Bolivia Here They Come

My sister, Cynthia, her husband, Tony, and a team from their church, Horizons Community Church in Phoenix, Arizona are going on a mission trip to Bolivia. They leave November 4th.

Please join me in praying for them!

Please pray these things for them:

-Safe travel. They will have 9 flight connections in all.

-Safety while in Bolivia. The Bolivian government is unfriendly to Americans and there is an election coming up in November. There could be violent protests, etc...

-Flexibility for the team. To handle changes while there.

-Relationships within the team, that they would be a good testimony to Christ.

-That the VBS they are planning for the children would impact them and show the children God's love.

-That they will all stay healthy and have a great time.

Here are a couple of links, one to the blog page for the team going to Bolivia and a website for Horizons Community Church.

www.horizonscc.com/blog.htm

www.horizonscc.com/bolivia.htm

Now, if you all would indulge me, I would love to share some things with you about my wonderful sister.

Isn't she beautiful! She is my big sister, I always say, "she's 10 years older", but in actuality she's 9 years, 7 months and 17 days older. She has two grown children, a son who is a police officer and a daughter who is a registered nurse. She loves animals (they have 3 dogs, a cat and 2 turtles). She's creative, loving, outgoing and goofy(sometimes, just like me)! She has been a Pastor's wife for.. well, I can't say how long... at least 20+ years.

But, the most beautiful thing about my sister is her heart. As my Big Sister, she cared for me when I was a baby. In fact, my crib was in her room! When I would cry she would be at my crib before my mom got there, so they decided to put me in her room. She became a follower of Christ in college and led me to the Lord on summer vacation. I am so grateful to her for her willingness to share!

When mom was in the hospital for the last 52 days of her life (she died of leukemia), Cynthia sacrificed time with her young family to be in Utah to support us and mom. Likewise, when my father was dying from cancer and came to live at our home for his last few months, she spent several weeks here, just to support me and help care for dad (who by the way was her step-dad and not always the nicest to her. But that's another story, it just shows her heart).

When my children where born she was here, which in the case of when Scott was born was huge. I suffered with some post-partum depression and really needed help. She was here! I have to say "Thanks" also to Tony as I am thinking about all this. His heart is wonderful, too, and he has always been willing to let Cynthia leave to come help me.

Several years ago she began a job as a chaplain with a company called Market Place Ministries. She visits a number of different companies and is available for counseling, crises, employee assistance, etc... When she realized that a very large number of the people that she was working with where Spanish speaking, she decided to learn Spanish so she would be more of a help to them. So today I have a bilingual sister who amazes me with her dedication to the people she helps and the desire to learn more to help them.

This is just a snapshot of my sister, but I hope that you have seen how wonderful she is and how proud of her I am. I don't know where I would be in my life if it wasn't for her love and care of me over the years. Cynthia, I thank God for you! Much LOVE!

Here are some photos of her and her family. Thanks for reading!



We went on a trip to Sea World. Tony and Cynthia.

A day at the beach, she wasn't watching the ocean!

Tony, Rachel, Cynthia & Ashlyn

Tony, Rachel (daugther) & Andrew (son).

Thank You for Your Prayers

Here is an update from my cousin, Kristi's, blog regarding her son, Kaleb. I wanted to pass along here since I know many of you have been praying. Thanks!

Kaleb Update
Kaleb's button continues to heal, but still has some swelling, redness and infection. He also has a granuloma around the site so we are watching that carefully. We still are not able to feed him at night through his button so we are praying he does not loose any weight. I got a call from Dr. Carey's office stating that the preliminary lung culture came back clean but we needed to wait on a final report for Thursday or Friday to be sure. Please continue to keep lifting both of these up in your prayers and thank you!!

Our Responsibility

I was listening to a song the other day and I was struck by the upcoming elections and what they mean for our country. Not who’s in the Oval office, for we all know Who is in control and who He wants to sit in that office will be there, to fulfill His purposes. No, I was thinking more of the men and women over the decades who have willingly given their lives for us, so that we can go to the polling place and vote.

What was the song? A song by Mark Schultz, (to hear the song scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the music player below). Here are the lyrics:

Letters From War

She runs to the mailbox
On that bright summers day
Found a letter from her son
In a war far away
He spoke of the weather
And good friends that he'd made
Said I'd been thinking 'bout dad
And the life that he had
Thats why I'm here today
And that the end he said
You are what I'm fighting for
It was the first of the letters from war

She started writing

You're good and you're brave
What a father that you'll be someday
Make it home make it safe

She wrote every night as she prayed

Late in December
A day she'll not forget
Oh her tears stained the paper
With every word that she read
It said I was up on a hill
I was out there alone
When the shots all rang out
And bombs were exploding
And that’s when I saw him
He came back to me
And though he was captured
A man set me free
And that man was your son
He asked me to write to you
I told him I would oh I swore

