WOW

I was just reading an e-mail update from our church and learned that an older gentleman in our congregation has advanced leukemia. I don't know the man personally, but I know I've heard many people talk about him who DO know him. Currently our pastor is doing a series on Joseph. It's a powerful series about a man who, when you take a good look at his life and put "normal" reactions onto it, should have been bitter and vengeful but was instead confident and peaceful.

Our pastor said this in his e-mail, "What an amazing guy. His willingness to look for God in the midst of all kinds of difficulty is amazing to me. Joseph’s trust in the Lord in spite of rejection, mistreatment, and false accusation is a tremendous inspiration.
But that’s what God uses! That’s when God shines! Anyone can talk about faith. But showing it when the dark days come, that’s the real proof..."

Then he went on to say this about Art, the gentleman with leukemia, "And the dark days can come. I was just speaking with one of our long time leaders, Art Young. He’s been diagnosed with very advanced leukemia. He’s weak and vulnerable. I couldn’t even talk directly to him – too dangerous. He can walk outside but can’t touch anything – too dangerous…there might be a mold or fungus or bacteria that his body can’t resist.
So, he’s really bummed, right? Nope. This modern day Joseph talks about been “blown away by the blessings of God.” He’s working on a plan to find bone marrow donors. He excited about the prospect of helping others! Why? “Because I’m OK whether I live or die, but how often do you get a chance to save a human life?”

So I was curious and went to view Art's blog about being a donor...and then went to his personal blog and read the following...
"God has been so gracious to me. I’m so thankful. I’ve had three great days in a row. But, the best news is that today is the first day that ALL my blood components have gone in the right direction. Some of the changes are small, but all in the right direction. If this trend continues, I will not have to get transfusions until the stem cell transplant process, if that is God’s plan."

I got as far as "I've had three great days in a row" and I started crying ~ how amazing is that? Three great days and he rejoices. It's what I want to be in my life ~ to see each day as a gift and rejoice in what goes right more than in what goes wrong.

Lord, help me to see Your blessings in my life more than I see my trials. Focus my mind on heaven and what's to come ~ to know You "have my back" and to rest in Your strength and Your peace. Keep me in line with the Mother and Wife I want to be so I can be the wife and mother my husband and boys need me to be. I love you so much and long to be all You have created me to be. I can do all things through Your strength. Amen.

If you want to read Art's blog it's linked in the title ~ it's often through the eyes of those in tremendous adversity that we can be most encouraged in our own lives.

Have a great day ~ we're off to South Dakota today and am looking forward to seeing my family. (Some of whom Scott hasn't met yet!)

Love,
Trayc

It's been awhile since I've posted a "real" entry...

I'm slowly going out of my mind. And I know why. I'm not taking the time to do what I need to do so I can do what I want to do. There's an old Amy Grant song that I used to love to sing. The chorus goes something like this..."and I'd love to live on this mountaintop. Fellowshipping with the Lord. I'd love to stay on the mountaintop, 'cause I love to feel my spirit soar." I miss the days when I could drive wherever I wanted to without having to shut my music off and say, "what?" *grin* Tonight I got a taste of what it used to be like....Scott's working and the boys and I took off for a drive. It was so nice at first...the boys were simply eating their Vanilla Frosty's and talking between the two of them and I was able to get lost in the CD I was listening to. I loved it. And then we made a stop and by the time we got back in the car the boys wanted to include me in their conversations again. (not that I minded...too much. I love that my boys want to include me in what they're talking about and want to nurture that now with the knowledge that one day, if I don't nurture it now, they may very well shut me out...heck, they may shut me out anyway, but I'm praying and preparing for the opposite.) So, my time lost in my own little world was short lived ~ but wonderful, nonetheless.

