Hertzler Doings~July 1-7, 2009

This week's highlights:
~Met Lisa H. at Baine's. We caught up with the things going on in our lives; family, book tour, etc. She has given me keys to several treasures in her life and I know where they are hidden and appreciate the trust that's been extended.
~Freeman's 25th birthday-July 2nd. He was born at 2:20 in the afternoon after about 9 hours of labor. We played Luke's gospel during delivery and the doctor told us later that his birth was the talk of the hospital for a year.
~Went to the river with Tom's for our July 4rth celebration. Helen's mother, Peggy, was here, and Helen's sister's son, Donovan came as well. He had a great time skipping stones as did the other cousins. I think Michael could win a Guiness World Record. I'd like to show him off to my syblings because skipping stones was a Diffenbach pass-time whenever we'd find a still body of water. Several years ago he skipped a stone at least 16 times. Last night, it could have been more. We roasted hot dogs and s'mores, and ate potato salad, cucumber salad, bean dip, corn chips, raw veggies, watermelon, steak chips, etc. The children played in the river with their black inner tubes. Serena, 7, came up the river with three tubes. All you could see was her head. She looked like the Michelin Tire Man. Peggy brought fireworks and I returned to childhood again, swirling my sparkler and writing my name in the air. We sang and talked and had a really nice time.
~After church today, Haley came home to play with Susan. Travis, Lee, Chace, and Jordan came over to be with Michael. I made chocolate chip cookies for supper. They sat around the table with their mugs of milk and inhaled their supper in a matter of minutes. Every time Chace comes here, I want to make him those cookies because one winter, Chace was snowed in with us and Johnny Brynan was here as well, and we held church around our kitchen table and had humongous chocolate chip cookies for breakfast.
~A few months ago, our friends were interviewed with NBC Nightly News.. They called today to say that their segment would be on tonight. Their 22 year old daughter took an accidental overdose of prescription drugs and died this past winter. Their younger daughter is Susan's good friend. The town where they live in Kentucky is having a real problem with prescription drug use and too many kids are dying. My friend said that we are losing a generation of kids to this problem. They put their personal pain on hold and courageously spoke out about the drug problem in their town and in America. I wept for our friends as I watched and prayed that their loss would not be in vain. Susan called her friend to let her know we had seen it. She came out of her room and said soberly, "M~~~ says she loves you, mom and dad."
~More tests for my mother this week. We are hoping for some answers by next week.