Ford Family Follies

CRAWFISH BOIL WITH NO CRAWFISH!!

2019-05-26T16:49:00.000-07:00

Once again, the Ray Ford family wanted to have a fun different kind of celebration, well at least Ray did!! Esther, our middle daughter, was graduating from Stillwater High School, and it is a big deal up here to throw graduation parties and invite all your friends and their families. Well, we are all about having people over, and love a good excuse to throw a party, but, I am usually in charge of the food!

Ever since we left Louisiana 16 years ago, Ray has been wanting to have a crawfish boil! Since this was our last kid to be born in LA, we decided, no better time than now, but I told Ray, he had to be in charge of the crawfish boiling part, that was not my area of expertise!! So, Ray got online about a month before the party and ordered the crawfish (and shrimp, just incase some people were grossed out at the thought of pulling those suckers apart and sucking the brains out)!! We had about 50 lbs. of fresh LIVE crawfish and shrimp coming our way arriving the morning of the party. We wanted them to come the day before, but the company we were using insisted that this is how they do it and guaranteed they will be fresh!! So ok, we went with the recommendation, gave them our credit card, and off we go!!

We planned all the rest of the food to go along with it, lots of finger foods, but the main event was going to be the crawfish and shrimp from the Bayou!! As time grew closer, Ray went to Atwoods and bought a HUGE outdoor boiler and by the morning of the party, we were sitting on go. As the guaranteed time of 10 am came and went, I began to get a little nervous, but decided to relax, and knew that these people do this all the time and they would make good on their promise. Ray was at the hospital and wasn't even thinking about it, until on his way home, at 2pm, he received a phone call. They said they weren't sure what happened but last they heard our delivery was stuck in Memphis!! By the time Ray got home, we went into full "back up and punt mode"!! We had plenty of finger foods, but what was the main course gonna be? After discussing crockpots full of little smokies, platters of coconut chicken from Thai Cafe, and peanut butter sandwiches, wouldn't be great, but better than nothing, Ray decided that he would just go buy every bag of shrimp in Stillwater, and we would just explain to our guests what happened and why there was no crawfish.

An hour later when he got home, believe it or not, he had 50 lbs of shrimp AND crawfish, all from Walmart!! I never knew, and about half the price of what we had origanally ordered it for. He went to work boiling all the shrimp, crawfish, potatoes, and corn, and as our guests arrived, no one was the wiser, unless we told them. It turned out great, we all ate to our fill, and enjoyed celebrating our middle daughter and all the graduates.

The next morning however, after I called the company and requested our money be credited back, which they did do, I asked them about the pending late arrival of the crawfish and shrimp. She told me that surely FedEx would not deliver 50 lbs of dead crawfish after 48 hours. Well 30 minutes later, guess what was on our porch, stinking up the entire place and calling every varment in from all of Payne County?! As my dad used to say, "Gag a mother maggot!!" It was the worst thing I have every smelled. Needless to say, we got rid of the fish, and the smell has returned to somewhat normal, though ever once in awhile, I get a whiff of something still lingering in the air.

No great spiritual lessons here, just another typical Ford adventure that something had to go wrong. Well, except, for the brief moment, I started to panic, but figured, we don't have to have crawfish to love on people and make them feel welcome. Then God gave us the crawfish anyway!! A dear friend of ours' mom used to always say, "A house is to bless, not to impress!" And I was thinking, it's the same with crawfish or anything else we serve our guests!! No impressing here!! But all's well that ends well, and Esther felt loved. God is good.

Yeah graduates of 2019,
JJ

How do we live as Christ in just plain old every day life? I am still learning!

2019-05-21T18:08:00.000-07:00

Well, found this post that I forgot to post!!! HaHa!! This was written back in February!

It's been awhile since my last post. Waiting on something funny or exiting to happen in our lives to write about and all the while, life just keeps ticking away. Here we are, half way through February, 2019, and I just have life to share. This year, Ray started off his January by having an old football injury from Baylor repaired. His ankle bone had turned to mush, and he had that cleaned out and replaced with cadaver bone, which will hopefully give him a stronger ankle than he has had for almost 30 years. For several weeks, I was his hands and feet, as he was in alot of pain and unable to do anything. After he recovered at home for the first week, WE returned to work, as he needed help opening, closing doors, carrying things, and just general cheerleading and support for the next week. After 2 weeks, I returned back to my normal job, home maker, and guess what, Josh came down with the FLU!! Glory, another week of being nurse and staying home. I am grateful I was able to be here with my crew, and thankful that my life if full of appointments that can be cancelled without major consequence. I am not complaining, it is just factual that it has been a few weeks of service and nursing. Well, here I am again, with Anna home with the FLU!! I should have just let them all cough down each others throats, like I used to when they were little, and have them sick all at the same time instead of dragging it out!! Anyway, more time at home to think, pray, and just be.

Through this process, I have had some moments where I was really proud of myself. What a servant I am!! Not complaining, joyfully taking care of everyone else's needs, cleaning, laundry, cooking, and all while others, who were healthy, in the household continued with their normal lives. I felt like I deserved some gratitude, which I did receive on and off throughout this last month. But I was really feelin' like I was amazing, and humbly happy to serve. UNTIL.......... there was a few moments that I was treated in less than a kind way by some of these family members that I had been bending over backwards to serve.

Seriously!!! I couldn't believe it!! After all I had done for them, and I get treated like THIS!! Unbelievable!!! After one specific incidence, I went out to the car, only place to be alone in this house, got in and closed the door. I began to cry, and pour my heart out before the Lord, "Lord, I can't believe after all I have done, and how kind and sweet I have been, and how serving I have been, that they would treat me like crap!! How can you let this happen? I don't deserve this!!"

"I DON'T DESERVE TO BE TREATED LIKE THIS!!" I yelled.

I felt the Lord say, "Neither did I. And JJ, I really didn't deserve it, you actually have done some things before that might warrant this, but not me. And is the servant greater than the Master?"

"No Lord, so I must go back in there, take it, and trust that this is taking up my cross, suffering with Christ, and humble myself before You and as unto You, and You will lift me up?"

"Yes, my dear child, trust Me."

I went back in, with a peace that God would reveal to the offenders their offense, and that MY offense was my pride!! I was just as guilty as they were. Shoot!! Just when we think we have it all together.

God did restore, and convict where needed, and apologizes, forgiveness, and reconciliation happened. But this was just the beginning for what God was wanting to show me. I have been studying David in Bible study, and 2 things have really stood out to me recently. One is that David was so humble.

When David finally received the Davidic Covenant from God, and was promised all these wonderful things, kingdom, house, throne, how did he respond? "Who am I, Lord" He was so humble! Now this is the guy that had been anointed 20 years ago to be king. This is the guy that slayed Goliath, this is the guy that they had sung, "Saul killed his thousands, but David killed his 10,000s!!" Everyone knew and loved David in Israel, and yet David was humble!! Who am I?

When I went out to the car and was lamenting to the Lord over my heart ache, hurt, and wounded-ness, I was saying to the Lord, "Do you know who I AM?? NOT, Who am I?! How can You let this happen to ME? I don't deserve this, I am someone special!!" Wow!! My response and prayer to the Lord is so convicting. It is a miracle and by the grace of God that He even does one more good thing in my life from this point on, and I am to be eternally and humbly grateful for His goodness and mercy in my life.

The second thing that stood out to me from David in this specific passage of scripture, was that when David prayed back to the Lord after God had spoken the Davidic Covenant to him, that He prayed the very things God had just promised him right before. He prayed God's promises BACK to Him. Now I KNOW we are to pray God's word back to Him, but I feel like I have been lazy in doing this, and just praying my own pitiful words. I was inspired, convicted, and reminded to pray God's promises daily in my prayer life. Remind Him of what He has said and stand confidently on His word. To do this, I must be IN the word, meditating on it, and knowing it. What a good reminder for me. God is faithful to His promises. God is faithful to me. Always.

JJ

How our son's wedding weekend ended up in the ICU.

2018-05-19T10:21:00.003-07:00

Glory to God, He is faithful!! I am so thankful my husband is alive! That was my Mother's Day gift!!

What a wonderful time to celebrate our son and his bride as they made a covenant before the Lord to remain faithful to one another until the Lord takes them home. (I included some pics below!!) How much joy and yet what a whirlwind we ended up having as life started spinning out of control!!

As usual, the weeks leading up to a wedding get a little crazy!! I felt like Queen Esther from the Bible, with all the preparations I was doing just to get myself ready for the big day!! Along with that, the rehearsal dinner prep, decorations, center pieces, meal plan and making of the deserts was also on my list of things to do. Making sure my guys had the right size tuxes, girls had their dresses, shoes, and grooming supplies, etc., etc.!! Those that have been a part of the planning process of a wedding with a big family know what I am talking about!!

Anyway, on Wednesday of the week leading up to the wedding, Ray came in not feeling well that night! He had been stung by some bees on Wednesday morning, so he thought he might just be having a reaction. He medicated himself and went to bed early that night. I wasn't too worried about it and honestly I was more concerned with packing the car and making sure we were ready to go to Texas the next day without forgetting anything we needed!

On Thursday we began to make our trek down to the Ranch for wedding weekend. I left with the first car full of supplies and kids, so I could get down there and unload and be ready to start setting up Friday morning for the dinner. Ray came in the second wave, waiting on our college daughter, Ruth, to get out of her last day of classes for the semester. They came in late that night, and didn't get to the Ranch until 2:30am! That whole day Thursday, unbeknownst to me, Ray had been treating himself for fever and was taking an antibiotic incase this was some type of infection he had picked up from the bees.

Friday morning we woke up ready to get to work making the flower arrangements and center pieces for the tables. It was raining, so I assured Ray he could rest, since there was nothing for him to do until the rain stopped and we went down to do final setup late that afternoon. I thought he was just tired from the late night of travel. He told me later he was still treating himself for fever and if he didn't snap out of this, he would change to another antibiotic the next morning.

Me, Mom, and sisters decorating.

Jeanan, Baylor Friend, came to help too.

The dinner was wonderful and we had a sweet time of fellowship and celebration of Jesse and Hannah. Ray did an amazing job of leading the dinner and sharing from his heart.
I thought Ray was all better, but that night when we finally went to bed, his fever came back up and he fought it throughout night, really not resting much.

Also, after the dinner that night, we were driving back to one of the houses on the ranch to pick something up and Ray missed the turn, so he slammed on the brakes on my car. The brakes seemed to lock up, or at least added a drag to the car from that point on, and wouldn't un-stick. Oh well, we had to drive to the venue the next morning (which was over 2 hours away), and needed both cars, so we didn't have time to mess with it at the moment!! Ray said it might ruin my car, but honestly, what could I do? I didn't' feel like I had a choice, my son only gets married once! So Ray said he would stop on the way to the venue to get stuff to fix the car the next day while we were all getting ready!

In the middle of the night, while we were supposed to be sleeping (Ray wasn't because of fever) we got a phone call at 2:30 in the morning, informing us that one of our dogs got out and had been hit back up in Stillwater. He was alive but not doing that great! Since we were 4 hours away, there wasn't much we could do, so we instructed our friends to put him at the house, and if he was alive the next morning, to take him to the vet. We would deal with this on Sunday when we got home!!

Saturday morning came, and we were all in a bustle trying to get all our stuff together and head to the venue in Van Alstyne!! Ray was miserable, and had already called in more medicine. I was a little stressed because we were all supposed to be at the venue by 11 for a walk through rehearsal. Ray said he had to pick up the meds AND the parts for the car first, and then he would be there.

All the rest of us headed out, and he was going to be following behind us. We all made it, but Ray called and said he was feeling so bad, he was going straight to the hotel instead, to lay down.

Rehearsal, Esther standing in for Jesse!

Wedding time!!

After the walk through, we headed to the hotel to start doing hair, makeup, and dresses.
Ray was resting when we arrived, but I left, and when I got back from my hair appointment, Ray was gone. The girls said he was stepping out for a minute. I went out and looked for him, thinking he might have felt like working on the car after his nap, but he was no where to be found. We all finished getting dressed and it was time to go, but no Ray! I texted him, but no response. About that time, in he walks, or rather, drags into our room, shaking and miserable. I asked where he had been, and he said he had been laying on the parking lot trying to get warm, the asphalt felt good to him!! What?! Well, it was time for us to leave to be there early to welcome guests and be there before the wedding started, but Ray said for us to just go on without him. No, I couldn't just leave Ray and I felt like he needed my help, hopefully to get dressed and go, at least to the ceremony, of our son's wedding! I sent the girls on with my mom, and I helped Ray shower, dress, and he took 1000 ml of Motrin to try and bring the fever down.

I got him in the car, and drove like a bat out of hell to get to the wedding before it started!! We came barreling in to the parking lot 10 minutes before start time! On the drive there, his fever seemed to break a little, which gave him some relief. God, I know, gave him the strength to sit through and enjoy the wedding ceremony, and the first hour and an half of the reception.

We even had a dance, but then he began to crash.

My brother-in-law volunteered to take him back to the hotel so I could stay and visit with all our guests. But when we all got back to the room that night, Ray was shaking, wearing all his clothes, wrapped in blankets and moaning. That was our night all night Saturday night and early into Sunday morning. As we tried to get out of bed that morning, Ray finally said, he needed to go to the hospital. The antibiotics had not helped, and he was obviously getting worse. We gathered all our crew up and loaded up. Ray just crawled in the passenger seat and closed his eyes. Ruth drove Ray in his truck and I drove the family car with the locked up brakes. I figured if something bad was going to happen in the car, I would rather be driving than her. We caravanned back to Stillwater, and my car, was dragging the whole time. Ruth said my brakes lights kept coming on and off the entire time we were driving. Seemed like I was using twice as much gas, but I didn't care!! Cars are replaceable, Ray is not!! I began calling and asking our family and friends to pray. Pray for Ray, and for whoever was going to be on the receiving end at the hospital. We needed the Lord to show the Dr. where this infection was coming from, and not get distracted by alot of rabbit trails.

2 miles from the Stillwater exit, the "check engine soon" light started FLASHING at me. Ray always told me that if the light comes on it isn't an emergency, it is just good to get it checked out soon. If the light starts flashing, pull over immediately!!! Well, I HAD to get my husband to the hospital, so I just cried out to the Lord, literally, to keep my car going, and carry it to the hospital. I scared the kids to death, who were resting from the weekend!! All of a sudden, the light went off, and I kept the cruise control on, heading straight for the hospital. I kept praying out-loud until we made it, for the Lord to carry our car there and not let it explode!!

When we pulled into the hospital, Dr. Mark Mueller was the Dr. in the ER that day. He is a friend of Ray's, a Godly man, a fellow Kanakuk Kamp Dr., and his wife was my Bible Study leader last year. Mark began the process of figuring out what was going on, and after blood work, some tests, ultra-sounds, and observation, he said he was still baffled. Ray and I kept praying for wisdom, and Mark came back in the room and asked if Ray had been bitten by a tick. Ray said no, but I said Yes!! reminding him that he had me pull one off of him about a week and a half ago. Ray had forgotten since we get tick bites all the time in our family and think nothing of it!! The dots started connecting and Mark said he thought Ray had a tick born illness but it would take days to find out from the tick panel. Because of the severity of Ray's condition, they put Ray in the ICU until they felt like they had a handle on his situation. His blood counts for white and platelets were extremely low, and his liver enzymes were rising by the minute, and with a temp of 103.6 and rising with medication onboard, they were very concerned.

We were a little in shock that he was that sick, but so thankful God had shown Dr. Mueller to ask that specific question. We have since read that people die from this (Ehrlichiosis) because it is not diagnosed early enough. Praise God for His wisdom that he gave Dr. Mueller!

