The Ft. Hood Tragedy and The Giving Challenge

Saturday was a week since I began "The 30-Day Giving Challenge" and many of you joined with me.  (Note:  If you don't know about the challenge, please click on the link to the right on my home page.)  When I began the challenge, little did I know that our town would be faced with a unique way to give a few days later.


On Thursday, Ft. Hood became the site of a terrible act of violence which claimed the lives of innocent people and injured many more.  Families were heartbroken to hear of the news of their loved ones.  Even though when one is in the armed forces, the fact that something could happen is acknowledged, most everyone would agree that it's not typically thought of to be something that would happen in our own country. It would more expected to be in other countries where our soldiers are sent to protect the freedom of others. But, on this day, it was here - right in our "backdoor"...so to speak..  It was at one of our own military bases.


This tragedy struck close in the hearts of our small town.  J.D. Hunt was one of the young men killed on Thursday.  J.D. was from here, having graduated from Tipton High School in 2005.  He had married only 2 1/2 months ago.


A special challenge of giving came as our community heard of the passing of J.D.  Although his family no longer lives here, but lives in another town close by, the town came together at the Friday night football game to pay special tribute to his memory.  The honor guard from Altus (OK) Air Force Base agreed to come, which made our National Anthem even more special that evening. Everyone prayed silently for J.D. and the others who lost their lives or were injured on that tragic day.


That Friday morning I had the opportunity to help one of our school teachers in organizing a way to honor J.D.  We purchased ribbon (red, white, and blue) and straight pins.  During the day the Student Council members made hundreds of ribbons to be passed out to all those in attendance at the football game that evening.  The ribbons will be warn during the week and the military past and present will be honored on Wednesday during our school's annual Veteran's Day program.


The Giving Challenge is a great way to help us think to do things for others.  Of course, I wish this tragedy had never happened and that there would not have been a need to pay honor to those who lost their lives.  But, God's Word tells us that there will be times like this and reaching out to help each other - to give comfort to each other and to all the families who lost loved ones - is what being a Christian is all about.


Please continue to give.  Please accept The 30-Day Giving Challenge.  And, please continue to pray for the victims of the Ft. Hood tragedy.  And, if we are truly going to be like Jesus, we must pray for the man accused of this crime.  Pray that his hard heart may be softened.  But, also remember to pray for his family.  It would be very hard to realize someone you loved could commit such a horrible crime.  They need prayers for strength at this time.


Have a great, giving week!

Messes

I mentioned a month ago or so that I had started a small business.  I actually rent out a space within a bigger business and sell home decor, special lights for decoration, children's canvas art, and specialty items.  It's been great so far and it's nice because I don't have any certain time to be there...just go when I want to.  The only problem I'm having is with space for the items I purchase to sell.  Because I'm renting out a space (9' x 11 1/2 ') I don't have a storage room there where the booth space is located.  And, because of that, everything ships to my house or I buy it and bring it to my house....which is what this picture shows.  A GREAT BIG MESS!

In fact, it's such a mess, that when my husband came in for lunch yesterday he said, "If anyone were to break into our house, they would fall and break their neck and then sue us!"  Of course, then he laughed.  He's been very understanding, helpful, and supportive.


The reason I've got this MESS is because this weekend I'm getting my booth ready for Christmas.  Sunday afternoon there is an open house for all of the booths and I need to have mine all ready for the customers.  But, right now, the dining room and kitchen area is my "workshop".  MESSES!!


In a few days, this mess will be gone.  I'll work hard and should have everything in place by Saturday afternoon late.  I'm ready for this mess to be taken care of, for sure.


Sometimes we have "messes" in our life....often by the choices we make, but sometimes just because of circumstances of which we have no control.  We may be able to work hard and clean up our messes to some degree, but we may not be able to at all.  But there is One who can clean up messes:  Jesus!


God gave His Son as a sacrifice to clean up our "messes" and after we give our lives to him, obey his commandments and become a Christian as the Bible teaches us to do - our messes are cleaned up.  Oh, yes, sometimes we still get into messes - hopefully less and less as we grown spiritually - but the blood of Jesus will continue to clean up those messes if we will confess to God our sins (messes).

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 John 1:7

Thank you, God, for giving up your Son for my messes.
In Jesus Name,
Amen

The Chronicles of Biscuit - "What Do You Think - Crutches or a Wheel Chair?"

First of all, I have a question for you.  Are you participating in "The 30-Day Giving Challenge"?  If you haven't committed yet, there's still time to get on board!  It feels great to give and to help others.  Remember that God will bless you!


Secondly, be sure to vote in the fun poll on my blog home page.  The question is:  "What is your favorite month?"  Mine is October.  What is yours?


Thirdly....on to "The Chronicles of Biscuit":


Monday during P.E., Biscuit hurt his ankle.  I noticed something was wrong immediately after school that day as he came out to the van hobbling and walking on his tippy-toes.  I asked him what was wrong and he said he hurt it doing the "crab walk".  He told his P.E. teacher, but coaches aren't always the most sympathetic to injuries, you know.  They expect everyone to be tough! He told him, "You're okay."  Biscuit didn't really like that, so he said.


