this is a serious one. and there's no way around it.

there is a lot going on in our day to day lives that i need to blog so that when my memory fails me i can go back and read about all of it. but right now all that is on my mind is my friends nathan and kathy...and aly and andrew...and nathan's parents jim and jane..and his sister maggie. a little after 6 last night nathan called greg and kathy called me. they each had just received news from nathan's parents that jim had found nathan's 2 little nieces, haley and zoey, along with their father, dead in their home. i will not go into detail. circumstances don't change the bottom line, which is that 3 people lost their lives. 2 of them precious girls - only 5 and 10 years old. from the time of those phone calls on, the evening was very surreal. the kind of thing you see on tv or in a movie, not the kind of thing you imagine yourself walking through with your dear friends. today is a little less twilight-zonish. today the hurt starts to creep in (most especially for the family) with the reality that the girls are gone.

this is not the first time my boys have been affected by death. but this one has hit them a little more close to home because they are so head-over-heels in love with the smith family. and because just wednesday we took one of our walks with kathy and her kids - her kids that afternoon included haley and zoey. to be roaming the neighborhood, jumping on a trampoline, climbing a tree, making up nonsensical words with friends one day, then a few short days later be standing in the front yard of their home knowing that they are inside but gone - that's hard for an adult to take in, let alone a child. life is fragile, there is no doubt about it. we are, indeed, just a vapor.

we are pretty regularly reminded that this is an imperfect world. people make some pretty disturbing choices. but with each of those reminders comes reassurance that God is in control. and although it makes no sense, and even when we might have to take things with our hearts kicking and screaming before the peace finally comes, we can be sure He is there. He absolutely will never leave us to go through it alone.

i don't know who everyone is who reads this blog - if you are praying people or not. but i need to ask all of you to pray for our friends. only the strength of the Lord will be enough to carry them through it.

i do know for a fact that kathy is reading this. so let me just remind you, my sweet friend, we love you love you love you. and we are here for you. period.