Just thought I should post this as Diane has had our cousin Mari on her prayer list, she passed away today. She's had cancer for about a year. She has a husband, three kids who are 10, 12 & 13. Pray for that family.

Tribute to Diane Unrau

Diane was born on June 27, 1967 in the MacGregor hospital to Herman and Frances Dyck. She started her life near Gladstone. From there she moved to Austin and then to MacGregor. Two weeks after moving to MacGregor, she got married to William Unrau. God blessed their marriage with three children, Brenten, Jodiene, and Janae. In recent years Diane and William took Savanah Waldner in as their own daughter. Here are some memories Diane’s sisters would like to share with you.

Diane started school in Gladstone, but before she went to school, Mom wanted her to learn how to speak Low German, to which Diane answered “I don’t need to, because you can already understand me”.

She must have learned Low German because whenever she didn’t want Brenten and Jodiene to know what she was talking about when she was on the phone, she would speak in Low German. Although they would say, “Mom I can understand your German because it is mostly English”.

Later in life she learned more Low German because when she worked on family history books, she worked with people who couldn’t speak English very well, so she spoke to them in Low German. She spent a lot of time working on family history and really enjoyed it.

Diane loved all kinds of animals, except snakes and spiders. In the early years, Mom would go to the garden to pick cucumbers and would run back to the house and tell Brenda and Diane to go to the garden to kill a snake. Mom doesn’t like snakes either. They each took a hoe to the garden and they would scream as soon as they saw the snake and then they would start swinging their hoe at the snake. After they had killed the snake, they would bury it and have a funeral for it and cover the grave with dandelions. The next day to make sure the snake was still dead, they would dig it up, but they could never find them again. Later in life there was a time when she was at the cabin and went to use the outhouse. She didn’t realize that it was already occupied by a snake. When she opened the door everyone in the campground instantly heard about it.

When the family lived in Austin, Dad had a lot of moles in the alfalfa field. He paid the girls .25 per mole that they trapped. Diane and Brenda would take their little red wagon to the field with their traps. Diane did all the work, Brenda was just there for moral support.

Diane also loved milking cows. She was Mom’s right hand man when Dad was sick or when he went hunting. Diane especially loved calving season. She loved seeing the new baby calves and taking care of them.

Diane always loved cooking and baking. During one of her first attempts as a child, she made a pot of tomato soup and used way too much baking soda. The soup bubbled out of the pot and all down the side of the stove.

Diane also tried grossing her sisters out by eating food and then showing her sisters what it looked like after she had chewed it for a while. Diane found chocolate worked the best because it looked more disgusting than other foods.

Diane learned to cook at a young age. When Mom and Dad went to communion, she and her sisters invented the omelet before they were popular. Here’s the recipe. Crack a couple of eggs into a bowl, add a package of Lipton’s Chicken Noodle soup, crush some soda crackers into the mix, add some seasoning salt, and whatever else smelled like it would taste good. Stir, dump in hot frying pan, hope for the best, but, usually feed it to the dog, whose name was Lucky, go figure.

From those early child hood experiences, she became an amazing chef. For anyone that had the privilege to eat at her table you know this to be true.

Diane was very talented artistically. She took a course from Aunt Bernice in Grandma and Grandpa Friesen’s basement on how to decorate cakes. She worked at Food Town decorating cakes for a couple of years. After she quit, she continued decorating cakes for family and friends for special occasions.

Diane was also very good at drawing. She drew a lot of cartoon characters, scenery, and animals. Her talent for drawing started at a young age when Diane and Brenda were supposed to be in bed, but they would draw on each other’s backs and try to guess what the other person was drawing. Diane also loved to do crafts and used her talents for DVBS and choir.

Diane’s artistic talents did not include sewing. Once she was trying to sew a doll outfit and she accidentally put the needle right through her finger. Mom had to push her finger down to get the needle out. This instance scared her for life. Ever since, she hated sewing.

Diane loved gardening. She would always plant more than they needed so they could share with friends and family. She liked to start her plants from seed and to get her garden off to an early start, William made her a mini green house. Diane called it her “grow op”. The garden was always Diane’s, no one else could touch it.

Diane did not like the sight of blood. Once she cut her foot on a register and she turned ghostly white. Her sisters weren’t sure how she could ever have children, but she did. When Brenten was young, he cut his finger, but Diane couldn’t put the bandage on his finger, so she sent him over to Grandma Unrau’s house when they lived on the farm together so that she could bandage it.

