Preparing for a celebration, mourning a loss

This week has been spent furiously trying to make Veronica's 5th birthday party (in our backyard) as special as possible.  Amy has taken so much time to plan the activities, send the invitations, gather the supplies, freshen up the house, and she still somehow found the time to brew a fresh pot of coffee this morning before heading to the store to pick up more supplies.  I have no idea how she does it!

In the midst of these preparations, we are also mourning the tragic loss of another child who drowned near her home on Sunday.  Today we planted a tree in her memory outside our school entrance.

Sometimes God's plan is such a mystery!  How can a small, precious little girl be ripped from the arms of her family at such a young age?

Seeing the mix of joy and pain in the faces of my colleagues as we planted that tree made me realize that much more was planted than that tree. 

The symbols that we use to remember our love for one another invoke the very presence of God.  He was there with us, gathered around that fragile little tree.  He wept with us for Ashley, not because He was confused by her death, but because we were in pain.  In the planting of the tree He spoke to us about how the very life of that little girl was, is, and will be a tiny seed that is already bearing fruit both here and in eternity.

Ashley, precious little girl now resting in the arms of the Almighty, pray to God for us sinners in the time of our weakness.  May she rest in peace, freed from all suffering.

A Great Blessing

Yesterday I was awarded a full tuition waiver from the Dean of Graduate Studies for the 08-09 academic year.  WOW.

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6, ESV)

This Week....

Sophie can stand up (holding on to something)

Sophie can fall down (when she lets go)

Sam helped his daddy level the front steps

The garage is a little cleaner

Veronica went to Kindergarten screening

Daddy tried to do some re-screening (and failed miserably)

Hold on....the garage is no longer a little cleaner. :)

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