Insomnia :P

Boy, I don't have insomnia bouts like this much. Probably something I ate or drank too late.
At any rate, this should be a good outlet for it.
Amanda and I got in about five hours ago from a trip to handle a few things in Alabama and celebrate three lives - one who passed away last Tuesday and two others who are still alive, although it's hard to say that our friend who is now with the Lord is dead - I believe she is very much alive and now whole.
All three made profound impacts on us in my hometown in a time when we required strong examples of courage, tenacity and faith. They also welcomed us as extended parts of their natural families, something Amanda and I very much need and appreciate.
Though we didn't have hours of direct time with Linda, her courage spoke volumes about her trust in Christ. Linda's funeral was fun. I don't mean it to sound disrespectful. I actually enjoyed saying farewell because it was a life well lived and she set the example for facing adversity - embrace and learn from it - don't let it kill you.
As I understand it, it was the aftermath of fighting three skirmishes with cancer over 16 years which led to her death, not the cancer itself. She left those of us who knew her with a sense that facing death can draw us and others closer to Christ.
At her funeral, we got to share the news about our expected child with people who prayed for the day to arrive, some of whom wondered if it ever would.
Linda's widower, Wayne, said he'd check it off Linda's prayer list for her.
The others - Carmen and Elaine - serve as spiritual mentors to us in many ways, mostly in their examples of following Christ and being real about it.
Some people who've served alongside these two held an appreciation dinner for them Friday night and we were glad to have gotten the chance to see the genuine looks of surprise on their faces.
Their children are among a core group of surrogate brothers and sisters to us - the Lord continues to use them to sustain and nurture us. We were surrounded by other friends the whole day who've been there with us through our own version of going through Hell and back.
We would have seen more people had there been time to arrange more visits.
Though exhausted from traveling and facing even more that evening, we left encouraged and emboldened, reminded we have an extended family of friends who love us and are behind us 100 percent.