Wordless Wednesday

First Day of School!!

Today is the first day of school for Jessica and Isaac. Jessica is in 4th grade and Isaac is in 1st. It was so cute to see the brand new kindergartners and how tall everybody has gotten over the summer. Their school is very small so we are like a little family.

I'd Need a Savior

I was looking for some music to do tonight for our revival with Asghar Gafoor and I found this song that has always been one of my favorites. Now one of my most favorite things to do is Sing. I do not think I could live without singing and I don't want to just sing a pretty song so people can say oh that sounded so good or whatever. When I was a teenager my mom told me if you sing without God's anointing it is meaningless and so I really do ask God to give me songs when I sing and it amazes me when He does.
This song when I hear it makes me want to fall on my face and weep for the Goodness of God.
There are times in our lives when circumstances and life can be difficult and it certainly seems that way lately for me, but God in all his awesome Power and Might Stills Sees, Still Hears, Still wants us to trust HIM and most all He loves us so much. So no matter what life brings no matter how much I might not like the things that are happening to me, the reality is I'm so thankful for the Precious gift of Jesus and salvation and my life is forever changed because of that.
So here are the words:

How many names
Can I use to explain
the love of my Jesus
The life that He gave
And so many times
Will I praise you today
I lift up my life
Cause you're always the same
And My offering
To you I bring

You're name is Jesus
You're the wonderful, counselor, my friend
You're what I hold on to
I know that You brought me through
all the days of loss and to the cross you knew
That I'd need a savior

How many songs
Can I sing to proclaim Your wondrous love
oh and beauty so great
and what would I say
If you brought down the rain
and everyday I walked through the pain
My heart would still say....

I'd need a Savior

Sick

Well Olivia and I have had an interesting weekend.
It all started Thursday. I had taken a new convert to the beach with me and I started feeling really crummy, You know the body aches, fever, etc.. on top of that I was really sore becouse I had done a workout that I hadn't done in a while, so we get home and go to bed, well Olivia comes and tell me that she's not feeling good I take her temp along with mine and yup we're both sporting a 102. Well that was one of the most awful painful nights. I hurt so bad from exercising( I think I threw my back out)that I couldn't sleep, I had gotten up to get some Ibuproferin and could barely walk and when Arty got up he gave me a muscle relaxer. About 10 that morning I got up to get some toast because I was feeling nautious( note to my self:muscle relaxer and Ib is not good on an empty stomach) When I got to the kitchen, I knew I was going to throw up- now remember my body is not cooperating with me muscle wise and I knew if I threw up that was going to kill my back. I took a swig of milk and passed out. Next thing I remember is looking up thinking what the Heck? Olivia says I rolled over the broken glass and milk so that freaked the kids out, Thankfully I was able get to my room where I stayed there for the next 2 days. Sunday I wake up and feel 75% better. Thank God because I had new converts to pick up but then Olivia starts to violently throw up and scream in pain, I get her situated go to church we have a Holy Ghost Time with more visitors(more about that later) I get home she starts up again so I take her to the e.r. cause now I'm thinking appendicitis. Fast forward 4 hours or so blood work is done ct scan, they said yes it could be appendicitis or even kidney stones, but would have to do more tests. They gave me the option of taking her appendix out right then just in case that was the problem, but because the surgeon wasn't 100% convinced and I had a whole bunch of people praying and she was doing better we went home.On the way home we had an awesome conversation about believing God for what we pray for and you know what? she has been perfectly FINE. God just totally Healed Her!!!! What an incredible reference for her to know that God hears not only our prayers but hers too! Now saying all that, I really believe this has been an assault from hell because for the last month every sunday morning we have had visitors and between this last sunday and the one before that we've had 3 families come in and get gloriously saved, I'm just so excited because I know God is moving in our little church and no matter what the devil trys to throw our way God is God and He is so good, sickness and all. So Thank you Jesus for your Faithfulness

Beautiful Girl/Silly Boy

Here are a couple of pictures of Jessica and Isaac. Jessica is all girl and wanted me to take a picture of her hair cause we curled it! and Isaac feels that his calling in life is to entertain our family and anybody that will give him the time:) In the Picture where he has a snow hat on, he has his stuffed animals stuffed inside =P and the picture of him on the door, well... he was trying to lock his big sis out of the house. I also included another pic of Benjamin, he's turning into a lil chunky monkey. Love it!

School

No we are not starting school yet but I'm making some changes for Adrienna and Olivia. For the last 2 years They have gone to a private school that I really love. I was conflicted though . Most churches do not do half of the things that we do, that is not a slam its just the truth. It's no secret that our lives revolve around whats going on at church, and I did not realize how stressfull it was trying to keep up schoolwork and homework and do all that we do until we started summer vacation and I felt like I could breath again. Because I really like the school and it has been a huge blessing for us I was obviously reluctant to change , but I know for my own sanity and stress level I cannot continue, so we are going to do the k-12 online program. It has been recommended to me by a few different people and so with the help of God we are going to be doing this for Adrienna's 9th and Olivia's 8th grade year. I'm very nervous but I do believe this is the direction God is leading me for my two oldest at this time. So Pray for Me Please!

