I Heart NY

With Jesse in New York for the week, the kids and I have thought of him often, prayed for him lots and missed him very, very much. It seems no matter what we are doing, we see a reminder of where he is (and more so, where he is not). It would seem to some that this is merely coincidence. Like when you buy a certain model of car and you start to see them everywhere. But I don't believe in coincidence, I am of the belief that everything happens for a reason.

On Saturday we made a trip to the mall...*shudder*...eee gads I hate the mall, but I needed a haircut so off we go. The first sign of the Big Apple (ha! I just realized that one) was the Apple store, we went in to find something and Eddie made a bee line for the iPhone. He pulled up the screen as I watched and the very first thing we see is the weather in New York. Hmm, how funny...Off to get a hair cut and then some lunch and our way the kids noticed New York & Co. Then a little further down they noticed The Yankee Candle Co. Wow, I think to myself, this is cool....In the food court we are sitting by the Sbarro's and the kids notice another reminder the New York style pizza. Alrighty then, we are seeing this every where...

The next day while flipping through channels I stop on one of my favs, the Food Network. Rachel Ray is making my mouth water in 30 minutes or less, and the recipe? It's from Utica, New York. That made me smile. I get on the computer a little later and check the news. Front page, Fox News is the story of a shark beaching itself in Rockaway Beach, New York. And today, there have been more sightings, this one a news story on Fox about the New York Tourist Welcome Campaign. I know now that these reminders are far more than just we miss you. But, of course we miss you, you are dad and my beloved. But mostly we have thought of you in selfish ways, with respect to how your absence has effected our life, caused our discomforts. Such as, you aren't here to strong arm the kids when they won't listen to me. You aren't here to motivate us to mow the yard (if you were here, you would mow the yard and motivate us to come out with you). You aren't here to help me decide what's for dinner, or better yet, grill dinner. You aren't here to see what the que is on Sunny's back cause it's gross and none of us can do it without throwing out...up, sorry, inside joke. (single moms/parents, much respect) So rather than see the next little reminder of you - while watching United Flight 93 - and go aww, we miss him, I begin to pray. I begin praying for God to bear fruit through the New York team, much fruit, lasting fruit (big apple). I pray for the weather to be favorable for the painting of the school and the evangelism trip (iPhone). I begin to pray for God to shine so brightly in your hearts and eyes that everyone the team comes in contact with sees the Light of Christ in the darkness of the city (Yankee Candle Co.). I begin to pray for the team to be united and become one strong instrument in the hand of God to do His will. I pray for the Word to be shared and multiplied like Jesus multiplied the fish and loaves (the pizza slice and the shark). Prayer for those who will be welcomed from New York into His Fold (the welcome campaign) and so on.

So now, we have our eyes out for New York sightings and our hearts sensitive to what the Lord would have us pray. But this last little reminder - it's just for me, just for my heart. Because my love, I would so love to be along side you doing the Father's work. When I came across this today, it made me smile. This photo is from a website that shows various photos of walls from around the world. While most of the walls I have seen are in London...I have found very few to be in New York. This picture is on a wall in Romania:



Pretty cool huh? I hope to add more to the list, this is after all only day 3.