soon...

and very soon, brooke will be joining us for a Thanksgiving meal.

it'll be the first time she'll be spending the night at the cottage...it'll be so sweet to have her here with us.

i'll be putting up some pictures later.

very thankful to be near her and my family this year!

some days...

are harder than others. tonight brooke cannot escape my mind and i miss her being in the same house with me. i'm grateful for the care she is getting and her improvement; however, the grief still remains at times.

just having one of those nights i guess.

another thing that has not escaped my mind is a story in the Bible. the story is of the woman that had a hemorrhage for many years and she reached out to touch the cloak of Jesus and she was healed. I love this story! what i've thought of is the fact that she pressed thru the crowd. i can just see her moving her arms like a swimmer doing brush strokes...digging thru the crowd to get to Jesus or get to Him enough to touch the hem of His garment. i love the idea of "pressing thru". i guess this is where i'm at spiritually...pressing thru to touch, get near, embrace, lean heavily on, clasp, and hold onto Him.

i'm mindless without Him.

small changes

boy, i haven't posted anything in a while....we have been very busy at the cottage and our laptop broke. bummer!

about a 1 1/2 ago brooke was put on some medication to help with her behaviors. as of a couple of weeks ago she completely came off these meds. brooke's behaviors have changed quite a bit. last saturday she was suppose to come to the cottage for dinner. i was encouraged NOT to get her, she was having a hard day.

this past week we were on break. she spent part of the afternoon and had dinner with us. it was good to have her in our home for a short time. as a friend says to me "i take what i can get".

yesterday she got a well needed haircut.
she will spend Thanksgiving with us next week and i hope she'll be able to spend then night.

I'm grateful this year that we live so close to one another. i love you brookie!

running

i love this picture....brooke's shadow looks like a cross and it appears as if she was running to it. i love the irony of it all!

i'm running to the cross with you brooke. thank you for your gentle reminders.

together

lately i have really been longing to see some special friends. grieving if you will because we live so far from one another. i love what paul says in Philippians 1:7 "i long to see you with the affection of Christ Jesus".

tonight i was reading amy carmichael's "Edges of His Ways". this is what i read:

2 thess. 2:1, "our gathering together with Him."

We may be separated now, we may see little of some whom we want to see often. there are many partings in life; never once are we promised the joy of long continuance together here, but "our gathering together unto Him" is a certain joy. everyday as it passes brings us nearer that day when we shall gather together unto Him. if it can be such joy to be together here, what will it be to be gathered There?

I enjoy reading things from amy! i love my friends and i love my family! i can't wait to be gathered up with Him. and when i am gathered with Him with brooke i'm wondering what her first words to me will be...futhermore, i'm wondering what her first words to Jesus will be!

what a moment....wouldn't you like to be there?