Traveling Prayers

I think everyone who is thinking of becoming a parent should have to spend an afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese. And every teen and twenty-something who is NOT thinking of becoming a parent but IS having sex should be assigned a couple of kids they have to chase after, feed, clean up after, negotiate with, and pay for while spending the afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese.

Joshua celebrated his 6th birthday yesterday. His mom was feeling daring and booked party space with the musical mouse and all of his games. Josh, Landon and Luke had a blast and it wasn't too hard on the grown-ups (other than his mother's wallet which took a $100+ beating). But the noise and sheer body volume of tots aged 10 and under were overwhelming. Kevin and I had a good time being the grandparents at this one--getting to watch Joshua sing with the giant mouse, blow out the candles on his cake and run through those tokens in the arcarde! We miss a lot of the day to day moments so it's extra nice to get to be part of these big ones.

We spent Saturday night in Lafayette, taking the opportunity to go to Mass both Saturday night and Sunday morning. Saturday night is grown-up time; a chance to meet up with friends we miss so much now that we're in Ohio. Sunday morning is kid time and very gratifying. Hannah came flying into the pew and nearly knocked me over with her hug. We had a chance to visit with the other kids a little bit after their religious ed classes. Saw Hannah, Andj, Evan, Xavier, Liam, baby Beatrice, Sebastian, Will and Dominic. Sally and Travis weren't there this weekend.

Before we left town, we spent some time visiting Miss Haylee and her parents. The kid is a genius. Kevin left saying he hopes she never loses that joy she has for life. I've always told people that Haylee lives life LARGE. She is just amazing.

With chemotherapy beginning again this week, it was good to be among family and friends. Kevin had the emotional boost of many reminders from people who continue to pray for him and who know this has been a really difficult decision period.

I think our travel may be limited in the coming weeks as his energy diminshes through the treatments. It was nice to be reminded that those prayers can travel the distance between all of us and draw us together even through the miles.