Precious water, precious people

The last few days have been wonderful, life changing days for our family. :)
Let me explain.

As I previously mentioned, some dear friends of ours had a stillborn at the end of this last August.

It was devastating to us.

My friend, Sarah and I had been pregnancy buddies throughout our whole pregnancies. Our due dates were just two weeks apart.
Needless to say, we got pretty close, because pregnancy will do that to you! If you're not talking about how wonderful it is, you are lamenting about your nausea, or emptying the cookie jar! :)

So when I pulled up Sarah's Facebook page that fateful day in August after finding out she was in labor, I was so excited to find out just how cute and sweet her new little bundle was.

The words still haunt me.

They were not the words I had looked forward to seeing.

Instead, she was thanking everyone for their prayers and concern.

Justin and I drove to Sunday School that morning in tears, to find everyone else in tears too. Sarah and Chet are part of our Sunday School class and everyone had found out the devastating news...

Her sweet Holden went to be with Jesus before he was born, while Sarah was still in labor.

The funeral was held the next Tuesday, and that afternoon a beautiful rainbow filled the sky...it was like the Lord was reminding us there was hope.

Well, as scheduled, about 3 weeks later, I gave birth to our beautiful, precious Kaleb Lee.

The girls from Sunday School visited us, and poured out their love on us and our sweet bundle - I'm sure it was bittersweet for Sarah, who, out of the sweetness of her heart, came to see him too.

I still ask myself sometimes, "Why?"

Why was it Sarah and Chet, wonderful servants of the Lord, who were chosen to have this awful thing happen to them?

Well I know one answer to that question.

It's because the Lord knew their hearts - he knew they would help him make beauty out of the ashes.

Over the next few months, Sarah and Chet would astound us with their faith.

As I write this, I tear up just thinking about it.

They have turned a devastating event into a beautiful thing.

Now, because their son died in her womb, 8,000 people in Uganda will be drinking safe water. Through their son's death, nine wells will be built, and already, wells five and six are in the process of being taken care of. This is because they allowed Jesus to work miracles through a dire situation. Whoa. We are in awe.

Chet works for an insurance company, and was able to work on all of the non profit stuff. Their friends, Kara and J.D. initially helped them get the project started, and it has really begun to take off.

They originally wanted to have nine wells built by Holden's first birthday, representing the nine months he spent here on earth.

But the Lord is providing a little faster than they had plans for....as per usual, he is knocking our socks off! :)

Please check out their web site and the video:

Holden from Jim Shuffield on Vimeo.

Needless to say (again!), that Sarah and Chet have helped the Lord make beauty out of the ashes.

And Justin and I have been saving for quite a while. As some know, we became completely debt free last year in November. We view this as an extreme blessing from the Lord. He has been too good to us.

We have been saving for a house.

Yes, it's quite a daunting task. It takes forever!

But through our saving, we know that the Lord tends to work in mysterious ways.

Well, since this has happened, Justin and I were so moved. We wanted, in some way, to help - to give some small part of ourselves to our dear friends, and their cause.

So we decided to purchase a well, and have it be from Kaleb to Holden.

From cousin to cousin! Kaleb's auntie is Sarah, and what a sweet auntie she is.

And we know that Kaleb and Holden will be good friends one day. It's only fitting that Kaleb would give a bit of his money to his friend.

Plus - funny side note - Justin and I call ourselves "water snobs." Everywhere we go in our small town, we don't like drinking the water. It's disgusting! (Sorry, but it is!) I'm from Seattle, where water was abundant, and not to mention, pretty good. And I've kind of turned Justin into a Culligan fanatic. So...we kind of are particular about our water.

Anyway, through this, Justin and I have discussed how good it makes you feel. It's amazing how giving is such a blessing! And to know that our money will be used for something that is so dear to us in so many ways, is something you just can't put into words.

So, thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, Erwin family for allowing us to give. You are SO dear to us, and your Holden is SO precious.

Verse to be on our well -
"The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!' And let the one who hears say, 'Come!' Let the one who is thirsty come, and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life."

The inscription on our well will read something like (with the suggestion from Chet and Sarah):

"This well is dedicated to Jarod and Paige Thomas, and big sister Callyn Joy, from Holden's cousin, Kaleb Lee Englert."

Each of the wells is dedicated to a family who lost their baby. Here is the Thomas family web site : http://jarodandpaige.blogspot.com/

This family will forever be special to us. They lost a little one, Tatum Cate, on May 15, 2008.


This has been a life changing time for us.

Thank you, sweet cousin Holden, for allowing us to help others.

Your life, no matter how brief it may have been, is changing so many lives, including ours.