"He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm,
and carry them close to his heart, and shall gently lead those that are with young." Isaiah 40:11

Monday, September 19, 2011

Sand Dunes and Footprints

We came back last night from visiting some very dear and wonderful friends in Saskatchewan for the weekend. (about five hours away) We had such a great time - it was so good for all of us! They have a boy and a girl just a bit older than our own and our kids were pretty happy about this! (I don't think the boys fought once) We had ourselves a little adventure and got lost looking for "The Great Sand Dunes" yesterday.  We stopped at a random old church turned machine shed - just one of many old buildings in the area. We even had two short ferry rides! Saskatchewan is really quite beautiful if you get off the number one highway! So good for a sad heart. I feel so drawn to old graveyards now...and I couldn't help wishing later as we drove home to Calgary that we had the time and energy to stop and walk through them. There are so many stories in those places...  

When we got home, I caught up a bit on other's news from the weekend. Some of you are facing some really tough stuff today....and I hurt for you.  Praying that you will find Him to be your Rock - your refuge and strength, when all else is uncertain.   

This morning we received a package in the mail - a nechlace with Rachel's footprints from Silver Soul! We made the prints the day after Rachel died.  Thank-you to Alexander's Quest for your generous gift that we used to purchase this very special nechlace!






8 comments:

Brenda Funk said...

Beautiful pictures! And it looks like the kids were having a very good time.
If you have the hankering, there are some amazing old cemeteries in Berlin! Some completely Jewish ones, others just very old. And beautifully kept.
Love the necklace too. I'm sure it will be a very precious keepsake. Love MOM

Mary said...

Beautiful necklace. What a treasure.

Carlana said...

Thanks for coming out to visit us! It was such a wonderful weekend! Love the necklace!

fiona said...

kendra, once again, i caught up on a bunch of your most recent posts at once. a few back you write about the comfort of graveyards and how God's word extols us to be careful to number our days that we might gain hearts of wisdom. i have too, been struck by this verse (both through the life and death of rachel, and also the recent death of a very dear aunt). our days are oh so short even though our hours can feel so very long. as we were walking through the graveyard in which we buried steve's aunt, i noticed the tombstones of many children. i wanted to linger as well. to stop and think and reflect and wonder on how these lives and deaths affected and impacted parents, siblings, friends and family; to think about how i love those nearest me; to re-organize how i spend my time and where i focus most of my attention. there is so much wisdom to be gained from allowing God to teach us about life and also about death, as difficult as that is.
i pray for you much. i pray God would continue to daily teach you, love you, hold you, comfort you, build you, bless you, gift you, guide you. with our Lord, a thousand years are as but a day. how lovely it would be to spend a day with you my friend.

Julene said...

My dad got lost trying to find those same sand dunes! What a beautiful necklace! What a treasure!

Melissa said...

Hi! I'm a new reader, but I can't remember where I discovered your blog... at any rate, thank you for sharing your heart and life with us. What a blessing.

Which sand hills are those? The area looks *really* familiar!!

Kathy said...

Good friends are healing for the soul, eh? Glad that you could spend some time with them and the necklace is very beautiful. A constant physical reminder that Rachel forever is close to your heart.

Anonymous said...

I really love that church/machine shed, what an odd juxtaposition... it's a beautiful shot, especially with ethan so small in the foreground.

That necklace is so sweet!

Yeah there are plenty of old graveyards in berlin... I'd also love an excuse to wander through more of them so we'll have to go exploring when you're here... can't wait! Love, Jen