People Pleaser Right Here

I like to be liked. I am a people pleaser. I cannot stand it when someone is upset with me. I get anxiety just thinking that I may have offended someone or that I may not be doing something the right way. Since I own a business I have become pretty good at being professional, creating a plan to address issues, and tackling the issues head on but deep down inside I still have that desire to please people. I believe courteousness and the ability to read people and react properly are skills that are developed and I have improved with those over the years and subsequently my ability to please people has evolved. That being said, I am not capable of pleasing everyone and it still bothers me! Ask that friend from college, ask that patient that I had 10 years ago when I first got out of school, ask that more recent friend that I let down. Just this week ask that one person (or two) that didn’t think I came across right.
I could write a bunch right now about how we should aim to please God not man at all times. I know that but what about that verse in Luke where Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man. Kamp Kanakuk calls it the 4 square life. Often times pleasing the Savior will result in better relationships with other people. I guess I have a little bit more work to do to be where I need to be, both to release my hurt feelings and not have hurt feelings in the first place, but to trust God with every issue that may come up.
Enough of my mire….let me show you some cute pics that we haven’t shared

 

The dressy dress is due to attending the service of a beautiful family who lost there daughter after 6 hours of life. What a great time to celebrate her little life.

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Birthday Party for some Friends! What a joy!

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Great times in the foam pit

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Half Serious smile- best he could do!DSC_3388

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Love Yall,

 

SDG

 

Texas in the Spring

It is always a tradition to have Bluebonnet pictures made around the Dillon Household. Even the very first Easter Lexi was standing in snow on the Bluebonnets. Gotta love Texas weather.

Another part of every spring and every April 15 lies TAX DAY. I am not going to delve to deeply into that except to tell you that we have a huge shock with our taxes this year resulting in the Dillon Family returning to a sequestration status. I think I have scared sweet Lexi because we aren’t going out to eat….save 1 meal a week. I am on a spending freeze for everything except necessities. As Dave Ramsey would call it a rice and beans…beans and rice budget.

So, as I got the kids ready to take pictures with our friend Gabrielle Cole she said “Mommy, pictures cost money- can we afford it?” Sweet girl. In reality I had cancelled pictures with Gabrielle let her know that we were not spending money on anything. I mean anything unless it is necessary. Gabrielle was so kind and was willing to go ahead and take our pics for us……We were so thankful and I hope to reward her in the future!

Take time now to visit her blog or to visit her on FB- she is a wonderful baby sitting and photographer. She has reasonable prices and she stays calmer than I do when Luke always decides that the photo time is the time to act like a maniac. Some how he things this is the time to act up. Even if he has been an angel all day. I will never know what it is!

Please send Gabrielle some love and some business for me! She deserves it!

http://gabriellecole.com/

https://www.facebook.com/gabrielle.cole.7161

Anyway….here go the pictures of the Dillon kids.

Angelic? Sweet Baby Happy Boy! Love Him Rowdy.... Oh happy day! Hold Lexi's hand! My Loves My Life My Heart IMG_4935 IMG_4937 IMG_4944 IMG_4942 IMG_4950 IMG_4952 IMG_4954 IMG_4956 IMG_4969 IMG_4967 IMG_4965 IMG_4970 IMG_4975 IMG_4976 IMG_4979 IMG_4988 IMG_4995 IMG_4997 IMG_4991 cropped-img_4935.jpg IMG_4999 IMG_5001 IMG_5014 IMG_5030 IMG_5027 IMG_5041 IMG_5043 IMG_5052 IMG_5038 IMG_5037 IMG_5057 IMG_5059 IMG_5068 IMG_5072 IMG_5076

Thank you sweet friend!

SDG

Embryo Transfer Photo Essay

I promised a photo essay of the pictures from the day we transferred the embryos. I was so impressed by St David’s amazing staff, the professionalism and perfection that everything was performed with. Completely smooth and  easy.

We arrived about 1100 and received a room and some fuzzy slippers. Of course, they were burnt orange- we are in the home of the longhorns. I wasn’t sure that I could bring those home and be allowed in the house so they sweetly obliged me with some red and white aggie slippers……or Sooner slippers in our case!

Next we waited and they gave me a valium because it decreases smooth muscle contractions and makes sure everything is nice and relaxed.

Tom (the embryologist) arrived and reviewed our embryos with us. This was a lot of information to take in at once and try to keep all straight. I did the best I could.