She conquered this fear of blood and in the last year Diane started giving herself needles as part of her treatment. She actually preferred doing it herself over someone else doing it.

Diane’s all time favorite activity was fishing. Her love of fishing started at a young age. It all started because Dad needed a fishing partner and Diane was always available. Fishing came naturally for Diane. She could fish day and night. Even when she had scary experiences on the boat, like the time when the boat motor died out in the middle of Cross Lake. Of course the wind picked up and created some huge white caps. Dad figured, Diane would never get in a boat again, but we know that didn’t happen. Another time Diane got a barbed hook embedded in her leg and she had to go to the Gladstone hospital to get it removed. Even this experience did not deter her from her love of fishing. If us guys tried to sneak out of the cabin at 5:00 am to go fishing, Diane always went along. When Diane caught a fish, almost everyone on the lake knew about it. She had a hard time keeping it a secret. “Oh-oh Gotta him”

As much as Diane loved fishing, she was terrified of water. She didn’t even like to go swimming or tubing. But three years ago Pete and Verna joined the family at the lake and after a lot of persuasion, Verna was able to convince Diane to go tubing with her. They screamed the entire time.

Diane accepted Christ into her life at the age of 12 and was baptized in 1985 in the MacGregor Bergthaler Church. Once Diane found out that she had cancer she became more vocal in her faith. She started a blog where she posted what she was going through and became a real inspiration to all those that read it. We figure at least 130 people regularly read her blog and were influenced by her, but likely many hundreds more. In her entries she would talk about what she was going through and even though she would have a tough day, she was always more concerned for others and included prayer requests for them. She had a real concern for people who were struggling both physically and spiritually. Her concern included a dream of hers where cancer patients and their family’s could be cared for in a loving, Christian, home-like, environment where they could be supported through their physical struggles and encouraged with an eternal hope. Diane felt for those people she met through her struggle with cancer who felt they had no hope like she did. She wanted us to come up with a name for her home. We think “Diane’s House of Hope” is a great name. A highlight for Diane this past year was modeling in the Cancer Care fashion show. She really enjoyed getting her hair and makeup done. The pictures you see here today are from that fashion show. She was beaming and her joy bubbled over onto everyone in attendance.

Here is something Diane put on her blog on September 1, 2009.
In Happy moments - Praise God
In Difficult moments - Seek God
In Quiet moments - Worship God
In Painful moments - Trust God
In Every Moment - Thank God

Here are some of Diane’s favorite scripture verses which she drew her strength from and posted on her blog:

“I can do all things through Christ who gives me Strength” Phil 4:13

“And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed” Deuteronomy 31:8

“Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. Lamentation 3:22-23

It is God who arms me with strength, And makes my way perfect. Psalm 18:32

And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5:3-4

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Diane's funeral is Sunday August 22, 2:30 at the Sommerfeld Church in MacGregor, MB

Well this might be the last post for me as Diane went to her new home in Heaven this evening. Myrna and I were singing and didn't realize that she had peacefully passed away. She had a really rough week and now she's in a better place. Thanks for all your prayers, for touching her life, I know she's touched yours. Keep the family in your prayers.

Update: since the last blog Diane has been drinking a little bit and also tasting a bit of food. All of us sisters were together last weekend with her. Dwayne and i took Brenda back to Estevan on Sunday. Every monday, wednesday and friday morning she gets a sponge bath from a nurse that comes in, actually we call it a bird bath because that's what Diane would call it. Myrna and I miss her calling us on the phone or we would like to call her especially when it comes to making something to eat. She's an awesome cook and always knew how to make anything or would be willing to try something new. We would be exchanging quite a few recipes. Thanks for all your prayers and i'll try to keep you posted.

Just came from Diane's and really i don't know what to say. She's in bed all the time now. She's not eating only getting her mouth moistened every once in a while. We don't know how long it will be but pray for the family, they really need your prayers at this time. It hurts me to see her like this but i know soon she'll be in a better place.

Diane has been home since last friday from the hospital. She had a rough couple of days and then she seemed to be doing a little better. We stopped by yesterday on our way home from the lake and she was pretty good. Today I was there all day and it was really hard. Diane slept until lunch which was good but the whole day she seemed really mixed up. She wasn't drinking much and she had a rough day. Diane has a hospital bed at home now but she's unable to walk so there's alot of lifting to do. Pray for a better day tomorrow. Also pray for strength for William and the kids.