9/11

Our dog, Maggie, celebrated her birthday this past Friday. Yes, we are a family that celebrates dog birthdays (I was so happy to hear Beth Moore's family celebrates dog birthdays, too!). This year, Maggie got a bone and a new stuffed animal to love and terrorize. She now carries Goose all over the house. Let me tell you, Maggie may be an old lady of 9 now, but she knows when it's her special day!

Our Maggie was born on 9/11/00. We were so excited to celebrate her first birthday. I was working at a Christian preschool at the time, and my husband called me that morning to tell me the news. I remember feeling sympathy with a lot of the parents who came early to bring their children home. I just wanted to be with my family, too. It was very hard being a teacher of young children whose eyes and ears saw and heard things that they could not understand. I tried to tell them that God loved them and would keep them safe, but who really felt safe in those days, when not a single plane flew in the skies.

Do you remember how Christmas was different that year? We were still a people clinging to the Lord in the midst of tragedy. I remember being so touched by the Christmas card that the White House sent out that year. Laura Bush picked the bible verse inside from Psalm 27:13-14: "I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

Sadly, we still have a hole in the ground where two towers once stood. But I am still waiting for the Lord, and still believing.

Tomorrow, I will tell you why 9/12 means so much to our family, so stop back!