Calling all prayer warriors

I will make this quick and to the point. Derrick needs your prayers. He needs specifically to pray for restoration of his cells, his muscles. Peace in his mind.

Most of you know the Dr's believe that Derrick had a stroke on Saturday night. He was air lifted via helicopter to Harborview Medical Center. He was in a coma for about two days. He slowly came out of the coma - actually it was rather quick seemed like forever though.

His right side is fine, strong as an ox. His left side is very weak. He can move his arm fully, however it is very weak so it is extremely difficult for him to do. His leg , well it is still not quite cooperating. He can wiggle his toes and move his foot about a 1/2 an inch. He for the first time moved his knee today. Again very weak and tough to do. they got him standing - with assistance. In no way did he just stand up, they helped him and he put some pressure on his leg.

Keep in your prayers. We need strength.

We know that he has already been healed through Jesus Christ, and now we are just walking this out. The road is hard, and we are keeping faith. Reality is though he can't get up and walk and that is a tough reality no matter your faith. My faith is not the size of the mustard seed right now, it is the size of my bedroom. I have already told the mountain to move, and it has moved! Derrick is alive, he is talking, he has his sense of humor!!!! He will walk and run again.

There are so many things I can write about right now so many things big small and weird that have happened at the hospital know this -- God is in control- God did not decide sat at 8:45 to strike Derrick down - it just happened. However it happened and all things work out for the glory and the good of God!!

I'll tell you all more later - - but I am tired and do not know why I am blogging in the first place - I can't sleep so here I am! Crazy lady that I am....
Em
For you church folks you can call Nora for updates!!

messy girl!

Maple Valley Days

A Near by town, has a parade every year so here are some pics.


What parade is not complete with out the bagpipes! We have a piper down, we have a piper down!










Here is the bloggin po po! (Found in my links!) Chillin in the train.





Here is Grandma and John Isaac waiting for the parade to pass by.




We had a great time at the parade - John was old enough to really enjoy all the stuff coming by and the waving was great for Josie.
Only rough time was when John went running for some inflatables, mom looked down to pick up Josie and John was gone when she looked back up. Literally in a second he was gone... I walked to the other side of the inflatable... no John, now getting little worried.... walking faster, calling for him looking for Derrick... walk by 3 more inflatables still can't find him. By this time I was going into full blown panick! See Derrick yell I can't find John! I am now in panick mode... Telling everyone I know - I am missing a 3 year old brown short hair.... Really panicking. Then Derrick spotted him in the caterpillar. Thank God. All was ok... I swear I had looked in there, darn kid is fast. The funny thing was when I told my brother he was lost, my brother went into stealth mode. Started jogging to the near by play ground where we were earlier... by the time we found John I could see him (my brother) not too far away... but when I went to catch up to him he was long gone... searching the play ground. I finally caught up to him and told him we found John Isaac, and he says," I was trying not to look totally panicked!" It made me smile, he so loves my kids! That is all for today!!

21 years is a long time...

It is with much joy that I write about my brother J today. I say that because there was a time not too long ago that I thought he couldn't bring joy into my life. So with that said, I'll tell you the quick version of the story.

When I was 12 my brother J left our home. He was 15 almost 16, that makes it 21 years ago this month that he left. I say he left, but the truth of the matter is he chose drugs over our family. At 15, he made a choice that changed the entire course of his life, and the lives of the rest of the family.


Can you imagine making a life altering choice at 15, well some of you can. Sometimes we don't know it is a life altering choice until years later, good or bad you can narrow something down to one choice. That day in my brother J's life. He chose to do drugs over staying in the house. Did he think it would be for the next 21 years he would sever relationships with his siblings, and his parents? No I don't think so. I don't believe he made a choice at the age of 15 to stop all contact with everyone. It was one choice that lead to other choices, in his case they weren't great choices. Then again choices make us who we are today. 9 months ago through a serious of pretty interesting circumstances, I got a chance to have dinner with my brother J. I am laughing now, but at the time I didnt' really want to have dinner with him, I was mad and angry at him for leaving that 21 years ago. I wanted him to know I was hurt, I was mad, I was angry. But I made a choice that changed both of our lives forever. I went to dinner. Simple thing really. Wouldn't think it would change the course of your life. Well it has changed my life, because I went to dinner that night, I now have a great relationship with my brother after 21 years of being apart.



