Widow for a Week

My dear husband left this afternoon for Mississippi to help with the rebuilding effort after Hurricane Katrina. He will be gone till next Saturday, working under the auspices of Eight Days of Hope, an organization he heard about through American Family Radio. This morning as we were packing and getting him ready to go, we agreed that though the week looks big to both of us, we feel great peace that he's right in the middle of the Lord's will and that God is leading him down there.

It's been fun to tell people where Evan is going! I'm so proud of him. At the airport as he was checking in his luggage at the curb, he had to tell the skycap that he had a bunch of tools in his bags because he was going down to MS to help with the relief efforts. She was really pleased to hear that and thanked him for doing it. When Evan was first talking about going, he told Jed about it. Jed had been very aware of the hurricane when it was going on, being fascinated by the horrible pictures of disaster on the news. When he learned that his daddy might go down and help with the rebuilding, he got all excited and started telling people. He helped push Evan over the edge and make the decision to go.

I'm very thankful to have Lindsay next door to be my friend and provide some much-needed moral support, especially at dinner and bedtimes, the most difficult times of the day when I rely so much on Evan--and when it's most tempting to pull out the arsenic! And once the kids are down the two of us are going to hang out several evenings this week and do girl stuff. Tonight I'm going to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which I haven't seen yet. Evan doesn't want anything to do with it, which isn't surprising! but I have always adored the story, both the book and the old movie, and can't wait to see this one. I've gotten mixed reviews from friends so I'm not sure what I'll think. How many of you have seen it and what did you think?