i'm back. so is daniel, and his new template is pretty. but i miss the picture of us in the header of the old one. i've had it with the lice lady! for the past two weeks, i've been trying to help one of my clients get rid of lice so that she can visit with her children again. three times i've gone out to her house to treat her and three times there has been an excuse for why she can't do it. she tries to do it herself, but that hasn't been very effective. aargh! i really think her intentions are good, but so many of my clients minimize so many things. she's used up my last offer to treat her myself, though. it may sound harsh, but part of my job is empowering parents to take responsibility for their own lives... columbus is growing on me a little more each day. i don't miss cincinnati as much, although i do miss my friends. but there are good people here. i realized last night at house church that i really LIKE the people here - i look forward to seeing them and i want to hang out with them because they're fun and think about challenging things and i just like them! somehow, this week feels like a time of renewal. my own energy level is up, and it isn't quite so hard to force myself out of my cozy bed in the mornings. i see myself and people around me growing. after a time of some darkness in general, hope is springing up pretty clearly. or maybe a better word for the theme of the week is reconciliation...that is what the hope is for. i've been making an effort to reconcile and reconnect with people i lost connection with in the past couple of years. daniel and i have been learning the skill of reconciliation when we butt heads. we long for reconciliation in the lives of people we love. we long like crazy for it. we are learning what it means to be reconciled as the church...