Just as we get used to the routine of life on the road....

Real life steps in and smacks you upside the head. After we left Ogallala yesterday morning (6:30 am MST), I was online looking for a van to rent while we were in Omaha having the RV checked out. After I finished that up, I hopped over to my Google Reader to see what was new in the blogworld. I never expected to encounter what I did... a short post from our former preacher, Jim White, alerting us to the death of the 13yo son of friends from our church there. He was one of the 4 scouts killed in the tornado that decimated the Boy Scout camp in Iowa on Wednesday night. The youth minister from church, Franklin Wood, wrote a very touching tribute to Sam last night.

The news made for a somewhat more subdued trip. Friends had planned a cookout and had invited others from church to come to visit us. I wasn't sure whether we should continue it, but we decided it could be a good thing to help lighten the mood a little. We did spend some time talking about Sam and sharing stories about him. Tonight is a memorial service at church and we are so torn. It brings up memories from 3 years ago, just a week or so after we moved to CA, when one of the teens from church was murdered. We were so far off and felt so helpless. Well, now we are here, and feeling just as helpless. We want to stay for the service, but are stuck on a schedule.

Please pray for the Thomsens: Larry, Sharon, Lindsay, and Sara.

Today we will head to the St. Louis area. We have to return the rental van and then drive by our friends' house, as the 3 younger kids all wanted to spend the night there last night.