Prayer: update on my 14yo-God daughter ...

Here's a note I received today from my dear friend and mother of my Goddaughter  with an update on Katherine's health ...

Greetings everyone,

Thank you for the overwhelming prayers, thoughts and sacrifices offered on behalf of Katherine and our family. You all have surrounded and blanketed us in prayer, which we felt all throughout the day yesterday, and are so grateful to have from our community of prayer warriors.

Katherine had her medical tests, and while preliminary results did not provide us with 'answers,' their result was positive in that the neurologist who administered the tests remarked, "this is good that she doesn't have any nerve and muscle damage." So, he will turn over his findings to Katherine's neurologist, and we wait to hear from him as to the next steps.

On a very positive note, Katherine went to rehabilitation physical therapy in the afternoon (and her Dad has been her great coach at home!) and she has made great progress in the last two weeks. When I think of 'great progress,' I envision huge strides being taken, but at our level, being able to bend her knee an additional fraction of inch, or turn the stationary bike one rotation (when she couldn't do that last week) are the great strides we celebrate. She also stood up, supported by her two therapists, for five minutes :)

Again, I/we cannot relay to you how powerful your prayers and actions have been to us. A common saying that we all hear at times like "God doesn't give you more than you can handle." Well, I've learned differently. A very young and wise priest once shared in his homily, "God doesn't give you more than you can handle? Oh yes, He does." And he went on to explain, more eliquolently than I ever could...because in doing so, He allows us to call upon one another and build a larger, stronger community in Him. In joining with us our time of trial, you have built up this Godly community, and have made the challenges for us more bearable. We trust that in God's time and plan, His will, will be done. We thank you for joining us along the path to witness, and to do His greater work here on earth.

Please continue to pray for this teenager and her family ... and for the docs and technicians that they figure out what is causing these problems ... and that they're able to help her regain her health and mobility.

Hospitality: visits from long-time friends

One of the great benefits to living in Virginia is our proximity to Washington, D.C. ... and therefore, visits from friends and family!

And we all love to welcome them to our new home, Hilltop Farm!

Yesterday, we had a visit from a friend and her family from Georgia. They'd spent the 4th in Washington and stopped on their way to NC beaches.

I've know this woman for 20+ years ... she was at both of my weddings, is the godmother to my oldest son, I used to feed she and her husband when they were dating and I hosted her wedding shower. I'm godmother to her oldest and we co-chaperoned trips to Walt Disneyworld when our godchildren were each 4 years old. I worried and prayed with her when she delivered her second daughter -- a 2-month early preemie who was so tiny, she was the size of a Hershey bar! I cried and laughed with her as we saw her father, a sufferer of Parkinson's, succumb to the disease.

That was four years ago ... and our paths have not crossed since the funeral. Until yesterday ... when she and her husband, my goddaughter (now 14!), her second daugher (8) and her youngest (5) stopped by for a few hours.

We so enjoyed seeing them again and can't wait for a chance for a longer visit .... after all, there was someone for everyone:

• dh and Vince hid out in the garage and then later at the beach ... talking guy talk
• goddaughter hung out with her "older and wiser cousin" and enjoyed talking with the grownups
• the younger girls -- who are NOT girly-girls -- had a blast running, tumbling, tagging and generally wreaking havoc with our younger three!

A successful visit all round ... come on back now, y'hear!