That first night in ICU was miserable, as they were not able to give Ray relief from the fever, so he was uncomfortable all night, as well as they wake you up to check on you every hour in the ICU anyway. I stayed with Ray in the chair next to the bed, trying to doze off every once in awhile. I guess, because of all the stress from the wedding planning, travel, and Ray's sickness, I got a migraine. I asked one of Ray's Dr. friends and partners to bring some strong migraine medicine to me that night, and I took it, but it didn't seem to touch it. By 5 am the next morning, I started throwing up, a result of the migraine. One of Ray's partners came in to check on him, and I'm right there in the room, ICU toilets are in the room, not separate, throwing up violently. He got me some nausea medicine, but after 2 doses, it didn't even touch it. By the time the Dr. came around to check on Ray, I was so weak, dehydrated, and exhausted from throwing up for 6 hours, I could hardly even look up and listen to what he was discussing about Ray's condition. Ray started trying to lean over out of his bed, with wires connected all over him, to try and take care of me!! Ridiculous!! Finally, I gave up, and Ray's brother took me across the street to get a shot to help with the migraine and throwing up. I returned 4 hours later a new woman!!

In the mean time, while Ray was still in the ICU, we got a phone call from our vet concerning our dog that had been hit over the wedding weekend, since we had not taken car of the dog on Sunday when we got back into town. Obviously, that had moved down on the priority list, since Ray was about to die and had to go into the ICU. Once Ray answered and explained we were in the hospital, he assured us he would keep him comfortable until we could tend to him!! Thank goodness.

They moved Ray to a regular room, and after 2 more days in the hospital, the tick panel came back, and it was confirmed, Ehrlichiosis. They let us go home, but with a pic line connected to Ray, so they could continue to give him IV antibiotics. We were sent home to rest for the rest of the week.
Below is a picture of Ray resting the evening we got home from the hospital....

While we were in the hospital, some of our friends, who were also our Klife directors in Stillwater, stayed with our kids and tried to keep things going while we were unable to. They dropped off our car at the shop, thinking I had probably completely burned up the brakes on that 4 hour trek home from Texas. Can you believe, they looked the entire car over and said they could not find one thing wrong with it!!?? I promise you there was!!! Ray thinks God may have healed my car when I cried out those last 10 miles to the hospital!!!

The dog was not so lucky, as when we finally got over to see about him later on in the week, we had to put him down. He is now buried in our back yard. The whole family was sad, but in light of what their Daddy had just endured, and the fact that HE was alive, it kinda gave us better perspective on losing our dog. He will be missed though.

Wow, what a wedding weekend!! After it was all over, and we felt like Ray was at least out of the woods, and on his way to healing, and after the dog was buried in the back yard, the flood gates opened up and I cried. It all came out, and I realized my son had gotten married!! What?! I barely remembered because of all that had happened since. Thank goodness people took pictures! Thank the Lord He is faithful, my son is married, my husband is alive, and we are home. Glory be to God.

We are 2 weeks out from the wedding and the ICU weekend at the time I am writing this. Ray is healing, it is slow but steady. His energy levels are lower than normal, and he poops our real quick. He is finished with the antibiotics and is just mending now. One of our friends from Kamp who had this same thing, said it took 6 months before he felt like himself again. So we will see, sounds like a marathon and not a sprint, kinda like life in general. We are grateful for today. Those that have prayed, thank you.

Gratefully yours,
JJ

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

2017-12-20T07:16:00.002-08:00

As a little girl, I remember my grandfather, my dad's father, Pete Janszen (Gramps) saying this and other phrases in German. I felt very special to have this heritage, and loved having Gramps say all kinds of things, especially a little nursery rhyme in German. I have loved my German heritage. Little did I know, God was planning all along to bring a precious German girl into our lives many years later.

Last year, on the first day of school, Esther, our middle daughter, came home telling us about a cute foreign exchange student who was in her Alg. 2 class.

She said she was so pretty and she LOVED the way she talked, in broken, German accented English. Day after day, Esther would come home and speak more of Stella. She envited her over to go to the movies with our family, the second week she was here. I am not sure if she could understand much, it was the remake of Ben Hur, but we had a great time together. Esther, continued to reach out to Stella, and invited her to come to our home every Monday morning, to a Klife small group Bible study before school.

About the same time, Stella tried out for the Cross Country team, and started running with Ruth. Stella did not realize Esther and Ruth were sisters, since they look nothing alike! Ruth felt called to start a XC Bible study, and Stella started coming to that also.

After a few weeks, she put together that these 2 were sisters!! She began coming to our home for some family dinners, and the girls were driving her to Klife Klub meetings as well. God was definately weaving our lives together!!

Through the semester we were getting to know her, and as we got deeper, it became apparent that Stella did not know the Lord as her Savior, though she had been to church back in Germany, she did not have that personal trust in Him to save her. But she was courious, and continued to come, ask questions, and was such a joy to be around. One morning, I overheard someone crying at the girls Bible study in the other room. Not wanting to be nosey, I stayed out of the room, but later asked Esther if all was ok. She shared that stella was not happy in her host home, and was asking for prayer to know what to do.

My heart broke for this sweet girl, and I shared with Ray what I had learned.

He said he wanted me to pray about what we were to do concerning our role with Stella.

"What? What do you mean?! What role? You mean keep having her over for Bible study and some family meals?"

"No, I mean does she need to come live with us?"

"You have got to be kidding me?!" I thought! I already have enough kids, I don't need another child, let alone another teenage girl! And where would she sleep, we already have 3 girls in one room, granted they are in the master, but still, another high school girl!!

I told him I would pray about it, but I wasn't going to tell a soul! I didn't want anyone getting any ideas. (Now, I know this is so selfish, I know, but at the time, I couldn't see it any other way!)

Well, after 2 weeks of praying for Stella's sitution to improve at her host home, and yes praying for however God wanted us to play a role, Esther came home from school one day and said, "Mom, Stella asked me if she might could come live with us!!"

She told her she didn't know, it would be up to her parents, but I was floored. I knew right then and there that obviously God was up to somehting and was already working, because He had layed it on Ray's heart 2 weeks early, and had me praying about it to prepare myself.

We had a family meeting, talked about the pros and cons and then Ray said, "Guys, what if God wanted to use our family to point Stella to Him, and we were too selfish to accept this plan? Our lives are a blip, and the time stella is in the USA is a blip of a blip!! We will regret if we do not open ourselves up, and our home. Let us be willing!" We ALL agreed, and knew he was right. We began the paperwork the next week, and a week after that, December 15, stella came to live with the Ford Family.

The funny thing is, stella is an only child, from a divorced family, so to move into a home with 7 family members, 3 sister, 2 brothers, and parents, was more of a shock to her than her to us!!

She said she loved it, Stella is a very friendly outgoing person, who loves to talk with people and loves activity!! Well, she found it in our crazy home!

Right after she moved in, we had finals coming up, then Christmas break. For some reason, I thought Stella would be returning to Germany for the holidays, but I quickly found out she would be with us!! Back to the store, Santa needed to come visit Stella as well!! We also wanted to get her gifts, but the most important thing we wanted to give her was Jesus. He really is it, the most amazing thing, so we gave her her very own Bible, she had been borrowing one for small group and XC Bible study.

Christmas took us to Texas again this year, to the ranch. Stella didn't know what to expect, she said she had heard Texas wasn't that interesting, only dust and cowboys!! Well, she was partly right, but since the ranch in in the Brazos River valley and right on the edge of the Texas Hill Country, it is more than just dust, though we do have some cowboys.

Babe, my mom, and Stella's American grandmother for the time being, gave stella her very own cowgirl boots!!

Christmas day was wonderful, but emotional for Stella, I can only imagine being away from my family at 16 on Christmas day!! But the sweetest part was when she got her Bible. I thought she was just missing her family, but the tears fell as she read the note we had written in the front. The next evening, the girls were up in the balcony coloring and visiting quietly. All of a sudden, the girls came running to the edge hollaring! "Stella just became a Crhistian!!" The girls came running down the stairs, with Stella saying, "I am saved, I am saved!!" As we talked through the conversation they had just had, mainly between Stella and Esther, with Raylee (my neice) and Anna also a part, they shared the questions that Stella had been asking and the answers she was looking for. Stella shared how she knew Jesus wanted something from her ever since she moved in with us, and after she got her Bible she knew even more, and now she realizes, it was HER He wanted. He wanted to save HER, He wanted a relationship with HER, Oh GLORY!! Hallelujah. She is saved indeed!!!

Our family was humbled, excited, and grateful all at the same time. Stella, who continued to live with us until the end of May, was, is a new creation for all eternity. We are so grateful we did not let all our selfish petty reasons for not wanting Stella to come live with us, get in the way of the bigger plan God was working in all our lives.

From Christmas on, it was like Sunday school in our home. Stella asked all of us, at different times, for the five and a half months, about scripure, about God, about what in means to live out your faith. It was such a blessing for all of us, as we were forced to answer questions we maybe hadn't dealt with in years. Who is the enemy? Why does he want to attack us? How does he attack? What will heaven be like? What does it mean to live out our faith in this or that sitution?

And probably my favorite, one evening, the girls and I, along with Stella, were talking aobut what Jesus did. Stella kept saying, "I just don't understand why He would do that for me, I am so overwhelmed with thankfulness, I have no words!!! Can we just stop and praise Him right now for what He has done?" YES!! we all replied, and what a sweet time we all had together, just thanking Him in prayer for the sacrifice He made. What a great reminder for all us girls, we just get so used to it, we casually say, "Yes, Jesus died for us and we are thankful." But how often are we really overwhelmed with gratefulness, that we have no words?! Not me, I almost always have words! But I want to be more like this. So thankful, so overwhelmed for His love for me.

Stella brought this fresh reminder back to our family!! We love our German daughter, we are thankful God in His grace and mercy, brought her to our family, inspite of us!! He saved her, He lifted the veil off her eyes, He saved her, and we got to be close observers of this change. Glory to His name.

As we sent her back home after the end of May, it was hard to let her go, knowing she doesn't have any community of believers back home, but God is faithful! He goes with her, He will provide, and His Holy Spirit can give her understanding as she continues to study His word. And, we knew we were not saying goodbye forever. She is planning to come visit next summer, and go to Kanakuk with us, and we have the assurance that we have eternity with her. God is so good.

Auf Wiedersehen,

JJ

I Wanna be "THAT MARY"

2017-08-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

Most of you that know me, know I am a Martha! For sure!! Love, Love, Love being in the kitchen.....food is my love language. Anyone sad, how about a cookie? Bad day at work, Bluebell vanilla milk shake, want to put your feet up? Chips and salsa comin' right up! No question, even though I like people, and do enjoy a good sit down and visit, I love being in the kitchen and hearing the laughter of friends and family in the other room enjoying some fellowship with a treat I have prepared for them. But, God has been showing me something........

First of all, let me back up, this past fall BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) was planning on studying the Book of John. Ok, confession,...... I don't like the book of John! Yikes! I said it! I feel bad, but it is the truth. What am I going to say to John when I meet him one day in heaven? It's just sooooo wordy and flowery. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God,........" My goodness John, just say Jesus was there in the beginning!!! Just drives me nuts, I mean, I was a PE/Art major, I don't really like wordiness, just spit it out! I am more of a Matthew/Peter kind of girl!!

Well, anyway, because I loved the women in my BSF group, and I am desperate for friends, still new in Stillwater, I decided to gut it up and go!! Maybe God wanted me to give John another chance. Ok, so after I got through the first chapter, I have to say, it grew on me. John really is a good book! Ha! I know some of you are horrified with my confession here, I mean come on!! It's THE book we send new believers to to START reading the Bible! Anyway, I have and am continuing to appreciate more and more what I am learning and studying through John. But one of my favorite nuggets is about Mary.

In Chapter 11 verse 2, it says, "It was That Mary," as he begins to tell us the story of Lazarus. "That Mary" It made me stop in my tracks. It was that Mary who anointed Jesus with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair. He wanted us to know that this was a special Mary, not the one that just sat as His feet. Not just another of the many Mary's of that time, popular name! It was THAT Mary. The one that loved Jesus so adauciously that she sacrificed a bottle of fragrant oil, very costly, and annointed His feet, then wiped them with her hair. The whole room was filled with the beautiful smells of her sacrifice unto the Lord. Everyone in the room was aware of her shamless love for Him. I want to be THAT Mary, or rather THAT JJ. I want to sacrifice all, I want my love for my Saviour, to fill every area I go. Not so that people with think great of me, but will think, what in the world is so special about this Jesus that He invokes such devotion, sacrifice, and adoration? He must be awesome or she must be crazy! I am sure there will be those that will think I am crazy, stupid, or foolish, consider what Judas said about her. But all that matters is what He thinks. I want to be THAT JJ.

I am not there yet, but I want to work, daily, towards loving Him with such abandantment that I forget about myself.

And just think, I would have missed this had I not given the Gospel of John another chance.

God is good,
JJ

"It's easier to watch, because I know how this will end."

2017-02-02T12:14:00.001-08:00

(This post is 2 years old, found it in my drafts, just never posted it. Jesse wasn't even in college yet, and Bryce Petty was still Baylor's quarterback. Not funny, but an encouraging reminder.)

"It's easier to watch, because I know how this will end," says Ray as he settles in to watch the recorded football game of Baylor vs. OU, the day after it was played.

Ray and Jesse had gone to check out a possible college football opportunity for Jesse next year, and missed the entire game of BU vs. OU on Saturday. Jesse and Ray got ESPN updates the whole time though, so they knew the final score as the game ended in real time.

The next day, Ray settled in to watch the game, and started from the beginning. Even though Baylor got 3 points on the board first, OU came back with a vengence, and before we knew it, had scored twice on Baylor, without hardly taking a breath. If you didn't know it, it looked as if this was going to be a tough game for Baylor, and the momentum was moving in the Sooners' favor. At this point, Ray looked over and said, "It's easier to watch this, knowing how it will end."
I just sat there and stared at him. He looked over,
"What?"
"Did you hear what you just said?"
"What?"
"It's easier to watch, because you know how it will end?!"....."Ray, that will preach!"
He smiled, because, you see, we are going through some stuff in our little family, that seems right now, to have about knocked us out. Ok, you may feel like I am over dramatizing, but honestly, we have felt as if we have been so knocked down, so defeated, so lost, that there is no possibility of victory or recovery. We have felt like complete failures as parents, and failures in our faith that God can even do anything about it. The enemy has got the momentum, has scored on us multiple times, and seems to be lining back up at our goal line, ready to punch it in again!

We have looked at these defeats as the FINAL outcome, and not as battles that must be fought in this greater war that we are in.
If we knew how it would end, it would be easier to watch. YES! But we do know how it will end!! We do!! The great enemy of old, still fights to destroy our marriages, our families, and take our children for his own victory. It may seem as if he has won, FEEL like he has won, and that there is no hope, or even reason to keep fighting, weilding that sword in prayer, because we see this so many times as the ENTIRE war. But it is not. It is only a battle, the first quarter, one of many that we will fight, in this greater war that is ulitmately already won. These battles we are going through now, are worth fighting through, because though we feel like we may have lost somewhat, and given ground to the enemy, we have not lost, we are still fighting, still in this.

By God's grace, He had me listening to another book, right when this thing seemed to rear it's ugly head, He is Faithful by Carol Cymbola. I highly recommend if you are needing some encouragement that God is faithful through ALL that we go through, whether it is self emposed, or nothing of our own doing. Of course, it goes along with my favorite verse, my life verse, which is found in Lamentations 3:22-23 "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning, great is Thy faithfulness."

Every morning, isn't that awesome, we get to hit the reset button every 24 hours. All I know is that I feel down 14-3 in the game, but I have to realize, we are only in the first quarter, and I have seen the end, so even though, it may not make it as easy as watchin' our Bears get whooped up on for the first 15 min, as it is watching my kids get whooped up on by the enemy, I can say, knowing how this thing will end, Jesus gets final victory in their lives, in my life, and this world, it makes these daily battles easier to watch, and yes, also encourages me to keep the shoulder pads on, keep running out there on that field, keep weilding that sword in prayer, because Bryce Petty is bound to get that ball and throw for a first! And then baby, watch out!! The momentum will start rolling, and we are off and running to kick the enemies rear!
Hallelujah,
JJ

(P.S. - Since I am posting this almost 2 years later, I can honestly say God did win the victory in these areas we felt were soooo difficult and impossible!! But with God ALL things are possible!)

