A Happy Birthday

Loved Ones,

Thank you for your prayers, cards, emails and thoughtfulness this birthday. The girls and I had a lovely day.

There are some days where the winds are light and the waters are calm and the sun shines so brightly --the weather a perfect parallel for our hearts. Today was one of those days. I wondered if it was Ray's birthday present for me.

I've wondered, on the stormy days like Father's Day, just why they have to occur. Why death, why pain, why grief, fear and sadness? I don't know the answer to that. But I know that those hard hard times deepen our appreciation of the peaceful times so much more completely. Even the peaceful minutes! The simple beauty of observing undetected the joyful moments of our children.

This trip has held countless beautiful moments like that. Yesterday was filled with them.I know that this is an answer to many prayers.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time.” Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

not alone and not afraid,

kristin