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| Monday, December 31, 2007 |
| The Church in Action |
As many of you recall, we had a terrible ice storm a few weeks ago that destroyed many of our trees. We do not own a chainsaw and really had no way to clean up the disaster area in our yard. Saturday, unknown to me, one of the guys in our small group asked D how our tree cleanup was going. D explained that it wasn't going. The next thing we knew, we were told that all of the men in our small group would be at our house at 8 a.m. this morning.
Early today, chainsaws were humming and limbs were being hauled off. The men worked from 8 a.m. until around 12:30 p.m. today. D's dad also showed up. 6 men, 4 chainsaws, 2 trailer beds, and 19 trailer-fulls later, the street out by our house was lined with a good part of the rubble. We also saved back some of the better chunks for firewood and there are some damaged branches higher than anyone could reach. It was amazing to see the piles!
Here's our limbs stretching from one side of the picture as far as you can see to the other end of the picture.  Each pile was similar to this: all 19 of them!  Whew! That's a lot of tree limbs! We could never have done all of this work. We did not own a trailer, we did not own a chainsaw. Our small group gave of their time to help us out and we are so grateful. We have no family local enough to see often. Our small group has become each other's family. We know they will continue to be a support to us in the months and years to come as we make our move. We are so thankful to God for putting us with them and building the relationships we have with them. If any of you guys read this blog, we love you! Thanks for being the Chuch in action! (BTW, for those who may not be familiar with what a small group is: A small group, sometimes called cell groups, are several families who meet together on a regular basis to pray, study God's word, and do various community/ministry projects. We have small group meetings every other Sunday evening. We rotate whose house it is at. We are getting ready to do the Nooma DVDs, but have done many other studies. We usually have a meal or snack time together, do our lesson, and then pray. We involve the kids in every project we do and our families have truly become knit together.) |
posted by 6blessings @ 3:20 PM  |
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| Friday, December 28, 2007 |
| The First 8 Days of Christmas Break |
Well, here it goes. D and I tried to fit it into the Twelve Days of Christmas song, but we weren't that talented.
Day 1: Found out E has to have an MRI Arthrogram on her shoulder. She hurt it about 2 months ago and hasn't moved it hardly at all since. Her original MRI back in mid-November showed fluid buildup. Doc sent her to therapy for a month. Not much better. Now she has to have a 3 inch needle injected into her shoulder joint shooting dye for a clearer view. The doc suspects a possible tear, which would mean surgery.
Day 2: L is extremely lethargic after his wrestling tournament. D says he fell asleep on the mat between matches. H snuggles with him on the chair to comfort him. L throws up all over the chair and H. H has a low gag reaction anyway. She runs to bathroom, throws up in sink, starts the water running in it to rinse it out, goes on to toilet to finish her ordeal. After about 5 min. she turns around to turn the water off, only to realize the drain has been plugged the whole time and the entire countertop, the drawers, all of the cabinets, and the carpet are flooded with what she deposited plus tons of water. Two hours of cleanup and sanitizing followed.
Day 3: Good; good day at church, getting ready for Christmas
Day 4: Christmas Eve; drove about 2 1/2 hours round trip and spent the day with D's mom and sister. Good get-together, our last Christmas with them.
Day 5: Christmas Day: Great beginning. Lots of fun. Kids had a blast. Took out at about 1 p.m. to head to my family's home(about 2 1/2 hours away). E starts complaining of a tummy ache. We blame it on motion sickness which happens quite frequently with her. A few hours after we arrive at my parent's house and many trips to the bathroom later, we realize this is not car sickness. We go to the bathroom many times during gift exchanging and by about halfway through, she begs to go to bed. By the time we're done with gifts, Z is begging to go to bed. By the time D and I go to bed, Z is running a very high fever and complaining of a bad headache.
Day 6: Z wakes up on fire still and says her throat hurts. Mom takes us to Urgent Care. Z is diagnosed with strep throat and is given an antibiotic. E is not puking every 5 minutes, but is definitely not normal still. H and J stay with mom and dad because we will see them the next day at D's gpa's funeral. We head home. L is running fever when we get home.
Day 7: The four we had with us were doing better in the morning, but Mom calls saying that H didn't sleep at all because she was up all night vomiting and has a fever. J is also complaining of a stomachache. We are preparing to go to D's grandpa's funeral (died on the 17th, H's b'day; would have been 100 on Valentine's Day, D was in charge of the funeral). Mom and Dad decide to come on to the funeral with the kids (about 3 1/2 hours). Mom calls shortly after they leave, J is now throwing up too and running fever. We go to the funeral (D did a great job). Mom stays with the sick kids in a separate room at the church. By the time the funeral was over, El came to me and was completely lethargic and running a fever. We made it to within 15 minutes of home before he started throwing up. We get a call from E's doc that says they can't get her MRA done until Jan. 2. Our deductible was already met for 2007, but I guess we'll get a good start on 2008! After getting home, L seems extremely tired, I let him nap thinking he was just worn out. Nope! At bedtime, D goes to pick him up. He is on fire. He had 104.2 degree fever. We medicate him and put him in bed with us.
