All I have within me...

This past Sunday we had the opportunity to worship with our friends at their church in Mt. Sterling, Ky. Unfortunately at this time the name of the church escapes me, but it is a great church!
Anyway, during the worship time we were singing "Lord I Give You My Heart!"

This is my desire

To honour You

Lord, with all my heart

I worship You

All I have within me

I give You praise

All that I adore

Is in You

CHORUS:

Lord, I give You my heart

I give You my soul

I live for You alone

Every breath that I take

Every moment I'm awake

Lord, have Your way in me
© 1995 Hillsongs Australia

It is my all time favorite song. The worship leader took a few minutes in between singing the song to share what the Lord was impressing on his heart at the time. The basics of that message was this; "Even when all you have left is the breath that you breath, all that you have left is your heart, all you have left to give to God is as small as a mustard seed of faith, 'It's MORE than ENOUGH for God!" After he shared there was something that broke spiritually. I know for me, I realized that yes there are times that all I have to give is that last breath. God wants all of us, all of our time, all of our heart, all of our lives, every aspect - He wants to be apart of. Not just the parts of our lives we are willing to lay down. He is a HUGE God and He wants it all. So when at times I am at my weakest point He wants to be the strength I rely on. When I am at my darkest hour ~ He wants to be the Light that fills the darkness. When I am at my happiest ~ He wants to be part of that Joy.
Personally I have been struggling in a few areas. Physically with my knees and the lack of mobility that entails. Thankfully I can say I am getting better. I mean last week I went tubing with my kids! Oh let me tell you I am paying for it physically this week. But I haven't stopped. I can't I have 4 kids, a husband, a house to run and lets not forget my responsibilities at church.... SO yes if you ask me ~ I am hurting but I am not quiting. I have been battling depression but I am getting the victory over that too! You see, God is my strength and even when all I have left to give is as small as a grain of a mustard seed (Matt 17:20) I can tell this mountain that stands before me to move and it will. It may not move the way I want it to but if God is in charge I can trust Him for the outcome!

Good to be home!

Finally we are home. Honestly to go on vacation takes so much work before and after. Thankfully I was able to do some laundry while in TN so I only have a small load to do but I have all the suit cases to unpack...UGH!

Saturday we left TN traveled through the Smokey Mountains National Park, through Gaitlinburg and then headed back to KY with our friends. We stopped and got some fantastic pictures of the mountains before we left!

We visited our friends church on Sunday morning. It is so nice to be able to visit and enjoy Sunday morning worship without being responsible for what needs to be done. Don't get me wrong we love being in the ministry and we love to serve our church and people in general but sometimes you need a break to just "be"! Sunday morning we were able to just "be" and boy did God pour into us through the message.

Just taking a break with some nice cold cranberry juice! (I do not drink so no it's not wine!)

Actually we started our vacation, stressed, drained, and through the last few days God has released, refreshed, restored and rejuvenated both of us. It is good to go and take a break, get away and just be without any expectations placed on us.

After church yesterday we headed towards Lexington Ky and spent time with some other good friends. In fact was it not for Angie I would never have met Sean! 14 years ago I met Angie at the student center on Morehead State University campus. She was getting info. out about Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship and I was getting signed up for classes and taking care of financial stuff for college. She says God woke her up and told her to be there that morning so we both know God orchestrated that devine meeting that day. Thank you again Angie for being obedient to the Lord's wake up call! God used you to change my life in a dramatic way!

We spent the night with Angie, Will and their son Cameron. Cameron was just diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder so it was neat to see how he and Kris would get along. They did wonderfully! It was so nice to spend time with good friends. We played miniture golf (the kids and Sean-my knees are still recooping form the tubing trip).

Then we ate at a placed called Cici's Pizza. YUM! They had the best spinach pizza and the hot wings pizza was fantastic! I could have stuffed myself on those two pizzas alone. We had great food great conversation and just a great time with some wonderful friends!

Tubing pictures...

My Dad

Yesterday, while we were tubing and having a great time, we got a call from my mom and my sister and then a few emails from my sister-n-law that there had been an accident. It about flipped me out when I got the calls saying Dad is in the hospital and is going into surgery...call home!

My Dad who will be 61 this year was working as he always does (the man doesn't know how to take a real vacation...always working), was up on a ladder about 4 feet up and something let loose and he fell one way as the ladder fell another. He ended up landing full force on his knee and from the X-rays and C-Scan he shattered the lateral tibial horn. The surgeon had to piece is back together, do a bone graft and then put a plate in there to hold it all together. The poor guy is going to be off his leg for 8-12 weeks. I feel terrible for him becuase I know the type of pain he is in. Having screws placed in your bone is not fun. Although my knee surgery was different I know the pain is still the same...it hurts bad!

I talked to him this morning, I could tell he was on the verge of tears and my dad doesn't cry that often or at least he doesn't let us see it. I am so grateful that my Mom had my three brothers, their wives, my sister and her husband all there to support her during yesterday's events. Thank you guys, I know Mom really needed you guys...wish I could be there right now too!

My brothers - Bryan, Chris and Ron

Jeanette & her husband Neil

My Dad means the world to me. He has been a solid figure in my life! My parents married young (Dad was 21 and Mom was 14) and yes you read that right. I was a surprise and Mom always says, a nice surprise. They will be married 39 years this Oct. You go Mom and Dad!

