Meandering with Em

So I have been meandering in Century City with Emily over night. She has interviews in the area today and had to spend the night at the Century City Plaza hotel. Emily invited me to spend the night so we could have some mother/daughter time together. It is nice to be able to have time away from the everyday distractions of home to be able to talk about her decisions. She has some big ones to make in the next couple of weeks for her job for next summer that will more than likely be her future place of employment. Century City is all a little bit over my head and a totally different world than I am used to but I am beginning to understand the picture. She will have some nice opportunities and as her Mom I am glad that she will be here back in L.A. We continue to pray for her as she discerns what God has for her.

The wonderful thing about meandering in life, which is what I feel like I am doing right now, is that I get to do random things. So yesterday I was heading up to Encino to attend an information night for Phillips Graduate Institute and I decided that since I was almost to Gretchen's I would drop in for a visit. Gretchen is my niece by marriage. She is the 2nd daughter of David and Robin Cox, David is Tom's older brother. She is married to Chris Jensen and they have one son, Anders. When I arrived Anders was still taking his nap. It was nice to have a little time with just the two of us. I was able to share with Gretchen photos of Leah. She really enjoyed the photos which I love sharing with anyone who is interested. Of course, Anders was a big part of our visit so after he got up from his nap he showed off his athletic talents. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed seeing this cute red head play! The second video reminds me of Grandpa Dave ;-)

Sad but grateful day

Today is a sad day because it is the day I should have been looking forward to instead of dreading. It is the day I cannot give any physical comfort to my first baby, Amy and her husband Jeff because they live far away in Illinois. I cannot comfort them on the day they should have been holding a baby, Little Leah, instead of having empty arms. I can call and cry and say that I am praying and thinking about them today.
I am grateful for their friends in Christ at First Presbyterian who are being the hands and feet of God today. The friends who are taking Amy to lunch and coffee and are providing dinner tonight. I am grateful for my friends from my covenant group and those believers that I share with you pray without ceasing for Amy, Jeff and our family. I am grateful for my friend Nancy who is taking me to lunch today too.
I am grateful that God walked alongside us as we raised our children to understand that the church( the body of Christ) can be a place of refuge.
I am grateful that Amy and Jeff have the hope of heaven knowing that Leah is with Jesus and someday we will all be together.
I am grateful for a God who takes care of all our needs and some of our wants too. I so wanted to take Leah to the beach and play in the sand and jump the waves.
So my silly hope of heaven is that there is a great big beach with gentle waves that we can get acquainted on. I can feel her clinging to my leg already ;-)