A Difficult Weekend

So it has been forever since I posted. We have all been sick recently, and I have been extremely busy with work and preparing for National Board Certification which is due March 31. I am sick of writing frankly.

This weekend I had a great deal of writing on which to work, but it was difficult to remain focused. I received news of my friend's very young child who is sick. They have just found a mass behind her lungs and will be doing surgery on Monday as well as other treatments afterwards. My heart is so heavy for her and her family. She had the added fright of her son becoming ill with strep and having a seizure from the fever while in Target. I feel so badly for her. We are all praying for her little girl Eva, and for peace of mind for her and her husband. You can read about her here.

I also received news that a former student of mine was killed on Thursday in a house fire. It just broke my heart to hear this. You can read about him here. He was a student that I had one of my first years of teaching. He was such an exceptional young man. He and a small group of friends had lunch with me virtually every day for the three years that I taught at that school. He had such a great sense of humor and was just a joy to be around. He was a gifted student, and when awarded the opportunity to attend the gifted day camp at University of Richmond he was asked to bring a teacher who had influenced him in his studies. He chose me. We had a great day at the university. He is one of the few students with whom I kept up after leaving that school. He had visited our house and gone out in the boat with Tom. He was just such a nice kid.

There was a fire which had started with the dryer at his house. The staircase to come downstairs was blocked, and an air conditioner was in the only window upstairs. They could not remove it before being overtaken by smoke inhalation. Three young people died in the fire. Jason, his girlfriend Theresa, and Jason's brother Josh. His parents lost two sons in addition to all of their belongings and their home. My heart just goes out to them.

The weekend was a hard one. I had Eva on my mind, and Jason's family. It was one of those times when you are just in prayer off and on all the time over that couple of days. Please keep Eva in your prayers. She is having surgery today.