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!" :)