Away...Yet Together!

What an incredible Easter weekend! It's one we will long remember! And we are so thankful for every reminder of love, hope, joy and New Beginnings.

This past Easter weekend could have been a very sad and lonely one. But it turned out anything but that! You see, this weekend was the first Easter we spent without our children since we became parents almost twenty-two years ago. It was different but the blessings along the way were amazing.

Our daughter, Rachel, spent the weekend at the University, as well as visited the congregation where her boyfriend serves as youth minister. She also left for Columbus, OH yesterday on a nursing clinical trip. Our son, Micah, worked Saturday and left yesterday morning at 6:30 am for New York City on his Senior Class trip. So that left Tim and me home...alone...but not.

We decided to spend those moments with one another as well as with dear friends and had an incredible time together. Although we love our children dearly and missed being together as a family, we realized something very important.

Yes, our daughter was at school and is now in Ohio. Our son is now in New York City. Our baby daughter/s are in China. Tim is now at work. And I am home with lots of work to be done. Yet...while we are all away from one another, we are very much together! While we are spread out among different states and even different countries, our love for one another knows no boundaries. Different locations have no influence on our family unit and our hearts remain very much together...always!

Of course, we look forward to the day when we are all together again. Yet we are so thrilled that even when life requires us being in different places at the same time, we still have a bond that never ends. (We also thank God for cell phones with texting!) :)

We certainly realize that our love and relationships with others rest in this same truth. We have loved ones all over the USA as well as in England, Australia and China. How awesome if we could be together more often. But what a joy it is to know that our love reaches all over the corners of this earth each moment. (Plus we still have email, Facebook, etc.) :) So...if we didn't get to see you over Easter weekend, please know that our hearts, thoughts and prayers are with you. If we didn't get to worship together, please know that we are all praising the same God no matter where we live. And if we aren't able to see one another often, that doesn't change the love we have for each of you.

Our precious JennaBeth/EmmaKate...I missed you greatly this weekend. I imagined how I would have dressed you for Easter Sunday. I imagined how the little Easter baskets would have been waiting for you Easter morning. I thought about the little pink bows I would have placed in your hair...and the pictures I would have taken of you before you walked into Church. I imagined what it would have been like to see you hunt for Easter eggs...and how fun it would have been to help clean the melted chocolate from your hands and face. But most of all, I thanked God for you, our baby girl/s in China on this Easter morning...and for the New Beginning we have with you in the near future. The time is coming soon when we will share life in a wonderful new way when you come home with us. But until that time, please know that you are loved, cherished, remembered, embraced and in our prayers each moment. Although you are presently in the PRC and we are in the USA, we are together...already...always. Rest, my sweet daughters. Rest for your Daddy and Mommy will travel to China and hold you, hug you, thank God for you and cherish our beginning as a Forever Family in every way. Until then, remember we may be away...but we remain very much together! I love you, sweetie/s. Until I hold you in my arms, I'm holding you...so very closely...in my heart. I love you, my dear little daughter/s.

Cherishing all those we love away...yet so close together,
Terri & family