The Poor Life of the Baby of 5 children.

2017-01-27T11:09:00.001-08:00

(Found this post back in my drafts and never posted it. So it is a year late, but worth a little laugh!!)

You know you are the last 2 of 5 children, when you go to meet the teacher night without your parents!! This is exactly what Joshua and Anna did this year. We had just moved to Stillwater, so no one knew us, had no idea that we actually DO care about our kids, and don't just let them roam the town on their bikes by themselves! But, this is exactly what it looked like to thier teachers.
The kids had asked if we could ride bikes with our neighbors to meet the teacher night, and I had said it all depended on when Ray and I got back to the house. We had run a quick errand, and were going to return to the house in a few minutes. Ruth was there at the house, but really didn' tknow what we were doing with the kids after we got back. When we got home, we asked Ruth where the kids were, it was time to head to the school, and she said they had left with our neighbors!!

I ran back out to the car screaming to Ray, "Hurry, get to the school!! The kids went with the neighbors, and are at meet the teacher night without us!!"

We spead to the school, and ran to their classrooms as quickly as we could. We found Anna first, who had picked up all her papers, met her teacher, and said she had told the teacher she wasn't sure if we were coming tonight!! " How embarrasing!! Not wanting to set her straight, and give an appearance of an abusive parent, since I already looked like a negligent parent to her teacher now anyway, I tried to explain that they had left with our neighbors and had been confused. Her teacher just kept saying, "Well, Anna just wasn't sure if you were coming tonight or not!!" I was so embarrassed, I got nervous, and started talking WAY to much, trying to sound like a good parent, but sounding like an idiot instead, and really making Anna's teacher wary of us. Oh well, so much for first impressions!!
Joshua's teacher and scenerio was almost an exact repeat. So imbarrassed, I grabbed the kids hands, smiled as I left the building, then read them the right act outside, all while smiling, incase the teachers were watching.
Don't think we are going to win parent of the year in Stillwater this year!!

Laughing again.......and a 700 lb Spider on Rollerskates

2016-10-31T02:31:00.001-07:00

I CANNOT believe it has been one year since I posted on this blog. Life has been busy of course, but really?
The good news is, we are still in Stillwater, OK. The bad news is, we MOVED again!
I guess it's not really bad news, but moving is hard!
Anyway, we were going to move this summer, to a little bit bigger home, since we have 5 kids, 4 of which are still home, but the contract fell through. So we were good with that, stay where we were, in a smaller home, with all our stuff being stored in 7 different places! Yes, that is correct, 7 different places. But still, trusting, God's timing, not ours. Well, we started the school year and all that it brings. We had Jesse's football schedule, Ruth's cross country schedule, Esther's volleyball schedule, and Anna's cross country schedule to work around. Joshua asked if he could sign up for flag football, and my answer was "Heck No!!" (His time is coming!) So, packing up the trailer and heading out every weekend to somewhere in Kansas for football, plus throwing a xc meet or VB game in there, sometimes we would be in 3 different cities, 2 different states in a matter of 24 hours!!

Right in the middle of this, the people who owned the house we had put a contract on over the summer, came back to us and offered us a deal we couldn't refuse, so after praying and signing the paperwork, we had to close in 2 weeks. All of a sudden, in the midst of an already crazy schedule, we were moving across town!!

This was exciting and exhausting all at the same time, because you know, the Ray Ford Family does not pay movers!! We do it ourselves. Ha! So we spent the next few weeks, slowly but surely trickling things over to the new home. But as we got to the end of the month, Ray said he was not paying another month in storage, so we HAD to get the storage stuff over to the new home by Friday. Well, that was fine, except, we had a XC meet in Arkansas, and a football game in KS, along with 2 volleyball games that week, both an hour drive away! The boxes were not the difficult part, and we were able to get that over in about 5 trips, but the RV, oh baby, that was a different story! You see, we have a large separate garage/workshop/RV storage at our new home. I call it the barn. Anyway, it is great, but the people before us didn't have an RV/5th wheel, so they built a loft type structure, to use as storage. It was right in the spot were the back half of the 5th wheel needed to go in the barn, so we had to take that out. Well, Ray wasn't about to waste that great storage, so instead of dismantling it, he wanted to MOVE it. Now this thing probably weighed 700+ lbs. It was attached to the side of the wall, but had 4 large beams that supported it, like legs. Ray decided that we could just cut it away from the wall and move it over on wheels. After we propped it up on skate boards, furniture dollies and the like, and tried to move it a few feet, we rethought! So the next day, while the kids were at school, Ray and I attempted to move this thing. He attached casters to the 4 legs and we began to push. It was sooooo exciting, the thing was moving, we were so proud of ourselves, we were gonna have this thing moved and secured to the other side of the barn in a matter of 30 minutes.

Well, pride cometh before the fall.......... we ran into a little finagling around the garage door and while Ray was trying to figure out how to manuver it, the thing started to fall!! We could hear wood cracking, and I was supporting one leg, Ray ran over to support the other, and we were huffin' and puffin' like to old fat people, sweat beads pouring from our faces. We couldn't move, yet, we had to get something under this thing or it was coming down!! About that time we look up and here comes 2 Jehovah Witnesses!! They asked if they could have a few minutes of our time!!! What?! Can you not see we are in dyer need of some assistance?! Ray said "No! We are a little busy at the moment, but you can help us if you want!" They declined, but then asked if they could leave some reading material for us?! You have got to be kidding! No!

After they left, Ray said, "Ok, I am gonna step away and grab the ladder, and try to prop it up underneath, if it starts to fall on you, just run away!!" Oh my gosh, how do I get myself into these situations with this guy?? Well, he was able to get the ladder under the structure before it fell on top of me, and we stepped away for a moment. He decided we would use the tractor, and lift the weight up off the legs, while we moved it, then secure it into place before we moved the tractor. Long story short, 10 hours later, after we started this project, we had the stucture moved and secured into place. A friend stopped by while we were in the process and gave alot of support and encouragement, but like she said, it looked like a 700 lb spider on roller skates!!

Needless to say, we were exhausted after working ALL DAY on this short quick little job, and we were supposed to get on the road that night and head to Fayetteville, AR for Ruth's XC meet the next day. Well, I thought we were going in to clean up, when I heard the chain saw roar to life! What now? The 5th wheel was still at the storage facility, but we had to renew the lease the next day if we didn't get it out of there by the weekend. We were taking the 5th wheel to AR and then to KS, but when we came back home on Sunday, Ray wanted to be able to put it into the barn, soooo, we had lots of tree limbs that hung across the driveway. Ray had to clear those so he could bring the 5th wheel in once we returned on Sunday. So all of us went out and as Ray cut a limb, we dragged it into the front yard. I wanted to take them all to the back behind the barn, but the sun was going down, we were supposed to get on the road, and we just didn't have time. I was embarrassed because our neighbors all have very well kept yards, and here we come, just moving in, and trashing the place!! Well, as we worked into the night, Ray cut, and we dragged! Finally, after he had cut his last limb, the idea of getting on the road was out of the question!! To say we were tired was an understatement! We decided to crash, and just get up early the next morning and head out.

The next morning, Ray headed over to get the 5th wheel, then come to pick us up and head out. He called and said to come outside and load up, but as we walked outside, with overnight bag in hand, we see Ray unloading stuff out of the 5th wheel onto the front lawn. We had several kayaks in the back of the 5th wheel, and to have room for the kids to sleep in the back, we had to unload them. At this point, we are cutting it close to make it to Ruth's race, so we just start chunking kayaks and all the gear into the front yard, along with piles of tree limbs! About that time, our new neighbors cautiously walked over and asked if we need any help. What was your first clue?! Yes we need help, but I think it goes deeper than just unloading our crud out of the trailer!! We graciously declined, and assured them we were not the Clampets, and we would have this all cleaned up eventually!! Ray hollered for everyone to load up, and we flew out of there, dust and leaves off the tree limbs flying behind us!

Well, several hours later, we were cruising toward Fayetteville, when we realized we had missed our exit! That was fight number one on this trip! We only had to go 30 miles out of the way, because we were on a toll road, and there are no exits!!

After getting back in the right direction, and apologizes and forgiveness were given, we were cruising again. We made it to the meet, and only had to park 2 miles from the course!! Ha! Thank goodness they had a bus that shuttled back and forth. We ran up to the start, saw Ruth run with 600+ other high school girls, it was crazy 22 minute race, then loaded back up to head up through Missouri, and over into central Kansas for Jesse's game. Whew!

7 miles out from the meet, Ray asks where his phone is!! I don't know!! We have find my friends on our phones, so I can see his phone is on the side of the road, back where we pulled onto the highway from the meet. Ray wheels the big rig around, and we head back to get it! As we are approaching were it showed it was, it begins to MOVE!! What? Someone has picked it up. We started calling it, multiple times, but no answer! So, what do we do......... We follow it!! 2 miles down the road, it stops in a Lowe's parking lot. Ray instructs the kids to stay in the car, while we walk around in the parking lot, my phone in hand, tracking where his phone is. We look like a couple of creepers, and it's a miracle someone didn't call the police. We had narrowed it down to 2 cars, so as we were looking through the windows of the cars, and getting lots of stares, a shady looking guy comes out towards Ray and asked if we were looking for an iPhone. Not sure if he had good intentions initially, since he hadn't answered when we had called, but needless to say, we got the phone back!! Miracle!!

Well, that put us 30 minutes later on the road than we had planned, so we headed out again, 5 hours away from where Jesse was playing. 2.5 hours down the road, Ray and I could NOT keep our eyes open, we were so worn out, not only from the last 24 hours, but the last few weeks of moving and kids' athletic schedules. We pulled the truck over, gave our phones to Joshua and Anna, and all crawled into the trailer. We set the timer for 20 minutes, told them to play games, and not wake us up until the alarm went off, and we crawled up in the bed and CRASHED, dead to the world, as soon as our heads hit the pillow. 20 minutes later, we were off and running again!

We arrived at Jesse's game, at the end of the 2nd quarter, after dark, in an unfamiliar stadium. Fight number 2 happened after I tried to coach Ray on where to park!! Ha! Eventually, we made it into the game, reconciled and exhausted, but thankful we had made it, finally.

After the game, we camped in the trailer and slept in a little the next morning, before we headed back to Stillwater. When we pulled in, it was bitter sweet. We were so thankful to be home, yet looking at the piles of stuff in our driveway and yard, it was a little hard not to get overwhelmed. Ray announced that no one was released until we got this trailer into the barn. So we all worked together, cutting the limbs up into small enough pieces, so that we could drag them out of the way. We cleared all boxes out of the way in the barn, and made sure the path was clear for Ray to back that baby in. It was the moment of truth, and excitement as we had all worked so hard, the weekend was so exhausting, but this would be balm for the soul, and make it all worth it. You know what I am about to say.......... The trailer AC unit was TOO TALL!! by about 6 inches!!

That was it, we were done, Ray put that baby in park, and we left it there, all week, half in half out!
Our poor neighbors.

We either had to laugh or cry, so we laughed. We had already cried a little that weekend. It's all good, right? This is a first world problem, it's not eternal!

Well, I am happy to say, 3 weeks later, Ray Ford, who is a risk taker, and not afraid to attempt something I would NEVER do, took a chain saw, and cut a notch above the garage door, and got that sucker in there!! No, it's not that pretty at the moment, but even our neighbors were impressed. I think it is what makes Ray a good surgeon, he is not afraid to cut something open, fix it, and make it work.

And I am happy to say, we have moved all piles and items out of our front yard and around to the back. Also, things are calming down, thus, the ability to do this blog entry. Ruth qualified and ran in the State Championship XC meet this past weekend. Esther finished up a good season of VB a few weeks ago. Anna had her last meet 2 weeks ago, and we only have 2 more Sterling Football games. We finally were back in town for church on Sunday after 6 weeks of missing in action from being on the road for football games. I think things are calming down!! Now to unpacking boxes!

Have a wonderful week,
JJ

Wanna "Taco" bout Jesus??

2015-11-01T13:49:00.000-08:00

Doing what Ray does, he is like the mailman, come rain, sleet, snow, or hail, those babies will not wait! Last night we were handing out candy with the kids, and Ray got called in. I made him go in his costume. He said the nurses had gotten a laugh and posted it on Facebook before he could even take it off as he went in to see his first patient!!

Another night this month (no picture), we had a bad storm blowing in. It had just started hailing when he got paged and had and emergency he had to leave for immediately. He was running around putting his shoes on and asking me for an umbrella since it was hailing. I told him they were all outside in the cars, of course!! So, the next thing I know, here he comes running from the garage with Joshua's batting helmet on!! I asked, "What in the world are you doing?" He said, "It's hailing and I can't get knocked out running from the car to the hospital!!"

Always an adventure being married to Ray!!

A few more pics of the kids from last night.

Anna with a friend, she was a Jawa from Starwars.

Ruth, Esther, Moses and a friend. 50's girls, Nancy Drew, and a chihuahua.

Joshua the Baylor Bear.

Esther and Moses braving the cold to hand out candy.

Happy Fall Ya'll,

He's a Sorry Suck-Egg Booger!!

2015-03-27T10:58:00.000-07:00

I hate him!! Just hate him. The liar to my soul, the threatener to my joy and peace. The conniving, deceptive, loud, obnoxious stealer of anything good in this life.

I've been fighting him toe to toe this morning. Even though I still have a boot on one foot (from surgery) and a tennis shoe on the other, I have my battle posture on. No more! At least not for today! I am not gonna buy into his crud, give place in my mind for him to carefully, oh so carefully, place those toxic thoughts.

Who am I talking about? No, certainly not Ray, or one of my kids. Not my neighbor, or someone at church, though he does try to make an appearance there. No, I am talking about the enemy of our soul, the prince of lies, the hater of our beloved Christ. He is a sorry suck-egg booger, in the words of my Dad, Mike Janszen.

He is such a poser, appearing to have it all figured out, and trying to get me to come along side and start agreeing with him, that maybe, just maybe, God isn't really working in my life, or that He might be withholding His best from me, or my husband, or even worse, my children. Maybe He doesn't really mean what He says in His Word, or that it just doesn't seem to apply to this specific circumstance. He has been telling this lie since the beginning of time, you know?

Eve thought maybe the devil was right, and God was wrong. I am the same woman, born of the same nature. For me to even give him a moment in my mind, to ponder, that maybe he is right, and God is just not all that great, makes me wanna throw up! It ticks me off!

For Heaven's sake! I know better! When I am on my game, battle posture on, I can take those thoughts captive, wrestle them to the ground like a police officer tackling a criminal suspect, and kick his sorry behind right out of my mind. Telling him where he can go in not so nice of terms. I hate him, and God help me that I would allow him one inch of ground on the fertile soil of my mind and heart.

This morning I was reading in 2 Chronicles chapter 32. Hezekiah had just cleaned house, restored the temple, reinstated all the Holy Days that God had commanded Moses and His people to carry out weekly, and annually. The people had come together, worshiped, then gone back to their own homes and cleaned house in each of their individual communities and households. Revival had taken place, starting with the king, and spreading to the entire nation. Awesome!!

But then, the enemy shows up, and I quote, "After these deeds of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria, came and entered Judah." (2 Chron. 32:1) King Hezekiah encourages the people that The Lord is with them, and He will fight this battle against the "arm of flesh" of the Assyrians. (31:7-8) The Assyrians, and their king begin filling God's people's ears with lies, lies, lies. He tells them they have no chance against him and his army, that no other nation has withstood, so why would they? He places doubt about King Hezekiah and his intentions, stating that all the king has said cannot be trusted. The enemy finally starts "proclaiming in a loud voice, in words they could understand (Hebrew)" saying things to "frighten and trouble them" (31:18). Oh God, is this not what happens with me!! The enemy knows just what to say, and how to say it in a way that I understand, to frighten and trouble my heart.

But praise Him, they did not cave, they prayed and cried out to the Lord. And what did He do?? Ha!! He took the enemy out! And I quote, "So the Lord sent an angel who cut down every mighty man of valor, leader, and captain in the Assyrian camp." (2 Chron. 32:21) But He didn't stop there. When the king, Sennacherib, went back home, he went to his temple of worship to his gods, and his own offspring turned on him and slew him dead!

