Ultimate Sacrafice

Back around Easter my blog entry was about Jesus making the ultimate sacrifice for us. I asked the question of myself and others, Would I be willing to lay my life on the line for others for selfless reasons. I bring this back up for one reason, Keith Cypret.

If any of you have been following the struggle of Trey and Tyler Thompson you may have heard about Keith. Keith is a junior @ Munday High School and has worked for the Thompsons for some time. He was in the truck with the Thompsons when their horrible accident occurred. I have tried to play this accident in my mind. It had to be a horrible scene. Then my mind turns to Keith. Remember, he is only a junior in high school and he has the presence of mind to pull Trey and Tyler from this fiery wreckage. Was it just instinct or was there another force involved?

I haven't had the pleasure of knowing Keith but for some reason I feel he made that ultimate sacrifice and risked his own life and limb out of love. Out of his love for Trey and Tyler and out of his love for the Lord. I give Trey and Tyler some of this credit because these two men have taken the time to show a young man like Keith their unwavering love for the Lord. They have been examples to him that more young men need to have, not to be afraid in today's world to let your faith shine through and not to be ashamed of it.

No matter what drove Keith that day, I know the whole Thompson family is grateful to him and I have a feeling the Lord is grateful to him for letting him use him as a tool of love to save Trey and Tyler. I feel that He has great plans for these 3 individuals and I can't wait to see what they are.

Please continue prayer for all three of these guys but say an extra for Tyler. He has such a long road ahead of him and so many obstacles continue to block his road to recovery.

"Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to." Deuteronomy 15:10

Happy Birthday Shawn!!

He would do it, believe me.

Today is my hubby's 37th birthday. It is hard to believe we have been together since he was 20. I must like him or something. We are finally the same age again. He always reminds me that we are only the same age from May to Sept when I turn a year older. Just wanted to let him know how much I do love him and I hope this is a great day for him. Love ya Shawn!

Memorial Day 2008

Even though I worked Sunday night and got about 1and a half of sleep, we headed out to take the boys fishing Monday. Sadly enough, Zach has fished many times, but as he got older and more involved with sports our fishing time did not exist. The biggest causality of this became Hayden.

Hayden had not been fishing since he was very small and does not even remember it. So, Shawn and I decided it was time for him to get started. We just ventured to one of the "lovely" playa lakes in town. Next thing we know he is catching fish like crazy. He got the nickname "The Fish Whisperer". Zach and Shawn finally started catching some. The final score: Hayden 4, Shawn 3, and Zach 4 plus a turtle catch. We really enjoy our time fishing and have made plans to go somewhere that there would be bigger fish we could keep and cook.(Here are a few pictures. Hope you enjoy them.)

Even though we had a great time fishing we also discussed the reason we celebrate Memorial Day. We discussed with the boys who in our family have served in the military. Great-grandfathers and great uncles that served in WWII , those that served in between wars like my dad, John, and Shawn's dad, Gary, that served in Vietnam. We also discussed those serving now and how different war is now. We remembered a brother of one of Zach's classmates that lost his life just before Christmas in a fire-fight in Iraq. Discussed with the boys the importance to remember these soldiers in their prayers. This was a wonderful day in our family's life. During this good time my thoughts come back to the Thompson family.

Trey and Tyler are having some set-backs. Please keep them in your prayers. They really need it.

Red Sox Rock!!

Okay, I know it is only Little League baseball but I believe I watched one of the best games I had seen in a long time last night. Our third place Red Sox were facing the first place Cubs. In our previous meetings with this team we had always stayed close the first couple of innings and then our error fest would start and they would blow us out. Last night started just the opposite.

Our team started with the enthusiasm of a sloth. I think our boys had in their minds that we could not beat this team. Granted this Cub's team is loaded with talented boys who have played together for many years, but our team has some talent and are starting to figure things out and are capable of beating anyone when they decide to.

The Cubs started their best pitcher who had us 3 up and 3 down in the first 2 innings. Our boys seemed scared to swing the bat. After Shawn had to get our boys attention and the Cubs changed pitchers, our team woke up. We were down 8-0 and we just started hitting. Our pitcher "C" did a good job during innings 2-3. Shawn brought Zach in to start the 4th and his pitching was on. Zach had 4 strike -outs, 2 fly-outs, and 3 ground-outs in innings 4-6. We won the game 10-8. It was awesome.

Shawn and I are very proud of this team. With lots of prayer, patience and hard work this team is finally coming around. We both agree that this has been the best experience of our lives. We hope we can continue to mentor these boys. Several have gone to church with us and really enjoy it. What fun. Hope you enjoy the pictures. (Hayden was taking them and I didn't even know it. Pretty good photography for a 7-yr-old. He is such a hoot.)

I would like to remind all of you to have continued prayer for Trey and Tyler Thompson. They have a long road ahead of them.

New Link

I am adding a new blog link for those of you interested in following the recovery of Trey and Tyler Thompson. Please keep them in your prayers. http://www.prayfortreyandtyler.blogspot.com/

Attention: Prayer Warriors Wanted

I know I have been away for a few days but life has really kept me busy. I have many subjects to blog about but today I am compelled to ask all of you awesome prayer warriors out there to put some prayer power in high gear. I have 3 really big prayer request.

The first is for my co-worker, Jessica's brother, Brad. Brad was involved in a car wreck several days ago in Abilene. He suffered a very fractured pelvis and is now in Parkland Hospital in Dallas. His pelvis has been repaired but is in for a long recovery. Please pray for his strength and peace during this recovery.

