A Sad Introduction to Blogging

Greetings to the Blogosphere!

I am diving in now and we will see where this leads. I have had several ideas about what I want to do with this blog, so as I try them out, please bear with me and tolerate the seeming lack of direction that it may display for a while as I figure it out.

This past weekend was a blur of activity. My very good friend Kathryn took off for China on Thursday. YEA! We were all so excited for her! She had worked so hard for this for so long and it was finally happening.

Then, Friday night at 12:10 am, Saturday morning, we received a call... Kathryn's father had passed away from a heart attack, earlier that evening. They rushed him to the hospital but he didn't make it.

We tried to contact Kathryn, added international calling to our cell plan and wound up emailing her telling her to call her family, that 'it was an emergency'. Let's Start Talking, the organization that helped to arrange her trip, made quick arrangements for her to be able to come back home. We picked her up at the airport at about 5:00 pm on Sunday.

Lara and I are both sad for her and disappointed on her behalf because she had worked so hard for this trip and then to not get to go, it is just so very disappointing.

The funeral was yesterday. I thought there was going to be a limo for the family. I learned that Kathryn, on only a couple of hours sleep in the last couple of days, had driven several members of her family to the funeral!

It was a very nice service. I don't even know how many family members were there, I would guess better than 40, counting the kids, and there were lots of friends as well. There was congregational singing in the good ole CoC tradition and it was really quite nice.

Afterwards, we came up with a plan and Lara drove Kathryn home in her car and another good friend of ours, also named Kathryn, drove Lara home afterwards. I drove Kathryn's grandmother, mother and sister home to Wills Point after the service and picked up Kathryn's luggage and took it back to Dallas, to our apartment.

Today, Kathryn decided to pick up her stuff from our apartment and went back to stay with her family for a few days. Lara drove her out there. You can read her blog about her day.

Now, yesterday, I started my day by going to the doctor's office. I go every Monday to get my alergy shots. This, in and of itself is not a bad thing. However, consider this. When you are shaking hands at a funeral, everyone (well, guys in particular) want to give you that reassuring pat on the arm while they shake your hand. The shots I received yesterday were about half of a syringe in volume, so they hurt just from the pressure of all of the stuff that was in my arm. Then, everyone started hitting me on the arm.

First, it was the family, at the family lunch before the funeral. Then, during the time after the lunch and before the funeral, it was the good friends of the family that showed up early. Then, after the funeral, it was just simply anyone. Ouch!

My prayers are with this family in particular lately. May the Lord comfort them in their grief. Bring them happiness and smiles in rememberance. Watch over them and protect them during this time when they are down. May they find the peace that only He can provide. May they find his love in the friends that He has placed around them. May we all learn and marvel at his incredible work in their lives.

May you all have a blessed week.