Isn't that the way it is? The enemy spews out the lies, wants to put fear and trouble in our hearts and minds, so we will give in and go his way, reject our King, and follow him. All the while, he is already defeated, and even his own, will turn on him in a New York minute.

He roars like a lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:9), but our God, our King, our Lord, our Savior, He IS the LION of Judah. He's not all bark and no bite, He is the One true Lion, and He wins!! His bite crushes the head of the enemy (Gen. 3:15). Satan is a poser, roaring loudly, trying to scare the livin' daylights out of us, but really, he's like one of those tiny, yippy, (fake dogs, I call em') chihuahuas! They try with all their might to bark and intimidate those around them. Pathetic!! Let's see him for what he really is, a defeated, madder than anything, but defeated foe. Hallelujah, God wins!!

As I was reading this passage this morning, I began to talk with my Heavenly Father about it, and telling the devil just what he could do with his crud. I got a little fired up, and Ray came running into the den to see what in the world I was going off about and who I was talking to in not so quiet of a voice. After I preached a little to him about what I had just read, He agreed, smiled, then went back to what he was doing, relieved I wasn't talking to someone on the phone like that!!

I pray we can take these lies, these thoughts captive, that are rearing up their ugly head in our hearts and minds. Take them to the Word, and let God replace them with His truth. And in Hezekiah's exhortation,

“Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for there are more with us than with him. 8 With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.”

Hallelujah!

I Wanna Be FAT!!

2015-02-21T20:38:00.001-08:00

As a recap and conclusion from the last post, we finished football season, we ended up with a big win, Jesse playing a great last game, and winning a leadership award for both on and off the field. He also was named an Oklahoma All-Star for football, as well as All District.

Last game! The family is painted up and ready for the game.

Football Banquet

We were thankful for the season, even with it's ups and downs. We are also excited for him as he enters this next season of life, working for Kanakuk this summer after getting to be a kamper one last year, and then heading off to Sterling College to play football at the next level.

Go Warriors!

As January came around, we knew that we would have to start thinking/praying about the decision to move again. Honestly, I didn't want to. Things were cruising along pretty well in my world, and I didn't want to have to think about the decision, let alone the move, to Stillwater. But, with Ray working out of town, and doing what he does, we needed to see if that would be the best thing long term. We had accomplished the goal of staying here to let Jesse finish his senior year, but now needed to reevaluate the situation.

Funny story in the midst of this, during January, as we were beginning to have conversations about this, Ray got stuck 3 extra nights in Stillwater, that he wasn't on call, because he had seen ladies in the clinic that were in labor, and had to put them in the hospital so they could have their babies. He couldn't leave them after he did that, so he was stuck down there until the baby came. (That's not the funny part!)

Anyway, it happened to be one of those really cold weeks we have had up here, 16 degree nights. After the second night of getting stuck, I decided I would go down and just be with him, even if he just slept, I could just sit beside him and read. Just didn't want him to have to be alone again. So, I threw a jacket on, some driving gloves, and headed out. I didn't pack my heavy stuff (bad idea, you should always travel with your winter gear up here!!) but anyway, just put on my light stuff and headed down. I called him on the way down to give him the heads up that I was coming to just hang out with him. He said that was fine, but he was so tired, he just wanted to head back to the trailer and sleep. I had brought a book, so I told him that would be great, I would just sit by him and read, but he won't have to be alone.

Well, I met him at the trailer, where he was just returning from filling up the tank with more propane. He said when he had returned to the trailer, that the heat was off. He thought surely it must have just used up all the propane since the temp was so low. So, after hooking up the newly filled tank, he proceeded to crank the heat on again......nothing, tried again........nothing, made a few adjustments......nothing. He then asked me to help look up troubleshooting for the rv's furnace. We googled it, and tried every suggestion in the troubleshooting portion in the manual.......NOTHING!!

By this time, the temp had dropped to a cool 20 degrees outside the trailer, and inside the trailer it wasn't much better. He was so tired from the night before, and was just wanting to sleep, but here we were, he outside in the sub-freezing temps, and me inside, wrapped in a quilt, trying to look up anything that might help. I finally just suggested that he go get a hotel room, and get some rest so he could be ready to go in whenever the hospital called for the delivery. He reminded me that the trailer was not winterized, as he had un-winterized it the night before to take a shower. That is not a problem IF your heat is working!! But with the heat refusing to come on, he said the pipes would freeze and do major damage, with the forecast being 16 degrees that night.

"Ok, what do we do then", I asked.

"We need to winterize it," says Ray.

"Ok, how?"

"We need to run to Walmart and get some antifreeze."

"I'll go."

"No, If I can't get the heat to come on, and I am going to winterize it anyway, I might as well not leave it here in the camping spot, I might as well just hook it up and take it with me to the hospital parking lot, and just pray the call room is open tonight."

So, at 10 o'clock at night, in 18 degree weather, we are hooking the trailer up, hauling it to Walmart, and then after purchasing the antifreeze, winterizing the trailer in the parking lot. We were both freezing, but I was especially cold, since I hadn't planned on being outside, and had only grabbed my lighter gear.

I thought the reason I was going down there was to encourage Ray by just being with him on another unexpected call night, but the real reason God had planted this idea in my head, was for me to be there to help him. (Winterizing goes twice as fast with 2 people!) He needed his helpmeet.

After this miserable week, we felt God was showing us to put the house on the market and get closer to Ray's work. The worst part was telling the kids before we put the sign out. They have done really well here in Ponca, and we hate to move them again. Their response was a trust in God's plan, even more than mine. Ruth's comment to us after we told her was, "Mom, why are you sad, it's all good, God's got this!" What a precious girl! The others, though overall supportive, where a little more concerned.

Well, we have had the house on the market for over a month, and only 3 looks. Ray has also had several good weeks again, of not getting stuck, except for planned call nights. So, we question, we waver. I feel like waves of the sea, being driven and tossed back and forth.

I feel so anemic in my faith. I told God the other day, I just can't keep doing this, I can't handle this, back and forth, unsure what His perfect will is, sell or not, move or stay. What is best for the kids, for Ray, for our family as a whole?

I am lean in my faith, and I want to be FAT!! Fat in my spiritual walk with Him. Knowing that if I go through difficult times, my fat will sustain me. I always have said the way God made my physical body, was one that could have survived a famine, always plenty of reserves, but my spiritual body, my faith, the moment things seem to get a little dry, unsure, unstable, I crumble, I faint, I'm weak.

Lord, help me feed on the fat of your word. I need You, need it, more than anything. Like I tell the kids, the army you feed in your mind is the one that will win. Lord, help me feed the faith in my heart and mind, by knowing, praising, and worshiping Who You are and knowing/meditating on Your Word.

We still have the sign out in the front yard, and the house showed today, but we are praying God's will. We are not praying for it to sell, or not to sell. We are just dumb sheep, we don't know, and since we can't see what the future holds, we are asking God to do His will in our lives, trusting, if the house sells, God is moving us, if it doesn't, then He is keeping us here longer, and He will take care of Ray's commute part. We need our good Shepherd to lead us where He wants us, either by the "Stillwater" or stay put in Ponca. I have to trust in His character, He doesn't toy with us, teasing us for fun. His Word says, "if we acknowledge Him in all our ways, He will direct our paths." (Prov. 3:6) We are acknowledging Him, seeking Him, taking steps of action we believe He has lead us to do, and now waiting, being still. In this waiting process, I wanna be FAT. The last thing I want is Psalm 106:15 "He gave them their request; But sent leanness into their soul." I want His way for us, and fullness of soul. Full of faith, and trusting that God is already knee deep in His plan for us, working behind the scenes, even now, as I type. He is trustworthy. I must trust, and rest.

No diets here,
JJ

Lord, "We Believe", help us in our "Unbelief!"

2014-11-03T20:03:00.000-08:00

I told you this was coming, but it has taken alot to try and figure out how to put it into words. We have had another change in our lives over the past 11 months, and No!! I am not pregnant! :) Ha!
Not another move either, since we moved to Ponca, but some changes have indeed occurred.
I will expound below.

Very soon after we relocated our entire family, away from all that we had known and loved for the past 10 years, and moved to Northern Oklahoma, we quickly began to realize, not everything was as it appeared to us when we decided to make this monumental decision. Without going into too many details, we discovered that the clinic that owned the practice Ray was working for seemed to be having some internal issues, which had started prior to Ray's employment, and many of the promises made to get us here seemed to go away once he arrived. It literally began to unravel on DAY 2 of his new job. It wasn't only Ray feeling the effects of this, many other providers who worked for this group of clinics were beginning to feel frustrated with failed promises as well, which made the problem even more threatening.

To say this was a gut punch is an understatement! Ray was totally taken off guard, rocked to the core, and was questioning every decision he had made to get us here, and wondering if he had every really heard from the Lord in the first place. I was questioning too, but trying to encourage him, yet inwardly confused, angry with God, and wondering what in the world?! Had we not believed God had lead us here?! Lord help us in our unbelief!

I knew we had prayed, sought counsel, and seen so many signs pointing us to move to Ponca City. It was obvious, to us and all those around us, those that know and love us, and didn't want us to move, but could not argue with what the Lord was obviously pointing us to do, and opening the doors to do it!!

We did still have the Christian partner, which was a bright spot, on a very otherwise grim outlook of the situation Ray was in with the employer. The next few months, Ray continued to put one foot in front of the other, so exhausted, because the call schedule, which was supposed to be better, had been reduced to 3 docs and they were up most nights when they were on call. Being the sole provider for our family of 7, he knew he had to keep working, but long term, he was looking for other options, and wondering what the Lord was trying to communicate to him through all of this.

My days were spent wrestling with God. Honestly I was mad!! We had moved up here for a better work situation for my husband, forsaking all that we loved, and this is what happens?! The work situation changed as soon as we got here, and now we are considering another move?! I was so sad, discouraged, frustrated with God, there were days I just cried, screamed, prayed, pouted, then would busy myself with the chores of the home, because everybody kept wearing clothes and getting hungry and somebody had to wash and cook!! I was also trying to unpack boxes, but wondered if I should just tape them back up until I knew what we were doing. I really went through a time of feeling forsaken, like God had just picked us up, and dropped us in Northern Oklahoma and left us there to try and figure it out on our own. Ray was reeling too, and when Jesse broke his wrist the first week of football, I was about ready to throw in the towel on the whole thing, believing God and all!!

We survived until Christmas, which was a different kind than we normally have, since Ray was working the whole time and we had no family that could come up for Christmas Eve and Day. We had to make the best of it, and some good memories were made, but there was an unrest heading into 2014. Ray knew things couldn't stay the way they were, and we were praying and wondering what was going to happen next. Honestly, I was scared.

Coming into the Spring, in the 6 months that Ray had worked for his employer, 3 docs had left, and another was already planning on leaving in the summer, each being frustrated with the situation they had found themselves in, with the employer. The Christian partner was still hanging in there, but after unforeseen circumstances with the employer, he too finally decided that he was going to be leaving at the end of the year to explore more closely the option of medical missions, and would not be returning to deliver any more babies, but would only being doing GYN work. This was the straw that broke the camels back. If this were to happen, then all the reasons that brought us to this job would be gone. We were grateful that he told Ray this ahead of it happening, to allow Ray to make plans, but we felt like we had just fallen off a cliff and were free falling, not knowing where we were going to land, or if we would just splat on the pavement!

I had started doing a Bible study by myself a month before this all came down...."Believing God." Little did I know that God was preparing me with scripture and stories from His Word with so many examples of others walking through trials and "Believing God." He had been so gracious with me, loving me through my temper tantrums, pity parties, pulling away from Him, not really wanting to have anything to do with Him, then feeling Him slowly but surely wooing me back to Him through His constant love and acceptance of me, just the mess I was. He saw me in my house way up in the middle of nowhere in Northern Oklahoma..... He saw me, in that den, crying out to Him on behalf of my husband and children, questioning Him over and over.

He saw me, and He didn't move. He loved me right there, in my mess of a mess I was in.

As I slowly began to open back up to Him through His word, I was excited to "believe God" for my husband and children, that He had a good plan. I mean, what else am I gonna do?! Stay depressed or decide to trust Him in the midst of it all. I was believing that God would work a miracle with this work situation, that it would get better, that it would all make sense why we moved here, that the job would work out, and we would say, "This is why God moved us here, isn't this awesome!!" And we would get to understand and enjoy this new town and new adventure God had brought us on.

Seriously, I know we are promised trials in this world, but I thought we had gone through enough of them in Cleburne those last couple of years, and now things were going to be smooth sailing (for the most part) and we were going to reap the benefits of following Him in obedience by moving up here in the first place!!

Well, God did answer my prayer, but not in the way I had thought. Instead of things becoming better in the Ponca job, they literally crumbled away. After our partner told us his plans and what he felt the Lord was leading him to do, we prayed, and scrambled, made phone calls, and seemed to be leaning toward moving back to Cleburne. We thought this would be a welcomed announcement to our children, so in the next few days, late Spring, Ray resigned from his job, we made the announcment to our children, and began to make plans to move back right after school was out.
To our surprise, Jesse was devastated. The teen girls also were upset as they had made friends quickly up here, and God had blessed them with great school situations.

We were confused. What do we do? We had so much to move back to Cleburne for: family, friends, church, and a possible job similar, yet with better call, than what Ray had there before we left.
Our kids had friends too, and a great church. We were torn though, and after a conversation Ray had with Jesse, as they discussed moving back vs. staying here, Jesse had shared that even though it sounded crazy, his best friends were still back in Texas, and a football program that had gone to the playoffs the year before he left, he still felt like he wanted to stay here and finish what he had started and invested in these guys on the football team. He believed in these guys, these coaches, and even though they were 0-10 this past season, he believed they could win this year and wanted to see it through, win or lose.

Ray began looking at options to keep us here another year, but there was nothing that seemed to be turning up on the radar that wasn't going to take him away from us for long periods of time. Jesse said he would rather have the family together, no matter what that meant, even if it meant moving, but Ray was not ready to give up just yet. In the meantime, Ray had traveled down to Cleburne and left feeling that God might be closing the door for now on that return. Wow, we just felt so confused and fearful as we did not have a clue what the future held for us.

In the process of job searching, Ray contacted a group of docs in Stillwater, 45 miles south of us. 2 of the guys Ray talked to were believers, and were very encouraging to Ray and wanted to stay in touch, but said there were no openings at the time for another OB/GYN in Stillwater.

I wanted Ray to close that door and move on, but Ray tucked it in his back pocket, still considering that the door was not totally closed in his mind.

Another month went by, and we were thinking we were going to have to move somewhere, since, other than Stillwater, there was not a close enough hospital he could commute to without being gone for a week at a time. He thought he would call the guys back in Stillwater one last time just to check in with them, and they said their situation had changed, and they would like for us to come down for dinner and talk. Amazingly, about 2 weeks later we had a verbal job offer, and a contract in hand 2 weeks after that. Praise the Lord!!

We were very thankful, though this time around, we were not so excited with all the promises, good call schedule, etc. Honestly we felt a little burned and were gun shy, but we were grateful for a job, something to pay the bills and put food on the table, and allow us to stay here and let Jesse finish his senior year in Ponca.

In the Believing God Bible study I had been doing, she had us reading Romans 4 over and over, about Abraham being justified by faith, not circumcision, and the part I had been clinging to was vs. 17, when God spoke things into existence that did not exist as if they already did. As we looked for work for Ray to keep us here, it seemed there was nothing, no jobs close enough to stay here, and I was praying for God to speak into existence a job that did not exist. I "believe" He did just that, with a job that was not there only a month earlier, and now, that is where Ray is working!!

He "leads us beside the Stillwater" has become my prayer now, He "restores our soul." (Psalm 23) Praying this for Ray, that this will be a time of restoration and encouragement for my husband, as he went through such a difficult time after moving us here to Ponca, and began questioning all that he had done and everything falling apart around him.