I looked at the ankle, but didn't see anything bruised or red or swollen.  He seemed fine after a while, so I didn't think any more about it.


Today after school, Biscuit hobbled out again, got into the van and said his ankle was still hurting.  He said, "What do you think, Mom?  Do I need crutches or a wheel chair?"  Trying to contain my laughter, I told him that both of those things might help his ankle get better, but that he sure wouldn't get to play very much.  I thought he would decide he didn't need either, but no.  He said, "Well, I think a cast would be better."  I asked him if he wanted me to just tape it at home, but he said he thought the doctor should just do a cast.


After we got home, Biscuit and Jacob played football some outside.  Although I know it's hurting some, and it's obvious he's not playing quite as intense as usual, I know it's nothing serious and it certainly doesn't need a cast...and of course there's no need for a wheel chair! Thankfully, Biscuit's injury seems to be something very mild and nothing that will require a doctor's visit or treatment. 


Jesus is described in the Bible as the Great Physican.  He healed people physically and spiritually.  One of my favorite stories of physcial healing in the Bible is about the woman who had bleed for 12 years.


Mark 5:24-34


So Jesus went with him.


A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.


At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" "You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' " But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."


This woman had been to doctors many times and none of them could help her with her illness.  But she had heard about Jesus and knew that he could heal her.  In spite of the large crowd, the woman got close enough to Jesus to touch his cloak. Her faith and courage prevailed and with Jesus' power, she was immediately healed.  What great faith this woman had and what a great example she is for us now!


As for Biscuit, it's funny that a kid who doesn't even like a Band-aid on because of the way it feels would even think about having a cast on his ankle.  By tomorrow maybe it will be all better.  God still can heal and we can and we should pray for His healing touch in all areas of life.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21

My Dad and the Rock that Changed His Life

On August 26, 1991, my Dad had a life-changing day.   Although he worked from home and traveled around to Farmer's Co-ops as a field representative for his company, he would occassionally have to travel to the home office in Oklahoma City.  The drive was about 2 1/2 hours from where he and Mom lived at the time.

On that particular day, he was about an hour into his trip when something terrible happened.  Mowers were mowing the ditches on the right side of the divided interstate and one of them threw a rock up into the air.  The rock went through the window of my Dad's car, struck him in the face, hit the roof of the car (slashing the carpeted top) then landed in the back window ledge, causing a huge crater.  This rock wasn't just any rock - it was a 9 1/2 pound rock - a HUGE rock.

The rocks were in the ditch because a mountain had recently been blown up to make the divided highway.  Unfortunately, the rocks were not disposed of properly and left them in the ditch only to be covered by grass and weeds.  Three mowers were mowing the ditches.  They were brought in to cut the grass and weeds, but the drivers had no idea what was underneath what they were cutting at the time.

Thankfully there was a kind lady, named Kathy, who had been following behid my Dad and saw something happen to my him and his car.  She saw a "poof" of what she thought was smoke, but it was actually the glass shattering.  Then she saw the car begin to head off into the ditch and my dad slump over in the seat. Kathy stopped to help my dad and the three mowers stopped, as well.  Kathy stayed with Dad until the ambulance arrived, picking glass out of his eye.  He was taken to the hospital in Lawton, OK, which was about 30 minutes away.

My mom was teaching school in Eldorado, OK, and she and my sister left school as soon as they heard the news.  Someone drove them to Altus, OK, where my husband and I also drove from Tipton, OK,  to meet them and drive along together to the hospital. 

I remember that drive like it was yesterday. It was a terribly long drive.  A long and very scary drive - scary because we didn't know what we were going to face when we arrived.  I don't think any of us really thought Dad would be alive when we got there, but we were prayerful he would be.

When we got to the ER, Dad was still alive, but we were told that they were very worried about his condition.  The ER nurse explained things to us at first, then the neurosurgeon visited with us.  He explained that we could go in and see him for a little bit, but that soon he would be taking him in for exploratory surgery.  The doctor said that Dad was paralyzed on his left side and that there was a big laceration on the right side of his face from his ear to his neck. At that time he was not sure if Dad would live or not.

We went in to see Dad in the emergency room. He looked bad. He was kind of jerking around, but not moving his left side at all. His head had been shaved and bandaged. It was all swollen and there were tubes all over him. It was very scary to see him lying there.

There were over 40 people in the waiting room during those first few hours.  What an inspiration having friends and loved ones around for support!

Dad's surgery lasted seven hours.  At various times during the surgery the doctors (there were many of them)would come out and tell us how things were going.  A few hours later we were able to go in and see Dad.  He was cleaned up from how we had seen him the day before and his head was bandaged. He had a lot of tubes everywhere and was extremely swollen. The huge cut in the right side of his face had been stitched, his ear had been sewn into place, and some reconstructive surgery was done. The nerves in his eye were badly torn. He had begun to bruise badly. 

The neurosurgeon told us that first night that the chances were 30% that Dad would die, 20% that he would live, and the rest was pure uncertainty. He figured that Dad would have to stay in the hospital until the end of October.

