Dear Family and Friends,
It is with hat in hand that we come humbly to you asking that you might consider assisting us with our adoption expenses. Allow me to quickly bring you up to speed.
It was the first Sunday of February this year that Tamala and I got a call from a family we went to church with when we married back in 2005. We ministered to this family the best way we knew how at the time. For reasons unknown to us, they vanished out of our lives just a about the time Hurrican Katrina struck New Orleans . Then they re-entered our lives that fateful Sunday.
The mother informed us that her youngest daughter is pregnant and unmarried. She knew Tamala & I talked about adopting children when we got married. So she asked us if we had already adopted and if not, would we consider adopting this baby. We scheduled a meeting that same day with the mother and daughter and had many questions to ask. After our meeting, while mother & daughter were enroute home, daughter told her mother that she didn't want to interview any other families. She wanted Tamala and me to adopt her baby. She called us the next day and "officially" asked us if we'd adopt her baby and we told her yes. She said her Dr. anticipated her due date around Sept. 1.
Shortly after our meeting, daughter simply "vanished" and no one knew where she was or how to contact her.
Fast forward to Friday, July 15th at 10:30 pm: The Mother called us and said her daughter has re-appeared and wanted to talk with us. We called the daughter at 11pm that same evening and she brought us up to speed on her whereabouts and what had happened these last several months. She had attempted to work things out with the baby's father but had finally come to the conclusion that wasn't going to happen. She asked us if we were still interested in adopting her baby. We asked her many straightforward questions and she assured us she had not put the baby in any kind of danger due to lifestyle choices. We told her yes we'd still adopt her baby. She also told us that her belly had already "dropped" and so had the baby AND she was already dialated to a 3 on her last Dr. visit the week prior! The Dr. said this baby would probably be here in 2 to 3 weeks!
The next day, everything shifted into "hyper warp" drive. The next day we had an emergency meeting with our adoption agency who agreed to conduct our homestudy. They gave us a notebook that normally takes an adoptive couple 3 to 6 months to complete and hand in. We had one week to complete it. This became my full time job the next several days and we had it completed and handed in on Thursday July 21st. When I handed in the notebook I also handed them a check for $1600.00. We had our first meeting with our adoption attorney the next day and handed him a check for $1000.00. We have an outstanding balance of $2500.00 with the attorney.
Monday, July 25th, the birth mother texted me saying she’d had contractions all night long the previous night, and, they were continuing on into the next day. She said, “We may be having a baby today”! She had a Dr.s appointment at 4pm that same day and would let us know how it turned out.
What I haven’t shared thus far is that I lost me full time job in mid-April. I only received unemployment compensation for about three weeks. We’ve completely exhausted our savings account (emergency fund). I sold my pickup truck for cash on June 21st so we’re down to one vehicle. God has proven Himself to be Jehovah Jireh this entire time because we’re never been late on one bill and haven’t missed a meal. God has already moved upon individual’s hearts who have given (sacrificially) and seeded gifts of money into our family’s life. It has truly been miraculous!
Yesterday, I sought wise counsel from our Pastors. The Spirit moved them to seed into our family for the purposes of adoption expenses. They shared that another family they knew sent out an email to select people in their lives and asked for assistance in paying adoption expenses. Our Pastors seeded into the lives of this family and suggested we consider doing something similar.
So, with all of that said, Tamala and I come humbly asking if you would prayerfully consider sharing out of your abundance by helping us with the costs of our adoption? Up until now, Tamala and I have experienced the joy of giving to those with a financial need in their life. We’ve understood what the Word of God says “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” We also understand that someone has to be the “receiver” of the gift from the giver, and now we find ourselves in need to be on the receiving end. We’ve not had to do this before so the act of “asking” is a new and humbling experience! Even gift cards to places like Wal-Mart, etc. will enable us to buy items for the baby.
Our prayer for you is that God will bless you and your family in ways you never thought, dreamed or imagined. As you “plant seed” into our family we ask you to believe God for special things in your own family. The blessing(s) God has for you may come in many different ways; so it may not just be financial blessing. It could take the form of restored relationships, supernatural health, emotional healing or any way the Father chooses to bless.
May the Peace of God manifest itself in your lives and the Joy of the Lord be your eternal strength. We love you and want you to know how much we appreciate your participating the in the creation process of our family.
Shalom!
Kevin & Tamala Palmer
8506 Maurer Road, #311Lenexa, KS 66219
PayPal account registered to: kpalmer944@yahoo.com
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011
A Miracle - yet again!
It was yesterday, I had finished learning about a position that Greg Orscheln wanted me to help him with in Tonganoxie and had driven back to the house to eat a quick lunch before going to pick up Tamala for her doctor's appointmentl. So I ate lunch, piled back into the car and was just about to drive out onto Maurer when I remembered about the mail. I knew the mail carrier had already been here and "something" just told me to go pickup the mail. So I did a u-turn and went back to the postal center and sure enough there was mail. I noticed there was an envelope from Cheryl, Tamala's sister.
I went to pick up Tamala at work so we could get her to her doctor's appointment. I pointed out to her there was an envelope from Chery so she opened it. There was a nice card inside and when she opened it, out dropped a check for $700.00. Auntie Cheryl had been saving her baby sitting money so that is what she sent to us to help with the cost of the adoption! One more miracle in less than seven days.
