Chronicles from the Fields...: Remembering

A year ago we were in Washington with Josh's family. It was early in the morning, and I was still waking up. He came into the room and told me that Paul's plane had gone down. I'll never forget thinking thoughts that began with the words what, why, how, and the phrase that could have been...

That day in America we were trying a million different things to keep our mind off of things that we had no control of. We couldn't help our friends plan a funeral. We couldn't process this in an environment of people who knew Paul and his family. We couldn't cry with them. We wanted to talk to anyone that we could cry with. I'm thankful for Josh's mom, who just held me and let me cry when I walked into a room and burst into tears. There were no words to share, and she had so much wisdom in just patiently listening and hugging me while we mourned the loss of a friend and grieved with our friends who were far away. We phoned others who were stateside just trying to fit pieces together.

A year later, we remember Paul's life and the impact he had (and is still having) on those around us- both in Sentani, in local villages, and around the world. After a rainy week, we spent an absolutely perfect day at the beach. The Lord turned our mourning into laughter a year later. We chose to spend that same day a year later having fun with our "family". Friends, fun, food, beach, banana boats, and sunburns. Laughter filling the air, cheering when a group of five was flipped off the tube, and sharing time together.

I looked out over the blue ocean and thought," Paul would have LOVED this! This is exactly where he would want us to be a year later!"