Well, as the job was materializing, Ray came out of his quiet time one morning and said, "J, if Jesse is gonna "believe" in these guys, then so are we!! Make some shirts! I believe God wants us to Believe!"

I had never ordered shirts before, but sat down and made and ordered about 20 shirts that said,

"We Believe" "We invite you to believe too, Miracle on 7th Street" (where our football stadium is).

We talked a few people into getting them, and gave a few out to key people we wanted to encourage to "believe" too. I decided to make some yard signs too, and we started spreading the word. We wanted this town to "believe" in these boys and get on board.
We were very impressed that these guys, even though they had only won 1 game in the last 2 years, and the last year were 0-10, they all had kept coming back each week, daily to the gridiron, and never quit. We were impressed with the character, and the desire to keep at it.

After we moved here, we discovered that the entire town seemed to still be mourning a loss from several years before. Conoco had moved many, many families out of town to Houston, it was a mass exodus, that had left a huge hole in churches, businesses, schools, and our athletic programs. With that move, we sensed a loss of hope, it seemed people in the town, though they still loved this place, felt like they had all received a sucker punch, and were still trying to gasp for air, not fully recovered. There was apathy toward the football program, which seemed to communicate to the boys, "we appreciate all you do, but we don't believe that you can compete and definitely not win." The home games were sparse in the stands, and people were ok with losing, they really always went back to the big "Conoco move" when talking about how the team was performing or NOT performing.

Well, we felt the Lord had given us a mission, and it was to "Believe" in these boys, to "believe" in our son, and to "believe" that God did have a purpose for bringing us up here to Ponca City.

After that initial kickoff of the "We Believe" campaign, we began to see signs popping up all over town, and requests were coming in daily for shirts, the fire had been lit, and boy was it spreading! Before I knew it, we had ordered almost 700 shirts, and had handed out over 250 signs and banners. People were coming up with their own signs, and writing it on their marques and billboards. The boys felt the support, and at our first game, which was away in Enid, we filled the stands with as many people as the home side had. Though we lost that game by 1 point in the last 27 seconds of the game, the whole town knew something was different.

As much as I would like to say, we came back and won every game since, I cannot, but the support for our boys has been awesome. As the weeks have gone by, with only one W, which was huge, the belief would stay strong, then struggle along, not wanting to give up, but finding it hard to keep believing at times.

Well, in game 7, with only one victory, in the last 40 seconds of the game, Jesse was ejected for a call that was considered ridiculous by all who saw, coaches, even opposing coaches, radio announcer, and fans. I didn't see it until film, but needless to say, I was in agreement, it did seem a little crazy. No matter what we thought, it still resulted in a 2 game suspension, which meant he misses Senior night, last home game, and only gets to come back for the last game of the year. That is just life!!

I prayed and questioned, "Oh Lord, he has worked so hard, been such a part of the spirit of believing in this team, and now is out until the last game of the season, and missed Senior night?!"

This momma's heart was so sad for him. We walked Senior night with him, then sat in the stands and watched our boys shut out the opposing team for victory #2 this season. We were thrilled for them, but so sad for Jesse. "Lord, why couldn't he have been a part of this, why? Help me in my unbelief!" Psalm 84:11 says, "He withholds nothing good from those who walk uprightly" That is what God's word says. Help me Believe this!

So Jesse has been running scout team, trying to continue to believe in something bigger than himself, knowing there will be no glory Friday night, no tackles or sacks racked up on his stats (and before this happened, he had been leading the team in tackles), no number called out over the loud speaker. Believing this is all part of the grander picture and plan.

Praying God gets more glory, may we decrease, and He increase.

We will be believing till the end of the season, but you know we will be there with our cow bells ringing as Jesse will get to suit up one last time for that last game of his Senior year, Believing God and knowing His plans, ways, and purposes are so much greater, more powerful, and better than ours. Honestly, if I were writing the story, this isn't the way I would have had it go down. But, God didn't consult me, He does have a better plan, and I know He is working something here, behind the scenes, that will one day blow us away. So, we praise Him in the midst of this season and to the end, Believing.

JJ

Unexpected Adventure/Vacation

2014-10-05T16:21:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I have blogged, but I had to share this story from our summer.
In July we had another Ford Family Adventure (aka vacation). After going over the schedule of all our kids, and Ray's work, we found we only had 1 week this summer that all of us could pull away for a family vacation. We were pulled in opposite directions on where to go, wanting to head Northeast, towards Ray's sister's house, whom we had never been up to visit since they moved there, and also wanting to go West to my parent's cabin in Red River, New Mexico. Feeling like this would be the LAST time we would have this opportunity with all five kids, we decided to do both!!

Sure, why not?! 3000 miles, 45 hours of driving time (not including bathroom stops), with 7 people in one car....... sounds like a BLAST!! Ha!

Well, we headed out just as soon as Ray got his last baby delivered Monday morning, after being up 4 nights in a row, delivering 7 babies over the weekend!! So he was a little exhausted, but hey, that is our life, we've gotten used to it, so we headed out. Everyone was ready to go, and our first goal for that night was to reach St. Louis, Mo, where we were going to stay with some friends from Baylor.

Usually when we start any trip, I pray for safety on the road, safe travels, and good memories and a safe return home. After reading a book this year called the Papa Prayer, I was encouraged to ask for whatever God wanted to bring into our lives this trip to draw us closer to Him, good or bad, that was not the point, but to just draw us closer to Him, and feel His presence more in our lives.

We had tried to plug in fun activities and stops along the way so to break up the monotony of riding in the car. We stopped at Lamberts in Springfield MO "Home of the Throwed Rolls!" So fun, but we were stuffed by the time we rolled out of their parking lot!

Well, after several stops, and miles under our belt, we made it to the Kerckoff's house, just in time for Ray, Jesse, and Esther to go Frog Gigging!!! Even though I married a Louisiana boy, he had never gotten to experience this first hand, so, they headed out to the pond behind the mulit-million dollar school where Andy taught, and went hunting for frogs. Ray said it was just like when Jace and Willie (Duck Dynasty) did the same thing at the fancy country club in Monroe. They had a blast, but they were filthy when they got home!! What a great experience!!

The next morning we headed out towards Cincinatti, Oh, where Ray's sister lives with her husband and kids. That was a special visit, and the cousins enjoyed getting caught up with one another, as well as the adults.

After our visit there, we headed out towards Red River, but our first stop was going to be Kansas City. We had decided we would stay there for the night, then take the kids to Schlitterbaun the next day, before we piled back in the car for another 5-6 hours that evening. We were trying to break up the driving a little bit, and do some fun things along the way. We also had a white water rafting trip planned 2 days later, to give us another break from driving, and put a little adventure in the mix.
Well, we sure had everything planned out, but God changed it up!
The kids were getting a little irritable with each other, being our 3rd day in a row driving, but overall they were ok, just a few fights here and there! We stopped to get gas, and headed out again, only about 5 miles out of Columbia, MO, when our Excursion started making a funny sound, Ray looked down and noticed the temp gauge quickly rising, and before we knew it, we were burning up! We immediately pulled off the highway, with cars flying past us at 80+ miles an hour, and were on a shoulder about the size of my foot!
Right behind us, a white 15 passenger van pulled off. Ray ordered us to stay in the car until he could figure out what was going on and see what this van needed as well.
Unbelievably, the man that pulled off behind us saw we were in trouble and pulled off to help us.
Our Excursion had some line cut, and we had sprayed some fluid all over the road (sorry, not a car person) anyway, this man had noticed us because the fluid had sprayed all over his windshield! He pulled off to see if we needed help.
He was alone, in a 15 passenger van. If anyone else had pulled off with any passengers at all, we would not have all been able to fit, really an angel sent by the Lord we believe. After Ray realized what exactly had happened, he ordered us all into the van with the stranger, who did finally give us his name after we were a few miles down the road. He made sure we had a connection to our insurance and tow company, and then took us to a rental place, where he was returning the van from a business trip. We had the car towed to the local Ford Dealership, and then went about trying to rent a car. Since it was 4th of July weekend coming up, of course they were out of any size car that would fit our family, let alone all our luggage. We were thinking we would have to rent 2 cars, and a uhaul just to get around! The same guy that picked us up then suggested that we take his van he was returning!! Amazing, it was the only car left that could fit us AND our luggage and it was available.

We decided that we would go ahead and try to make it to Kansas City where our hotel reservations were for that night, and use our tickets we had already purchased to Schlitterbahn the next day while we waited to get word on repairs for the car.
So grateful, we all piled in the van, with plenty of room to stretch out. The kids thought it was great. Almost everybody had their own row!!

We were overwhelmed with thankful hearts as we expressed to Him how He had provided in the middle of a crisis and kept us safe, and provided a way on to Kansas City. We felt He painted this beautiful sunset as we drove this last stretch into KC to remind us of His love and tender mercies toward us.

Well, because we had been delayed for awhile, it put us getting into Kansas City very late. It was dark and KC is much bigger than we realized. As I am trying to read off directions from my iphone, the kids start arguing in the back. I kindly remind them to have
grateful hearts, "remember all that God has done for us today, children!!" While I was trying to deal with them, Ray almost missed the exit, I corrected him in the nick of time, then more arguing comes from the back, WAY back in the back of the 15 passenger van. I begin to feel myself changing, from the loving grateful mother/navigator for my husband, to something that would star in a horror film. I quickly handed my iphone to Jesse who was sitting in the first row, and said "tell your dad where to go!", I then became soooo flexible, it reminded me of cheerleading days in high school. Somehow, in a matter of a few seconds, I had hurdled over 3 rows of bench seats in the van to the back row, where Joshua and Anna were going at it!! I began to vomit out all kinds of stuff about how they were going to ruin the trip, etc. and by the time I was done, I felt like a louse, they were both crying, and Ray, Jesse and Ruth were in the front trying to quietly get us to the hotel so I didn't repeat the same tongue lashing on them!!
Low moment of the trip! Needless to say, about 20 minutes later the Holy Spirit had done His work on me, and I asked for forgiveness from the entire family. That was worse than breaking down on the side of the road!!!
Anyway, we made it to the hotel, and by the grace of God, had a blast at Schlitterbahn the next day.

We got word that the car would not be fixed for a few days, so we backed up and punted. We decided that The Lord was redirecting our vacation, and we would calm down and stay in KC for a few days, have fun there, then go pick up our car on Saturday and just drive home. We had to cancel the rest of our planned out vacation, white water rafting and time in Red River with my family, but again, we were believing that God had other plans, better than what we had planned and decided to go with it.
We ended up getting to spend the 4th at Worlds of Fun, and yes it was FUN. Such a neat new experience.......we had no idea there was so much to do in KC.

When we arrived back in Columbia to pick up the car on Saturday, the dealership told us they had repaired the car, and it should get us home, but we were looking at thousands of dollars in repairs once we arrived back in Ponca. Not what we wanted to hear. But then they said that they actually had another Excursion, exactly like ours on the lot, with less miles, and it would be an EVEN trade if we wanted it!

Well, after praying and asking for quick wisdom, as we were standing in the dealership parking lot with luggage everywhere, and kids playing football in between cars, we felt this was the Lord's provision and we unloaded everything from one car to another, signed the papers, and headed home!! Wow, is all we could say.

So we left with one car and thought we knew what we were doing for our vacation, and we came home in a different car doing and experiencing new things that we had not planned at all!!
Usually I am such a detailed planner, that when anything goes wrong, out of the scheduled plan, I am not ok with it. This was the Lord chipping away at me once again, and showing me His plan is best. He truly did answer my prayer, asking for His presence to be felt in a deeper way and to draw us closer to Him on this trip. He did keep us safe, and we did feel His loving arms around us, our trip just turned out completely different than what I had planned.
Isn't it crazy how we think we are in such control and can plan everything out, then God reminds us He is really the One in charge. It is His show and I am thankful He loves us enough to not go with our flow, but to flood us with His grace.
God is good,
JJ

"These are a few of my favorite things"

2014-06-11T14:59:00.000-07:00

Well, can you believe we have been here for over 9 months?! I CANNOT believe it! We made it through school, Hallelujah!! We made it through 5 sports! We made it through our first winter up here! We are still together as a family! :)
I am grateful for God seeing us through this past year, this move, the transition. So much has happened since we arrived up here in Northern Oklahoma. I will share the next step for our family on the next post, but for now, I wanted to share with you some of my "favorites" up here. Yes, there are many things I miss about home in Texas, but the Lord has shown me some really neat things up here to appreciate and enjoy. Hope these pictures give you a little glimpse of some of them.

1. The Fall Colors

They were absolutely beautiful!! What a treat to have a REAL Fall.

2. The cool temperatures.

Another benefit of having a real Fall. We so enjoyed wearing jackets from September through November, and getting to visit a real pumpkin patch in Kansas. So fun!!

3. The Snow!!!

Yehaw!! We had so much fun sledding, right out in our back yard, and it was beautiful!!

And so fun that we had snow shovels, salt, and ice/snow shoe tractions in EVERY store!

4. The Eagles!!

We got to see so many eagles this Winter. They winter here, making a home out at Kaw Lake, Lake Ponca, and even in Ponca proper. We actually had one fly right outside our kitchen window!! That was one of my favorites!!

5. The colors of our school.

I LOVE the navy and red. Makes for a great uniform!!

6. The Spring flowers.

Amazing how the colors just started popping up everywhere. I actually even have some in my yard, and I usually kill everything, but things just seem to grow easier up here.

7. All the neighborhood kids.

My kids walk outside and there is always someone ready to play or hang out with them. So fun! They are usually out until the sun goes down, then I call them in with my whistle!

And yes!!! That is a baby raccoon that Esther found one day while riding her horse!!

8. The beautiful historic buildings and homes.

From the Marland Mansion, to the museums, to the lovely homes along the red brick streets, I am always seeing something worth looking at every day in Ponca.

9. The friends that have welcomed us into their lives.

Football guys, lunch buddies, volleyball girls, and neighbors. They have made us feel right at home.

10. The hometown parades.

Makes you feel like your in Mayberry and the whole town comes to watch.

11. Prom.

Sounds like a funny thing to love about Ponca, but it's a big deal up here, and thanks to the Wilsons, we were able to save our spot for the Grand March, and come out with all the town to watch the kids parade around the grounds to the Marland Mansion.

The Wilsons came out to stake our claim the week before the Grand March and Prom. Each tarp represents a family's area to sit.

Jesse and his date, Hannah.

Walking around the grounds in the Grand March.

Look at all the people. They estimate several thousand come out to watch.

God's glory is revealed in all this, in the faces of people that have welcomed us in, in the nature that reflects His beauty, and the majesty of watching an eagle fly or seeing the snow fall so softly. I am grateful He has allowed us to experience all this here in Ponca.

Next time I will post on some changes that are happening and where the Lord is leading us next.

In His grace,
JJ Ford

Sing with me......."Oklahoma, OK!!!"

2014-01-12T19:13:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been trying to find some time to post this BIG NEWS!!!........ We moved to Oklahoma!! Northern Oklahoma!!
What!?!
That is exactly what I said just a few months ago!! How in the world did this Texas girl get drug all the way to Northern Oklahoma?
Well, I have to share all the details of how the Lord lead us here. It is important to share His faithfulness in our lives, and what He has done. It is especially important, when we encounter difficulties, to remember that God IS faithful, He really is!

Well, this journey all started back in May of last year, actually, it started years ago, but to not drag this out too long, things started unfolding this past May.
We had been praying for years for the Lord to bring us a Christian partner to join Ray in his practice. This had not happened. Along with the desire for a Christian partner, Ray was one of only 2 OB/GYNs in Johnson County. The craziness of the "Call Schedule", along with changes in medicine, and the ever impending "Obama Care" had just about taken it's toll on Ray, and the family for that matter. Ray had sought council from some men in our church who had encouraged him to set a date in his mind of when it was time to stop "persevering" and to believe God was leading him elsewhere. Hard call, we are called to persevere, so when do you say, "Enough!! God is leading us out of this situation", like Israel out of Egypt?
Well, his time table was set for May, and when it came and went, and still no change, no partner, no relief in the call, no relief in the stress of preparing for the changes in Obama care. He went back on line to the Christian Medical and Dental website, where he had placed an ad for a partner, and saw a new ad, one that had only been put up for a week or so. He called and got to speak with this Ob/Gyn who was also looking for a Christian partner. After a brief conversation, Ray immediatly had a connection with him. He called him back a few days later, put me on the phone, so I could listen in, ask questions, and visit with him and his wife. Truthfully, I wasn't that interested, but did anyway, and was amazed to hear how similar this guy and Ray sounded, in their mission, their love for the Lord, and their desire to use their practices to share Christ with others. As we hung up the phone, I asked Ray exactly where was this guy located?

