It’s hard to believe you guys have been married for a year already! And what a year it’s been!
It was an incredible honor to be a part of your wedding, and oh, the joy of seeing you grow together in the Lord is great! Thank you for sharing your life with me. I love you!
We spent the afternoon with Gigi and visited some with Janine while staying out of the house for a few hours so Peter could study today. Gigi made iced tea and Janine put her birds on the ground so the boys could see them while we sat on her back porch and watched the boys play. I loved watching Jerome and Seth slide down together as they hugged each other, or go sliding face down one on top of the other on the backyard playset! It was a gloriously warm day and so good to see each other! We waited for Ian to wake up from his nap and then went for a stroll around the lake with the boys and the magical late afternoon light. Seth and Jerome enjoyed throwing rocks into the water while Gigi and I took turns carrying Ian because the stroller couldn’t make it, and talking and watching and being together. I want to remember how Seth threw a rock near a duck and said “I got a wish!” and when Gigi asked him what he wished for he replied: “I wisheded for a duck!”. Then when he asked if he could roll down the hill to the golf coarse below us and I let him, his body rolled sideways instead of downwards so he scooted down on his bottom.
Hope to see you tomorrow, Gigi!
These are just some pictures I took yesterday and today: 
I hadn’t heard my twin’s voice since Thanksgiving, and she called me today! They got a telephone in the jungle today and she called me to test the line!
Since you have internet now you can read my blog!
I can’t tell you how hard it has been not being in touch with you, Nessers. Everyday there is a yearning, a tugging on my heart and thoughts towards you…if that makes sense, I know you feel the same things. And I want to say how absolutely thrilled I was to hear your voice today, but those words fall short. About all I could do when you called was laugh! You sounded so good, so close, so familiar and part of me…and so very, very far away at the same time. My heart is a little lighter, quieter, just knowing I can call you when I want to now, and that it might be you on the phone again tomorrow!
Jerome has prayed everyday for a while now that Uncle Vann, Aunt Vanessa, Corynn, Ethan, and Clara would finish their house and phone lines. Boy, did his face light up when I told him you had gotten a phone today! He said “I didn’t know that!” and corrected his prayer from “please God” to “thank you God” tonight. 🙂
In other news, Ian is asleep right now breathing easier than he has all week! I’m hoping that he’s coming out of it, and I won’t have to sleep outside with him again tonight or stand in the bathroom with him for hours tomorrow. Although I’m so grateful to Mom for taking Jerome and Seth for me when Ian was bad, and for Peter coming home from work to help me and take turns with him and letting me sleep, and also for Tim and Misty who set up their tent and air mattress in our front yard for us! How very blessed I am!
And how thankful I am for every breath God gives us.
This was Peter’s birthday trip, and the trip he had been waiting for since Jerome was born! They went out together and Jerome learned to ski! Darrell gave me the pics of Jerome on his skiis as I was at the cabin most of the time.
Peter really seemed to enjoy the whole trip and I’m honored that he wanted to take us all along!
Finally, pictures!
Sunday Mom spoke at the Titus 2 meeting at church on mentoring each other in Christ, and Peter drove us home from Mammoth in time for me to hear her. The tables were all set so nicely with bouquets which were sent home with those of us who stood around talking until it was time to clean up. I was grateful for the bit of cheeriness on my table in the mess of unpacking and the stress of sick little ones, and noticed that the lilies in the bouquet had opened yesterday.
Peter told me abruptly this morning that his cousin Lily had drowned in Panama yesterday. She was 26 years old.
It doesn’t seem real that she’s gone, and at the same time, there is a weight in my heart that won’t go away and I know the touch of grief. I regret not praying for her more…what if I had? Would my prayers have saved her? I cannot believe that they would have, and yet I still wish I had.
Throughout today I have been recalling all of my memories of her…when I first met Lily, when she predicted a boy when I was pregnant with Jerome; we met her at her work a couple times and had lunch with her, one time Vann and Vanessa were with us when she worked at Guess and she gave us all her discounts on outfits for the kids; when she would come to family dinners; when we met her dad; when we met her at a trade show and she spent an evening with us in Tahoe; and the last time I saw her over the holidays last year.
I remember her tears, and I remember her laughing through them.
I remember Lily, as beautiful as the flower of her name, and I know she knows we love her.
