Miles is Home!

We are home from the hospital. Miles is doing much better, but he’s still sick. He will continue to get better. The doctor sent us home with so much medication! I was going to bore you with all their names and doses, but you wouldn’t have read them anyway. Let me say that he was sent home with 4 medications yesterday on top of his everyday 6 that he already takes. Most of the medications he has to take twice a day. Two of them he has to take three times a day. One of the antibiotics that he got yesterday smells so bad. He’s never had to take it before. When the pharmacist was mixing it he asked if I wanted him to add flavoring to it because it smelled like the sewer. Now it smells like a grape sewer.
Also, today a medical supply place brought us over a suction machine! I wish we had that before. If we did Miles wouldn’t have got so sick. He needed all that mucus sucked out. It’s gross but I’m so thankful for it. I know it will help a lot.
So, please keep praying for him. He’s still got a way to go before he is well.

How much Longer?

Still at the hospital...need encouragment!

Candle For Miles



Thanks Trish. You bless Me!

Another Book Review

I’ve been reading this really good book. Here’s an excerpt from it:

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;[a] but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages[b] and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.[c] All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Saul to Paul

I’ve been reading a book series and an ongoing theme of the books talks about names and their meanings. Last night I was reading and the meaning of the name Marie came up. The book said that it meant “Rebellious.” When I read that my heart sank. That is Jocie’s middle name. Normally I don’t hold too much stock in the meaning of names, but for some reason when I saw that it really disturbed me. I know it had to do with how much she is like me, and when I was young my first, middle and last name was Rebellious! I was openly defiant. I was secretly defiant. I was not sorrowful or repentant.
It builds my faith so much when I think about what the Lord has done in me. I’m not the same person I was before. I really am a new creation. I still marvel at what the Lord has done with me!
So anyway, last night I was disturbed by the meaning of Jocie’s middle name. Also, tomorrow is her birthday. She will be six. I just hated the thought of rebellion becoming a part of who she is. I began to think that she needed to be renamed. I don’t think I was thinking legally renamed but spiritually renamed. I paused in my reading and with a heavy heart asked the Lord to reverse that name.
Fast forward to about an hour and a half later. I got on the floor in my bedroom to sign all the kids folders for the next day. The papers in there were left over from Friday. I usually sign the folders on Sunday nights but since they didn’t have school on Monday I decided to do it the next day.
Well, Jocie’s was the first one I opened and there was a loose paper in there. It was bright blue. I pulled it out and it was from her field trip to the Discovery Center. It’s a Christian place in town where they talk about the creation of the world. Rodnie Robot is there and he tells the kids the meaning of their names. On the blue piece of paper is said, “Your name Marie means: Living Fragrance.”
I sat there and just stared at that piece of paper and felt so close to the Lord! I guess she tried to tell Rodnie that her name was Jocie and he didn’t have a meaning for that name so she told him her middle name.
Isn’t that amazing? The Lord has redeemed her. She will not be called Rebellious. She is a Living Fragrance to Him! She is a Living Fragrance to her Mommy and Poppa. The Lord is so faithful to us!

Life Group

The first Life Group of the semester was great last night! My house was so packed and LOUD! Oh my goodness it was busy! There were people every where, kids every where, spills, toys and laughter. Hey, there were 15 kids in my house last night between the ages of 1 and 9. That’s a whole lot of kids and a whole lot of crumbs! Each of them had a blast. We just let them come in and bring their toys in the living room. If they wanted to talk to their Mom they just did it. They were free to be kids and they were all so good. It was fun seeing the kids enjoy playing with other adults.
The food was incredible. Let me tell you what my Mom had for all of us last night. She cooked: potato soup, beef and vegetable stew and chili. She made delicious corn bread and brought crackers. There was a ton of soup so she brought to go bowls with lids so people could take left overs home. (Who does that?) We had fruit pizza and David Hallford cooked home made banana pudding.
Everyone in the group seemed comfortable with everyone else. We all laughed. We had a ton of praise reports before our prayer time. The praise reports outnumbered the prayer requests. I don’t know if that’s ever happened before. Last night we got to pray for real things and we’re expecting our real God to do his stuff in those situations.
Some how, I was able to really talk to most of the people last night. I was thankful for that. Hey, my brother and his wife and their kids came. That was awesome.
So, it was a great time. This semester is full of promise. I’m expecting great things to happen in my home and in our people over the next few months.

