Reflections on 2008

As a new year approaches I guess it’s natural to think back over the past year and analyze what went well and what didn’t.  I have to say that it was probably the most difficult year of our lives.  We’ve had much going on in our family with Jenna pregnant again and moving back into our home in July.  There has been alot of transition in our lives, including a new grandson born almost 2 months ago and now having 2 little ones in the house.  It was a stressful week when Taheton was in the hospital at a week old and we had to wait to find out what kind of meningitis he had.  We dealt with great anxiety when our friends, the Basses, went through such a terrifying ordeal in Africa and had to flee for their lives!  Hershel’s parents have had a difficult time with their health recently and it’s hard knowing that’s going on when we are so far away and can’t see them.  I can’t even express in words the various thoughts and emotions I have personally dealt with this last year!

Along with the difficulties, there are always blessings in the midst of it.  God has continued to provide for us even in such lean economic times.  We, our children & grandchildren are all healthy and every need we have has been met.  We have a nice home, cars to drive, food on our table every day, clothes and shoes and are able to pay our bills.  I got to see our daughter Sheleena 4 times this past year even though she lives so far away in Arkansas.  Jeremy committed to go to Liberty University after graduation, which is a huge blessing and relief.  We have an amazing church family who loves us in spite of our failures and faults.  We are so blessed in so many ways!

As I look to 2009 I can’t help but wonder what will come into our lives in the days ahead.  I admit I have some fear of the unknown after the last 2 1/2 years we’ve had but I’m going to try to focus on the good and positive.  I’m exicted to be taking Jeremy on a cruise with us for his Senior trip.  It will be exciting (and sad) to see him graduate from high school and move on to the next phase of his life as an adult.  I hope to be able to travel to Africa again and see the Basses, as well as the wonderful people I met there on the last trip.  We have a wonderful ladies retreat planned for May that I’m hoping will be a huge blessing to the lives of many ladies at Sonlight.  We are planning another trip to Women of Faith in November of 2009 and I can’t wait for that.  I know along the way that God will show me glimpses of His grace and love through all the people He has put into our lives.  If you are reading this blog, then you are one of those people!  I pray God will pour out His abundant grace, mercy and love on you and your family in 2009 and that we will all have some wonderful memories to reflect on a year from now!  God bless you!

Taheton Coming Home!

Just wanted everyone to know I just got the news that Taheton is being discharged today.  He is still not out of the woods yet.  He had a fever again yesterday and Jenna says he still sleeps all the time and when he is awake he is fussy.  They have taken him off the antibiotics and he will have to go to the doctor on Friday to have his urine tested to check for a UTI.  Continue to keep him in your prayers.

Update on Taheton

The doctor finally said today that they are pretty positive the meningitis is viral but they will still watch the culture for a couple more days to make sure it doesn’t grow bacteria.  They are trying to determine the cause of the meningitis and say it could be caused from a UTI but can’t prove that because his urine tests weren’t done until after he had already been started on antibiotics.  They may go ahead and treat for a UTI anyway or they may send him home for us to watch for a fever.  If a fever develops, we take him back to the ER and they test for a UTI.  If that’s the case, that means internal kidney problems which will involve more testing.  Please keep praying for Taheton and our family, as well as for the doctors taking care of him.  Thanks.

Pray for Taheton

Our new little grandson, Taheton, is currently in the hospital with meningitis.  They have not yet determined whether it’s viral or bacterial.  We’re praying it’s viral because bacterial is potentially life-threatening. Please pray with me that God will heal his body.  It’s sad and scary to see a baby less than 2 weeks old in the hospital.  Thanks for praying.

Monkey Bread Correction

My mistake…Mary Anne is not on the red team with me.  She is on the blue team!  Maybe she is trying to sabotage the red team!  Hummm.

Monkey Bread

Who would have ever thought that something called monkey bread could be so good!  Yum, yum. Mary Anne sent some over for Jenna on Tuesday this week and I’m the one who has been eating it.  I’ve had some of it every single day.  That’s not good considering I’m supposed to be doing the biggest loser challenge with the church.  I would say she was trying to sabatoge me but she’s on the red team with me!  I haven’t even been able to go to the gym and work it off with having the new baby in the house.  Hopefully I will get back on track next week.  Jenna is moving back in her room tonight with the baby which means I get to move back into my bed and actually sleep all night! Yeah!

