I couldn't have said it better myself! Let's keep praying that Rachel's body accepts this new heart and she recovers quickly!
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
A note from Rachel's mother......
I couldn't have said it better myself! Let's keep praying that Rachel's body accepts this new heart and she recovers quickly!
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Thank God for Answered Prayers!
Tonight, we send out our prayers to the family of Rachel's heart donor. Prayers for strength, and also prayers of thankfulness for their generosity.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Prayers coming from where?
Please leave a comment below, or on my Facebook page -- I will be sure she gets them!
Thanks!
Continued prayers for her!
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Prayers for Rachel
People come into our lives in a variety of ways -- we meet them in elementary school, move in next door to them, work with them, go to church with them, our kids go to school with their kids.....the list goes on and on......
And sometimes you don't ever meet people....you just "know" them. The young woman I am about to write about is someone just like that. I am not sure if I have ever met her before or not. She just turned 21 and went to high school with some of my nieces.
When I was little, we sat behind her grandparents (and dad) in church. (I don't know if you do this, but we sat in the same pew every Sunday -- and so did they!).
My sister graduated with her dad.
My niece graduated with her.
I once watched her in a pageant. She is such a neat young lady.
When she was 10 years old, she received a heart transplant. Her heart wasn't doing the job any more. That is about the time she came into my world, and I knew who she was. We prayed for her. We prayed the very difficult prayer that she would receive a new chance at life. It's a difficult prayer because in order for her to receive a new chance at life, someone else has to end theirs. That's tough.
Today, I ask you to "meet" Rachel Doseck. She turned 21 on Sunday and is looking for a third chance at life. She recently contracted the flu, and it attacked her heart. Since then, her body has started rejecting her heart. Today, she sits in the Cleveland Clinic in the ICU awaiting a new heart. A new chance at life.
I ask you to come with me in prayer for her and her family. I also ask, if it is God's will, for her to receive a new heart -- but for prayers for the family who is generous with their gift to her. Please, even if you have never met her face to face, meet with her in prayer.
Her words: "I will be put on the list tomorrow for another heart transplant! So After tomorrow any day i could get another heart transplant! SO PLEASE PRAY FOR GOD'S HEALING! Everyone pray because I need it! But at least i lived a good life at the end of day thanks for memories and hopefully many more to come!!!!!!!!!!! ♥"
Wow! What a powerful message!
This has really caused me to think this week about organ donation, and the need for it. Please prayfully consider giving life to another should your life, or your children's, be cut short.
Here is a really nice article about her and her journey, along with another's perspective of organ donation: Wapak Daily News Heart Transplant article.
Lots of prayers heading to Cleveland this night!
And sometimes you don't ever meet people....you just "know" them. The young woman I am about to write about is someone just like that. I am not sure if I have ever met her before or not. She just turned 21 and went to high school with some of my nieces.
When I was little, we sat behind her grandparents (and dad) in church. (I don't know if you do this, but we sat in the same pew every Sunday -- and so did they!).
My sister graduated with her dad.
My niece graduated with her.
I once watched her in a pageant. She is such a neat young lady.
When she was 10 years old, she received a heart transplant. Her heart wasn't doing the job any more. That is about the time she came into my world, and I knew who she was. We prayed for her. We prayed the very difficult prayer that she would receive a new chance at life. It's a difficult prayer because in order for her to receive a new chance at life, someone else has to end theirs. That's tough.
I ask you to come with me in prayer for her and her family. I also ask, if it is God's will, for her to receive a new heart -- but for prayers for the family who is generous with their gift to her. Please, even if you have never met her face to face, meet with her in prayer.
Her words: "I will be put on the list tomorrow for another heart transplant! So After tomorrow any day i could get another heart transplant! SO PLEASE PRAY FOR GOD'S HEALING! Everyone pray because I need it! But at least i lived a good life at the end of day thanks for memories and hopefully many more to come!!!!!!!!!!! ♥"
Wow! What a powerful message!
Here is a really nice article about her and her journey, along with another's perspective of organ donation: Wapak Daily News Heart Transplant article.
Lots of prayers heading to Cleveland this night!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
New recipe -- Tortilla Soup!
I made this last week for the first time -- and man, was it good! The kids loved it! I loved that it was easy (I actually made it in the crockpot, which made it even easier)!!!!I skipped the lemon juice (only because we didn't have any) but other than that, I followed the recipe (times two).
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Ingredients
Directions
- In a large pot over medium heat, cook and stir chicken in the oil for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cumin and mix well. Then add the broth, corn, onion, chili powder, lemon juice, and salsa. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes.
