Celebrate

Sing The Lord’s praises forever

for His glory is unending.
Until the day of his return,
rejoice and sing with all your heart.

Here and now, eternity starts.
Sorrow recedes when we praise Him.
His sacrifice freed us from death,
dance and celebrate your new life!

Lift your soul in song and worship
while remembering those still lost.
Listen to their stories and speak
strongly how your life is anew.

Accepting is the Lord, our God;
go and deliver His message!
Make new disciples with your words
while backing them with your actions.

Amazing is God’s agape love,
like a rubber band, there’s no end.
Every creature, sing His praises!
Prepare your hearts and celebrate!

What Has Happened?

I admit, it's been almost a year that I blogged.  Life can sometimes be crazy.  Work last school year kept me really busy.  Between teaching kids, working on portfolios, and other duties, I stayed very busy in the last year.  Also, a couple of members in my family were very sick and I spent a lot of time worrying and trying to keep in touch to make sure they were doing alright.  One of them was my Mom.

Back in May, she was admitted to the intensive care unit because she wasn't responsive.  Her heart rate was low and her kidneys had shut down.  Needless to say, I thought she was gone.  I said to myself that there was so much I wanted to tell her.  Through a miracle of God, she was stabilized.  For a month, she stayed in ICU.  Her breathing was shallow, her heart rate was unsteady for the longest time and her lungs was congested.  On top of that, she had a MRSA staph infection in her lungs which at the time, the doctors only gave her a 20% of surviving and she had to be on a ventilator.  God was protecting her though.  Slowly, but surely, she started to heal.  Her heart rate grew stronger, but she still needed to be on a ventilator.  

Mom was transferred to a specialty hospital that specialized in getting people off ventilators.  Medicare only pays for 30 days and after 3 weeks, Mom was still on it.  Throughout this entire time, many people prayed for her and in the last 6 days of her stay, Mom was weened off the ventilator and a trach tube was put in.  When the doctors put the trach in, Mom was able to speak for the first time since the incident.  When she said "Hi Mark" I wanted to cry like a baby.  I never thought that I would hear my Mom's voice again.  

Mom was moved to a nursing home for rehabiliation in regards to her breathing and physical therapy.  After 2 weeks, the trach was removed and she was breathing, although congested.  Her walking improved each day to the point that the doctor at the home said she could come home as long as she watched where she walked with a walker and use oxygen.  Mom had some anxiety issues that had to be taken care of, but she is now home and is starting to do some independent things on her own.  I write about this series of events because I truly believe that God worked in Mom's life.  I have no doubt that He healed her through the doctors and various staffs.  Even the doctor at the specialty hospital said it was truly a miracle Mom made it through.  

Other things happened during the last year, but I will leave that for another blog entry.  

Thumper is gone..

Last Thursday, my wife had to put down our cat, Thumper.  As I posted before, I firmly believe that God used Thumper to bring me back to church and in turn, I accepted Christ as my savior.  She had battled cancer for almost a year and she fought it tooth and nail.  Even after the vets and specialist said there was nothing that could be done, Thumper for a long time did what she wanted to do, even though the tumor on her head continued to grow, making it harder to do things.

The last two weeks though, she wasn't the Thumper me and Becky knew and loved.  It was hard for her to get around, she couldn't jump up or down on her favorite spots and she started having accidents.  At the end, she couldn't eat and she couldn't walk without stumbling, so we knew it was time for us to have her put down.  

Whoever says that they are just animals has never been a pet owner.  To me and my wife, Thumper was a daughter to us.  We don't have human kids, so our pets are our kids and I am proud to say we treat them so.  It hurts not to have her here, but considering what condition she was in, she is better off.  She is with God now and she is at peace.  I do believe God takes care of his creatures and that one day, me and Becky will see Thumper again with our other pets.  I have wrote a poem for my baby and it is below:

For Thumper

You would snuggle on my arm
as I laid on the bed;
whacking me with your tail
while I stroked your auburn fur.
You would purr quietly
with your eyes staring into mine;
listening to me as I talked to you
like a father to a child.

You would jump upon the sink
and ask me to turn on the faucet;
lapping water with your eager tongue,
drinking until you had your fill.
Stretched out where the sun appeared,
you would sleep for hours;
enjoying the simple pleasures
life gave you every day.

I miss you so much Thumper,
but I know it’s for the best.
Cancer took its toll on you
yet, you fought him long and hard.
Now you are in Heaven,
and your body is made whole again.
I’ll always remember you my Thumper cat,
until we see each other once more.

Old Testement Reading and Church

I was asked to do the Old Testement Reading for church today and it was Joel 2:8-32.  I thought when I found out what the reading was that it was a little lengthy, but it was in poetic form, so I went with it.  I found out after church that it was a misprint, but everything turned out alright because it did tell a story and the reading was fairly easy other than I did fumble a couple of times.  The readings and the theme of today's sermon was about the Holy Spirit.  It seems that the Holy Spirit is one of the hardest concepts to grasp and I don't claim to be an authority.

The Holy Spirit to me is the force you feel during great times, whether it is of a loss, hardship, comforting, etc.  I know in my times of worry this week when I've felt overwhelmed getting things ready for school, I have felt comforted after I've prayed and to me, I believe it's the Holy Spirit I'm feeling.  I know I felt the Holy Spirit once I accepted Jesus.  It was like a wave of relief rolled over my soul that I had never felt before.  

