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| Friday, February 29, 2008 |
| What Happens When We Live God's Way? |
Galatians 5
But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard--things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments.
Meditate a few minutes on the character traits above. These are gifts from God.
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posted by 6blessings @ 8:46 AM  |
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| Wednesday, February 27, 2008 |
| Warning: Incision Pictures |
I went to the doctor yesterday and I got to see what he did. My original scar goes from the top of my leg around to the back of my leg horizontally across the inside of my ankle and has 11 staple marks. The following pictures show what he did in the surgery.
This is the outside. The scar is going to be a couple of inches long. These stitches came out fairly easily.
 This is the inside of my ankle. The incision crosses the other one and was about 3 1/2-4 inches long. I will have a very stylish ankle to show off in those summer flip flops! :-)
 The second set of stitches was more painful due to the nerve damage. However, I survived. Then I got a lovely light blue cast that is already half-covered with beautiful autographs and artwork from my kiddos.
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| posted by 6blessings @ 8:31 AM |
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| Monday, February 25, 2008 |
| Trying to Rejoin Civilization |
I'm going to try to rejoin civilization a little this week. The recovery period has been harder than I anticipated. I was supposed to get back into the doctor 7 days after surgery to have the splint removed, stitches taken out, and to be casted. However, they were booked, so I was scheduled for today. Then on Friday the office called and moved it to tomorrow. I'm scared to death that my stitches will permanently be a part of my leg. My nerve damage is still very present and I'm a little nervous about the pain it will inflict when removing ingrown stitches! :-)
We've had quite a week- five out of six kids have been sick and on antibiotics this past week: 3 cases of strep, one sinus infection, and one round of brochial spasms resulting in the need for an inhaler. (Update: Number 6 came home from school sick today.) My mom and dad stayed last week to help out. They were super help. D has also been incredible. Saturday I got cabin fever and decided to go to Z's gym. meet and ended up regretting it. A three hour event turned into a seven hour nightmare. I was bushed when I got home and my foot was swollen pretty badly again.
I realized last night that I needed to get back on track with my Lent postings also, so here are some verses for today. These are all found in Galatians 3.
"Does the God who lavishly provides you with His own presence, His Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does He do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust Him to do them in you?"
"And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure."
"The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him." |
| posted by 6blessings @ 9:20 AM |
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| Sunday, February 17, 2008 |
| Surgery Update |
I'm about 50 percent awake right now so I'll do a quick post. Please excuse any typos, etc.
Surgery went fairly well.
Here's D's synopsis in some emails he sent out:
1. Nerve damage on inside of foot. The Dr. said that her nerve was pretty badly caught up in her previous scar tissue. He did all he could but got to a point where he felt going further might cause more damage. He says it may be two months before we really know how well this is going to heal (if at all), because the nerve may (or may not) slowly progress.
2. Pain in outside of foot. This part is much more hopeful. As was the plan, the Dr. removed a bone chip and re-attached a ligament. However, he also found that she had some pretty bad bone spurs which he also cleaned up. Dr. feels that the operation should make a good positive impact on her pain.
Right now, I'm relying on the pain meds quite a bit. My toes are very swollen and I have to keep the foot up or the pain is pretty bad. I'm supposed to go in later this week to have the splint taken off, stitches removed, and a cast put on.
I want to send out a big thank you to my hubby, kids, my parents, and our church small group for all of the help they've given to help us get through this time while I'm down. |
| posted by 6blessings @ 8:28 AM |
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| Wednesday, February 13, 2008 |
| Four and a Half Years of Waiting |
In August of 2003, on our way to gym, this happened:
E and Z were okay. H was pinned in the front passenger seat (yeah, I know, terrible mom- never again since). She had to be removed with the Jaws of Life. She is our miracle child. She shouldn't have survived the crash, yet came out with no broken bones. She had a faceful of glass that still surfaces to this day, but other than that...nothing. We have told her many times that God preserved her life for a reason and He must have a very special purpose for her.
I didn't fair so well. Because I was pressing on the brake so hard to stop the vehicle, I experienced a compound dislocation of my ankle. Basically, my right foot popped totally out sideway, tearing all my skin and exposing my leg bones at the bottom. My foot all but totally separated from my leg. I was like Humpty Dumpty, they put me back together again, but I've never quite been the same.
I kept telling the doctor that something with my nerves wasn't right and that the outside of my ankle really hurt. He said it was all normal and to give it time. A year later, he ran a nerve test and found a pretty good amount of nerve damage. Scar tissue had grown up where they had reattached the foot and was strangling the nerves. He said there was nothing wrong with the outside. I needed surgery to release the nerves and repair the foot.