At 1230 they took me to the procedure room where there was a huge TV just above the procedure table and the ultrasound monitor.

The Big TV

Dr S explained that we were watching a video of the microscope in the next room (the lab).

First they showed us our name on the bottom of the petri dish. After that they showed us the embryos in the dish. Two initially then the three.

Two of the Embries

All three

After that the placed a “straw” in the dish and we watched as they sucked themselves up into the straw. We watched and they then got a small amount of air into the end of the straw.

Babies in the Straw- Getting a dot of air DSC_2175 So Cool- look at them go!

Tom then came in the room where we were watching and using an ultrasound we watched the dot of air go out of the straw. Under ultrasound you cannot see the actual embryos- only the air….this is why they get a small amount of air.

The ultrasound screen

Next he went back to the microscope where he pushed everything in the straw back to the dish. Sure enough ocho (as I like to call one of the embryos) remained in the tube. He repeated the process and they repeated the transfer over again.

Oh Ocho!

He then returned to the microscope and moved the scope on the word clear….meaning all of the embryos were transferred.

It's Done!

 

 

I was moved to the gurney and stayed still for 20 minutes. Following this I was able to get up and return to 48 hours of bed rest at home.

I didn’t really have an idea of what to expect when I was doing all of this and I am so amazed by friends I have that have been through this process several times to be able to have children. It is truly amazing that they just push them out of the straw into the right place and then God’s design takes over.

Needless to say, I didn’t want to cough, I didn’t want to sneeze, I didn’t want to do anything that would cause pressure or tightening.

Keep Running

SDG

The Verdict is In

I will not delay the drama- we are pregnant.

However we are early, only 4w1d. As many of you know infant loss and miscarriage is very very real so we are still trust God with all of our steps.

Let me just recap a little of what happened over the last week or so.

After my original enthusiasm over the 3 surviving embryos I spoke to the Embryologist (Tom) at the end of the day on 4-25-13. I asked him what the percentages on the form meant. They read like this

Embryo 1- 70%

Embryo 2- 60%

Embryo 3- 40%

Embryo 4-10%

Embryo 5- 50%

Embryo 6- 40%

Embryo 7-50%

Embryo 8- 70%

“What in the world does that mean?” He replied “Those are the amount of cells that were alive in the embryos.” I was stunned. You mean that only 70% of the blastula’s cells are alive? He walked me through some of the pictures as well as how they determined what embryos “had the potential for life” (that is a whole blog post in its own right) and which ones do not have the potential. Sitting where I am, I am grateful for a man with such wisdom to not transfer something to me that has no chance for life. He further explained the difference between the cells that have separated into the inner cell mass (that becomes the baby) and the outer cells (that becomes the placenta). Both of these two parts have to be forming properly to have a baby. After that I asked him what he would rate the blastulas.  He told me B’s or C’s. Those of you who are familiar with fertility AA is the best AB means the baby part looks good and the placenta part looks pretty good but not as good as the AA would look. BB the BA or AB or CC or BC….on and on it goes. They rate the part of the blastula that makes the baby and then the part that makes the placenta. I am not sure why I wanted to know his ratings but I did. It actually shocked me to reality. After the excitement of the previous day I was now praying that God would grant us favor and allow a pregnancy. It was sort of sad though. I was thinking “I don’t know if I can do all of this over again”. I want these babies or this baby for our family and for the genetic family. I want them to have another child- a sibling for their daughter- I want to have another child. I don’t want to be responsible for losing these babies.

Let me tell you a little more about what happens to the embryos when they are thawed. In the past the only way to freeze embryos was by using a slow freeze technique. This results in less than 80% of the embryos surviving when they are later thawed. (Now they use a process called vitrification where they can “flash freeze” embryos with a 98% successful thaw rate.) When these embryos were thawed 3 of them were immediately considered not viable- Embryos 3, 4, 6. Embryo 5 and 7 were not considered appropriate for transfer however they wanted to grow them overnight and then see what they looked like on 4-25 before they made a decision. The next morning those embryos had also retarded their growth (stopped growing) and had darkened. This means that they were not going to be viable in the future. What if one of those had done well? They would have frozen it by vitrification and we would know that it was doing well to be able to thaw the next time.

What if we made the wrong decision to transfer 3? 

