Many of you know our friend, not just mine, Paul. He has been on my heart lately as he is preparing for a big change in his life. He will be coming home from Asia. I have been praying for his leadership while in country, the work he has been doing, his relationships, his re-entry into this amazing, but complex and very selfish materialistic culture called America...I am asking if you too would pray for him as well as the rest of our team returning. They are going to need an extra measure of grace and love from our Lord during this time of transition. Please reach out and encourage them.

Paul with our friend Gilberto at a Village Church staff Christmas party.


Paul and I on my 40th birthday. Denise and I offered "photo ops" all day long. What a great time!

Spring Break has come and gone, but what a time we had. Christopher and I left early on Friday and headed to Kansas City - Missouri not Kansas. My childhood home. My parents, four brothers and their families all live here. I have lots of nieces and nephews. They have been a great joy to watch grow up.

My oldest brother, Jim, has four kids and has been married to Margaret for about 11 years. Jordan lives in Florida and is college-aged. I remember him when he was a baby. My parents and I drove to Mountain Home ID where Jim was living at the time. The town it not far from Boise and sits in a valley at the base of the mountains. What a little guy he was. He was also the first grandchild to represent five living generations in our family. I'll have to find a baby photo and post it later. Brooke is going to be 16 this summer and driving! Eee gads. I can't hardly believe it. Such a lovely, caring young lady. Kendra is married with one son named Skylar. What a fun kid. Krystal is graduating from college this year and ready to embark on life.

This photo is of Brooke Shea and her cousin Rachel.
Jim and Krystal playing Santa.

Jer Bear, formerly known as Jerry, formerly known as J.D., is the next to oldest son and has been married to Janet for - gees a long time! They have one daughter - Rachel. She is a very smart and helpful young lady.

This picture was taken a year ago at Christmas time. She is sporting new clothes from her Aunties.
Shawnie Pawnie Wawnie - oh he would hate and love it! What a nickname from our childhood. Shawn is married to Denise and they have two children. Megan recently got engaged. And Josh found football last fall and I think fell in love with the sport. He is such a loving young man. Kind of a flirt actually. Like father, like son.

These photos were taken at Christmas a year ago also - Megan with her mommie Denise; and Josh playin' pool. Shawn, Megan and cousin Lauren.
Well the baby of the fam is Markie Clarkie. He is the youngest of all five children. I of course was stuck in the middle, but we had fun! Mark is married to Alberta and they have two children: Jake who is a teenager (like Christopher) and missy Lauren. Jake loves sports and is naturally gifted athletically. Lauren is just cute. A girl who loves her "bubba" aka Jake.Hello Miss Kitty was her fave!
The great thing was the younger ones were all on Spring Break at the same time! We had a great time going to the movies, shopping, bowling, and just plain hangin' out. It's too bad we live so far away...

Wow - an amazing snow storm we had this past week. I marveled at the beauty that fell from the sky and covered everything in sight. Christopher, Bubba (our dog) and I had a great time running and playing in the snow. Bubba just bounced around and even went sliding across someone's driveway as he tried to escape another dog. We call Bubba the "chicken dog". He is a great dog, very friendly and docile. However, he is scared of anything with four legs - even cats. It's silly actually, but we love him anyway.

I love witnessing acts that are not under our control. The snow storm was clearly the magic of God. The beauty. The monochromatic whiteness. The reflection of purity. Purely amazing.

Enjoy our photos from the day.

What an amazing trip we had this Thanksgiving. Every year we spend Thanksgiving with the Schroyer family. For the past couple of years, we have tried to visit some city on the East Coast and check out the sites. One year, we went to NYC. Some of the photos for this trip are located at the bottom of my blog. The next year we went to Phillie and posed in front of the Rocky statue. Hee Hee.

Well 2007 brought us to Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. Mark, my brother-in-law, and wife live close by, so it was his turn for us to descend upon his city. The weather was warm and refreshing. The sun and the ocean were relaxing. We took many walks on the beach, played football, the kids fished (smelly!), and ate, ate, and ate again. I so miss the beach and all it has to offer. We left the door to the patio open at night so we could hear the waves crashing against sand. The salt air reminded me of bike rides on the boardwalk in Sunny California. There is a freedom in being by the ocean. Just taking in the beauty, majesty and having a healthy fear of it. Christopher swam almost everyday we were there. Even his PSP took a dive in the sand only to come up ruined. Oh well, the good and bad of technology.

