A LETTER TO MY FAMILY
Family,
I promise I am going to miss you. I promise I will cry for you and wish that you were the ones I was talking to about a certain issue. I promise that on bad days, I am going to wish you were there. I promise that on days where I just want to smile and laugh with my nieces and nephews, I will close my eyes and pretend that I am there. I promise to look at pictures and hold them close to my heart and hope that God is moving in your life. I promise to pray for you daily. I promise to miss you.
I promise that there will be days when I will be having such a good time I won’t respond to your email. I promise that there will be days that I can’t imagine coming home. I promise there will be days that a tent, pack, and smelly people feel like my heart’s safest place. I promise to not use this time in vain and choose to love what God has called me to do, because otherwise I have left you all for nothing. I promise to remember the truths you spoke over me and use them to serve God and give Him glory.
I promise that I didn’t choose the World Race over you,
I chose the World Race because of you.
I have been loved, saved, restored, and held multiple times because of the Christ in you—and so, I will go and show Christ the best that I can.
I promise to change. I promise to grow. And I promise I will be loving you—always.
I promise to still be here, even if the here keeps changing.
Your daughter, sister, and friend,
Kendra Love
Dad,
Father’s are always a little girl’s first love. Sadly, some little girls don’t ever get to experience that and they don’t get to see what a Father really is. Thankfully though, God gave me you. I am so blessed, well all 6 of us are, to have a father who could put up with all of us girls. I know you think you may not have much hair, but considering the circumstances—HELLO! Could you HAVE anymore hair? (To be read in a Joey voice). I truly am so thankful for you. I am thankful for the music that has overflowed and flooded your heart and soul. It has taught me to not keep things in but to express it in so many different ways. I am thankful for your sense of humor because it has taught me that laughter truly is the best medicine. I am thankful for your ability to forgive easily—it has taught me to not hold on to things too tightly. I am thankful for your crazy ability to make any situation feel right, because it has made awkward moments not exist for me.
I am thankful that you are my dad,
because it has made me one of the six luckiest girls on the planet.
Thank you for loving us. You’re awesome. Truly awesome.
Love.
Mother dear,
How could we have been blessed with anyone greater? Your strength is something that I strive for. Your strength both physically and emotionally are astonishing at times. I am thankful for your wisdom and the way that you can create things in your mind and then make them actually happen. You may have thought you just built an extra room in that old house, but to me, you built imagination, you built reality, you built possibilities. I was in awe of you then and I am in awe of you now. You truly are the strongest woman I know. I hope you know that I find it the greatest honor that people think I have a 6th sister and you aren’t my mother. I know that I am the daughter of a BEAUTIFUL woman.
I know that God has stamped on you a joy that when it is tapped into—
can light up a whole room.
You are a beautiful daughter of the King, and I am blessed to be your daughter. I look at you and I see a life of redemption and restoration. I see a life that God pursued you so fast and so hard because He knew how great you were. When humans let you down, God caught your fall. You are beauty and you are His story in action. I love you so much and hope and pray to be as strong as you one day.
Kendra Love.
Mandy,
It’s not often that the oldest sister left a pretty solid and beautiful path to walk behind. We are so lucky that when we look up our ladder of sisterhood that we find you there at the top. We find strength and hard work. We find love and compassion. We find truth and gentleness. We find comfort and a home. We find hugs and kisses. We find “baby” and “honey”. We find parenting wisdom and sisterhood strength. I know without a shadow of a doubt, all 5 of us feel like we hit the jackpot with you as our leading sister. It couldn’t have been easy to walk ahead of us all.
To bear the weight of setting a good example and to have so many sets of eyes watching you; but you did it—and you did it well.
Your mistakes made you humble, and therefore taught a bigger lesson than ever expected. Your rights grabbed a hold of our hearts and made their mark. Your constant devotion to your family now is something I will strive for when I am a mother. I thank you for being true to who you are—it speaks life into me. Thank you for always believing in me, even when you were scared. Thank you for always speaking truth to me, even when it could have hurt. And thank you for always using terms of endearment, it cuts out my straightforwardness and allow me to be gentle J Thank you for giving me Olivia and Chase to love on and to be able to know what it feels like to be an Aunt. It’s one of my greatest joys. I love you Mans and it is such a joy to be your sister. One of the greatest joys I’ve ever known.
Kendra Love.
Samantha Marie,
I think we can all take a vote if needed, but you, my sweet sister are GORGEOUS. I have always been in awe of your beauty and have always had an extra pep in my step when I show you to people J I know though that your beauty doesn’t stop there, it is deeply rooted in your heart and soul. I am thankful that you are a sister of encouragement and intentional communication. I love getting calls from you and I love knowing that you count me more than just a sister—but as your friend. I love knowing that I always have that in you too. I can remember so many moments when we were little that you didn’t just leave us as little sisters off in the distance, but you chose us to be around.
