If she had the proper words to say,

I am hurting so deeply for a close friend right now. I feel so small, so insignificant, so helpless out here in Nebraska when my heart is so many states away. I have prayed, prayed, and prayed some more, and my prayer-filled tears have soaked my clothing when my words failed. I went to visit my Stephen minister this afternoon, and she has cried and prayed with me for my friend as well. Philip and I have talked, and he has held me while I cried in his arms. We both feel so useless.

My friend, I am with you in thought, prayer, and heart right now. I would hug you so tightly for hours on end, if only I could. I pray and I trust that God is hugging you with His bigger, better arms in my place. I am here for you at ANY time.

I worked today, as per my usual, and then the afternoon was so busy. I ate a quick lunch when I got home, and then Philip headed out to pick up A.J. from school and make a deposit for me at the bank. As soon as he arrived back at home, we all jetted off for the commissary. I needed to do a bit of grocery shopping, and I wanted to pick up a few ingredients in particular to make some barbecue meatballs for a potluck tonight.

No dice. We did get the shopping done, but the commissary was INSANE. I really don't know why it was so bad, and I'd certainly not anticipated it beforehand (if I had, we wouldn't have gone!). The checkout line was FIVE ROWS DEEP - I've never seen anything like that in my life! And then as we were trying to finally leave the commissary, we got stuck in end-of-duty-day traffic.

*sigh*

So we had to shift gears suddenly and make a new game plan for the evening. Philip dropped me, the boys and the groceries off at home, and then he quickly ran to Baker's to pick up a few things for the potluck. He got a pound each of macaroni & cheese, broccoli salad and honey mustard potato salad. In the meantime, I changed my shirt and picked out nicer outfits for the boys. A.J. had to perform in his school's Christmas program later, and we were going to have to leave straight from the potluck to get there in time.

We headed to the church for dinner. Tonight's potluck was not a regular church affair; rather, it was a small get-together of friends in support of little Isaac Hall. I've made mention of him before in my journal - he is the son of friends of ours, and he has leukemia. He was diagnosed last September at age 5 with this disease, and he's been in treatments pretty much all year. His cancer had been in remission for a few months, but the family learned on Dec. 5th that it was back, and it is now in his central nervous system as well. He's only six years old, and he's a sweet, sweet little boy.

It's not fair.

Tonight's potluck dinner also began a 24-hour prayer vigil for Isaac's healing. The 24 hours are divided into 30-minute segments, and there will be someone praying intently for Isaac at every moment of the day. The Hall family has said there are certain times when they can really feel our prayers, and we as friends hope that God can work miraculously through this vigil. I will be praying from 2:30-3am tonight, and I encourage any of you who want to help to lift up a prayer as well. We're hoping for a Christmas miracle!

We had to leave a few minutes early from the potluck so that we could arrive for A.J.'s concert on time. He joined his class in the auditorium, and I found seats. The program was titled, "A Rainbow Christmas," and it was short and sweet. The third grade teachers gifted the classes with matching Santa hats, and the kids wore them as they sang. It was pretty cute.

We stopped by Runza for some drinks, and then we went on to Target for a bit more Christmas shopping. I've got a few gifts to wrap tonight so that I can get them in the mail tomorrow for our nieces and nephews. The boys got ready for bed and then opened their gifts from mostcurious. It was a busy evening, and I'm sure it won't slow down much as the week goes on!

( A.J.'s Christmas program. )