A Few Updates

So far, so good...looks like I've somehow escaped the clutches of the flu.

Lord willing we're done with sickness around here for a long, long time...that is as long as the cases of strep throat I just learned about don't make it around to our family.

We're gargling with hydrogen peroxide as a precaution.

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I mentioned in my last posting that a couple of my husband's former students were recently murdered.

I hesitate to give many details, because as a mommy blogger I intentionally try to keep things vague as a protective measure.

For several days after hearing the tragic news about the murders, we were gripped not only with shock that such a thing had happened in our community, but that it had happened to people that we knew...young people who still had their lives ahead of them...and in what seemed to be a tragic case of two young people being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When I last posted, the killers had still not been caught, and we were praying fervently that they would be brought to justice quickly so they would never be able to commit such crimes again.

Meanwhile, our hearts and prayers go out to the victim's families as the details of the crimes will no doubt be very, very difficult for the parents to bear when the evidence is brought out in court.

It's every parents nightmare, having a child precede them in death. Add to this having to endure a criminal trial where gruesome facts must be brought to light as evidence...the facts about what happened to your child during their last hours of life.

I'm extraordinarily thankful to report that both the suspects are now in custody with some pretty convincing evidence against them. From what we've heard, they're looking at spending the rest of their lives in prison.

The sickening thing is that they were young, barely-out-of-high-school adults.

Yet in spite of the circumstances surrounding the crimes, my heart also goes out to the parents of the suspects.

I cannot fathom the heartache-the gamut of emotions-a person must feel when presented with the facts of a case...evidence which proves that their child had taken part in and committed such unspeakable crimes. That their children, who were once sweet little babes in arms whom they had doted on...had grown up and gone so....wrong.

Some are so quick to point fingers at the parents of young criminals, trying to link factors in their parenting that were responsible somehow for such a thing.

While I'm sure that abuse, neglect, racism and other such things could have contributed to patterns of criminal behavior in their children, I don't hold the parents responsible. Ultimately, their children are responsible for their own actions.

Just about everyone I know has had tremendous difficulties in their lives. Obstacles to overcome. Bad things that happened to them during their lifetimes...things that they could have allowed to consume them to such a degree, that under different circumstances, might have led to crimes. But their faith, their moral compass, prevented them from crossing that line. Obviously, these young people lacked that moral compass, the hate and evil in their hearts just spewing out, adversely affecting others, not just for a moment, but for life.

I'm so grateful that my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has not only given me that moral compass, but Someone to cling to during difficult times in my life. I could not imagine my life without the constant presence of the Lord in it, and the comfort and peace that knowing Him has given me.

That is my prayer for all those closely related to this tragedy. Comfort and Peace in the midst of the storm.

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My life doesn't normally have this much drama in it. In fact, when my dad gives me a once a month call, I'm usually forced to admit that not too much has changed since the last time he called...and that we're still running along in the same, well-worn grooves.

I'm learning I should never complain about this kind of predicatability, but should instead be very thankful for it.

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Almost unbelievably, since my last posting, we've had yet another death in our church family. Our church is not large. In fact, there are only about 100 regular attenders on Sundays. This constitutes a large percentage of folks there, and has left some very noticable gaps in the pews.

Our dear friend Roberta, a faithful servant of the Lord, has finally succumbed to her third battle with cancer.



After making it through Christmas last year (and even singing in the Christmas Cantata) when her doctor's had not expected her to, our church body held a dinner in her honor at our church. It was a dinner meant to honor her life and her faithful service to the Lord.

Our intention was to be able to say those things to her in person that most people don't say until they are eulogizing at a funeral or memorial service. It was a huge success, and a real blessing to Roberta. These were a couple of pictures I took that evening.



As a church, we presented her with a thick Memory Book filled with pictures and letters and other mementos that let her know how much we loved her and appreciated her.



She was so delighted, and was thrilled to have such a tangible expression of our love to pore over as she spent a lot of time in and out of the hospital and confined to her bed since then.

Amazingly, she pulled through yet another Christmas that doctors never expected her to see. God in His great Mercy gave her more time in which to make precious memories with her family and friends.

During this third and final bout with cancer, Roberta's unbelieving husband came to trust Jesus as his Lord and Savior at long last. This was after many, many years of prayers on his behalf.

It was a glorious occasion, and one which Roberta was thrilled to have been around to see...and the changes in her husband were remarkable. And she couldn't have been happier, knowing that now all her immediate family would one day join her in Heaven. It sort of 'freed' her to be able to go on home.

And now, we are assured that she is not gone forever, but has simply gone on before us...gone onto her reward!

You fought the good fight, Roberta...Congratulations on your new home!