How its going

It has been interesting adapting to life without Jer here. Over the course of our married life we've been apart several times, but this is the longest and is made a bit harder by the fact that he is out of reach - no phone, no email, nothing. The kids really miss him, especially at bedtime, which was his thing. However, we are so excited for him to have this opportunity! It's also pretty great to hear the kids pray for him at meals and bedtime.

Yesterday the weather was Perfect - you know those 78-80 degree, with a slight breeze where you could sit all day outside days in Phoenix - we usually have about 6 of them in Phoenix :) Anyway, since I had a bit of shopping to do in town, the kids and I took the bus and walked around town for awhile. The whole city comes out on days like that and it was crowded, but felt so very European with everyone strolling along on the busy shopping streets and sitting in the outdoor cafes sipping their koffee. The kids each preferred an ice cream cone, and so we sat in the town square eating their gelato cones, and enjoying this time and this space. Our future is still so uncertain and I kept thinking that next spring I have no idea where we would be, but for those minutes we had a wonderful time. However, we will be glad when Jeremy is back and can share it with us.

Last night, in lieu of cell, our group had the opportunity to go and help a neighbor of our pastor. A relative had died leaving a house full of stuff to go through and throw away so we were able to serve them by providing some extra hands. It is true that many hands make light work, because fairly quickly we had it done. We found out that they had attended our Christmas service and are becoming good friends of the pastor. Pray that we were able to encourage them and that our service will be used to glorify God and ultimately encourage their acceptance of him. Meanwhile the kids had a great time with Samara who babysat and let them watch High School Musical 3 (again!)

I also want to share this link with you all. I am a blog stalker. It started as our good friends started a blog to follow their story as they adopted a baby from Ethiopia but now has expanded. I'm not exactly sure how I got to some of the blogs I now follow, a link here and there, you would be amazed at all the connections. But there is great blogging community out there and it has been fun/challenging/ and encouraging to see other families stories and how the blogging community support them. Most blogs I follow invisibly, never leaving comments, but always curious for the next post and some blogs have started new friendships. Jeremy laughs at me, but it makes me feel connected while living here where we seem so disconnected sometimes. Anyway, I wanted to share this link with you because I felt this post gave such emotion and depth to celebrating Easter. Like I said, I'm not exactly sure how I happened upon this blog, but I have become a silent friend, praying for them as they go through a difficult time. You see, in early January they took their 10 month old beautiful baby girl into the doctor for an ear infection and never brought her home. Baby Cora was diagnosed with cancer and died about 3 weeks later. I can't imagine the pain they are going through and it makes me treasure my children all the more, perhaps making me hold them a bit tighter. But I admire the strength and courage that this young couple has shown as they walk this road; never failing to recognize that God is always in control. They are a fantastic example of true faith and I hope you read their post - click here: http://themcclenahans.blogspot.com/2009/04/easter.html