First, must come all my apologies for seemingly abandoning all of you here. Believe it or not, I'm a better friend than this, in real life. :)

You can't imagine all with which my past week's days have been filled. Let it suffice to say, I feel as though it's a great accomplishment, if I'm simply "still standing" at the end of each day. :)

Since I last wrote spoke with you here, I've said farewell to my best friend, Aimee, as she left for several months' ministry to disabled orphans in China. This mission holds so much of her heart, and I'm thrilled to watch all that the Lord is doing in her life right now. I would be feigning strength, however, if I did not admit that I miss her very greatly.

Sometimes, God's greatest purposes mean we must set aside the treasured things of our heart, for a time...it's as though, in our letting go, He's most able to use us and those we love for His Kingdom. Please, remember her in your prayers, as the Lord brings her to mind.

"Behold, you have instructed many,
And you have strengthened the weak hands.
Your words had upheld him who was stumbling,
And you have made firm the feeble knees..."
Job 4:3-4

Also, several days ago, I went to a wedding held in a gorgeous Victorian mansion, just inside Dallas. The wedding party was standing all along a staircase, splendidly crafted of oak, and it was a beautiful ceremony...almost. Right as the groom was giving his bride her rind, I heard a sickening "thud" and looked just in time to see the ring bearer had collapsed in a heat-induce faint and was rolling down the stairs. ...Never before in my life... the entire wedding stopped for ten minutes so that the officiant and a groomsman could carry the 11-year-old away to receive some help. By the time everything started, once more, the officiant thought he had lost the groom's ring. By the grace of God, he had not, and the ceremony finally drew to a close, with a greatly "relieved" ending kiss by the couple. :)

(Yes, I know the picture's sideways...I just wanted you all to see the staircase, but it's getting far too late to spend much more time on editing, etc.) :) I know, I'm so terrible... :)

Last night, we lost our last little puppy from the trouble -stricken litter, born to us in the middle of the ice storm, 15 days ago. I cried like a baby, I have to admit. I just had so much heart invested in the tiny little girl. I suppose that's what happens, when you don't sleep hardly at all for two weeks straight, just trying to help something survive through the night. Anyway, we'll miss the puppy that so endeared herself to our hearts.

By the grace of God, there was something else there that could lay its head in my lap and comfort me. My precious Great Dane puppy has arrived, and the mother dog, which we also bought, has become one of Mother's dearest companion. :)

My puppy won't stay this small for long, but I'm delighting in this stage, as long as I can. The little girl pup is adorable and loves to sleep. Whenever I take her up in my arms and rub her belly or her ribs, she begins to moan quietly, much like a cat purrs to show its pleasure.

In fact, my puppy so loves to make the noises anytime she's in my arms, we've all named her "Moaner Lisa." :)

( To the left, you'll see the mother, Maggie, and her little puppy, Moaner Lisa, is to be see in the photograph to the right.) :) They've both become absolute joys to us all, and I'm really grateful that they've found their homes in our hearts.

An interesting occurrence, this past week...our pastor, very diligently, wanted to prepare our sanctuary for this Sunday's baptismal service. On Thursday, he went to turn on the baptistery's faucet. He wanted to let the water have a good chance to be heated before the Sunday service, so he got "a head start" on the project. Knowing the baptistery would take a full 45 minutes to fill, he left, having turned the water on around 10:30 in the morning, and went back over to the office to continue in his studies.

Around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, he suddenly realized he'd forgotten about the running water.

Clutching keys in his hand, he ran to the sanctuary. First bad sign: water was running out the side door and across the sidewalk. The key wouldn't work in that door. He continued running to the next face of the building, trying to find a workable lock. (All of our locks were in the middle of being changed, and a very small number were fully functional before the weekend.) :) Second bad sign: the rear wall of the building had water streaming through the mortar of the stone exterior walls.

When our pastor finally reached a door his key would open, he stepped into the main entryway and saw a sight that surely made his heart stop...

Water was pouring down the baptistery staircases like Amazonian waterfalls, and an inch of water had filled the entire sanctuary. Sound cables were submerged; an piano and organ were trying to stand their ground amid ripples of water rushing toward the front entrance of the building; carpets were soaked; boxes in storage were nearly floating; and papers were drifting about aimlessly in the growing pools.

