One door closes and another one opens

Yesterday was our very last night meeting as the Simpson/Smith group. It's sad to see our group splitting up, but so exciting for what the future holds. Looking back at the last few months we have learned and experienced so much. It is truly amazing how much how group has grown (in size and spiritually) in the last couple months. I can not wait to see what God does with our new group! Even still the last Simpson/Smith home group ended with a bang! Everyone seemed to have a great time and many shared stories.

A God thing!

Here is more of an update on Adam. They have arranged the bake sale to be on Oct 11 at this time. If you would like to make something let me know. Please continue to keep Adam in your prayers and he is in recovery. Please also keep his family in your prayers. The doctors weren't expecting Adam to make it, but the family never lost their faith that God can do anything. God won!



"I just spoke with Denise, Adams mom, Adam still isn't able to speak but, EVERY TIME the nurse told him to squeeze her hand if he could here her or understand, HE DID!!! On Monday Adam went to the hospital for a check up and a meeting with the liver team to see if he could have the transplant. But, he was severely swollen and the admitted him.Adam wasn't able to speak to us or do anything. His kidneys were shutting down and his liver was failing even more than before.He basically only had days to live! On Tuesday, Adam was completely non responsive to us, he couldn't even really look at us. He just had "blank stares". Still not sure about the transplant Adams vital signs continued to stay strong.On Wednesday, Adam was put at the VERY TOP of the transplant list. They also found the diagnosis of Wilson's Disease. Something that not many people know about. It's a genetic disease that means you have too much copper in your system.On Thursday, at about 12 noon, they FOUND A LIVER!!! Adam got prepped for the surgery and they began to tell all of us the risks that could go with it and we all stayed hope full.On Friday, he had made it through the surgery and slept the whole day.Today, he's awake, ALIVE, and MUCH BETTER!!!! Thank you all so much for your support!!! This is truly a miracle in it's elf! When Adam comes home in a few weeks, he's going to continue to need your support!!! We're still having the Bake Sale and Benefit for Adam!!!! The bake sale is going to be October 11."

Friday night!

Missy and Trish came down tonight and brought pizza and a movie! Scott, Julie and I really enjoyed having them over! We also got a chance to talk and catch up with them from the week. Yes, Missy and I do work together but we don't really get the chance to just hang out away from work. Julie absolutely adores Trish! She had so much fun with her today. Here is part of the conversation she had with her.

Julie-Do you work?

Trish-yes

Julie-Where?

Tish-Newtown

Julie-Why is it new?

Trish-It's not new

ME-Newtown is the name of the town she works in kinda like Blanchester, but it's called Newtown

Later I made a comment about how close Julie and Trish's hair color was. Trish said "Mine is fake" and Julie said "Lets take it off"

Thanks Trish and Missy for the pizza, movie, and laughs! We love you guys!

Another update on Adam

Another update from Christal about Adam. -

Hey everyone!!!Adam came through the transplant PERFECTLY!!! He's still opened up because the donor was a bigger person and the liver was too big for Adam's body. So, they've got it covered in a mesh type thing so it will shrink.In a few days he's going to have another surgery to sew him up.There's a lot more information that I'm going to post on here but right now, I'm extremely tired!!! I"m sorry. If you'd like to know sooner feel free to contact me or Denise.She's so much better now that we know he's going to be fine!!Again, thank you all for the support!!!Don't forget the Bake Sale!!! We need all the donations that we can get!!!-Christal

Update on Adam

A couple of weeks ago I asked that everyone pray for a young teenage boy who needs a liver transplant. This is the most recent update I have. The family is trying to put a bake sale together to raise money. If anyone is interested let me know and I give you Cristal's number or I can talk to her for you. I didn't want to post it on here. You can also make/send a card, letter, or something of encouragement to Adam and his family.


