A Happy but a little lonely 4th of July

Jay and I had an enjoyable 4th of July. But, we've both been commenting to each other lately, "I miss our daughter." It's weird how you can grow to love someone you haven't even met, yet. We're sure hoping for word soon that we'll be able to go to Thailand to meet Penny at long last. Meanwhile, as we're waiting we're trying to stay active. For Independence Day we went hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park. We're still feeling some sore muscles after our 5.8 mile hike at over 10,000 feet in elevation. It was beautiful. We went to Nymph Lake, Dream Lake and Lake Haiyaha. We saw fireworks that night in Estes Park and took a dark, mountain back road to avoid the traffic on the way back down to Fort Collins. Yesterday (Saturday) I picked cherries from our cherry tree in the backyard and made a homemade cherry pie. We had Jay's parents over to our house to enjoy the pie together. I was saddened to hear from my parents that one of my uncles broke his hip in an ATV (all-terrain-vehicle) or 4-wheeler accident. And another one of my uncles is rapidly deteriorating with a rare geriatric disease. It's hard to face the reality of your family members aging. But, I'm thankful that my uncle Ray knows Jesus and is assured that he will see him face-to-face in a new glorified body in his home in heaven. It's just hard to see that he has to suffer on this earthly journey to his new home. Hope you all had a great Independence Day! May you all know God's richest blessings that He has freely given to us. I want to wish you new parents out there a real special 4th of July as you celebrate with your new beloved children that you have been blessed with. P.S. If you want to see more photos I may add them to our vox site as they seem to upload faster there. Visit us at www.eternityminded.vox.com