hello friends! hope you're all doing great! so much to post...one day!
i'm looking for a good chicken salad recipe. any favorites? nothing tooooo mayonnaise -y. my favorite (of course) is la baguette, so i'm looking for something close to that. (jesse, any chance you bumped into someone with that recipe???)
have a great day!!!
josie is doing so much better! yea! i posted her link on my friends list and i think that one is working. thank you for praying for her. please continue to pray that her body fights off infection and becomes strong again. rudy said the other day that working in the medical field sometimes makes you cynical and "forget" that God can and does still work miracles despite our expectations. josie's health today is only attributable (is that a word?) to God. her family is also praying that God will receive all the glory and that our faith will increase by seeing josie's life. they are amazing.
i had an awesome weekend celebrating mine, robin's, and sara's 30 1/2 birthdays. pics to come!
UPDATE: for some reason the link is not working. that is the right address. you may have to type it in or cut and paste. i have not heard an update on her today.
i feel like in only blog when i'm on a mountain top or when my heart is being ripped open. this is not an exception. i promise to be a less extreme blogger but i really want to ask for your prayers. josie gray was a patient of rudy's when we were dating, but he had already become friends with her and her family and they quickly adopted me too. josie is the toughest, bravest little ball of fire i've ever met. she and her family are awesome and we are blessed to know them. josie is scared of nothing. she used a nail gun to help rudy put up a fence; she took rudy's stitches out once, and she is a mean softball player. more than that she has an inspirational faith and the fighting spirit of a lion.
josie has cystic fibrosis. she got two brand new lungs from a transplant 2 years ago and has had 2 healthy active years. the last time i saw her she was in fracture clinic after breaking her arm on a 4 wheeler. ha - i had to laugh and of course yell at her b/c she knows how i feel about 4 wheelers! but i was so happy she was doing teenage stuff!
josie went into the hospital new years eve and has gone into rejection of her new lungs. they called her family in on friday, and it was a long weekend of good-byes for them. monday, she was in SO much pain, they thought it would be her last. today, her mom posted that she had a better day.
i don't know what to ask you to pray for except for peace for josie and her family and for God's will to be done. i'm praying with my heart, not my words.
please let her pictures and her family's words encourage you to be an organ donor if you aren't already. the picture was taken in august 2006 at her "i'm about to get new lungs" party
www.josiegray14.blogspot.com
new years resolutions are kind of a funny thing. apparently you love them or think they are ridiculous. i've had my years of having only 1 resolution and i've had my years of choosing 27. i'm not sure i've ever kept one. i don't remember. but a new year is one of those "moment in time" days that make me think about the past and the future, hopes and disappointments, who i am and who i want to be.
i found some old prayer journals last night. i'm really terrible at keeping any kind of journal (thus the 2 month blogging break?) but from reading my journals i tend to write in them during important times in my life - my first trip to belize, right before i chose a grad school, during a breakup, my first medical mission,... (really funny to see how my handwriting has changed - oh how i miss the i's dotted with a circle) but besides my handwriting, my faith has changed too. and i don't know that it has all changed for the better. as i've become more mature and independent in life, i wonder if i've become less dependent on God? my faith was so pure and real and humble in those journals. i've really struggled with developing my faith as a married, full-time job holding, grown woman. i no longer have kojie prayer groups and summer camp and retreats and roommates up til 3 discussing life with me. but that's not what my faith is in, so how do you make that transition? (jesse has talked about this too - i would love any comments /suggestions on this)
so, i have my list of resolutions (get back to wedding day weight, finish my next half-marathon in 2:30, read the bible all the way through, blogging more, learn to sew, be a better wife, vacuum every day, stop drinking starbucks...) - all good things. but what i really want to do is just that - DO. i want to be purposeful in my words and actions and time management. i want to put into action what i learned from camps and prayer groups and serve/teach whoever God puts in my life, i want to stop complaining and live joyfully. basically, i want to quit talking about everything i want to change and just do it already.
so this may seem really pathetically jumbled and you will either think i have a million resolutions or can't figure out what it is and that's ok. i'm not sure either. i don't have a plan and obviously can't put it into words or i wouldn't be rambling like this... maybe it's a feeling - a combination of excitement and "fed up with the way i've been doing this life thing" feeling... but here are some verses and quotes that i found while trying to say what i'm thinking.
act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God (micah 6:8)
nobody can go back and start a new beginning but anyone can start today and make a new ending
"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."
Walt Disney
if you always do things the way you've always done them , you are guaranteed to get the same results -nick saban
be the change you wish to see in the world - gandhi
I'm a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I'm a disciple of His and I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.
My past is redeemed. My present makes sense. My future is secure. I'm done and finished with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals.
I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, or first, or tops, or recognized, or praised, or rewarded. I live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by Holy Spirit power.
My pace is set. My gait is fast. My goal is heaven. My road may be narrow, my way rough, my companions few, but my guide is reliable and my mission is clear.
I will not be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed.
I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice or hesitate in the presence of the adversary. I will not negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.
I won't give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ.
I am a disciple of Jesus I must give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He does come for His own, He'll have no problems recognizing me. My colors will be clear!
i look back on 2008 and am so thankful for my husband, my family, my house, my job, my friends, grace, love,... but i can't tell you any change i've made or activity i've done that i am proud of or want to make sure i do again. how sad is that? this time next year i hope i have new friends, new service areas, a better understanding of how amazing God is... some reminder of how big He is and how small I am... something significant, not from me but that comes from allowing Him to be big ...
Happy 2009! thanks for letting me ramble...
i borrowed this from kelly's blog but i don't think she'll mind. please pray for the white family (and the donor's family). also continue to pray for kelly's son max!
I hope that you are keeping up with Reed through Keeley’s blog. I just feel compelled to continue to ask you for prayers for him. His condition is more serious than it was originally thought and his doctors are recommending a heart transplant. I just can’t imagine what Keeley and Ryan are going through. Ryan’s brother started an event on Facebook - “Fasting for Reed White.” It begins tonight at 7pm and goes through tomorrow at 7:30pm. This is not listed on Keeley’s blog, so I wanted to include it here. He listed some specific prayer requests during this time:
- We are praying for strength and courage for Ryan, Keeley, Braden, and Reed.
- We are praying that a heart will be found soon, and that the surgery goes according to plan.
- We are praying that the heart is a strong one and will supply Reed with a long life of service to Christ.
- We are praying for the strength that Reed will need once he gets a new heart to deal with the complications and hardships of having a transplant.
- We are praying for God’s power to be with this family during a most trying time.
I feel that it is appropriate to also pray for the other family - the one who will donate the heart, for they will be losing a baby. As Ryan’s brother stated, if you cannot fast, please be committed to praying for Reed constantly.
i just wanted to say thank you to everyone for all of the calls, cards, emails, texts, facebook messages,... from everyone about my grandmother and my dad (my grandmother has been in the hospital for 2 weeks and my dad had kind of emergent surgery today). both are doing well. i really appreciate everyone and you have inspired me to make sure i take the time to call or let someone in this position know i'm praying for them and thinking about them. it really makes a difference!
i HATE when nike+ doesn't log my runs!!!! any suggestions? i know it registered b/c it "talked" to me through my run and i saw my pace/distance when i ended my run - so something happened after i plugged it in to my computer. HELP!!