Hey, where are you guys going to Life Group at?

Testimony

I have a testimony! About 3 years ago a couple of dry skin bumps appeared on my leg. I didn’t think much of them at first. I would pick at them (I know it’s gross but they didn’t bleed or anything) and they would go away, but the next day they would appear back again. At first it was just a couple, but after a year it became a few more. They didn’t really bother me, but I decided that if it got worse that I would go see a dermatologist.

Well, it did get worse and I did not go to the dermatologist. Last summer it got really bad and I became self conscience of it. I don’t have insurance and that would have been expensive. Not only would the visit be expensive, but prescriptions for skin are really high. Even so, I knew I had to do something because it was spreading. There was a little above my knee and a lot under and beside my knee. It was working its way down.

I wasn’t sure what it was but Randy seemed to think it was something called planters warts. They don’t look like warts but it’s in the wart family. At Walgreens they sell an expensive kit where you can freeze them off yourself. Oh my gosh it hurt so bad! It also scared my leg and they still came back eventually. That wasn’t one of our smartest moves.

Anyway, a few months ago I began to pray for the bumps to go away. I had Randy lay hands on me and pray for me to be healed. I asked God to either heal them or provide me the money and desire to go to the dermatologist about it before it got worse.

Well, I remember praying several times about it. Then, the next thing I know…I was playing cards with my family on Sunday night and all the sudden I heard in my head, “Look at your leg.”

I looked at my leg and there wasn’t one spot on my leg! Nothing! My skin is smooth. There are no dry bumps. It hasn’t been smooth in years! The scar even looks faded. I’m not sure when it happened. It’s been recent, but I haven’t been checking on it. Anyway, it’s all gone. I keep touching my leg where the rough bumps used to be (about 20-30 of them) and thanking the Lord for healing me! Isn’t that awesome?

Also, about a month ago I woke up and my gums were swollen. It felt like I had a sinus infection or a toothache coming on. I prayed and it went away and never returned. Then last Monday I woke up with fever and chills. It was terrible. It totally felt like the flu although I didn’t dare say that word at the time. I couldn’t believe how fast and severe the sickness came on. I couldn’t hardly move. I prayed and believed that there was no way that I was going to be sick! I woke up Tuesday morning and I wasn’t sick at all! I was totally healed!

So, I wanted to share all my new healing testimonies with you! How awesome is it about my leg? I’m so thankful!

Jocie

I’m getting the biggest kick out of this. Our very girly girl is turning six this month. What does she want for a party? She wants a Star Wars party! She’s totally into it. My Mom has tried to change her mind but Jocie will not have it. She knows what she wants! My Mom (who always makes the birthday cakes) was trying to figure out how she could make a Princess Leia cake, but that’s not what Jocie wants! Oh No! She wants a cake with Anakin and someone else fighting on top of it. Does that crack you up? My brother was teasing my Mom today and saying that he was sure she was going to make a wedding cake for Jocie and just throw two fighting guys up on top. Today on the way to church she told Randy that he was going to be the boss at her birthday party. I don’t know what sort of party games she has planned that a boss will need to be clearly defined! I’m trying to decide what to do for invitations. I had a good Star Wars idea, but I know that if Jocie gets a bunch of Star Wars stuff as presents she’s going to be upset. She wants a Star Wars party as far as the decorations go, but I’m telling you that she’s expecting Barbie’s for a present. The whole thing has really been making me smile. I love that she’s confident to stick to the things that she likes, even though others have tried to sway her differently. Yesterday I asked her once more if she still wanted the Star Wars party. She told me, “Yes. Every time you ask me my answer will still be the same. That’s what I want.”

