Random

life...
It's been so long since I've posted that I sort of don't know where to begin! I feel kinda bad about that... knowing that many of you keep up with us here, have probably been wondering about the house, and want to know how we are doing. My apologies for leaving you in the dark!

We are in Maine visiting my family and will be here thru Thanksgiving. I'm sure you may be wondering (1) how cold is it? and (2) is there any snow yet? Well, it's actually been unseasonably warm, with temps in the 40's and 50's. Today though, reality settled in... it's about 25 degrees out there right now and we had a little bit of snow this morning... just a "dusting" as they say around here.

When Summer got up this morning she wanted to go "see them"... the snow flakes that is. Funny! She had fun walking around the yard in it... for a little while at least, and then it got too cold for us.

In case you are wondering about Maine, this pic will give you an idea of where we are. Aroostook County is the largest county (in terms of land-mass) east of the Mississippi River. I grew up in the small town of Washburn (pop. 2,000; just east of the big red dot on the map below) and that is where my parents still live (in fact, they've lived here their entire lives; they met when they were 8 or 9 years old, when my dad was the paper boy for my grandparents! how cool is that?). My sister and her family live about 10 miles from here, in the city of Presque Isle. Anyway, thought you may like to know all that!

We are okay. Good days. Bad days. Our new reality... that still hasn't sunk in completely.

On Sunday, Nicol sang and I preached at my home church, sharing as best I could the journey we have been on during the past 6 months since Luke's passing. After the service I saw the grandmother (Mrs. Kinney) of an old friend from high school. She approached me with tears in her eyes and said, "I know exactly what you are going through." I didn't know the details of what had happened, but it was obvious that she had suffered a similar loss at some point. I asked my mother about it later on that day and she said that Mrs. Kinney, now in her early 80's, lost a 5-month-old boy the same way we lost Luke. The baby just didn't wake up one day. All these years later and our story tore at the scabs of her heart, in some ways I am sure making it feel as though it happened just moments ago.

If there's anything I have learned since May 27 it's this: a parent never gets over losing a child. Never.

the house...
Unfortunately, I have no news of any real significance to share. There are a two couples who are interested, but neither have made an offer yet and one has to wait until they sell their house before they can even consider making an offer on ours.

So, as I've said before, we continue to wait. Thank you for all of your encouraging comments. I know that the house will sell when it's supposed to and I know that God has it all under control and His timing is always best... as someone else said, He's never early and He's never late!

"light your world" reminderbands®...
I ordered these a few weeks ago and they will be available for purchase or donation to the foundation. I will be giving more details in the days ahead. Danielle is going to do a bit of a re-design on the blog and once that is done we will have all the information needed for those who want to order the "light your world" reminderbands®. Until then, I thought I'd give you a heads-up! Here are a couple of pics. Would love to know what you think.

"a week of thanksgiving"...

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I was thinking about the whole "being thankful" thing. You know what I'm talking about, right? It's supposed to one of the characteristics of our faith. Man do I fall short on this one. I think my thoughts have been spurred on by a comment that a friend made a couple of weeks ago over breakfast. He commented that the Bible says we are supposed to be thankful for everything. I swallowed hard on that one, thinking immediately about losing Luke. I am obviously not thankful about that. But what about the everything part? Well, I just can't go there.

Having said that, there are many things that I AM thankful for... even things related to Luke. I'll share those later. For now though, here's what this "a week of thanksgiving" part is all about. Click here to access a pdf file / worksheet that focuses on "cultivating a thankful heart." If you're anything like me, the pump needs to be primed sometimes! I first saw this a few years ago and I'm planning to go thru it again beginning this Friday. The final day will, of course, be Thanksgiving Day.

Here's the intro that you'll find on the worksheet:

"God’s Word teaches that thankfulness ought to be a way of life. But in the reality of our daily lives, it is so easy for discontentment, murmuring, complaining, criticizing, or even bitterness to displace the "attitude of gratitude." Cultivating a thankful heart will result in speaking thankful words. But we all need periodic reminders to be thankful, and, for most of us, developing the habit of thankfulness may require some practice! Here are some practical suggestions for devoting one week to practicing thankfulness. You may even want to include the whole family in this project."

Check it out! And feel free to post any "thankful" comments you'd like to share! I would love to read them!

food for my soul today...
[ Psalm 94:17-19 ]
17 If the Lord had not been my help,
my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
18 When I thought, “My foot slips,”
your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.
19 When the cares of my heart are many,
your consolations cheer my soul.