Odds & Ends

• To all those who had cards & packages returned, please try, try again. We learned a couple weeks ago that the hospital mailroom decided Allie had gone home. A lot of wishful thinking I guess. Everything's been corrected & Allie is receiving mail here again.
• As Holy Week begins we focus on the most difficult but most significant part of Christ's journey on earth. It always reminds me that ours is not a feel-good faith; ours is a faith that requires sacrifice as anything worthwhile does. Only in learning how to sacrifice, to struggle & feel pain for the benefit of others, do we truly know how to live. This lesson has particular significance for our family right now. We're learning to abide in the Spirit to see us through this stretch of road. We know the valley won't last forever; the road will ascend the mountain eventually.
• We continue to focus on our blessings: we live 1 hr. from the hospital not 3 as some families do; Allie has been healthy her whole life till now, not in-and-out of hospitals as many patients here have been; Emma & Grace continue to be wonderful, supportive sisters & great students; our Ashbury neighborhood & Naperville ommunity continue to support us in so many ways; our family & friends are many & never far away.
• April is Organ Donor Awareness Month! Yeah, I never knew that before either. A couple weeks ago, I realized through a conversation with Allie that we needed to put this experience to good use. Began to talk with the staff here about becoming an educator/advocate for organ donation. Needless to say, there will be more info. to come on this topic.