Laptop News

Praise the Lord! My laptop is in proper working order again! I cannot tell you how thankful I am for this! If you remember…months and months ago water was spilled on it and it had been banged up a bit. (Somehow) Anyway, the guy at Best Buy quoted me a price of $500-$800 to fix the dang thing. I marched right out of that place and took it some where else and that guy gave me a card for another guy. Well, that guy was no help. He just gave me a detachable keyboard and told me he would get back with me. He never did.
Then, Randy had the great idea of taking it to Doug Reid and seeing if he could help. Sure enough he contacted a company to see if he could order a new keyboard for my laptop and they said yes! I just got it back yesterday! It cost me $100 for a new keyboard. Randy put it back on for me. Also, Doug ended up having to make a little plastic piece that had been broken in there when they took it apart. Who knew he was handy like that?
Anyway, I’m so happy to have my laptop back! It’s working just as it should. Okay, can you agree with me that nothing else bad will happen to my laptop? I do not want it to be stolen from me again!
Pam, Doug could get you a new keyboard I bet! Mine was messing up in several ways. There were a few keys that didn’t work. I could make anything capitalize. Also, it would try to make itself go on to the internet like 50 times in 3 seconds. It was terrible.
That’s all gone now! It’s all in working order!!!! YAY!

My New Favorite Song. Thanks To Joey.

It totally describes how I've been feeling! It's the only song you'll hear if you're in my car.

Book Review

Oh my goodness! I have just devoured a book over the last two days that is like nothing I’ve ever read before.
When I was strolling around Books A Million waiting for Randy to come out of the bathroom it felt like there was a magnet pulling my body to this book and it magically appeared in my hand. Then I began reading it. By the time Randy met back up with me I was so into the book I begged him to let us spend the rest of our date sitting at Books A Million so I could read a little more. I ended up reading 80 pages of the book before I had to leave to go get our kids.
The book was $21.95 so I told Randy that I would check with the library to see if they had a copy. I checked online as soon as I got home. They didn’t have one so I checked amazon.com and they had some used ones I could have bought for a little cheaper but I decided that I wanted the lady that wrote the book to get as much money as possible so I went back Friday and bought the book.

Okay, it’s called (and the title got me right away) GOD SAID YES. It’s by Heather Hornback-Bland and Ninie Hammon. I saw the title and I was like, “Hey, I want God to say yes about something!” Then I was hooked.

It’s about (this is on the cover) when a four year old (Heather) was run over by a car, (by her mother on accident), doctors told the family she wouldn’t survive. Now 34 years later, 187 operations, and 13 medical miracles later, Heather is alive to tell her story.

And what a story it is! I want all of you to read it, but my recommendation comes with a big whopping warning! If you are faint at heart then this book is not for you. It would probably be good for you, but I mean my gosh! I just kept thinking, “How much could one person go through?” While I was reading her book it just made me think that the struggles and pain that I’ve gone through in my life are like a scrapped knee compared to this woman.

What’s even more amazing than everything she has gone through is her attitude. She has such an intimate relationship with Christ. Her joy is almost unbelievable. In all that she went through she didn’t feel sorry for herself. She has a wonderful family that supports her. It’s just amazing!

I want you all to read it. I will let you borrow the book if you want to, but if you can afford to buy it then buy it because this lady owes more than a million dollars for medical bills. My prayer is that she will make so much money on this book that she will never have to worry about money again! I want her to have the money to do things that she hasn’t been able to do before because of medical expenses.

I’m telling you that I went to bed with a thankful heart and I woke up with a thankful heart because of this book. I’m so thankful for a healthy body. I’m thankful that God has done such amazing things in that woman’s body. She’s had 13 medical miracles happen to her. There’s so many things that the doctors told her that she would never do, but she has done them. I don’t want to spoil them for you, but it’s so hard because there’s one in particular that I’m totally wanting to spill my guts about! I’m so glad that God Said Yes to this woman. I’m so encouraged by her testimony! Compared to what God has done in her body, healing Miles is like flipping a switch! I’m glad that God is saying Yes about Miles as well.

Buy the Book! It’s so incredible!

I’ll leave you with a small excerpt from her book and then with one quote that I’m keeping for my own!

(After she had got out of another surgery) Page 79

Just suck it up and go on. Those seven words were printed on page one of the owner’s manual of my life. Mom made it clear from the moment I woke up from my first surgery that self pity was not an option, and Mom’s wasn’t the only voice singing that song. Growing up in medical facilities, I learned lessons before I could do long division that many grown-ups never figured out. The hospital became my College of Life. I started out studying suffering, but I quickly changed my major to gratitude.

New Year's Eve

New Year’s Eve was not spent with a champagne glass in my hand or with a glittery dress on. We played board games with the kids and kissed or ran away from kisses at midnight.
Then Randy and I crawled into bed with our warm pajamas and he held me close as we both cried that another year had passed without Miles being healed.