Meet Jerry

This is my neighbors adorable dog and his insanely crazy teeth.  Jerry is an escape artist.  There is a small gap in the fence of the yard that this little monster has found a way to squeeze through multiple times.  I couldn't resist snapping a shot before putting him back inside.

Dinner with Friends

We've been friends with these two for over 20 years.  We started attending a bible study at their house in 1998.  They were very gracious hosts and we have enjoyed watching our kids grow up shared many moments with them.  The Goshens are kind, generous and consistently cheerful and upbeat.  We've shared tears together as well as we've lost parents, grandparents and seen families separated.  But through it all they have always leaned on their faith.  We really enjoyed out time together on this day.  Our dinner lasted almost 4 hours 😄.  Here's just a glimps.

And the heavens became a little brighter that day......

I posted at Easter that we as a family were facing some challenges.  My beautiful, sweet aunt who has always been a treasure in my heart but never more so than over the last 20 years when she and my uncle stepped in a became an even bigger part of our lives after my mom passed away and Kevin and I gave birth to our beautiful baby (now 19) boy.  They were the grandparents to him that my parents surely would have been.  

She never recovered from that surgery Easter morning.  In the following days, she had what we suspect were multiple strokes and slipped quickly into a non responsive state.  We were privileged to spend the majority of the day with her on the day that she passed.  My uncle was there and my cousins Sandy and Mike also made it out.  We unwillingly said our goodbyes but all had a sense of peace knowing that she knew the Lord and wouldn't struggle or suffer for long.  It's taken me a week to write this post because I'm still trying to take it all in.  It was unexpected and rapid.  We're all still taken back.  I'll post a few pictures now and when I feel I can do her justice, I will write another post soon which I hope will be more of a tribute to her.  She deserves it!

Judy Mae Krug

 12-31-1940 - 04-27-2019

 With my Mama

So, So Proud!

My wonderful nephew Bradley has been accepted to Annapolis Naval Academy with a full scholarship. We won't see much of him over the next 6 years but we're so proud that he's followed his passion and achieved his dream. 

Easter 2019 He had some rough news on this day but because He has risen.... We have HOPE!

Such a beautiful day to celebrate the risen King but sometimes life happens all at once.  The book of James tells us that we are to "count it all joy when we face various trials".  What I've learned is that the Greek word for various means multiple.  In other words we can expect that when it rains, it  can pour sometimes.  

On this day, we learned that my sweet aunt Judy had a cancerous tumor in her colon.  The bad news continued as the found more on her liver and her gallbladder had to be removed.  The chemo required for this type of cancer would be entirely too hard for her to endure so they recommend hospice care for her remaining time here with us.  We also learned that my equally sweet sister in law, Camile had a biopsy done which in the following days was confirmed to be cancerous.  It is treatable and that is where our hope in God comes in.  I'm thankful that though both of my beauties are facing cancer at different stages, they both know Jesus and it says in Romans that though the outer man perishes, the inner man is strengthened.  No one can take that away from us.  Jesus rose from the grave on this day and we too have eternal life and will rise from the grave if we believe and put our faith in Him.  Sometimes  though, we need to nail our burdens and worries to the cross and rise up to meet Jesus while still in this life.  I'm sure there will be further posts with updates later but first I wanted to share the beauty of fellowship that we shared in-spite of our challenges.