Well, over the last 4 months we have submitted the numbers to God- He is in the details we believe. I asked Tom (our incredible embryologist) about the choice of three. We ask Dr S about our chances of pregnancy with transferring 2- he told us 50-50 that we would get 1 baby. Chances of twin pregnancy with transferring 2- 30%. Well, those really are not all that great odds (at least we didn’t think so). If we transferred 3 our odds of 1 taking would be better but we might have a greater risk of twins. Paul and I prayed and felt a great peace (remember this is before we knew anything about the embryos) that 3 would be a good number. If we did have twins God was big enough to take care of us. Triplets are really not all that likely.

I listened intently to what Tom was saying and I find it interesting that there is such a clear line between the “viable” embryos and the non viable ones. Isn’t it interesting that exactly 3 survived? Isn’t it interesting that they are so different from the others? I also find if amazing that the very best embryo- the one that was already breaking out of its shell was the very last one that they thawed. It was not even fully re-hydrated when they put it in me. I really believe that God is interested in details. Also, what if we have wanted 2? They would have only thawed Embryo 1 and Embryo 2 and stopped there. I guess we really can’t play the what if game but we would have thought that we still had 6 embryos left when in reality only 1 of those was considered viable. Sure, we can see that now…. I know this sounds strange but when you adopt embryos  you just don’t know how they are going to turn out when they thaw. I have a friend who thawed one, transferred one, and got pregnant with one. I guess you never know. I will tell you I KNOW that the last embryo is one we are pregnant with (I just know it). Maybe we will call him ocho :).

Of course, we do not know the end of this story just yet. Since we are very early I covet your prayers for the health and safety of these babies. (We refer to them as plural since we transferred 3.) We pray for normal growth, continued growth, prayers that I would be very sick so I would know that they babies are doing well. We also pray that God would comfort the family that gave us the children (we haven’t talked about it but there must be a slight sense of loss) and bring us close together and in one accord throughout this time.

So, my lab today was 190- anything above a 50 is pregnant but I would have been shocked if I wasn’t pregnant. I am already craving my pregnancy stand by of mashed potatoes, I have cried (a lot), I have heartburn, feel a tightening or firming of my lower abdomen, I have a few more pangs of mild cramping, and am nauseated (already-really???). I couldn’t imagine that all of those and other things could just be in my head!

Next step?  We will retest the labs on Sunday and look for the 190 to double. That will tell us that things are proceeding normally. If not, well, God is in charge of that as well.

I would love to leave you with my favorite scripture- one that we pray over these babies-

Psalms 139: 13-16

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

He knew me, He knows these babies by name….He calls them by their names!

Praise Him from whom all blessings flow!

Entreleadership 1-day Austin 4-23-13 Review and Flash Back!

On April 23rd Dave Ramsey was here in Austin presenting an Entreleadership 1-day event. You could call Paul and I a little bit of Dave groupies. We had the awesome blessing of attending Entreleadership master class in Orlando in 2011. Bunny and Bear attended with us in the absence of the kids.

We made the list of Entreleaders

We made the list of Entreleaders

Can't leave without seeing  the castle!

Can’t leave without seeing the castle!

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Cars

Cars

Bunny and Bear Ice Cream

Bunny and Bear Ice Cream

Rapunzel! Let down you hair!

Rapunzel! Let down you hair!

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Final Dinner in May 2011

Final Dinner in May 2011

The love of Stitch when we got back home

The love of Stitch when we got back home

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These last two were from Epcot’s American Pavilion where we had our final dinner. We received IPODS!!!! We also got the super long, whole story of Dave’s success and failure. Followed by his message of hope and in the words of Winston Churchill “Never ever quit”!

 Later that year we were able to run a half marathon with his team in San Antonio in 2012. I have enjoyed learning from Dave’s Team and learning about his principles. 

Packet Pick up

Packet Pick up

Lexi meeting Dave for the first time.

Lexi meeting Dave for the first time.

Before the Marathon Snuggles

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Entreleaders Running the Half Marathon in San Antonio

Entreleaders Running the Half Marathon in San Antonio

Such a Fun Team!

Two of Dave's VPs Debby and Chris Locurto- Chris is now set out on his own.

Two of Dave’s VPs Debby and Chris Locurto- Chris is now set out on his own.

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Finished! Metal to Prove It!

She loves the metals!

She loves the metals!

Sweet Reward

Sweet Reward

I used this class to bring business leaders from our community as well as some of my business associates.