One problem: When the wreck occurred we had no medical insurance and the car insurance had already been settled. Any surgery would be completely out of pocket. We didn't have the money. In 2005, we moved...expensive. Then we started the adoption...super expensive. Then we petitioned our new insurance to remove the rider on the ankle... no go! We decide to move overseas and serve there...extremely expensive.
The older I got, the more trouble I had with it. There were some days, especially after gymnastic meets, that I could barely walk the next day. By January 2008, I had resigned myself that I would never get my ankle repaired. The nerve damage I had gotten used to. I had accepted the fact that I would never wear cute shoes or walk barefoot on the grass again. I gave up my dream of a surgery to God.
Sometimes when we give up our dreams, God gives them back to us. At the end of January, D told me to go see a doctor. When I did, he told me that not only did I have the nerve damage, but there was a reason the outside hurt so much. I had several bone chips in there and a disconnected ligament.
Therefore, tomorrow, Valentine's Day, I'm getting the best Valentine present ever...a fixed foot. The doctor will be cutting into both sides of the ankle and repairing the damage. He will clean out the scar tissue on the inside and release the nerves and will clean up the bone chips and reconnect the ligament on the outside. I will be down for a week, then I will get a cast. I will be on crutches and with a cast for 4-6 weeks and then in a walking boot for a 2-4 more weeks.
Truthfully, I am a little nervous. I have wanted my foot fixed for so long, but now I am scared. I remember how hard it is to be a mom with no arms (crutches) and only one leg. I remember how hard showers are and cooking, even grocery shopping, etc. I'm trying to learn to drive with my left foot. I am not just dreading the recovery period, but I'm also a little nervous about the final result. It has been damaged for so long, I truly wonder how good it can be. The doc said there is no guarantee on the nerve damage side of things because it has been so long.
However, I am grateful to God for providing for us in a way that I can have a shot at it. It will hopefully make life easier in a country where walking over unpaved or poorly paved roads to go anywhere is the norm. It will help in climbing the million stairs up and down to our fifth floor apartment that they think we will have (no elevators). All in all, I hope it keeps me on my feet for many more years than I could have been otherwise.
I would truly love any of your prayers for the surgery tomorrow and for the recovery period afterward. I will try to update and let you know how it went as soon as I'm off the drugs enough to concentrate on a post. :-) In the meantime, I wish each of you a very happy Valentine's Day! |
| posted by 6blessings @ 7:48 AM |
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| Extravagant Love |
I will not be posting tomorrow on Valentine's Day for reason I will post about later on today. So, today I want to post about love, extravagant love. A few weeks ago we sang a new song in church about Christ's extravagant love for us. Since then, during my Bible reading time, I have seen the word extravagant several times in reference to Christ. I find it quite fitting for Valentine's Day. Christ is the only one with pure love, not mushy gushy feelings, but pure, unadulterated, unconditional love. I am so grateful for it!
Definition of extravagant from dictionary dot com:
extravagant:
1. excessively high
2. exceeding the bounds of reason, as actions, demands, opinions, or passions.
3. going beyond what is deserved or justifiable
Christ's love was most evidenced to us in His sacrificial death on the cross. As I look at the above definitions, especially number three, I can definitely agree that His love is extravagant.
Here's the song mentioned above. It is by "Casting Crowns".
Your love is extravagant
Your friendship, it is intimate
I feel I'm moving to the rhythm of Your grace
Your fragrance is intoxicating in the secret place
Cause Your love is extravagant
Spread wide in the arms of Christ
there's a love that covers sin
No greater love have I ever known;
You considered me a friend
Capture my heart again
You can hear it with a video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp1uaBAuZiQ
Happy Valentine's Day! Celebrate His extravagant love! |
| posted by 6blessings @ 7:15 AM |
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| Tuesday, February 12, 2008 |
| Weakness or Opportunity- All in Your Perspective |
How do you view your weakness? What are your weaknesses?
In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul speaks of a "handicap", a weakness, that God had given him to keep him humble. See how Paul views this weakness:
"Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three time I did that and then he told me,
'My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.'
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I QUIT FOCUSING ON THE HANDICAP AND BEGAN APPRECIATING THE GFT. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size-abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become."
What's your weakness? I have a ton. Paul in 2 Corinthians challenges me to see them in a different light. Perspective always changes everything. |
| posted by 6blessings @ 4:59 AM |
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| Monday, February 11, 2008 |
| Reading Progress |
After many, many months of long hard work, the light bulb has switched on! This is L's reading page last week. He read every single word!! El has been able to sound out short vowel three letter words for several months, but it just hadn't clicked with L. All the hard work is finally starting to show!! Woo Hoo!
