It's Always Something

Well, we're slowly getting back on track. This week has seemed like two steps forward, one step back. I have been working on gradually re-entering the land of the living. On Thursday we bought our tickets for Canada. On July 14, we will be at my parents' house! That definitely buoyed my spirits. We engaged in a little retail therapy, and pretty much did whatever we felt like for a couple of days. Then I was really ready to jump back in to everything (as much as I could with my new horrible stamina!) and I came down with a head cold. That's pretty typical for me--if I get worn down, I get anything and everything. On Sunday evening, our hard drive croaked. Thankfully, Randy and Jennifer have loaned us their desktop computer until we get ours working again. Keith and Stacey are bringing us a new hard drive from the US next week. We don't know yet if we'll be able to recover anything off of it, but fortunately we had backed up all our pictures and most of our documents the day before. Yesterday we talked about it and decided that we would go to our staff meeting today. But last night Russ started throwing up. He must have pick up some kind of bug; all I know is the poor guy can't keep anything down. I'm secretly a little glad though. It's my big chance to repay him for taking such good care of me. However, I myself am feeling a little queasy so we decided that while sharing is good, this bug is something that we don't need to share with the team. They'll just have to do without us for a couple more days.

There. I'm done complaining. But before I hit publish, I just want to take a minute to thank you all for your encouraging words. It's definitely tough, but we are so thankful that we have such wonderful friends and family to help us out. Most of all, we're thankful to be children of the Father, who brings us comfort and will make good come of it all.

Full Disclosure

I'm sure you've notice that we haven't been updating very much recently. To be honest, I haven't been up to much lately. On the other hand, a lot has been going on. Last month we found out I was pregnant. A couple of days after we found out, I started having some problems. The doctor put me on bedrest. And that's where I've been--for over a month. During that time, I went in for lots of tests, but we were never able to get solid answers. But the problems continued, so I stayed in bed. (Let me just say that Russell has been a champ during this time- he has taken such good care of me!) Yesterday we went in for an ultrasound that revealed that we had lost the baby. We are saddened, but know that our God will work good things from this. In the meantime, we're taking a little "us time" so we can get back on our feet. There's a lot happening here in the next couple of months and we need to get back to full strength asap. The team has been awesome in encouraging and enabling us to take some time (even though it feels like I've just had a month off!)

A positive event on our horizon (other than the return of the Parkers!) is a trip we're planning. My sister, Susan, is getting married in July and we're taking our vacation time to go be there for the wedding. I have a pretty spread out family (now with two touring brothers!) and times when we can be together are really special. We're thrilled for Susan and Joel and are looking forward to the time to recharge (and stock up on peanut butter!).

Thanks for the replies

Charile Brown once said, "I had seven pen pals, but i did all the writing." Today is a reversal of that feeling for me! I had four people write back in one day. It seems like such a small thing, but in a place where phone calls are inconvenient and expensive, email is a real lifeline to maintaining relationships with people. Most of the friends I consider close exchange two or three emails per year with me. Per year. Even more than calls or letters, email takes so little time that it seems to carry less feeling. For me, nothing could be further from the truth. Even getting a small reply saying, "I will write more when I have time" is a huge boost to my day. So stop sending silly forewards; send a simple message and see who responds. I promise that I will.