Bob & Julie Kauflin

The Lord has used this couple in numerous ways in such a short period of time. Before last summer we really did not interact with them much at all. I worked in our church office for years before having Mckenna, so had the privilege to see Bob almost daily (he is one of the worship leaders in our church, among many other things he does to serve our church and Sovereign Grace). He and Julie came to a care group meeting at our house back in July. We had them come to share on the topic of parenting from their wealth of knowledge, experience and wisdom. It was one amazing time! During that evening I happened to start chatting with Julie about "colors." We had just recently moved into our home and I was still mulling over colors. She is incredibly gifted in design and decorating. I knew what colors I wanted to use, but was not sure what to put where. It turned out that she came over about a month later to further help me decide. During that time, I briefly shared my desires for each room for the coming months. I had much more clarity when she left! As it turned out I ended up painting my kitchen the day before I went into labor with Alivia.

Fast forward 5 weeks later and we found ourselves in the midst of this trial. It was Julie who joined in and helped head up the work done on our home. How kind of the Lord that she knew many of the desires in my heart for the house and helped put many of them into reality. A few nights after Alivia passed away, Bob and Julie showed up to lead worship for everyone who was at the Lee house that night. It was a precious time, to say the least. Many had encouraging words, Bob had a prophetic song, and the songs chosen spoke truth to our hearts. In fact, one of my struggles that very day had been the fear of forgetting my little girl. Bob's song started out with, "You will never forget her."

When we arrived home about a week later, we were blown away by the house and all that had been done. By far, my favorite part was the wall in our living room. It's a wall dedicated to our little Alivia, to help us remember. Julie (and I think with the help of her daugther Megan) put the pictures together and then Julie wrote a portion from Psalm 23 on the wall..."The Lord is my Shepherd...surely His goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life and dwell in the house of the Lord forever." It's precious to us.

This picture does not do it justice. But if gives you an idea...

Every time someone comes to our home, who had never seen Alivia, you can be sure that we show them our wall, followed by..."Julie Kauflin did this for us."

Thank you so much, Bob and Julie, for serving our family with your gifts. You have helped encourage our hearts, remember our Savior, and provided a way to help us remember our little girl. We are so grateful!