Day of Silence

Today many bloggers are taking a day of silence and hitting their knees to cover the Turner family in thoughts in prayers. Julee lost her husband last weekend in a tragic car accident. Julee and her husband have an adorable little girl who is almost a year old; Preslee. Today, their entire family is saying goodbye to a loving father, husband, son, uncle, cousin and friend. My heart just aches for her as I cannot imagine what she is going through or the pain she may be feeling. Every since I found out about this on Monday she and Preslee have been on my heart and mind and in my constant prayers.

Please join me in praying for this sweet family today!

You can visit Julee's blog here.

Prayers Needed

I come to you today with some prayer request, will you join me in praying for these people/families?

If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. Matthew 21:22

If you have been watching the weather channel at all, you may have heard about the massive amounts of rain North Florida is receiving. It's a lot of rain, y'all! Since this is my hometown and where all of my family lives, I have direct access to pictures and new updates. My mom has been texting me pictures over the past couple days and many of them are hard to believe so I thought I'd share on the blog.

Take a peek at these:

See anything missing this this photo? Only about half the road...yikes!

...unbelieveable!

This is the parking lots at the Orange Park Mall...I'd say those cars have some water damage!

This photo came from my Aunt Erin, and she normally lives nowhere near the creek or waterfront property. She does now! This is her driveway/front yard!

This picture and the picture below came from my Aunt Mary. Their backyard and garage is completely covered with water. According to her Facebook this morning, they are about a foot away from having water damage to their house and motor home. The deck below used to be part of their pool which has been gone for a couple years now. They still use the deck for outdoor living, only it's more like a dock this week then a backyard deck...

SO much water!

My Mom sent me this picture yesterday evening when her and my Dad were making rounds to see if any family members needed help or anything. I am not sure where this is exactly in Clay County, but you can see the street sign and all the water around it but you can't see the actual street. Not good! 

These are only a small fraction of the pictures that are visible on my Facebook newsfeed. In addition to the rain and floods, there is also a need for prayer requests on the opposite spectrum. Fires. My heart goes out to the people in Colorado who are being effected but these fires and who have lost their personal belongings. Please pray for the fires and floods that are taking place right now! God hears and answers prayers, so let's pray for relief in both situations! 

Do you have any prayer requests? Please message me because I would love to pray for you! 

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. 
 He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.
They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven.

Psalm 107:28-30

  

Prayer Requests

My heart is heavy this morning for many people that have been a big part of my life for many years. These people are dear friends to me and my family. Right now they are facing giants and need more than anything to be lifted up in prayer. Will you please join in praying for these people and their families?

First, please pray for John who a gentleman my Dad's age from my parents church (in FL) was diagnosed with AML (acute myeloid leukemia) yesterday and is starting an aggressive round of chemo today. The Drs. have not given him a timeline but we know that this form of leukemia advances quickly. John has a wonderful family (wife, 3 children and 3 grandchildren) and a strong church family as well-this was his Facebook status this morning "Thank you all for the calls and prayers and concerns about me. I have been diagnosed with AML )acute myeloid leukemia) and on top of that I have contacted pneumonia, and my luck is a rare form. I would appreciate the continued prayer and support for my family at this time starting tomorrow is when the real battle starts. I serve a BIG God and I always believe and always taught that book and whatever the outcome of this I'm on the WINNING TEAM. My friends and church family are second to none. With God's blessing and marvelous grace. I leave you with this, that his grace is sufficient to me. With much love, Brother John."

I am so thankful for his strong faith in the Lord, who is obviously giving him peace with this horrible situation. Praise the Lord!

Second, please pray for a woman named Tina. She is a wonderful friend to my family in Florida and also a member of the church my family attends in Florida. She is in her 30s and was diagnosed with breast cancer a week or so ago. She has many appointments this week at Mayo Clinic with her oncologist and surgeons to determine the best treatment plan for her-lumpectomy vs. mastectomy and chemo vs. radiation. She has a husband and 2 children in high school as well. Pray for her strength and wisdom for her doctors!

Last, please pray for another member of my parents Church-Harry. He is also my parents age and has 3 daughters that I grew up with. He has many health issues, including diabetes (we share that one!). Complications from diabetes have risen in the recent months and he has been added to the transplant list for kidneys and also liver. His condition has improved since last week and he has been released from the hospital and is spending time at home and the drs. office for dialysis. 

I appreciate being able to reach out to friends and family who read our blog to lift these people up in prayer and I know they and their families would appreciate it so much!

"Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."
James 5: 13-16 NIV

Please let me know if there is anyway I can lift you, your family or friends up in prayer!

Please pray!

