Amen, its finally FRIDAY! There are two great reasons for this particular Friday: one is that Ryan is not on call this weekend (woohoo!) and the other is that Dad is coming Saturday and staying 6 days (woohoo again!).

Work has been crazy busy. I could have stayed there all night last night. Fortunately I had a tanning appointment that I had to leave for. I was tempted to go back to the office afterwards but decided to go home instead and see my honey. While he was grilling dinner, he sat and had a cigar. I finally got to bring plants outside, yah! Ryan was such a good sport and watered plants as I carried them out. We had a good time. He left for bible study and I cleaned the sitting room and downstairs bath. Still lots to clean before company comes.

Let me introduce you to my precious little friend, Audra Koelewyn. She's the 2nd daughter of Kevin (my high school ag teacher) and Cathy Koelewyn. She's three, maybe four by now and as cute as a button.
Audra was diagnosed with a Pilocytic Astrocytoma brain tumor in the earlier part of 2003. It has been quite the experience for them this last year. In the midst of this trial, they have grown in their relationship with God. Not only that, but the family has a contagious faith which is so encouraging. Well, our dear Audra had surgery last year and has been going through the chemo process since. Praise the Lord, the tumor is shrinking and dying. Although she has a tumor in her brain stem, she functions "normally" which amazes the doctors. This is solely the grace of the Lord and the prayers of his children. God tells us to make our request known to Him. Well, my request is that Audra can continue to be a testimony of faith. And when she gets done with this chapter in her life that she continues to walk with the Lord in an intimate relationship. In Luke (I looked it up, here's the link), there is a story of 10 lepers who get healed. All go on their way except one who comes back to thank God. May Audra be that one. May her life be full of praise as she comes to the feet of the One who healed her.
A week from today (May 3rd), Audra will be having another MRI. Please be in prayer and petition for Audra as she goes through another test. Pray for the family as they entrust their little girl into the Hands of The Ultimate Healer.


Click here for a photo of Audra

I'm so thankful that I'm in His hands

This morning I was reading Soul Journey online and I thought it was important enough to share. Check it out here. Ya know, we as believers are afraid to share our sins and failures with others. We should help keep our brothers and sisters accountable and instead we judge them. No wonder we have a hard time being vulnerable with friends and family! And for those of our dear friends who aren't walking with the Lord, I struggle with judging them rather than loving them as God would have me do. Its a fine line I know, but its so easy to be hypocritical of someone else's wrongs. And then there are those in leadership or in the public view that we think are perfect. We expect them to be perfect. And when they make a mistake and fall into sin, we practically crucify them. You think The Passion of Christ was brutal, consider how you treat others, the things you think about them and what goes through your mind. Are you any different than the soldiers who pounded the nails? Am I? No, I do that daily in my own heart. And God knows my heart so I'm not hiding anything from Him!

So, consider a few things today...
~ be transparent and vulnerable to others. Be HONEST.
~ Put down the hammer, quit crucifying others.

"It is written: 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'" -- Romans 14:11

That "every" means both you and me. Don't wait till its too late!

Is there anybody out there. You all say that you love to get my updates but you don't comment on them. I feel like I'm writing to the wall, seriously.

Okay, so I just changed my template not thinking that it would screw up my comments page and my links to other sites. Give me some time and I hope to have it all fixed by the end of the day today. Praise God for lunch hours to work on other things!

Just wanted to share a picture of my honey with you! Click here

*** Thanks to Cori, I know that you can't see my pictures. So, it will just have to be a link instead. Thanks Calvert!

Dang, I just read Cori's new blog. How fun hers seems, check it out at http://badbadmissy.blogspot.com/ Reading Cori's reminds me of how neglected mine has been. I've been waiting to get some new pictures on my computer and do all at the same time. Unfortunately I didn't quite get it done this morning when I was working on it. As for the other 10 days or so, I've been hanging out with Kaleb, my 3 year old nephew. He was staying with mom and ralph for awhile. Good times. Lots going on with him, with Ryan and our home. Its always drama to some extent. Yeah, the other day my horse got out and was down at the neighbors. Promise was standing in their flower beds staring at the window because she could see herself in the reflection. She seemed to think it was another horse. So they call Ryan and bless his heart, he leaves work to go deal with her. But she wasn't gonna let him near her (she knows he hates her). After an hour she was back in the pasture, the fence was fixed and I had one upset husband. His words to me when he called were: "you have one month to get her off the property before I shoot her in the head!" Yeah, a bit much I thought. I coulda cried. Ryan then called back later and apologized - he's wonderful like that. He was just angry and embarrassed.

That's really been the extent of it at home. Ryan will be gone this weekend for Men's Retreat. They'll have fun playing with guns and being guys together. I'll be at a wedding and baby shower. Other than that, I'm gonna hang out with mom and do some shopping.

Work has been busy, I can't keep up. Plus I took on some extra duties as the Regional Rep. for a national organization. I spent 3 hours on that this AM. Lots to do initially. Apparently my predecessor didn't do jack! So, it's been fun.

Oh, and I've really missed the valley lately. I miss my friends and the spring blossoms and all the other cool stuff. Such is life though.