Back to the conference for the afternoon the major topic of training was in regard to personality testing and how personalities work together in the work force. Dave recommends the DISC method of determining how people relate to each other. I find it interesting every time I learn about personalities. I wish I could remember to try to determine what every person is when I am interacting with them.

The 4 are as follows

personality-type-cheat-sheet-original-001

OR THIS WAY

D- Lion (Choleric/Dominance)  10%

Strengths– Visionary, practical, productive, strong-willed, independent, decisive, leader

Weaknesses– Cold, domineering, unemotional self-sufficient, unforgiving, sarcastic, cruel

I-Otter (Sanguine/Influence)

Strengths– Outgoing, responsive, warm, friendly, talkative, enthusiastic, compassionate

Weaknesses– Undisciplined, unproductive, exaggerates, egocentric, unstable

S- Golden Retriever (Phlegmatic/Steadiness) 40%

Strengths– Calm, easy-going, dependable, quiet, objective, diplomatic, humorous

Weaknesses– Selfish, stingy, procrastinator, unmotivated, indecisive, fearful, worrier

C- Beaver (Melancholy/Compliance)

Strengths– Analytical, self-disciplined, industrious, organized, aesthetic, sacrificing

Weaknesses– Moody, self-centered, touchy, negative, unsociable, critical, revengeful

TBS-284x345

 

There is a test just like the one about that is specifically for children. I believe that I am going to go get it and make sure I know what Lexi and Luke are. Paul and I are pretty clear.

Disc2

So can you guess what personality I have?

How could understanding your children’s personalities help you to love them well, understand them and relate to them better. This can be used in so many ways other than just in the work place. I need to use it more in the office too!

My great reminder for the day.

SDG

Run On!

Short Report

 

Here is the email message that I sent the genetic family and our Adoption agency 10-24-13

10-24-13 PM

Today’s transfer appears to be successful so far. They did need to thaw all 8 blasts. That is the bad news. The good news is they have 3 that they think look very good. I do not have any information on grading yet or anything like that- I will get it to you as soon as I do. I do know 2-3 were immediately “not looking good” and that 2 of them the jury was out on- they were going to watch them for a few more hours but they were not comfortable with selecting those for us at the moment. I can tell you the very last blast they thawed was the best looking one and it went in. Tom (who has done this for 20+ years and handled the conversation on the phone with me when we lost our last 5) handled all of the transfer as well as the thaw. He is going to get me a full report. Another positive is that if those two end up viable they will be able to vitrify them when they refreeze- or vitrify one as needed. The statistical survival after a slow freeze (as these originally were due to the technology available at the time) have about an 80% thaw rate. The success of transfer after a vitrified embryo is used is equal to that of a fresh cycle- virtually no loss with thawing.

On to the process, they took me back and took a look at everything- they have big screen TV set up where we watched Tom take the embryos into the straw then he opened a door and brought them into the room, the transfer was complete then he took the straw back next door to put back into the medium to make sure it was clear and that all embryos were in. Sure enough, there was one still in the straw- straggler!

That immediately concerned me and I asked how often that happened he said 10% of the time. That isn’t good odds was my thought! He then told a story of a family that they were transferring three when they took it back and found one in the medium, they returned to transfer that one and when they went back there were two in the medium this time!!!!! He returned the two to where they should have been resulting in a twin pregnancy for that family. Anecdotal information really isn’t all that helpful- everyone has a friend who had xyz happen to them.

Anyway, on the second pass the straggler went in however when he returned the straw to the medium there was blood cells etc that had not been there the first time. I don’t think that is anything to worry about but it was an aberration from the norm. He then moved the magnifying glass over to the word clear signalling that sweet straggler had made it. At that time the speculum (how do you spell that) was removed and I was moved over to the gurney. I told them I could get over there but I was not to move for 20 minutes- Dr S has a specific spot where he holds on to the pt to slide them over to the gurney. After 20 minutes in recovery they let me go to the bathroom and use my first crinone dose for the day then to go home and rest. After that valium I was rather tired anyway.

Whew! There is the long and the short of the actual procedure.

Here are the first baby pictures

Hopefully God will grant that one of these little ones will take hold and develop into a baby. I think we have a good chance.

Pray it takes!

Baby #8- the strongest one of the bunch

Baby #8- the strongest one of the bunch

Babies 1 and  2 they were reasonable with about 60-70% Viable cells....

