Whirlwind

This is definitely an apt word to describe how things have felt these past few weeks. And since we have officially entered the "travel" portion of our summer, it will continue on this path for the next few weeks.

It started with the news of Phil's death, sending us on an emotional rollercoaster of grief, mourning, and laughter (in reminiscing) and continued with saying goodbye to both Rodney's childhood home and hometown. The physical aspect of long road trips has served to add an extra element to the "ride" (sticking with the rollercoaster analogy) indeed. We look forward to another even longer road trip on Thursday which will take us from St. Louis to Northern Michigan to Columbus Ohio onto Greenville South Carolina then to Florida and, finally, home. We brace ourselves for gas prices and frequent stops while looking forward to spending time with cherished family and friends.

We just returned from the second trip to McPherson in as many weeks and most likely our last for some time. This particular trip was for Phil's memorial service. We got back last night and are "picking up the pieces" only to turn around and (as mentioned above) leave for 2 1/2 more weeks. Phil's service was amazing. I think there were atleast 800 people there (I admit I'm bad with judging crowd numbers, but there were loads of people there) and the stories and tributes offered were so incredible I began to wonder whether or not Phil was a real person. He of course was, and it's evident that to many he was one of the best they knew. What a privelege to share in something so big as was his impact on those around him. We got a chance to talk to Esther a little after the service and watch Anna run around laughing and playing. Esther is incredibly strong and showed such a peace that made me marvel. Certainly much of this was due to the fact that she had already been through two services and one can only grieve publically so much. Once again, we will be praying for them and the Penner family.

In other news, Will is walking. About 4 or 5 days ago he decided that he'd rather spend more time on his feet than his knees and his wobbly waddle is so cute to watch. Here's a video taken last week:



Hopefully our travels won't keep me from posting atleast once while we're gone, but knowing my record I can't promise much. In the meantime, here's to summer travel and the continued whirlwind.