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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Today was a very tough day....

Kids are arguing, being disobedient, and disrespectful to me and to each other.  I have done A LOT of yelling this week.  We did get a few chapters of reading done for schoolwork today in between the madness.  Monkey flooded the guest bathroom and completely soaked/flooded the carpet in the hallway.  It took me an hour with the carpet steamer to suction up most of the water.  And another 30 minutes to clean up the bathroom and wring out all the soaked heavy towels he used to try and clean it up himself.  Not to mention the hours it will take me to wash the added loads of laundry :(.  And that was just TODAY.  Monday we had a great day..a fun filled day at Legoland for a field trip.  Then Tuesday hit.  Both kids were tired and cranky.  My daughter had a dentist appt.  Right before leaving for the dentist appt., my son decides to throw a massive tantrum and freak out.  So he was crying and screaming bloody murder during the car ride to the dentist while my daughter was freaking out about going to the dentist in the seat right next to him.  After 20 minutes of trying to calm her down at the dentists, we had to reschedule for next week.

Then I get a message from my Mom to call her back and it's not good news.  I already knew...it was going to be about my cousin.  My cousin, N, was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in May.  It had already spread to his bones and his brain.  He was told chemotherapy would prolong his life up to 6 months.  He passed away yesterday afternoon at 4pm Hawaii time, 6pm my time.  At 6pm yesterday, I was at my sons cub scout den meeting having fun decorating pumpkins and chit chatting with the other parents.  At 6pm yesterday, I was enjoying life and thanking God for His blessings.  At 6pm yesterday my Aunt walked into my cousins room to find her son passed away.  At 6pm yesterday my cousins wife was told her husband, her soul mate, her best friend, was dead.  My cousin N is about 15 years older than me.  The Pacific Ocean always separated us.  Yet I have very fond memories of him, his wife, his two sisters and their families.  N and his wife always made time for me and my sister whenever we were in Hawaii.  N took us out in his fishing boat to go snorkelling every time we were in Hawaii.  He would go fishing several times during our vacation because he knew that my sister and I LOVED all kinds of seafood.  He would cook everything for us!  And it was SOOOOOO delicious!  He made fresh ahi poke, lomi lomi salmon, and sashimi.  Not everyone can make these dishes.  You gotta have skills to make them right.  And he had skills!  This one hits my heart hard.  We were pretty close.  He is the first of my immediate cousins to pass away.

My heart also hurts because I do not know if he believed in God and Jesus Christ.  I prayed for him and his family several times over the last few months.  I wanted to call him and have a conversation with him, but I didn't.  Instead I made him a blanket and sent it to him.  I included a brief note saying that as i made each tie along the fringe of the blanket, I said a prayer to God for him and his family.  I told him how my daughter, his 5 yo niece tied the last 5 knots and said her own prayers for him, a person she had never met.  Her 5 prayers were as follows:

1- That God heals his body
2- That he knows that Jesus is his Savior
3- That he knows that Jesus loves him
4- That he know that I love him
5- That he feels better.

I was hoping that our blanket and the message we wrote him would open his heart to God, if it wasn't already open.  But I fear that I didn't get to him in time.  We sent the blanket out about a week ago.  So my tears shed today were for the loss of my cousin, but also tears of regret and anger at myself for not being brave enough to share God's Word with him and his family sooner.  I can only hope and pray that God took care of that for me and my cousin in His Time and His Way. 

After all the craziness with my son this week and the news of my cousins passing,  I feel physically and spiritually depleted.  So I am taking the rest of the week off.  No school work, no co-op classes, no gymnastics classes, no volunteering.  Just time in prayer, time in God's Word, and time with family.  Afterall, aren't those the most important things in life?

Now that all the "bad" stuff is out....let me not forget to mention the "good" stuff.  Even in tough times God still continues to bless me and my family.

His Love Covers Me Blanket Ministries received another request for 100 little kids blankets for Operation Christmas Child through Maranatha Chapel a few days ago.  When we got this request, we were totally out of fabric.  We had used all the fabric we had to complete 100 blankets for Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego just the week before.  On Sunday, my family bought enough fabric to make 40 of the blankets.  I told God, I know He will provide the rest.  And He did!  Through the generosity of Kalin and Angel Blanket Ministries (www.AngelBlanketMinistries.org) .  She sent us enough fabric to cover the remaining 60 blankets and then some!  I came home yesterday afternoon to see two HUGE boxes on my front door step.  And all the prints she sent are exactly the right kind of colors and themes we need...all kids ones!  God is amazing in how HE provides exactly what is needed and the exact right time.  These blankets need to be made and turned in the beginning of November!  So we have just the right amount of time to get the completed.  Whooohoooo!

Praise God that our home in Austin, TX finally sold and the closing date was on Monday!  And the money is already in the bank.  Now we can use the money we used to pay out in mortgage to tithe more to church, to spend more on donating to various causes, to save for the future and to fix up a few things around our San Diego home.

