{"id":1016,"date":"2013-07-22T17:08:58","date_gmt":"2013-07-22T17:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kandynolesstevens.com\/?p=1016"},"modified":"2013-07-22T17:08:58","modified_gmt":"2013-07-22T17:08:58","slug":"thanking-god-for-north-dakota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/?p=1016","title":{"rendered":"Thanking God for North Dakota"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hey Dad \u2013<\/p>\n

I spent some time away this past weekend.\u00a0 Much of the time it was just you and me, and we had a lot of time to talk.\u00a0 I will confess that more of the time I talked, and you listened.\u00a0 Together we spent some time in worship.\u00a0 That is the amazing thing about travel time.\u00a0 I can make a joyful noise to my heart\u2019s content.\u00a0 There were much appreciated quiet times. \u00a0It was during those silent moments that I was moved to tears.\u00a0 Your creation just does that to me.<\/p>\n

Home is something that has been loosely defined by this girl with a nomadic past. My version of home can be the moment in a conversation where I realize how blessed I am by the company you have given me.\u00a0 Home will always be the emerald coast of Florida\u2019s panhandle with snowy white beaches and all the memories and people of my childhood.\u00a0 The sanctuary of home is eternally wherever Daniel and our children waltz\u00a0the delicate\u00a0 dance steps of life. Uncovering the treasures therein, my garden is one of the places where I feel closest to you; so home has to be found there as well.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t realize until my trip this weekend how much I realized that North Dakota feels like one step away from you and thus home. \u00a0Sometimes, I think that heaven\u2019s gate is just around the next field. \u00a0I think my affirmation came when the tears\u00a0began to well up in my eyes just marveling at the expansive sky and verdant fields.\u00a0 No place on earth does that to me like a highway in what some aptly call \u201cGod\u2019s Country\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"north<\/a><\/p>\n

I want to thank you for all the places I call home, and most specifically today, for the place called North Dakota.\u00a0 Thank you for a sky so large your breath is literally taken away by its beauty.\u00a0 Thank you for rich and fertile soil that grows such beautiful crops.\u00a0 That same rich soil is where we chose to return the shell of our son.\u00a0 His earthly resting place is in one with such beauty where ducks fly over, deer frolic, and prairie grasses whisper in the wind.\u00a0 Thank you for fields of sunflowers that could make any heart leap for joy.\u00a0 I praise you for the people of the Dakotas who are truly some of your finest masterpieces.<\/p>\n

Thank you for creating the people that brought me to and who keep me tied to that prairie land.\u00a0 First it was my parents who transplanted a Southern girl to the plains and who created family all those miles away.\u00a0 Then my heart was lovingly anchored there by the Dakota boy I married as well as our extended family who keep me dreaming of the next visit.<\/p>\n

Humbled, rejuvenated, connected, but most of all, loved, I am so thankful for the time I spent in the Red River Valley this weekend.<\/p>\n

Thank you for creating North Dakota as a place where my soul finds rest.<\/p>\n

Love always,<\/p>\n

Your Daughter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey Dad \u2013 I spent some time away this past weekend.\u00a0 Much of the time it was just you and me, and we had a lot of time to talk.\u00a0 I will confess that more of the time I talked, and you listened.\u00a0 Together we spent some time in worship.\u00a0 That is the amazing thing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[312,692,448,673,693,694,579,695],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}