Over the next three days, every item in our building that was not nailed down had to be moved or removed. Hundreds of chairs were stacked away. Our entire sound system was dismantled and dumped in heaps wherever there was dry ground to be found. Risers were moved. The stage was pulled apart. Emergency water extraction personnel turned the building into a 97 degree inferno of hot air vents and tubes which snaked their way over every square inch of floor to be seen.

Oh, yes, it was an experience.

I actually really feel badly for our pastor. What's so ironic is that he's really a very responsible person, when it comes to day by day life. He's, also, an architect, of all things, and I can only imagine what was going through his mind, as he first saw the soggy drywall and submerged wiring. :) Poor guy...

Come Sunday, a "task force" of a dozen men came to try and reassemble the sanctuary, as the hour approached for the morning's worship service. The funniest part was the eight deacons trying to agree on the best way to position the hundreds of chair, once more. :)

I feel a little silly, quoting through all the "little things" of this week. In truth, there are many things which remain unsaid...partially because they would be burdensome to the heart and partly because I'm simply too tired to recount them right now. :)

What could not remain unsaid, however, is this: how very dearly I love you all and how glad I am that I'm able to share life with each and every one of you. :) What a gracious gift of God!

For now, I'm heading off to bed. (This is another one of those drafts that took me two days to complete...ahhh; how embarrassing. What's become of me?!?) :) All that to say, thank you for being here with me and for "hanging in there" when the words are few...and many. :)

One last picture...

Moaner Lisa and I say "good night!" :)

As I imagine, quite a few of you have been able to participate in this latest seasonal phenomenon, rarely before seen in Texas--a little surprise I call "winter." :) Several days ago, the winds picked up, and temperatures began to plummet. Before another three days had passed, the thermometers seemed frozen somewhere around 25 degrees, and ice had effectively entombed every visible surface outdoors. More than a few times, power flickered off and on, and our first night without power found me writing my evening work by candlelight. I can't say it bothered me too greatly...I'm far too much of a romantic at heart. :)

The evening hours spent in quiet solitude would not last long, however. Monday evening found our family in a flurry of activity, despite the silence of the frost forming outside our stone walls. Bryan was to be returning from his Mexico missions, a full day earlier than planned. Torrential rains and fierce storms had driven the group out of the heart of Mexico's interior, and when the group's leaders heard of the impending Texas storms, they all had no choice but to rush homeward, as quickly as possible. It was midnight, Monday night, by the time the weary travelers finally arrived safely back at our church in Boerne. Mother and Daddy had made the treacherous drive to pick him up there and bring him back home to us, but driving conditions slowed them so greatly that the three did not get back to our house until after 1:30 in the morning. We were in the middle of getting Bryan back inside with his things and situating our animals for the most warmth possible, when Mother noticed that one of our Maltese dogs was a little damp. Upon closer inspection, we found the dog was in labor.

The happy little dog had herself in a bit of a fix, you see. First of all, she wasn't even supposed to be "with pup." :) Our chihuahua puppy and she had shared a back porch of our home, and the five month old pup apparently was a little lovestruck by the beautiful Maltese. Long story short, they were caught "red-handed." Mother called up the vet, saying, "Is that Chihuahua pup even old enough to cause any trouble?" The vet replied that we should be perfectly fine..."The pup's really little and quite a bit too young." Well... apparently, the Chihuahua was perfectly mature enough. As if all of this was not already a bit unusual, another factor had to be added to the situation. The labor was coming days ahead of schedule; Mother and I would be walking the dog through premature labor...not fun.

By the grace of God, I've been gifted with a mother who made her living as an RN specializing in Labor and Delivery. Such training comes to be very valuable in many areas of life, one of which is helping a mother dog in distress. :) Many years ago, our family, also, professionally raised Maltese puppies; so this was not "our first time around the block" with such situations. This was, however, the first time we would be experiencing premature labor, and I can honestly now say, it is much more difficult and misleading. A full 18 hours would pass before all three puppies were born, two of which actually survived. They were a beautiful pair: a tiny boy and a strong-hearted little girl.
Another concern quickly greeted us... Due to the early delivery, the mother dog had not one drop of milk. This would not usually be a big deal; I always keep a can of "Mother's Replacement Milk" in the pantry. My carefully-stockpiled supply, however, had been raided for the sake of an orphaned fawn found earlier in the year. We had to get milk for the newborn puppies...and soon. Therefore, Papa somehow found a way to get down the "closed" highway on a mission of mercy to our H-E-B, ten miles away, determined to find some puppy formula, no matter how difficult it would be to attain. Several hours later, he was able to return home, and immediately, Mother and I set to the task of nursing the tiny pups from a small bottle.

