A deep, deep sorrow . . .

You have stored my tears in your bottle and counted each one of them. Psalm 56:8

It is with incredible and deepest sorrow that we make this announcement public.  After receiving permission from the family, we wanted to let you know that our very own Burl and Rebekah Thompson delivered their second child late Friday night amidst a most devastating circumstance. Nelliel Marie was stillborn on July 26th, 2019 at 10:23pm, weighing 7lbs, 3oz.  The Thompsons went to the hospital in labor Friday morning with joy and anticipation of seeing their new baby, to then shockingly learn that they would have to finish labor to only say goodbye.  For reasons still unknown, Nelliel's heart stopped beating shortly before birth.  Their family went home with empty arms and crushed hearts late Saturday, yet by the grace and strength of the Lord, Burl still made a precious little casket for their daughter's funeral and burial Sunday evening.  We cannot even write words here to express the sorrow, the emptiness, the pain, the loss.... the insurmountable grief upon grief.... with more grief to come as expectations and more loss is realized in the days, weeks, months and years to come. 

We know many of you have interacted with Rebekah and Burl directly these past few years, whether it be on facebook, over the phone, at our maintenance workshops and retreats, or even in person at the shop... so we wanted to let you know what has recently happened. You are welcome to leave your encouraging words for them in the comments below.  Also, we learned just this evening that one of their extended family members has set up a gofundme account in their honor and to aid in what are now intangible hospital bills.  Please be in prayer for them as they will be in the house of mourning for quite some time.

*Burl is our Featherweight service manager and Rebekah, who was our first employee, is currently one of our Facebook group moderators.