ann kiemel

it is beautiful and amazing and
almost perfect. my children and i, snuggled in our high-rise hotel.
celebrating the safe return of brandt
after a 6-month deployment. he and
jasmine and 2yr.old colben are in
the connecting room to ours....

where taylor and i and kristi and brock are sleeping. hodge-podge.
in a room with two beds. side-by-side.

the one imperfection is that colson's
boss would not let him off.
i prayed and begged God and tried all manner of maneuvering.
but to no avail. please pray for him while we
are here. i know he's in God's care.

as you know,
i'm hobbling around with a walker.
two feet in casts. yellow pins sticking out of the ends of my toes.

a good, solid block away is joe's
crabs. difficult walking, but great
food. well, everyone said so. taylor
carried my walker. jasmine, the
baby. kristi, the sippy cup....and
brandt, with massive chest and
upper arms, picked me up. tossed
me over his shoulder like a sack
of potatoes, and we headed out.

i'm sure it was obvious that i must
have been too drunk to walk. not
once did i lift my eyes. we arrived
at joe's crab, only to realize there
was a 2hr. wait. oh...no!!!

brandt picks me up again...holding
onto my dress..and we walk another
couple blocks to a wonderful little
place. laughter and great food
and funny, old stories like every
family owns. I don't know many
mothers who have sons strong-enough...and utterly uninhibited...
to pick up their 115 pound mother.
with everyone participating...and
the world watching. just for the
record, i consumed no alcohol
tonight. or ever.

taylor, with his leased cameras he
took to el salvador, is going to
be shooting a lot of pictures tomorrow. get ready.

i'll continue the blog tomorrow.

"great is the Lord..and greatly
to be praised......."
my heart is full of God's goodness.