Day 8: Everyone else seems back to normal somewhat, but I'm dying. I've fought sinus trouble all week and it has escalated. The doc is booked. I go to Urgent Care. I have a sinus infection and am prescribed an antibiotic.
Tomorrow begins days 9-13, then it is back to school. I think things are looking up. Everyone seems to be on the mend. Tomorrow is H's big 13th birthday party. It should be fun. At some point, we have to Lysol everything, put away Christmas gifts, unpack, and get the house back in some order.
The last few days sure have been crazy: 5 rounds of stomach virus, 1 strep throat, 1 sinus infection, many unexplained fevers, and a funeral (all but 1 round of stomach virus happened within 3 days). However, our last Christmas at home will obviously be very memorable. We certainly didn't enjoy all of the yucky parts, but we did have sweet times with our wonderful family. We enjoyed traditions that will go on next year without us. We enjoyed thinking about how we will incorporate them when we are gone. We enjoyed laughing and playing games with our loved ones, even amidst the craziness and chaos. There were many wonderful moments that we will cherish forever. We also look forward to what next year brings and what this time of year will mean to us over there. It's actually quite an exciting thought! Hope you all had a great Christmas! We look forward to 2008! |
| posted by 6blessings @ 8:08 PM |
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| Tuesday, December 25, 2007 |
| A Reply From Santa |
J found Santa's reply to the letter posted below in his stocking. Here it is:
Dear J,
Thank you for your letter this year. It was one of the sweetest I have ever received. You have a good heart and have been such a good boy.
Because you have been so good, I wanted to make sure and answer your question about the true meaning of Christmas. The true meaning of Christmas is how much God loves you, J. He loves you so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus, to earth to be born a baby. God loved His Son very much, yet He sent Him here just for you.
That little baby grew up to be a man, a perfect man. He never ever did anything bad. He only did good. However, one day people nailed Him to the cross and He died. J, do you know why Jesus died on a cross even though He didn’t do anything wrong? He did it just for you. He took the punishment for your sins. He died for you because He loves you.
The true meaning of Christmas is celebrating the best gift ever given- the gift of Jesus. Another gift is given to any who will accept it. It is the gift of salvation. J, I hope and pray that one day, you will accept this wonderful gift that God has given you. Then you will completely know the true meaning of Christmas! I’m sure your mom or dad would be glad to tell you more if you have any questions.
Have a great day with your family! I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!!
Love,
Santa Claus
This letter could have been written to any one of mankind. Maybe you're struggling with the true meaning of Christmas. You won't find it in the hustle and bustle of the mall or in the frazzled pace of going to parties and wrapping gifts. The true meaning of Christmas is found at the feet of the little baby born long ago to be the Savior of the world. This little baby can make all things new as seen in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NaSROohLzs . Please take time to watch it. However, please view it before showing it to any children. It is very difficult to watch.
I hope each of you has a very Merry Christmas and that the true meaning of the season is alive in your hearts. If anyone would like to talk more about what is above, feel free to contact me. |
| posted by 6blessings @ 3:52 AM |
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| Friday, December 21, 2007 |
| A Letter to Santa |
J came home with his Thursday folder full of schoolwork from the past week. Apparently, they are practicing proper letter writing form (heading, greeting, body, closing, signature). They were using their writing skills to write a letter to Santa.
Here's what J's says:
Dear Santa:
I have tried to be good this year and all I want for Christmas is to learn the true meaning of Christmas and please put it on a piece of paper.
