Kid's Hope

Ok, so I must first apologize, as usual, for being so stinkin terrible about blogging. I promise I am going to try to be better and know that I will be at least for the next couple of weeks, because I have some things to say. And in lieu of saying them all in one long blog, I'm going to actually try and blog a few times over the next several weeks!!! So, hopefully this isn't a promise I end up having to break! :(

I just had to share with you guys something very cute...I'm not sure if any of you already know this, but Chris and I cannot have kids. And as sad as that is SOMEtimes, we both know we were supposed to be together especially because neither of us really had (or have) a huge desire to have children. So, obviously, as usual, the Lord knew what He was doing there!!! :) Anyways, one of those sad times is when I get to see Chris interact with kids, because he is AMAZING with them! I mean, seriosuly, he is sweet and patient and kind and loves to teach them things and how to play fair, etc, etc, etc!

All that being said, Chris has started volunterring at church with a ministry called Kid's Hope, where a bunch of people from our church mentor kids from a nearby school. They meet once a week for an hour and have been up and running this year for 3 weeks now. Chris' little guy's name is Jael, and the first time they met, they already had something in common...the TV show "River Monsters." oye! :) Ok, so anyways, I just got off the phone with Chris after his third week with Jael, and he said that Jael saw him coming and ran up to him and gave him a hug. And being that it is that time of the month, even typing that out brings tears to me eyes.

So, I just wanted to share this with you guys! I think it is so precious that the Lord is allowing Chris to be an influence and role model and buddy to this little guy, and if you ever think about it, please say a lil prayer for Jael and Chris' time together!

Love you all and hope all is well. Check back in soon, and I MIGHT even have a picture for you!!! :)

3 Years

At this moment, 3 years ago, Chris and I were in the car with his parents, bro-in-law and 2 nephews somewhere in OK, STILL in the car after about 18 hours of driving.....on our way to be married!!!

That was a whirlwind, crazy weekend, and honestly I dont even remember that much of it (which I hear alot of brides say about their wedding day). But it was the day that I began the role that I'm convinced I was made for...the role of being a wife!

I was never that girl who planned her wedding and named her kids and dreamed of being married someday. Sure I had my moments, but for the most part, the things I wnated most outta life when I was young, were just that...things and money and a great career and a great condo in a big city somewhere and a huge closet with lotsa clothes and shoes, etc, etc! Honestly, if you've ever seen the movie 13 Going on 30...her life as a 30 yr old in NYC was EXACTLY what I always dreamed of. But luckily the Lord had different plans and sometime in college my dreams began to change a lil. They still didnt include marriage and kids and such very often, but I definitely didnt wanna be alone in NYC with alot of nice things and a great career anymore. Anyways, long story, short, I have no doubts about the course of my life leading up to 9/1/2007 as I look back now, because everything was leading me to and preparing me to meet and fall in love with Chris!

Now, it has been a HARD road, and honestly, coming from a broken family, I never had those surreal ideas of marriage being pure bliss all the time and something that was easy. But from the day I married Chris, I knew I was meant to be and made for being a wife and sharing my life with someone else, and I have loved every minute of it (even the ones where all I wanted to do was cry and kick my husband in the butt-haha)!

So, here is to my husband of three years...it feels like it has been a lot longer than 3 years, and it is truly hard to imagine that I have only known Chris for 3.5 years, because I feel like I have known him for a lifetime...but anyways...thank you, baby, for making me laugh, for taking out the trash, for cleaning the oven (which u know I hate to do), for being a master vacuumer and griller, for sharing your deepest and darkest secrets with me, for trusting me, and for loving me the way only YOU can do! I LOVE you and truly can't wait to go through the ups and downs of the next 3 years and 30 years! xoxoxoxoxoxo

UNBELIEVABLE

The title is simply for lack of a better, more awesome word for Him! He truly makes it impossible to not believe in Him sometimes!!!