Ponca City, OK.......Where the heck is Ponca City, OK????!!!
I went right in and googled it, only to find a picture of a public pool...that was it!!
Oh boy, and it was only 15 miles south of the Kansas state line.
A tornado had hit Cleburne, only a few months prior to this, so being that far north, smack dab in the middle of tornado country, didn't thrill me at all.

Well, a few weeks went by, and no mention of Ponca, Hallelujah!! My life was safe and secure for the moment, or so I thought, but little did I know the pot that was boiling in my husband. A few more situations with work and the downs of owning your own business was enough to prompt a visit to Ponca, to at least meet this guy face to face. Who knows, maybe we could recruit him to Cleburne!!
So in June, Ray announces that we are heading up on a secret trip to Ponca, to check it out. I didn't want to go, but figured it would be a good get away with my hubby. Hey, free hotel, free dinner out, why not?

As we made the 5 hour journey up through Oklahoma, we enjoyed each other's company, and as we turned off onto Hwy 60, the 2nd to last exit before you come to Kansas, we began to joke about how we would have to pick Indian names for each other if we moved here. "Stands with a Fist" was naturally going to be mine!! We started looking for "Tatonka" (Buffalo) Those that remember "Dances with Wolves" will get this, those that don't know what I am talking about, go rent it!

To our pleasant surprise, the town was lovely, with much more to offer than a public pool! The Pioneer Woman statue was the main focal point (No, not the cooking lady on TV), she is a statue of a woman standing with a little boy in one hand, and a Bible under her other arm. (Love it!! Now we're talking!) Derek, the other Ob/Gyn was such a neat guy, along with his wife. We were feeling that this was a definite possibility. After we met with who would be Ray's boss, we knew it was a great opportunity that we at least HAD to consider!

We fought the whole way back to Texas. How could we leave our church, our friends, our home in the country, my family, especially my newly widowed mother!! And our KIDS……... Jesse had just earned a starting postition on the football team, they were very involved in our youth and children's programs at church, and had friends they were all close to.
After we got home, I got serious with the Lord, I felt like he "filleted" me open, and dealt with me in a serious way, this was what He was leading us to do, and He would take care of all that concerns me.

The next week, Ray began talking with some of those same older men, discussing our options. It all sounded good, except the part of leaving ALL that we know and love.
As we discussed our options over the next few days, we were originally considering splitting the family up, Ray working in OK 3 days a week, and me staying in Cleburne with all five kids to allow Jesse to finish out Cleburne High School.
We actually seriously considered this for about a week, but then, these same men began to report back to Ray on their thoughts, and all of them were encouraging us that Jesse would be fine and we should go!!
Ray had been feeling this already, deep in his heart, as well as myself, well, I was at least feeling that God wanted me to consider it.
So, on June 30, we decided, if we were going to do this thing, we needed to act fast. You see, school up there in Ponca started Aug. 13th, with registration on the 5th. We were quickly losing time and needed to act fast.

We decided that we would tell Jesse first and in private. As we sat down to tell him, I started crying, of course, feeling that we were about to ruin his life, yet again!!
As we told him, the first question he asked was, "Is it a cool place?" He asked a few more questions about Ray's work situation and if it would be better up there, he asked about youth groups, and then boldly looked at me and said, "Mom, we have to go for Dad."" I will be sad to leave my friends and church, but I know we need to go." I cried even harder, but what a HUGE confirmation from the Lord, the one we were worried about the most!

So, at 10pm at night, on July 1, we loaded up all the kids and drove to Edmond, crashed on the floor of Ray's brother's house, then got up the next morning to head to Ponca. We took the kids to meet the coaches, see the schools, and look at a house or 2.
They all seemed to be handling it alot better than me! They were truly just excited about the opportunity for their dad, and that we were going to be together.
Well, the first house we looked at, we quickly called "The Fun House" and boy was it a great house for teens and kids, big with room to play, and well, just FUN. And it had a tornado shelter!! Yeah.
So, my biggest concern, the kids, all seemed to be doing good, Ruth made the volleyball team on an impromptu tryout, and the football coach was excited to have Jesse coming out. Things were falling into place.

We still had the problem of selling our house, it had been on the market 6 months earlier, with no luck what-so-ever, and we had it for sale the year before with not even a call. So, how are we going to sell our house, which isn't for sale anymore, and when it was, no one wanted it?! Well, all I can say is God sold our house!! Some friends of ours called and asked about it, and said if we were serious about considering this move, would we except an offer? What?! Major confirmation number 2.

We then had to seriously start looking for houses in Ponca, so the next weekend, we went back up and looked, but kept coming back to "The Fun House." The only problem with the fun house was this; Esther had a horse, and she really wanted to bring him, but the house was not sitting on enough land for that to happen. The" Fun House" is in a neighborhood right in the middle of town, with houses on either side. It sits on little over an acre, but not big enough to legally keep a horse. So, as we prayed and looked, we even considered boarding the horse, but it was way too expensive.
We came home and told Esther, she would have to sell the horse. Oh what a sad day in the Ford house! She cried herself to sleep for the next 3 nights.

But then, when we came back over to look at the Fun House one more time before we made and offer, the realtor representing that home was there, and we told her our dilemma with Esther's horse. She told us we should check with the horse farm that butted up to the back of the property. What?! All the houses next door were regular homes on regular lots, but can you believe there was a long piece of property that runs down behind all the houses and butts right up to the fun house's back yard!! Not to stretch this part of the story out, but can you believe, Ray called the owners, and after a long visit, we discovered that they were Christians, and they would LOVE for Esther to keep her horse there, and for FREE, she is going to work for them to clean stalls, help feed, etc. Amazing, Conformation #3.

We made an offer on the Fun house, and after a little negotiating back and forth, we had a deal.

The next 2 weeks were insane, as we had enough money to pay the movers to MOVE us, but not enough to PACK us. The people of our church and community came in waves, brought packing supplies, boxes, food, etc. We had that house packed in 2 weeks, a family of 7!! Unbelievable!!

The night before we left, as we were finishing up the last few boxes, we got a call, that the contract on our house in Ponca had fallen through!! We couldn't believe it. We had just finished packing, marking everything for that house!! Ok, we were to trust God in this no matter what, He would take care of it. There was a peace, even though we were leaving the next morning, not knowing what house we were going to move into.

One of the beautiful homes
we got to live in.
So, on August 4, the children and I headed out, in two cars, packed with enough clothing for 2 weeks in suitcases, so that we could be there on Monday for school registration. We had a place to stay for the next 10 days, (Dr. Holmes, Ray's new partner, was going to be gone on vacation, and had offered their house to us while they were away), but after that, we had no idea. As we crossed the Red River in faith, and entered Oklahoma, the kids and I got out and picked up 12 stones. "Our stones of remembrance", to remind us of all that God had done, and all that he was going to do, taking us to Ponca City, OK. (See Joshua chapter 3 and 4) After 10 days, we did not know where we were going to be living, but we knew we had to step into that rushing water, knowing God would cause it to cease, and make a way for us. (again, see the Bible reference in Joshua)

So, we arrived, got settled in, registered, school supply shopped, and started learning our way around Ponca. It is pretty small, so that didn't take much time! But, people started reaching out to us, inviting the kids to church activities, taking us to dinner, bringing meals over. The people of Ponca could not have been more friendly. We looked at other homes, but nothing seemed to fit, surely God wanted us to have that Fun House!!

First Day of School

As we came to the end of the 10 days at the Holmes, the kids and I were looking to move to the Holiday Inn, Yes!! Can you picture us?! And wouldn't you have loved to be in the room right below12 feet running around! Anyway, we went to the YMCA for a little recreation, and Ruth met a girl at the Y who was going to let her borrow a book she needed for her English Class. The girl's mother brought the book up for Ruth to borrow, and while she was there, came over to introduce herself to me and welcome me to Ponca. After a few short moments of conversation, she offered her 5 bedroom, 4 bath house for me and the children and eventually Ray to live in until we could find a house to buy!! I am not kidding, this was unreal! Long story short, instead of moving into a hotel, we did indeed move into the Lewis's lovely home, just one street over from the Fun House!! They were angels unaware, and graciously gave us their home, while they moved out and lived with Mr. Lewis's father across town. They had offered for us to stay for up to 2 months or longer until we could purchase a home. But God moved quickly after that, and we were able to not only purchase the Fun House, but have the movers deliver our stuff only 8 days after we moved into the Lewis'. God bless the Lewis Family! Confirmation #4

Move in Day, exhausted, but finally home.

Ray was able to come join us October 1, after staying in Cleburne to finish up with his patients and shutting the practice down. All seemed as if it were coming together perfectly. We had survived the time of separation, and now we were moving into the good life, or so I thought. I would love to tell you that all has been wonderful, and easy, but that is not the story God is writing in our lives up here.

The night before Ray was leaving to come join us, the sell on our home in Cleburne fell through. As we had already purchased our home in Ponca in faith that God was doing all this, we were then tested. Yikes, owning 2 homes in 2 states, with 2 mortgages, 2 electric bills, 2 water bills, insurance, taxes, etc. Wow, we were stretched to say the least, and of course questioned, "were we listening to God in the first place?" "Had He really lead us here?" "Did we just jump into something we shouldn't have?"

I have always criticized the Israelites when they questioned God after He lead them out of Egypt. Couldn't they just look back only a few days and see the hand of God leading them out and making a way??? Hello... couldn't we just look back only a few days and see the Hand of God leading us out of Cleburne, and making a way??? I am just as guilty. But the truth is we did question, as we entered this new life. Though we strongly felt him leading us here in the beginning, the house falling through, as well as some other bumps along the way and disappointments in the work situation up here, and things not being totally as they had been presented, caused and continues to cause us to doubt ourselves, and how we listen to the Lord. But isn't that just like the Israelites? They knew God lead them out of their previous situation, after years of praying, and yet, when things outside of Egypt were not perfect, and they encountered a few unexpected disappointments, they thought surely they had made a mistake!!

We have now started the new year up here, and I will say, praise God, the house did finally sell to the same original friends, right after Thanksgiving!! Yeah!! And the job is a work in progress, some things still are not as awesome as they were first originally presented to us, but the Christian partner and fellowship in that relationship for Ray is great. That has been, by far, the biggest blessing in the work situation.

We still believe, God did bring us to Ponca for a reason, and we pray with our eyes wide open, looking to see what He wants us to accomplish as a family, and as individuals, while we are here. We are not sure if we are here on a short term mission, or long term move. But God knows, and we are grateful for the opportunity, and look forward to how He wants to use us for His kingdom work here. All that being said, there have been lots of tears, lots of sleepless nights, lots of feeling alone, lots of questioning. If I couldn't stand on what I KNOW to be true, that God works all things together for good in our lives, I would have completely crumbled by now. But God.

Overall, the kids are all doing well. Jesse had a setback this fall, as he had just worked his way into a good position on the new football team, and then broke his arm in practice, the weekend before the first game. He was out the first 5 games, then played the last five with a full cast on. This also played a part in our doubting, again, on trusting the Lord, had we made a mistake? We wondered would he have broken his arm if we hadn't moved?? Oh, we are like waves driven and tossed by the wind! God only knows if he would have broken his arm in Cleburne, but again, I stand on the truth, God promises He uses all things together for good, so, we move forward. Despite the broken arm, Jesse came back and started as linebacker his last five games, had some great plays, great tackles, and did his best cheering his team mates on while he was on the sidelines the first half of the season.

Ford,#39 (with the cast), about to bring # 9 down!!

While we are here, we are appreciating some neat things about this little community and this part of the country, the Marlin Mansion, the community parades, the historical sites, the beautiful colors in the Fall, the red brick roads, all the snow and sledding, the deer, fox, and EAGLES, Yes Eagles, that we have seen in our back yard. We have even been blessed by some families that have invited our crew of 7 over and welcomed us into their homes.

Watching the Parade on Grand Avenue.

Sorry this was so long, but to cut it short would have left out some important details that God has done. In sitting down and writing this out, it has encouraged me, that even though things are not perfect (far from it actually), I can see the Hand of God in our lives. I hope this encourages you too, to reflect back, look at the details, and see God working in your life as well. He loves you, has your name written on His palm, and has a plan for your life. It may not always be fun, and it may be down right difficult, or dare I even say, miserable at times, but just know He has a plan, and He is working it for good in your life. I hope to share more fun stories later about Ponca and life up here in Northern Oklahoma.

"The Fun House" this Christmas

God's blessing to you all,
JJ Ford

Honey, Honey!!

2013-08-11T21:43:00.002-07:00

Quick update from the last post: Would you believe, Jesse's teacher ended up exempting him from that final test, so his grade came back up to what it was before he took the test!!! Hallelujah. We are so thankful. God worked even after school was out! Amazing.

Ok, on to the bees. Our good friend, Dr. Flynn, came out a few weeks ago and we got to harvest our first batch of honey. How fun for the whole family! First of all, anything Dr. Flynn does, he makes it fun for all involved. He has been our dentist for 10 years, and my kids beg to go to the dentist, if you can believe that. We love Dr. Flynn, and Mrs. Flynn!!

Anyway, the first step in bee keeping is having the right suit, so Ray and Dr. Flynn geared up for the adventure.

Then they headed out to the hives to see what they could find.

They were able to harvest some of the comb and brought it up to the house for the kids to help extract the honey. You can see in the pictures below, Dr. Flynn showing the kids the comb, and teaching them about the bees. What a treat!

Dr. Flynn's house had been hit by the tornado when it came through Cleburne, so he lost much of his bee keeping equipment. His extractor had blown away somewhere, but that didn't stop him from being creative, and figuring out a way for us to get that honey out of the comb.

After removing the comb from the sheets, he asked if the girls had a clean pair of panty hose. They had no clue why he wanted them, but we ended up using them to squeeze the honey out of the comb. Boy was it messy, but fun.

You can see it running all over Anna's hands!!

Honey went everywhere, and we ended up scraping honey off of almost everything in the vicinity!!!

Honestly, I have to say it was the best honey we have ever had, EVER!!!

Thank you Dr. Flynn, for an awesome experience!! We are blessed. And thank you Lord, for giving us the opportunity to do something Ray had been dreaming of.
The scriptures about the honey and honeycomb mean so much more to us now that we got to experience this first hand. We understand now, why Jonathan said in Samuel 14:27 "my eyes have been brightened" when he dipped his staff in the honey. And Proverbs 16:24, where it says "Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones."
Have a "sweet" week in the Lord,
JJ

I have RUINED my son's life!!

2013-06-18T12:19:00.001-07:00

On a lighter note first...... a quick update on the antics of my husband....

We have added a new creature to the Ford Family Farm........

BEES!!! Yes, that is right!

The neatest story of how we got the bees. We have been going through, well, lets just say a tight time financially, and so adding a new venture to the farm was not in the plan or the budget, any time soon.

But that did not stop my OB/GYN/FARMER husband from dreaming. We have a reading basket in our bathroom that has favorite magazines in it, and I had noticed that for 2 weeks straight, Ray had left the farming supply magazine opened to the bee keeping supplies page. Well, I wasn't going to ask him about it at all!!! No way! I wasn't going to even give him the opportunity to try and convince me that we needed to raise our own bees for honey, or how the kids could have their own honey business, or ANYTHING!!! I knew we didn't have the money, and I wasn't going there! So I didn't say a word, just left the magazine laying open to collect dust!