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| posted by 6blessings @ 8:35 AM |
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| 100 Percent Commitment |
3 quotes for today:
#1- from "He Shall Be Called...150 Names of Jesus and What They Mean to You" by Robert J. Morgan
Our Lord...would rather have one person who is 100 percent committed to him than a hundred people who are 80 percent committed.
#2 John Wesley
"If I had three hundred men who feared nothing but God, hated nothing but sin, and determined to know nothing among men but Christ, and Him crucified, I would set the world on fire."
#3 Story from book in #1
Queen Victoria once asked General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, for the secret of his success. "I guess," replied Booth, "the reason is because God has all there is of me."
Challenge question: DOES HE HAVE ALL THERE IS OF YOU AND ME? |
| posted by 6blessings @ 6:19 AM |
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| Saturday, February 09, 2008 |
| Hanna Project |
Today's reflection is going to be in the form of a prayer request. One of our closest friend works with the coordinator of the Hanna Project. It is an ongoing project to bring hope and healing to places in the world that need help. They have many different areas that they are working in, but currently the team is on their way to the Ivory Coast. They will do dental, medical, and vision clinics and minister to the people there in remote villages that wouldn't get care otherwise. They are also rebuilding a school and have collected thousands of school kits to take with them for the children there. This spring they are helping build playground equipment for children in Kazakhstan. They are also planning work in Morocco and Tajikistan. I know there is a plan in the works to build an orphanage somewhere sometime.
Anyway, several of our church members are going- one of them is our dear friend. Please pray for their safety and that God will forever change their lives through this experience. Pray that their eyes will be open to the world and its needs. Pray for their families that remain here and hold down the fort while their loved one is on the other side of the world. |
| posted by 6blessings @ 3:27 PM |
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| Friday, February 08, 2008 |
| Living Large and What You Do in Hard Times |
After writing yesterday's post (yes, it has been edited), I started receiving phone call after phone call. It resulted in a meeting with the mom, me, and my boss. It seemed to go well, the mother even apologized and said it wouldn't happen again. She didn't own up to many of the things that she reportedly did and said, so we'll see how it goes from here. My boss was awesome and fully supported me saying, amongst other things, that I was the fairest coach he has ever seen. I am posting this to let you know that God was my Defender. I don't necessarily believe it is all over and everything will be happy sunshine from here on out. Words are hard to take back once they've been said. The repercussions of this could last a while. However, I am confident that God will continue to uphold and defend me.
Today's verses:
II Corinthians 7:10 (Message)
"Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets."
What do you do when times get hard? Do you run to God or away from Him, blaming Him?
II Corinthians 6:11-13 (Message)
"Dear, dear Corinthians, I can't tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life...The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren't small, but you're living them in a small way... Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively."
LIVE LARGE!! This makes me think of Steven Curtis Chapman's song, "The Great Adventure".
Saddle up your horses Started out this morning in the usual way Chasing thoughts inside my head of all I had to do today Another time around the circle try to make it better than the last I opened up the Bible and I read about me Said I'd been a prisoner and God's grace had set me free And somewhere between the pages it hit me like a lightning bolt I saw a big frontier in front of me and I heard somebody say "let's go"! Saddle up your horses we've got a trail to blaze Through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown This is a life like no other - this is The Great Adventure Come on get ready for the ride of your life Gonna leave long faced religion in a cloud of dust behind And discover all the new horizons just waiting to be explored This is what we were created for We'll travel over, over mountains so high We'll go through valleys below Still through it all we'll find that This is the greatest journey that the human heart will ever see The love of God will take us far beyond our wildest dreams Yeah... oh saddle up your horses... come on get ready to ride
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| posted by 6blessings @ 7:01 AM |
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| Thursday, February 07, 2008 |
| Letting God be our Defender |
Today's reflection is going to be about something very close to home. It's amazing to me how God knows just when to send what verses my way.
I have been dealing with something at the gym for several months. I have always loved coaching and have had great relationships with my gymnasts and their parents over the years. When we moved and I left my old gym, there were many tears. I still have those parents approach me at competitions and beg me to come back and tell me they miss me or it hasn't been the same since we left. That has been almost 3 year ago now. I have the same relationship with the parents I have coached at this gym. At least until a few months ago.
This year we have had several new gymnasts come our way because of discontent at another local gym. Sometimes there is difficulty with transition from one place to another or one coaching/training style to another. However, it usually works itself out within a relatively short period of time.
This year we had one family transfer over that has been what I call my "sandpaper". I believe God places people in our lives to rub off our rough edges and make us more like Him. We have been round and round with this family.