So Dad who works even on his vacations (building a vacation home in West Liberty, KY) is going to be off his feet for a while. Not sure who is going to be more crazy, my Dad or my Mom! Mom hang in there if you have to wheel him into the garage and leave him there in his "workshop" it might be a good break for you! LOL!

Please keep my Dad and my Mom in prayer. He needs healing and she is going to need strength to deal with him being cooped up! Also pray for financial blessings. My Dad is self employed and there for does not have workman's comp and they have no insurace. Please pray for healing, financial blessings and stregnth for both. Thanks everyone!~

Tubing down Pigeon River

This is not our group!

AHHHHH! Today was a lazy day! We have had such a beautiful, relaxing day! This morning we woke up late, fixed our van...radiator was leaking....YIKES! ..... Fixed now though! Thank Goodness! Then we gathered our kids in the van and the Shorts and the Kelly's headed to River Romp Tubing. We were blessed with not having to pay for the twins, 4 and under were free but they had to sit on our laps. Which made it interesting to say the least! I had Sara on my lap and before we even got 5 feet into the river we were topsy turvy and flipped right out. That was it for Sara she did not want to do that again. But at that point there was NO turning back. We had 2.5 miles of river to take on!

I have to share that 4 months ago when we were invited to go with the Shorts on this wonderful vacation my hearts desire was to be able to go tubing down the river with the kids. Honestly 2 weeks ago, it wasn't going to happen. My knees were in NO SHAPE for what we did today! But something wonderful has happened. Not only did my orthopedic surgeon give me better anti-inflammatory meds but I also started synvisc injections into my left knee. With those meds, prayer and God reaching down and touching my knees, in the last two days I have given up the crutches, the cain and I WENT TUBING!!! HOW AWESOME IS MY GOD! He knew it was my hearts desire to experience this with my kids, I remember tubing in Cherokee, NC with my parents when I was younger and it was one of the best memories I have of our family vacations. God granted me my hearts desire today! Thank you Jesus!

SO the tubing experience was great. Jaron, Kris, Eli and Sean got to see a beaver. We floated by cows, birds bugs galore. Sara and I flipped our tube at least 4 times, once it was up to my neck. I don't even want to think about what was under my feet. It was a sludge mud and it was so smelly....But I have to say despite the flips and Sara holding on to me for dear life (it was such a lazy river 90% of the time, we had to use a stick in some places to get us moving), we had a fantastic time. Fun was had by all!

Jaron was in charge of our water proof camera so who knows what kind of pictures he got. I was able to take two pictures of him and Kris on their tubes. Once I have them developed I will be posting them, you better believe it!

How do you repay your friends for blessing you with a wonderful vacation???

Pictures say a thousand words...

Like promised here are a few pictures of our scenery and relaxing by the pool! Enjoy!

Here are those posters that are friends surprised us with!

Now some fun pool pictures. Doesn't Sean look relaxed in this nice hot tub!

The kids have enjoyed the pool! Here are two pictures of our friends, their kids and ours having a great time!

Tomorrow we will be tubing down a river. I am not sure if I will go or not we will see what tomorrow brings. I do have to say, I am feeling great! My knees although are not perfect are feeling pretty good! Thank goodness for better meds! God does work through medication! My knees are proof of that! Stay posted for more fun pictures!

AHHHHH....

Oh the beauty of the Tennessee Mountains....Just breath taking. So peaceful here. I can't tell you how blessed we are! Our best friends Mike and Marty have gone above and beyond in blessing us with this beautiful cottage they paid for, for our vacation! What a nice relaxing place to just soak in the air, sun and good times with great friends. I will be taking more pictures ad then will post later tonight. So much fun here! We so badly need this vacation. Our friends are such blessings to us. We arrived and as soon as we came in the door we saw posters with scriptures about refilling restoration and replenishing. Then our friends told Sean and I to sit down, they washed our feet. Never had that done before, very humbling! They then prayed for us to have a blessed and time of relaxing and restoration.

Here are a few pictures of the place we are staying at. But I will post pictures I took later tonight. Right now we are heading to the pool!!! and HOT TUB just what the doctor ordered!

This is what our cottage looks like. Ours is not on the side of a mountain but we do have a pretty nice view when the sun rises over the mountains.

This is the main buildings. Lots of places to stay all very nice! It's a time share place called Sunrise Ridge in Pigeon Forge, TN.
This morning, we here a knock at the door and Mike is standing there, "Crispy Creme Donut delivery." Dropped off a dozen donuts and disappeared! They were warm and creamy! YUMMY!

Results of Assessment

SO we went to SIU this morning. Kristofer was a very chatty boy today. Unfortunately the Child Development & Behavioral Specialist had a very difficult time understanding him. As did I. The results basically were inconclusive. Basically today's assessment was to see if he qualified for the next level of evaluations. The results are that Kris is in need of further evaluations. So sometime in Aug. we will get a call about the appointment time in the fall. Since it is a college research/treatment facility they schedule the evaluations by semester.
All in all we are very positive about the appointment today. We feel validated that there is something unique about Kristofer. It helps us know that we haven't been reading into his behavior and looking for something that isn't there.
We have been told so many times that "we are reading into things, that he is a normally developing child, he is fine, he's just a boy, he's just hyper, you need to discipline him more, you need to stop babying him." This just proves what we have always known that he is special! So we will go for the next level of evals and deal with what ever is found through the different assessments and observations. What ever the results it doesn't matter to us, Kristofer is the best kid in the world...as are the other 3 kiddos in this house!