Day 41 - Aug 11

Have you ever seen the movie "Ground Hog Day" with Bill Murray? He wakes up in a small town every morning to find that it is the same day as yesterday. Everything is repeated from one day to the next. That is one of the more difficult aspects of this experience, one day bleeds into another and it becomes difficult to know what day it is or what happened in one day versus another day. Can I just say that today was a lot like yesterday? Hot, humid, run from here to there, one appointment and meeting after another and yet too much down time, cafeteria food, hotel "like" accommodations, and feelings of being locked into this place with little hope of escape to the outer world.

Sitting next to the pond on my bench (a little later in the day)

What has given me hope, courage, and peace throughout this entire experience has been a spiritual peace and witness of the eternal nature of our existence and of families bound together for all eternity. God's word is often likened to cool refreshing water that gives life to the soul. I was reminded of this as I sat next to the pond behind our accommodations this morning reading my scriptures at 5:30 a.m. As I read, a bushy tail squirrel emerged from the bushes behind me and stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to examine a giant potential difficulty, me. After a moment of our eyes being locked on one another, he scampered across the sidewalk and up the the walls of the pond. His head dipped over the wall of the pond to take a long drink of the cool water. He refreshed his body with the water and I sat in the still morning refreshing my soul with the waters of life.