Update 3/5/10 Day 116

Dear friends,

Well, the man and I had our first date since the crash. We went out for sushi, just the two of us, and it was lovely. Hard to believe it's been almost 4 months since we went somewhere together to eat and talk. On the way home I got a hot fudge sundae at Stewart's, and in our own living room we watched a little of the original "Nutty Professor" with Jerry Lewis (he's one of Steve's mom's favorites). Now I'm under the electric blanket, thinking about the day and all of you, and how incredibly good the Great One has been to me. To imagine a world without Stephen and Hannah is unthinkable. That they are both here with me continues to be a source of complete gratitude. That God has given me fellow travellers like you is over the top grace.

Forgot to tell you yesterday, but in 2 months or so Steve will have to undergo another minor surgery. The screws in his "Shrek" foot have to come out. Unlike the other hardware , those bad boys are removable. Hopefully after that his foot will look a little more normal, and swell a little less. Still in all, his extremities are doing ok for the level 1 banging up they took. Humpty Dumpty is back in line behind my husband in the broken to pieces department.

Earlier today I read something in The Book that struck me. I was pondering how crazy life can be, and how wild things happen, and how we wind up where we are and who we make the trek with. And then I read this, which I've read many other times, but today it was bright with color and clarity:

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth, and does not live in temples built by hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live, and move, and have our being." Acts 17:24-28

Our choices and God's determination - all blended together to make a life. In all of it, He is not far from each one of us... Now please, how amazing is that? He needs nothing, He made it all, and He chooses to be near us. But that's how Love is. It wants to be with the object of affection. Like a night out for Sushi. Or in God's case, like a lifetime of longing for his children to "perhaps reach out for Him and find Him..." To find Him in His nearness. Wherever we make our beds. However banged up we are on the inside.

That fabulous website I love (where I find lots of writings by people of faith over thousands of years) has a book of Welsh hymns in its library. Now this one is really, really old. But the 8 stanzas could be written by any one of us today. The ancients experienced the same longings we have, the same hopes and fears, only in a different package. I'll just show you one of the verses. The name of the hymn is "Approaching Land":

"Than the floods thy word is stronger
Stronger than the 'whelming wave:
All my hope I calmly venture
On thy promise Lord to save..."

I'd write the whole thing out for you, but I don't want to get too long winded. The lyrics in their entirety are beautiful, and I've simply got to put them to music. I think I feel a project coming on... So many of those old hymns don't seem so awfully old. Because through the ages man is still so much the same, isn't he (and she)? I love that in heaven all the years will melt away, and our kindred spirits will rejoice together over the Great One, in whom we live and move and have our being. I'm feeling a little happy right about now. Hold on to your hats, you never know what tomorrow brings. But no matter what, His word will be "stronger than the 'whelming wave. It has been lo these 116 days.

So, it's with a belly full of sushi and hot fudge (sounds terrible), that I say goodnight again. We're another step closer to the healing you have all prayed for and walked beside us to gain. I have greatly enjoyed all the comments and emails I received this week! How they encourage me! I'm really glad that when the Great One chose the "exact time and place where I should live" during this time, He put me right here with you. I mean that with every fiber of my being.

Your friend on the pilgrim road,

Loriann