It was the last of the letters from war
And she prayed he was living
Kept on believing and wrote every night just to say

You're good and you're brave
What a father that you'll be someday
Make it home make it safe
She wrote every night as she prayed

Then two years later
Autumn leaves all around
A car pulled in the driveway
And she fell to the ground
And out stepped a captain
Where her boy used to stand
Said mom I'm following orders
From all of your letters
And I've come home again
He ran into hold her
And dropped all his bags on the floor
Holding all of her letters from war

Bring him home

I have voted in every election since I have been able to. My first vote was for Ronald Reagan in 1984. Have I always been totally up on all the issues? – no. There have been times that I have only voted on the things that I understood and I abstained from those that I didn’t know. But, I have always been there. To honor those who have paid the ultimate price for me to be able to freely walk into that polling place. Not having to worry about if I am endangering my life or my family for doing the right thing.

If we don’t vote, just blow it off or think that one vote won’t matter we lessen that sacrifice. How can we be “Proud Americans” if we don’t appreciate what has been done for us and do this small part, in thanks to those brave and wonderful men and women? So get out and vote! Now, I’ll get off my soap box, but I will be forever grateful for the ones who have made it possible for me to be up there.

Thank you to those who are or have served – I appreciate you more than I can say.

God Bless

Calling All Prayer Warriors

Chuck's cousin, Kristi, has placed this prayer request on her blog and we wanted to share it here. Kristi and her family have been wonderful in supporting us during this time with Scott and we are so grateful and thankful for them.

We know that there is no such thing as too much prayer. So, please be lifting this precious boy, Kaleb and his family up to the Lord.

Prayer Request for Kaleb
Kaleb had his appointment today and they said he has a staph infection around his gtube/button. We are culturing it to see if we need to change the medicine they started him on orally tonight (Bactrim). There is also a pus pustule under the skin which is causing hardness of the tissue and pain for Kaleb. We are applying a topical ointment that is an antibiotic 4 times a day as well as the oral antibiotic. Please pray that his body responds to both of these medications and his pain and infection go away. If he does not respond we might have to go to IV's sometime in the near future. Please pray for the following things:

-That the pain goes away very fast-That the infection does not spread to surrounding tissue, deeper into his tissue or into his bloodstream

-That he responds to the oral antibiotics so we do not need IV's

-That he does not lose weight as we cannot use the button for feeding right now because we have to stabilize it to reduce movement and friction

-That his lung culture comes back clean-That the wound culture shows he is on the right antibiotics-Dr. Carey and his wisdom in treating Kaleb

-For Dr. Carey to find another doctor in the near future that will join his practice with the same values and treatment style to lighten Dr. Carey's load!I am leaving tomorrow until Saturday for my last volleyball trip for this season.

Please pray nothing goes on while I am gone with Kaleb and for Dave while I am gone. He is the best Daddy and husband ever!! I will let you know when we know anything and how our Tri State tournament goes this weekend!!Thanks for your prayers and support, we couldn't do it without all of you!

Trusting God is in control....

Because Every Princess Needs Sparkly Shoes

I have focused so much on Scott on my blog posts that I felt it was time to introduce you all to our resident Princess, Ashlyn.

Her daddy calls her his princess and she has taken it to heart! Tuesday at an event at church Ashlyn was playing with a group of kids and she announced to them all, with her hands on her hips and sass in her voice, “I am a Princess!” After the event and lunch with a friend, we went to Target (one of our favorite places) to pick up toothpaste, how mundane! Anyway, we walked by the shoe department and what did we see? Sparkly Shoes!!!

As any Princess knows you need sparkly shoes! So mom said, “Yes” and we now have a beautiful pair of silver sparkly shoes. They are pretty cool; almost wish they had them in my size. Well, almost!


Here are a few other tidbits from the last few days! Scott did so well at the Puberty Stimulation tests; he had an IV inserted both days and went through several blood draws and injections. The doctor’s nurse, Jack (we really like Jack – he is further proof of how good God is! Jack is a fellow believer and has been uplifting Scott in his prayers) was very good with Scott and keeping him informed about what he was doing and what was going on. By the end of the second day Scott was so comfortable with Jack that he was joking with him and teasing him. We are still waiting for the results regarding whether or not Scott is entering puberty. But, to his mom it sure seems like he is, pubic hair, a few pimples and some body odor and surliness, sure sounds like puberty to me. I just keep praying that it isn’t.

I think that we are done with tests and doctor’s visits for a while, maybe until we go to Maryland. Please keep us in your prayers, we still need them!

If we can be praying for any of you, please leave a comment and let us know. It would be an honor to take any request to the Throne!