"I'm so sorry that I haven't been on here to update you all. I've been so busy keeping up with Adam and school work.So, I have good news and bad news...Adam is now back in the MICU at University Hospital. He's in Kidney and Liver Failure. His clotting factor is up to 14 and it's supposed to be like 0.1. He needs a FULL LIVER TRANSPLANT!!! The doctors are hoping that after he has the liver transplant that his Kidneys will regenerate themselves.They've put frozen plasma into him and gave him like a mini blood transfusion so that they could change his pic line and do some other small procedures. With his clotting factor so high they're afraid to really do anything with him because he can BLEED TO DEATH.He's at the VERY TOP of the TRANSPLANT LIST!!! We're limiting his visitors because when you go back to see him he wants to talk back to you and he can't so he gets really upset.PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS PERSONALLY!!! It's only because we need him to stay calm!!! Seeing all of his friends and family makes him upset when he can't respond to you. He doesn't really open his eyes.He's very heavily sedated. He's in an incubator to keep everything sterile so that he can get the transplant.THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS BEEN PRAYING !!! You're all amazing!!! The benefit for Adam will be moved up so that Denise will have the money for his transplant and hospital bills.I'm also looking into having a Bake Sale for her so that they can stay caught up on their household bills.If you would like to participate or make something for this it would be greatly appreciated!!!"

Happy Working Robin!

My baby sister started her very first job today. I came home from work and she wasn't here, so I made an excuse that I didn't have the new menu and ran over to check on her. Then after dinner we made another excuse to check on her by getting ice cream. OK so I know she is 16 and no longer a little girl, but she is still my baby sister. She walked in the door with a big smile on her face. Here is what a working girl looks like! I love you Robby!!!

Where has the past 6 years gone

It is hard to believe quick the last 6 years have flown. My baby is now 6 years old. It seems like yesterday I was bringing her home and introducing her to her room for the first time. Its more unreal how much I have learned from being a mother. Julieann was my miracle baby, and as I said before my biggest turning point, my greatest gift from God.
She has a heart of gold. She loves to smile and goof off with her daddy. She loves babies and much like me would love to have ten brothers and sisters. But she also has her tough side and is very much a tomboy. She would rather be playing in the mud then playing with baby dolls, have a burping contest instead of a beauty contest.
Here are some pictures of Julie from the past 6 years! Happy Birthday Julie! We love you!!!

What a weekend!

Friday night we had a birthday party for the kids. What a great turnout. We ran out of food twice!!! I was so concerned that I made to much and then we run out of food and had to run out to get pizza then we ran out of pizza! The kids had such a great time. Thank you to all of you!!

Today was Julieann's 6Th birthday. I am incredibly blessed to have her. Julie was probably the biggest turning point in my life. She is my gift from God. I love that little girl so much! I will have a special post for her tomorrow.

Julie and Robin's school had their annual fall fest today. The fall fest has tons of games and activities for the kids, a silent auction, hayrides, dunking booth and so much more. I came home with more than I intended lol. Julie gave us quite a scare today. She had been wanting to go on the hayride all afternoon, well we told her she could go but she would have to go with Robin or Bubby. She went over to the games (right beside us) and the next thing we know she is gone. We first thought she was with Austin or Robin. So I went to go find Austin, she wasn't with him, so I went to go find Robin, she wasn't with her. I started to panic just a little, but wasn't to worried because she really wasn't the kind to run off. I thought maybe she just went to the bathroom. At this point I had forgotten about the hayride. I ran through the entire school looking all over for her, then Scott told me about the hayride so we ran over there. We seen the hayride coming back and I let out a sigh of relieve when we seen a little girl in a pink shirt on the trailer. As they got closer I started to panic, my little girl wasn't on the ride. I completely lost it. How could I have lost my baby on her birthday. So many scary things were going through my mind. Scott tried hard to calm me down. Around this time a lot of people had started looking for Julie. One of Julie's classmates parents ran over to the driver of the hayride and asked if there was more than one going on, there was. The driver called over to the other driver and asked if Julie was on it. Thank God she was. The hayride lasted about 30 to 40 minutes but to me it felt like eternity until they came back. I ran right over to Julie and hugged her, cried, yelled, hugged, cried. Julie was so confused. She said "Mommy calm down, I am OK." Julie had asked one of Robin's friends to take her on the hayride. The poor girl felt so bad, Julie had told her she was allowed to go on the ride as long as someone was with her. I hope to God that I never experience anything like this ever again. I was so relieved to have my baby girl back.

Julie and Austin's birthday party

I completely forgot to tell every one about Julie and Austin's birthday party on Friday. I didn't hand out invitations this year.

It will be at CP this Friday at 6pm.

The best

We had a great time at CP yesterday! Bonnie had a chance to meet our Church family. After Church we came home, unloaded the car, sat down on the couch, turned the TV on and them out went the electric.

