Ups and Downs and The Craziness Inbetween

OK, first off - may I ask you all to pray for my sweet friend Rachel and her family. Her Mom passed away this weekend. She had been dealing with many medical issues lately and they knew it was coming. Somehow that does not make it easier though. She was a believer, so what does make it easier is knowing that she is now enjoying a perfect, HEALTHY, Heavenly body and resting in the presence of Jesus! Rachel is a blogger, her site "Devoted" is listed in my link list on the sidebar (I can't get the link thingy to work!) if you would like to read about her mom. Thank you for your prayers - I know I can count on all of you!!!

Secondly, another friend and her hubby recently lost their pet dog. Now, this was no ordinary pet. My girlfriend Carol is a retired police officer and her hubby John is still active and has been on the canine unit for a while now. For the past 5 or so years he has partnered with Baloo. Last Monday they were following a bad guy through a construction site and Baloo fell in a hole and died. These people are SERIOUS pet lovers and Baloo has lived with them the entire time they have worked together. They are devastated by the loss. Please pray for them as well as for some choices regarding John's career that they are now facing.



And thirdly, today is my Paula's birthday. She would have been 38. It still seems so foreign, this world without her. I have to stop and remind myself that she never met my girls, never got to see me be a mom. That hurts. She was an AMAZING mom. At least once a week I wish, more than you could imagine, that I could ask for her advice and input and HELP!!! I miss her every Friday - we had guitar lessons, ice cream dates, movie nights and/or shopping at Walmart on Fridays. When she was doing chemo, it was on Friday and I would sleep over to help her through. More often than not, the next day she was ready to go garage saleing. I would have to explain - AGAIN - that they were FULL of germs and other people's filth. We would argue - AGAIN. She would win - AGAIN. And we would go to Einstein's Bagels for an "everything" bagel and a large "frosty beverage" and be on our way. She could sniff out a garage sale a mile away. She was great at finding a bargain, but mostly we just found some fun and a few laughs. I hate that she is not here with me anymore. I LOVE that she is in Heaven. I miss her like crazy every single day. I can't wait to walk on those golden streets and see her walking toward me. She is saving the mansion next door to hers for me - 'cause she promised she would. I can't wait to see how she painted the walls. I bet there is at least one pink room ('cause she knows I would secretly want one - though not QUITE as pink as Faith's room), one muraled wall and one sunflower SOMEWHERE!!! She wouldn't have it any other way.

Did I mention I miss her?

Yeah, I thought so.