Being Personal

I know I am writing a lot tonight, but I have a lot to get off my chest before I can sleep. This whole thing has been a whirlwind for Tricia and I. We have felt amazingly close these last few days, but there have also been some dynamics that have made this a really difficult experience for us. Let me be personal with you. Here are some of the difficult personal dynamics to this whole thing:

• It was really, really hard to leave Davis, but we felt that we had to! We just knew that we could not provide Jake and Michelle the care that we needed to if Davis came with us. We also knew that it would be wildly difficult for them to see Davis after having just lost Brayden. Even though we know it was the right thing to do, we have missed him so much it hurts! You know, when you hear of a tragedy, you want to go hold your kids. Well, we left ours! So difficult! I feel like a jerk for even saying that because what we are feeling is absolutely no comparison to what Jake and Michelle are feeling!
• To add insult to injury, we have had a vacation planned for 9 months...scheduled to leave o Tuesday from NYC on a cruise and planned to leave Davis with my Mom and Dad. We knew that he would have a blast with his grandparents, and that we needed this for our marriage (yesterday was our 6 year anniversary). However, now we have been away from him for 3 days dealing with the death of a baby his age!! It is just so complex. We are gonna miss him so much! We called and tried to add him on to the cruise, but it was impossible.
• We could really use your prayers for tomorrow! We will help them pick a burial plot at 9, get to the church at 10, service at 11, drive 300 miles to Raleigh, NC, and try to hop a 5:40 flight to BWI (that we will barely make in time), land at 6:30, be loving on Davis until 10:30, packing, getting up and leaving at 6:00am Tuesday for NYC! Now, breathe. Please pray that we make our 5:40 flight. If we don't, we have to take the 9:30 flight and miss all time with Davis. Those 4 hours with Davis tomorrow evening will be worth 4 million dollars to us!
• I thank God for a great staff and a great church! I know everything has been and will continue to be fine & dandy at the church until I am back and back in action on June 19th! They don't need me anyway. :-)
  
• Something cool...1 year ago Tuesday is when Tricia's dad passed away. She told me tonight that this has been the greatest thing that she could have ever done. Pay back what she received a year ago. Comforting the grieving! I wish you could have seen my wife down here these last few days! Take charge, leader, organizer, calling the women together to accomplish and do all that needed done. Tricia is a strong leader! Yall better look out for her as she matures and grows in confidence. She is coming at ya! Awesome heart! I wish you knew the half of it!

Alright, I am tired and going to bed. I doubt I will post tomorrow. We leave Tuesday. I may not post for a while. I really don't know. If I do, great! If I don't, bye bye until June 19th! I will be laying in the sun!

Love you all so much!

--Noah