At this point the memorial service had not been cancelled, so we decided to go a head and get ready and leave a little early. As we were fighting the wind to get there, we got a call letting us know the service was postponed until today. So we drove back to the house. We lit every candle we owned and played some games with the kiddos. By the time we were done with the games, we were all pretty hungry. We had nothing that didn't have to be cooked to eat but crackers. So we decided to venture up town. Wouldn't you know that as soon as we arrived at the first three restaurants they were closing. We finally went to Gold Star, being the only restaurant open they were out of everything almost. They did have hamburgers and chicken, which is very good by the way.

We came home and Scott got out his guitar. Scott, Bonnie, the kids and I sat around singing. Our neighbors probably think we are crazy with out way out of tune voices. But we had a blast. Then we shared some stories with each other. It ended up being a great family night. And for the first time ever I was glad the electric was not on! Now I am getting a little impatient. It has almost been 24 hours. The weirdest part of it is that half the town has electric.

Hope the rest of you had fun with your electricity experience last night.

The card!

I received a card in the mail this week from Susan. Wow it couldn't have come at a better time. I have been so "thrown" into my work and personal things going on in my life that I haven't been looking at the important things. I failed at that point of handing it over to God. I was hanging onto to much worry and I shouldn't have been. I was disappointed in myself that I didn't put my trust in God, which is what I should have done all along. I struggled with praying for myself and reading HIS word and this discouraged me even more.

Susan sent me a card and this is the verse she wrote in it

"From the end of the Earth, I will cry to you, When my heart is overwhelmed Lead me to the rock that is higher than I"
PS 61:2

She wrote much more that truly touched my heart. But what really hit home for me was something she enclosed in the card that had deep meaning to her. I honestly don't know Susan that well and for her to give me something that obviously means something to her tore me up. When I first got the card, I read it and started to cry. Then I felt guilty because I felt like I haven't tried to get to know Susan better. When I read the card again today, I realized that this is the start of a new beautiful friendship that God had planned.

Susan, thank you so much for taking the time to reach out to me when I was so down. Thank you for praying for me and my family, thank you for showing me just what I needed to see and most of all thank you for having the faith that I didn't have.

A little bit of an update

This week defiantly started out rough, but I am feeling much better. I actually went to sleep last night at 8:30, yes that is correct! And I slept through the entire time for the first time in weeks! When I got into work today, my big boss sent me an email telling me to come see him. Low and behold it was good news! He told me that I was doing a good job and that I would be getting a raise and would be moved up to a CCA 2. But what really encouraged me this week was a card I received in the mail. I will post more about that soon. Thank you all for praying for me and my family.

Betty Curtis

Scott's Aunt Betty Curtis passed away this evening around 6:00pm. We know that she is in a much better place and no longer in pain. The family is taking it really hard, please keep them all in your prayers.

Here are some memories I have of Betty.

-She was a women with a love for God like no other.

-She loved children and insisted on all children to call her grandma even my kids.

-She loved having parties in her beautiful back yard.

-She had a heart of gold, her love for others shines through.

-Betty just celebrated her 50Th anniversary with the love of her life Jodi last January.

-Betty was the first person other than my mother-n-law, Bonnie to welcome me into the family

I could go on forever, she was just an amazing women and I am blessed that I was a part of her life even if it was for such a short time.

Not feeling any better

Thank you for the prayers, through comments, emails and I even had a few come up to me at Church. It means a lot to be surronded by ones that love/care for me.

I got extra sleep last night and even took a nap this afternoon, but I am still feeling quite exhausted. I feel over worked, used, powerless, un appreciated by my family and work. I don't know how to make this feeling go away. I am in much need of getting away, but that is completely out of the question for any time soon. I am getting way off focus and pretty discouraged with Scott being off work. The bills are getting so overwhelming and this month is both the kids birthday party.

This past week, I have been struggling with reading my Bible and praying. I can pray for other people and the things that they are going through, but am having a hard time praying for myself. Any thoughts or ideas on that one?

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I have been mentally and physically exhausted. I really felt it tonight when we were at the Volunteer dinner. I am drained to the point that there are days that I just don't want to get out of bed, but I know that I have to so I do it. This month has been so extremely hard on me, with Scott out of work for awhile. I know that as long as I put my faith and trust into the Lord everything will work out the way it is meant to.

The Brock & Morgan family did an outstanding job on the Volunteer dinner! It felt weird to be served by them when both their families do SO much for CP and the CP families. We love you guys for all that you do!

Our little girl isn't all that girly

I was helping Julie with homework the other night and she started to get frustrated. She folded her hands and bowed her head and said a pray to God. It was the coolest thing to see a 5 year old do. I am so proud of Julie's heart for God. She puts so much trust and faith in Him!

