This crazy life

Just as I'm cleaning up the paint cans, brushes and roller on Friday, after completing the boys' new room, I get a phone call from a very good friend of mine. Her husband (whom she left a few months ago) has filed court papers against her and taken her son away from her that morning. The papers are full of lies that will not be able to be substantiated, but the hearing date is not for another four weeks. In the meantime, mother and nursing toddler are separated without visitation. I can only imagine how completely devastated I would be should my boys suddenly be taken from me -- it is my worst nightmare. Even to think of it is emotional trauma. Please pray for this situation.

While we wait for new information and signs of hope, somehow daily life must go on. Shock and anger threaten to take over -- but meals still have to be served, the dishes still have to be cleaned, laundry must not be allowed to pile too high. These things we still have control over. They are somehow comforting in our helplessness. I have commitments to fulfill for the homeschooling co-op; I have details to complete for the childbirth preparation class I begin teaching in one week; I have baby shower invitations to address and gifts to purchase.

And my boys need me. They need my undivided attention, my hugs, my smiles, my patience. Perhaps I need to give those things right now even more than they need to receive them.