A week of surprises

OK, so it's not really a surprise that Katrina turned 10. I even saw it coming but could do nothing to stop it! Today a teacher said to me, “Teachers want kids to grow up and parents don’t!” True! I’ll write more about Katrina next. Let me back up. A few weeks ago we heard that our nephew, Matthew’s brain scan came out clear. This means he does not have the cerebral (and grave) form of X-ALD. The very next day he was accepted into the Lorenzo’s Oil study in Baltimore which gives us all great hope. What a wonderful surprise! That Saturday we received wonderful news about a depressing situation we had nearly given up on and Wednesday we had even better news. I hope to be able to tell you more soon. The next Monday I was walking in the morning as I usually do when I saw a bright ball of fire pass before me about twice as high as the poplars and about 30 feet in front of me. I had no idea what it was, but I stopped in astonishment knowing I was seeing something truly amazing. I was completely hyper the rest of the day, barely able to concentrate on anything (just ask Gerald). Finally a friend wrote and said they thought it might have been the rarely-witnessed ball lightening. I looked it up and couldn’t believe my eyes – the videos and pictures looked exactly like what I saw! It seemed that a lot of reports about these were from dry, dusty mountain areas. That pretty much describes us this drought year. That day I told a friend that my faith was obviously too small. He replied, “It’s not that your faith is too small – because it can be as tiny as a mustard seed – it’s WHO you put your faith in that counts.” It was a good reminder for me after a series of miracles! Monday night was a less pleasant surprise. The wind began howling at 10 PM. It continued all night and through the next day. It screamed so much I felt like screaming with it! Gradually the air filled more and more with dust. In the early afternoon I finally figured it out – the wind was blowing from the opposite direction as it does normally, it was warm, and dust was everywhere – this must be the ‘shergi’ – the Sahara wind that we had heard about but never experienced with such ferocity. On and on it howled until it finally stopped 24 hours after it began. At least 7 large trees were uprooted or knocked down in town, a wall was blown down, and there was much other smaller damage. This was the same day our friends & family in the US got nailed by much worse storms. A week of surprises for sure. Thankfully the dust has settled and I can think back on the surprises that build up my faith so it’s all ready for the next storm that blows in.