I love playing games and I love to know more about people. These kind of games are good because it makes you think and reflect about yourself. The years are just flying by. Ten years ago, I was a newly divorced lady with 2 children in High School and 1 in college. I was going to college myself at UACCM, 2 year college at Morrilton, to get my Associates Degree in Computer Science. I went to school, from 8 to 2, and worked from 2 to 10, and then tried to see where my kids were in the meantime. It was a really hard time, physically, emotionally, and mentally.  Thank God that he kept my family mostly intact and safe.

What I am going to do today.

1. Meet and greet our new granddaughter. She hasn’t been born yet, but our wonderful daughter-in-law , Carri is working on it. Praise God!

2. Make sure that my son Brian is doing O.K. Praise God.

3. See my other children as we all are waiting to meet Karrisa.

4. Let Go of Germantown for a day and dissolve myself into my family.

5. Praise God for his creations, his blessings and awesomeness.

If I were a billionaire

1. Help Doug with his community for addicts. The mental health field goes hand in hand with this. Definitely need improvement in this area. Most people don’t have money for these services and without money, there is really not a realistic way to get help.  I believe it would help tremendously, in all areas of the community.

2. Definitely pay forward. There have been so many people that have helped me in my lifetime., I would never live to be able to repay.

Bad Habits- Do you really want to know?

1.smoking

2. incredibly unhealthy eater

3.procrastinate

Where I have lived.

Steamboat Springs, Co.

Hayden. Co

Raton, New Mexico

West Cliff, Co

Herrin, Il

Atkins, Ar

Cabot AR,

Sherwood AR

Conway, AR

Jobs I have had

Car hop

Maid

Bank Teller,

Grocery store clerk,

Teachers Aide

Quality Control

Apartment Manager

I don’t know if there is anyone else to tag. I’m going to think about while I’m off to see the baby.

I hope everyone has a very blessed day!

Noreen

 

 

I have had the best day ever! My Dougie, aka The Doug, aka The Dougster is back. The one that I fell in love with. I haven’t seen this Doug for awhile. Our blogging friends have made our day! It was so fun to play on the blogs and do some laughing.  Most fun I’ve had in awhile. Wow that’s kind of sad, my world is pretty small. I’m definitely a cheap date, very easily entertained.

I think that Doug has finally been prescribed the right medication and right dosage. Whooo, that took awhile, but so glad that it is happening. Thank-you everyone for your prayers.  God is so, so good to us. Thanks to everyone for the great day!

Lots of love,

Noreen

I love our church ! I love our preacher! and I love all of the people in it! I believe we are heading in the right direction.  My joyful noise is back.  God made me a cheerful, positive person and when I’m not feeling that way.  I’m lost.  I have to admit that in the last month I’ve been in a funk and lost, but I’m back and it feels so, so good.

God is always with us, God is always near, God answers prayers.  I pray constantly because I am a needy, needy person. Sometimes I feel like God is my only friend, the only one who understands me, the one who made me even with all of my faults. So he gets a lot of you know what I mean, in our conversations because I don’t know if I am explaining myself well. It’s also pretty repetitive.

Dusty has ministered well with Doug and me. Doug and I are truly thankful and blessed that God sent us to University Church of Christ.  It’s a place where we have been accepted and ministered to, and have grown so much spiritually.  Praise God! Our friendships are treasured. It all started with his class about Growing closer to God and having a real relationship with him. Using disciplines, breath prayers, being aware of God, listening to God, and being silent with God.  There were a lot of people who participated in this and I can see the difference in our Church, where the Spirit is leading us separately as people on our own journey’s, and together in the Church. We are having a Ladies class about hearing God and it is all coming together. It’s very exciting, renewing and makes me hopeful and encouraged.

I know that you are all probably tired about hearing about Germantown. Unfortunately since we spend so much time here, it’s a big part of our life. God answers prayers, but you have to look for them sometimes. I know that this will probably sound small to some of you but it has made all of the difference to me and gave me back my joyful heart and I know that God is all behind it.  We went to eat with Doug’s Dad and wife, at Cracker Barrel last night and had a wonderful visit and nice time with them. While we were there we ran into a brother and new friends, Ronnie Stephens, his wife, Sherri and their girls.  Ronnie is a Conway policeman and has been involved in incidents at Germantown more than we would like, but are always appreciative that he is there. He told Doug how much better it has gotten at Germantown and how we were doing a good job.