I went to pick up Tamala at work so we could get her to her doctor's appointment. I pointed out to her there was an envelope from Chery so she opened it. There was a nice card inside and when she opened it, out dropped a check for $700.00. Auntie Cheryl had been saving her baby sitting money so that is what she sent to us to help with the cost of the adoption! One more miracle in less than seven days.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Janurary to July - for Posterity's sake
It has definitely been an interesting 7 months without a doubt. I believe it was the first Sunday in February, Tamala and I had just "planted a special seed" in what our church calls Seed Faith Sunday. We left church, went home and ate lunch and decided to go drive around and look at properties in the country and dream that afternoon. We were driving south of the KC metro area when Tamala checked her Facebook page on my "smart phone". She said there was a message from someone we used to attend church with asking if we could call her, she had something very important and urgent to ask us. Now it had been approximately 4 years since she'd just walked out of our lives without any explanation or anything. She just disappeared! So I called the phone number she gave us and had her on speaker phone so Tamala could hear.
Our friend informed us that her 19 year old daughter had just told her she was pregnant. Mother asked her if she wanted to keep the baby or give it up for adoption. She wanted to give it up for adoption. So she proceeded to ask Tamala and I at this point of the conversation if we hadn't already adopted, would we be interested in talking to her and Sarah about adopting this baby. I pulled the car over at this moment!
We talked some more with her and asked her many questions. We decided that we would meet that same evening at our apartment in Lenexa. Both Mother and daughter showed up around 7pm I think and we begin talking. The daughter asked us many questions and we asked her a few "hard and straight to the point" questions ourselves. They left our home after we prayed with them. On the way home, daughter told her mother that she didn't want to interview any more families because she believed that she wanted Tamala & I to adopt the baby. The next evening the daughter called us & finally asked us if we'd adopt her baby. We told her yes. She told us her due date was around September 1st.
Long story short - we recommended to the expectant mother that she enroll in The Lighthouse program which is a ministry for unwed, pregnant girls. She agreed and finally enrolled sometime in early March I think. By the beginning of April she left the program at The Lighthouse and vanished!
April 13th, a Wednesday, I was terminated from by employment at Scout Logistics. This had been building within me for about a year because I didn't agree with the manner in which the owners of the company were conducting business. The proverbial straw the broke the camel's back was that I'd taken a day off and scheduled numerous doctor visits, etc. When I went to the Pharmacy to get my new scripts filled and some old one re-filled, my Pharmacist told me he wouldn't be able to fill them because our insurance had been cancelled. CANCELLED?! So left without my meds. I found out the next morning at the office that the insurance had been cancelled for lack of payment! I was FURIOUS! They hold money out of my paychecks to pay insurance premiums and they were so inept at paying their bills, they'd allowed our health insurance to be cancelled. I told the owners on a Friday morning meeting just what I thought about all that. They asked me if I wanted to work there any more and I told them "No, not if you cannot pay bills on time". They let me go the next Wednesday.
So, now I'm updating my resume and hitting the internet with everything I've got. I accepted a Logistics Broker position with RWI TRansportation LLC who had a small office in downtown KC, MO. I started on Monday, May 16th and was terminated at the end of my 2nd week, May 27th. I told Tamala that it was "crystal clear" to me that this was completely a spiritual battle. I told her it was the light I took with me to the office that made the co-workers so uncomfortable with their sin they simply couldn't take it. So the manager cut me loose. God had other things in mind.
I began to ponder opening up my own business in the next couple of days and the decided to go ahead and started the processes. June 1st was listed as our beginning date. I finally partnered with a Virtual Services Company- Arise. I began a training program with AT&T (one of their customers) on Monday July 11th. The program would last about 7 weeks.
It was around the 1st part of June that we tried contacting Gail because no one had been in touch with us. Sarah was still gone! We didn't know what to think!
Fast forward to this last Friday July 15th. Our friend called us about 10:30 pm and said her daughter has re-surfaced. She's staying with a friend in Topeka, KS and she's wanting to talk with us. She gave us her daughter's number and said she was waiting on us to call. So we call her and it's about 11pm at this point. She told us that she'd left The Lighthouse and went back to the baby's Daddy and wanted to work things out with him and see if they couldn't raise this baby. She told us she finally came to the conclusion a couple weeks ago that this daddy didn't want any part of raising this baby. She asked if we were still interested in adopting the baby and we assured her that we were. We told her that since we hadn't heard from anyone for so long we hadn't done anything regarding getting ready to adopt. About her is when she dropped the bomb. She said that the baby had already "dropped" and so had her belly. Her baby doctor said during her last recent visit that she was already dialated to a 3 and that this baby would probably be here in two to three weeks!
The next morning, Saturday, we get up and begin our day. I had a seminar to conduct at the church for people that were interested in starting their own business. We left around 11:30 or so; came home and ate lunch. It was around 2:30 I finally got around to sending Adoption and Beyond an email asking for a meeting in order to get started with the home study. To my surprise, they called me with 10 minutes. She asked if we were free that afternoon and I told her yes, so we scheduled a meeting for 3:30pm. I had to call Tamala who had gone grocery shopping to wrap up what she was doing and come on home because we had a meeting to go to.
The meeting went well. The agency worker sent a notebook full of assignments home with us and we left. We watched three required videos that evening and began the paperwork.
One of Tamala's long time friends was in town with her baby daughter and she needed a place to stay. They came to stay with us afte they'd visited her Dad in the hospital who was in Stage 4 lung cancer. So we were getting caught up with all one another's families. Her husband was currently deployed on military exercises and had been gone about two months already and still had two months to go. Well of course we told her all about the whole baby adopting story and how quickly everything has to move at this point. We finished visiting and all went to bed.
Early Sunday morning before church, I was back in the office tending to some details when Tamala told me that her friend wanted to talk with us. So we went into the living room and she said that she'd shared our story with her husband the night before on the phone and he said "Well let's just help them." So she hands us a check for $1200.00!!! Tamala and I are at a complete loss for words. She tell that "thank you" just doesn't seem quite enough. She assures us that she and her husband are happy to be a part of our family process.
