Teacher Joy's Precious Ponies...

A few weeks back I had lunch with Corbin & his class at Rainbow Bible School (it was his birthday & we were celebrating!)...it really was a blast to see all the sweet, precious little kids interact...here's some of the photos I took while I was there...

I'll take the 2 shots in my derrière, please....

If you happen to have noticed, I haven't posted in a while...I have been sick with what I affectionately call "the junk"...and since your junk may be different than my junk, I'll explain: it's when you need the coughing-stuffy-head-fever-so-you-can-rest-medicine (by Vicks, of course)!...

I have been pretty much bed-ridden (or as much as I can with a 4 & 3 year old) for about a week now...but yesterday I'd had quite enough...and since I was thoroughly convinced that the junk had turned into bronchitis, I begged the neighbor to have mercy on me so that I could sit in an after-hours clinic (for hours) and you'll never believe what I was diagnosed with?!?...a SINUS infection!!!...ok, so I say to the dr "you realize that your sinuses are right here (pointing to my head and I hurt right here (pointing to my chest)...so HOW IN THE WORLD could it be a SINUS INFECTION?????" She very nicely explained that the stuff going on in my chest was from inflamation...uhhh-huhhh...ok...whatever...as long as I get some drugs to make it all stop, I'm cool...

The next thing she said to me blew me away, "I could give you a steroid shot and an antibiotic shot to give you a little boost...do you think you'd be interested in that???"... I wanted to reply to her "Woman, are you CRAZY??? I'm trying to be supermom while my husband is deployed and take care of myself as well as take care of a 4 year old and 3 year old who happen to be feeling like mess also (I'll get into that in a minute) and who are making the phrase "ankle-biters" seem like an understatement...OF COURSE I WANT THE DRUGS!!!"

By this point, I'm salivating...thinking of all the things that I'd be able to accomplish the next day, how I could finally get my bottom off the couch and maybe do some laundry or dishes...how I LOVE this doctor so much more than my regular doctor b/c mine never offers the extra little "boost"...giveme, giveme, giveme!!!!! So, I got the shots, as well as an RX for 10 days of horse pills twice a day (ok, maybe I don't like her so much after all...).

I say all this to tell you that I'm on the mend, and I have lots of pictures I need to get posted and will hopefully do this in the next couple of days...in the meantime, the little "boost" she gave me so far has done nothing...except make my derrière sore.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to go back to my kiddos...both of them have had the junk as long as I have (but they haven't run any fever)...so, b/c I feel like a bad mom for not taking them to the doctor yet and b/c I was convinced that I DIDN'T have a sinus infection, but yet I did, I am going to be a good mom and take them both in tomorrow morning... Please pray for an extra measure of grace as I loathe taking the kiddos to the doctor...you see, it's not only the part where I try to make them sit still for a couple of hours, but there's just so many germs up there (I'm not a huge germ-a-phobe, but I have my moments)...plus, there's a nasty stomach virus going around and I really, really, really don't want us to get it and I'm sure the vomit-and-diarrhea-germs are in abundance up there...I know, I know...whine, whine whine...guess I should get some cheese out, huh?

On another note, there is a recent post from my sweet hubby, Kelly, so check that out, too... On Friday we'll be officially half-way there!!!! Don't try to calculate dates--this is just like anything--my best estimate on the round-about time that I think we might all be a family again...
Candace

My Mat ...from Kelly in Qatar...

Greeting from the Deid

The weather here has really been turning cooler. It's bearable almost all the time now. It still reaches 100 every once in a while but not much.

We are almost to the half way point of this excursion and I can tell that I am really just going with the flow. The newness and excitement wore off a long time ago. I still believe in what we are doing over here, protecting the people of the US, our men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the good law respecting citizens of those countries and our allies around the world. And I still enjoy my job. But everyday seems the same for the most part.

So I'll tell you about what is new, my perspective on a few things. I had mentioned to Candace several times throughout our marriage that I did not really feel like I knew how to read the bible. I know how to read of coarse, but I mean where to read, how much to read and where to start reading. Being a fairly new Christian and not hearing those stories growing up and having no foundation to build on I often feel lost in that part of my faith. I often thought if I could read the bible cover to cover once I would have a better understanding and at least a basic knowledge of the entire thing and how it was laid out. I tried a few times to do this with little success. So for Christmas last year Candace bought me a one year chronological bible. It is set up in daily reading chunks and proportioned so that you can read the whole bible in a year. So I started on January 1st of this year and am still going strong. I am finally to the New Testament and I have noticed a few things about reading the bible this way.

I came to the story in Mark 2, Matthew 9, and Luke 5 of the paralytic being lowered through the roof and healed by Jesus. Here is what struck me about this story that I think came because of the way I was reading. Because the bible I'm reading is laid out in chronological order, I read all 3 accounts one right after another. I heard Jesus say something to me that I had never heard in this story before.

He told the people there who doubted that he could forgive sin, "which is easier, to forgive sin or to say to this man, pick up your mat and walk out of here healed?" He then told the man to do just that and he did, and the people were astounded at what they saw and they praised God.

The only thing I came away with the first few times that I heard this story was that Jesus did this, healed this man to prove to the people there that he was who he said he was and he had the authority to do the things he said he could do. Forgive sin. And he does, and he did.

But I heard something else as well. Jesus wants to heal us, wants to heal me. He wants to heal my heart and heal my soul so that I can pick up my mat and walk with him. He wants to heal the things that keep me paralyzed when I should be doing something or saying something or praying or listening. He forgives my sin, and then heals the brokenness that comes from it. And he will continue to heal me and tell me and you to get up and walk...with him.

This has been my prayer lately, that I would be not only forgiven but healed. And it is my prayer for all of you as well.

God bless, Kelly