Next is for an ex-college friend of my husband. Shauna Penland lost her 20-year-old son, Shealon, in a tragic motorcycle accident early Saturday morning here in Lubbock. This young family is devastated by this accident. His funeral is Thursday morning and this family is having a hard time coping and preparing for this. This is a Christian family that has the comfort of knowing that Shealon was a Christian yet they continue to struggle. Pray that the Lord can give this family comfort, peace and strength during this difficult time.

My final request is for a family out of Munday, Tx. Two brothers, Tyler and Trey Thompson were involved in a traffic accident that involved broken bones as well as some serious burns. Both men are in serious condition @the Burn Unit at University Medical Center here in Lubbock. Both of these guys are family men with young children and are vital members of their community. Please keep them and their families in your prayers during this serious time.

Continuing NF Awareness

In doing some research on Neurofibromatosis, I found a great website. www.reggiebibbs.com . Reggie Bibbs is from the Houston area and sees the same neurologist Hayden does. He has a great website for awareness and has some awesome T-shirts for sale. Check it out.

Teach to the Test

Today I took some time to flip through our May issue of Texas Monthly. We are pretty avid readers of this magazine. My husband is a proud resident of The Republic, therefore we read just about anything pertaining to this great state. I'm so glad one of my favorite writers is now back to his normal post on the last page of the magazine. Even though I don't always agree with Kinky Friedman's views, I will admit he uses common sense when writing and I love when people use common sense.

In his latest article, The Four Questions-An epistle to Texas Christians, one of the questions he asks is, "Would Jesus teach to the test?". I thought this was so funny since I had previously given my spiel about the TAKS test. I have to say I do agree with Kinky's comments on this subject. Kinky states, "Teaching to the test is not the same thing as teaching. Indeed, it is quite often the opposite. Great teachers, who've inspired and guided so many of us, are by nature independent thinkers. Instead of rewarding these people for changing our lives for the better, the state shoves the TAKS test down their throats, drowns them in bureaucracy and political correctness, and monkeys with their Social Security and retirement pay. Today, in our dumbed-down, robotic, Orwellain system, the great teachers of Texas have been crucified on a chalkboard cross." That brings us to the biggest question of all, Would the greatest Teacher of all teach to the test? I think not.

I think about my educational years of the 70's and 80's. I know the system was not perfect during that time but I realize how rich my education was and how cheated I would have been had my teachers had to spend all their time teaching to the test instead of teaching the subject they were hired to teach, but also to teach us about life. To make us out of the box thinkers. We got to know these people. They taught us how to live, love and learn. I would like to thank many of those individuals. Ronnie and Orphie Conner-the best history teachers there ever has been, Walt Staats for peaking my interest in the sciences, Bo Merket for making the world of Algebra make some sense, coach Kathy Marshall for my athletic guidance, Nancy Hanks for just being a friend, David Woods for just making it interesting and especially Coach Rick Robinson for not being afraid to bring Jesus into the classroom. Thanks to you all for making me the person I am.

Who Knew?

Today is a new day. I can honestly say I did some soul searching yesterday and today there is a new take on things. I think I was in a hole for the past couple of weeks and I couldn't really figure out why and then I got a knock in the head from Him and it became alot more clear. Sometimes I can be hard headed and miss all the subtle signs I get.

When my husband and I took on the adventure of coaching a baseball team from the opposite side of town, I had no idea how our lives would change. I wish I could say that it was as simple as coaching these kids a couple of times a week and move on but in reality that is not the case. I began to realize that these boys have such adult problems and they had began to turn to us with these issues. I know I was beginning to carry some burden for these boys and was feeling bogged down by it. It is very hard not to get emotionally engaged by these boys because you realize that you have become their support system. I have never been involved with anything pertaining to kids, that I have seen such little parental involvement.

My husband and I coach this team ourselves with no other help. We have had 1 dad help out at about 5 practices and that is it. Most of the parents do not bring or pick up their kids from practice or games. They either walk or we pick them up. There are a total of 4 parents that even show up at games. It just blows my son's mind that these parents are not involved. He told me how hurt he would be if we were not involved with what he does. This has been a big eye opener for him as well as us.

After some soul searching, I've realized that God has put us on this unique walk for a reason. Shawn and I have talked about doing mission work once our boys got older. We really did not have an interest of going to other countries for this. We have always felt that there is more than enough work needed here in the US. We have always had the interest of going to the inner city like Memphis, Detroit, Chicago, New Orleans or even Dallas to do this work. How did we know that that was not God's plan for us for now. Who knew that we would find our mission work in our own town. Now that I look back I know this has been the plan. God planted us at THF a year ago and surrounded us with the spiritual support we needed, (thanks M2 and The Bishop) in order to move us to this mission. I know He will continue to give us the tools to continue forward on this journey as long as we continue to trust Him.

In a lull

We have been so busy with our day to day lives that I have been feeling a little off-balance. Between school, work, baseball, church and now dealing with Shawn's back problems, I feel that I have been losing focus of the important things. We rush from one thing to the next and I think today it is time for a slow down for me. I hate to admit it, but for the past couple of weeks my quite time has been out the window. As my friend, The Bishop would say, I am in a funk. Just not feeling quiet right and I know why. So today I will take the time pick up the good Book and get into some conversation with the man upstairs. Tomorrow will be alot brighter I know. May all of you find that brightness.