Urgent Prayer Request

I'm posting today to ask prayer for my niece Karen Coleman. She is expecting her first biological child and is having some serious complications. The following is taken from an e-mail from her husband:

We found out that Karen has a high risk of pre-term labor because her cervix is half as thick as it should be. Her cervix is closed tight, but is much thinner then it should be at this stage of pregnancy. The doctor said that she did nothing to cause it. These things just happen. She is at 22.5 weeks and our first goal is 24 weeks. At that point the doctor said we would have a 60% chance of survival. Every day and every week we can keep the bun in the oven is extremely valuable.

The doctor implied that we are not going to make it 40 week, but that is the miracle we are praying for. The cervix is a muscle and can thicken back up some. Karen is going to be getting a Progesterone shot once a week in hopes that will help hold off the labor.
Karen spent the first two months on the couch because she was so sick. Now the doctor is ordering her back to the couch. Last time, if she felt good for a few hours, we could go do something. Now she has to stay still no matter how she feels. I told the doctor that tonight was date night & she said that date night was going to consist of the kids leaving and us on the couch together watching a movie.

She told us that all the sitting could cause a risk of blood clots. I asked if Karen could slowly walk the driveway. She said, “I don’t know how long your drive is, but no.”

We are also going to really miss church. The doctor said we needed to make child care arrangements because Karen is not allowed to lift the kids. She said I have to live as a single dad for “hopefully” 18 weeks.

Some of the craziness in the paragraph above should ease up if the cervix were to thicken. We can not tell you how much we appreciate your prayers. We are human and at times we have a tendency to ask God, “why”. It is hard for us to understand why it would be His will for us to feel so stressed out, worn down, and overall drained.

We know that God has received glory through our hard times. We are surrendered to His will and hope He can find a way to get glory through this chapter of our lives as well.

Please help us pray for a healthy birth of our baby girl and that we (Including Debbie, Karen's Mom) will be able to properly manage the stress and worry that we are going to be dealing with.

God is good all the time and as crazy as this may sound, He continues to bless us more then we could ever deserve. He has provided all of our needs and many of our wants.

Justin's TWO Senior Proms

Well, we are finally past the weekend of what I lovingly called "Prom-A-Thon 2009!"

Justin had his senior Spring Formal with our homeschool group on Friday night. It's always THE event of the year, and all the high school kids look forward to it. They have line dancing classes and ballroom lessons for most of the year, leading up to this event.

It's very different from a public school prom, as Justin found out this year! The kids are all friends, they all know everyone, so it's like a great big party where everyone just has a blast. And moms and dads can come, too! Which is always fun!!!

But it looks like this year will be our last one for a little while, at least until Clayton gets into the teen group. Unless, of course, they ask me to do the photos again next year...we'll wait and see.

Anyway, Justin got his outfit all coordinated with his friend, Cayce, who accompanied him. And they looked so nice together, and had such a great time, too.

Here's a couple photos from the Friday night event:

There was an after-party, and Justin finally got home sometime around 3 a.m. Saturday. He was pretty tired, but got up to go do some errands with Dad, grabbed some lunch and then started to get ready for another prom!

He was escorting a girl from church to her senior prom at one of the local high schools. And it was at the very same location he had been to the night before! That was pretty neat.

They have a tradition that they all meet at a park close by the high school to take pictures. It was a CRAZY mess there! Here's a photo of PART of the crowd:

We were very thankful that he could wear the same outfit for both events! Since he owns his tux, all he had to do was buy an all black shirt and get his tux dry cleaned, and we were set!

Nine of the kids went in together on the cost of a limo, very cool for Justin since he'd never been in one before. They went to Knoxville to dinner at a place I've been DYING to go to...Wasabi! He said it was awesome food, and they had a great time watching the chef cook it there in front of them. It's like dinner and a show!! :) He said they stopped at Wal Mart on their way back to the prom...for a bag of marshmallows!!! I'm sure they made quite a site, all piling in and out of that limo and traipsing through the store in their formal wear!

Since I wasn't involved with the photos for this one, I couldn't take any pictures of Justin actually there, but I'm hoping his date has some for me at some point! There was another after-party, and he got home around 3 a.m. but HE DID get up and go to church!! There was no question about that!!

We all were looking forward to a long nap on Sunday afternoon, and it was rainy and cool, just perfect sleeping weather. I'm glad this weekend is over, and now we can move on and focus on finishing up school work, there's field day and a graduation party, then the big day!!! Not much longer now.

It's been twenty years since...

Once upon a time, in a far away desert land, a prince married a troll! No, not really, I wasn't a troll, but you certainly were a handsome prince that came and rescued me from that scary big city! And now we've lived....happily ever after? Well, yeah, for the most part.

We've been through so much together...we've said goodbye to a baby we never got to meet, we've buried your mother, we've laid to rest my grandparents.

We've changed addresses 10 times, we've changed hairstyles, waist sizes, churches and friends. We have laughed, cried, screamed, and giggled together. There have been misunderstandings, hugs, tears, and smiles. And through it all, one thing has been constant: YOU LOVE ME!

I could never have imagined on this date, 20 years ago, that I could ever love you more than I did at that moment. And now I look back and marvel that I didn't even really know what love was? I really didn't know you, did I?

You have been more to me than I can ever hope to become to you. You have stood beside me through many dark places, and walked with me through the sunshine. And I cannot imagine my life without you in it! I LOVE YOU, Joe!! Happy Anniversary, and may God give us at LEAST 20 more together!!!!

I'm too young to be doing this...aren't I?

This past weekend was a very, um...difficult time for me. I say difficult, but do not mean HARD in the sense that I couldn't do it. It was just somewhat of a reality check for me...my BABY is growing up!

