Friday, August 24, 2007

Hello All!

I know you had all probably given up on me updating the CaringBridge site.  Things have just been really crazy with getting settled in our new home.  I can't say that we are settled yet.  There are still many rooms left to paint and still lots of boxes to unpack, but we are functional and that is good.  We have had another "first" since my last update.  Leslie's birthday was July 19.  Since Leslie talked of wanting her 8^th birthday party at Krispy Kreme, went to there and had donuts on her birthday.  The following Sunday, we took Krispy Kreme donuts to all of the children's classes at Church so they could help us celebrate her birthday as well.  Except for Leslie being here, I felt as if I was still planning a birthday just as I would have if she were here.  It helped us to have a day of celebration rather simply dwelling on our loss.

School started back on August 8^th and we are getting settled into that routine.  Allison seems to like her classes and is enjoying being back with her friends.  It just seems so hard to believe that school is back in session in this August record-breaking heat. Summer breaks seem to get shorter and shorter every year.

August 20^th marked 6 months since the Lord took Leslie home.  For me, it was a very busy day and I didn't have much time to think about it.  I believe God makes sure that we don't have too much "down" time on those difficult days.  I still sense her presence here very much.  I feel like she and God are prodding me along every day in my new journey of life.  Working on this website has been a blessing to me and I pray that it is a blessing to others.  I had felt for several months that God was leading me to prepare some type of website, but the dedication of "Giving Me Away" established the timing.  As people read the draft copy of Leslie's dedication page, Jan found that most of them seemed to hunger for more information about Leslie and her drawings.  From that, we decided to put a website address on the dedication page so that people could learn more about Leslie and the impact she made while here on earth.  The book and the website are proving to be a great blessing to both of our families and I thank God for providing that blessing.  I pray that God will lead me to add more and more that will continue to bless others as well.

Thanks so much for visiting the new site and please let others know about it.  Don't forget to drop by the guestbook and leave us a message.  Just a simple "hello" or "thinking of you" message is so very uplifting to us.  We also welcome your comments and suggestions on how we might make the site better.

In Him,
Mary