Miracle Baby: Benjamin

I've been wanting to blog about my nephew Benjamin for a little while now, but I've had to gather in all my thoughts and feelings and think about how to properly write this all down. So I've decided to write this from my perspective as not only an aunt but a sister too. See Rose is my youngest sister out of us six girls, and we almost lost her.....

I believe that If Jesus tarries God has awesome plans for little Benjamin, it seems that from even in the early months of Rose's pregnancy the devil was trying to kill him. I can remember praying for Rose in her early months , being afraid that this tiny precious life even at 2 and 3 months would miscarry, as Rose was having a lot of bleeding and at one point even being at the hospital thinking she lost him, but there was his little heart beating.
Its wierd when you go through a traumatic event how you remember the littlest details, its like time just stands still in those crazy fearfilled moments. Yet there are other things you just can not remember, like I can't remember if my mom called or my sister Leah texted me that Rose was in the hospital having Benjamin. I think it was both. I remember thinking -praying GOD NO! At 26 weeks old how in the world could he survive and I'm thinking about Rose and Joel: how do you deal with your baby dying. It felt like I had been kicked in the stomach. I was in the nursury making sure everything was ready for service which was going to start in 10 minutes and I ran out to the sanctuary crying telling Arty we had to pray right now and so we did. I immediately started texting people to pray for a miracle, not knowing if This little baby was born dead or alive. We were playing the waiting game. On top of that we had a first time visitor to church, so I had to pull all of my emotions together and that was the hardest thing to do, all I wanted to do was run to the hospital and make sure everything was ok. As soon as service was over I met my sister Leah at the hospital, where she was waiting to hear some news at that point Benjamin had been born at 2lbs 2 0z. So we sat in the waiting room just waiting to hear Something. Rose's doctor was so awesome, He would come out and talk to Leah and I and give us all the technical information. Basically what happened was the placenta tore away from the uterus and caused her to have internal bleeding, but nobody knew that till they did the c-section . Rose just kept on bleeding and bleeding, but we didn't realize how serious it was for Rose until the dr came to get us so we could see her before they wheeled her down to do this procedure to stop all the bleeding and he told us that if it didn't work they would have to do an emergency hysterectomy. I think that was when I started to freak out a little bit. She was way too young Only 26 years old. Looking back We just prayed with all of our hearts that whole day and I can just see the hand of God moving over that whole situation. I believe God gave Rose the Doctor he did, He saved her life. Rose looked like death , I cannot explain that statement, but Leah knows what I mean. So Rose got sent to the ICU , Benjamin to the NICU. Thank God my mom flew out that very day and was there for the next month. I belive my sister Jennifer came up later on that week, at that point I believe Rose had gotten something like 4 blood transfusions through out the week, but God kept her alive and our whole family is so grateful for everybody's prayers. The first time I saw Benjamin it was so surreal. Here was this little intsy winsy baby, my fist was bigger than his head! We all were in love!! He was perfectly formed! The most precious miracle I have ever seen. He was not even a week old when we got the phone call from my mom calling for my sister to tell us that they had done a brain scan on Benjamin and he had stage 4 bleeding on the brain and in the dr's own words he had 80-90% chance of having cebral palsy. Once again The emails, texts, phone calls went flying asking everyone to pray for a miracle. God is so faithful becouse at 5 1/2 months Benjamin is PERFECTLY FINE no signs at ALL! We are believing God that even in the future as he gets older he will not develop any symptoms of cp either. The hand of God was just all over him in that NICU. From the christian respiratory therapist who told Rose She sees miracles in that place all the time, to his amazing development the whole time he was there. Its been said that its a long difficult journey for preemies becouse they will do good and then regress continually, and that never happened for Benjamin, He only progressed and did good from day one. He had a hole in his heart- we prayed and believed God for a miracle and I believe God honors our faith and they decided not to do surgery and the hole closed up. Praise God! That was just one of the many miracles we have seen. Currently he roles over, smiles, pushes himself up on his little skinny arms and he nurses. That is a miracle!! Ask Rose!! I have to say That she is my hero! What she went through in those crazy 3 months, I wouldn't wish on anybody, but she trusted God and spoke words of Faith and we are seeing the results of that now. I want to thank everybody who has faithfully prayed for Rose and Benjamin(and the rest of the family) I have no doubt in my mind its because of those beautiful, faithful, incredible prayers of so many people and churches that Benjamin is where he is at today. Our entire family can never say thank you enough. We are so thankful for friends like you and a fellowship like ours. To God be the Glory Forever and Ever Amen.
Benjamin is now 9lbs. 21 in long. He's growing!