Dear Glenda...

I still can't quite believe you're gone.

Maybe it's because you've been so far away all this time...out  in Oregon...and we haven't been able to visit.  Maybe it's because this isn't "supposed to" happen to someone so young and vibrant.  Maybe ...


In mid July, while vacationing with her family in Cannon Beach, Oregon, Glenda was in a bike accident and suffered a severe brain stem injury.  She never woke from her coma, and now her journey here is complete.

This isn't about me...it's about Glenda!   I will miss her, but  I believe that now she is, without a doubt, in Heaven.  I imagine her in the presence of Jesus.   Her healing is complete.

This is her family's Christmas picture from two years ago.  Where is it taken?  In their favorite place...Cannon Beach, Oregon of course, with Haystack Rock in the background...

I'll share some of the memories...

Growing up, we lived only a few miles from each other, and rode the school bus together during our high school years.  It was a long boring bus ride, believe me, so we found all sorts of ways to amuse ourselves.  I think Glenda was the only one of us that the grumpy bus driver really liked.  Really!  :)

We worked at a summer camp together in 1984, and kept in touch after high school. Glenda is the one who encouraged me to attend Ecola Hall Bible School, in Cannon Beach.

After coming home from Ecola, Glenda invited me to join a Bible study group.  We traveled together each week, and our friendship grew.  There is a group of close friends that stemmed from that group who still get together on a regular basis.

Here are most of us at Glenda and Bill's wedding in December, 1991...all of us looking a bit younger...

...and two years later at our wedding...October 1993...that's Glenda in the blue dress...she was one of my bridesmaids...

In 1996, we welcomed our babies together.  Here is my sister-in-law with my nephew (5 weeks old), Glenda with Emily (10 weeks old) and me with Eric (5 days old)...

The year most of the gang turned 40, we went away for a weekend together to celebrate.  I was a year behind them in school, and I'm behind the camera, as I was only 39.  But they included me anyway  :)   Glenda is holding the cake...

There are more...but I can't think of or begin to share them all.  I expect that they will pop into my head at different times, and I'll smile, thinking of Glenda's laughter and zest for life!

Please continue to pray for her husband, daughter, parents and extended family and friends.

Glenda, thank you for all the wonderful memories, and for being an example of what being a Godly woman really means!   It is an honor to have called you friend!