Praise God for the 3% raise my husband received for this coming year.  In an economy such as ours and in a industry such as what he is in, receiving a considerable raise like this is hard to come by.  Guess that means I now have 3% more to spend on His Love Covers Me Blanket Ministries..yay!

Praise God for my being able to spend a whole weekend worshipping and praising Him with friends from San Diego Bible Church and 9000 other women in Christ at the Beth Moore Livingproof Live event in Long Beach this past weekend.  Hearing 9000 women singing praises to God must have been such a "sweet, sweet, sound" to God's ears in Heaven :).  I know it was an amazing sound to me!  And Beth Moore was her typical uplifting and funny self....GURLFRIEND!  What made it an even more special weekend was the my sister and Mom were able to join me!  That was the first time all three of us attended an event in faith together.


Praise God for the little boy in S. America that my family "adopted" through one of the outreach programs at the Living Proof Live Event.  I can't wait to see what God does with this relationship!

Praise God!  Praise God!  While I know my flesh is weak today, I know GOD will strengthen me tomorrow and everyday after that!

Blessings,
Sandra

Friday, October 5, 2012

HIs Love Covers Me Blanket Ministries

So excited about this!  My friend, F, called me in mid August with a calling in her heart.  She said she wanted to start up a blanket ministry and asked me to help her.  I said "Sure! But I don't sew that well".  She said "Don't worry, we are making no sew polar fleece blankets." 

To say that God is blessing our ministry is a gross understatement.  HE is allowing our ministry to fly and soar in such a fast past that it is AMAZING!  By the end of August we had our first two large requests.  100 blankets for older children at Children's Hospital in San Diego and 30 blankets for little kids at the Salvation Army's Pine Summit Campground.  And when we started to doubt if we could fill both orders, God blessed with a huge monetary donation from a friend of F.

F and I are delivering 30 blankets to Pine Summit tomorrow.  I can't wait!

Our first blanket making event will be this Tuesday, October 9th from 7pm to 9pm at San Diego Bible Church.  www.sandiegobiblechurch.com Can you imagine all the blessings that will come from a group of women gathering to help us make these blankets on Tuesday night?  Oh, I can't wait!  Our women's fellowship group at SDBC has been so supportive of our ministry. 

If you would like to make a donation to our ministry, please contact us through our Facebook page at www.facebook.com\HisLoveCoversMeBlanketMinistries

Here is a list of things we could use:
1- Polar fleece material in 1 yard cuts
2- Gross Grain ribbon in 7/8 or 1 inch widths
3- Monetary donations
4- gift cards to fabric stores like JoAnn's Fabric Store, Yardage Town, or Hancock Fabrics
5- Discount coupons to JoAnn's Fabric Store Yardage Town, or Hancock Fabrics
6- Your time...please come to one of our blanket making events.
7- Your prayers for our ministry to continue growing and for all the people who receive our blankets. 

Thanks!
Sandra

Getting Back to Running

So I am at the end of 5 weeks out of a 12 week Couch to 5K running plan through www.active.com.  The first 4 weeks were pretty easy.  Walk a few minutes, run a few minutes, walk a few minutes, run a few minutes.  Then this week it was walk 5 mins, run 5 mins, for a total of 32 minutes.  Okay, no problem.  Day 2 training for this week was walk 5 mins, run 8 mins and repeat for a total of 31 minutes.  Again, okay...no problemmo.  Then BAM!  Day 3 training was walk 5 minutes, run 20 WHOLE FRIGGIN MINUTES WITHOUT STOPPING, then walk 5 mins for a total of 30 minutes.  The run itself was actually enjoyable.  The Fibromyalgia aftermath this morning however, IS NOT FUN!  Boo!  Can we just say pain sensory overload to the brain receptors?????  Usually I look ahead in the log book to see what the next days training is because I am excited to see what new challenge is coming.  My next run is in 2 days on Sunday...and I am not looking ahead this time.  I am praying that 2 days of rest will be long enough for my body to recover so I can run again on Sunday. 

I wish I could just spend all day relaxing at home, snuggled up in bed watching tv.  Instead we will be heading to Costco in a few minutes, then straight to our homeschool groups monthly Park Day (the kids get to decorate pumpkins..yay!), then to gymnastics lessons, then we are kid sitting a friends son for the evening and having a movie night at home.  At least I get to be out in the sun (always makes me feel better) and get to watch the movie "Battleship" again (my Uncle is in it as an extra..woohoo!).

On top of "normal life" we have added two exciting new adventures to our schedule.  First is a new blanket ministry that I have started with my friend called His Love Covers Me Blanket Ministries.  You can check us out at www.facebook.com\HisLoveCoversMeBlanketMinistries. Second is CUB SCOUTS!  We just signed Monkey up to be a Cub Scout Bear last night.  I can't wait for all the camp outs and fun activities...for him, I mean (hee hee!).  The hubby and I are just as excited as Monkey is to be in Cub Scouts :).