Just that one comment made my world bright. I have to admit I had fallen into the negativity again.  I told you, I’m horrible about hearing one bad thing and holding on to it instead of the positive. I believe that God sent our brother to us to lift us, me up, in a time of need. Encouraging words are so powerful.  You just have to look and listen and you see God everywhere.  Praise God! Please don’t ever hold back encouraging and uplifting words, you don’t ever know how much someone might need to hear them and how much a simple comment may help. Anyway my joy is back so watch out!

Lots and lots of love,

Noreen

Wow! It’s been a long time since I have blogged.  We have been dealing with what we have been calling ” The Incident” and recovering from the after shocks. I now realize that what I was hoping would be a fast come back is not going to happen. People respond to things differently and the effect that it has had on our residents has been very traumatic.  If it were possible, we could have used a counselor for people to talk to.  When Doug and I started 4 years ago we were turning about 10 apartments a month. This last year we are down to 5 and under. We worked really hard to get there.  This month we are turning 18 apartments.  Not all of them are from what happened, people have different reasons, but I’d say 1/2 of them are. I just wonder if the people that caused this have even considered the long reaching effect that this has caused on very innocent people. The consequences of what they did has seriously effected other peoples lives.  One resident  who really likes it here, is considering moving because her sister won’t let her nephew come over and she really misses him. I’m not a counselor, just a listener, and I don’t have any answers or solutions, they just have to do what is best for them.

We have more patrol, that should make people feel safer, but I think that they think that something is happening instead.  I wish that everything would get back to normal.  I hope that it doesn’t take 4 more years to settle, but the bright side is I think that it is job security.  I don’t think that anyone wants to be a manager at Germantown.  We have heard from the grapevine that some charges may be pending for the people involved and I do believe that they need to be held accountable for their actions, especially for endangering the lives of innocent people and the trauma that they now feel. 

 Sooooo, if bad things have such a lasting effect, the opposite should be true.  Why do people hang on to the bad and not the good ?  Doug wrote a post about how people react to negativity. People can compliment you  all day long but one person can say something bad and that’s what you remember. I am definitely like that.  I try not to be, I really try to focus on the good and not the bad, but I am horrible at it.  Doug can tell you.  I think that is how we treat God sometimes.  HE blesses us, and blesses us, and blesses us. Then something bad happens and poof, we forget all of the blessings and suddenly we don’t remember any of the blessings.  Woe are we, God has forgotten us, turned away from us, doesn’t love us anymore.  We are such babies most of the time.  God is ALWAYS with us, always near, always blessing us. So my new mission is to be a light, count my blessings, so many more than any negative things.  Right now I can’t think of anything bad. My mission is to comfort, understand and push the positive.  Goodness knows their is way to much negative to focus on, but so,so, so much more positive if we take time to remember.

 

Praise God,

Noreen

It has been brought to my attention that I may be too attached to my job and the people that live here. My husband and I are managers of an apartment complex that has always had a bad reputation.  We have been here for 4 years and have worked very hard to improve our image. I believe that we were on the right track and that maybe some people were looking at our property in a positive way.  Last Thursday an incident occurred that put us back to ground zero.  Yes, I have taken it very personal, right or wrong.

You can’t be a manager and not get to know the people that live here. I hear their problems at least once a month at rent time and hear their complaints 24hr. a day.  I know the people who are on Chemo, I know who is having a baby, I know who has lost their jobs, I know what the students are going to be when they graduate. We get to see the excitement of the people who are renting the apartment for the first time. We know the people who are struggling but are making such an effort to keep their apartments. We know their children. I pray for them every night and even have a past resident that calls from time to time to ask me to continue to pray for her.

We have had residents move out and then come back. We have residents that have lived here 10 years. We do have a loose bond with these people.  We don’t socialize with them but they know who to come to in time of trouble and also to share good news and joyous events. People move in and move out but for the tenants that stay we offer stability. We are always here. This is our home, too.

The events last Thursday was a horrible, tragic event for everybody including us. Because of the way our buildings are set up, 4 buildings, 5 counting ours had a bird eyes view of the event. So a lot of people were traumatized. Unfortunately, Doug and I had to face all of the fall out. T.V media, newspaper reports, upset tenants, and general panic. We really don’t get paid enough for this and didn’t have experience for it. So, we along with the tenants take it personal. The last thing I wanted to hear was about our reputation, but there we were having it to deal with it again.  Unfortunately, we had several people that did or are in the process of moving because of it. People that were going to move in have decided not to.