Just to give you a tiny idea of our lives right now...Chris and I are not sure how we will make it financially past next month. As it looks now, we will be through our Savings by the end of September! Now, I do NOT tell you this to make you feel sorry for us, but just to make you see how very big of a deal this is...I was just notified that I will be receiving a $0.50/hour raise. Not only is this HUGE, BUT the raise is also retroactive back to July 1st, so JUST when we needed a lil extra money the VERY MOST, the Lord provided this!

Just had tears in my eyes as I found out and wanted to share with all of you yet another example of His love and faithfulness in our lives! Chris and I have always felt peace about our seemingly-bleak financial situation, but He has always provided in the past AND especially now, we have faith He will continue to do so!

Love you all!!!!!!

We serve a God of miracles!

Ok, so this morning I just had to give Him all the glory...on Sat eve, Chris did a wedding video. He went alone, because it was only a one-camera shoot. When he got home that night, I was in the middle of laundry, so I threw his pants he'd been wearing into the wash. I checked the front two pockets and then asked him if I needed to check the others, since they were cargo pants, and he said no. I have gotten into the habit of asking because we have washed several tubes of chapstick!!! Anyways, after the wash was done, and I was emptying everything into the dryer, I found a TAPE at the bottom of the washer! If you're making the connection....this was the tape of the ceremony he just filmed! Chris was devastated! I felt soooo horrible and was so mad at myself for not checking all the pockets in his pants anyways AND for rushing to get his pants in the laundry! Chris felt so stupid for leaving the tape in there and not remembering it! Anyways, the list of all the horrible things we felt goes on and on. BUT as soon as I found that tape and realized what it was, I started praying! And I encouraged Chris to do the same, even though it was very hard for him not to just be sooooo mad at himself! I also encouraged him to just leave the tape to dry overnight and just "deal" with it in the morning. So, we both prayed all night long, to the extent that once we turned the lights out, I could truly feel the Lord's presence in our bedroom! Yes, I prayed for a miracle that the tape would be okay, but I also prayed that if it wasn't, He'd give us both the peace and wisdom to know what to do and where to go from there. And as soon as I woke up that morning, I started praying! Then we both got up, had some coffee, etc, and our Father, the miracle worker, who cares about even the smallest things, like a wedding tape for Chris' biz, answered our prayers, and the tape is fine!!!!!!! I truly cannot express to you the joy and the unexplainable humility and love that comes over me even as I retell this story! I realize that there are people out there, even Christians, that'll say this was NOT a miracle but just luck and good fortune. And it's totally fine if you believe that, but I know with all of my heart, that the Lord worked a miracle in our lives and on our behalf that evening and that as we slept, He was restoring that tape! So, as I said, I simply had to give Him all the praise and glory and honor that is due Him, not only for this miracle that might seem small but was HUGE to us and Chris' biz and thus our livelihood, but because He loves each one of us so much that He even cares about such things, big and small, in our lives!
Sorry if I started rambling, and thx for hanging in there with me for yet another all-text post! Love you all and hope He works miracles (small and big) in your life this week!!!

Sorry!!!!

I seriously have no idea where the month of July went, but I am so sorry that it has been over a month since my last post. Unfortunately I still do not have pictures to add to this post, either!!! :(

Just wanted to update you real quick on a couple of things...
I have my annual review at work on Thursday. I cannot believe I have been here for 2 whole years as of July...wow! I am liking it okay. Mostly, I am just happy to have a job in this horrible economy, and everyday I am trying to view my job more and more as my mission field. That change of attitude has definitely helped my perspective on having to go to work every day! Anyways, the past 2 reviews did not go all that well for me (i.e. last year is when they told me they were thinking about getting rid of my job or cutting my hours), so if you could just be praying over that time with my immediate boss, Veronica, over my feelings (and Chris') post-review - no matter what happens, and just for a peace during and leading up to the review.

In two weeks, Chris will have a wedding every weekend for 3 consecutive weeks! Other than that, though, the biz and all "extra" stuff he has done in the past is pretty slow, so you could definitely keep praying over this.

