Please keep Sommer and her team in Prayer!

WOW! is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of the work that Sommer and her team will be doing in Miami. Arnold and I were blessed to be able to go and get her set up. I was so excited to hear about the work that she will be doing and to be able to meet the coordinators, Mike and Maria and some of the high school and college kids that will be working close with Sommer's team.
There are two groups that the AIM team will be very involved with. The first is the youth group called J4L which is the youth group at the Homestead congregation. The majority of the youth have come from the Christian school there at the church. The team will be teaching bible classes to them when school starts in the fall. The second is the Kendall congregation, where the team will be working with the college age kids.

The team was getting settled in and they were going to spend the week hanging out and getting used to the area and then on Monday going to start getting to work. One of the coordinator's, Mike had told them to be prepared to work 10 hr days with Monday's being their day off. Please continue to pray for the team and the work that is going on down there. Arnold and I saw first hand lives that have been changed by the Love of God!

Life can be so difficult

Life can be so difficult. I know that there are good days and bad days and what keeps me going is knowing that some day there will be no more tears. I have shed a lot of tears this week. My mother, Joan had a MRI on Monday, her Dr. thought that she had a stroke. The test showed that she has 11 small cancer tumors. When she was diagnosed with her breast cancer coming back in her lung, I knew that this was not good because the cancer had spread to other organs. Now to see that she has been on chemo for over 2 years and the cancer is still spreading is very heartbreaking for her and for our family. I am praying today as I do everyday that my mom would open her heart to God that he would heal her. I am not talking just physically even though that would be great! I am talking about her having hope that someday there will be no more tears and no more pain and that she will spend eternity with Jesus. Please pray for my mother today not just for her physical health but for her spiritual health. Also that I can recognize those doors of opportunity that the Lord opens for me to speak to her and not say or do anything that will close those doors.

She's not a little girl anymore

On April 15Th we we close the doors on another tax season and we drive straight to San Jose to pick up Sommer. I am very excited to see her and kinda nervous too. I have watched her being molded and shaped through the AIM program the last few months. I know that this is not the little girl that left in August. She has grown spiritually and is much more mature. She will be home until the first week of June and then she will leave for Miami. Please continue to pray for her and her teammates.

Transformation

I have put off taking the after pictures of the house for a while now because I have keep thinking that we are not finished yet. I was out for a walk last weekend when I realized that this is going to be an ongoing process, I think that there is always going to be something else to do. So I decided to go ahead and take the after photos realizing we are far from done.

As I looked at the before and after pictures, or I should say "in process" pictures I thought wow! This is amazing how much work we have done. This place was a mess! I remember thinking there was no way I was going to live here! Arnold told me keep an open mind and look at the possibilities not how it looks right now.

I started thinking about how that is exactly what God did with me . He took something so ugly and useless and transformed it and it is a work in progress! As I look around the house I can see some of the blemishes some of the scars of how things were just as I have scars of my past and blemishes but that is part of the beauty in sharing my journey. You see I was wandering around aimless in this world just going through the motions. Then God allowed things in my life to get my attention. I am so thankful he sees what can be and not just what is. He offers that to everyone. It is a choice. If you were to find out today that you had cancer or some terminal illness. Would you live you life different? If so don't wait for something to happen. Seek God today with all of your heart! It is the only life worth living for, I know because I have tried it other ways and always came up empty. God has transformed my character and continues to mold me into the image of Jesus and I am so thankful he loves me so much not to leave me the way I am.

Tomorrow my mom turns 66, this will be her 2ND birthday while on chemotherapy. My heart breaks every time I see her lately. When I was there yesterday she sat on the couch the whole time. She is weak, pale and looks so fragile. It just didn't seem right to ask her what she wants for her birthday. What I want for her is to have a good day. I know how awful it is to go through chemotherapy but to not have no end or goal to look forward to must be the worst. Please pray for my mother today. I know that she is tired. For my mother's birthday I am asking for her to have hope. I have faith that God will touch her heart.