God is good, though. He knew that today of all days I needed it. Yesterday the boys did this:

Yes, you see it correctly ~ they decided to make Caleb's mattress into a slide. It was perfectly ingenius, really, but perfectly dangerous, and, since they were supposed to be in their beds reading, perfectly disobedient. The picture is of them trying to get it back up on Caleb's top bunk. I had to grab my camera because it really was too much even for me to believe. So...on Wednesday mornings they get to go to Church for our MOMS group with me. They love going to church because they have so much fun in their classrooms and love to play with their friends, etc, etc, etc. Their punishment was that they would not be going to church this morning. (it wasn't a big deal for me to miss today...) However. I had gotten a call to help setup this morning, so long story short we ended up going to the church, but we were just going to help setup then we were coming home........... So imagine how thrilled I was when both boys threw up once we got to the church!!! YEE HAW! Yes, Caleb waited until we were in the kitchen to throw up three times (thankfully it was really the best floor to toss his cookies on), and Micah threw up in the hallway a little bit (bless his little heart...he actually tried to hold it IN his mouth until he got to the bathroom!), and then sat in front of a toilet for at least 10 minutes trying to (in his words) "make sure I'm done."

Now, I had figured that maybe this was just their body's reactions to not having eaten very much the night before, nor having a very big breakfast this morning, so after Caleb got everything out of his system I asked if he was hungry. :) He was, so I gave him a plain mini bagel. He ate all of it. When I offered Micah a bagel he didn't want it, and Caleb ate all of his, too. I thought, "Good! Caleb is okay ~ he just needed some actual food in his stomach. Micah's a bit more prone to tummy probs, so I'll keep an eye on him..."

Caleb lost both bagels on the way home.

Caleb was hungry when he got home, and since he refused to listen to me to not eat anything for awhile and snuck pistachios he got to throw up some more.

Micah just kept throwing up.

Life is wonderful all the time...and I'll be happy to see those nice young men in the clean white coats and won't they please come and take me away? Ha! Ha! (LOL!)

I love that God helps me laugh about this ~ when I'm on single parent duty at times I think satan just holds it all until Scott has a trip and then BAM! Woo Hoo!! There may be truth to that because I know my mind-set changes to a sort-of "I don't have to cook a real dinner! I don't have to have stuff all done...we can cuddle on the couch and watch movies and we can go to the park and play and then we'll come home and we'll do a marathon clean-up before Daddy comes home and we'll have a blast!" And my guard kind of goes down....it's not a good thing.

I'm workin' on that.

Scott doesn't come home until Saturday and tomorrow is our marathon cleaning day! See? Improvement already! :)

Okay...I had told my cousin, Dave, that I was going to blog about something very serious that I eluded to the other day. I'm finding that I'm just not ready to write about it completely yet, but I will ask you to please pray for some friends of mine. Well, that's not a completely true statement. The people I'm asking you to pray for weren't the friends of mine...their wife and mother was, but they need prayer in a very big way.

Scott, Caleb, Micah & I went to Redding over Memorial Day weekend (also my Dad's birthday), and when I arrived at our old church on Sunday morning a friend told me that a gal I used to know pretty well through our lady's Bible study had died of a drug overdose on Thursday morning.

Yeah. Christians hurt.
Sometimes in ways other people can't even fathom.
And many Christians who hurt have no idea how to get past it.
That makes me very sad.
And I can't even imagine how sad it makes our Saviour.

Janell had five children and step-child. Her husband Rodney is also a drug user....I'm angry, sad and angry all over again over the lives they were making their children live, but I am most of all driven to my knees for them.

Like I said, I'm not ready to write about the whole thing...maybe soon. Maybe not.

Please pray for them. Pray for me. Pray for our world to "search for the Lord and for His strength...and keep searching."

"Because He lives...I can face tomorrow. Because He lives...all fear is gone. Because I know Who holds tomorrow. Life is worth the living, just because He lives." (Gaither)

John 14:27.........

Remember when...?

Man! I've got so much going on in my head formulating for a post, but I'm not quite there.... We were in CA this weekend and so much...so much stuff...is running around in my head that I'm still trying to figure out what I think of it all. It was a great weekend ~ I loved seeing my friends and all of Scott's family (they're my family, too, now... :) )....but there was also so much stuff that came to my ears that I'm trying to process out. (Can you tell I'm befuddled by what I think? WOW~ this is such jibberish!) So...all that to say a new post will be coming soon.

The real reason I wanted to post though, was because I wanted to share a website with you. My Mother-in-Love sent it to me a while ago and I visited it today as I was cleaning out my e-mail box. It was what I needed to take me back to a more simple time and remind me what I want to give my boys ~ a simple life that isn't obstructed and crazy-busy so they don't know how to play or how to see dinosaurs in the clouds when they have kids of their own. Here's the link....http://www.frontiernet.net/~jlbeam/specials/remember/remember.html or you can click on the "Remember when...?" title above, too.