Now, I have a better attitude as time heals and comforts. I realize that people will always think what they want to. Some people panic and run whether it makes sense or not. Some just need an excuse and that was a good one. Some have a brave heart and understand that sometimes bad things happen that are out of our control. It really can and does happen other places. Our children were concerned about our well being just as the parents and family were concerned about the tenants, it’s a good, natural reaction, but until God opens another door for us, we will stay.

It is almost impossible to recover from a bad reputation. I know that everyone can think of someone that they went to school with, or worked with, that had a bad reputation. I really hate that. It seems that people forgive but don’t forget. I believe that if you really forgive someone, you forget. I believe that that is what God does for us, if Jesus died for me, and covered my sins, who am I not to forgive someone else. I am not supposed to put it in the back of my mind and bring it up later, I am supposed to forget it. I really hope that people will not continue to perpetuate a negative stigma to our complexe.  From past and present experience I believe that that is asking a lot, but we’ll pray on it.

Praise God,

Noreen

Lately, I have been feeling like I am out in a desert. That is usually where God takes us to give us instruction and take us out of the world and get refocused. I did a post on surrendering all of my concerns to God and giving up control, as if I have any control anyway.  I was pretty proud of myself and thought that I was on the right track, but there is still much work to do with me.  I walk around in the desert picking up rocks, rocks of my separate burdens. I pick them up, put them in my backpack, and walk along.  Pretty soon, it gets so heavy I can’t carry it, so I take them out one by one and give them back to GOD to have, but before long I notice that I’m carrying them again.

Lately Doug and I have been on a bumpy road. A couple of weeks ago, Doug and I went through a set back, but survived and are stronger for the experience. I didn’t feel like myself though. I am naturally a happy, trusting to a fault person, and generally look at everything in a positive way. I realized that I had let my joy slip away. I wasn’t rejoicing in the days that the Lord had made anymore, so I prayed.  I prayed to let the Spirit fill me with joy.  To let Doug feel joy and happiness, and all of the people that had lost loved ones to feel comfort and peace and joy in knowing that the Lord was near. The Lord is near, watching over us, and loving us.  The next day I was so filled with joy, that I couldn’t contain it. I had so many songs in my head, I couldn’t sing them fast enough.  Doug was running errands, and I called him every 5 minutes to make sure he was feeling the joy. I called Dusty to make sure that he got some joy, and 3 of my beautiful sisters to make sure that they were having a joyful day. I was just beside myself with the joy of the Lord and definitely felt more like my own self.  I was tired at the end of the day. It’s hard to be joyful all day, but it was a good tired. 

You have to guard your joy because it’s easily stolen away from you and hard to restore. Again, this week, we had to face another challenge, this time with work and apartments. We had a horrible tragic event occur at our apartments. Doug and I have been trying to repair the reputation at our apartment complex for 4 years now. We finally felt like we were making some progress and now we are back at ground 0.  All of the joy was sapped out of me, going through the grieving process, on several aspects. For the people involved, for the people of the complex, for all of the work undone, for ourselves, for me.  Where could I go but to the Lord? I prayed for the spirit to wrap all of us up in his arms, calm our fears, give us understanding, peace ,comfort and joy.  I have come to realization that joy is the most important for me, because it is me.  I am lost without it.

I am a believer in 3’s, but so many 3’s have come and gone that I have lost count. They are running into each other and I can’t even categorize them any more. I know that God does not want me to be downtrodden, or downcast.  He wants my inner spirit to be joyous, that’s how he made me. That’s how I roll, so He is slowly building it back up, so that I can be about his work, sharing my joyful noise with others who really need it.

A sister sent me and E-mail about  being joyful  and guarding it and I really appreciate it. She said that it reminded her of me. I took it as a great compliment and would like to share it.

This is from Gretchen Rubin who writes the Happiness
Project blog.  Sent to me by my Sister in Christ Bea.

One of my resolutions is to “Give positive reviews.” I
want to show enthusiasm, delight, and a readiness to
be pleased – to lay aside my desire to criticize and
to indulge in puncturing humor, sarcasm, ironic
asides, cynical comments, or cutting remarks.

