Life

I have been spending a lot more me and God time since my last post. I need Him so much in my life. I cannot take another step without Him filling my life in all it's edges and planes. God is my Lord and Savior, my comforter, my refuge and strength, my protector, my physician, my counselor, my provider, a mighty God is He. I am blessed to call Him my Heavenly Father.

We spent a nice, but very hot day at the zoo on the 22nd to celebrate Rochelle's 18th birthday. Rochelle, Tiffany, Chris, Heather, Jamie, Chelle's friend John Carl and I went to visit my cousins at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. When we went to drop John Carl off at his sister's house my blazer was leaking antifreeze all over the driveway. It seems that after replacing the radiator, then the thermostat, the water pump got jealous and now needs repair. I have been praying awful hard for God to please provide a way for the blazer to be fixed as we live on a limited budget. Two dear sets of friends have offered to fix it for me. I am so thankful.

Yesterday was Rochelle's official birthday. We had cake, Tiffany and Chris came to play cards with her and she and I counted the penny collection she has been saving in anticipation of her 18th birthday. She started collecting the pennies when she was about 11 years old. The grand total of 7 years of parking lot pennies is 3263! She is now $32.63 ahead thanks to generous people who believe pennies are worthless. While she and I were counting pennies it was raining cats and dogs outside. I noticed it sounded like hail but when Rochelle looked outside she didn't see any. Then we noticed this really loud, quick sound outside that sounded like the wheels of a train on the tracks. We looked at each other and she said,'is that a tornado?' Then we heard a plane pass low overhead and the lights went out. Come to find out, we HAD heard a tornado. It was our first time hearing one. It must have been a small one because there was minimal damage except loss of electricity for a few hours and branches being knocked down. When the lights came on we finished up our evening by playing Clue.

Today we woke up to a nice day and, just before time to go to church Rochelle was using the hair dryer and then we noticed the smell of smoke and the next thing we knew there was black smoke coming from the wall in our dining room. Rochelle ran out to get her dad, I went out to shut off the main breaker and then I went to run for a friend who had a fire extinguisher. David tore open the wall and they put the fire out quickly before any more damage could be done. I was pretty shook up but God took care of us and we still have our house. I am so thankful for this blessing. Some very dear friends came over after church and checked out the situation for us, it's really not that bad but we will have to repair the wall and recepticle.

On to other things....Rochelle and I have been doing an exercise program for the past 3 days. It is called P90X and the program is a 90 day commitment. It is really tough but I am feeling stronger and more energetic, even as I am sore. God is blessing me and strengthening me to do this. I am so tired of saying 'I can't'. I want to do this and complete it until I am off the CPAP and better able to serve my family and others. I have taken before pictures and now hope for MUCH better after pictures. Of course I won't be posting the before pictures, they are only to encourage me. Tiffany and Chris are doing the program too, but seperately. I am impressed by Tiffany, Chris and Rochelle's go to attitudes and endurance. I weighed myself at the start of the program and I weighed in at...(ouch!)...193 pounds! That is a great improvement from the 230 the steroids left me with. My husband is also taking off his weight. He's lost 20 pounds as of the other day. I am so proud of him. Our official weigh in and (for me) measure day is on June 2nd so I will get to see if I have done myself any good. If God is willing, I will conquer this unhealthy body before it conquers me.

Dad is doing better, the pneumonia he was fighting is gone. We continue to pray for his health and for strength for him and my mom. Please also pray for David's step-dad who will be having more surgery to get circulation to his foot. Remember David's mom as well. The caregivers need as much prayer as the ones who are getting the care.

Heather, her David and Jamie are doing well. David continues the battle against the oil spill in the gulf. No one knows how this battle will end, or when but we do know that it is one of the worst disasters to hit our beloved country. Please continue to pray for all those working and effected by this spill. Please also pray for the hurricanes to not touch the coastlines this year. Hurricane season fast approaches...two more days and it's here. I can't even imagine the damage on oil slicked hurricane would do. Jamie seems to have gone through a huge growth spurt the last few days. She is now 16 pounds and is beginning to crawl, but 'walking' seems to be her preferred method of transportation. She's such a cutie!

Well, that about does it for my post this time. I hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and safe. Take care and God bless. I love you all.