Super Bowl Sunday

It was Super Bowl Sunday 1988 and I was 14 weeks pregnant. The Friday before I had called the doctor and he had told me to stay off my feet for the weekend and he wanted to see me on Monday morning. This was back before we had cell phones (I know it's hard to imagine) anyway it was Super bowl Sunday and Arnold and I were not Christians yet, Josh was 2 years old. Arnold went to the store to get some groceries and snacks for the game. I started having these really bad stomach cramps and started to spot. I went to the restroom and the baby came out you could see that it was a boy. I was hysterical, and Arnold was not there. I was in pain I went to the phone somehow found the number for Vons and had him paged. I remember him coming in and picking me up and the baby both of us crying put me in the back seat and rushed to the hospital. I remember Josh saying mommy is my brother o.k?

I know that there was something wrong that is why I miscarried but I learned something through all of that. It was a life it was a baby, I could see his body parts. I don't understand how anyone can say that it was not a life. I remember one of the hardest things for me was when I asked what they did with my baby and then said they threw him in the trash. I asked why and they said because he was not a baby yet. I'm told them they were wrong and that they should not just tell women that they throw them in the trash. His name would have been Bryan. I often wonder how his life would have been and every Super Bowl Sunday I can't help but think about him. I know he was a person and I know that he is in heaven and someday I will see him.

Busy time of year

This is an extremely busy time of year for me. I have thought that I would be able to blog more often but it has not been happening. I am so very thankful that I have been able to keep up with my workload and feeling pretty well. I am counting the days until April 15Th. Besides it being the last day of our tax season it is also Sommer's last day in Texas. I will share more later about some of the things that she has been up too but for now gotta get some sleep those 10-12 hrs days at the office are exhausting!

This past week

My second full week at the office and working 10-12 hr days, I really did not expect to be able to keep up but I am feeling pretty good. I started running again this week trying to get back in shape and lose those extra five pounds I picked up after the surgery and during the holidays. Sommer is in her mission term at AIM I don't get to talk to her as much as I was before but the timing is o.k. because of my busy schedule. Josh is at school for another semester and working at the office, he is doing at great job. If fact last night it was time for him and our secretary, Imelda to go home and he saw Arnold and I had appointments still waiting and he did not want to leave us alone so he volunteered to stay late and I know it was Friday night and he had plans.

The last couple of weeks in meeting with clients I have seen how the economy is impacting lives. I have never seen so many people struggling financially. Also I have seen more sad stories lately relating to health or relationships, deaths in family. It has got me thinking about what is really going on. Is God trying to get our attention? As a country we are so materialistic. He just wants us to turn back to him. I have had so many opportunities to talk to people because of what they are going through. I pray that I will recognize those opportunities when God places them in my life.

Also got some great news this week from my mother's test results. Her tumor has shrunk in half.. She will still need to continue chemotherapy for a while longer. Wow! answered prayers.

I made it through my first full week back at the office

I am trying to get used to being at the office all day everyday of the week right now. At first I thought that it would be much more difficult than it actually is. Meeting with clients throughout the day has been a challenge for me this week. I really enjoy seeing people that I usually get to see only once a year. Most of our clients have been with us since the kids were little and they want to get caught up. A lot of my clients had seen the race for the cure interview or seen the Fresno Bee article, so they know the battle that I had been through this past year. I am realizing more of what an opportunity and responsibility of sharing this experience with people. I have had so many discussions this past week with people about the power of God. When someone asks me "how did you get through that?" or they say "your so strong" I can't help but talk about God and that I could not have made it through this past year without my faith and belief that God was with me and that is where my strength comes from.

We put Sommer on a plane Wednesday. She will be back in April. How about that her last day in Lubbock is April 15Th and that is the last day of tax season. That gives me something to look forward to. It does not get easier watching her walk away and knowing that she is traveling by herself. I have seen her growth these past few months. She has learned so many life lessons that I don't think she would have learned if she was here at home. I pray that God will protect her and use her to his glory.

My mom had chemotherapy yesterday. It has been a year now that she has been on treatments. She is tired and getting so discouraged. Please pray for her and my dad.