Being around family was fun. We always have a good time laughing, telling stories and eating great food. My sister-in-law is from Columbia and makes the best rice and pasta. My brother-in-law is from Syria. Amazing food. Hummus, stews, ribs. He even cooked a fresh lamb for us one year with rice and all the trimmings.

Christopher loves to visit his cousins - Asaad, Fatima, Amber and Khalil. They ran around chasing each other the whole time. I'm glad he gets to spend time getting to know them. He and Fatima are on opposite ends of the spectrum politically. So they had a few charged conversations. I think it just fueled Christopher's desire to be an attorney one day.

Well, enjoy the sunset from Atlantic Beach, NC. We certainly did.

Well - I'm sure many of you probably felt like I dropped off the face of the earth. One glorious night of blogging and getting every ready to go - and then - nothing for six months. Well many things have happened since July 2007. The first was I had surgery in late August which took me out of commission for a little while. But by the grace of God, I am recovered from the surgery. I still have a few issues, but I think they can be handled as long as I eat healthy foods.

After surgery came budget season at the church. The fall flew by with many late hours of working as well as 9 hours of graduate classes. Then in early December, I ended up back in the hospital on two separate occasions via the emergency room.

The ER is a place of sadness and drama. I spent most of my time in the ER praying for a baby who screamed for over an hour straight. Actually, the baby was still screaming when they moved to another section of the hospital. The second trip to the ER had me giving up my room to an elderly gentlemen they rushed in to revive. From all of the words flying by, he had been on a ladder hanging Christmas lights and found he was unable to breath. I'm not sure if they were able to revive him as they closed the door and then I was transported away for an overnight stay or two at the fabulous Lewisville Medical Center.

I ended up in the ER as a result of a severe pain in my chest causing an inability to catch my breath. On the first occasion, we had been bowling with some friends of ours. Fortunately, my friend had driven separately and was able drive me two minutes down the road to the ER. She called Jack for me and took care of Christopher. They ran a battery of tests on me only to come to no conclusion. I wasn't too impressed with their level of care and felt like all they wanted to do was give me drugs. Actually, I refused valium which caused the nurse to comment that I wasn't like their normal patients.

The doctor recommended that I visit a cardiologist for further testing of my heart. So I had a treadmill test on my 42nd birthday. That was always what I envisioned doing on my birthday. Anyway, the treadmill test came back inconclusive, so we scheduled a follow-up more stringent treadmill test. That was on December 5th.

Well on Saturday December 8th, Jack was at work and Christopher and I were hanging out home. Paying bills, reconciling the bank statement, playing games, eating pancakes. Normal Saturday stuff. All of a sudden I felt a severe pain in the middle of rib cage right at the bottom of the sternum. It was the same pain again and it radiated outward in both directions. Christopher called Jack to let him know. Jack left work immediately and headed towards home. I was trying to do biofeedback and calm myself down, but the pain wasn't going away. I think I was little worried too with the "inconclusive treadmill test" a few days earlier.

Christopher grew up all in a moment. How great and how sad. He called 911 for me, gave them all of the pertinent information, took care of the house and dog, locked everything up when they paramedics hauled me out on a stretcher, and called his dad to let him know what had happened. I was so proud of him, yet scared that he had to see me laid out on a stretcher with an inability to catch my breath. He was so caring and gentle. I just love that little boy. He spent the day with our next door neighbors. I love my neighbors.

I always dreamed of being around firemen - just not laid out in the back of an ambulance. They were great and very helpful. I wasn't sure if the pain was heart related or related to my surgery or anxiety. So I have now had nitroglycerin which they give to people who are having a heart attack. Pretty scary actually. I spent the next three days in Lewisville Medical going through a wide variety of tests. Anyone ever had a CAT scan? Weird. Your body temperature raises so you get all flushed, face turns red, and its just plain hot. Then within about 2 minutes, you feel normal again. I had isotopes running through my veins causing me to glow in the dark. Not really, but. The cardiologist I had was very informative and wanted to find the answers. We did find answers to what the pain was NOT. The pain was not in anyway related to heart issues or as a result of my surgery in August. Thank you, Jesus! Literally!

Right now, I am working to control the pain through diet. I am watching what I eat to see if anything else will set it off. I'm praying that the pain is a result of not eating healthy foods and that it can be controlled through diet. So far, it's been good.

I definitely appreciate my health and living pain free. I often wonder how people live day to day with pain. How does the pain change their world, their emotions, thoughts, actions? I know many people who do live with pain on a day to day basis. I have a different appreciation for what they go through although what I went through was no in way comparable to their situations.

Well, I'll be back in a few with more....