It’s harder than it sounds.

A prayer attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo includes
the line, Shield your joyous ones:

Tend your sick ones, O Lord Jesus Christ;
rest your weary ones; bless your dying ones;
soothe your suffering ones; pity your afflicted ones;
shield your joyous ones.
And all for your love’s sake.

At first, it struck me as odd that among prayers for
the “dying” and “suffering” is a prayer for the
“joyous.” Why worry about the joyous ones?

Once I started trying to give positive reviews, for
the first time, I began to appreciate the people I
knew who are joyous. I understood how much effort it
takes to be consistently good-tempered and positive.

For example, I remember that one day when we were
visiting Kansas City, my father came home from work
and my mother told him, “We’re having pizza for
dinner.” As she knew he would, my father answered,
“Wonderful! Wonderful! Do you want me to go pick it
up?”

We all knew that my father would have answered that
way even if he didn’t want pizza for dinner, and even
if the last thing he felt like doing was heading back
out the door. And that kind of consistent enthusiasm
contributes a lot to everyone’s happiness.

We non-joyous types suck energy and cheer from the
joyous ones. We rely on them to buoy us with their
good spirit and to cushion our agitation and anxiety.

At the same time, because of a dark element in human
nature, we’re sometimes provoked to try to shake the
joyous ones out of their fog of illusion-to make them
see that the play was actually stupid, the money was
wasted, the meeting was pointless. Instead of
shielding their joy, we blast it. Why is this? I have
no idea. But that impulse is there.

In his outstanding biography, Samuel Johnson, W.
Jackson Bate describes how upset the moody,
temperamental Samuel Johnson became when his joyous,
enthusiastic supporter, Hester Thrale, turned her
attention away from him.

It is a common mistake on the part of cooler,
self-contained natures to assume that those who have a
giving and ebullient character are what they are only
because they cannot help it-that they are fed from a
spring that will never stop rather than a reservoir
that can be exhausted. Hence the feeling of stark
disbelief or unpleasant shock on the part of others
when the reservoir of effort and energy-for it turns
out to be a reservoir-is almost gone..the principal
reward for those who give lavishly rather than
meagerly is the expectation that they remain true to
form and continue to give.
We depend on the joyous ones, and we need to remember
that their joy isn’t inexhaustible or unconquerable.
Now I’m making a real effort to use my own good cheer
to support and protect the enthusiasts I know.

Shield your joyous ones.

Lot’s of love and joy,

Noreen

When I started blogging, I wanted to mirror Doug’s posting’s. He wanted to reach and possibly minister to other people who were drug addicts and in the process help himself. My objective was to possibly minister to people who were living with others who had drug problems.  God is taking us on a very challenging journey.  Much more than I was prepared for but God knows what he is doing. Praise God and his wonderful knowledge.

The last couple of weeks have been indescribable. Today has been a challenging day, but it’s looking up.  I am a Taurus, that’s my astronomical sign and it fits me pretty well. I am slow to anger, but once angered hard to settle down.  Not to fear, I’m going back into the sleeping bull. I remember once when I was a teenager that I got so mad, that I couldn’t hardly breathe let alone talk. My poor mother finally got me settled down, it took about a week, but it got accomplished. As I have gotten older I have mellowed. My family and loved ones are the only ones that can have that effect on me.  Doug has finally got to experience some of that. I know how to control my anger and work through it before I address the person in a comprehensible way. So now I’m going to share a story, hopefully explaining two sides of a scary situation.

About 9 months ago, Doug was diagnosed as having depression. He started going to a counselor and then a psychiatrist.  He was given medication, worked through some of his issues, and practice different therapy techniques. We talked, I listened, I understood the best I could, I watched, I empathized, and sympathized, I prayed.  I thought that we were on the same page.  In the meantime, we dealt with other problems, pain issues with his back, always financial issues, children issues, work issues, and the ever constant depression issues. I prioritized these day by day. My mistake was I should have always kept the drug addiction and the depression as #1.

