{"id":423,"date":"2012-09-14T03:50:11","date_gmt":"2012-09-14T03:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kandynolesstevens.com\/?p=423"},"modified":"2012-09-14T03:50:11","modified_gmt":"2012-09-14T03:50:11","slug":"sweet-16-days-to-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/?p=423","title":{"rendered":"Sweet 16 (days to go)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/kandynolesstevens.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/09\/skating-in-arkansas.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-427\" title=\"skating in arkansas\" src=\"http:\/\/kandynolesstevens.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/09\/skating-in-arkansas.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"497\" height=\"561\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/skating-in-arkansas.jpg 612w, http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/skating-in-arkansas-265x300.jpg 265w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 497px) 100vw, 497px\" \/><\/a>Along the way on our grief journey, our friends have been invaluable in our healing.\u00a0 They have literally been our cheering section.\u00a0 The amazing thing is these friends have always been there for us, even when we didn\u2019t know or fess up to how much we needed them.\u00a0 Yesterday, I mentioned classmates who will be graduating and how part of our decision making centered on them.\u00a0 \u00a0We continue to watch from the wings as they learn to spread theirs.<\/p>\n<p>Reed had a diverse group of friends, both in personality and age.\u00a0 We are excited to see how they will shine in this world. We already see glimpses of their glow in many different ways.\u00a0 Not the least among those ways is how they consistently love on us, especially in the darkest days.\u00a0 It seems they have picked up Reed\u2019s encouragement \u201ccontagion\u201d.\u00a0 They share amazing stories and special moments.\u00a0 They are always there with a hug, a card, an e-mail, or an unexpected visit. These friends share a history not only with Reed as well as being shareholders in keeping Reed\u2019s legacy.\u00a0 And they have done well.<\/p>\n<p>It was purposeful when we asked these kids (many of whom tower over me now) to be on the Reed\u2019s Run committee.\u00a0 They bring a vibrant youthful perspective to every decision we make.\u00a0 This group of friends also has a heart for God.\u00a0 Even though their expression of faith may all differ, the way they let their lights shine is no less intentional.\u00a0 And for that we are PROUD, and we know that Reed would be too.<\/p>\n<p>So to: Quinn, Kayla, Jacob, Damien, Nattie, Mallory, Chelsey, Spencer, Cody, Ciara, Jacob, Garett, Taylor, Brent, Lucas, &amp; Garrett<\/p>\n<p>For being a huge part of Reed\u2019s Run and for being an even bigger part of our lives, we thank you for being the Sweet 16.\u00a0 \u00a0Thank you for sharing your lives with us and helping us to continue to make our home a place where fun still lives (even if we put holes in walls and have out-of-control ping pong games in the garage).\u00a0 For keeping inside jokes (like climbing the curtains) or for offering a hand to hold, together we have woven a web of shared love.\u00a0 Any of you could fill the missing 6<sup>th<\/sup> chair at our table, and it would feel just like home!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Along the way on our grief journey, our friends have been invaluable in our healing.\u00a0 They have literally been our cheering section.\u00a0 The amazing thing is these friends have always been there for us, even when we didn\u2019t know or fess up to how much we needed them.\u00a0 Yesterday, I mentioned classmates who will be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[232,526,558,604],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}