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| Testing the water at Hammonasset State Park Beach in Connecticut |
We have one week to go before school starts! It has been a good summer, full of a nice mix of fun times and down time. We had one trip to the beach in South Carolina and one trip to Ohio to see family. We've had lots of friends over to "hang out" and have enjoyed our first full summer with Buddy, our 1 year old Golden Retriever. He sure has added an active, fun element to our home! He is a wonderful companion and friend. He keeps us laughing with his impressive hunting skills! How does he know how to rob birds nests and catch small varmints? I guess it just proves that every living thing is fearfully and wonderfully made by our magnificent Creator!
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| One of many baths after Buddy jumped in the creek! |
Our Connecticut weather has been unusually wet this year. Our grass looks great and we have not watered once! Our lawn mower has been in the shop being repaired for the last several weeks. Josh is looking forward to it being returned so he can earn some money cutting grass! We are kind-of wondering if we will have an early fall as we dipped into the mid 50's last night already with an accompanying dew. It was so nice to turn off the air conditioner! We were actually closing windows by this morning due to the cool, brisk air!
Ken spent a month in China in July for work, was home for two weeks and left to go back to China for another few weeks. He is in charge of a large financial software implementation at his company's factory there. We miss him terribly and this summer has been extremely odd without him here. Married for 20 years next May, he and I are closer than we have ever been. Skype is great but doesn't even begin to cure the heartache of missing him while he is so far away for so long.
In other news, our family had been praying for one of Emily's friends at school named Rachel. Emily and Rachel went to 4th, 5th and half of 6th grade together before Rachel was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma. Rachel's battle was ten long, grueling months when she died last week from it. Both of our children had prayed regularly for Rachel, and helped raise money for her. This was the first time either of them experienced the death of someone they knew. Rachel's family communicated regularly with our school community and even though we were all praying for a miracle, her death was not unanticipated. None of the harsh cancer treatments worked. The Lord chose to take her home to be with Him.
We attended Rachel's Life Honoring Service as a family and it was beautiful. Both of Rachel's parents spoke and it was clearly the Lord that gave them the peace and presence of mind to endure their painful testimonies. They could have hidden and wallowed in their understandable pain, but they chose to rise up and give testimony of how mightily the Lord worked in this difficult time. It was truly and experience none of us will ever forget.
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| We love you Rachel (1999-2012) |