God IS Good !

My wife and I experienced a fully packed and most enjoyable weekend past.  Let me give you the Cliffs Notes and perhaps the emotional whys and how come!!


Let's begin here: My wife, Gerry is one of six children in her immediate family. Two older brothers died six months apart approximately 45 years ago. (Both were in their early forties; one left six children the other left five). Her two older sisters, Jean and Lois have  also died. Lois passed six years ago and Jean a little over a year . The only siblings remaining are Gerry and younger brother, Glenn. Gerry was particularly close to her sisters and she misses them terribly. Her introduction to 'sudden' loss began early in her life when at 19 years old, she lost her father who was only 54. Gerry had to by-pass dreams of nursing school; she had to go to work to financially assist her mother.
Therefore, one can understand her anticipated excitement when Lois' two daughters, Kathy and Missy joined two of Jean's daughters, P.J. and Patti for a road journey this past Saturday from the Metro-East area to Decatur. During the six hour visit, Gerry and her four nieces beamed with smiles and laughter as they reminisced about days gone by. Of course, there were many moments which found 'Aunt' Gerry filling in the family history blanks. I confess that I also wiggled my way into the group for about an hour...they were having too much fun.
The girls drove off and were hardly out of sight when Gerry turned to me and said with a tearful smile, "My sisters would be so proud of their girls for making the effort to be with me and show me such love."


The next day was another family gathering and celebration of a different type. Our youngest daughter, Pam, son in-law, Tim and their children Caleb(21)  and Erica (19) gathered around a dinner table with cousin (and ISU sorority sister) Loren and Caleb's girlfriend, Morgan. The celebration centered on four birthdays. Pam's birth date is January 22 and Caleb's was January 26. Erica and Boompa's birthdays are February 17 and 18, respectively.


Last night, I fell asleep counting blessings wondering 'why' God has been so good to me.