Sad Weekend

In case you are wondering why I haven't posted since last Tuesday or, if you are a friend in Arkansas, why you have not heard from me while I'm here...

This has been a very rough few days.
Not long after I arrived here (3 days ago), I received some horrible news.
The two year old daughter of a dear friend was found, nearly drowned, in a swimming pool.
I don't know the details -- how she got there, or how long she was under the water -- and those things are irrelevant now, but I do know it was very serious and now this baby girl is fighting for her life.

The past three days are a blur of phone calls and constantly checking my email for updates on little Vivian's condition. I feel so useless being so far away from my friends... I am cutting my visit in Arkansas short so that I can be there for anything they might need.

We have not stayed in touch like we should in the past year or so, but we have known Herman and Lisa for almost 9 years, literally since we first moved to Baton Rouge.
We were in the same homeschool group for a number of years and our children were great friends. Lisa and I were pregnant at the same time and delivered our 5 year olds just days apart.

Lisa is one of the sweetest people I know and she and Herman are wonderfully kind and generous.
After Hurricane Katrina, they opened their home to a family who had lost everything and housed them for more than a year. And Lisa has been an a blessing to me during some rough seasons of my own... when we talk on the phone, it's never a short conversation. I could talk to her for hours.
This family truly is the salt of the earth.

While I would not wish such a horrific thing to happen even to my worst enemy, it seems especially cruel that this has happened to them.

Little Vivian needs a BIG miracle and we need you to PRAY.

People ask, "Why does something like this happen? Where is God in this tragedy?"
But the truth is that God does not cause sickness and death and disease to happen. These things are in the world because sin and evil are in the world.

We may not understand why things happen the way they do or why our prayers are not always answered the way we would like, but we never have to endure such things alone. God's Word promises that we are never alone when we go through something so painfully difficult. He is always with us.

This is my prayer for Herman and Lisa now... that they would not feel alone for a minute, that they would feel His hands lifting them up and the warmth of His arms around them.
And I continue to pray for a miracle for Vivian, even as her doctors begin to lose their own faith in miracles.
Mostly, I pray that something good can come of all this hurt.
Please keep this family in your prayers.