Tuesday Talk

Greetings from the Chairman and co.  We are back to ordinary days after some very extraordinary days.  I was existing on a hybrid mix of adrenaline and exhaustion.  After several ordinary days now,  I'm back to existing on a mix of work, contentment, and thankfulness.

Someone that just also lost someone very dear to them used the word 'indebted'.  That is the word that kept coming back to me after our experiences of late.  It is a miraculous work - the ability of others to know how to just fill a gap that is needed.  That happened day after day after day.  It could be a pan of delicious food.  It could be a text message at just the very moment I needed encouragement.  It could be a card in the mail.  It could be someone saying not once or twice but three times that she was driving over to walk Lisi so I didn't have to think about it.  Yes it's miraculous and I am indebted.

The oldest of the MYP graduated on June 3.  There was a field-wide graduation party on June 10.  I think we were near 200 together give or take about 20.  Who really counts friends?  The more the merrier.  As we were planning the time together with two other families it was my hope that it would be not only a lovely celebration of three amazing teenagers launching forth, but also a wonderful time of fellowship with those we love.  It was and I'm thankful.

The shared party was with two other families that have intertwined with ours since our babies came to be.  I held one of the other graduates when he was about 20 minutes old and his parents were trying to decide a name for him.  He's one of our son's best friends and his truck appears in our driveway at regular intervals.  I feel just as close to the other graduate.  When he was born I went over to visit with his young mother and instead of talking about her new little baby, she kept wanting to know about our long wait to go to China.  She knew we still had about ten months ahead of us and wanted me to stay encouraged and to know that the one we would receive would be 'chosen' for us.  I love how our three young people all have had each others backs for nearly 18 years and have the confidence it will continue.  Don't ever let anyone tell you that teenagers are tough to raise.

Life is so interesting and ever-evolving.  When your children are little, you rock them carefully and quietly to get them to go to sleep.  You may even get down on your hands and knees to sneak out of the room before they peer over their crib.  Last night our teenage son said to me, 'well I'm tired so see you tomorrow after work'.  It was 8:45 pm.  Heh.  

So did you want to hear about my toe?  No?  Well too bad.  Several weeks ago I jammed my pinky toe on a door frame.  Now several weeks later it still hurts like the dickens and swells if I use it too much or it gets too hot.  I reckon I have a teeny-small fracture on my pinky toe.  Sounds like a little problem, no?  Well did you know how much your pinky toe does?  I didn't either until it suddenly hurts.  

My extremely talented sister-in-law made this beautiful quilt for her graduation.  So so pretty!

When going through pictures for the graduation board I came across this one.  I love it and I loved him.  

Have a great week ahead!  Maybe we'll be chatting again soon.