Babies 1 and 2 they were reasonable with about 60-70% Viable cells….

SDG

Timing is Everything

Fertility is amazing. Did you know that when it comes to conceiving the day that the embryos go in must match up with the day that the uterus is. For example, you don’t want to put 3-day old embryos in a 6-day along uterus, likewise, 5-day embryos can’t survive in a 3-day uterus…..amazing!

Written on 4-24-13

So, today is the day. The day to relax, spend time with the Lord and make sure my body is as calm as possible to be ready to accept these babies. Everything is going to happen just like that right? Sure….yeah right…..

This morning I got one of those dreaded texts from one of my therapists

“We need to talk”

“I am not going to be taking as many visits as in the past”

….this came from one of the girls I count on the most, a fabulous awesome therapist that I DO NOT want to do business without. No therapist is so important that we can’t do business without them and sometimes when I have lost what I thought was the best therapist ever Marathon has been even stronger as a result. You see, I hold Marathon with an open hand- God gave us this business; it is to His glory and honor that we serve our patients and each other. It is not of our own desires we are here to please Him and to honor His desires. We are here to give hope to our patients and to serve our agencies as well as serve the therapists.

I really hate any “We need to talk” statements be it text, on the phone, or email. It instantly sends chills up my spine and strikes fear in my heart. What is next, what have I done, what do I need to fix, what did I do wrong? Those things all immediately challenge my focus, my heart, my sense of comfort and peace. I always am worried about what is on the other side of them. Is it something that we can work out or did I mess up majorly. I digress, but perhaps I am the only one that instantly sees a problem as a personal deficiency on my part, a personal failure. I think most men see a problem as a challenge, they see it as a bridge to jump over, a hurdle that can lead to further success. I just want to go hide under a rock and say I am sorry a hundred times- even when it wasn’t my problem in the first place. This definitely doesn’t work so well when attempting to run a business or be a leader! I digress.

I was feeling sorry for myself when I texted a friend…..”Why today?” “Why would that person need to send me that message today?” “Why did I look at it?” and all sorts of other sorry for myself kinda things. As soon as I got those words out reality hit me like a ton of bricks. Today we are to transfer our babies. Hopefully God will graciously give us a pregnancy and life from today. If there is one person that hates life itself that is the devil. I don’t like making everything about the devil. I don’t want to make it totally “the devil made me do it” Sin is sin and we bring a lot of consequences on ourselves that have NOTHING to do with the devil but I do believe in this one case that the devil was definitely in charge of the timing as a goal of getting me off base, worked up, and taking my eyes off of Christ, off of the job at hand. If I am focusing on a temporal/ unimportant problem then I am wasting tons of energy from the important things. I know that I do this on days other than just today. I am sure that I do this commonly throughout the day.

God is in control, today, tomorrow, yesterday and forever more.

Period.

Where is my treasure?

I attended the University of Oklahoma starting in the fall of 1994. April 19th 1995 was just a regular Wednesday morning. I had an 830 speech class. At 9:04 the worst act of domestic terror occurred at the Murrah Federal Building. I didn’t hear the noise as many of my friends who were outside, I didn’t feel the shake, although my friends did, I didn’t even know anything had occurred until I walked into one of the coffee bars on campus. I was just going to grab a breakfast bagel and wait before my next class was to start. All of the students were gathered around a small TV up in the corner of the small restaurant. We were a mere 30 minutes to ground zero of this attack- the Alfred P Murray Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. We watched for a little while as the horrific events of what is now known and “the bombing” unfolded. I clearly remember the fear as Timothy McVeigh’s picture (or a drawing of him) was posted on the TV because he was not in custody. You all know the story- the beautiful building with a glass front and a day care center at the very center in front of the building. A coward drives up a yellow Ryder truck loaded with anhydrous Ammonia and proceeds to a getaway car (without license plates) while terror ensues.

