"When did we get so famous?"

Those were the words of my nine year old when the umpteenth goodie was dropped off at our door.  Oh, the amount of love that has entered our home, all wrapped up in baskets, boxes, plates, & tinfoil.  The words “thank you” have never seemed so inadequate.  I wish there were different forms of “thank you” in our language.  One “thank you” could simply mean, “thank you for kindly passing the peas,” and another one could mean, “thank you for noticing that I put on makeup today,” and then there would be a “thank you” that is the ultimate thank you, which means, “thank you for sharing our burden and answering our prayers and being a disciple of Christ.”  That’s the thank you I am talking about.  Thank you for your heart felt and uplifting letters, emails, and texts. Thank you for the homemade soups, chilis, salsas, breads, and baked goods. Thank you for decorating my home with hearts, and plants, and happy flowers like hydrangeas, lilies, daisies, and rhonuculas. Thank you for your thoughtful gifts that bring Kevin comfort - music, movies, books, blankets, and prune juice.  Thank you for your gifts that help ease my burden - gift cards, and note cards, and paper plates; offers to pick up groceries, watch my kids, drive my kids, adopt my kids.  If I don’t respond, please know that your offer was appreciated, and try again!   I just didn’t need anything at that time and I just wouldn’t feel right about putting my kids up for adoption.  A special thank you to my sister, Kim, and her daughter, Rachel, who flew in on Delta’s wings to rescue me from drowning, when I thought it might be physically possible to drown in your own tears.  Fortunately, those heart wrenching, soul sobbing, desperate tears have been replaced with “happy tears.”  When the little boys caught Kevin reading a letter with tears streaming down his face, he quickly explained that these were “happy tears” - tears that fall when touched by the Spirit or the kind words and acts of others. These are really the only tears now that fall freely in the Hegewald home.  And thanks to all of you, they do fall freely.  Last week the happy tears really fell when Kevin opened a letter from our 9 year old niece, Olivia.  Kevin always tries to convince Olivia that he is her favorite Uncle, but Olivia is quick to tell him that that title is held by 2 other Uncles (who couldn’t possibly be more fun, but are definitely seen more often).  The note read:  “ to My favorite uncle Kevin.  Kevin, I hope you fight your canser and I was just kidding about Russ and Ryan.  You know how teasing goes.”  I wonder what it would take for me to become favorite Aunt?  I’ve learned that fame comes with a price.