Dad was moved to the CCU (Critical Care Unit) and he made it through the night with a lot of prayers from family and friends. His story was on the news and in several papers the next day and the following days because no one could believe what had happened.


The next few days went really slow. We were able to go in and see Dad for 30 minutes on the even hours in CCU. Each time we went in we hoped to see him move. For many days nothing happened.  But, finally, after several days, Dad began to show some movement. One of the nurses came and told us that he had squeezed her hand. We were so excited! My sister and I told him to squeeze our hands and he did!  Then he squeezed Mom's hand!

Dad was in ICU from August 26 until September 6.  He was then moved to the regular floor.  We have funny stories from this time and later on.  He would say and do things that were "crazy" and we love to tease him about those things now.  He laughs about it now, too!  Laughter in times like these are needful and helpful.  Of course, tears came often and helped, too.

The next few weeks were progressive for the most part.  There was one scary situation when it was found Dad had a hole in an artery, right above his right eye.  He was taken to Oklahoma City where it was repaired.  Actually a teeny, tiny balloon was inserted into the artery to fix the hole and the leak.  He stayed in Oklahoma City for one whole week and then went back to Lawton for another week.  After that it had been one whole month since the accident.

The next step was rehab where he learned to walk again, regained strength in his arms and legs, and worked on life skills in the specially designed rehab center (What an awesome place it was!).  He was in rehab one month. 

My mom stayed with him except to go back home a few times (twice I think).  Home (for her, my Dad and my sister) was over an hour and a half away.  My husband, sister, and I would stay with him sometimes, too. 

Those stays also bring back funny memories we like to tease him about!  One time he said to me, "I want to go to Walmart and buy a 2 cent pair of scissors!"  He wanted me to take him and he wasn't happy when I said no.  I asked him why he wanted to go and he told me he was going to cut the tubes and straps off that were keeping him bound to the hospital bed.  Who could blame him for wanting up and out of there?!  It was hard not being able to help him.

On October 26, exactly two months after the accident, Mom brought Dad home. My sister and I decorated the house, made a sign, and a Welcome Home cake.  We had it all ready when they arrived. We took pictures and went for a walk. Dad was so glad to be home!

After several months Dad was able to go back to work.  He began driving, going around to the Co-ops again, and doing things for himself little by little.  He faced other eye surgeries and ear procedures.  He lost total hearing in the right ear and lost some sight in his right eye, too. 

Through all of this, Dad was really strong. He taught everyone courage and determination never once feeling sorry for himself.  In fact, he felt blessed and he was grateful because he knew God allowed him to live. Not everyone would have pulled through something like this.  Many would have just given up. But, because of his strong will (which we tease him about) and determination and faith,  he made it. He had many, many prayers offered for him. The prayers and support from everyone helped so much.

We all realized after the accident, and still do now, that we shouldn't take things for granted.  We shouldn't take our people for granted. We shouldn't take our family for granted.  We all learned to appreciate our lives and relationships more.

Dad's life changed as a result of this accident....and so did the rest of ours.

For this Gratituesday, I am grateful for My Dad and thankful he is still here with us today.

To read what others are grateful for, visit Heavenly Homemakers.

I Love You Enough

This post came to mind yesterday and on into today.  In working with children and teens throughout various school and church activities, I am fortunate and sometimes unfortunate to be faced with different challenges in dealing with them, their moods, and their attitudes.  And, of course, being a mom of my own four children, I also work with each of their very different personalities, while striving to teach them and raise them up in the Lord.  I dedicate this post to my children - Lauren, Zachary, Jacob, and Tyler - whom I love with all my heart.

I Love You Enough

I love you enough to tell you no,

Even when it's not what you want to hear.

I love you enough to tell you yes,

When it's something you question that I know will be good for you.

I love you enough to discipline you,

And I pray that you will always respect me for that.

I love you enough to not give in,

Even if you were to say, "Everyone else is doing it".

I love you enough to keep check on you,

And not assume you would never do wrong.

I love you enough to not bribe you,

Even though sometimes it may be tempting to do so.

I love you enough to not give you everything you want,

But give you only what you truly need.

I love you enough to set limits,

Even if you don't always understand the "why" behind them.

I love you enough to set boundaries and rules,

And not let you go into dangerous territory.

I love you enough to let you make more decisions as you grow and mature,

Those decisions will help you deal with life as an adult.

I love you enough to set high expectations for you,

Such as in the way you treat me, your dad, each other and others around you.

I love you enough to teach you manners,

And expect you to use them.

I love you enough to give you your space,

And not try to micro-manage your life.

I love you enough to let you be you,

And not try to make you what I think you should be.

I love you enough to teach you about God and Jesus,

And pray that you see both of them in me.

I love you enough to take you to Bible classes and worship,

And not let things in the world come before God and Jesus.

I love you enough to read the Bible with you and pray with you,

And not leave it to Bible class teachers, the youth minister, or the preacher.

And finally, I love you enough to let you go - little by little -
Knowing that you are growing into what God want you to be.