A good visit from a good daughter

      As previously noted, our daughter Ashley lives with her husband and seven kids in Uzbekistan.  Their assignment has changed, and they will be moving in two weeks to Nur-Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan.  Because of tangled State Department rules concerning home visits, they were unable to come State-side this year.  However, because of a nagging but not life-threatening medical concern, Ashley has been here for a couple of weeks.

     She has taken good advantage of the visit, in addition to the needed medical care.  She's visited with old friends, attended the temple, and I think she has bought most of the A&W root beer in Raleigh to send to Kazakhstan with her allowed shipment.  And yes that's a new TV in the box below the work bench.

    I located a couple of used bikes for her and Brandon and they go to Nur-Sultan also.  Along with the toilet paper.

     She's made a point of visiting family while here.  We drove to Delaware this week to see Mike and Adrienne and Krazed Kate, and she did a good job of Aunt-bonding with her niece.

     Ashley was a bit under the weather, so Brynn kindly came up from Jacksonville, NC with her kids.  We distracted the young'uns by taking them to the neighborhood pool so that the sisters could visit, including a side trip to consider Brynn's choices for her kitchen renovation.  Ashley has never been shy with her opinions on such things, and heartily approved.

     We will be sad to see her go this week, though we completely understand that she has her own life, full of kids, packing lists, settling in to a new -stan in Central Asia and all the rest.  

     I never expected that the feelings of love for my kids could become so strong.  The echoes of eternity become more clearly audible with each passing year. 

Dave