I have found out things about my brother I never knew, he has a great sense of humor. He laughs just like my late Uncle Bill. He is deaf as a doornail and you need to yell to talk to him! I have found out he is an awesome cook!~ He loves spicy foods, as do I! He loves kids. He has helped to raise to boys that are now 10 years old, like his own. He has been in the boys lives (they are twins) since they were 6 months old. Even though technically he is not there dad, he treats those boys like he is, and they love him like he is there dad.


( OK I don't know where the pic of the bird came from but when I try to eradse it they all get highlighted so the bird stays!!) lol

J has some great friends. He has friends that he can count on, he has friends that he would walk through fire through, and in turn they would walk through fire for him! Although some of his friends don't make there living doing things that you and I would do, I have learned that doesn't make them less of a person. They are great people with a different source of income.

Now I am not saying that my brother and I didn't have to get past a few things... afterall I was 12 when he left. So I had a lot of pent up anger and frustration towards him and who I thought he was... but that was it, I had to look at the past as just that the past, I had to deal with it, both of us did, and then start on the now and future. I had to put aside the feelings that I had and choose to get to know who he was today. He said to me once, "How would you like to be jusdged on something you did when you were fifteen years old for the rest of your life?" So true, he is not the same person he was at 15, Thank God! yes there are consequesnces for your actions, he has paid dearly for his choices.

The one things I really admire about my brother J is that he doesn't make excuses, he did it, he made the choice to do drugs, join a bike gang, steal, what ever it is... and he owns up to what he has done. No one made him do drugs it was a choice. A choice that severed his relationship with his family for years. He has paid for that choice. The other things too, he has paid for his choices. I had to release him from what I held against him, not necessarily for him. But for me. He can go on, with out my aproval after all he did it for 21 years with out me, but for me. I had to let go of the past and crap that had happened and the things I held in my head as a 12 year old. And get to know him as the person he is today. He is a bit scarred. and a lot tattooed. But I am happy to call him my brother. I have watched him grow and change over the past 9 months. I can't wait to see what else happens in his life. He is paying for a choice that he has made in his past so he is not with us right now. But I can't wait until he is back so we can continue on our journey! He ended up moving into our home about 2 months ago - more on fun J stories later.... falling off the couch and ending up in 2 ER's well stay tuned for that one!! Got to love it.

It's the little things in life that make a BIG difference

This is pretty heavy for a blog I know - But I had some emails that bounced back - cuz I am not great about updating my email addresses! Sorry. I will do it promptly from now on. So I thought I would post and maybe someone would read it that it could benefit...Here is the email I sent.

I wanted to send out this important message to all of my friends and family as a warning to families about something that can be prevented...


As many of you know Derrick is a chaplain in a neighboring community. By the grace of God Derrick did not get this chaplain call through unforseen circumstances (I thank God because it has already rocked us to the core and I am certain had Derrick gotten the page that it would take a while for him to get any of the images out of his head.) Last night a 3 and a half year old little boy after his parents had put him to bed, got up and walked out of the front door. For any of you with kids, about this age it is when they start to figure out how to open the deadbolt! John Isaac our little one, has just figured this out in the past month. Anyway the little boy walked out the door and into the street and was hit by a car and killed. My heart grieves for this family, as it is something that I am sure they didn't think of yet something that could have been prevented. I went today to the local Do It hardware store and bought some $2.49 locks to put up high on our two main doors out of the house. I also got something for the sliders, besides the piece of wood which a child can easily move.

I am sending this to you, because the story has really shaken both Derrick and I up, and we hope that if you have children or Grandchildren, that you will take this warning and install simple locks so another family doesn't have to go throught the pain and agony of losing a child.


On another note as a warning to parents is summer time is fast approaching. Every year children die because they play or are left in vehicles that get too hot. Please do not ever let your child play in your vehicle for fun. Lock your car doors (even in the garage) so a child doesn't climb in and then get stuck and can not get out. Last year in the same community a little boy was killed because he went to play in the car, and then couldn't get out. It was 85 degrees. The boy died. The family didn't make it through the crisis and have since divorced. Again something that people might not be aware of but that can be prevented.


Thank you all for your time, and I hope you do pass this along to anyone with kids, it is truly on my heart to get this warning out there....

Risky Business

Just take the old records off the shelf..... ok, I know I am sooo dating myself but this picture reminded me of Tom Cruise many moons ago in the movie Risky Business! Even the shirt matched!! --notice the cute little butt on John in Spiderman underwear!

Like my new hat?

Isn't this just the cutest?