- Break up some tortilla chips into individual bowls and pour soup over chips. Top with the Monterey Jack cheese and a little sour cream.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Mystery Trip 2013
I hope your Advent and Christmas was awesome! I'm sorry I've been off the grid for a bit - I took a lot of time over Christmas to spend time with our kids and family! I'm back at it and one of my new year's promises is to be more regular at posting. For the past year, I've had time on my days off to put a few posts together and time them out to post, but we've been so busy at work lately that I haven't had days off to do that! So sorry! A few of you have asked where I've been --- I'm right here! :)
Our Christmas was fantastic -- like I said, we spent lots of time with the kids and each other just being. I LOVED IT!!!!
This past weekend was our annual Mystery Trip. Friday after school, I told the kids they had 30 minutes to pack their suitcases and we were leaving for lands unknown!!! All they knew was they needed a swimming suit (truthfully we couldn't do a mystery trip without a hotel with a pool -- it might just be the most important part of the weekend!) They also needed a couple changes of clothes, jammies, and some warm clothes.
So off we went! We left the house by about 4:30 (pretty good considering!) -- to only a few moans of plans that had to be changed. I had arranged to get the girls off of work (with only one minor snafu when Becca unknowingly offered to work for someone Friday night since she was off! -- Crisis was averted -- thank goodness for small town stores who are very understanding!)
Technically, this mystery trip was a repeat -- of last year's. But they really loved it, so we wanted to do it again. We added one more night away -- hoping to squeeze in a movie on Friday night and switch it up a bit.....but we got distracted when my adorable, handsome little great nephew (he's 1 1/2) wanted to come swim in the pool with us). So we ate dinner and checked into the hotel. Made a quick switch into swimming suits (and a quick run to Meijer for the swimming suit that didn't quite make it into the luggage) for a fun night in the pool with my nephew, Greg, and his son. (Sorry, I forgot to take pictures!).
The next morning, we got up, raided the hotel's breakfast bar (free breakfast is a necessity for this family!) and got ready for the day's adventures. Got our winter coats and hats and boots on and headed out. Will chose the lunch place, which was Culver's ..... fun time. We drove about 45 minutes north of Fort Wayne to Pokagon State Park -- and saw this:
We spent several hours there riding on the toboggans. The track is a quarter mile or so long and is refrigerated, so you can toboggan on sunny days! :) Here's information in case you would be interested in trying it out yourself: http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/4699.htm It's a pretty reasonable trip, as you only rent the toboggan in two hour blocks -- and four people can fit on one toboggan!
We spent the balance of the weekend eating, playing, swimming, and we did eventually get to see a movie: Parental Guidance. Loved it! It was truly a movie the entire family could see. I still haven't seen Les Miserables, but hope to sneak it in this weekend.
As we sat at breakfast Sunday morning, watching the kids sit around the table and laugh and enjoy each other -- Jim and were discussing the ever-changing dynamics of our family. Here we are with another child ready to graduate from high school in May -- heading to parts unknown at this moment in time.....each time we do a mystery trip I wonder if it will be our last with the "entire" family.....I'm so tickled for our kids to grow up and cannot wait to see who and what they become.....but the mom side of me still likes all of us to be together in our own little world......(*insert Krybaby Kaiser tears here*)........
I guess I never thought of vacations or trips like this as team building, but truly it is -- we take our kids out of their normal environment of work and school and friends and parties and whatnot -- and put them in a bubble for a weekend or a week or whatever.....forced family fun.....but it brings us all closer together (especially when I'm cheap and don't get a big enough hotel room -- it sounded good on the phone though!)......I will never forget the laughter I heard this weekend.....and the good times shared by all.
Hug your kids -- and plan some family fun time for this weekend!
Our Christmas was fantastic -- like I said, we spent lots of time with the kids and each other just being. I LOVED IT!!!!
This past weekend was our annual Mystery Trip. Friday after school, I told the kids they had 30 minutes to pack their suitcases and we were leaving for lands unknown!!! All they knew was they needed a swimming suit (truthfully we couldn't do a mystery trip without a hotel with a pool -- it might just be the most important part of the weekend!) They also needed a couple changes of clothes, jammies, and some warm clothes.
So off we went! We left the house by about 4:30 (pretty good considering!) -- to only a few moans of plans that had to be changed. I had arranged to get the girls off of work (with only one minor snafu when Becca unknowingly offered to work for someone Friday night since she was off! -- Crisis was averted -- thank goodness for small town stores who are very understanding!)
