The wait is over...

...and the sorrow sinks in. The sheriff announced this a.m. that a positive identification of the child's body in the landfill in GA, where our trash is hauled, has been made. It is over, the child is found. While our prayers were that the little girl would be found alive and safe, it seems she was already dead or dying before most even knew she was missing. In reading the news postings on-line there are many thoughts circulating about the who, what, when, where, and how of this tragic case. The sheriff has declared that there is going to be an all-out effort to find the killer and bring them to justice. It was impressive but terribly unfortunate how the community rallied to find this child, as I wish more of us would be actively involved and concerned with others all the time, not only in times of crisis.

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I know the man who led the search team at the dump, he actually came here with his family to watch the space shuttle launch one night when I was not home. I wrote about this just a week or so ago when I bought this new laptop, as I saw this man's wife, Lorrie, at Office Max. They have a young daughter, too, and I am sure he will hold her closer from now on, the way I hope many other parents are doing, too. In Pastor Prange's sermon at Timmy's funeral, he mentions how the entire congregation was affected by this loss, how people are even more cherishing of their children after this tragedy. Yes, that is the feeling people have, to appreciate what they have, and to appreciate how quickly things can change in our lives.

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Several weeks ago there was a young man, aged 20, who was killed in the student apartments where Justin resides. This totally freaked me out and I was so glad to hear his voice the next day to know he was okay. In fact, he was unaware of any troubles on the property as it is good-sized place with many units. Justin said he was more "concerned" about the place since the management, in order to fill the empty units, started renting to people not in school. Things changed, just as they did in Mom's apartment building from where she moved in September. To fill the empty apartments, the owner was taking in subsidized tenants, some whom required being checked on several times a day. Yes, that is pretty scary stuff. Anyway, three men have been arrested for the killing, which is the result of a drug buy gone bad. It was already bad to start with, but someone was killed during the committing of one crime. To read the on-line comments, everyone involved was good, pleasant, honor roll people...sure they were!

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In recent weeks someone evidently got hold of Lisa's bank card information and proceeded to spend all their checking account money. She is not sure where or when but guesses it might have been when they traveled up north in WI for a funeral. Or the medical office where they used the "old-fashioned" method of taking the credit card information, the machine that makes an imprint of the card face, perhaps leaving a carbon behind. Whatever or wherever it happened, she has been assured by the bank, where she froze her accounts so no more could be taken out, that the bank will replace the missing funds for them until the mystery is solved. Certainly the bank has methods for tracing backward when the unauthorized transactions took place and I hope somehow the criminal will be caught, and brought to justice.

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My eyes feel like pokers as much of the evening was spent in tears about this little one. It is so not about me, but yet the feelings come rushing back, knowing keenly how this mom is feeling. Justin mentioned how helpful it was for him to be with the Dohner's, our next door neighbors/friends from the previous neighborhood, the night his brother died. The distraction "really helped", he told me. I will be with him today at Bible study and probably lunch so we can talk some more, if we want to. Our subject matter, End Times, is going to be so right on given the news of recent days. Yesterday, I was so not interested in the health insurance debacle whereas Martie and I would have chewed that topic over and over until we could spit. But not yesterday, it was about Luther, and the search for Somer.