You chose us to be your friend. Thank you for always choosing us.
I believe in you and I believe in your heart. I hope you know how great of a plan the Lord has for you—in the small and in the great. You truly are a beautiful person, inside and out. Thank you for being exactly who you are. You gave me a nephew that allowed for me to see that I could actually one day be a mom. He has shown me that I have that inside of me. I can’t thank you enough for letting me be such a huge part in his story with cancer. It may sound silly, but you could have easily pushed me off that bed rolling down to surgery, but you let your baby cuddle me. And that moment, changed my life forever. It really did. So thank you for being that kind of beautiful. I love you, Sams. So much.
Kendra Love.
Jess,
I mean I almost am not able to find the words to adequately share my thankfulness for you. All I know is that I really don’t know where my faith would be without you. I don’t know that all of these times and trials that I hit the floor hard that I really would have been picked up, wiped off and made to stand up strong again. When I see the trials in my life, I see you. Not because you caused them 😉 Well, unless we were kids and you thought it necessary to pinch me constantly 😉 But I see you because you were there. You were there with wisdom and truth. You were there with the hard reality of what God has called me to. You were there with so much more than just your human wisdom. And I think that’s what makes me most thankful.
I don’t just have a sister in you; I have the voice of truth in you.
And that means the world. I cannot get over the fact that I don’t get to call you every day. It breaks my heart. You are truly a best friend and I am so thankful for the influence you are in my life. You have allowed God to shape and mold me through your life, and I will forever thank you for that. I hope you can close your eyes at night knowing that the Lord is using you. Because He is, Jess. He is using you in mighty ways. He has used you to move a lot of mountains in my life, and I it is truly an honor to be your sister. Thank you for giving me a niece and nephew that make me look forward to one day holding my own children. You are a rock and a mighty woman of God. I love you tons.
Fricka.
My precious Kayla,
I know you are getting older, but in my eyes you are still my baby sister. There is something about you that I just want to keep you under my wing of sorts. I don’t have wings, but if I did, I would want to hide you and Grant there. Ha! I look at your life and I love that I see God there. I love that I see restoration and redemption. I love that I see so much growth and such beauty. You truly are such a beautiful piece of creation by God. He has chosen to give you such perfect and beautiful strengths.
I hope you know that when I look at you, I see strength.
I see power and determination. I see you standing up tall and taking responsibility over a life that people so easily give up day in and day out. I notice your strength and it is encouraging. You are beautiful, little sister. Thank you for seeing the worth that your precious baby boy had and choosing to do life with Him when some would have skipped out. You have provided this family with such a joy and laughter that we never could have imagined. I am glad you weren’t a volunteer at that center, but a patient. It has changed our world for the better—forever. I love you and am always here for you, honey. Forever.
Bahka.
My sweet Anna Shaye,
Ooo girl. You tug on my heart and latch on like no one else can. I guess it’s because you are the youngest and I see so much of me in you. But then even more than that, I see so much more strength than I ever had. I see so much more power and love than I ever had. I love that you are all that I am, but better. I love seeing passion and such creation in you. You are a creator sister. You have been made to envision and make things. We are made in God’s image, and that’s one of the things you reflect of Him. You reflect beauty made from a little piece of black charcoal and a white piece of paper. You create beauty from standing up when something is wrong. You create beauty for feeling for those who are too tired of feeling anything.
You create because you understand who you were created by.
I hope you know that as many times as I have failed, I love you still. I love you so much and really do think it’s amazing that you round out the Harrell sisters. What a joy it is to look at number six and to realize in such an incredible way that you are our number 1. You are a rock, sister. Be encouraged by our love for you—because it will never fade. God has great things in store for you Anna, never ever lose sight of Him.
Kendra Love.
Family,
I just want you to know that I love you. I am thankful for you and I can’t imagine having done life with anyone else but you guys. You all have taught me so much and shown me the face of Jesus so many times. I pray that you always see His face day after day. I pray that you never settle for anything except His love and His truth. I pray God’s favor over you and His truth speaks straight to your soul. I love you all so much.
Kendra Love.
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If you are interest in partnering with me financially– I am in need of 75 more families/people to pledge $150 in whatever form they can. One time giving. $15/month for 10 months, etc. But please don’t be bound by that number. Whatever you can give, will be exceedingly more than just the amount. I am forever grateful.
I also have T-Shirts and Tank tops for sell. Message me at [email protected] or at the bottom of the blog.
Love you all 🙂