We headed off to church in a daze. We shared what had just happened with many other workers/volunteers in our church during a morning meeting and they rejoiced with us!
Now I'd been in a training program with Arise all last week and Monday and Tuesday of this week. It was during the training, which was going agonizingly slow, that I began thinking that this was going to go on for another six weeks or better. It could be another two weeks after that before the revenue stream begins back to us. I determined that wasn't going to work because we have an immediate need for cash. So during our first break from training, I called the McDonalds store right up the street and asked if they were hiring. They are hiring for all shift and starting pay is $7.25/hour. About an hour and a half later, Greg Orscheln, my former employer called me. We'd had a couple of previous conversations within the last month and had caught up on all the information between us. Greg told me that he and his wife, Susan, were back in KC for the summer and they'd be leaving again in the fall in their motorhome. They've become "snow birds". He also told me that he has been helping his brother in law start up a internet business in Tonganoxie. That is when Greg said "Kevin, I've got an opportunity up here and I could sure use your help!" I told him this was a divine providential call because I had an immediate need for cash due to the adoption. His response was "Well I have some of that right over here on 77th Street!" They only live a few blocks from where we live.
One of the main reasons I decided to blog again was that I want this baby to know whe God was working on his behalf and getting him setup before he was even born!
Auntie Cheryl and Uncle Bo (Tamala's sister & her husband) talked with Tamala a coule of night ago and said their sending us some money. It should arrive by Saturday I figured.
It is now Thursday afternoon and the paperwork is completed. I made a trip to the adoption agency and turned it all in along with a check for $1400.00! I had already paid them $200.00 online yesterday as an application fee.
So there you go, six months and three weeks worth of life! More to come.....
Our friend informed us that her 19 year old daughter had just told her she was pregnant. Mother asked her if she wanted to keep the baby or give it up for adoption. She wanted to give it up for adoption. So she proceeded to ask Tamala and I at this point of the conversation if we hadn't already adopted, would we be interested in talking to her and Sarah about adopting this baby. I pulled the car over at this moment!
We talked some more with her and asked her many questions. We decided that we would meet that same evening at our apartment in Lenexa. Both Mother and daughter showed up around 7pm I think and we begin talking. The daughter asked us many questions and we asked her a few "hard and straight to the point" questions ourselves. They left our home after we prayed with them. On the way home, daughter told her mother that she didn't want to interview any more families because she believed that she wanted Tamala & I to adopt the baby. The next evening the daughter called us & finally asked us if we'd adopt her baby. We told her yes. She told us her due date was around September 1st.
Long story short - we recommended to the expectant mother that she enroll in The Lighthouse program which is a ministry for unwed, pregnant girls. She agreed and finally enrolled sometime in early March I think. By the beginning of April she left the program at The Lighthouse and vanished!
April 13th, a Wednesday, I was terminated from by employment at Scout Logistics. This had been building within me for about a year because I didn't agree with the manner in which the owners of the company were conducting business. The proverbial straw the broke the camel's back was that I'd taken a day off and scheduled numerous doctor visits, etc. When I went to the Pharmacy to get my new scripts filled and some old one re-filled, my Pharmacist told me he wouldn't be able to fill them because our insurance had been cancelled. CANCELLED?! So left without my meds. I found out the next morning at the office that the insurance had been cancelled for lack of payment! I was FURIOUS! They hold money out of my paychecks to pay insurance premiums and they were so inept at paying their bills, they'd allowed our health insurance to be cancelled. I told the owners on a Friday morning meeting just what I thought about all that. They asked me if I wanted to work there any more and I told them "No, not if you cannot pay bills on time". They let me go the next Wednesday.
So, now I'm updating my resume and hitting the internet with everything I've got. I accepted a Logistics Broker position with RWI TRansportation LLC who had a small office in downtown KC, MO. I started on Monday, May 16th and was terminated at the end of my 2nd week, May 27th. I told Tamala that it was "crystal clear" to me that this was completely a spiritual battle. I told her it was the light I took with me to the office that made the co-workers so uncomfortable with their sin they simply couldn't take it. So the manager cut me loose. God had other things in mind.
I began to ponder opening up my own business in the next couple of days and the decided to go ahead and started the processes. June 1st was listed as our beginning date. I finally partnered with a Virtual Services Company- Arise. I began a training program with AT&T (one of their customers) on Monday July 11th. The program would last about 7 weeks.
It was around the 1st part of June that we tried contacting Gail because no one had been in touch with us. Sarah was still gone! We didn't know what to think!
Fast forward to this last Friday July 15th. Our friend called us about 10:30 pm and said her daughter has re-surfaced. She's staying with a friend in Topeka, KS and she's wanting to talk with us. She gave us her daughter's number and said she was waiting on us to call. So we call her and it's about 11pm at this point. She told us that she'd left The Lighthouse and went back to the baby's Daddy and wanted to work things out with him and see if they couldn't raise this baby. She told us she finally came to the conclusion a couple weeks ago that this daddy didn't want any part of raising this baby. She asked if we were still interested in adopting the baby and we assured her that we were. We told her that since we hadn't heard from anyone for so long we hadn't done anything regarding getting ready to adopt. About her is when she dropped the bomb. She said that the baby had already "dropped" and so had her belly. Her baby doctor said during her last recent visit that she was already dialated to a 3 and that this baby would probably be here in two to three weeks!
