Please pray for me and my family!

Today I am off to Childrens Hospital to get my pic line for the MIBG and CT scan scheduled for tomorrow.  Please pray for me to not get really scared and stuff.  I don't like needles...but I trust Jesus to make me brave and calm.  Pray for my family to have the Peace of Christ all over them this week while we wait for results of the tests.  Pray for No Evidence of Disease!!!!  Thank you.....  remember.........God is GOOD!!

"But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord my refuge, that I may tell of all your works" (Psalm 73:28).

So the past few weeks have been a little rough... I will spare you all the details but in this trial God has opened my eyes to reveal once again "what is my hope in?"  I believe in my heart that my hope is in the Lord and yet in the day to day as well as the trials that stretch me am I really going to the only one who is my comfort?  How often do I trade lasting comfort for what will bring me immediate relief?  Yet, He continuously seeks me out, He pursues me with an all consuming love.  I keep waiting for Him to change, to realize how flawed I am and give up on me or for His affections to wain as He tires of my persistent sins.  Yet He never does.  His love is never going to change and He loves me as much today as He did the day I laid down all rights to my life and trusted Him to be my Savior.  This past week I read a translation of Philippians 4:13 from a late Greek scholar that reads  "I am strong for all things in the one who constantly infuses strength in me"  I realized that I have been trying so hard for so long to be strong,  To carry a weight that I was never intended to carry, sure when I am stretched beyond what I am able then I run to Him and say "help"  as Spurgeon once said when I get to the end of myself and have exhausted all of my resources then I come to him.  Father help me to run first to you!!!!  I read a post on the Gospel Coalition by Paul  Tripp and It met me right where I am at so I thought I would share with you... hope it encourages you as it has me.

In a fallen world that does not always operate in the way the Creator intended, and where temptation and danger lurk, these words are also vital: "I have made the Lord God my refuge." Under the heat of life in this broken world you will run somewhere for refuge when you become weary, wounded, and discouraged. But you must remember God is the only hiding place worth running to. He alone can heal the wounds of your heart. He alone can give you the strength you need to get up once more and continue. He alone can give inner peace when there is little peace to be found around you. He alone can forgive your sins and strengthen you when you are weak.

But we often forget that grace has given us refuge. We forget that God welcomes us to run to him. So we run to the creation rather than the Creator for refuge, and when we do, we never get the solace we are seeking. We may successfully numb or distract ourselves for a while, but our hearts are not strengthened or encouraged. The replacement refuges of people and things cannot relieve, only distract us from our burdens, so we have to return to them repeatedly. We never end up strengthen and encouraged. We only end up fat, addicted, and indebted. Are you getting it right? When you are weak, weary, and discouraged, do you run to the one refuge who can deliver peace?

O.k. had to add this song....  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ouj1Ai4lIeY&feature=related

Winter Wonderland!

Canada!  Banff Springs, Canada!  It was amazing!  Everywhere you looked it just looked like a Winter wonderland!  Magical.  An amazing time away for me and my sweet hubby.  It was honestly a second honeymoon!  God blest us with a free upgrade to a wonderful room with a fantastic view!  Here is what we woke up to every morning!  Beautiful!  The earth truly displays the glory of God!  Jason and I skied, snowmobiled and just had a wonderful time together! Thank you Lord for giving us this gift! I am so thankful for my sweet husband!

Time flies when you are having fun!!!!

     I cannot believe that Fall is almost behind us!  Football is over and we are full fledge into the Holiday season.  We have been having a blast! We started our festivities with Chloe Elisabeth's 9th Birthday Celebration!  She had a rollerskating Party, it was alot of fun!  Here are a few fun picts!






     The next weekend our family was invited to a Polo match with Texas Children's Hospital for Halloween and it was so much fun!  Here are a few of our favorite pictures from the day!

What a fun experience that was!  The kids were able to meet and get autographs from the Polo players and Miss Halie had her picture taken with the team!  Making memories that will last a lifetime!  Thank you TCH for inviting us and to the generous family who hosted us Thank You for having a soft spot in your heart for cancer patients and their families!  What a gift you gave us.  Halloween was the next night the kids had so much fun!  Aleks played his last 7th grade football game for the season.  It was bittersweet!  He loves football and has found his niche being kicker and cornerback.  He is already counting the days until next years football Season!  Chloe had a blast the cheerleaders invited her to come down and join them for a cheer!  It was alot of fun watching her cheer on her big bubba!

Here is a picture of the little ones all dressed up for Halloween!  They are sooo cute!  Thank you for your continued prayers and concern for our sweet Halie.  She will scan again at the end of January, but for now we will count every blessing and enjoy every minute!  Thanks to all of our bakers, generous donators & prayer warriors for the Neuroblastoma Bake sale we made over $2,600.00 at Friday's Bake sale!  We could not do it without you!  God Bless! 

Oh, Jason and I are leaving on a much needed time away just the two of us!  I don't know where we are going so I am so excited!  All I know is that it's about 17 degrees!  Wow!  And I will be skiing for the first time!  So blest to have a sweet hubby!  I will post pictures when we get home!!!! 

No Evidence of Disease! Praise the Lord!

"Enter his gates with Thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!"
Psalm 100:4

     Halie's scans looked good!  No evidence of disease!  It does not matter how many times I hear those words it evokes in me the same emotions.  I remember going into Halie's radiologist appointment last September and reading the report from her scans and seeing the sentence.  No evidence of disease....  Amazement!  Awe!  Praise!  We are so undeserving of his mercy and yet he gives it!  We are so thankful and I know the reason I feel that same emotion every single time and experience the same fear every time we scan is because we know the nature of the beast we are up against.  I stand in awe of the Lord!  Thankful for Halie's life.  Grateful for the countless kisses, hugs and precious moments we have been given.  They are priceless and a gift from our Father in Heaven who loves to give good gifts to his children. So today we rejoice in the gift of Halie's continued healing.  Thank You, to all of our sweet family and friends who pray for her and us.  God bless you all!


here are few pictures from our week at the hopsital!

Psalm 117
Praise the Lord, all nations! 
Extol him, all peoples!
For great is his steadfast love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord!