I want to give a huge unofficial thank-you to the entire Holy Trinity community, all of the clergy, and all of our friends and family who were at services this past week both in body and in spirit... I know a lot of you wanted to be there but couldn't make it - I still thank you for your support!! It was so beautiful to see so many different people all brought together in the same place and feeling the same thing - as it was said so many times this week, that's what my dad was all about, and I'm sure he is just beaming to see it :)

If anyone missed the obituary in the Post-Gazette paper, here's the link:

Led Several Greek Parishes

From the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

Rev. David B. Sedor

Please note the addition of visitation hours on Monday night... we will be driving up tomorrow from Pittsburgh so take it easy on us - it will be a long day :)

As we come up to the first 24 hours without dad, I feel like we are all still trying to wrap our heads around something that is just way too big for any one of us individually. I know that being together as a family of relatives and a bigger family of friends is the only way to get through this and realize that although there is much pain and sorrow for us here on earth, dad is now free of this world and we should rejoice for him.

We are starting that slow process on Friday at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Pittsburgh, PA. Schedule as of this moment is as follows:

Friday @ HT: 6-8pm visitation, 7pm Trisagion

Saturday @ HT: 9am orthros, 10am Liturgy of St. Stephen, followed by funeral service

Over the weekend we will be traveling to New York to be with our extended family there. Services will be taking place at St. Michael's Orthodox Church in Binghamton, NY.

Tuesday @ St. M's: 9-10am visitation, 10am liturgy

I will post another update when there are more details to give. I hope that despite everything, everyone is enjoying the holiday break and taking advantage of this time to be together with their family... much love!

As many of you already know, my dad passed away this afternoon after a long week of battling complications from bypass surgery. One of the most beautiful experiences in my life happened this morning as we were saying goodbye - dad happened to be awake for a few minutes and mom said "You need to go with God now", and he nodded his head and closed his eyes. I know that often when families experience a sudden loss, there is a lot of anger toward God and others - but I don't feel anything like that at all. I know that dad is where he belongs, and that he has touched so many lives that his memory will always live with us. On behalf of my entire family, I thank every one of you for the outpouring of love and support through this entire situation; I know it would have been unbearably harder without you.

I will let everyone know when we've made arrangements for visitation and services, which will most likely occur in Pittsburgh, PA this Friday/Saturday, and Binghamton, NY on Monday or Tuesday.

Much love -

We had a nice talk with a friend of our family who is a doctor here in Pittsburgh, and who has been a sort of "liaison" between the critical care doctors and us. He sat down with the entire family and explained that although things have been calm with dad's heart since Saturday, other parts of his body are getting worse, and in general things are not looking good. We are ready to leave it in dad's and God's hands - whatever they decide, we will accept. I'll try to keep everyone updated over the next few days as we wait.

We are so appreciative for the support everyone has given us during this extremely hard time for our family. Love you all!

Aunt Mary Sue (AMS) and Grandma Joyce came in late last night so mom was happy to see them. We welcomed them with some sub-zero wind chills, but apparently it's supposed to be about 50 degrees tomorrow, so maybe it will seem a bit more like home!

Mom went in to visit dad this morning and he responded to her requests for him to blink... we're just taking it easy now and letting him rest and stay calm, since we've had no heart problems since Saturday afternoon. His heart is still fragile, so we're waiting on pins. Kim's got the day off, so Amy is dad's nurse today - she's been doing a good job of knowing what information she can tell what family members - Tami and I always hear the most :)

Much love!

Good Nights and Pleasant Tomorrows

Just went in for evening visiting hours... mom was talking to dad and coaxed another nod out of him :) Chad, the night nurse, said we need to keep him calm and let him rest for now, so we just had a quick visit and will be waiting patiently for the next update.

Aunt Mary Sue and Grandma Joyce (mom's family) are coming in from Florida tonight - they are going to get quite a shock when they walk out into this single-digit weather! Christi and Candi - keep up your hilarious comments... I always get excited when I see that you've written a new one ;) (actually, I get excited when I see that anyone has written a new one!)

Don't expect much until morning when we check in with Chad again - if anything happens overnight I'll let you know.

Keep warm, much love!

Kim just came running down the hallway and said "I just got up on the stool and looked right over his face and said 'Dave, you have two wonderful daughters' and he nodded his head! You should come see him!"

So we ran down the hall to the ICU, and everyone (me, Riss, Mom, Nana, Pop, and Tami) was able to talk to him and he responded pretty well. Nodding his head, blinking, and winking his eye to answer questions, which is something he hasn't done for a while now. We said it was the perfect birthday gift for Pop!

This was an amazing jump forward that made me cry my first tears of happiness since this all began, and had me leaving the ICU with a smile for the first time ever. However, we are still watching his heart closely, because it hasn't really settled down much from yesterday. We know that there will always be ups and downs as the hours go by, but we are praying that the ups continue just like today!

Close-up that was scheduled for tomorrow is postponed because of the setbacks this weekend, I'll let you know when there is progress on that end.

Thank you again for all of your thoughts and prayers - keep working hard on your end and we'll keep you updated from our end :)

Much love!