Well, you will never believe what the Lord did that next Sunday.....We have a good friend, a gentleman in our church, who also happens to be our dentist. He is a dear friend, and is really an amazing man who has dabbled in quite a few ventures himself over the years. Well, he approached me that Sunday, and asked if I thought Ray would be interested in going in together on some bee hives and producing honey!!!
I am not kidding......my mouth dropped open, and I asked who had told him that Ray wanted to do that. He had no idea what I was talking about!! He said that he had just been thinking about it, and he used to do it many years ago on his own property, but since getting rid of that property years ago, hasn't had a place to put the bees, and was wanting to start up again. He then went on to tell me that he had all the supplies, so it would be no expense to us, they would put the hives out on our land, and we would share the honey production!!! Truly amazing!! You should have seen the look on Ray's face...he thought surely I had initiated this.

It was such a neat encouragement to Ray, that God does see the desires of our heart, even when we tell no one, and sometimes, not always, but sometimes, He delights in giving them to us, no matter how simple or trivial they may seem.

He loves Ray so much, and gave him his bees, for FREE!!! WOW! What a sweet Heavenly Father we serve!

So, in a few weeks, we will have Ford honey for sale!!! Yeah!! Hoping it will help some of us with these allergies! :) Come on over for some honey and biscuits!! :)

On another note, not quite so funny, I have ruined my sons life, or at least it feels that way!!

Moms, we carry such a great burden and guilt trip all the time, it is amazing we even survive this parenting thing!

Well, as you know from my last post, all my kids were in school this year. Jesse, our oldest was at the public high school. To say it was a challenging year would be accurate. Yes we survived, and for sure it could have been alot worse, but we had our moments.

We transferred Jesse into the public school system right before school started in the fall. As we met with the counselors, they informed us that his transcript from 9th grade would not count, because he was not coming from an accredited school.......and even though he made straight A's, he would have to retest end of course testing for ALL his 9th grade classes!!! The real problem with this was that we were starting all his 10th grade pre-AP courses in a few days, football practice was in full swing, and he didn't have time to test before school started, so..... he was going to have to squeeze these tests in between all his current course work and football.

He was not real happy about this, but trying to be the Godly mom, I encouraged him, that if he had made A's in these classes once, he could pass the final again to obtain the credit he deserved. I assured him that God must have a reason for him needing to test again, maybe to make sure he really knew his stuff, and hadn't just memorized it for a test!

Not sure if he really bought my counsel, but he did take it for what it was, and began the long process of studying for these exams, as well as his current classes. It took him all year, one test at a time, but I am happy to say, he passed and received credit for all his 9th grade course work. Well, ok, so I didn't ruin him in that way, just a great character builder, right?

Well, another aspect of his year was football. He came from playing 6-man football last season, where he had received MVP Offensive team. He came into 11 man this year, trying to learn the game, earn a spot, and really just trying to get the coaches to learn his name!!

I will never forget, it was about 4 weeks into school/football practice, that he came in and said...."Hey mom, one of the coaches hollered, 'FORD!!!!'" He was so excited they finally new his name! Up until then, they had been calling him "Red" (the hair)

Well, after practicing mornings and evenings for weeks, we got word, that according to UIL rules, he could not suit up for 6 weeks!!! Even though we didn't move, even though we have lived in Cleburne for 10 years, they consider him a transfer student, and UIL, as a protection, blocks players from playing for 6 weeks!!! And with the way the schedule fell, because JV games were on Thursdays, it actually kept him out until the 8th game of the season!!! They wouldn't even let him wear a jersey and stand on the side line with jeans. He came home and said...."I am lower than the water boy, I sure can't wait until I can get out there and play again, then I can have my identity back!"

Up until that point, I had questioned why the Lord was allowing him to go through this struggle with football, he loves it so much, so why was God withholding something that he enjoyed and was a star at only one year ago?

But now I knew!!!

Oh Jesse, your identity is in Christ, not football. Football is what you do, and something you enjoy, and God has given you a desire to play, but it is not WHO you are.

We encouraged Jesse to continue to put forth his best effort, even though he may not see one down of playing time this year, but to do it as unto the Lord, and even if no one else noticed, God would!

He got to play in the last 3 games of the season, and he lead the team in tackles the second game he played in, and the last game, the coaches made him captain!! That was surely a little balm to the soul for him.

Well, would you believe, at the end of the season, they had a football banquet, (which we were not there!!! Another fine moment in my parenting!! Jesse had said earlier in the month that he didn't really want to go, and didn't want us to spend money to take the whole family) Anyway, Jesse came in the day of the banquet, and had changed his mind and wanted to go with some of the guys, at least just to enjoy a free dinner and have fun. It was too late for us to get tickets, but I told him it would be fine for him to go, he just had to wear his suit, so out he comes with a nice black suit, and a RED skin tight under armour type shirt on. He thought he looked cool, and I actually thought to myself, "I won't pick a battle with this, just let the kid go. Who cares, he will be sitting in the back, no one will really see him anyway, and we wouldn't be there to be embarrased, so whatever!!"

Anyway, at the banquet each year, they give away lots of awards, but they give away 4 special All Team awards for both JV and Varsity combined. Well, of all things, can you believe, Jesse won the MVP for scout team defense!!! This was a huge award, of all the JV guys, and his picture was even in the paper for ALL our town to see, red skin tight shirt and all!!! But how neat to see God reward Jesse for his faithfulness to give it his best, knowing he couldn't get in the game, or even stand on the sideline! Ok, so not totally ruined, God worked through that too.

Well, as we approached the end of the year, I am feeling like we have made it!!! Jesse has completed all the extra end of year testing from the 9th grade classes, he survived football and track, and we are on the home stretch, baby!!! Finals, and we are outta here, at least for a few months!!

Jesse had kept his grades up all year, and was pretty pumped about being exempt from 2 finals!! He cleared it with his teachers, and then brought home the paper for me to OK. I looked at the paper, saw his grades, saw the teachers signatures, that they had given their approval for his exemptions from their final tests, then gave it back to him with a thumbs up. I really didn't think much about it, until the first day of finals start at the high school, and Jesse calls me in a panic!!! He said I hadn't signed the paper, and therefore they were going to make him take the 2 finals he was exempt from!!! He had no review sheets, he had been studying for all his other finals, but hadn't even given these a thought!!!

Of course I hopped in my car, and went straight to the VP's office, where I was sure they would show us grace, being our first year in the public high school, and never having to even think about a signature for exemption!!! Oh no, they wouldn't budge!!! I was dying....... I launched into my "I'm not trying to rescue my son from every mistake, I have let him fail, and struggle this year" speech, but to no avail!!!

So, Jesse had to take the 2 extra finals, the hardest, pre AP Chemistry, the very next day, with only a few hours that evening to review the information. Needless to say, he didn't score very well on that test, and it dropped his grade. All year he had kept them up, and now, because of one lousy signature, which I missed, as well as Jesse not catching it, he has a change in his GPA!!!!

I nearly had a panic attack that night, as I allowed my mind to go down the road of how this would effect his ability to get into college, his scholarship eligability, and ulitmately his ability to get a job, provide for his family, and be successful in life! In one fatal mistake of not signing a paper, I single handedly ruined his life!!!

Oh the guilt we so unduly carry!!! But yet, I continue to wrestle with it. Oh, if I had just signed that dang paper!!! The fate of my sons life, rested in my hands, and I blew it!!

But the truth is, I am not ultimately responsible for who or what Jesse becomes and does in his life, God is, as He works in and through my son. How arrogant of me to think that I have that kind of power and control. God also promises to "use all things together for good" in Jesse's life, as well as my own. Hallelujah!! So He will use the "missed signature" for good in our lives! Thank goodness God never misses a signature, He never misses anything!

Well, after hearing me lament about it over and over, one of my kids reminded me about our neighbor, the one they call the "rich neighbor", that he hadn't gone to college, he just started a lawn mowing business in high school, and now, he owns the largest landscape mowing business in town. So who cares about college, right?

So guess what Jesse is doing this summer..........Mowing lawns!! :) Maybe I didn't ruin his life after all.

JJ

Totally Different Year, Change is good.

2013-06-12T20:23:00.003-07:00

Well, after homeschooling my 5 children for 11 years, the Ford family has done something radical!! All 5 children were out of the home, and in school somewhere!!

It was a huge change, and honestly.......some parts of it were AWESOME!!

Except for a few rare occasions over the past 11 years, I have not been at home by myself, without someone there with me. I can honestly say, being at home in peace and quiet, was amazing!!!
Don't get me wrong, I love my kids, they are the best, and I really don't know how or why the Lord chose to give them to me...... but being in MY house, in QUIET was a true gift this year.

So many asked, "Well, what are you going to do with ALL that time?" I wanted to scream, "NOTHING!!"

But, actually, God already had it planned out what I was going to do, I just didn't know yet. I started the school year off, only having to leave the house on

Mondays, for grocery shopping,

Tuesdays and Thursdays, when I taught Art at the school, where the 4 younger kids were attending, to help pay for tuition, and

Fridays, where I worked at Ray's office.

So actually, I didn't have a huge amount of free time, but still, mostly Mondays and all day Wednesdays were great!

Those were MY days!!

My favorite day was Wednesday. That was laundry day, and since the kids were all out of the house most of the week, I took back over the laundry, (when they were home schooled, of course they did their own.) So, I started out Wednesday morning washing loads, and after getting the kids dropped off, I would return home to 14 loads of laundry. I would sneak and plug the rabbit ears into the TV, and enjoy a few hours of "Good Morning America" and Kathie Lee!! (you see, we haven't had TV in about 7 years, so to plug in rabbit ears and watch a TV show was a little pleasure I thought I DESERVED)

Well, I tried this for a few weeks, and boy, did the Lord show me pretty quickly what a waste of time that was!!! Not that watching TV is awful (we rent plenty of movies and watch as a family all the time), but as far as why God had given me this time, this year.......that was not why he gave it to me, to re-a-quaint myself with Kathie Lee Gifford!! He had more serious work for me to do.

So...... I put up the rabbit ears, and poured myself into praying for those little feet that wore the socks I was folding, or for the patients that Ray would be taking care of when he wore the scrubs I had just placed so carefully in his closet. The Lord had given me this time, not to indulge in my own selfish desires, but to pour so much more into Him, into my family, and my husband. I started burning up the downloads of sermons from Tommy Nelson and Mark Driscoll. I truly felt now, more than ever, that this time was a huge gift from the Lord, and for the first time in my life, I actually LOVED doing the laundry. :) Now that is a miracle...it used to be the bain of my existence!!

As the year progressed, I got very comfortable and selfish with this time, so again, since sin crept back into it, the Lord had to strip me, and work on that selfishness!!! Due to some changes in our office, Ray's back surgery, the ever looming "Obama Care", and being in a small community, we had to let one of our main employees go. Ray very matter-of-factly told me that I was the fill in..... and on WEDNESDAY mornings!!
NOOOOOOO!
I didn't want to give up that time, but was reminded by the Lord, that that time was a gift from HIM anyway, and that the Lord was once again changing my mission field. My husband needed me in a tangible way, and I was the perfect person to fill the gap, I was FREE labor, so that made it even better. And as one older lady in my church pointed out, and it hadn't even occurred to me, that I could fill that office with prayer while I worked. So when I am sitting at that front desk, not answering a phone, or checking a patient out, I pray. (Not out loud, of course!!)

So, for the second half of the school year, I was juggling, but still praying, still listening to sermons, filling my mind with things that count, constantly, any time I found myself not talking to someone else, I was in a constant conversation with the Lord, realizing I could keep that new found urgency up in prayer for my family, just not all in one long, nice, quiet, stretched out moment!

And boy, did our family go through some stuff this year, that demanded attention in prayer. That would have totally stressed me out, had I not been filling my mind with Him! All the kids out facing new challenges in public and private school!! Ray with his back surgery and the changes in his practice, me with, well hormones and just life working outside the home again after 16 years of staying home. God had a plan, and it was partly to stir up in me an urgency to cover, and I mean cover, my family in this battle we fight every day. But praise God, the battle is the Lord's and we do not war against flesh and blood.

Well, all I can say is Praise God we made it to the end of the school year, and we survived!! The kids are HOME, so good to have them back. They have taken over the laundry again, and that is nice. I am still up at the office 2 days a week, but no more Art for the summer, so we are getting a break from the crazy schedule. I am having to sneak back to the bedroom or car now to find a little peace and quiet, but continue in that constant conversation of prayer, as I must. Sometimes I am distracted by my own selfish desires and pity parties, and fall flat on my face. But God is so faithful even when I am not, and He woos me back to Himself.
So, for someone who doesn't like change, I thank God for the change this year. He had different plans, and I am thankful He gave them to me, they were a gift.
JJ

Mother's Day Talk at Rockpointe Church video #3

2013-05-13T07:37:00.003-07:00

Here is the last one!!
Have a wonderful week!
JJ

Mother's Day Talk at Rockpointe Church video #2

2013-05-13T07:36:00.003-07:00

Ok, here is video #2.

Mother's Day Talk at Rockpointe Church video #1

2013-05-13T07:31:00.001-07:00

Several people have asked me to post this video. Honestly, I am not sure if I am doing this correctly!! I am technically challenged!!
A friend filmed this on her phone from Mother's day weekend, where I shared a little on being a mother at Rockpointe church in Flower Mound, TX. It is in 3 parts, so start from video #1 if you want to see it in correct order!! :) Have a great week. I will try to post some more funny stories about our family soon!! Just a teaser......we just added BEES to the Ford Farm!!!
JJ

Dr. Doolittle vs. Dr. Ford

2013-01-05T18:21:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Fords!!! We have had a very good holiday season, celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus. What a gift we were given, and how grateful we are. He is our reason to celebrate. Without Him, it is all empty and vain.

Well, the last few weeks have been very exciting around here.

We had a great Thanksgiving with some of the Ford family from Oklahoma. They came down and stayed for a few days, and besides food, football, and puzzles, Ray taught them some of the finer things about fixing one of our male cats. Yes!! That is right. Since he does this for a living on humans, he figured, "How hard could it be on a cat?" So, after a little googling online, and gathering the needed materials, he fixed our female a few months ago, but waited until Thanksgiving weekend to fix our male. We have a new niece who married into the family, born and raised in Richardson, who was a little shocked at how the Ray Ford Family passed the Thanksgiving Holiday time away. :)

After Thanksgiving had come and gone, Ray injured his back again, causing us to rethink the possibility of having another back surgery. During this consideration time, someone approached Ray about buying ALL our goats. Hallelujah!!!! Finally, rid of the goats!

He felt like it was a provision, not knowing how this back surgery might effect us and his ability to work the farm, so he sold them all, lock, stock, and barrel!!

Wow, did it seem quiet on the farm, no goats to run off the porch, no poop to avoid on the driveway, no gates to keep closed. I have to say, even though I was relieved, it did seem a bit sad.

Well, only a short 2 weeks later, we bought them all back!!! (Too long of a story to explain why, but needless to say, we got them ALL back, plus 12 babies that had been born during that 2 week period!!!)

We picked them up and moved them back to our place on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas Ray!! :) I have to say the babies are adorable, and my husband is sooooo happy to have them back home. We will face tomorrow's challenges if and when Ray has back surgery. But for now, we are back in the goat business!!

Along with the goats, you know we still have a few egg chickens left that have survived the neighborhood dogs. We also have a duck, Mr. Sader, who was purchased as a duckling and came in the mail through the US Postal Service, along with our chicken chicks. (You haven't lived until you get a phone call from the local Post Master letting you know you have a very loud package waiting for you down at the post office!! :)

Anyway, I guess because he was raised with the chickens, he thinks he IS a chicken.

He runs with them all day long, and then likes to swim in our pool because that is what God made him to do. It is so funny to see the chickens watch him when he gets in the pool, they can't figure it out, and to watch him, when they roost, he looks down at those two webbed feet, and for the life of him has no idea how they do that!!