There, I said it!

Justin's becoming a man, an adult, changing out of this whole "homeschooled teenager" into a college-bound young adult! And I'M NOT READY!!! I mean, seriously, when did this all happen? I just gave birth to him about 3 years ago, didn't I? There's no possible way that he's old enough to be scouting colleges and thinking about military careers and talking about moving on to the next phase of his life.

I just want to find the key to this speeding roller coaster and TURN IT OFF!

But alas, there is no stopping LIFE, and so we made the trip to Lee University for their "Lee Days" and boy, was it a wonderful time! It was just Justin and I, which rarely happens anymore, and we had made plans to spend the night down there, even though it's close enough to have driven back and forth. Staying in a hotel gave us a chance to do a little more talking and visiting later on Friday night, and it made our morning more relaxed.

We began Lee Days with a tour of the campus, which is absolutely gorgeous. And we had a sweet little tour guide named Kelsey, who Justin informed me was a hottie! Hm, I didn't know that!!

After walking and walking, and...walking...we finally got back to the truck to unload our arms of the free stuff they had given us, then we hooked up with his other friends that were there, and toured the freshman guys dorm, which is where we took this photo. It smelled like...a guys dorm! And the girls were totally grossing out! It was hilarious!

That night, there was a big party in the arena, where they gave us all the pizza, Krystal hamburgers (or White Castle's, for all you Yankee readers), and Taco Bell tacos we could eat, as well as chips, sodas, and candy! ALL FREE, which was awesome, since we're on a "less-than-shoe-string" budget! They gave away an IPod, a Wii game system, and lots of college shirts and things like that.

THEN, it was off to yet another activity. Justin opted to go to the open gym "Chill Out" while his friends and I went to the drama department's production of "An Ideal Husband." It was very good, I just wish they would have micro phoned the players, it was hard to hear them. But it was great British humor, of the Pride and Prejudice type.

THEN, we went to the campus coffee shop to have smoothies, Chi tea's, and frappuccinos. YUM! Finally, Justin and I headed back to the hotel and dropped into bed, only to get fitful sleep, not being used to the beds.

Saturday morning he was headed for basketball tryouts, and was extremely nervous. His youth pastor called him and prayed with him on the way back to campus, and I also had prayer with him before I headed off to a parent's workshop. He told me later he was very surprised at how nervous he WAS NOT when it actually came time to try out. I believe that was a direct answer to prayer. After tryouts, he headed to a luncheon they had just for the seniors, where he registered for some scholarship drawings (he didn't win any!). After our parent's workshop, they served us Chick-fil-A lunch! And then it was a little bit of free time.

So we headed to the book store/apparel shop to buy some shirts and hats to take home. Then we had a fun time watching another play the students did portraying "Life at Lee!" Very cute. After this, we were invited to attend a picnic for parents and students, where we were severed pork bar-b-que, potato salad, baked beans, and the ever-famous MOON PIE!!! If you're keeping track, that's 3 meals they gave to us, free of charge!!! It was such a wonderful blessing!! And then we ended the weekend with a wonderful worship service (since it is a Christian University), a good message by the president of the school, and some great music. It was a very packed 30 hours of non-stop fun and excitement.

Please pray for Justin. He's waiting now to hear back from the coach on whether or not he made the team. It's an expensive school (what college isn't?) and so scholarships are a MUST for us. He is still praying about the direction God wants him to go. This is a tough situation for him, all his friends seem to know what they're supposed to be doing with their lives, and he really doesn't have a strong leading yet. So, if you think of him, just whisper a prayer that God will speak to him and give him peace.

Trying to catch up!

Well, I'm looking over my photos and trying to remember what I've posted and what I've left out. Looks like I should try and get a little caught up today. Let's go back just a little bit.

I had a super-great surprise party, and I also was blessed with out of town guests, as I told you before. I was also so excited that two of the ladies were able to join me at church on Sunday morning! Marie and her husband had to go back to North Carolina, but Martha and Kevin, and Rachel and Wayne stayed around for part of the day.

And this was a very special Sunday...it was the launching of our brand new Ladies Ministry at church, that we kicked off with a luncheon. Rachel stayed to enjoy that with me, and my Mother was also my guest. We had a wonderful time fellowshipping together, getting to know our table hostesses, and enjoying some very yummy food!

We have been enjoying getting into the groove of "small group" that we started back in January. It's working out very well for our family, and I think it's proving to be extremely productive in helping us build relationships that we so desperately need. This is a photo of our small group leaders, Jeff and Metry, what a great couple!
School is winding down for Justin, there are only about 52 more days until graduation, which scares the pee out of me! I have so much to do, and so does he! :) I'm up to my ears in graduation plans, since I'm the ceremony coordinator for our homeschool support group. But it's all coming together nicely, we have the church, the speaker, and 14 graduates, so those main things are all covered!

Joe's mowing season is in full swing. Clayton and I push mowed our yard, for the first time this season, last Thursday. Well, I outlined it by the road, and then Clayton finished all the rest of it. It was pretty tall, and you know what they say...the painter's house always needs painting? Well, the lawn care guys' yard always needs mowing! :)

Now this weather...well that's another story entirely! I'm sitting at the library watching little snow flurries all around, and the mountains are covered! This is just slightly ridiculous, you know? It's APRIL, and it's SPRING, and it's 40 degrees, for goodness sake! Let's get on with the warm weather already!

Well, I think that's about it, at least the highlights, anyway. I'm going to do a couple more specific posts, but that should get me all caught up for now. Hope you all enjoy a wonderful Easter Sunday this week. HE IS RISEN INDEED!!!