Friday From a FULL Heart

What a crazy week! I can't believe it is already Friday and I haven't posted since Monday! I have been using my new PaperMate Injoy gel pens though, and it has been fun! BUT, I digress...I came upon a problem when I went to post about the benefit and that was the fact that I had no pictures. The girls at the front check in table took my purse for safe keeping but my phone was in there too. So, I didn't get any pictures of my own.

No worries today because I have seen some on Facebook and have taken them to use. I can't believe how fast this week has flown by! Jumped right back into the busy-ness of life after floating around for a couple of days having a hard time believing that the benefit actually happened. Let me give you some of the details...

 It was held at my church New Covenant Bible Church in the activity center. There weren't too many people yet when I got there so we went around and looked at the over 200 silent auction items! I can't believe the generosity of the community when the committee called or visited to ask for support. So much to bid on and a little bit of something for everyone.

I was excited to have gotten my quilts done in time so in total I was able to offer three quilts to the auction. The amazing group of ladies were all decked out in their green "Team Jody" shirts and I had to smile (and smile today still) to watch each of them do what they are gifted to do. I can't thank them enough...Angie Carlile, Heather Moore, Michelle Hocraffer, Jen Watson, Reanna Sheets, Melanie Snodgrass, Donna Kephart, Jessica Longwisch. And then there were so many more supporting them who stepped up to help. So many to list!



Right away I got blown away with some of my long distance friends I haven't seen for so long who started arriving. This picture here is some of my friends from MY youth group and adult leaders (ha ha...we are all adults now!) from when I was a teenager! My three brothers and sister are there too.

Speaking of brothers and sisters, all of my mom's siblings were able to come and that is always a great reunion! (We aren't always lucky enough to get a good picture)

(Uncle Jim, Uncle Jay, "Auntie Jo Gracie", Uncle Jule, and Mom)

Here are some more siblings! The Kramer cousins (and a little Friedman cousin too)

Kelli (holding Carter), Kalissa, Kasjen, Kayla and Karl (it was great to see Jason, Spencer and Craig too!)

Here is the last group of "reunion" from the triplet's elementary days at Arthur Elementary. It was fun to see some of their friends too!

Everyone has grown and changed so much! It was fun talking to their moms about all the things that they are doing. Everybody is taxiing and cheering and paying for sports or show choir pictures! Not so unlike us. So you could say that although some things have changed, not everything. We are all busy!

When I got home later Saturday night there were people I remembered seeing across the room that I never got to hug or talk to. That made me a little sad but overall I left with my love tank full (and the winning bid on my new green purse). Wow, it was much more than I imagined it would be. I will be processing the whole thing for the next few months I am sure and it will be one of those "once-in-a-lifetime" kinds of day.

I don't want to forget one of the biggest surprises of my day. Of course, it was from my very "out of the box" thinking brother Jeremy. He wanted to get my blog put into a book and Loretta searched until they found a company in the Netherlands. Along with my daughter and husband (who were the sneaks that found my log in info to get access to "Living the Miracle", Jeremy and Loretta presented me with this:

Starting all the way back in June of 2013 with my very first cancer post, it has every post dated and in order from then until the last day of chemo post last month. What a treasure! Yes, I spent most of the morning on Monday just pouring through the past four years laughing and tearing up.

Having the blog in my lap and reading through the happenings of our life in the last three and a half years conjured up many different emotions. It also made me realize how much we have been through, how much we are still going through.

The book is complete with comments from anyone who commented on certain posts too. How precious is that to have it all there bound in this great book. I am blessed with the ability to write and share with those near and far what it means to live a miracle because in our house God performs them ever single day. How He can take seven very different people and keep this house running with all of the different responses to life situations. He is the master conductor and I can sometimes hear the beauty of harmony within the walls of our home. Not every day is like that but I will continue to follow His lead knowing that my life and the life of those I love are in His hands.

Here is mine!

My prayer list has the names of some people who are going through much more than we are right now and it keeps us busy constantly bringing them to God's throne. This is a "from the heart" post so I will share what I shared with my 2nd grade Sunday school class these last couple of weeks. Prayer brings us right to God's throne. For anyone who has a hard time feeling like their prayers go anywhere do what my 2nd graders are doing. Read Revelation 4, take a blank piece of paper and draw what you see when you imagine what the throne of God looks like. It doesn't matter if you are a master artist or you use stick people. There is constant praise going on around the throne of God.

The kids last Sunday, were surprised when we read "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty..." One of them piped up and said "Hey! That is in one of our praise songs"! Yes, I smiled. We can join in the praise any time we want, it is constant around the throne. I have had more reverent kids during prayer time the last couple of weeks and my prayer life has been enriched every time I think about bowing before that throne of grace. It is grace that has been washing over me lately. It is God's hand working in my life as my kids grow and He fills in the holes where by parenting skills are lacking. He has, by His grace brought the kind of peace to my heart that only He can when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. We carry on knowing that someday we will cast our crowns before that throne.