Sarah's Birthday Came and Went

and I just realized I never blogged about her like I did the rest of the kids. Things got a little crazy some time in April, and it hasn't slowed down. Brent did blog about each of the kids recently, and I think he described each of the kids marvelously. Rather than going back through it all, I thought I would just put a link to his blog about Sarah. So here it is.

She is such an amazing little girl. I am so glad that God gave her to us! She makes us all smile A LOT!!!

I'm sorry I missed a post on her birthday, but we did have a nice evening of ice cream and a trip to the park. It was beautiful outside that night, and we just enjoyed the evening. She is three, and I cannot believe three years has passed. Where does the time go?

Like a swarm of Locusts . . . a welcome swarm!

To give a quick update on Brent's back, he is doing better, but he is still in pain and cannot lift much of anything. He can walk, which is a huge praise. He had a massage this week, provided by one of the people who attends our church (Thank you so much!) and he saw the doctor yesterday and will be seeing a specialist in a couple weeks. In the meantime, he is supposed to take it as easy as he can, which is hard, but he is doing it. The pain forces him to have to slow down. But life goes on and things still have to get done.

So tonight we were about 30 minutes from leaving to go and set up for church when we got a phone call from a man who has been so great to come from another church each week to help set up, and he usually brings some other people to come. We were counting on him tonight, and Brent had also gotten a call from a couple other friends who offered to help, so we had a couple extras, but we were down a couple also, as Bill is out of town this weekend, and Eric is not here. Anyway, the call at 6:00 was Rick apologizing because he had forgotten to tell us, but he was in Mexico on a mission trip and was just crossing the border back into California, and there was no way he would be here in time to help us. Brent got off the phone and we started trying to figure out what to do since he can't really lift anything, and now there would only be one other man and two women, and James and Jason, who can be very helpful but aren't always!!! Brent made four phone calls. The first - there was no answer; the second - there was an answer but he was at work; the third said he could come but he would be late but he would try to find some others; the fourth said he could come and would bring a few teens to help. We headed off to the facility to get started. Matt and Becky showed up pretty quickly and Becky and I got busy moving all the gymnastics equipment away while Matt and James unloaded stuff from the storage unit and brought it around to the gym. Pretty soon another man showed up and jumped right in. Then a couple showed up. Then a couple more adults. Then the youth pastor with about 8 teens/young adults and another adult. There were people EVERYWHERE to help us, almost more than we could to give instructions to. It was absolutely overwhelming (in the best sense of the word)!!! I cannot begin to thank all of them and to thank God for once again providing and meeting our needs. I am excited to see what tomorrow holds - maybe nothing new, but maybe something great! Who knows?

Thanks for all your prayers for Brent's back. It was a long week. Sarah ran a fever most of the week, from Sunday until Thursday. David had a fever for a short time on Thursday and then again on Friday, but he was never as sick as Sarah. James was home from school one day sick. I am loooking forward to a week of healthy children and hopefully a husband who is more mobile than last week! Right now I am just praying that he gets through tomorrow morning as I know the pain is pretty bad.

Brent's back

Last night we were setting up at church and Brent messed his back up pretty bad. For those of you who do not know, he has had back problems off and on. A few years ago, his back gave out in Bartlesville and he was in bed for at least a week. I can't remember exactly how long it was now. We saw a neurosurgeon in Bartlesville whose opinion was that he should wait as long as possible for surgery but that ultimately he will need it one day. His dad had back surgery a few years ago, so it seems that it is genetic. The doctor in Bartlesville said he has the back of a fifty year old, plus he has two degenerated discs. So last night while we were setting up for church, he did something while lifting. After we were done setting up, we came home and he took a muscle relaxer and laid down. We woke up at 5:00 a.m. to get ready for church, he and absolutely could not stand without excrutiating pain - pain enough that it brought tears to his eyes. We were a little stressed to say the least. Eric's last Sunday was last week ,and while he probably would have come to help, he was/is in Seattle so he could not. We don't have anyone in our group that we know of who can teach, especially at the very last minute. We already knew that another "retired" pastor friend who has taught at Kaleo before was leading worship at his home church, so we were really at a loss. We thought we might show something of Craig Groeshel - what an amazing man who is willing to let others use resources from lifechurch.tv at no cost - but when we went to download it, it showed that it would take too long to download, so that option was out. So, we called our coach and friend, David, at 5:30 a.m. I got in the shower and started praying that if I was going to have to talk, God would give me something to say and settle my anxiety over all that was going on in our lives, all the time really praying that God would just fix the situation or make me sick also!!! My nerves were shot. But God provided! I received a phone call at 7:15 from a man at David's church who stated he would be willing to come and speak. He had just delivered a message at his church that fits with the new series Brent was starting today. What a willing servant - to come and give of himself at such late notice. We are so grateful for people who are just willing to say yes when God calls them to something. He got up and introduced himself and stated that he is not a great speaker. All I could think was that God was using him despite what he thinks are weaknesses, just because he was willing to go when called! So we made it through the morning, and all I had to do was stand up and tell everyone where my husband was and give a couple announcements. Yay!!!

Please pray that Brent's back would start feeling better quickly and that we would know what steps to take next. Surgery right now seems like bad timing, but when is good timing? I would rather he get to feeling better and get some exercise and see if it can just wait a little longer, though.

Ready for School to End!!!

I am SOOOOO ready for school to end! I love the lack of schedule that we have to have when we are on summer break. I love waking up late and staying up late! I love not having to go to school functions! I love not having homework!!! I'm thankful that there is school to force me to be on a schedule and help the children with important disciplines that they need, but I'm glad we have three months off from the schedule!!!

This week has been incredibly busy. James school is having a book fair and Jason's school is having open house, which is a BIG deal, at least this year, as it is the first year for this school to be open. I have gotten myself very busy helping with parent club things, which is fun but exhausting also. So I have been working to sell raffle tickets and prepare for the raffle we will be having at Jason's open house in the morning, and going to James school to sell books in the afternoon. David and Sarah have been placed on the back burner this week, which is okay every now and then, but still hard for them. Brent has been able to be home working while they have been napping so I could go to the schools. I love it that my kids want me around and in their classes and I figure I should enjoy that. Some moms are not as blessed in this way! And it is a great opportunity for me to see the environment that they spend much of their day in and to see them around their peers. They make me very proud! They both have nice friends and a good group of them, and they are both living out their faith in a place that can be very difficult, especially James! It's been a huge transition for them, but they have done very, very well!!!

All of this busyness in my life is my reason for not blogging lately. I wll get back in the swing of things soon, but right now this is what is important, and the fact that I am tired at night but still need to cook dinner, clean a house and complete casework doesn't make for much blogging! However, after the last three comments on my previous post, I thought I better get something on here! It did make me laugh!! Thanks Dalene and Marci! I miss you guys - all of my Oklahoma friends! Can't wait to see you in June! Another great reason why I like for school to be out!