Life is precious. Every moment is a gift and a blessing. The things that I let myself believe are important really aren't all that important at all when my perspective is made more clear. The God that I serve is a good God and though a lot of the time his grace comes in ways that are easy to bear, sometimes his grace is excruciatingly painful. But it's still grace. And I'm trying to remember that tonight as friends suffer unimaginable loss.

In order to celebrate this precious life that we've been given, Ashleigh and I headed out to enjoy God's creation and to mark the occasion of her upcoming senior year of high school. She's been coming to stay with us every summer since she was nine years old and it's been such a joy to watch her grow up and mature a little bit each year. One summer she was very much a little girl who needed to be begged to shower and brush her teeth, and the next she was very much a young lady who spent an hour on her hair each time we left the house. I've been telling her for a few years now that she was not allowed to get too cool for her yearly trips to KK's house and I'm thankful that she's obeyed so far. As she and I have had conversations about her college options I certainly did not suggest that she look into schools up this way so that she could come and bring friends with her over weekends. Ahem. Ok, maybe once or twice.

Anyway, the heartbreaking news that we received today has served to remind me of how incredibly blessed I am to be surrounded by such special people and how important and good it is to enjoy and celebrate those relationships. I loved celebrating Ashleigh tonight and I love the beautiful young woman that she's growing into.

I can't believe she's a senior joy...