How do I even start?

Update! I found I was misinformed - it was Miriam's sister, Mitzy, who passed away.  She was 3 years old. 


This was good news only to Sarah, who didn't lose her best friend. Apparently after Miriam recovered from chickenpox her little sister came down with it.


It's a different child, but the same sorrow.


Miriam died last night.

She was 6 years old.

The doctors prescribed bad medicine.

She was out of school for a couple of weeks because she had chickenpox.  But she was back in class with my daughter, Sarah, on Monday.   After school Miriam's mother and father were hosting, in their very humble baptist church that he pastors, a VBS put on by a visiting church group.

So thrilled was Sarah to be romping around hand in hand with her best friend.

At the surprise baby shower for Sarah's and Miriam's teacher today we noticed that Miriam and her mother were absent - but it wasn't dwelt on.

Then later at the VBS I was talking with the youth pastor's wife . . . she told me the news.

And I grieve.

I'm actually surprised at how my heart hurts for Augustina - Miriam's mother.  I came home and just sobbed on my husbands shoulder.  Then I asked him to tell Sarah - which he did, and she came out of the room all red eyed and we hugged and cried together.

They have two younger children than Miriam - the youngest has down syndrome.  And they are a humble, poor, family.  How does a Pastor continue after burying his daughter?  How does a mother function?  If you remember, would you please pray for this family?

I'll be hugging my kids a little tighter tonight - that's for sure.

I posted on our ministry blog.

GO HERE and see what happened to me today!

For all my Colorado friends!

You're from Colorado if: 

 You'll eat ice cream in the winter. 
 When the weather report says it's going to be 65 degrees, you shave your legs and wear a skirt.
 It snows five inches and you don't expect school to be canceled. 
 You'll wear flip flops every day of the year, regardless of temperature. 
 You have no accent at all, but can hear other people's. And then you make fun of them.
"Humid" is over 25%. 
 Your sense of direction is: Toward the mountains and away from the mountains. 
 You say, "The Interstate," and everybody knows which one. 
 You think that May is a totally normal month for a blizzard or ice storm. 
 You buy your flowers to set out on Mother's Day, but try and hold off planting them until just before Father's Day.
 You grew up planning your Halloween costumes around your coat. 
 You know what the Continental Divide is. 
 You went to Casa Bonita as a kid, and again as an adult.
 You've gone off-roading in a vehicle that was never intended for such activities. 
 You always know the elevation of where you are. 
 You wake up to a beautiful 80-degree day and wonder if it's going to snow tomorrow.
 You don't care that some company renamed it; the Broncos still play at Mile High.
Everybody wears jeans to church. 
 You actually know that South Park is a real place, not just a show on TV. 
 You know what a "trust fund hippy" is, and you know its natural habitat is Boulder.
 You know you're talking to a fellow Coloradoan when they call it Elitches, not Six Flags. 
 A bear on your front porch doesn't bother you. 
 Your two favorite teams are the Broncos and whoever is beating the Raiders. 
 When people out East tell you they have mountains in their state too, you just laugh.
 You go anywhere else on the planet and the air feels "sticky," and you notice the sky is no longer blue. 
 Received from Mike Hillman.