Finding Meaning in Sorrow

I've been following the story all week of Rachel, a 9-year-old girl who was raising money for clean water in Africa instead of asking for birthday presents. Then an accident on Interstate 90 took her life. She had raised $220 before her death. At last count, she has raised $626,424. The story went viral, being tweeted by Matt Hasselbeck, the Seahawk's quarterback. Seattle Times picked up the story and it's gone as far as Australia, which I'm pretty sure is a far as you can get from Washington.
The story caught my attention in two ways. First of all, I have a tender heart towards people who lose loved ones. That alone was all it took for me to cry. But to see the way people have given to her cause (more than 18,000 individuals and groups), put it all in a different perspective. Although Rachel's family would never sacrifice their daughter to help Africans get clean water, it does give a glimmer of meaning, of hope, of a promise that if nothing else, some good will come of her tragic death.
This is something I struggled with regarding my own husband's death, almost 11 years ago. I wished desperately at the time for some way to attach meaning to his death. It took me three years to give up that song. The meaning that people tried to comfort me with only created anger - to tell me that so-and-so's husband went to the doctor because of Leo's death and found out that they needed to be on medication. That did not comfort me. I gave up searching for meaning and eventually learned just to lean on God and believe that His ways and plans surpass my understanding and to be okay with that.
And to be sure, my kids have a greater understanding of loss and grief and with it an unusual degree of compassion. If we can't find meaning in loss, we can at least do the best with it that we can.
If you would like to add to Rachel's clean water for Africa fund, here is the link: http://www.mycharitywater.org/p/campaign?campaign_id=16396.

Pirates, love and more

Saturday I had the amazing privilege of photographing Trisha and Tyler's piratical wedding aboard The Lady Washington, the tall ship used in "Pirates of the Caribbean."
Amidst the chaos of the crew running pell mell during our mock battle with the Hawaiian Chieftan, Trisha and Tyler managed to visit with their guests, snatch romantic moments and laugh a lot. After the battle (we won!), Tyler's fire chief performed the ceremony on the forecastle (at least I think that's where it was... or maybe I'm just hoping it wasn't the poop deck!). They drank from a German two-sided wine glass, raised a pirate flag and entered on the biggest commitment of their lives. I'm quite sure they are ready, and the two families demonstrated their love and support fully. I'm a "bonder" and I already miss these crazy, wonderful people who sailed into my life and left me a better pirate. I mean, person.

Strong Families

This week's photos feature the Stumpf family. Their boys are truly gentle giants - the tallest at 6'9"! They were a blast to photograph and it was touching to watch their affection and care for their little sister. Paul and Ramona homeschool their kids and Addison leaves for Hillsdale college in the fall, with four possible majors in mind.
Speaking of majors, Ramona, my husband and I were all journalism majors. Ramona worked with my husband years ago at the Bellingham Herald, during some difficult times. Though what was difficult then is nothing like what journalists are facing these days... staffs cut in half and in half again, the shrinking paper size, shrinking readership... and yet the love of writing and journalism continue to flourish. My daughter is in grad school studying journalism at the University of Missouri, where my husband I met and graduated. I expect she will end up working with some online journalism source. Who knows? The face of our world is changing so rapidly. I'm so glad that we have solid families, like the Stumpfs, to guide children into the next generation.