what a week...

I'm not even sure where to begin. It's just been one of those weeks. On Sunday, Hannah celebrated her birthday (which isn't until the 24th) with a tea party for her and a few of her friends. It was so much fun with lots of really yummy food. They dressed up in hats and gloves; made cute crafts and seemed to have a really good time.
Last Sunday, the 14th, also was a strange day in that Hurricane Ike mixed with a cold front and produced unprecedented winds and gusts- some up past 70 miles an hour. On the half hour drive home, I saw trees snapped in half, whole portions of the city without power, trees falling in the road and on the Interstate- it was nuts. I kept telling Hannah and her friend in the van with me that it was just snowing leaves and that we were safe and all would be okay.
Well, as we got to the exit to get home, the interstate was closed because of an accident and as we were waiting my mom, in her car a few ahead of me called to tell me that she and Elizabeth were okay, but that there had been an accident and that a tree had fallen on her sister's home and they weren't sure if she was going to make it. I told her to get over there - quickly and I'd have Brian meet her and get Elizabeth. Well, I ended up being able to get to the meeting spot, by my aunt's home and as I waited I asked the neighbors how bad was it- they said it was pretty bad... and indeed it was. A tree, a HUGE tree that for years Aunt Min hated and always feared would fall on her house, did just that and she was killed instantly.
To top it off, the power in the entire city for the most part was knocked out and we were without power until Saturday morning at 1 am when it finally popped back on.
As we've been trying to deal with the electricity problem, our church allowed us to stay in the house they have for missionaries on furlough to stay at until we had our power back. What a gift that was. I'm not sure what we would have done- found a hotel or something I suppose. The kids didn't have school until Thursday so for 3 days I had to entertain the kiddos, try to deal with the power thing, watch ALL MY BLUEBERRIES SUFFER A HORRIBLE FATE (i'm a bit bitter about having to throw my precious blueberries away) and try to absorb the random tragedy that my family had on its hands- it's been a long week.
In the midst of it all though, I kept seeing God's hand and there are already things I'm understanding that I need to walk away from this week with...
1. Tell your family and friends that you love them as much as you can. Don't assume they know. I wish I had told Aunt Min more often that I loved her.

2. Nobody is perfect and those who seem to drive us insane the most are usually broken and hurting people who need more love to help heal the broken parts. As hard as it can be, I need humility to love those who are hard to love.

3. If you don't have a will and your stuff in order- DO IT NOW!!! WHATEVER THE COST- IT IS WORTH IT!!! Be sure to tell at least two different people (one family, one not) WHERE the will is and WHO YOUR LAWYER IS just in case. Keep all those important papers together and in ONE place.

4. The body of Christ is created to reflect God's love and mercy and grace and abundant provisions. IT IS OKAY TO ASK FOR HELP and EVEN BETTER TO RECEIVE IT!! (still not an easy thing to do- but I'm getting better at it.

I don't think that it was God's will for this to happen. I think it was a result of the fallen state of the world. God didn't create us initially to suffer and have us die- he created us to be a reflection of him and to have life. I believe that in all this, God is good and that there will be good found in it. While I'm not too sure exactly what that is now, I do know that I love God and it has been my faith and trust in His goodness that has allowed me to have grace upon myself and has allowed me to grieve for my aunt without losing my love for Christ.