Well, another week has come and gone. Here are some highlights:

1) Baby A appears to be doing well. She was back in the hospital last week for a few days, but is home now and doing better. I got to spend some time a couple of different days while she was down here just holding her and loving on her to give her sweet mother a break. Please continue to lift this family up in your prayers as they are going through a lot right now. I am so thankful that God is building up a friendship between her mother and I because I have had such an appreciation for her mother since she helped me dig my retainers out of the dumpster when I was in 6th grade.

2) Friend A is home from the mission field for a few days. She has been serving our Lord in Southeastern Kentucky through Big Creek Missions for most of this month. To hear her stories of salvations and doors that God opened during this trip was amazing. It is such a privilege to call her my friend.

3) I have another friend A who is serving in the Peace Corp in Cambodia. She has become infected with Dengue fever and is on bed rest for the next 2-3 weeks. There is no medication for this, but prayerfully, since they caught it early, she will be able to beat it. Please lift her and her family up in prayers. She is literally half a world away, and since I have no kids of my own, I can only try to fathom what her family is going through right now. On a lighter note regarding this friend, thanks to the internet, I was able to talk to her a couple of weeks ago using an instant messanger tool. Doesn't technology rock!?!?!?!

4) I've realized there are too many A's in my life. Baby A, 3 or 4 friend A's. I'm going to have to come up with a naming convention. Hmmm...suggestions anyone. (For those who know friend A in Cambodia, I'm considering referring to her as Spring. The rest of them, I have no clue.)

5) Cousin J made it home from Austria. Thanks to the weather she got to add a stop at the Tri-cities airport to her list of airports landed at on her way home, but she finally got to Knoxville late last Sunday night.... minus one suitcase. However, it too made it home the following day and was delivered to her door by the nice airport people. It was so exciting to watch her take this journey this Summer. Over and over I kept thinking how proud her daddy would have been to see her do this. I know he is looking down and smiling up his brave little girl.

She is now in Chicago and should have watched the Cubs beat the Brewers last night. I'm glad the Cubs won because she has loved them her whole life.

6) I'm still praying about my job situation. The company has given me the option of extending my last day by 2 months. This is STRESSING ME OUT! I don't care that they have let me go (in fact, I firmly believe that was God slamming a door shut because I wouldn't walk away on my own) but to make me choose my last date...this is worse than the first. Oh well. I have 1 1/2 weeks to make a decision.

7) Paul still hasn't posted.... but he did put a hilarious comic strip on his Facebook page. See it here: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=877

Well, I've told you enough about me (and my friends and family) for this week. May you all have a very blessed weekend!

From the Mouth of Babes

My niece, Doodlebug, is 4 1/2 years old and thinks she knows it all. Here are two of her recent antics.

1) She asked my mom what the dinosaurs looked like while they were alive. Apparently she thinks my mom is old enough to have seen them.

2) She also believes that she, myself, and my aunt (that would be 3 generations) are sisters. Not sure where that came from, but I thought it was funny.

Don't you wish you could see the world through a child's eyes. That's all God asks us. To have the faith of children. Doodlebug believes my mom saw the dinosaurs and that she can be sisters with someone twice her mother's age. But so often we try to make our faith so much more complex. Yet, the very center of it, is childlike belief. Yes, we have to grow in our faith and become stronger Christians and more Christ-like as we continue our walk with Him, yet the core of everything we believe comes from having that awe-inspiring child-like ability to look at Him and see Him for the glorious Prince of Peace that He is.

This, That, and The Other

Well, I feel like this post should be the month in weird, but whatever. I'll leave the weird parts out and just give you the highlights.

• A happy update...baby A has gone home. She started eating and all of the other things babies do so she is at home and doing well. Praise the Lord! He is so good to all of us, yet we neglect Him so often.
• Mom, Dad, Doodlebug, Macy, Dece, Murphy, and I all went camping last weekend. There was lots of excitement including watching a squirrel eat a walnut. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it was fun. Anytime you have 4 people and 3 dogs in a camper there is always adventure.
• 30 working days left in my current job...
• I have officially begun the "hard-core" search for a job. I am praying for direction as to where I will be. Will it be Knoxville or Timbuktu...who knows. Sometimes Timbuktu seems appealing.
• Doodlebug is coming to spend the night with me tomorrow and we will be swimming with A and her nephew on Friday. The kids are really looking forward to this...as are A and I. It means we get to spend time together before she heads back to the mission field.

I'm going to try to do better at posting. Paul keeps saying he's going to start posting again, but I'm still waiting... I guess he'll do better once he gets his car unlocked.

Beautiful Picture

My cousin J is in Austria for the summer. My aunt sent this picture to me that was taken of J in Vienna. Isn't it just gorgeous? I'm so proud of my baby cousin.

Today is A's Day

It's A's birthday today. She is serving our Lord on a mission trip in Kentucky for the majority of this month. Lucky for me they post pictures so I can see what she is into. Please remember her and the entire team in prayer as they serve the people of Appalachian Kentucky during the month of June through Bible schools and community service projects. Plus, it appears she is getting her groove on. I love you, A, and I praise God for what you are doing for Him this summer.