Patti is doing pretty good. She is down to ONE LAST CHEMO TREATMENT, which'll be next Wed - PRAISE GOD! And tho it looked bleak at first, this last half of treatments hasn't been TOO BAD. Her surgery is scheduled for Sept 21st and then she'll have several months of going back in every couple of months for the breast reconstruction. But as of about March or April of next year, she should be (Lord-willing) cancer-free and completely done with all of this and bad to "normal." As far as the gene thing goes, though, we really don't know much else, so nothing new has happned on that front with Jen or Chris.

I guess that is about it, for now. Thank you so much for bearing with me and my monthly (or less) posts and my pictureless, long posts!!!! I love you all so very much and am truly blessed to have people in my life who have a common love for the Lord and who I can count on to pray with me! PLEASE let me know how you're doing and what I can be praying for, specifically, for you!!!

Hol

Patti

For those of you who are keeping up with Patti, my mother-in-law and her treatments for breast cancer, here is the latest...
She started round 5 of 8 chemo sessions today. The last half of chemo will be less meds but still just as many side effects, though the side effects do change with this half. Also, we just found out yesterday that this second half entails her being at the hospital for SIX hours every time (compared to about 2 for the first half-yikes!), so please be praying for her!
Thank you so much for all of your prayers, she can feel them and is drawing strength every day from them. She's so thankful and knows that MANY people, nationwide, are lifting her up!
Also, on that note, something else that needs prayer...Patti recently got back some test results that showed her to possess a gene that they are linking to the cancer. The good news is that after her chemo, they can take out all her "problem stuff" and she will have a 99% chance of cancer never returning! Praise God for that! The bad news is two-fold, though...that surgery will be a day-long process in which they'll remove both ovaries and both breasts and reconstruct the breasts, so that's a daunting surgery to think about, especially post-chemo. Secondly, because she has a GENE, that means that both Chris and his sister, Jenny, are more likely to get cancer themselves in the breasts, colon and ovaries (that one's just applicable to Jenn, obviously). So, please be praying over those tests for both of them and they have them run and just for wisdom in getting that whole process going.
That's it for now. Sorry for another all-words post, but I wanted to share all the details of what's going on with Patti, for those that have been asking and praying along the way!
And again, thank you soooooo much!!! xoxo

M.I.A.

Hey Everyone,
Well, I cannot even remember the last time I posted something on here, so I realize that I may be writing to myself because I lost any readers I did have. IF there is anyone else reading this, I do apologize for having been such a bad blogger the last couple of months. Honestly, they have flown by and some of the time has been pretty rough for various reasons, and so I simply have not been motivated to write anything.
But I am back now! :) I will say that, unfortunately, I am not back bearing pictures, so I also apologize for that. But, if you’re STILL interested, here’s what’s been going on with us…
Chris had his very first wedding of 2010 two weekends ago, and it went GREAT! It was a great setting, the pl were wonderful AND when Chris took the finished product by, the lady LOVED it, said she’d pass on his info to anyone she knew getting married and even gave him a tip! Praise God! AND THEN, this past weekend, he filmed a concert for a local band. AND he might be doing another band this coming weekend. So, we are so very thankful for His provision of business lately!!! It’s been so long since I wrote that I don’t think I have mentioned that Chris’ unemployment has finally run dry. We knew this would happen eventually and have been so thankful for the money that he HAS gotten from that over the last 1.5 years! But needless to say, I struggle everyday with just giving it ALL over to Him and trusting in His provision! I have good days and bad days where this is concerned but am really trying to bathe the issue in prayer, trust in Him and stand on His promises. I’ve really been clinging to Jeremiah 29:11 the past few weeks about Him having a plan for us, one that does not include harm and DOES include a hope and a future for us! AMEN, huh???? And boy has it been so evident in the provision of business for Chris!!!
So, other than that, we’re just doing the daily grind. Chris is on our church’s softball team, and they play every Thursday eve. The guys have a blast and are really good too! And us ladies/fans have a ball chatting and cheering them on! And it’s a great time outside of church to get to reconnect with church peeps!
Well, I suppose that is enough of an update for now. Don’t wanna bore you with too long of an all-words post right away! I promise I will try and take some pictures here and there so as to break up the different posts! :) Love you all very much and hope He is blessing and speaking to you every day! IN HIM!!! <><