The next morning, Saturday, we get up and begin our day. I had a seminar to conduct at the church for people that were interested in starting their own business. We left around 11:30 or so; came home and ate lunch. It was around 2:30 I finally got around to sending Adoption and Beyond an email asking for a meeting in order to get started with the home study. To my surprise, they called me with 10 minutes. She asked if we were free that afternoon and I told her yes, so we scheduled a meeting for 3:30pm. I had to call Tamala who had gone grocery shopping to wrap up what she was doing and come on home because we had a meeting to go to.
The meeting went well. The agency worker sent a notebook full of assignments home with us and we left. We watched three required videos that evening and began the paperwork.
One of Tamala's long time friends was in town with her baby daughter and she needed a place to stay. They came to stay with us afte they'd visited her Dad in the hospital who was in Stage 4 lung cancer. So we were getting caught up with all one another's families. Her husband was currently deployed on military exercises and had been gone about two months already and still had two months to go. Well of course we told her all about the whole baby adopting story and how quickly everything has to move at this point. We finished visiting and all went to bed.
Early Sunday morning before church, I was back in the office tending to some details when Tamala told me that her friend wanted to talk with us. So we went into the living room and she said that she'd shared our story with her husband the night before on the phone and he said "Well let's just help them." So she hands us a check for $1200.00!!! Tamala and I are at a complete loss for words. She tell that "thank you" just doesn't seem quite enough. She assures us that she and her husband are happy to be a part of our family process.
We headed off to church in a daze. We shared what had just happened with many other workers/volunteers in our church during a morning meeting and they rejoiced with us!
Now I'd been in a training program with Arise all last week and Monday and Tuesday of this week. It was during the training, which was going agonizingly slow, that I began thinking that this was going to go on for another six weeks or better. It could be another two weeks after that before the revenue stream begins back to us. I determined that wasn't going to work because we have an immediate need for cash. So during our first break from training, I called the McDonalds store right up the street and asked if they were hiring. They are hiring for all shift and starting pay is $7.25/hour. About an hour and a half later, Greg Orscheln, my former employer called me. We'd had a couple of previous conversations within the last month and had caught up on all the information between us. Greg told me that he and his wife, Susan, were back in KC for the summer and they'd be leaving again in the fall in their motorhome. They've become "snow birds". He also told me that he has been helping his brother in law start up a internet business in Tonganoxie. That is when Greg said "Kevin, I've got an opportunity up here and I could sure use your help!" I told him this was a divine providential call because I had an immediate need for cash due to the adoption. His response was "Well I have some of that right over here on 77th Street!" They only live a few blocks from where we live.
One of the main reasons I decided to blog again was that I want this baby to know whe God was working on his behalf and getting him setup before he was even born!
Auntie Cheryl and Uncle Bo (Tamala's sister & her husband) talked with Tamala a coule of night ago and said their sending us some money. It should arrive by Saturday I figured.
It is now Thursday afternoon and the paperwork is completed. I made a trip to the adoption agency and turned it all in along with a check for $1400.00! I had already paid them $200.00 online yesterday as an application fee.
So there you go, six months and three weeks worth of life! More to come.....
Friday, December 31, 2010
Meanderings -
This is what happens when I have a few spare moments, the mind shifts into another dimension and begins to ponder the status of humanity. It seems to me humanity should be charged with gross negligence and far more serious crimes against…..itself! Yes, against itself. This could almost be an operative definition of an oxy-moron.
I was relishing an exquisite sunset one evening while driving home. The western sky was a brilliant red! All of the sudden my mind did a “180” when it threw this thought into the ring…..the red is a reflection from an enormous lake of blood from aborted babies over the last few decades! Sobering thought isn’t it? Perhaps this arose out of my spirit. I could almost hear the cry of babies that were never given a chance. I also thought of the picture that is painted in the book of Revelation in the Bible that says that during the battle of Armageddon that blood will run as high as bridles on horses. This may not be the exact book or metaphor but the premise is that the bloodshed will be immense. What raced through my mind is that perhaps we’re already there.
I remember about 6 years ago, after having just moved to Kansas City, I opened the Yellow Pages in the phone book to look for something. I think I was going to try to look up an attorney that I went to college with at ORU. Well I began thumbing from the beginning of the “A”s when I happened upon a full page ad from an abortion clinic. A FULL PAGE ad, and the whole staff was there in a group, all of them were smiling! I was INCREDULOUS! After a couple minutes and the shock began to wear off that is when my blood began to boil. How brazen! I couldn’t believe they were so shameless as to allow all their faces to be shown and published. “Dear Jesus, what have we reduced ourselves to?”
If you will go to YouTube.com and search for Aaron Russo, listen to several of the selections there. He unwraps many things happening in today’s world that have obvious scriptural overtones to them. In one video he talks about how a select few, extremely wealthy families in the world truly run the world. He shares about a conversation he had with one of the Rockefellers and how their goal is to reduce the world’s population from 6 billion down to 1 billion. This whole supposition sheds a different light on the abortion “business” doesn’t it?
World hunger – one of my spiritual mentors, Papa Jones, shared with me a few years ago a conversation he had with God in days gone by. He was asking God why there are so many people in the world going without food. The Holy Spirit spoke to him in only the way the Holy Spirit can and said something like “Son, I’ve provided enough food on earth to more than feed every single person I’ve created”. Now that is completely believable to me. It is mankind, because of greed, that does not reach out and share the natural abundance God has given us. How easily the greedy forget that it could have been them that were born into abject poverty in some remote village well beyond reach of contemporary urban cores. Perhaps the greedy ones are the absolute weakest among us! God knew in His infinite wisdom those individuals were too weak to endure the hardships of poverty and arranged for the truly stalwarts among us to bear this burden; just a thought.
