Mary Letter Day Twenty Two

1 The Lord is King; 

let the earth rejoice; * 

let the multitude 

of the isles be glad. 

 2 Clouds and darkness 

are round about him, * 

righteousness and justice 

are the foundations of his throne. 

3 A fire goes before him * 

and burns up his 

enemies on every side. 

4 His lightnings light up the world; * 

the earth sees it and is afraid. 

 5 The mountains melt like wax 

at the presence of the Lord, * 

at the presence of the 

Lord of the whole earth. 

6 The heavens declare 

his righteousness, * 

and all the peoples see his glory. 

7 Confounded be all who worship 

carved images and delight in false gods! * 

Bow down before him, all you gods. 

8 Zion hears and is glad, 

and the cities of Judah rejoice, * 

because of your judgments, O Lord. 

9 For you are the Lord, 

most high over all the earth; * 

you are exalted far above all gods. 

10 The Lord loves those who hate evil; *

he preserves the lives of his saints 

and delivers them from the hand of the wicked. 

11 Light has sprung up for the righteous, * 

and joyful gladness for those who are truehearted. 

12 Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous, * 

and give thanks to his holy Name. Psalm 97

Dear Mama and Papa,

This little boy is such a delight! He eats like a hungry little bear, and then he sleeps so deeply, like and angel. When he is awake he is gurgling as if he's trying to sing already. I am mending quite well from the ordeal of delivery and have been checked regularly by the wise women here. They finally let me get up and walk around the community. I strapped the baby to me with a blanket, just as you had taught me. It was so noisy and the smells of the city overwhelmed me, so before long I had to find a quieter place to sit and think as I was getting tired very quickly. We sat by a stream, the baby cuddled against me, and I wondered about all the things that have happened in the past months and the past days. You all have been so patient with me and I am so grateful for your love.

I had to sit and think about the consequences of saying yes to God. It has caused so many problems for me, for Jospeh and for both of you. I guess I was expecting things to come easy after seeing the angel and hearing God's invitation. Now I realize that life is hard, whether we do God's will or not. God is with us on the good days and the challenging ones, and always finds people to encourage us and care for us along the way. When I got back from my walk, Anna was fretting. I had only been gone a half an hour. She had a wonderful supper prepared for us, and Joseph was ravenous. He has been such a good father, rocking the little one and really delighting in even the challenging baby chores. I am so grateful for him. We are still waiting on the paperwork so we can return home.

Much love,

Mary