Pictures from Uganda

I just received these pictures from Pastor Dan Kaggwa at the Sign of the Dove Church Uganda and they are from their first Fellowship Sunday where they invited the community to join them in a wonderful Outreach and music Gala. Many were reached and many were saved and they will be doing it again soon. I praise God for the awesome work that Pastor Dan and his lovely wife Erica are doing there!!

Moving forward…

Someone once said there is only one thing that we can be certain of and that is CHANGE. They must not have known the love of God because I am here to testify that He does not change and His love is unfailing. However, the statement does have some truth in it in that we can also be certain that life will bring change. Some good and some not so good but if you are living in Christ it will always be “God-filtered” and so we may as well embrace it. Many of you know that our family has gone through many changes in the past few months not to mention the past few years. But we can praise God for each of the changes because we know that they have brought us to a closer relationship with one another and more importantly with Him.

I have heard from a very good source that my brother, Joshua, and his lovely wife, Corrina, and their two girls, Sydney and Olivia are going to be moving to Chicago in July. Praise God!! Finally, we will be close to family again. We are so excited and can’t wait to spend some time with them and get to know the girls. We have never even gotten to meet little Olivia yet.

April Update:

Jennifer and Jordan finished their first Team Triathlon and it was Jordan’s debut in the triathlon. They did AWESOME!! We can’t find the disposable camera from the weekend events but hopefully it will turn up soon... pictures are MIA.

May Update:

The kids and I went to Nueva Vallarta and had a wonderful time just relaxing and enjoying the sunshine. The vacation had been planned for over a year and it was a hard choice whether or not to go in light of everything going on but I am glad we did. Jennifer did come down with an ear infection while we were there and I got a bite of some kind that swelled my whole right side of the face but as always God is faithful. We both were treated by the doctor at the resort and were able to have no further complications or problems. It was a good opportunity for us to see God working in our lives. You can see pictures at www.http://members2.clubphoto.com/hal219370/guest-1.phtml

We are preparing for Memorial Day weekend with orders in for four full size sheet cakes and Jordan’s birthday cake to bake. I guess I will be in the kitchen. LOL!

Ironman Coeur d’ Alene is just 4 ½ weeks away and I am not feeling as prepared as last year physically but mentally I am more prepared. Right now I am praying that God will give me wisdom in deciding whether or not to race it this year. Either way the kids and I will be going to Idaho to visit the family. Can’t go wrong with either choice.

April Showers

But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God. I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought! Job 19:25-27 NLT

My dear and close friend, daughter and sister in Christ, Valerie Sydnor, passed away on Wednesday the 19th of April on her 28 1/2 birthday. Born October 19th in 1977, Valerie came into my life in August of 2003 but we did not really get to know one another until June of 2004 when she moved into our home to live with us forever. Over the past two years many people have wondered and questioned the unique relationship that God built between us and even now I can only say that God had destined it. From the first day until the last day Valerie was a part of our family through the good and the bad. She will be missed so very much. There is so much I wish I could share so that others could see her the way that we do but I am beginning to realize that there are some things that just have to be treasured and cannot be expressed to do them justice. I appreciate all the love and support from each of you and want to apologize for those that I have seemed to neglected over the past two weeks as our family has been grieving and dealing with the sudden and unexpected loss of our beloved Valerie.