How much more wicked could places like Sodom and Gomorrah have been in comparison to society today? To think, God tired of the wickedness and obliterated those places from the face of the earth. Signs of the times, earthquakes and other freak natural occurrences all are indicative of the eminent return of Jesus. Sometimes I feel like we’re a breath away from God the Father turning to God the Son and saying “Now. Go get them now.” Please come quickly Lord Jesus.
Things always considered to be right up to now, are being considered as wrong. Things once considered vile or to be a scourge on a people are now considered to be the norm.
It’s not that I’m in a particularly dark and contemplative mood, these are the things that have been simmering for quite some time in my heart and mind.
I see beauty all around me. I am continually reminded of omnipotence of God when I look at and consider His creation. When I read in the book of Revelation of what He has done for us and prepared for us I am in amazement of His love for us.
This is probably enough for now. Look up for your redemption draws near! Watch the sky because you never know from behind one of those clouds the sky could begin to peel back and the trumpet of heaven will begin to sound! Life will really begin at that moment!
Shalom!
I was relishing an exquisite sunset one evening while driving home. The western sky was a brilliant red! All of the sudden my mind did a “180” when it threw this thought into the ring…..the red is a reflection from an enormous lake of blood from aborted babies over the last few decades! Sobering thought isn’t it? Perhaps this arose out of my spirit. I could almost hear the cry of babies that were never given a chance. I also thought of the picture that is painted in the book of Revelation in the Bible that says that during the battle of Armageddon that blood will run as high as bridles on horses. This may not be the exact book or metaphor but the premise is that the bloodshed will be immense. What raced through my mind is that perhaps we’re already there.
I remember about 6 years ago, after having just moved to Kansas City, I opened the Yellow Pages in the phone book to look for something. I think I was going to try to look up an attorney that I went to college with at ORU. Well I began thumbing from the beginning of the “A”s when I happened upon a full page ad from an abortion clinic. A FULL PAGE ad, and the whole staff was there in a group, all of them were smiling! I was INCREDULOUS! After a couple minutes and the shock began to wear off that is when my blood began to boil. How brazen! I couldn’t believe they were so shameless as to allow all their faces to be shown and published. “Dear Jesus, what have we reduced ourselves to?”
If you will go to YouTube.com and search for Aaron Russo, listen to several of the selections there. He unwraps many things happening in today’s world that have obvious scriptural overtones to them. In one video he talks about how a select few, extremely wealthy families in the world truly run the world. He shares about a conversation he had with one of the Rockefellers and how their goal is to reduce the world’s population from 6 billion down to 1 billion. This whole supposition sheds a different light on the abortion “business” doesn’t it?
World hunger – one of my spiritual mentors, Papa Jones, shared with me a few years ago a conversation he had with God in days gone by. He was asking God why there are so many people in the world going without food. The Holy Spirit spoke to him in only the way the Holy Spirit can and said something like “Son, I’ve provided enough food on earth to more than feed every single person I’ve created”. Now that is completely believable to me. It is mankind, because of greed, that does not reach out and share the natural abundance God has given us. How easily the greedy forget that it could have been them that were born into abject poverty in some remote village well beyond reach of contemporary urban cores. Perhaps the greedy ones are the absolute weakest among us! God knew in His infinite wisdom those individuals were too weak to endure the hardships of poverty and arranged for the truly stalwarts among us to bear this burden; just a thought.
How much more wicked could places like Sodom and Gomorrah have been in comparison to society today? To think, God tired of the wickedness and obliterated those places from the face of the earth. Signs of the times, earthquakes and other freak natural occurrences all are indicative of the eminent return of Jesus. Sometimes I feel like we’re a breath away from God the Father turning to God the Son and saying “Now. Go get them now.” Please come quickly Lord Jesus.
Things always considered to be right up to now, are being considered as wrong. Things once considered vile or to be a scourge on a people are now considered to be the norm.
It’s not that I’m in a particularly dark and contemplative mood, these are the things that have been simmering for quite some time in my heart and mind.
I see beauty all around me. I am continually reminded of omnipotence of God when I look at and consider His creation. When I read in the book of Revelation of what He has done for us and prepared for us I am in amazement of His love for us.
This is probably enough for now. Look up for your redemption draws near! Watch the sky because you never know from behind one of those clouds the sky could begin to peel back and the trumpet of heaven will begin to sound! Life will really begin at that moment!
Shalom!
new "digs"
Mama T and I have finally sold our home and moved to an apartment in Lenexa, KS. Albeit I’ve tripled the mileage for my commute to work, Mama T is now only commuting about 2.5 miles! She’s really enjoying that part. Mine isn’t so bad, it still isn’t even close to when I used to commute 55 miles one way several years ago when I worked in Joplin.
God’s provision – He never ceases to amaze me. Look at what God did: He led us to an apartment complex that happened to have a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, all on ground level, double car (attached) garage, the pool and clubhouse are just outside our patio door. Another really great aspect of our new home is that we’re only about 5 miles or less to our place of worship! It only takes us about 8 minutes now instead of 20 to 25 minutes to drive to church!
The main thing is that we’ve rid ourselves of the “money pit” and have moved out of the “HOOD”! Hallelujah!
God’s provision – He never ceases to amaze me. Look at what God did: He led us to an apartment complex that happened to have a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, all on ground level, double car (attached) garage, the pool and clubhouse are just outside our patio door. Another really great aspect of our new home is that we’re only about 5 miles or less to our place of worship! It only takes us about 8 minutes now instead of 20 to 25 minutes to drive to church!
