“Then David said to his son Solomon, ‘Be strong and courageous, and act; do not fear not be dismayed, for the Lord God, my God, is with you He will not fail you nor forsake you until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished.'” 1 Chronicles 28:20
Here I am getting down to the final few months of chemo treatment and I am thankful and excited to be done. I had my MRI yesterday and they told me that everything was stable…no changes from last time. Brain tumors are crazy little guys and literally need the hand of God to work in there and I am blessed to have the Lord beside me. And I am thankful to see and experience His presence each day as He holds me up and heals as I need. As I lay down on that MRI table and got shoved into the machine, yesterday it was a 2 hour experience. CRAZY! I was pretty tired after that! The first machine wouldn’t work and so I was moved to a different machine, ha! It was quite a morning with everything going on, but thankful that I got done fast enough to get to soccer at school. Only 4 more chemo months and then I’m done. Just praying for the Lord to hold me up and help me FINISH everything He’s given and to follow the example of Christ and to FINISH WELL! May He be glorified!
Trying to get back into the routine of life after spring break hasn’t been easy. It’s hard because we get into the soccer season for high school and then it’s time to take a week off and then get back and start again. It’s a hard time for the seniors too, because they basically are ready to be done when spring break ends. It makes it crazy at home, school and on the field.
One of the things we had to get done, was getting Garrett’s Senior pictures taken. I am very thankful that we were able to get them in and we headed down to Benton to get some “Urban” looking photos with Krystina Bullard. Very thankful for her taking them and I look forward to seeing the pics! (You can find her on Facebook at K.Bullard Photography)
I was very blessed to celebrate my bday at spring break, but I had to share these breathtaking flowers from my Aunt Carol. Aren’t they beautiful?! What amazes me, I’ve had them for two weeks and they still look GREAT!
One of the crazy things we did two weeks ago…. get a sweet little puppy. OK I know we are nuts, and honestly, most people that know me know I would normally say no. There’s something that happens when you realize that life is short. There’s no guarantee on decades to live, so I knew the kids really wanted another dog. Scott has wanted one two 😉 so, he did some research and we ended up with a golden retriever. It took us DAYS to name him. Hard to get 6 people to vote for the same name. Honestly, Nathan still struggles…but, we went with Samson. I really wanted a name that meant something. Samson is going to have long hair, be strong, look to protect us and be good looking, ha! As we thought about Samson in the Bible, our little puppy could be name Samson and it would be perfect. We call him Sam/Sammy too. He is sweet and he loves being outside. Hardest part is the crate training sleep zone. Mom’s know that when you have a baby you are just waiting for them to make noise, so you don’t sleep well. What were we thinking????? Nathan loves his baby “brother.”
Abbey, Ashton and Garrett are refs at church for Upward Soccer. They are loving the opportunity to watch kids play – with little pressure! It’s fun for them to see their friends and to be able to enjoy kids and families on Saturday mornings. We headed up with Samson last week and he was a hit! Tried to get the boys back there to join the pic, including Garrett, but not as photo happy! Nathan was busy working on his water science experiment when we got back from Spring Break. We were thankful we got it done.
I have been very blessed by my girls this year. It’s been a harder year, just fun to see these ladies develop and to get to know some new ones. With my brain thought slower this year, there’s been a lot of stuff that I’ve forgotten or haven’t done how I would’ve wanted. But, God has been good to give me help and great captains and a gracious team to keep me laughing and focused on helping them improve. The girls were sweet to pick pink as their game day shirt color (my girl color). Please continue to pray that the ladies stay feeling good and we have no injuries.
One of the blessings for me is knowing a lot of the girls that play at other schools (club soccer ties) and some of the coaches. I have been blessed to be given gifts and encouragement from other schools. Some of my favorite things about this year will for sure be all these memories and prayers from so many. Some of the coaches got together and got these socks made for the girls and Cabot’s coach has been such a great prayer warrior and coach friend to me. I am thankful the Lord put Kerry here at this time…He knows what I need. The socks will be great socks for the girls for the future. I hope they will remind them that there is always HOPE if we are FOCUSED on Fighting with and behind the Lord – He is my Warrior and has allowed me to become a Warrior He can use to lead and draw others to himself. How can I not be just so blessed?!
One of the things we have done as a team, is hopefully encourage younger students with what they desire to do. We were able to go to a couple elementary schools and I wanted to share a couple pics from one of the schools. It’s good for the girls to be able to speak in front of people and invest in lives growing up.
I don’t share much about my teaching day. I teach film to 10th-12th grade students. Now I know you are wondering if I’ve made a movie or why I’m teaching this. Well, my broadcasting degree and two years of television anchoring gives me the opportunity to teach “television” classes. I wish with all that’s gone on, I had been able to do more this summer and get some more stuff organized…but, the Lord has given me great students and we love to learn and spend time together. Who knows how many of these students will choose to be in this profession, but hopefully they will learn some professional things and personal things while they hangout with me. I am also blessed with my fresh fruit juice from the Humphrey family, she teaches here at the high school. And my students get to see LOVE in action. The juice is GREAT!
There are so many students in my life that have grown up and continue to get older and they make me feel older….. how does that happen? I have been blessed to hangout with teens since I was first married and I must like it so much I’m still here! But these ladies are on fire for the Lord and I love to see how the Lord is choosing to use them on their college campuses…and how he will in a future marriage!
I am so looking forward to Easter and celebrating all that the Lord has done for us by saving His people and offering eternal life with Him through what Christ did for us on the cross. He didn’t have to… but His love is so great for us, that He was willing to die in order for us to experience His heart and spend time with Him. I pray that your Easter experience is wonderful and you are able to really experience HIM. Nothing else compares.
He has held me and brought so much into my life through these experiences and I am blessed and thankful!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
I start my chemo Tonight. Please pray for continued healing, for the Lord to continue to keep my body feeling good and for good rest and focus. There’s a lot going on in the next 6 weeks and I need to be ready to go.
Pray that I’m able to organize all the kids summer trips for the summer, graduation events, soccer season and banquet….Abbey and Ashton’s 16th Golden Bday. It’s a lot to organize and I’m going to need get stuff done!
❤️❤️❤️