3rd Birthday in Heaven

Today would have been Maurice's 38th birthday. I wore one of his shirts today in his honor. Our former senior pastor who retired 8 months ago was the guest speaker on Sunday while most of our pastors and their wives were on a retreat. We've been working through I Thessalonians, but he preached a sermon on Heaven. During the sermon I was thinking of my mom, Maurice, and Paul's mom. How can I wish they were still here on earth when they're in a place that is SO much better? But they are missed.

Today Nadia found out that the play they will be putting on in May is called "Forgotten" and is about Wendy when she's in high school and is trying to figure out if Neverland is just a nightmare or a real place. While she was in drama class, I did some grocery shopping. I have to say that in my whole life I have never seen the shelves as empty as they have been over the last few weeks. It took going to more than one store just to find a gallon of milk (which now costs more than $4/gallon). I've visited multiple stores over the last few weeks in an attempt to buy turkey for Paul's sandwiches that he takes to work. Either they are completely out of turkey, or they are selling it for $8-9/lb., which is more than double the highest I've ever paid for his turkey before. How long is it going to take for these supply chain problems to be resolved??? Whenever I make a grocery list, I wonder which items will I actually be able to purchase. For example, Paul asked for cough drops recently. He likes cherry ones, but there were hardly any cough drops for sale at CVS, so I had to buy him a flavor he'd never had before as there weren't any cherry ones available. At least there were SOME cough drops. There have been plenty of times there has been none of a particular item available at the grocery store. The episode of Tuttle Twins that aired this evening was very apropos, as it was on inflation.

Despite the inflation and the empty shelves at the stores, I know we are very blessed. On Saturday afternoon the kids and I spent 3 hours helping with a project for Voice of the Martyrs. Twelve adults plus six kids worked in the warehouse and filled a gaylord with five hundred family med packs for persecuted Christians around the world. These packs contained hygiene items like wash cloths, soap, toothbrushes, bandages, gauze, etc. We are praying for the families who will receive these packs.