The main thing is that we’ve rid ourselves of the “money pit” and have moved out of the “HOOD”! Hallelujah!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
A day for THANKSGIVING!
Thanksgiving Day has arrived. It's 21 degrees here in KC, so it's a bit "chilly"!
There are so many things we are "thankful" for this season. God has been so faithful in providing for our every need this year. We have not done without anything. We have good health. We have a wonderful loving family both biologically and spiritually. We are so very, very blessed! We have stable, good paying jobs, dependable running vehicles, a wonderful home that is heated and cooled to our satisfaction. "God is good all the time, and, all the time God is good!"
Update on the house - I had forgotten all the steps you have to go through when your selling your home. We have a contract with a buyer, that took some "negotiating" which I expected. Then they ordered the inspection, that came back with things that were of concern to the Inspector. The list was unbelievably long! After the inspection they presented us with a list of unacceptable conditions that must be fixed in order for them to get their FHA loan. So I immediately began contacting contractors. Plumber was already been out and complete the one task on the list. That was an easy fix. The Electrical contractor is lined up to do his work. We expected to have to do some electrical work so this wasn't a surprise. Here come the surprises: we have mold in the crawl space under the bedrooms of the house. We contacted three different contractors for mold remediation and finally settled on one. We had to contact a foundation contractor because the south wall in the basement is leaning in toward the room itself. They will be installing seven piers to correct this problem, then they'll be bringing three cubic yards of dirt to put around the foundation of the house in order to get the proper slope for draining the water away from the house. They will also create a "swell" on the west side of the garage between our house and the neighbor's house to divert water away from the house. They will also be installing three "bubble windows" again three of the basement windows.
Appraisal - the appraiser came out this last Monday to do the appraisal. To date we haven't received the final report yet. We are believing that the house will appraise out close enough to the sales price so the buyers will be able to proceed with getting their loan. They've already been pre-qualified for nearly $15,000 more than the sale price. If it doesn't end up appraising close enough to the sales price, I don't know what the next step will be. I guess we might end up going into further negotiations.
The concern at the moment is that the foundation contractor is scheduled to start this next Tuesday November 30th. His bid is the highest bid of all the contractors. He said his job will only take one to two days maximum. If I don't hear a word by close of business Friday, I may call him to tell him to delay the start of the project until we get all the final numbers from the appraiser. The mold remediation contractor will need approximately three days to complete their job. Their supposed to bring some dryers to put in the crawl space to dry everything out down there. (We've got to get the water stopped from flowing into the crawl space before these guys start their part). The electrical guy can start just about anytime.
Friday, December 10th is the scheduled closing date. We've been told that Tamala and I will go in a few days earlier to sign the documents required of us. Then the buyers will sign their "mountain" of documents on the 10th and all the checks will be drafted to pay all the contractors, etc.
THE TEST- I've been pondering this whole process the last few weeks and have come to the conclusion that this whole ordeal is a test. My faith and my character are being tested. I've decided that I will not "re-act" in ways I've reacted to things that haven't gone exactly the way I thought they should go. I will stop and re-evaluate the situation and look for alternative means or other open doors instead of getting all upset about it. When you boil it all down - it's not worth getting upset over. I am reminded of the book "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, and by the way, It's All Small Stuff".
Shalom!
There are so many things we are "thankful" for this season. God has been so faithful in providing for our every need this year. We have not done without anything. We have good health. We have a wonderful loving family both biologically and spiritually. We are so very, very blessed! We have stable, good paying jobs, dependable running vehicles, a wonderful home that is heated and cooled to our satisfaction. "God is good all the time, and, all the time God is good!"
Update on the house - I had forgotten all the steps you have to go through when your selling your home. We have a contract with a buyer, that took some "negotiating" which I expected. Then they ordered the inspection, that came back with things that were of concern to the Inspector. The list was unbelievably long! After the inspection they presented us with a list of unacceptable conditions that must be fixed in order for them to get their FHA loan. So I immediately began contacting contractors. Plumber was already been out and complete the one task on the list. That was an easy fix. The Electrical contractor is lined up to do his work. We expected to have to do some electrical work so this wasn't a surprise. Here come the surprises: we have mold in the crawl space under the bedrooms of the house. We contacted three different contractors for mold remediation and finally settled on one. We had to contact a foundation contractor because the south wall in the basement is leaning in toward the room itself. They will be installing seven piers to correct this problem, then they'll be bringing three cubic yards of dirt to put around the foundation of the house in order to get the proper slope for draining the water away from the house. They will also create a "swell" on the west side of the garage between our house and the neighbor's house to divert water away from the house. They will also be installing three "bubble windows" again three of the basement windows.
Appraisal - the appraiser came out this last Monday to do the appraisal. To date we haven't received the final report yet. We are believing that the house will appraise out close enough to the sales price so the buyers will be able to proceed with getting their loan. They've already been pre-qualified for nearly $15,000 more than the sale price. If it doesn't end up appraising close enough to the sales price, I don't know what the next step will be. I guess we might end up going into further negotiations.
The concern at the moment is that the foundation contractor is scheduled to start this next Tuesday November 30th. His bid is the highest bid of all the contractors. He said his job will only take one to two days maximum. If I don't hear a word by close of business Friday, I may call him to tell him to delay the start of the project until we get all the final numbers from the appraiser. The mold remediation contractor will need approximately three days to complete their job. Their supposed to bring some dryers to put in the crawl space to dry everything out down there. (We've got to get the water stopped from flowing into the crawl space before these guys start their part). The electrical guy can start just about anytime.