Love,
J
That's it. No games, toys, or other such requests. I'm sure he will have a special note from Santa under the tree this year, all about the true meaning of Christmas. |
| posted by 6blessings @ 4:56 AM |
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| Wednesday, December 19, 2007 |
| All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth... |
The song is quite appropriate around our house as of last night. (Isn't he a cutie?!) |
| posted by 6blessings @ 10:52 AM |
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| Monday, December 17, 2007 |
| It's Official!! |
  It's official. I'm the parent of a teenager! Ugh! H turns 13 today. She is such a beautiful young lady. Yes, we have our teenager/parent moments, but overall, she is an incredible girl. She is the oldest of the crew and handles that responsibility very well most of the time. She loves her siblings and is helpful with them. She is doing very well in the 8th grade. She is a straight A student and even has 99-100 % averages in most of her classes. She has overcome a lot of physical problems and has been able to again try the sport she loves, gymnastics. Many days are hard, but she is a fighter. She is very involved with her church youth group. She is known as a leader there and has made many wonderful bonds with the kids there. She loves Jesus and has quite a bold witness with her school friends. She is never ashamed to wear Christian shirts or to speak about God and church. Several of her friends have come with us to services and one family is even regular attenders now. H is who she is. She has an amazing gift in the fact that she does not seem to be heavily influenced by the crowd. She is definitely not a girly-girl, but is not completely on the other side either. She is everyone's friend. Everyone likes her, everyone enjoys being around her. She doesn't have a "group", but is connected somehow with everyone. Most of the time, people guess her to be a year or two older than she is because of her stability and character. H's true inner beauty has really started shining through with our decision to move overseas. She will probably be one of the most affected of the kids. However, she has accepted the transition and is ready to do what God has called us to do. Yes, she has another side that wishes not to go because of all of her friends, but she also has a heart for the poor and underprivileged and unreached. All in all, she is a beautiful young lady with a wonderful future ahead of her. Happy Birthday, HB! You are a treasure. |
| posted by 6blessings @ 9:34 AM |
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| Thursday, December 13, 2007 |
| Getting Back to Normal...Maybe |
Well, the kids headed back to school today for the first time this week. Most area schools are out for the rest of the week. Many of them still do not have electricity or they have roof damage due to fallen trees. This was the most damaging storm Oklahoma has ever seen. More electric customers lost power than ever before. My parents and sister were out for several days. We were very fortunate in that we only lost power for a few hours. However, our tree damage was severe, some of the worst I have seen as I was out and about. I guess our trees were weak and old. It will greatly affect our property value when we try to sell it in a few months.
We are truly grateful to God that we were all safe and that our home wasn't damaged. We are also very appreciative of our electricity for heat and cooking. We had no stores of wood and our house is totally electric. We would have had to seek shelter elsewhere. Now the real work begins. Cleaning this mess up will be hard and expensive, but we are grateful that it wasn't worse.
OUR BACKYARD TREES- ALMOST NO BRANCHES LEFT |
| posted by 6blessings @ 7:49 AM |
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| Monday, December 10, 2007 |
| Good Morning! |
THIS IS WHAT WE WOKE UP TO THIS MORNING:
OUR DRIVEWAY
 OUR BACKYARD PLAY AREA
A TREE BRANCH 
OUR TREE LINE ALONG THE FENCE SEPARATING OUR PROPERTY AND THE NEIGHBORS' PROPERTY  OUR FAMILY'S FAVORITE TREE IN THE FRONT YARDTHE KIDS' "CLIMBING TREE", READING TREE, SHADE TREE FOR THE SANDBOX BURIED UNDERNEATH THE RUBBLE, THE TREE THAT BLOCKED OFF OUR HOUSE FROM VISION OF OTHERS(PRIVACY), BEAUTIFUL BRADFORD PEAR CAN YOU TELL WE ARE DEVASTATED?
 Update: The forecast is for more ice and rain over the next few days. These pics were taken this morning and it is about 11:15 a.m. and we have lost even more trees. The weatherman says tomorrow will be the big day for tree loss and electricity outages because the precipitation will continue, the temps are staying low, and tomorrow the wind comes back.
BTW, the pics are a little dark on the blog. You can click on them to see them up close and a little more clearly. |
| posted by 6blessings @ 7:02 AM |
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| Thursday, December 06, 2007 |
| Last Weekend- In Short |
Whew! That was a long drive! We made it about halfway on Friday and finished it out on Saturday. When we got there, we went to Opry Mills (mall). D said, "It's like the biggest mall I've ever been to...put on steroids." There were so many people. We picked up a few things, but mainly just got our exercise in from all of the walking. That night we stayed at the hotel and watched the Sooners win the Big 12 Championship. Boomer Sooner!
Sunday: Went to church, Went here (extremely interesting), Went here (entertaining), got soaked running back to our car in the torrential rain, ordered in pizza at the hotel
Monday: Interview, visit with everyone about everything, lunch, interview, got approved, started home (made it about halfway by 10:30 p.m.)
Tuesday: Finished drive- made it home by the time the kids got home from school, kids ate, took showers, and got ready for program, went to kids' school Christmas program (more on this later)
Wednesday: Travelled to the big city to see my new nephew (born on Tuesday), did school with boys, went to work
It all starts again tomorrow when we head back out of town for gymnastic competition starting tomorrow evening and ending Saturday evening. Then I'm speaking at a church on Sunday and back home for hopefully a more normal week next week (yeah, right! :-) ).
I'll post some pics of everything when I have time. Hope everyone has a super weekend! |
| posted by 6blessings @ 8:38 AM |
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