First Time Holding Taheton

It was an exciting day on November 4th.  No, not because of Obama, but because I held my grandson for the first time.  He’s a little cutie pie and just as sweet.  I do have to say that the Connell family beat us to the room and held him before we did!!  That’s just messed up!  It still didn’t take away the joy and excitement of holding him in my arms the first time.  Check it out!

God Bless America!

I love America!  As many problems as we have in this country, especially right now, it is still the best place to live.  Our trip to Africa was amazing and God did some awesome things but I would not want to live there. After one week in the country I was ready to come home.  Everything is so difficult there.  Just making a simple meal is a monumental task.  One afternoon we had grilled cheese and BLT sandwiches with fries and it took an hour an a half to make the meal.  Everything is done from scratch and a trip to the market is quite an experience.  Teresa has to walk to the corner and get a taxi to ride to the market.  She has to put everything she buys in a rice bag and carry it back home in the taxi.  That means you can only purchase a few items at a time, which means more frequent trips to the market.  

The electricity is a problem over there.  We lost power almost daily and when we did have electricity there were constant surges.  Something is always breaking down and Kenny spends alot of time just on upkeep for the house and guest house.  They have many interruptions from people just stopping by the house.  I guess that is mostly a good thing since they are trying to reach the people for Christ.  

It was so hot it was draining.  I felt exhausted the entire time I was there.  I did not sleep through the night once the entire trip.  I had stomach issues the entire last week there and still do now.  I hope to get back to normal very soon!

Even with all the difficulties, it was well worth the trip over there.  I would do it again in a heartbeat.  God really gave me a heart for the ladies while I was there.  They were so friendly to us and showed such hospitality.  It really puts us to shame here in America.  We are all so wrapped up in our own lives that we don’t even have time for each other, much less people in our neighborhood and community.  It was a challenge to me to try to reach out more to people in my neighborhood to build bridges for relationships and sharing Christ.

We had the awesome privilege of being part of seeing a lady come into a relationship with Christ while we were there.  We had a great follow up visit to her home and it was so awesome to see her excitement and joy about the Lord.  God also gave her a physical healing from asthma in response to our specific prayers over her.  

We had great opportunities there through teaching English, hosting a cooking class, english club, prayer walks and visits in 5 different ladies homes.  It was a great experience and God is definitely at work there in Chad.  My respect and admiration for Teresa and her family has grown tremendously.  They are true warriors for the Lord.  Keep them in your prayers as they continue to serve there.  Pray also for the Chadians that God will pursue them relentlessly and they will give in to His offer of eternal life.

I hope to be putting photos of our trip on picasa within the next day or so.  I will post the link when they are up and ready to view.

I wish I could tell you every detail of our trip and all that God did but it would be impossible.  I was so blessed to be a part of it all and hope to be able to go back again soon.

Pitiful Blogger

Yes, I admit it.  I have been a pitiful blogger!  Life has just been crazy busy getting ready to go to Africa tomorrow.  I have been working late many days trying to get everything done so hopefully things in the office will run smoothly while I’m away.  Also, there have been many things personally at home I’ve been working on to get ready for our departure.  We leave tomorrow evening and won’t be back until Oct. 24th, so I will definitely have an excuse for not blogging over the next 2 weeks.  Pray for us!!  I’m sure we will encounter daily challenges and that God will grow and stretch us in many ways.  Hopefully when I return I will make the time to blog about some of the highlights of the trip.  So, don’t give up on me.  Check back in a couple of weeks!

12 Week Challenge

Well, I headed back to the YMCA to workout today for the first time in over three weeks.  Why now?  Because our Sonlight Church Biggest Loser 12 Week Challenge officially began last night with our weigh-in.  We have had over 60 people weigh in and have more to go.  Amazing!  I’m thrilled to see so many people want to make a positive life change to get physically fit and have a Body for God!  It will be exciting to see the results week after week and watch the pounds drop off of those who participate.  We will be divided into 4 teams and will compete against each other for the team title and then will have one overall winner.  Since I’m Hershel’s wife, I get to be on his team.  I’m not sure yet if that’s good or bad!  I guess we’ll see.  It could play into our marriage series that begins this coming Sunday.  Maybe God planned this all out to help our couples grow in marriage as we go through this 12 week challenge together!  He’s got it all figured out, as usual.