Friday, December 10th is the scheduled closing date. We've been told that Tamala and I will go in a few days earlier to sign the documents required of us. Then the buyers will sign their "mountain" of documents on the 10th and all the checks will be drafted to pay all the contractors, etc.
THE TEST- I've been pondering this whole process the last few weeks and have come to the conclusion that this whole ordeal is a test. My faith and my character are being tested. I've decided that I will not "re-act" in ways I've reacted to things that haven't gone exactly the way I thought they should go. I will stop and re-evaluate the situation and look for alternative means or other open doors instead of getting all upset about it. When you boil it all down - it's not worth getting upset over. I am reminded of the book "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, and by the way, It's All Small Stuff".
Shalom!
Friday, November 5, 2010
Do we VALUE those closest to us
This post is one of those that not only should be written but MUST be written. It's time for a REAL examination of our lives.
It was early Monday morning and yes it certainly was MONDAY! I had arrived at the office my usual time only to discover that I my power cord to my laptop was NOT in my computer bag! "Well, great!" I grab my phone and call Tamala and ask where she was in her morning commute to work. She was practically there already. I asked her to look in the back seat of her vehicle to see if my power cord was there. Sure enough, there it lay. I asked her to meet me at a McDonalds just off I-35 that was about half way between her workplace and mine. So out the door I rush and jump back into my truck and head her way.
THE CALL -
As I cruise toward our rendevous place my cell phone rings and it's my Dad. "Kevin, it's your Mother, she's having the same things happen as she did Saturday morning." Just two days earlier Dad had called me saying he was taking Mother to the hospital because she was having the strangest sensations in her head and thought it could be a stroke. They ran a battery of tests at the Emergency Room and eventually informed her that they believed she had a T.I.A. (Trans-Ischaemic Attack)- a mini-stroke!
I visited with Mother Saturday evening after all the day's events and asked if she had "aspirin" in the house. "No, I don't believe I do" was her reply. So I instructed her that "Tonight, without fail, you must go down to Walgreens on the corner and buy a bottle of aspirin, and, keep them in your purse." I further told her that if she feels the slightest sensation trying to return as her earlier episode, she is to chew an aspirin and allow it to remain under her tongue. So, chew the aspirin and drop everything you're doing and head to the hospital!
"Yes, sir" was her reply.
Back to the call.
Dad was telling me she wasn't thinking clearly. I told him that was is to be expected after a mini stroke. Then he proceeded to tell me she wasn't feeling real great and the same sensations in her head from Saturday were returning only stronger!
My response was "Okay, you need to take her back to the hospital". He said that the instructions from the emergency room doctor on Saturday was that she needed to be seen by her regular physician ASAP. He said they weren't open yet. I asked "When do they open?"
"8am" he says. It is already 7:45 am so I said "why don't you load her up in the car and go NOW!" My thinking it is best to be waiting in the parking lot when they open the doors and walk right in.
"Keep me posted as to how things unfold today please" was my request.
I've been married to a doctor before and worked in a health clinic. I know that anytime your dealing with a person who is having heart trouble or stroke symtoms that TIME is precious. Every minute you delay, your are risking permanent damage to tissue!
So, I met up with Tamala, got my power cord, gave her a quick update about Mother not feeling well and it looked like she might need to go back to the hospital, gave her another kiss bye, and headed back to the office.
Okay, I'm back at the office and plugging up my power cord to the laptop and the power outlet, signing onto the network, etc.
It wasn't 30 minutes later when Dad called me back and said he's at the hospital. He says "You boys really need to come and see your Mother more often, she's really not doing well."
"What do you mean?" I ask. "What aren't you telling me?"
"Well, she's having chest pains! She's really not doing well".
"What?! I'm on my way!" I spin around and walk into my bosses' office and tell him that I have to leave, my Mother is back in the hospital for the second time in two days with stroke symptoms". He assures me to go take care of everything and to keep them posted.
Let's just say the next four hours were a bit "surreal". First, I dash home and throw some clothes together and into the truck. I have no idea how long I'll be gone. I start heading South, call Tamala and try and tell her what is going on all the while choking on my emotions and trying to keep it together. I asked her to call our Prayer Team at church. I then call Mama Jones (that's what we affectionately call her). She and Papa Jones are our mentors and spiritual advisors. Both she and Papa Jones are home and they join together and begin to pray for my Mother and also for me. (Thank God for Pop & Mama Jones - they are truly a God-send).
Have you ever felt "numb"? You don't know what to say? You don't know what to think? It is almost as if you're in a vacuum. That is what the remainder of the drive was like for me.
I arrive at the hospital and walk in and see family in the waiting room. I go back to Mother's room and she wasn't there. Dad was there and he informed me that they had her somewhere running a battery of tests and also a stress test.
Results came about three hours later: her heart is fine, the scans show all is well. They believe her achalasia (swallowing disorder)is being complicated by acid reflux. She will be fine.
THAT was all background to the real premis of this post!
None of this made much sense to me because I know Mother takes excellent care of herself. She became diligent about thirty years ago on the things she ate, vitamin and supplements became a part of her daily regimen, etc, etc.
I begin to ponder - "Ok Lord, are you trying to tell us something?"
Here is my take -
This is the light, growing brighter and brighter with each day, that is being revealed to me -
Are we appreciating those in our lives that are closest to us. Do we see their "worth"? Do we let them know how much them mean to us and what a gift they are in our lives? Or, are we being selfish in the sense that we are taking our loved ones for granted? I believe we need to take a moment and consider how much of an impact each family member has made upon our own life. Can you imagine what your life might be like if a loved hadn't been there for you? Have they served you? Think of that smile or hug that only they can give. How do they make YOU feel loved. What is it that make them unique and their "gift" to those of us who love them?
