Abby & Kaitlyn

So we lost power on Thursday for about 10 hours. But our cable internet just came back on about an hour ago. There are a lot of places west of here not too far with no power still because the ice brought down so many power lines. We drove up to Chicago, well not Chicago itself but really Elgin. We went through part of Aurora, (I thought hi, Scott Hodge as I drove through) and past Calvary Church in Naperville. We got back about 9:00 tonight.

We went to Abby's wedding. Abby was a bridesmaid in our wedding and someone we love very much. Abby spent the last two years up until a few weeks ago in South Africa training children's workers at Jackon's Ridge and running a baby shelter. The baby's were abandoned usually by parents who have HIV and many times the babies are HIV positive. Often after care and time the babies are tested again and come back negative all though not all. They take care of them until they find them forever families. Abby is one of my favorite people.

Abby married Jeff who is a pastor at Calvary Temple in Springfield. They will be doing children's ministry while the go through the process of being appionted full missionary status to go back to Africa. Since they will be living only an hour from us hopefully we will see more of them.

I felt a lot of mixed emotions when Abby's dad Larry, another cool person with a big heart (He works with people with disabilities through Special Touch camps), gave his oldest daughter away. One day that will be me giving away Kaitlyn. (It's late or I would upload a cool pic of her.)
I was flipping through the channels and saw Ben Folds on Austin City Limits. He sang a song her wrote about his daughter Gracie. Kaitlyn's middle name is Grace and we somtimes call her Gracie. The song made me smile and fit the mood I'm in tonight. If you are a dad you get that.

I feel blessed to be a dad. And I feel blessed that Kaitlyn is my daughter if though she may be the reason my hair is thinning. And I feel blessed to know great people like Abby! Got to go to bed. I have to preach and lead worship tomorrow.