A Weekend In Mississippi

I left Tegucigalpa Thursday afternoon.  I was completely exhausted, physically, mentally, and emotionally.  I worked all the way to Atlanta.  Then I pulled a good book out of my backpack and read until I landed in Oklahoma City.  It is always good to see Kim. Thankfully, I had an uneventful day of traveling.

Marc and I left for Jackson on Friday morning.  It was a foggy morning and remained throughout the day.  I worked part of the way and read part of the way.

 I love the Mississippi River.  As we crossed into Mississippi at Vicksburg, it was hard to see much of the river in the dark.  We were 45 minutes to an hour away from seeing sweet Camille,  I was so excited, yet I burst into tears.  My mind was flooded with memories of Mississippi, both good and bad.  Mostly a sad, empty feeling swept over me as I missed Ryan.  The closer we got to Jackson,  the sad feelings were replaced with excitement.  The thought of Camille hugs spurred me on. 

We met Nathan, Julia and Camille and had our first of, hopefully, many plates of Mexican food.  After we got to Nathan's house, Camille and I started our first puzzle.  Nathan and I stayed up way into the night talking.

Saturday, Camille had a swim meet.  My trip was planned around being in Jackson for that swim meet.  Camille just turned nine and this was her first meet in the 9-10 year old group.  It was a great day.  She beat her best time in every single event, shaving six seconds off of her personal best in one event. 

We managed to finish the puzzle before her meet.  After the meet, we worked one more puzzle and then we were sure we heard Target calling our names.  So off we went to shop for a birthday present.  Grammy and Camille time.  How sweet.

Early Sunday morning, Marc and I left for Columbus.  Marc shared about what is happening in Honduras.  I was honored and privileged to share with the first and second grade class about the Jesus Banquet.  These little children raised $900.00 for the Jesus Banquet.  What a sweet group.

We lived in Columbus for seven years.  Columbus is a city rich in history.  In seven years, we formed rich and deep friendships.  We did a lot of life with the people there.  And, they did a lot of life with us.  They rejoiced with us as one child was baptized.  And, as our daughter walked down the aisle on her daddy's arm to pledge her eternal love to Matt.  They sustained us in our darkest hours.  As Billy preached, I realized my emotions were leaking out of my eyes and running down my cheeks. 

I always need days to see everyone dear to me.  We had hours.  We hugged a lot of people, but did not have time for much more.  We had lunch and a good meeting with the missions committee. 

This morning was a rainy, dreary morning.  We went by the cemetery before we left.  The dreariness of the morning matched my mood as we left the cemetery.

Now, we are back in Jackson for more sweet family time.  There is never enough of that either.  Camille and I have a couple of more puzzles to work and a couple more nights of Bible study.

In spite of the tears and the dreariness, it was been a sweet weekend in Mississippi.