Technically, this mystery trip was a repeat -- of last year's. But they really loved it, so we wanted to do it again. We added one more night away -- hoping to squeeze in a movie on Friday night and switch it up a bit.....but we got distracted when my adorable, handsome little great nephew (he's 1 1/2) wanted to come swim in the pool with us). So we ate dinner and checked into the hotel. Made a quick switch into swimming suits (and a quick run to Meijer for the swimming suit that didn't quite make it into the luggage) for a fun night in the pool with my nephew, Greg, and his son. (Sorry, I forgot to take pictures!).
The next morning, we got up, raided the hotel's breakfast bar (free breakfast is a necessity for this family!) and got ready for the day's adventures. Got our winter coats and hats and boots on and headed out. Will chose the lunch place, which was Culver's ..... fun time. We drove about 45 minutes north of Fort Wayne to Pokagon State Park -- and saw this:
If you look through the trees -- at the very end, you see the "top" of the hill -- that's where you start. I'm standing on a bridge almost at the end.
If you want the experience, here are a couple of videos I shot:
We spent several hours there riding on the toboggans. The track is a quarter mile or so long and is refrigerated, so you can toboggan on sunny days! :) Here's information in case you would be interested in trying it out yourself: http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/4699.htm It's a pretty reasonable trip, as you only rent the toboggan in two hour blocks -- and four people can fit on one toboggan!
We spent the balance of the weekend eating, playing, swimming, and we did eventually get to see a movie: Parental Guidance. Loved it! It was truly a movie the entire family could see. I still haven't seen Les Miserables, but hope to sneak it in this weekend.
As we sat at breakfast Sunday morning, watching the kids sit around the table and laugh and enjoy each other -- Jim and were discussing the ever-changing dynamics of our family. Here we are with another child ready to graduate from high school in May -- heading to parts unknown at this moment in time.....each time we do a mystery trip I wonder if it will be our last with the "entire" family.....I'm so tickled for our kids to grow up and cannot wait to see who and what they become.....but the mom side of me still likes all of us to be together in our own little world......(*insert Krybaby Kaiser tears here*)........
I guess I never thought of vacations or trips like this as team building, but truly it is -- we take our kids out of their normal environment of work and school and friends and parties and whatnot -- and put them in a bubble for a weekend or a week or whatever.....forced family fun.....but it brings us all closer together (especially when I'm cheap and don't get a big enough hotel room -- it sounded good on the phone though!)......I will never forget the laughter I heard this weekend.....and the good times shared by all.
Hug your kids -- and plan some family fun time for this weekend!
Monday, November 26, 2012
Christmas thoughts....
Thinking (for obvious reasons) a lot about Christmas lately -- I know I said it last year, but I'm going to say it again this year -- we work really hard to make Christmas about the "reason" and not the "stuff". No one in our house lacks for anything (although they might beg to differ with you) -- if they need something, they get it (and oftentimes more than they need). So, we try to focus on why we celebrate Christmas.
I shared with you last year what we were doing with our lists, and I want to share again -- lots of people have asked me recently what that was again, so I feel it's worth bringing out again! When our kids make their lists, we ask them to group them in these four ways:
Something you want
Something you need
Something to wear
---and---
Something to read.
Simple. They can make lists within the lists, but those are the four categories (of course Abby's list includes a Kindle under 3 of those categories, thinking that might help her cause!).
For a long time, we tried to stick with three gifts (an unwritten rule, just in case!). It was hard sometimes when the kids were real little, because many of their gifts weren't valued at much. We do not really try to spend the exact same on each kid (I would go insane) -- but I do try to make sure that if someone has an extraordinary Christmas one year that they do not the next year.
What are your traditions? I love this time of year -- everyone is so excited!!!
Finally, I found this the other day and think it's perfect:
I shared with you last year what we were doing with our lists, and I want to share again -- lots of people have asked me recently what that was again, so I feel it's worth bringing out again! When our kids make their lists, we ask them to group them in these four ways:
Something you want
Something you need
Something to wear
---and---
Something to read.
Simple. They can make lists within the lists, but those are the four categories (of course Abby's list includes a Kindle under 3 of those categories, thinking that might help her cause!).
For a long time, we tried to stick with three gifts (an unwritten rule, just in case!). It was hard sometimes when the kids were real little, because many of their gifts weren't valued at much. We do not really try to spend the exact same on each kid (I would go insane) -- but I do try to make sure that if someone has an extraordinary Christmas one year that they do not the next year.
What are your traditions? I love this time of year -- everyone is so excited!!!
Finally, I found this the other day and think it's perfect:
May you and your family be blessed through this Holiday season!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)