Our day usually starts like this.  Doug gets up first, then I get up an hour or two later. I ask him how he is feeling physically and then how he is feeling mentally.  If his reply is ‘good’ to both, we usually have a pretty good day. If he replies bad physically, good mentally, we still have a pretty good day.  If he replies ‘O.K.’ mentally then I know we are not doing good and need to talk.  The problem is all I can do is listen and try to understand. He usually says, I just feel this underlying depression that I can’t shake, I don’t know what it is. I relate it to getting a migraine.  You can take aspirin and ward it off, but you still feel the pain behind your eyes, it’s just dulled so that you can deal with it, but you know that it is still there. The problem for me is after you hear that so many times, it’s hard to stay focused. You think O.K. he’s on medication, he’s going to be all right.  It’s going to be O.K. and I go on with whatever the next most pressing problem is.

Doug doesn’t push. He sees when I am focused on something else, and tries to help with that and doesn’t say anything else. So when Anthony got burned, that’s where my focus was. Then Doug had an appointment with his Dr. that we hope will get workman’s comp. finished up, then we had a psychiatrist appointment.  That’s how I had my priorities set. Going day by day, problem by problem.  All of the while Doug saying quietly I have this underlying depression. I’m saying I know baby, we will be going to the psychiatrist soon and pat him on the back. So, when we got paid, he got one of his prescriptions filled, Clonazepan 30 pills at .05 migrams.  Saturday comes and we are getting ready to go see Anthony, and he tells me that he accidentally took both of his medicines in the morning. I though well that’s probably O.K. I was a little concerned but he said I’m a big guy and it’s only .05 milligrams. Well, he just wasn’t acting right. I have a driving phobia.  I get scared easy in traffic, but I have always felt safe with Doug.  I didn’t feel safe that day, but I thought maybe it was just me and I was over reacting.  I didn’t want to scare the kids, but I didn’t think Doug was acting right. He tried to convince me that he was just fine, what was my problem? He was in a good mood and feeling great. I prayed constantly to get home safely.  I should have know then he had taken more of the pills than he should have. My ex-husband is an alcoholic and I know when someone is O.K. or not and I didn’t have an O.K. feeling.  But Doug and I communicate, he would not put me or the kids in danger, so I talked myself out of it. Next morning, Sunday, we go to Church, he’s still acting goofy but not so bad, Sunday night pretty much back to normal.  Big sigh of relief, everything is going to be O.K.  Monday morning Doug gets up early, and not acting right again.  What is going on? He takes the kids to school, comes home and lays down on the couch and goes to sleep immediately. Panic sets in , I count the pills. When I see how many pills, he had taken, I cannot even describe my feelings, I kept saying You have got to be kidding me, this can’t be right. I just became madder, madder and madder. What was he thinking? Don’t I and the kids matter? I can’t believe this? I cleaned and cleaned downstairs, I checked on him regularly knew he was alive and that it had to wear off and I had to get myself under control.

I was angry, I was hurt, I felt betrayed, I was confused, I was relieved, I prayed, I was mad, all of the emotions over and over until I finally decided to wake him up. Of course, it wasn’t gentle and he wasn’t all together there, but he did understand that I was upset.  We got on the same page pretty quick and came to an understanding of course on my page. I now realize that not only do we need to be on the same page, but in the same book. 

But there is another side to all of this and I bear some of the responsibility. Doug is a drug addict. He is used to experimenting with drugs to get different highs.  I thought that that was in the past. It never dawned on me that he would experiment with psychiatric drugs. One of his bragging points is that he can use and people can’t tell. He’s been busted on that I can tell. In his mind, he was doing great.

He kept telling me, I have this underlying depression, the psychiatrist doesn’t understand, help, help, help. I kept saying when we go I’ll help explain, just hang in there. I have more important issues. So, he took matters into his own hands, maybe a little more of this and I’ll get the right combination to get rid of that underlying depression, maybe a little more of this and I’ll at least get a high, maybe a little more of this and I can escape for awhile. Help me, help me, help me.  Nobody understands, nobody is listening, I am all alone.

It was a wake up call for both of us. Doug went to the Dr. for his back. The Dr. commended him for his decision not to take pain medicine because he knows that he is in constant chronic pain. His options are another very invasive surgery fusing his disks together, live with the pain, drug therapy with a family Dr. Well, we all know that #3 is not an option for us, so we are stuck with #2.

A young boy of only 19 died last week. I don’t know how but I know that depression played a big part. His death left a lot of unanswered questions. Why, being the biggest one. We have to listen constantly, people that are depressed do give hints, we just have to listen, it’s hard to get our attention and keep it.  They don’t keep at it, they may only give one hint. Doug’s were I have this underlying depression, I’m a big person I can take a big dose, I just want to feel normal.  We have to listen and stay with them until they get help or feel better and keep coming back and checking.  Doug did the video for that funeral.  It could have been him, he felt the sorrow, the pain, the loneliness, for someone he didn’t even know. He knew how he felt.