Murrah building before

Why is it that the initial shock gives way to a fear and wondering of what will happen next (is this it or is there more to come?). To this day, I do not like to be anywhere close to a yellow Ryder truck. The day continued with the entire campus in a state of shock and numbness due to the insult. We walked around shaking our heads, speechless, unable to concentrate on anything else. Fast forward to the evening, Campus Crusade weekly meeting was that night. We met early to pray for the evening. We met on the 8th floor of a building on campus with very large windows and a 360 degree view of campus. On clear days you can see almost to “The City” as anyone from Oklahoma calls it. That night was different, it was dark, ominous, one of those April storms that Oklahoma is famous for. Real tornado weather- it gets a dark orangey color about 5 or 6 as the cool air collides with the warm air. It was dark by now and a full-fledged thunder storm was on the rise. Looking out those windows lightening was visible and lit those terrible clouds as the rumbled, rolled, and churned in the night sky. It was almost as if the devil himself was laughing at the havoc he had caused. Practically this storm slowed down the relief effort but it was their symbolic nature that stood out to me. The devil had one this battle. Due to the magnitude of this disaster recovery was not easy of anyone. Were there people trapped? Were there people in the rubble that could not be located? What now, now that it was raining? The search was called off for that night because it was treacherous to attempt to reach victims or injured that still could have remained in the rubble. We prayed in our room upstairs, earnestly we prayed for survivors, for the relief workers, for the city, the state, and the nation. We prayed that evil would not triumph and we begged God to allow their to be other’s to be found alive- that they would be recovered and soon.

murrah-building

As you can see the carnage was amazing- up until then America had not seen anything like it.BUILDING BOMBING

 

This is the picture of the century- the tenderness of sweet Baylee who died shortly later.

Baylee Almond

Baylee Almond

                That night my friend Shana was coming to Crusade with my roommate. The following Saturday there was a date party for their sorority and I was setting her up with a friend of mine Ronnie. They wanted to meet at the meeting before the party. I looked around the room earnestly as people arrived for Ronnie. He didn’t come and he didn’t come. I asked one of the staff from Crusade if they had seen him. They responded “Tamy, didn’t you hear? Ronnie’s mom is missing in the rubble.” What does one say? Coldness washed over me. At that time “missing” almost assuredly meant deceased. God is in the business of miracles though and if anyone could perform a miraculous act and save my friend’s mom He could. We prayed for him that night, for all of them, for all of those rescuing people and very soon the rescue effort became a “recovery effort”.  

                I had to go see for myself what the pictures on the news were showing. The next evening a girlfriend and I drove to downtown OKC just to look, just to see it for ourselves. It was just that building that was destroyed the Methodist Church beside it was also heavily damaged. It was a rather quiet ride- what could you so to an insult so great that ultimately 168 people were murdered and 19- yes 19 of them were children. You see, the building was mostly windows with the day care positioned in the very front of the building on the second floor. All were innocents but the children! What could ever come of such a tragedy? We continued to pray and weeks passed. We started to learn why this man felt like he needed to make a statement and attack his own people. The site was searched and cleared for days and days on end until they were not able to go any further. Something special happened during this time, a fence was set up to block off the site from onlookers and those that gathered to see the building. This fence became a special part of Oklahoma history to this day. Everyone wanted to visit “the fence”, to leave their mark of love, encouragement, teddy bears for the children. It demonstrated community, resilience, and honored those that died. People came from far and wide to leave their mark at the fence. To this day it remains imbedded in my mind and part of it is in the museum that exists at the bombing site. I too left many a race number from the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon on that fence.

fence 12 220px-MurrahBuildingInjuriesbyFloorOCB 13

So many things have happened this week. Boston Bombings, West’s Plant Explosion, Gary’s (our senior pastor’s eye removal) surgery today, and the anniversary of the bombing tomorrow none are a surprise to our Father. I sit here on the couch and show Lexi the pictures of West, some pictures from the bombing and the fence that adds hope. I tell her these stories and where I was when this occurred. I do not want her to fear tomorrow but I do want her to know that when the world falls in, when all else has failed, our Father is present. We talked about where our treasure was and what we treasure. As she says, “If this house burned down we would just find a builder and fix it- it’s ok, it is just stuff”. So often my treasure is here and now and it can so quickly be taken from us. The message of all trials (for a Christ-follower) is to grow more like Him every day. We have hope because our treasure lies elsewhere.

The Survivors Tree

The Survivors Tree

One tree survived the blast that was on the complex, it is now called the Survivor’s tree. It is a symbol of home that evil will never and can never conquer good.  For where our treasure is- there our heart will be also…..

Stay tuned for the rest of Ronnie and Shana’s story tomorrow and how “Mile Marker” got its name (it goes all the way back to the bombing).

Our only constant is our hope for our heavenly home.

Run on.