The last few days have been a whirlwind.  We arrived safely home on Sunday evening. The Lord gave us clear skies and we made great timing! We had church family waiting for us at home to help us unload and make the transition smoother.  Thank you Gene and Linda Slade and Tammei Brown! After unloading all our stuff (which we barely fit back into our SVU) we jetted out to the Bolan’s house for a lovely dinner.  We arrived just in time to Live Stream The Master’s Seminary’s graduation ceremony at Grace Community Church and catch the short tribute that John MacArthur did to Josh.  Thanks Ray, Pastor John and GCC!

It really made a difference to have our friends and church family surround us as we walked through the doors of our home.  The hardest part for me was walking into our bedroom where at the head of our bed we had framed a family life ‘Marriage Covenant’ certificate in the middle of two frames; one with an engagement picture of Josh and I dressed in cowboy/cowgirl attire, and the other being the most recent family photo taken out by the pond Josh loved to fish.  The Lord has really been answering your prayers for peace for me though.  I have my moments where I cry and just yearn for Josh to be here still;  but more often, I’ve been able to cherish the memories and not dwell on the sorrow of his loss.  I have so much to be thankful for and so much I learned for our four years of marriage.  Honestly, I mourn more when I see the boys hurting for their daddy.  I also feel like I have seen other people ache for me more than me! I can’t even really understand it, so it has to be from the Lord. Thank you to everyone who is helping me carry this burden. I don’t feel I bear it alone. It’s first Christ that carries me, but then he uses his people in tangible ways.

The next day was Nathan’s 3rd birthday.  We still had much to unpack and settle in and Nathan had a nasty cold.  The poor little guy was miserable most of the day.  He was very sad and just wanted to lay in bed and cried for daddy.  Noah at the end of the day I baked him a gluten and dairy free cake (Nate is allergic to dairy and mommy is to gluten), put several different pizza’s in the over (one dairy free, one GF and one regular) and had two sets of church family grandparents join us for dinner and cake.  It really cheered him up! We made it into a little birthday family gathering.  Thanks Ralph & Becky and Gene & Linda! Our friend has organized a little birthday party with his little friends this Friday at a local park, and a meal train for our family.  Thank you Allison! The Lord is pouring out his love and arms around us through his body, the church!

Our church is busy preparing for Josh’s memorial service this Saturday. at 10AM at Merlin Community Baptist church.  The church will be having a time for fellowship and lunch following the service.  Our church submitted an obituary column for Josh in the Daily Courtier.  I was asked to do the eulogy and I am thankful for that opportunity, but appreciate your prayers on this.  I witnessed the 10 year old daughter of a fellow home school mom who died last year give a eulogy for her mom; so I figure if she could do it, so should I.  Don and Kim Seibert will be traveling out to Oregon for the service in the next few days, please pray for their safely.  Thanks mom and dad, we love you and look forward to seeing you! Many of our family and friends will not be able to make the service here in Oregon so we are glad to have another service scheduled for June 24th at 10AM at Church of the Canyons, in Santa Clarita, CA.

Thanks again for all your prayers, love and support.  Thank you to everyone who has donated to our family fund!  It fills me with joy and Hope to see the Lord already provide in tangible ways as it is my heart’s desire to be stay at home for the boys during this abrupt and life-changing transition and their childhood years to follow .