Spring Break Part 2

Loved Ones,

It's good we're not in Texas. The flu has been strong and lasting. After Lucy came Maggie and she is still struggling. I am hopeful that tomorrow will be our first well day. That way I can stop trying to remember how to spell diarrhea!!

I've worked really hard on my gastric cancer research project -- working toward starting a national project to study gastrointestinal cancers in young people. It's the right time to work on it with so many helpful Congressional Members and staff. And, to save one person from these cancers would be a victory. I feel relieved to have something to do that could help.

However, I would sit at my computer and finish 100 Congressional research projects rather than sit still and think about how hard it is to be here alone with the kids this week.

It's a discipline really to be at home. We can't escape anywhere with sick kids, so it forces me to take care of the things on my list I'd rather ignore. Like dentist appointments. Like difficult decisions. And most importantly, like grief.

And so, when we finally go to Texas this coming Monday, I'll feel a little better. Like we've cleared the decks just a little bit and are leaving with things a little more in hand to enjoy ourselves.

This time now is different. I don't have the daily interaction with so many of you. We are more on our own. And yet, we feel God's quiet hand, strengthened by so many of your prayers, upon us still.

"He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul." Psalm 23:2-3

not alone and not afraid,

kristin