Merci et au revoir Kathy

Today we said goodbye to Kathy, who has been giving us a hand for the better part of 2 weeks. We didn't really know her before, but all of us have enjoyed her presence with us. She was born in South Korea and moved to the U.S. at age 13. I met her in March when she was here on a mission project with a team from the University of Georgia. She has spent this past semester in Italy studying sculpture and painting and has some very impressive work.

When I was in the U.S., she was a huge help and encouragement to my wife, providing useful aid and enjoyable company. Our two kids have been quite taken by her as well.

She was supposed to fly back on Monday. However, she had problems with her plane ticket and green card, so we got to have her for 2 more days. She rolled with the punches and was able to get the necessary paperwork yesterday.

Thanks Kathy for all you contributed to our home and ministry. Hope to see you back here again.

Speaking of our family, we've had to crack down discipline-wise with our son in the last couple of days. He's a spirited boy with a strong will that needs to be tamed (without breaking his spirit). While we don't naturally revolve toward strong, authoritarian parenting, we feel that he needs some strong boundaries established at this time for his own good.

In his chapter "Alone: Fifty-three Years in Space" in Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality (Thomas Nelson: Nashville, 2003), Donald Miller writes:

"Loneliness is something that happens to us, but I think it is something we can move ourselves out of. I think a person who is lonely should dig into a community, give himself to a community, humble himself before his friends, initiate community, teach people care for each other, love each other. Jesus does not want us floating through space or sitting in front of our televisions. Jesus wants us interacting, eating together, laughing together, praying together. Loneliness is something that came with the fall.

If loving other people is a bit of heaven, then certainly isolation is a bit of hell, and to that degree, here on earth, we decide in which state we would like to live." (p. 174)