However, Julie has turned into quite the tomboy. She just seems to bond with the boys better. There really isn't any girls her age at Church, but even still at school she would rather hang with the boys than the girls. Scott and I have been struggling with some of her "boy" habits such as spitting and burping the alphabet. Recently Paul Peterson wrote a blog on parenting so Scott and I sent him an email. He had many words of wisdom, but I really liked that he said Scott should "date" Julie. Paul talks about his "dates" with his daughter a lot and they sound like so much fun! Julie loves getting her daddy time too. Sometimes I think she acts like that just for daddy. Scott will be starting his "dates" this weekend.

This is how desperate I am for free gas!

You can only use it once...

FREE Gas Coupon from Shell Oil

Happy Birthday Austin

I am officially a mom to a teenager! That is just plain scary!!! Austin is 13 today. Here is a trip down memory lane or at least the last five years! I love you BUB!

New hours are not so good!!!

Our on call hours have now changed. Instead of being on call at 5:30pm, I don't start on call until 10pm. So far I HATE IT!!! I have had four hours of sleep and it is not looking good tonight either. I stayed up till 6am this morning and had to get back up at 10am to get to the office. I haven't been able to lay back down because of helping Julie with her homework and getting her school stuff together tomorrow and I still have 2 more techs that will be on site after 10pm. I am so tired and trying to stay awake is getting harder. I have to give my husband some well deserved credit. In effort to let me sleep some last night, my awesome husband stayed up till 4am watching the emails and calls, if something came in or some one called then he would wake me up. Needless to say the phone rang a million times so I didn't get much sleep in between but it was awesome that Scott was willing to do that for me. I am hoping the middle of the night for the weekends is much better!


Here is the update I received on Adam.


"I saw Adam again today.He's doing MUCH better than he was doing yesterday!!!! His levels are all going down, which is a really good thing. His stomach is still a little upset.Who's wouldn't after eating hospital food? =)They're transferring him to University Hospital ICU.Don't let that scare you, he's still doing FINE!!!! They have a special liver unit. They want to put Adam on this thing that will make his liver regenerate itself.If on the whim that it doesn't, Adam is going to be put on a transplant list.Everyone in our family is getting their blood checked so that we can give him a part of our liver.Adam IS going to be fine as long as everyone stays strong for him and prays for the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "

The family is greatful for all the prayers. They are staying positive and determined not to give up hope. I will keep you updated.

Adam

I received an email from a friend of Robin's last night. Crystal's twin brother Adam's liver is failing. Here is a part of the email

"his liver is 80% failing....he's extremely yellow and they're moving him tomorrow. pleas pray that he gets on the transplant list or that his liver starts working again."

Adam is barely 18 years old. Please keep Adam and his family/friends in your thoughts and prayers.

My Testimony

I don't think I have ever told my full testimony so I thought I would take the time to do that.

My parents divorced when I was three years old. My sisters and I were raised by our father and for many years didn't see or hear from our mom. I have mentioned this before but it plays an important roll in the things that happen later in my life.

My dad took us to Church (Northeastern Church of Christ) twice on Sunday and when we could make it on Wednesdays. My grandma read us the Bible and we would have Bible lessons with her every night. I don't remember the age that we stopped reading out of the Bible or stopped going to Church. I know I was a teenager.


My oldest sister Lorna pretty much became our mom as early as I can remember. She helped us with homework, troubles at school, dinners, and many other things. I never really gave her much credit for that and until recently never realized how much she sacrificed for us. My dad worked two jobs until I was a junior in high school. At one point he worked three and sometime in between the two jobs he found a way to go to College. That was the first moment in my life that I knew it was never to late to accomplish your goals/dreams.




When I hit my teenage years I became awful for my dad. I hung out with the wrong crowd treated my family incredibly bad. I begin to doubt that GOD was real. I hated the person I was and that my mom wasn't around. I turned to the wrong friends and the wrong things to make me feel better. Years went by my mom came back into our lives, but I only got worse. I did graduate high school (barely). The summer I graduated I got a new job. I met a women that completely changed my life, though I didn't know it at that time. She had a passion for God like no one I had ever seen before. That is when I began my search. I wanted what she had. I wanted to know that I can just turn my problems over to someone and know they would be taken care of. I went to her to question how she even knew God was real and what she could do to prove it me. Shannon tried so hard, but the devil was working me and he was winning. I then went to my grandma and she helped me understand a little bit better.

