Last Friday my best Jarai friend’s son drowned. The wake lasted four nights, and the funeral and burial were Tuesday. Josh was at the wake every evening and spent the night sleeping under the house with the family and church people (Friday, Sunday, and Monday nights). I was there every day with Biah next to the body and then casket (they didn’t get him into the casket until Sunday afternoon). Before we left for America Biah told me I was like her “friend, sister, mother, and husband.” This gave me the confidence to be present and to hold her when she wept. I have experienced much this past week (never before have I held the stiffen hand of a dead child, or smelled a body decomposing). Never before have I seen such expressions of grief. Someday I shall record it in more detail. In the end – after they had finished tiling the grave shut ad put the roof on, Biah said “It’s ok. God does what he does.” Thanks be to God for His grace in the life of this grieving mother. Thanks be to God.