The Asher Update

Andy,

Thanks for the pictures. Hadrienne was and is so beautiful.

Your description of the draw of annual remembrances is powerful. This weekend the church celebrates the Feast of Theophany, where John the Forerunner baptized Christ in the Jordan. It is accompanied by the service of "The Blessing of the Waters."

I don't feel like I've even begun to understand it, but these annual remembrances of Christ are integral to our being. The big one, of course, is Pascha (Easter), and in that story of resurrection lays all our hope. I am so sad for you that you are placed in a position to understand this so very clearly. But I want to thank you and Gloria for communicating love and truth to us by your simple, deliberate, even reluctant, yet faithful actions.

Please bear with me on one more comment, as I know so little of the reality of your experience.

During the Pascha feast we sing again and again: "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death--and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!" The church has been proclaiming this every Easter for nearly two thousand years.

Christ is indeed risen, and your beautiful girl will also be with us again in the flesh, one day.