May we not be found guilty of not appreciating those we love. Who knows, maybe if God sees that we're not "valuing" them in ways we should be, He may decide to bring them into His presence and keep them there! We should be valuing our loved ones like God the Father values each of us.
That's it. Let me just encourage all of us to really examine our life. It takes an effort.
Can you imagine your life, really and truly without.......
It was early Monday morning and yes it certainly was MONDAY! I had arrived at the office my usual time only to discover that I my power cord to my laptop was NOT in my computer bag! "Well, great!" I grab my phone and call Tamala and ask where she was in her morning commute to work. She was practically there already. I asked her to look in the back seat of her vehicle to see if my power cord was there. Sure enough, there it lay. I asked her to meet me at a McDonalds just off I-35 that was about half way between her workplace and mine. So out the door I rush and jump back into my truck and head her way.
THE CALL -
As I cruise toward our rendevous place my cell phone rings and it's my Dad. "Kevin, it's your Mother, she's having the same things happen as she did Saturday morning." Just two days earlier Dad had called me saying he was taking Mother to the hospital because she was having the strangest sensations in her head and thought it could be a stroke. They ran a battery of tests at the Emergency Room and eventually informed her that they believed she had a T.I.A. (Trans-Ischaemic Attack)- a mini-stroke!
I visited with Mother Saturday evening after all the day's events and asked if she had "aspirin" in the house. "No, I don't believe I do" was her reply. So I instructed her that "Tonight, without fail, you must go down to Walgreens on the corner and buy a bottle of aspirin, and, keep them in your purse." I further told her that if she feels the slightest sensation trying to return as her earlier episode, she is to chew an aspirin and allow it to remain under her tongue. So, chew the aspirin and drop everything you're doing and head to the hospital!
"Yes, sir" was her reply.
Back to the call.
Dad was telling me she wasn't thinking clearly. I told him that was is to be expected after a mini stroke. Then he proceeded to tell me she wasn't feeling real great and the same sensations in her head from Saturday were returning only stronger!
My response was "Okay, you need to take her back to the hospital". He said that the instructions from the emergency room doctor on Saturday was that she needed to be seen by her regular physician ASAP. He said they weren't open yet. I asked "When do they open?"
"8am" he says. It is already 7:45 am so I said "why don't you load her up in the car and go NOW!" My thinking it is best to be waiting in the parking lot when they open the doors and walk right in.
"Keep me posted as to how things unfold today please" was my request.
I've been married to a doctor before and worked in a health clinic. I know that anytime your dealing with a person who is having heart trouble or stroke symtoms that TIME is precious. Every minute you delay, your are risking permanent damage to tissue!
So, I met up with Tamala, got my power cord, gave her a quick update about Mother not feeling well and it looked like she might need to go back to the hospital, gave her another kiss bye, and headed back to the office.
Okay, I'm back at the office and plugging up my power cord to the laptop and the power outlet, signing onto the network, etc.
It wasn't 30 minutes later when Dad called me back and said he's at the hospital. He says "You boys really need to come and see your Mother more often, she's really not doing well."
"What do you mean?" I ask. "What aren't you telling me?"
"Well, she's having chest pains! She's really not doing well".
"What?! I'm on my way!" I spin around and walk into my bosses' office and tell him that I have to leave, my Mother is back in the hospital for the second time in two days with stroke symptoms". He assures me to go take care of everything and to keep them posted.
Let's just say the next four hours were a bit "surreal". First, I dash home and throw some clothes together and into the truck. I have no idea how long I'll be gone. I start heading South, call Tamala and try and tell her what is going on all the while choking on my emotions and trying to keep it together. I asked her to call our Prayer Team at church. I then call Mama Jones (that's what we affectionately call her). She and Papa Jones are our mentors and spiritual advisors. Both she and Papa Jones are home and they join together and begin to pray for my Mother and also for me. (Thank God for Pop & Mama Jones - they are truly a God-send).
Have you ever felt "numb"? You don't know what to say? You don't know what to think? It is almost as if you're in a vacuum. That is what the remainder of the drive was like for me.
I arrive at the hospital and walk in and see family in the waiting room. I go back to Mother's room and she wasn't there. Dad was there and he informed me that they had her somewhere running a battery of tests and also a stress test.
Results came about three hours later: her heart is fine, the scans show all is well. They believe her achalasia (swallowing disorder)is being complicated by acid reflux. She will be fine.
THAT was all background to the real premis of this post!
None of this made much sense to me because I know Mother takes excellent care of herself. She became diligent about thirty years ago on the things she ate, vitamin and supplements became a part of her daily regimen, etc, etc.
I begin to ponder - "Ok Lord, are you trying to tell us something?"
Here is my take -
This is the light, growing brighter and brighter with each day, that is being revealed to me -
Are we appreciating those in our lives that are closest to us. Do we see their "worth"? Do we let them know how much them mean to us and what a gift they are in our lives? Or, are we being selfish in the sense that we are taking our loved ones for granted? I believe we need to take a moment and consider how much of an impact each family member has made upon our own life. Can you imagine what your life might be like if a loved hadn't been there for you? Have they served you? Think of that smile or hug that only they can give. How do they make YOU feel loved. What is it that make them unique and their "gift" to those of us who love them?
May we not be found guilty of not appreciating those we love. Who knows, maybe if God sees that we're not "valuing" them in ways we should be, He may decide to bring them into His presence and keep them there! We should be valuing our loved ones like God the Father values each of us.
That's it. Let me just encourage all of us to really examine our life. It takes an effort.
Can you imagine your life, really and truly without.......
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