There have been so many times in my life where I am in awe of how God works. This past weekend I spent some time with a family who is very precious to me. I hadn't seen them in over 3 years. God had brought us together many years ago. But distance has seemed to have separated us some. In the past year, my dear friend was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to undergo serious surgery and intense chemo. Just after the first surgery, she discovered she was pregnant. She had to undergo chemo while pregnant. She delivered her son 3 months early. They nearly lost him due to an infection he had. The circumstances surrounding everything could have destroyed a family, yet God has taken this past year and restored them. As I sat and spent time with them, I felt the love of God through them in a way I just can't explain. It was obvious to me that this past year has been the best year of their lives; they would agree. God has taken something that most people fear and used it for his glory. SHe has since found out that she has a specific gene mutation that makes her extremely suseptable to cancer in her reproduction organs. She now must undergo some very serious surgery, serious enough it could take her life. She will be having that surgery in a couple of weeks, so if you would pray for her, I would appreciate it. She is looking forward to entering into the arms of Jesus, but has 4 children and a husband that love her and would choose for her to be with them longer. I praise God for what He has done in their lives through this past year. I pray that the surgery is a success and my dear friend will recover completely.

As I said, there are times when I am in awe of how God works. Last night, Mark walked inside with an envelope with Jacob's name on it. Jacob rarely gets mail or something written to him. He smiled and opened it and then stood smiling and saying thank you over and over. Someone who has never met Jacob had written him a card congratulating him on his being nominated to the World Leadership Forum. But that was not all. Jacob and I were blown away to see that $50.00 was with the note. I can not share with you how deeply I was touched by the gift for Jacob. He was ecstatic. For me, it was far deeper. This precious friend has touched our lives in very special ways to help us during the adoption of Elizabeth and then during the adoption of Ri. They were able to do something for us that no one else that we know could have done. I will forever be indebted to our friend for those precious gifts. But to have blessed Jacob through this generous gift just put me more in awe and brought me more to my knees to praise God. Thanks to this wonderful gift, Jacob is now at $428.15. He is so very, very excited! We start the concession stands at the end of this month. And, I recieved a wonderful email from someone I had never expected to hear from. It was such a beautiful surprise and an exciting thing for Jacob. They shared that they would like to help Jacob with his trip. They have a lot of sticks that have fallen through the winter months and need them picked up. THey wanted to "hire" Jacob. His response? "Sure".. with a smile to boot. So, when Spring comes, we will be making a trip to a friends' house so Jacob (and Sam if he would like) can pick up sticks and earn a little more towards his trip. And then, when we visited Mamaw and Papaw, Mamaw had bags of items for Jacob to see at his concession stand. SHe had bought coffee, swoops (candy), nerd ropes, big chunky cookie packs, and energy drinks. It was wonderful.


On a different note, the kids are in a preschool sponsored by the Early Intervention Program in our county. We are so thankful that they are able to attend. Both are beginning to blossom, socially. They ae asking if we want them kids to attend next year. It is offered 4 days a week during the school year. Right now, the answer is no. There isn't anyway that either would stay int eh classroom without me. But... maybe by next year. We will see. Here are some pictures from their classroom.









Jacob played his very last upward game. It is a bittersweet time. He has been playing in the upward league since 1st grade. 6th grade is the last year for kids to play. There isn't much opportunity for a child to play again unless they are good enough to play on a school team. For me, that makes me sad. There are so many kids who enjoy playing, but just aren't good enough to play on a school team. Anyway, this is a shot I took during his game.