Believing

Sometimes life just doesn't go the way you want it to. God just brings you to the point of not being able to help Him out with things and you are forced to sit back and let Him do whatever is going to be done. Trust. Faith. Believing. He alone is my hope! All that I am is because of the work that HE has done in my life, and it probably looked pretty hopeless to a lot of people watching. When mom was dying, my sister said she wanted to just go hide in the closet and pull all the clothes over her so she couldn't be found. Of course we laughed about it, but we both completely understood. That has become our description of things being really bad! Just hide, don't face it or anyone. I did go to college group last night and I tried to hide in the closet while among a group of 150. I went because in my head, I know my God is the only answer right now, and I needed to be there, to worship Him. The songs had words like..."You are my hope" and "I will stand, I will surrender, I will worship YOU". That's what I needed to hear and to offer to my Lord. I love going through my Bible and seeing the dates written in where a particular scripture came to life for me. Romans 4:18-21 became part of the foundation of who I am during my first Believing God study. Abraham. Against ALL hope, Abraham in hope BELIEVED.....Job 19:25-27. Job KNEW that his Redeemer lived, and he WAS going to be reunited with Him! 2 Timothy 1:12. Timothy KNEW who he believed in. I love the quote from Beth Moore that is on my kitchen counter. "A powerful motivation for believing God in our present is intentionally remembering how He's worked in our past." I know He IS at work, and I am trusting Him!

Other Happenings

Yesterday was a sad day for us. We heard last week that a dear friend of ours, Jose, had passed away during heart surgery, he was 29 years old. Jose had been a part of our ministry for many years before he moved back to where his family lived in central Florida. Many people never knew the details of his life, but he was one of those that stole our hearts because of what he lacked in family support. He was a part of us. He came to us the day he found out he was not a candidate for gastric bypass surgery because they had discovered a heart problem. I was sick as a dog that night, probably looked worse than I felt, but it didn't matter. We wanted him here with us. That was about 6 years ago. Jose made us laugh and smile, and just seemed to make lemonade from the lemons that crossed his path. No one wonders where he is today, he made it perfectly clear. He carried a terrible burden for his family members and for their salvation. Cary and I drove to Wauchula for the service yesterday, and even though it was sad, we were reunited with many of our "kids" that we hadn't seen in a long time! We always love catching up with everyone, and it was great to see how many people loved Jose and were able and willing to be there.

I have to be honest and say that I was not thrilled about being called for jury duty today! Things have just been so hectic since I got home, and this was just one more adventure I wasn't crazy about taking. It was supposed to be 32 degrees this morning, and I had to leave the house by 7 to make it downtown, park, and take a bus to the court house. Well, I made it, stuck around until 10 or so, and then we were sent home. So, since I ended up with unexpected time, I have been able to catch you up on things! Hopefully, things are getting a bit more back to normal now!

Homecoming 2009

We carefully planned our Arizona trip around homecoming! Kaylee and I had worked real hard to have things in order before we left! She attended homecoming with Timmy, a friend since they were two years old and in Bible Study together! Timmy is a great friend and around here, everyone knows that mom LOVES Timmy! It has become a tradition to get ready at Hilary's house. This year, I think there were four of them getting hair done, makeup and dressed! It is an all day affair, and then we do LOTS of pictures! There's family, individual, friends, just the girls....it goes on pretty much forever! Daniel even made it in from California in time to be a part of the big event! (You may remember Daniel stayed with us a couple of weeks last year during the Red Sox spring training. This year he will be with us about two months.) Kaylee looked beautiful and I think it was worth it all!!!

Arizona Trip January 2009

I am so far behind, and I know it! Things have been crazy since I got home, going from one thing to the next! Kaylee and I flew to Phoenix on January 15 to see all my siblings, except one. January 17 was the third anniversary of our mom's death, and I had a free ticket that needed to be used, so it seemed a good time to go. Traveling with Kaylee is a real trip, in more ways than one! She is a handful when having to be confined for a few hours. I got to the point where I just did what she said to avoid hurting her or disturbing the people around us. Well, at least I TRIED not to disturb the people around us! So, gummy worms and silly faces it was! What did we do before digital cameras? They are SO entertaining for small children and larger ones too! We have about a hundred of these pictures! We were met at the airport by my brother, Bob, and his new child, Coco. Coco was about 10 weeks old and had only been with them a couple of weeks. While we were in Phoenix, we did a LOT of shopping! Bob's wife, Renee' knows how to get us around town! I grew up in Phoenix, and one day while we were out I suddenly realized that I knew where we were. I started giving orders to Renee' and soon we were in front of the house where I grew up. Renee' warned me that we were not in a good part of town, and when I got out to take the picture made me leave the car door opened for a quick escape if we heard gun shots or anything. I only saw one police car in the 2 minutes we were in the neighborhood!There is now a garage where we once had a car port, but other than that, it hadn't changed too much. I also found my school where I went from about 4th grade-6th. I really can't even describe my feelings, these places were a part of my history, and Kaylee got to see them, but the memories were not good memories, but ones of a lot of pain and hard times. Before I could even recover, we were just down the road at the church where I grew up and was baptized. That brought memories of many people that loved us through some pretty rough days, and again I was reminded that the church is not a building, but people. On Sunday, all four of us that were in town went to church at my brother's church. I am pretty sure that God opened a window in Heaven and let mom look down. We had a great time together and loved being together. Kaylee flew home from Phoenix after the weekend, alone, and I stayed on. I prayed for the people on the plane with Kaylee! I wasn't there to keep her entertained! After a few more days there, Bob drove me to meet Donna, where I spent a few days in Kingman, just relaxing, and then flew home from Vegas. You already know THAT story!!!