Always Remembered ~ Never Forgotten

And then there are orders that break our hearts!

On July 16, 2011 Cpl Raphael R. Arruda died in the line of duty for his county. He was attached to the 416th Theater Engineer Command, U.S. Army Reserve, Ogden, Utah.  He was stationed in Kunar province in Afghanistan when his unit was hit by an improvised bom.

 He was only 21 years old.

 I received an email from a lovely lady by the named of Chelsey. She stated that her husband was deployed with a fallen soldier and wondered if we could make up several of our "I will remember you" wristbands.

Honored to be part of this we agreed. 

Before I started to hand stamp each wristband I said a little prayer to Raphael asking him to guide me... many times I teared up thinking of his family and their great loss.  I explained to my children the sacrific that Cpl Arruda and others like him made for his country and that we were very fortunate.

Above is the wristband me made in honour of him. It will be worn by members in his unit. 

Our hearts were heavy when we thought of his family. Together my husband, John and I decided to design this special commemorative bookmark especially for his mother.

It will never replace him but is a great reminder of his life.

May Raphael R. Arruda, and other fallen soldiers like him, find peace in the presence of God.

Thank you to the men and woman who serve our country

~ Canada and the United States of America . 

God Bless 

Anne & John 

Hyatt

Like most of the inquiries, I received this one from a convo via our Etsy site. A young lady by the name of Taylor B. asked if I could make her some custom "Signet wristbands". She wanted the name of her good friend, that recently passed, on it.

Her heart and ideas were bigger than what I could accommodate her with - but together her and I came up with a design that would suit everyone.

One evening while I working on her order my oldest daughter, Amanda - born in 1992 was browsing the internet. She decided to google the name of the young man that I was making these wristbands about. While my family and I stood around the computer watching ,she played a video on Hyatt Ebeling. By the time it had finished I was in tears and there was silence in the room. My heart sank. That young man, just a couple months yonger that my daughter had passed in a 4 car collision. It was a sobering reminder that we should always treasure the gifts that God has given us.., our children, spouses, family and friends.

Leather Signet wristband

As I stamped each piece of leather my mind wandered. All I could think of was his family. Only a parent - or sibling - that has lost a child/brother/sister could even imagine the grief they were experiencing and I wanted to reach out and hug them. My heart ached for the family and friends of Hyatt.

I knew there was nothing in this world that I could have said to them that could ease their pain but I wanted to show them that even as far away as in Canada we feel their loss.


I sent a email to Talyor and asked her if she would hand deliver a small token of love to Hyatt's family. She agreed to do so.

Memorial Leather bookmark

Our hearts and prayers go out to the Ebeling and Roberts families. We wish both Tyler Ebeling and Scotty Roberts a speedy recovery.

Taylor wanted to include more on the wristbands, but instead I will put it here.

Edward Hyatt EBELING

April 14, 1992 - January 31, 2009

~~ Gone but not forgotten ~~

A Solemn Day

My heart sank yesterday as the words from my teen children buzzed around in my head.

I have lived in the small town of Cobourg for 19 years with my family. Our three children have lived here since birth. It is a quaint community where not much goes unnoticed by the locals. If truth be told word of mouth supercedes the speed of press release.

Our children attended Terry Fox Public School in their elementary years. Then moved on to high school. During those many years at Terry Fox we have grown to know the faculty quite well and even though our children have moved on we continue to cross paths with their teachers from time-to-time. We have shared some laughs and eventful moments between our children and their teachers. Some pleasant - some not so pleasant but in the end we remained amicable and courteous.

While driving our two oldest children home from St. Mary's Secondary High school on the 14th of January, in a matter-of-fact tone, our son said, "Mrs. Kernaghan died yesterday." Shocked at the news I fired a hundred questions at him.

According to the newspapers Suzanne Kernaghan, a grade two teacher at Terry Fox, collided with a fully loaded tractor-trailer on Hwy 28 near the 5th line. Suzanne and Michelle Broomsfield, a grade 2/3 teacher at Baltimore Public School were killed in a collision. The woman were returning home after attending a one-day professional development course..., on Tuesday at around 6:30pm.

All I could think about were her two young children, Larissa - 12yrs and Ryan - 10 yrs-old and her dear husband, Roger. My youngest daughter was a student of Suzanne's for three years as was my oldest daughter. My heart went out to them. I am a Christian and believe when we pass on we go on to a better place. But nothing can illeviate the pain her family must be experiencing at this tragic time.

I think of the words that John Travolta expressed about the loss of his sixteen year-old son, Jet recently. I paraphrase, "I treasure the short time that we spent with our son."

We have all lost someone special in our hearts and lives. I have lost my dear sister, Mary, two short years ago in her 47th year, of complications that developed during surgery on her broken hip. I had only spoken to her days before her passing..., then she was gone.

I have designed this commerative bookmark in honor of her life and sent it to my mother as a token of love knowing that she would have wanted it more than I. There is not a day that goes by that I do not think of her and my departed father, John Gottschalk. Whether in my dreams or thoughts they will always be with me.

My family and I would like to extend our deepest condolences to the Kernaghan and Broomfield family's for their terrible loss.

IN MEMORY OF:

Michelle Broomfield 1971 - 2009

(Dawn) Suzanne Kernaghan 1969 - 2009

Mary Catherine Gottschalk 1959- 2006

John Francis Gottschalk 1930 - 1985

May God keep you safe!!