God has a plan for all of us.  He will not give us more than we can bear.  He loves us, it’s all in his time not ours. Please continue to pray for us. I am stubborn and determined to help Doug through this. My number one concern is depression, no other problem is as important. My eyes are wide open now and so are my ears and heart. God is with us and hopefully we will be able to help others while on our journey and no one else will lose their lives, and leave others questioning why.

Praise God,

Noreen

Dusty is going to speak about bravery on Sunday. I can’t wait. I know so many brave people.  Let me give you a list of my brave Hero’s.

Doug is one of the bravest people I know.  He doesn’t feel that way, especially today. He has faced his fears this last year and is continuing on his journey. It’s hard to face your fears privately let alone share them with others, but facing our fears is what makes us stronger. Where does he think Anthony get’s his courage?

Amanda and Greg Sanders are the bravest couple I know. They face their fears head on and take us on a journey with God that makes us all stronger. The problems that they have faced with their children and what Amanda is currently going through shows us a strength that we strive to have.

Anthony has shown a great quite strength and courage, that we forget that children have.  He has been in great pain and never whimpered.  All he quietly says is my arm hurts, can you get the nurse?  No drama, just fact. He has been a great inspiration to us, and deepened our faith in God.

Anthony’s roommate who has been there as long as he has and not had any visitors except the nurses. He has been there alone with his pain without the comforting words of someone who cares about him.  We don’t know his circumstances but we do know that God loves him and is taking care of him.

A.J. McCorkle is one of my Hero’s. A man of great faith who has handicaps but still can teach us and lead us to be better people.

Della Ely is another one of my Hero’s. My list could go on and on and on. Roxy Thomas, these ladies keep on giving and giving tirelessly.  They continue on, even when they want to quit, they encourage us on and show us that God is in charge.  Keep going, we still have work to do.

All of our missionary’s all over the world. Kenya, Russia, Cuba, the Dominican, Africa, Mexico, etc.  The problems these people face everyday is the definition of bravery. God is a warrior, a protector, and all powerful.  Praise God!

Sometimes I feel like I can’t face any more problems. I start thinking about all of my problems and feeling sorry for myself. Are they ever going to get resolved? How many more? What else is going to happen? All I have to do to get me out of myself is to look at others. I can always find someone, usually several someones that have a lot bigger problems than me. Then when I start to pray for them my problems seem very minimal.  When I start to look at their bravery and strength, it gives me courage. I thank God for all of my hero’s. I hope that I can be as brave and strong as them someday.

All my love,

Noreen

I love our church family. People miss out on so much if they don’t have a church family.  We usually listen to Mack Lyons on Search before we go to church.  He was talking about people that believe in God and Jesus but don’t feel like they need to go to church.  They can worship in there own way on their own, and they can. That sometimes people quit churches because they feel that that church doesn’t meet their needs. Somewhere along the way we made church about us instead of about worshipping the Lord, it’s not about us, it’s about glorifying the Lord.  Jason Turner, our youth minister who stood in for Dusty Sunday, hit on some of the same things. He spoke of a person that had been a Catholic most of his life, decided that his time could be better spent on Sunday mornings by going running.  Sometimes it’s very beneficial to spend one on one time with the Lord.  I need my church family.

I love my biological family.  I come from a large family and most of them live in Colorado and I miss them very much. I would love to have two pews filled up with my brothers and sisters and mom and dad. I would love to have one pew filled up with our seven kids, so far it has never happened. As much as I miss them, our Church family is so great that it takes all of the pews to fit them in there and I really miss them when a pew is empty because a family isn’t there.

We didn’t make it to Bible classes this past Sunday, but came in for church. Guess what! The Huett family had taken over our pew, the whole thing, it was nice to see that their family could fill the pew though. We had to find another place to sit. What to do, what to do. We thought about stealing the Rush pew, because only Mr. Duvall was sitting there, but we didn’t want to get Dusty’s morning off on the wrong foot by displacing them.  Then we found out that Dusty and his family were ill, and then we wished that we had sat with Mr. Duvall.  It’s lonely when people have family sitting around them and you are by yourself.  But we sat a few rows back with another family.  Rebecca , our niece found us. You can’t hide from her, she had made it back safely from Florida where she had been with the college group.  It was great to see her.  We love her very much.

