Andy

We've had a relaxing day....
It started out with 11 AM Mass and a quick lunch out. Then we went up to Xavier University to watch the men's soccer game. Last summer, at our Bible Institute, we met a young man (Andy) who is a student at XU and on their soccer team. He's from Idaho, and he wasn't able to go home for the summer (in fact, he hasn't been home since last Christmas). He took a class on teaching the Bible and we started talking to him and took him out for lunch along with our friends Paul and Denise. His parents are immigrants from Romania and had to endure all sorts of things there because of their Christian faith. His parents have not been able to ever come here to visit or see him play (and this is his junior year) so we decided to go to some of his games and be his "family". So two weeks ago, Paul and Denise, and some of their kids, Will, Mark, Michael, John and I went to his game, and then today, Paul and Denise, and five of their kids and Mark and I and our boys went. After the game we took him out to dinner and spent over three hours there talking about different things and learning more about him and his life. He is a very nice young man and has strong moral values and beliefs. He is attending college on athletic and academic scholarships. We really enjoyed his company. Afterwards, Mark, Paul, Denise, and I were talking and decided that we are going to find some way to get his parents here next year for at least one weekend. Usually when they play at home, they have two games...one on Friday and one on Sunday. So we're hoping to get them here on one of those weekends next year. He really misses them and is so excited about getting to go home for Christmas. He has a younger brother who really misses him too. I can't imagine being his mom and only getting to see him three weeks a year....breaks my heart to think about!
We arrived home about 8 o'clock and now I've been catching up on some reading and have talked to Denise several times about what we can do to get Andy's parents here next year and some other things we can do here to help him out.
It's been a peaceful, blessed day.....
I hope and pray that all of you have had a joyful Sunday....filled with the His peace and love....