It's actually taken me so long to complete the writing here and post the draft...that several days have now passed. It's very late on Friday night, and so much has happened, in the days that have come and gone.

The storm worsened until we were iced in "till Kingdom come." :) Unfortunately, being badly homebound, we had no means of getting the mother dog to the vet when she was greatly in need of such help. Part of the afterbirth was never delivered, following the traumatic births, and she developed a deadly uterine infection, "slipping downhill" long before we could finally get through to the veterinarian office, a couple of days later. The small amount of milk the mother eventually produced was essentially "poisoned" by the severity of her unseen infection, and her darling male puppy was lost to it, just yesterday. The mother's "hanging on by a thread," but God has been very gracious, and she's somehow still with us, though she and the remaining girl puppy now require "round the clock" nursing care. Needless to say, neither Mother or I have slept more than two hours a night, this entire week... Oh, well; God's using it all to make us stronger in heart. :)

In the midst of all the drama and trauma of the past week, our Creator has still poured forth immense blessing all around us. I found myself greeted each morning by dawn rising over a landscape of unspeakable beauty. (You must remember that this Texan girl has not seen many a winter morn, in her brief 22 years.) :) Even now, I am cherishing the memories of our family's children running across the ice to gain the greatest "sliding momentum"...Bryan loosed his Labrador Retriever for a far-too-humorous game of slippery fetch...Icicle contests were held, the kids holding competitions to see who could knock down the biggest icicle without breaking it in the process...

Life was, quite simply, beautiful because all around us lay yet one more reminder that our Creator's hand was still at work in the world around us...and if our God loved us enough to spread His glory upon the radiant earthen fields and soft winter skies, then surely He also knew the smaller, "less-significant" things filling our days. He saw the midnight hours of toil and exhaustion...He heard the silent pleas for life to be granted the "most humble" of His creatures...He safely guided home a beloved brother from the mission field...His eyes still kept watch, seeing through the dark hours without electricity...His hands continued to warm the hearts of all who call Him "Father."

Thus, a week of my life has drawn to a quiet close. Ice has melted away, and the chilly winds are fleeing to the North, at least for a little while. :) The deer are coming out, at long last, from their hollows of shelter, and my little corner of the world is seeing some sunshine, once again. The most radiant light, however, never forsook us; its faithful glow was found in the constancy of the Savior's presence within our heart of hearts.

Much love, my dear ones, and many blessings to you all!

*******

P.S. I'm getting a harlequin Great Dane puppy. I just had to share the good news with all my friends here. :)

I write with a familiar face held dear to my heart. My precious brother, Bryan, has left us for a short time, going deep into Mexico for mission work. He's joined a wonderful group of friends from our church, Currey Creek Baptist in Boerne, Texas. The sweet boy hugged me farewell yesterday morning and waved as he drove away with two of his best friends, Mr. and Mrs. Brooks. Both of these dear people have long been treasured Sunday School teachers to several of our children, and I'm thrilled that Bryan will be in their company. Please, join me in praying that God will richly bless their time of ministry "South of the Border." I know God has great things He can do through willing vessels, and I'm praying that world-changing things will be accomplished for the sake of His kingdom and the glory of His name. :)

Much love, my dear ones!

I'm off to bed for now, my friends. It's certainly been a long day, but I know I've been much blessed through its hours. Not much sleep has found me, as of late, so I eagerly await nestling myself in the covers and drifting off to a long-awaited Elysium. God's been very good to me; that's the last thought that will remain with me, in the final moments before slumber, I know. :) Farewell, my friends! God be with you!

The new year has come to greet us, and I'm so blessed that 2007 has arrived. :) I pray that each of you have been given a wonderful transition between the old and the new. Truly, it is my hope that God will bless you with incredible times of growth in spirit and a year filled with much hope and joy.

Much love, my friends!