Kevin

If you came to my blog for a good chuckle, just sign off b/c there are none today.
When I went to the TEC retreat last weekend, I spent much of the prayer time asking God to give my friend Kevin and his wife Brenda some peace and to help them face this cancer battle, no matter what the outcome or prognosis may be. I prayed for them silently, I prayed for them out loud, I just kept praying for God to give them strength. As you know, we were not allowed to use cell phones while we were there. I snuck up to the room about midnight the first night and turned my phone on to check the time. To my surprise, Kevin had left a message telling me he was in the hospital. I was so upset that I had missed his call and even more upset that I hadn't known he needed me and couldn't call him back. I admit, I questioned God. Why was it that I had spent the whole day in prayer for him and I hadn't been there when he needed me. On Monday I finally got to talk to him and of course, he ended up making ME feel better. He assured me he had felt all the prayers and I had to believe that I was there when he needed me, just not in the way I had thought I needed to be. Like he always says- BELIEVE. Anyway, he had surgery yesterday and I don't think he would mind me telling you that he is at a very low point in his life, both mentally and physically. His wife Brenda needs prayers too. Brenda is a very strong person, I always think of her as a Steel Magnolia, but I can't imagine what she is going through right now.
I do want to say that the retreat was an incredible experience for me. I spent most of the weekend praying and...eating. The food was great, especially since I didn't have to cook or clean!
I also want to talk about my sister Linda's project. She lost her precious baby boy, Declan, in May, after spending 65 days with him in the NICU. Declan touched a lot of lives and she wants to honor him so she has created http://www.itsnomonkeybusiness.com/ Please take the time to check out this site. If you are looking for a service project or maybe you want to donate to a charity this holiday season, please consider donating items in Declan's honor. If you live nearby, you can always bring the items to me and I will deliver them to her. I am planning 2 visits in the near future.
Ok, well I can't blog without a little humor so I will leave you with a conversation I had with Emily this week. First you have to know that Emily goes to a Catholic school and she tells me every day what they learned in religion. So this week, she says Mommy, you can't hide from God, he is always watching you. You can't sneak b/c he always knows what you are doing. Fast forward 20 minutes, she says Mommy, the kids at lunch always give me their food, they have to sneak it b/c it's against the rules. So I say, Hey don't forget you can't sneak with God, he's always watching. She says Oh, that's ok, God never says anything about that!