Well, to top off the Ford Farm, Santa Clause added a new member to our animal family. Delivered Christmas morning was an appaloosa horse named Simon. Esther, our middle daughter has loved horses for as long as I can remember. She takes after her grandmother, "Babe", and has had "horse" at the top of her Christmas and birthday list for ever. Well, Santa finally felt like it was time, so welcome Simon. Esther was so excited!!! She said he fit right in, because his hair looked like mine, "White and Red mixed together!!" and because he already had a Bible name.

Esther getting Simon Christmas Morning in the rain, love at first sight.

One more funny story from our holiday adventures..... Ray has really enjoyed duck hunting during some of his time off. On New Years day morning, we did a family duck hunt. So at 5:30 we all headed (minus Jesse, who had spent the night with some friends that were actually going to celebrate the New Year by staying up till midnight, we went to bed at 8PM, Wooohooo, Party!) Anyway, we headed out bundled up for a duck hunt at the ranch. We had a great time, and actually got a few ducks, despite loading issues, mis-firing, and general loudness that always accompanies the Ray Ford Family.

Well, Esther is the animal lover, and one of the ducks only got wounded before Moses retrieved him for us. Esther begged to save the duck, and that is it, in her arms. She rescued him, and he now lives in our pond.

Another morning, when Ray went hunting by himself down at the ranch, he had missed so many, and only came home with one. He was shocked, when he got home, to see that his daughter, Esther, the duck whisperer, had managed to catch, not shoot, 2 wild ducks on our property. Unbelievable!!!

Oh the life we live. It is never boring, and always exciting to see what will happen around here next. Have a great beginning of 2013, JJ

Meat Chickens

2012-10-30T18:26:00.001-07:00

Well, it has been a while, to say the least!! Life happens around here, and so I have not focused on anything but family, laundry, cooking, school, etc. Anyway, Ray asked me the other day if I had blogged in awhile and I told him "no." He said he'd given me plenty to write about, so I better get busy.

Well, I must go back to the spring. This past year, right after the Ft. Worth Stock show, Ray's buddy, Don (aka. our youth minister) called and asked if we wanted in on a great deal on meat chickens. (What are meat chickens you ask! I had the same question.) Meat chickens are different than layers. Layers are what we have raised up until this point. They are great!! They walk around, eat the bugs, and lay beautiful eggs for us to eat. They are usually pretty, and they are very low maintenance. Meat chickens are not raised for laying, they are raised for eating their meat. They grow for several months, then you slaughter them. Sorry for the faint at heart!!

Anyway, Don said the FFA barn for Cleburne was getting rid of all the meat chickens that had not been good enough to take to the FW Stock show, and they were GIVING them away. Don said there were about 40 - 50 of them, and counting on the fact that you usually lose 1/3 to 1/2 of them, he figured he would take them and at the end of 2 months put up 25 or so chickens in the freezer. The only problem was that Don didn't have a chicken coop. Well, he was planning on building one, so he went ahead and picked them up in 2 large wire cages. They were fine at first, but what he didn't realize was that they almost double in size every day or so, when they are young and growing!! In only about a week, they were busting at the seems, feathers sticking out of every hole in these wire cages. It looked like a "Looney Toons" cartoon.

Well, he called Ray and asked if we wanted to put them in our coop, since ours was already built, and he just hadn't had time to build his yet. Ray said "yes" of course, and agreed to partner with him in this chicken venture. They were planning on meeting after Ray finished clinic one afternoon, so that Ray could take them home and put them in our coop. Well, the same day I was scheduled to head to the church and pick up a bunch of plants that we were going to take to our house, so I had the trailer, and had just finished loading up a bunch of bushes and plants, when Ray called. As expected, Ray had gotten called into the hospital, and wondered if I could meet Don at the church and pick up the chickens as well. Don showed up with 40 chickens, feathers coming out everywhere from the cages. He threw them on the back of the trailer with the plants and I had to head out to pick Jesse up from school. All I needed was a rocking chair and we would have looked like the "Clampets" going down the road, leaves flying off plants, feathers floating through the air, and me driving slow, since I didn't like driving the trailer anyway.
I called ahead to the school, asking if they would let Jesse walk out to the road, instead of me trying to maneuver this crazy trailer load through the pick up line. They agreed, but as I parked near the entrance of the school, I realized I was slowing up traffic, as everyone was slowing down to see what in the world was all this mess going on on the back of my trailer. Jesse quickly ran down to the truck and jumped in, ready to get away from all the onlookers!!
We did make it home, and were able to dump the 40+ chickens into our coop.

After only a few days, we quickly realized that these chickens were eating their weight in food almost every day, and they were continuing to double in size every few days. In only a week or so, they had outgrown our coop, and we had to let them have free range. They were hilarious, as they all looked like really overweight hens, eating for a moment, then their legs would start shaking, and they would have to sit right were they were, to rest for a moment, before they would move on to eat again. Crazy!!! Who knew that meat chickens did this?!

Well, with 40+ chickens doing this all day, we realized we couldn't keep this going for much longer. There was chicken poop everywhere!! So, we scheduled the harvesting day. Ray asked some great guys from our church to come help, his parents came over, and we had a huge chicken harvesting.

In all my life, I can honestly say, I didn't think I would ever experience this. The kids were all involved, and honestly, except for some of the grossness, everyone really had a good day of harvesting chickens and fellowshiping with one another. Praise the Lord for good friends who would come over and help with this. It was really hard work, and the guys were exhausted after about 5 hours of harvesting chickens.

The great news is, we are set for the year with chicken meat. You can't believe how many chicken recipes I have found!!!
Oh the life of being married to and OB/Gyn/Chicken Farmer!!
JJ Ford

Pictures follow, if you are faint of heart, don't look!!!!

Esther catching the next chicken in line

Anna and Joshua taking a break from the harvesting

Nana, Ray's mom, with Ruth and a friend, shucking corn, to feed all the people who were helping us

Ray and a friend from church

Chicken running around with her head cut off, literally!!

Ray's Dad teaching us how it's done!!

Ray

Russ from church, with a bunch of "sumo wrestlers", oh, I mean chickens!!

Boiling the feathers off

Esther with another victim

Hanging the chickens before we packed them up

Cleaning the chickens

Matt (another friend from church) and Jesse, cleaning them out

One of Jesse's friends, Adam, helping as well

A view into our barn, or rather.....bathroom.

2012-03-04T13:31:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: I typed this last spring, but forgot to post it!!!!

New life is abounding everywhere. We are enjoying spring, everything is turning green, all the animals seem to be giving birth. New goats, New kittens, New bunny, and even new chicks. But the chicks have needed a little Dr. Ford OB/Gyn intervention!!
How lucky our chickens are to have an OB/Gyn as their owner!! You see, our chickens were not being very broudy, (for all you non-farming people, that means they didn't want to sit on their eggs, thus, no hatching), so we, or rather Dr. Ford, had to intervene. This is what he does for a living, saves lives of unborn babies, and does all he can to help get them into this world, healthy and strong.
So, Ray headed to Tractor supply to purchase an incubator. Again, Ray, being taken aback, by the price of the durn thing, turned on his heels, and headed to google, to see if he could figure out how to make his own. And low and behold, wouldn't you know it, we had everything we needed right in our own home, to make our own incubator!!!
Ray, wanting to make this a family affair, gathered all the kids together on a Saturday morning, and we built our very own incubator to hatch our own eggs. How exciting!! We used an old white styrofoam ice chest, a light bulb and socket, some old chicken wire, straw, a bowl of water, and a thermometer, that measured temp and humidty.

We began the next day, collecting eggs, marking them with their dates, then carefully placing them in our homemade incubator. Much to my dismay, the only place in our home, that we were able to acheive the perfect humidity for them, was OUR bathroom, so for the next 3 weeks, we had this glow, every day and night, coming from our bathroom, from the incubator.

As we got closer to the due date of the eggs hatching, excitement was rising in the household. At last, the first egg cracked!! Amazing!! Did you know, that even before the first crack happens, you can hear cheeping coming from inside the egg?! I do know, because we heard it in the middle of the night, coming from our bathroom!!

The next morning, the whole family could hardly leave our bathroom, as we hovered over the incubator, watching the first signs of life emerging from the oval eggs. It is a miracle, whether human, as my husband gets to experience on a daily basis, or animal, as this was. Every birth is a miracle!!

What a beautiful picture of new life. Christ gives us new life, through the cross. I love spring, especially being married to Ray Ford, who seems to bring it, not only right up to my doorstep, but into my bathroom!!!

Happy Spring,

Opportunities and Creosote

2012-02-11T15:39:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it has been 9 months since my last post!! We have had alot going on. Alot to do with my Dad's fight with cancer, and keeping his blog up to speed. Dad went home to be with our Savior on Jan. 21, 2012, and we will greatly miss him. You can read about his last few months or even the last few years and the memorial service on my other blog www.teamjanszen.blogspot.com . He was an amazing man.

Knowing that scripture says, laughter is good medicine, I have a few things to share about another amazing man in my life.....
We have had some ups and downs this past year.
Some of them have been opportunities......."opportunities" are what Ray calls his projects for the whole family!!
The pool..... Well, this past summer, it turned green, and looked natural, for the second half of the summer. We had an extreme winter, and then very hot summer, so our pumps froze, cracked, then melted because of the temps in Texas this past year. We limped the pool along half way through the summer, then when it finally all died, we decided we had to get it fixed or fill it in.

Oh please, don't fill it in, the five kids love the pool, and it is a great place to have people over and cool off in these hot Texas summers. But, we can't swim in green, or we might as well be swimming in our pond!

So, after Ray got several bids on fixing the pool, and about had a coronary every time he received one, he made the famous announcement, "I will fix the pool and save us thousands!!"
Oh boy, here we go again. Honestly I doubted, and kept praying that he would give in and let me call someone to come fix it. But no was the answer to that, and as we began to receive large boxes from the UPS guy, with the words "Discount Pool Supply" stamped on the side, I knew it was inevitable. We were going to fix the pool ourselves.

Well, life does not stop, nor does Ray's schedule, babies coming, emergencies at the hospital, so the pool continued to turn into a deeper, lovely, aquamarine color, all while these large boxes sat posed on the back porch, ready to be unpacked and installed.

Again I asked if I could hire someone to come finish the job....No way!
Eventually, the job began to unfold, as Ray would find little sections of time to unpack the pumps, begin the fitting process, and carefully place them onto the concrete slab, to connect to the already existing pool equipment that had not died.
Well, these pumps are heavy, and awkward to lift, so as Ray was working on this, he was also working on making his back worse. (he has some disk issues)
So, about 2/3 of the way into the job, he was out, with back surgery!!

Yikes!! what are we going to do now, not only with the pool, but with Ray's work?

In short, God got us through, He provided, and He used some of the men in our church to help meet the need. As a matter of fact, I had 2 of Ray's good buddies tell me, "When Ray tries to do something stupid, call me, and I will come do it for him." (Partners in crime :) ) (He was supposed to be on total rest for 2 full weeks after his surgery!!) Needless to say, he was out trying to work on the pool equipment to finish the job, the day after surgery!! I quickly called these guys, and they came over several times during the week, and helped him finish the job. They truly were the "hands and feet of Christ" to Ray. Literally!!

I have to say, I never thought the water would be crystal clear again, aside from hiring help, but it is! He did it, Wow!!! What a man. And really without much encouragement from me, I am sad to say. It only took a few extra months, but he "gotterdone!"

Now, one of the additional things Ray wanted to do, was build a shelter around the pool equipment, so that we would not have this problem again. (you know, protect it from the heat and cold) He did wait another month or so, to let his back heal, before he began to tackle this job. When he finally did, he headed out to Home Depot to purchase a prepackaged shed to build around the equipment. Again, he came home with just some lumber and nails.
"What?! where is the package deal?" I asked.
"Oh, those stinking things are so expensive..... I can do this for so much less!!!" Really?!

Oh boy, so here we go again. Jesse and Ray started building the foundation to this shed, trying to level it, trying to get it just right. I have to say it actually looked pretty good, but because of time, it was a slow process. Over the next couple of weeks, they completed the floor, but before adding the walls, we had a friend stop by, who is a professional builder. Such a kind young man, who loves Ray. Ray took him out to show him his progress.
He didn't say anything negative, he just offered to come help Ray out with the rest of the job. He said he could come the next day, but that was Ray's surgery day, so Ray wouldn't be available until later on in the day to work with him. The friend came on out anyway, that morning, and when Ray got home that afternoon, He had completely redone the entire job, it was perfect.
Ray had mixed emotions, sad that what he had done was gone, and obviously had not met the professional builders specs., but also amazed and thankful/overwhelmed at what he had accomplished in such a short amount of time. :)
Again, the hands and feet of Christ, at work in our lives. Ray accepted the help from our friend, to get the walls and roof on, but Ray and Jesse are finishing the job, as I type, of putting on the tin roof, and building doors to the shed. I saw the doors a little bit ago, and they are amazing.

Who knew?...he can deliver a baby, save a life, and build some pretty good looking doors. Maybe he needs help on leveling the floor of a building, but, hey, you can't be good at everything!

As I think back over the past few months, Ray has tackled a few other great feats. One that stands out was burying the large square trampoline in our back yard, like Kanakuk's if you've ever been to Kamp.

Some asked "why are you doing this?" Ray said "Why not?" Sounds like what Robert Kennedy said,

"Some men see things as they are and say why.

I dream things that never were and say why not."

It really is cool, and the kids love it.

Digging the hole

The funny thing was, that when Ray finally got the hole dug, this took weeks, it is a huge trampoline, he wanted to line it with creosote soaked railroad ties, to keep the dirt from caving in. He found some at the local feed store, and was so excited to get these ties cut and in the ground.

Ray finishing the logs and the trampoline leveling.

Well, did ya'll know that creosote burns?? We didn't!!

Ray was working on this job alone, for some reason, all the kids were gone, and he had a free Saturday, so he attacked, knowing he could get it done if he just kept plugging along. I was in the house, it was hot, hot summer, but would occasionally go out with a glass of lemonade, or an encouraging word, to cheer him on.

He would use the tractor to lower one of the logs into his hole, then use the chain saw to cut the log into the exact length he needed.

Chain saws usually cause sawdust to fly in the air, and coat whatever it lands on. Ray, being careful, had protective goggles on, but because of the extreme heat of the summer, had on work boots, with shorts, and a short sleeve shirt, along with work gloves.

After several hours of cutting, moving, placing, and shifting railroad logs, he noticed a little burning on the exposed parts of his skin. He assumed it was the sun, and he was feeling the affects of a sunburn. He thought if he could just keep going, that he would finish quicker, and get in out of the sun, so he kept working.

He was almost done with the lining of the hole, when I looked out and noticed him, almost hopping around. Puzzled, I walked outside and asked if everything was ok. He said no, and by the sound of his voice, I could tell things were not good. He said, "I'm on fire, something is burning me!!!"

What?

Then he hollered something about creosote. I ran back in and googled creosote. The first thing that popped up was, "Danger, do not touch creosote with bare skin, can cause severe burns!!"

Oh crud!!! I then quickly read what the treatment was, and as I ran back to the back porch, Ray was running, no, sprinting to the house. I hollered what I had just learned, and instructed him to remove all clothing that had creosote on it. Well, this included everything he had on!!! Thank goodness all the kids were gone! As he ran from the back of the yard toward the house, clothes were flying, leaving a trail behind him. As he came in the house, I sent him straight to the shower, where he was to rinse off with soap and cool water for at least 20 minutes. I then made ice packs, and had him lay in the recliner, where I had to rub "Preperation H" of all things, all over the burning parts of his body, which was most of his legs, arms, and face, then we packed him in ice packs. This was supposed to stop the chemical from continuing to burn. I felt so bad for him, but kept thinking, this is great stuff for the blog.....you can't make this stuff up!!!

The good news is, the treatment worked, and within a few hours, the burning had completely stopped. Thank the Lord for google.

I am never short of being amazed at the crazy life the Lord has given us to live here. We truly are trying to worship the Lord through all of this stuff. God is good, and funny at times. He is faithful, even in, and especially in, our crisis.

Thanks for reading.

I will post again soon, Lord willing,

JJ Ford