his sister Kara and Anthony Stewart, his sister Rachel and Joel Sandersen and their children, Alexandria and Samuel, his brother Jeremiah and Kimberly Warpinski and their son Xander, his brother Benjamin Warpinski, his sister Olivia Warpinski, his Mother-in-law Mary Allen, his sister-in-law Tracey and Andrew Fox and their children Sara, Elyse, and Drew, his step-sisters Jennifer and Daniel Ward, Jill and Marc Reichardt, and Melody Dobson, his grandmother Mary Ruth Warpinski, his grandparents Clifford and Ruby Jahnke, his many godchildren, aunts and uncles, and cousins, and his beloved blue truck.

 He is preceded in death by his grandfather Louis Warpinski, his aunt Karen Winrich, his aunt Rosella Jahnke, and his Uncle Duane Jahnke.

Services will be held on Saturday,March 5, 2016 at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Jefferson, WI.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. John the Baptist School, or a trust account for the family at Premier Bank in Jefferson, WI.

The last happy day

While Josh was in a lot of pain post the First communion, he managed to have a semi ok day at home with the family on Sunday. We opted out of church instead having Fr. come to us. We just let Josh rest, take pain meds on time and be with us.

This was a lot of Josh last few days at home. Bella spent the most time with him, she would be close but not too close. 

By 11pm this night Josh's pain was so unbearable that he asked to be transfered to Rainbow Inpatient center to control the pain. We knew then he probably wouldn't come home again. 

Josh got released on Tuesday and so sweetly went along to Gildas with me and the kids. He was so comforting to drive with us. He was miserable and hated that he couldn't eat real food. It was good for the soul though. We bumped up family pictures just in case Josh wouldn't make it to Bella's first communion. No one could tell us how he would do or how much longer he would make it. Every day something new seemed to happen. he did have some good days and still made it out about about. 

I pulled Bella out of school early for us to get our hair done. We got done early so we went to the coffee shop to get a treat. 

waiting on Daddy. Naturally the day of pictures wasn't a good day. Josh was weak and fighting a bloody nose. 

This was how Daddy like to spend time with the kids. Max and him played wii. Chicken shoot is Max's favorite game. Josh could beat us all. 

It was a rough day, but we smiled because it was one more day together

Rainbow Hospice

So Josh earned him a stay at Rainbow Hospice inpatient center. While we weren't happy to have him gone, it gave us a chance to check out the place and show the kids a positive visit to it. We knew that eventually Josh would die here instead of at home, so it was nice to find out about the place.
he was there three nights 2 days. We brought the kids up to see him and they did ok with visiting him tehre. It was hard on me knowing he didn't have a lot of time left and unknown of what would happen there.
We found out that he had bowel issues and was now on a liquid diet. Oh he was not a happy camper about that, but we made the best of it. Josh learned to live for Soup!

So yah that thing happened

Beginning of February our lives changed and not for the better. Josh had some issues with his drains which led to us finding out that the tumor was taking over and hospices was our only choice. His time left with us was down to weeks. Our lives were turned upside down. Josh was pretty miserable the last month, but tried to put on a good face for the kids. It was so hard for me to turn over the care of him to someone else and knowing that i couldn't make it better for him. We put on hold any plans of doing things other then just being a family. We had some family come to help out, i stopped working and focused on doctor's appointments, nurse visits, shuttling the kids around and learning about hospice life.
there has been so much since i last updated. I want to try to remember some of it, but since it's almost May, i know i will have forgotten.  I have a few separate post to make about big events like Bella's first Communion, family pictures, our trip to florida and our lives since Josh passed away.
Thank you to those who have bared with me..i haven't forgotten this blog.

So the Josh earned himself a three day hospital stay, we got a "blizzard" so i stayed up at the hospital with him while my mom held down the fort with the kids. it was Catholic schools week so bella had fun dressing up. Josh then spent what Good time he had with the kids, building things, playing games or watching movies.

Western day

Watching a movie together

Roller skating with my girl

Poms performace

Flowers from my sweet heart

Playdough fun

The hospital days...

So you can visit Josh's caringbridge site to know what happened with him. I did mange to take a few pictures while he was in the hospital. My days were spent making sure he was ok, getting nurses for him, taking walks and reading a book while he napped. At night I stayed at a friends or back to my moms. Thankfully the stay was only 5 days this time.

530am in waiting for josh to go to preop. This was kind of worrisome as I wondered if this would be the last picture of us.

The view foe icu

24 hours after surgery I got this :-) 

Upgraded views with a room change...snowy Saturday morning at the capital

Real food!

Yeah a new picture of us! 

The capital at night.....

Going home

A couple of the kiddos. I haven't seen any pictures from when I wasn't around

This is what the missed the most when I was gone

Yes she had to do homework since she missed two days of school