Praise God from whom all blessing flow . . .

Wow. A lot has happened since I last posted. To start, on January 7th, my Papa died. I wish I could say it in some flowery, meaningful way. But I can't. Death is death, and there really isn't any way to spin it. On Friday, the day that he died, all our family came here. We cried and laughed, and talked together. The most exhausting day ever. I went to bed that night feeling . . . broken. Like a empty shell, that had cried itself out. The next day the Carlson's came. What a blessing! It was so good to be able to work through our grief as one family. It's amazing to me, how the death of one person can bring so many things together. So many people from church gave us food, and cards, and I felt so loved! I got hugs, and well wishes, and felt like people actually cared about my family, and my life. On Wednesday, a man from our church died of a massive heart attack. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Psalm 116:15 Mr. Johnson was a man of God, and will be missed. But again, it was amazing to see how we came together as a church to help his family. All of the teen girls at church took his daughter out to dinner on Saturday night, for some time to talk, and get her away from the house for awhile. On Sunday, we had a memorial service for him, and our church was filled with so many people. Later that afternoon, we had a gathering at someone's house. It was so many people, in one house, remembering, talking, laughing. It was truly amazing.

Death seems to be all around me. But I just feel very blessed by all the people in my life, and all the love around me. It's really truly amazing.