Oddly enough, in the past month I have lost two friends named Kristi to the very same cancer: late stage colon cancer. Both were recently diagnosed, and within months, both died from complications that arose during the treatment. It has been sad and unexpected news on both fronts.
The first woman who died is someone I have not seen in years. Her family went to the same church as mine as we were growing up and she was a bit older than I was so I was actually much closer to her younger brothers. But I remember thinking that she was the most beautiful person I'd ever met when I was a young girl. She was fun, and vibrant, wearing a huge smile much of the time. Facebook re-connected us years later so even though we hadn't seen one another, we had gotten caught back up on our comings and goings. Because I wasn't on the inner circle of friends, I didn't even hear about her diagnosis until she was very sick. And then she was gone. Sadly, her wonderful father is still alive and he has had to walk the incredibly difficult road of losing a child. I feel so deeply for people when this happens having watched my parents and Doug's parents go through this. She also leaves her three brothers and a loving a husband, children and grandchildren who she obviously loved very much. I will be able to attend her memorial service this coming Saturday and as often is the case, the silver lining will be renewing old friendships and celebrating a life well-lived. Peace to the memory of Kristi Robbins Steven.
The other woman who died is someone I had an abiding friendship with through the Association of International Churches in Europe and the Middle East. Her husband, Steve, served International churches in Oslo, Norway and Berlin, Germany and were active participants in the annual conferences and youth conferences that were held each year. Though we only saw one another once or twice a year, our friendship deepened as we shared ministry and life concerns on a deeply heartfelt level. Kristi was a warm, generous person who had vast musical gifts. She shared all of her gifts openly and graciously and we loved meeting up with them each year. We shared a lot of laughter, especially at the banquets of the conferences, but also spent time in heartfelt conversation, sharing our deepest wounds, ministry stressors, and life concerns.
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| Steve and Krisit on the shores of the Baltic at our Stockholm Church retreat center playing a bit of Kubb |
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| Always getting ready to share some music |
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| Leading and encouraging |
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| Steve and Kristi always shared such beautiful music with us. |
Steve and Kristi are good friends and we will now miss Kristi very much. They have two girls, now college-aged, who loved all things royal so when the royal wedding took place in Stockholm, they were quite envious of our proximity to the event! I sent them photos of our experience in downtown watching the Royal Newlyweds enjoy their special day. Their youngest was an au pair in Europe last winter and she came and spent a weekend with us in Paris. We have felt connected to the Kienbergers for most of our International church career. They recently moved back to the US and invited us to enjoy the Oregon coast while we were opening the doors to greater sunshine in the desert when the fog got to be too much. Kristi was diagnosed only in June and so things declined very rapidly. So rapidly that I actually never got around to sending that note that I wanted to write to her and Steve. Then all of the sudden we got word that she had passed due to complications and like that, Kristi is no longer part of this world. I feel so deeply for her husband Steve, and their two daughters, one starting her senior year of college and one just starting her college journey. The blessing I suppose is that because they were back in the US they were much closer to family so all could be with her during this challenging time. Even so, the shock of her passing must be a bit overwhelming as she was so deeply loved and gifted.
So peace to the memory of Kirsten E. Penner Kienberger. I will miss her as I know so many others will as well.
One final note...if you are thinking about writing to someone to thank them for something, to give them a word of encouragement, or just to reach out and re-connect, do it today. We really never know what tomorrow will bring.
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