The problem has really escalated and has become a great burden on me. I have never had a more stressful gym year. I have prayed every day that God would allow me to forgive her and love her regardless of what she has done to me and my girls. I truly want to be a shining example of the love He has for her. I talk to my girls about how Jesus prayed for and loved even those who were mocking Him and spitting in His face. However, truthfully, the longer this goes on, the harder it gets. Forgiving and overlooking injury once, twice, even three times is much easier than when it is overlooking it many times more. Jesus said to forgive seventy times seven. I'm trying, but it is hard when there is no remorse on the other side. It is totally a one-way street.
Last night, as I was coaching and trying to fight through my worldly human emotions toward the mother and child, I remembered watching a movie recently called "Flywheel". It was made by the same people that made "Facing the Giants". In the movie, the man was trying to live righteously, but his name was getting smeared by people in competition with him. An older man in the movie told him to let God be his Defender. The man prayed and gave his reputation and these problems to God and asked Him to be his Defender.
This hit me hard. I knew that I had not treated her child any different than any other child I coached. I knew I had been fair in all things. I knew that I had made every effort to hold my tongue even when I was taking a hit and my kids were taking hits. I am naturally a defensive person and so this is an area where I was being challenged to grow. It was so releasing this morning as I prayed for God to be my Defender. I have new resolve to go in to the gym tonight and be the best coach I can be and leave the rest to Him.
Several verses in my Bible reading this morning reaffirmed His role in this:
II Corinthians 1:12
Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldy wisdom but according to God's grace.
Message: Instead of trusting in our own strenth or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally- not a bad idea since he's the God who raises the dead!
II Corinthians 2:7-8 (Message)
"Now is the time to forgive...If all you do is pour on guilt, you could very well drown him in it...pour on love."
Ouch! Today's verses hurt! :-) Change my heart God!
Please pray for me that I can pour on love and trust in God's strength to do it instead of living in unforgiveness and hurt. |
| posted by 6blessings @ 8:04 AM |
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| Wednesday, February 06, 2008 |
| Lent |
Today is the first day of the Holy Season and the beginning of Lent. We are not Catholic, but we feel that this is a Christian celebration for all denominations. It is a time to reflect on Christ's sacrifice for all of us.
For those of you that may not know, many people give up something during Lent. It is a sacrifice that reminds us of the greatest sacrifice paid for our salvation. I have chosen something to give up, but felt really led to give something else too. I am going to post daily about what God taught me in His Word that day- it may be a verse, a saying I read in a devotional, or just something that He spoke to my heart. I realize that there may be days I will miss due to unforseen circumstances or things beyond my control. However, that is my goal. I will also continue to post regular posts, but I want to glorify Him and shine a light on Him as we lead up to the celebration of His resurrection. For all of you out there saying, "Oh no, she's getting preachy again," please bear with me, take time to consider what is posted, and then decide whether to discard it or take it to heart.
With that said, here is the verse that stuck out to me today:
I Corinthians 15:58 (The Message)
"With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don't hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for Him is a waste of time or effort."
This verse stuck out to me and encouraged me because I had someone the other day say that they didn't understand why we would uproot our family, move to the other side of the world, to an area where we may see little or no fruit. This verse confirms to me that He is faithful, whether in the big things or in the small things. Whatever He has called you or me to do, no matter how big or small it is in the world's eyes, it is not a waste of time or effort if we are doing it for Him and in obedience to Him. Stand your ground! Don't hold back! Throw yourself into His work! It is not in vain. |
| posted by 6blessings @ 11:38 AM |
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| Tuesday, February 05, 2008 |
| He Did It Again |
My comical second grader has done it again. His creative boyhood mind has made us put our sides in stitches once again. Last night, as one of his homework assignments, he had to write a "No Smoking" ad campaign. It is for a contest all across the state. The winner and his/her ad will get a television appearance pushing the "Be Smart-Don't Start" theme.
All of our elementary school is doing it. Therefore, he wrote it in deep secrecy and wouldn't let his sisters see, in fear that they might steal his idea for themselves. So, please everyone out there- no plagarism! :-)
Here is his ad (written out below):
 Once upon a time there was a man named Fire Boy. He liked to smoke. And one day Ice Man said, "Don't smoke. It's bad." The next day Ice Man showed up at Fire Boy's house, and he was still smoking. So, Ice Man threw an ice ball. The next day Ice Man saw Fire Boy smoking. He got really mad and made a giant ice ball. The next day Fire Boy finally stopped smoking. Ice Man was happy.
He writes from a life obsessed with super heroes. Can you tell? Actually, I thought it was quite creative. I think the ad campaign could take Fire Boy and Ice Man and really reach the younger population. What do you think?
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| posted by 6blessings @ 10:29 AM |
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