Two weeks have now passed since Kate’s funeral. It was beautiful. The sweet, peaceful feeling at Kate’s funeral service is something we will never forget. Kate was a peacemaker; wherever she was, peace was there surrounding her. Yesterday, we were touched to learn that an elderly sister in our ward who is dying from terminal cancer shared with a friend of ours that one of the first things she wants to do on the other side is seek out Kate so she can hold and love her. Please tell her hello from us, Lois, and how much we love and miss her. “Because someone we love is in heaven, we have heaven in our home.”
Feelings of grief surrounding Kate’s passing seem to come and go, sometimes unexpectedly. One of the difficult things for people of faith is that we sometimes mistakenly feel that because of our knowledge of God’s plan, we will let people down if we grieve the loss of a loved one. But the grief is not because we worry about Kate’s wellbeing beyond the veil—we know she’s in a beautiful place surrounded by people who love her. Instead, the grief is because our hearts ache that we won’t have the opportunity, in this life, to watch Kate grow and see the beautiful person she might have become. We grieve because we miss holding her in our arms.
This weekend we finished planting a new flower garden in our backyard that we named Kate’s Garden. It has two flowering trees (a crape myrtle and a Chinese fringe), rose bushes, and other flowers. Holly designed the garden with the help of her good friends Erica and Anne. It will be neat for us to watch the trees and flowers grow each year and think of Kate. We also planted a magnolia tree, from our friends in Dallas, in memory of Kate.Below are pictures of some of the beautiful flowers and other gifts that came from friends and family. Thank you all.
5 comments:
I'm glad you have a Crape Myrtle, I loved the ones that were planted next to Kate's resting spot. It's nice to think that the shade of the same type of tree will shade both your home and Kate's memorial. We love you guys.
I liked what you said about grieving because I think it's true. I also love the idea of planting a garden for her. You are both amazing people and we really look up to you for handling such a difficult time with so much hope. We love you!
What a wonderful idea of planting a garden. We think of your family often. We love you guys.
The garden is beautiful! May it always give you peace while you enjoy it's serenity.
We just heard about your loss & are so, so sorry. We cried & laughed looking at sweet baby Kate's pictures, especially those with your other children. What a special spirit & gift to your family. Our prayers & thoughts are with you at this time. (Please tell Nate hi from Chris.)
love
Rachel & Chris Dahl
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