It's Official...He finished!

"This is the last one...and you passed."  Those were the words that Kami spoke to Josh as she graded his final test from his final class of his Senior Year...and she began to sob.

It wasn't the tears of discouragement or of fear, but the tears of sadness in knowing that Joshua is one step closer to leaving our home and venturing out into the world of adulthood. 

With this post, I would like to congratulate a fine young man, my son, on completing high school!  His future is truly in the hands of God as he has surrendered his life to preach the Gospel and to work in the ministry.

 

  His heart has a sincere desire to work with young people, helping them through the struggles he has faced and helping them to love and to know the one and only true God and Savior, Jesus Christ!

His graduation ceremony will be held on May 17th @ Winkler Road Baptist Church at 6 p.m. 

All are welcome! 

 

He will be attending Golden State Baptist College in Santa Clara California this coming fall.  He is truly excited and is planning and preparing...  We, as parents, are wanting summer to pass slowly!!!

New to the Family...The Family of God!

We have had the great opportunity to be working with the College & Career group at our home church.  They are growing, they are excited and they are making spiritual decisions!

A few weeks ago, a young man moved from Illinois and made his way here.  He is currently looking for a job and trying to figure out life.  One Sunday night, he was locked out of the house he was staying at and had to wait for his friends to come back home.  He walked around the neighborhood and decided to step into church for the evening service to "waste time".  He was welcomed by our College & Career group!

He has been attending our Wednesday night class for a couple of weeks and he asked if we could meet sometime to answer some of his questions.  During lunch yesterday, he asked Christ into his heart!  We praise the Lord for this decision!

Then yesterday evening, when Kami was tucking in Silas for bed, he asked, "Momma, what do I need to do to be saved?"  She replied, "When you think you are ready to get saved, you need to go and talk to your daddy about it."  After a moment of thought, he said, "Okay, I'll think about it."

After about 10 minutes, he walked into our bedroom and asked about how to be saved.  We talked about sin, Christ, Heaven & Hell.  He understood so well and said that he wanted to accept Christ into his heart.  With heads bowed, Silas accepted Christ into his heart!

God gave me the honor of leading a 27 year-old young man and my 5 year-old son to Him in the same day!  What a blessing!  It's a day that I will truly never forget!

Tropical Updates...

Kami has been to the doctor last Friday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and again Today (Friday)!  Today, she gets her 24-hour Heart Monitor put on.  She has been having heart 'skips' and other heart problems and the doctors want to see if this is an actual heart problem or symptoms caused by the "mystery" illness.

I put in this picture because she just looks radiant!  I stand amazed by her strength and determination.  You may not tell by this picture, but she is in so much pain.  This picture was taken at an Easter Egg Hunt at Lakes Park.  She was in such pain that day, that I told her to stay home and I would take the kids to the hunt that was to take place with other church families.  She said that she would not miss an activity with her kiddos for any amount of pain...she loves being with her children and seeing smiles on their faces!

 

Micah's Birthday was back on the 11th.  (I am a bit late on updates!)  He turned 2!  He loves to wear hats, sport his new shades and often walks around in one shoe! 

He was so proud of his blue egg that he colored!  It didn't last long as he kept dropping it over and over but that didn't stop him from cherishing his egg!

He is such a joy and a blessing.  He loves to cuddle, gives us hugs & kisses and to tell us, "I wuv you!"  At bedtime, he walks around the house to find each member of the family and gives them a goodnight kiss!  He is so sweet!

 

Thank you all for your continued prayers for our family.  From my earlier posts, I think I mentioned that Kami was being tested for Chronic Dengue Fever and for Chronic Blood Clot Disorder.  However, these came back negative as well.  She will begin her vitamin bags by IV next week and we are hoping that she will gain strength and her body will be able to fight this 'mystery' disease!

 

Until next time... 

More tests...

Kami went this morning (Monday) to have some more tests done... 

The blood work that was completed is specifically looking for chronic dengue fever & also Epstein-Barre.  She also had an x-ray this morning that took over 1 1/2 hours with an IV.    This x-ray was to look for blood clots as her doctor said that he is checking for a chronic blood clot disorder as well.    We are really hoping and praying that these tests will finally reveal this "mystery" illness!

We had the College & Career young people over to our house last night after services.  We enjoyed some great chili, home-made salsa and brownies.  We fellowshipped and played games for almost 3 hours.  We laughed and had so much fun with this group of young people, some of which were in my youth group when I was the Youth Director at our home church.  It was a great evening, one that we plan on doing again! 

It is our desire to see these young people grow in the Lord each and every day.  Please pray along with us for these young adults!

Until next time...

Tropical Updates...A New Beginning!

Just a quick update:

Last week was a tough week for Kami.  Her pain and discomfort were at an all-time high.  We made her stay in bed for two days, and praise the Lord, she is doing better now.  She is still pale, weak and in pain but she is once again able to be mommy.

We had an appointment with a 'new' doctor this week.  We met with him in his office and he read through all of Kami's medical records, test results and blood work results...quite a stack of papers!  He asked questions and then said, "No one has any idea what the cause of the problem really is.  Every doctor and clinic has tried unsuccessfully to find the problem but has failed.  All the while, you hurt and suffer while waiting.  My recommendation is to start treating you.  I want to help you and I believe that I can."

He wants to begin by running a few more blood tests that he feels have been 'overlooked'.  Then he wants to begin by building up Kami's immune system so that her body can begin to fight for itself.  We have had several doctors to tell us that her immune system is weak and that is the reason why she is having new symptoms.  But none has talked about how to build it back up.  This new doctor wants to strengthen her immune system so that it can do what it needs to, in order to fight-off the cause of this 'mystery' illness.

There are several things that he wants to do and we feel that he has a great plan for Kami.  After praying, I truly feel that the Lord has brought us to this new doctor.  He was very pleased that Kami had such extensive tests done and this will allow him to begin treating her right away.  These procedures are not cheap and are not covered by insurance.  But we are excited to see Kami gain strength and to see how God will provide! 

Thank you all for your continued prayers!

Hot Dog Cental...

One of our college girls came up with an idea to have a Hot Dog Night for the College and Career class!  We had done this as a family for one of our Family Fun Nights on the mission field and we had loved it. 

So we planned an evening with Hot Dogs from around the U.S.A. ! 

Our menu included:  The Sonoma Dog, The Chicago, The Carolina Slaw Dog, The Puka Dog, The Michigan and The Seattle Dog! 

I took the orders for the hot dogs while Kami and the kids assembled them!

 

Just look at those grilled onions!

 

Miss. Catie, one of the teens girls, came over to help us serve the hot dogs!

 

 

 

 

It was a great evening.  We finished with some great dessert & games and laughed the night away!

 

In the midst of our trials and continuing medical furlough, God has been so good to allow us to be able to keep busy in the ministry.  We were tasked with working with the College & Career adults who needed someone to run the Wednesday evening ministries and to plan activities.  They needed someone to step in and help them, but little do they realize, it is us who needed them.  They are such an encouragement to our family!