It wasn't until I got pregnant with my daughter that my life really began to change. I was at the lowest point of my life. I was completely broken. I was 21 years old, living back at my dad's house, pregnant by a married man and alone. I was completely scared and didn't know what to do. My life kept going and my belly was growing. I remember going into the doctors office for a check up and the doctor told me the baby's heart wasn't beating, that I miscarried. I was devastated. He sent me to the hospital a good 45 minute drive and told me to drink two bottles of water. I was hysterical. I prayed to God and begged him to forgive me. I prayed the entire time driving to the hospital and when I was in there. When the girl did my Ultra sound she found the baby. She was fine, and healthy. I cried out in such relief and thanked God for not taking my unborn baby. That was the moment that I knew my life had to change. After I gave birth to my daughterI went to my dad and asked him to take me to Church and he did. Several months later I met my now husband, Scott. Scott went to Dove (a non denominational Church). When we became serious we tried each others Churches and we chose to go to Dove. I was not for this decision at first. I went to a non instrumental Church of Christ and the congregation at Dove would raise their hands and dance. I was shocked at first. People really have that much fun at Church? I got use to the raising of hands and dancing. Scott introduced me to Dave and Robyn. Dave was like a father to Scott. It wasn't long before I looked up and admired Dave as well. This was the third person that I have came accost that I wanted the relationship they had with Jesus. 1. My Grandma 2. Shannon 3 Dave and Robin





Scott was the one who had the most impact in my life. He was the one who helped me build a relationship with our God. Scott was raised in a Christian home as well but he also lost his way (that is his story). Together we turned that around. Before I met Scott, I would go to Church and pray to God, but I didn't have a relationship with God. Scott taught me how to pray and praise God at home. He taught me how to put God first in our everyday life not just on Sunday's. I grew to love Dove and became attached to Dave and Robin. The days went to months and the months to years. I had grown a lot, but still felt something was missing. I still couldn't forgive myself for the biggest sin I committed adultery. I went to Dave and asked him to baptise me. I admitted to the sins that I had committed and that I was ready to fully life my life for Jesus. I was ready to forgive and be forgiven. I don't know how it is for every body else, but the day I was baptised was one of the most incredible days of my life. My dad and Dave baptised me. I didn't tell anyone about my baptism other than my dad, Scott and the kids. Dave and Robin had a surprise "birthday" party for me. They invited the whole home group, and had a birthday cake for me. I was baptised in Dave's back yard in his pond. The moment that I came up from the water, this incredible, indescribable feeling washed over me. It was the moment that my whole life would change. I felt like this was my new beginning, my new start in life. I was forgiven for every last mean and awful thing I have ever done. I was forgiven for what I believed was the unforgivable.





My life has turned completely around from ten years ago. I barely graduated from high school, and after I had Julie I went back to college and got a degree in Social work and Chemical Dependency. I was on the Deans list every quarter. I went from hanging out on the streets and working at Pizza Hut to a career. I went from denying God, to worshiping God. I went from being a broken single mother to a blessed wife and mother of two. I healed my relationship with my dad and my grandma. I realized that life is way to short to party it away and regret the decisions you have chosen.



Even after the baptism, I still felt like there was something missing. I wasn't growing the way I needed to be. Scott and I began to search other Churches also for many different reasons. Sarah had invited us to her Church, Center Pointe. Scott and I went. Ray preached on Emptiness. He spoke right to me. That message will stand out to me for the rest of my life. That message made me open my eyes and just hand everything that I was going to over to God. I was so touched by his message and the way he delivered it. I had already knew that Center Pointe was our new home, but Scott and I prayed on it. God told us we need to be there. So much has changed from six months ago. Scott and I are now leading a small group with Sarah and Danny. We are more involved in the Church than either of us have ever been. I read my bible twice a day, once in the morning when I first get up and at night before I go to bed. I pray more now that I ever have. I try to think before I act or react to something, how would God want me to handle this? There is so many more ways that I have changed. Most importantly I am happy. I enjoy being a Church and praising God, and at home, as well as our small group. Our family has become closer and more accepting. I am still growing more and more every day. The people at Center Pointe have helped me tremendously. I have become a much better person and am thankful to Ray and Melissa, Dave and Robin, my amazing husband, Shannon, my grandparents, and anyone that has made an impact in my life