In my Sunday School class, a few weeks ago we talked about the Holy Spirit and we read different passages that showed evidence in the New Testement.  What I found enlightening however, was when members of the class gave their personal experiences and it made me feel good that others experienced it in similar fashion that I did.  One discussion was if people felt the Holy Spirit immediately after they have accepted Christ or does it happen later.  I'm not an expert, but I feel it is different in each experience since not one person is the same.  

On another note: I found a song that has really stuck with me by the christian group, MercyMe called Bring the Rain.  Here is a video from YouTube that someone made with the song.  Enjoy.

Busy Time

First, an update on Thumper. She is still with us. She has a hard time holding up her head, so she bumps into things, but she is still eating okay and her bodily functions are fine. We had a scare when a bump on her head released some blood, but the vet said that is normal considering how big her tumor is. We are just taking one day at a time with her.

I have been very busy with getting ready for the new school year. School starts here on Monday and I'm anxious in a nervous way.  I've been at school all week between trainings and getting our store ready, I managed to get the room ready as best as possible. No matter how much work I do, I never feel that I am ready. The regular ed. teachers have been busy trying to create units based on new guidelines and they feel like they're unprepared as well.

Not only is school keeping me busy, I've been making revisions for our project with the local newspaper and we got paid for it! Yea! Our side business did the graphic design for a supplement that will be coming out in a few weeks that deals with teenage suicide prevention. The paper gave us the information and basically, we put it together with graphics. I can't wait for it come out so I can see what it looks like on paper.

On the book front, I sold 28 books at the church and they are being shipped to me. The youth group will be getting $100 once I get all the money from the customers. I will be selling the book to faculty at my school in a couple of weeks, so it should be interesting how it will do.

Who Is God?

God exists.
Observe His creations:
The splendor of a robin
in the apple tree-
she sings dawn’s entrance.

God is beautiful.
Every flower a testament,
lush green meadows
roll across deep valleys;
We are his reflection.

God is immense.
Horizons loom on the sea,
like watercolor landscapes,
spanning forever;
His depth, beyond us.

God is near.
Look in the eyes of loving couples
and laughter of small children.
His presence touches us each day,
in ways we take for granted.

God is Love.

Updates

Thumper seems to be doing okay appetite wise.  The blood test results indicated that her thyroid is fine, so the vet has placed her on high calorie wet food that we are mixing with dry.  She devours the food, so we know she's eating well.  I think we will weigh her once or twice a week from here on out just to make sure she doesn't lose anymore.  It's been a stressful time for me and my wife since we treat her like our baby.

The book is doing well at church.  I am up to 12 orders and the deadline is next Sunday.  After church next week, I will order the books online.  After shipping, we are close to making $45 for the youth group which is nice.  I hope we can get 3 more sales so I know we will go over the $50 mark in profits for the kids.  

I decided that I will be going up to my school on Tuesday and Wednesday to get my classroom in order and work on lesson material.  School starts here on August 13 and the week of the 6th will be packed with professional development, so I need to get the classroom in order.  Starting a new year is always stressful since you don't know how the kids are after the summer off and just starting in general.  I look forward to getting back into the routine.  I know my wife is ready for me to go back (heh).  I plan to write more tomorrow on a more religious nature because I have so many things to say.

A Little Down Right Now

In my very first post I gave a history and one of the things that brought me back to church was our cat that has a cancerous tumor and meeting with a member who specializes in holistic medicine.  Well, the kitty is not doing well.  She is down to 9.7 pounds.  This was a cat who was 17 pounds a year ago.  There is nothing anyone can do medically.  We have to hand feed her because the tumor on her head has grown to the point where she has a hard time moving her jaw.  I have thought over and over when should we put her down.  Bodily function wise, she does everything.  With her tumor though, she is starting to bump into things because she can't keep her head up for long periods of time due to the weight of the tumor.  I admit, me and Becky are upset and I do cry during a weak moment.  I know God will take of her and she truly has been a blessing.  She's a fighter.  When I weep and talk to her, she still purrs.  She's a trooper.  God brought her to us so that we could know Him and I am forever grateful.  The hard part is coming up and I know it.  I will keep praying for her to keep a quality of life, but I know the time is coming close when we will have to decide enough is enough.  Please pray for her.

Checking In

Sorry for the lack of blogging. I've been working on getting Scorched Earth ready for the next issue. (Submission deadline is July 30th) and we have a graphic design project that I've been working on. Until it comes out, I have to keep it under wraps, but I can say it is going to do a lot of good here locally. It is a paid job, so I've been devoting a lot of time to it. I am going to get back to getting school work ready tomorrow. I don't have too much more I can do here at home and I plan to work next week up at school.

I've started taking orders for the book at church and after the announcement, I have 5 orders already. I'm taking orders until August 5th, so I am hoping for more. I would love to get 26 orders so I can get a discount and give more of the money back to the youth group. I'm also planning to set up my own web site soon to advertise the book and I'm going to go to the local paper and get a story about the book. I'm thinking about asking the public library about doing a poetry reading, but Becky thinks that it would bomb. It won't hurt to ask the librarian if they've had any in the past. I know I won't sell a lot of books. Most poets, unless they are the giants, are lucky if they sell hundreds. My goal is to sell at least 50 books between local and online. If I can do that, I will consider myself a success.

My book arrived!

I was working on a project today and decided to take a break.  When I went outside, I noticed a package on my porch and behold, my book had arrived!  I went in and like a kid on Christmas Day, I tore opened the package and started looking through it to make sure everything looked okay.  I can honestly say that Lulu.com did an excellent job putting it together.  It is exactly the way I had designed it.  My book is now on sale at Lulu.com.  All the proceeds are going my church's youth group to help fund their trips and activities.
You can click here to see it and purchase a copy.