Let me know what you remember! I wish I could sit down and reminisce with y'all.... here are some of my "remembers"....

*cruising mainstreet Platte with my best Friend Tammy meant putting 50 miles of circles on my car in one night...and putting out the fire that started when we added oil to my car one night after we'd been cruising for awhile. (I think that's a whole new post all together....Dad, don't worry...the capri was fine!) :)

*7-Up "spot" was my car's mascot and had suction cups that stuck to my rear window
*Going through the McDonald's drive through and asking for 6 waters because the boys we liked were working drive through that night and my cousin wanted to see what he looked like
*7-Up and Twin Bings at Grandpa's shop between Worthing and Beresford
*The find of the century was a "new song" called "The Twist" by Run DMC (but it was old...we just thought it was new)
*Being introduced to Tommy Roe's "Sweet Pea" album at my 4th grade birthday slumber party because we were blasting the new "Grease" songs and Dad said we needed real 50's music...and then watching my friends dance with my Dad to Tommy Roe!

What are some of yours?....I'd love to hear!

Blogging...

Hello to all of you who bother to read this. I'm feeling compelled to explain a few things lest someone who is unfamiliar with the electronic world of internet and the such think what you see is more than what it really is.

#1: My blog looks nice...at least, I think it does. That's why I picked the template I did. I did not design the blog ~ it's a template that I clicked on and it became "my blog." Really cool how people who have time help those of us with no time seem like we took a lot of time.... :)

#2: What I write on here isn't about trying to seem "religious" or "holier than thou" or anything like that. What I write on here are the thoughts of a woman who at any given moment has at least 10 times the amount of thoughts going through her head than what she actually shares, writes, says or does anything with. The "religious" things on here aren't about that ~ they're about who I wish I was more of. They're about who I long to be. My favorite quote (at the moment) is, "It's never too late to be what you always wished you were." So, to those of you who think this is just a "religious" thing, my greatest prayer is that what I have can be what you have and you'll one day understand it's so much more.

#3: Admittedly, when I take the time to write something here there are other things I could be doing; other people I could (should) be writing to, and other projects I should be working on, but when I write here it's out of necessity, not desire. Writing is what keeps me sane. Getting my feelings ~ no matter how messed up, hopeful or whatever ~ out on "paper" is like therapy to my mind...and my family because I'm more capable of handling two very active boys, a busy husband and a home that I wish was more in control than out.

#4: Just because I write on here and don't send you a personal note is not meant to be an insult to you. It is simply what it is....writing for my sanity in the hopes that someone will be encouraged, lifted up, challenged or even turned around through what I write. If you are insulted by whatever else I'm supposed to be doing but not getting done and equate the "amount of time" I put in to my blog as time that should be put elsewhere then I need to apologize for God who made me the way I am ~ faults and all ~ and needs for my sanity that may not be needs for your sanity. I appreciate those who know me and accept me for the person in process that I am. To you I say thank you from the bottom of my heart because you help me keep going when I look in the mirror that is my life at times and wish I was anyone else but me...I wish I was organized, on top of things, and whatever I see in all my friends and family that I want more of.

Some of you are probably going "huh?" I'm sorry for that...I just felt the need to explain that this is not a big deal for me to write something here ~ this post took all of 4 minutes ~ and that I am working toward taking care of my friendships as much as I take care of my own sanity. Thank you for the graciousness you extend to me in accepting me for me and knowing that just because I didn't send a Christmas card or even a picture of my boys or even an e-mail for 2 years (some of you longer!) doesn't mean you are not in my thoughts, my prayers and my heart every day.

Thanks for reading...

Sincerely,
Trayc

Ten on Tuesday

Here's your Ten on Tuesday- pick from the list which one you believe you are.

Who or which do you resemble or identify with more- just pick one:

Anne of Green Gables or Laura Ingalls Wilder? Anne of Green Gables

polka dot or stripe? polka dot

Green or Blue? blue

Ocean or Mountain? both

art or music? music

dog or cat? dog

Sarah, Plain and Tall or Anne Elliot? Anne Elliot

scrambled or fried egg? scrambled

turkey or chicken? chicken

Winnie the Pooh, Owl, Piglet, Tigger, or Eeyore? Tigger