Sometimes after church, people like to escape quickly and not talk to anybody.  You really can’t do that at our Church you will get stopped.  They love you and want to know how you are doing.  I stopped to see a new born baby and her mother.  I hadn’t seen Stacy McRoberts since she had her baby. But before I could get to her, Bea and Valdy Eichmann stopped me to visit. Bea has been my mentor and a beautiful caring sister for a long time and if just a hug from her on Sunday, I can make it thought the week.  I visited with Stacy and other members for a few minutes, and then I seen my Amanda Sanders that I just had to say hello to. I saw Steve Floyd and just waved. Steve and Nina are the the greatest, just a wave and a smile from them gets me through the week. I know that they love us deeply and feel it with just their smile.

O.K. I knew that Doug and the boys were waiting on me and I was really trying to get to them.  But my sweet, sweet Roxi stopped me and it would be rude and unthinkable to blow here off.  So we talked about her health and maybe teaching for awhile and I was truly blessed by the short visit.  Barbara Thornberry was able to attend Church this weekend.  It was the first time she had the chance to come since her accident. She was surrounded so I just got to see her and wave. We will visit more later.

There were many more of my family that I didn’t visit with but I love and feel good just knowing that they were there.  I honestly feel close to everyone at UCC and know that anyone of them would come at a drop of the hat to our aid if we needed them.  I know that all of those people keep us in there thoughts and prayers just as we do them.  What a blessing from God.  That’s why it’s important to go to church, being a part of and belonging to this family is indescribable.  The love that I feel when I walk into the church building is God’s love. His spirit and love flow through the building.  We are truly blessed.

Dusty gave a sermon this past Sunday about surrendering all of ourselves to God. It’s been my breath prayer this week, to surrender everything to him and let him take control. For His will to be done and not mine. I really think that I have been pretty good at this.  Living with Doug, I know that nothing is in my control, not health, not mental stability, not job security, not anything.  God has taken all of this out of our control. It’s all in his hands, it’s His will not mine, not Doug’s. I’m really O.K. with it. God loves us.  He’s all powerful and all knowing. I never have had control and never will have control.  It’s a relief. 

We will live with the pain.  God will not give us more than we can bare, although with the weather changes and the cold have intensified the pain recently.  Doug has coped well. Epsom salt and ibuprofen have helped, along with taking it easy. Drug addiction is a little harder but with medication and counseling, lots of listening and understanding, love and giving it to God, that has been manageable also.  We have made great strides in that area in just a short time.  God is good.  Praise the Lord. Workman’s comp. can not drag on forever although 2 1/2 years seems like it.  I know that God is going to solve this also. Still in the tunnel but I can see the light at the end.  Doug Is going to work again, be successful and happy with whatever he decides to do.   I surrender all of this to God, His will be done.  He is a just and righteous God that loves us.

My children are all adults with their own set of problems.  I pray for them constantly. I surrender them to God, not my will but his. My daughter is having some anxiety problems and panic attacks.  God will take care of her , strengthen her as she journey’s with him. He has dreams and plans for her that I don’t know, but I trust in Him completely. His will will be done. My son is in real estate.  He works in Fayetteville and the business that he works for is not doing very well. He has always been financially blessed so this may be a set back for him.  God may take him on a journey that he doesn’t understand, but maybe it will bring him closer to Him.  God’s will will be done.  My youngest son is starting a family.  What a blessing! Praise God! Is he ready for the responsibility, will he raise her up in God’s ways?  God knows, He has plans for all of the children. I surrender them to Him .He is in control.

Katie is a young struggling adult. She has made some mistakes but I know that God has a plan for her and loves her.  Her path seems a little crooked right now, but God knows where he is taking her and will watch over her. His will will be done.  Brittany, Anthony, and Jamie are young teenagers just experiencing life.  We want to protect them and keep them innocent but know that life happens.  We will strive to be the best parents that we can and lead them down God’s path. God’s will will be done.

In the past year God has shown us that we don’t have control of anything.  He has taken everything out of our control.  The more we try to fix things, the more we mess it up. Our lives are in His hands. We surrender all to Him. He is in control.  We trust Him.

Praise God,

Noreen