Please be in prayer for our sweet Louie.

We took him to the vet on Saturday to have him tested for heart worms and to get some flea medication and we found out that he does have heart worm. In fact, his heart worm test was the most positive test the Vet has seen in quite some time. I think the words the vet used were "ticking time bomb". GREAT. What does this mean? Well, we are dropping Louie off at the vets office tomorrow morning and he will begin treatments. Actually, first they will do lots of other tests and make sure his little body can handle the treatment and drugs and then decide what to do.

Here is the thing: I am scared. I can't believe how attached I am to this little dog after just a few weeks. To say he has me wrapped around his little paw is a complete understatement. Stephen and I both love him so much and tell him numerous times a day. I knew when we adopted him that heart worms were a possibility but I never really thought we would have to deal with that. Well, now we do and are. Growing up my family always had dogs and we have lost one or more to heart worms that I know of. I know that dogs die because of this.

That's the hard part!

If you have a family pet that you are close to, then I am sure you understand. Please pray for Louie tomorrow and for us. Pray that the vet knows what Louie can handle and that all goes well. Pray for me that I can keep it together all day and survive 24 hours without seeing his sweet little face!

I just feel so bad for him...this is not fair! He just started to live a normal dog life and do things normal dogs get to do, like go for walks and play with their owners!

Please don't comment and tell me your bad experiences with dogs, heart worms and treatment today. You can however tell me the good stories with happy endings, because that is how ours will end I am sure!

Upstairs Photo Tour!

I found some time on Saturday in between working on the yard to snap some pictures for all my friends and family that have not been able to come see our new home yet! The tour starts in the dining room, at the bottom of the stairs and shows you everything upstairs. Excited? Good!

 Here goes:

Beginning of the stairway in the dining room...

to the landing!

Up to the bathroom and bedrooms!

At the top of the stairs. To the right, the bathroom. Straight, the guest bedroom and to the left, is our master bedroom!

If you turn right at the top of the stairs, this is what you see...

and this...(thank goodness the chest of drawers came with the house because there is no linen closet anywhere. We have that baby packed full of towels and extra sheets!)

Our throne...

And our shower!

Do you get a feeling of how big this room is? It is huge!

This is looking across the hall from the bathroom, into our room...

From the doorway...

I love, love, LOVE our new bedding!

My bedside table :)

Stephen's bedside table :)

Looking across the room from the window. You can see how tiny the closet is. There is no way all my stuff would fit in there, so this is Stephen's closet!

Original light fixture from 1883 and it works!

Another view of the light...

This brings us to the guest bedroom, or the green room :)

That floral design is one from our wedding and I love it!

And we have my closet!

Going back down the stairs...we love the exposed brick!

Almost at the bottom!

Where the stairs end, and our tour ends-in the dining room! :)

Just so you know, pictures do not really do this house justice! We hope that you enjoyed this tour and will come visit soon! (hint, hint Mom & Dad)

Friends, please continue to pray for my cousin, Naomi. She has been showing small improvements, but still has a long, long way to go to recovery! Her and my family members in Florida could really use all your prayers!

Prayer Needed!

Christmas 2008 (I think?)

Please continue to lift this woman up in your prayers. My cousin, Naomi is in ICU in Florida and has been fighting for her life since Sunday. Praise the Lord that she has encountered no set-backs this week, but things are not improving at the rate hoped. Please pray for strength, and comfort so that she is not in any pain. Please join the hundreds who already are and pray for her!

This is her CaringBridge site.

I know many people have experienced a situation similar to this...If so, you know that not only the sick is in need of prayers. Please lift the family and doctors up as well!

Dear Lord,

We know that you hear our prayers and that you are the great physician. We know that you know exactly what is going on in Naomi’s body at this very moment. We ask you Lord, to be with her and wrap your healing arms around Naomi. We all love her so much Lord!  Allow your blood to wash her clean as you have done before. Please give her strength and comfort during this time so that she may get better and not be in any pain. Let her see that you love her and that so do we-her family. Let her know that she is not alone and that we will all fight this wither, by her side. Also be with her Mom and Gene as they deal with this stress and pressure. Allow them to make the right decisions when needed and trust in you, Lord. Also be with her entire family and allow them to do the same-to trust in you. We know that only you make life and you can take away life as well! Help us to remember that even this is part of your great plan for Naomi, even if we don’t understand why! Again, Lord please be with her and keep her comfortable ! Bless this family!

In your Holy name we pray. Amen.

Kenapocomocha :)

All day yesterday I was looking forward to dinner. Why? Because we were going to Kenapocomocha for their Tuesday night pizza night! What is Kenapocomocha you ask? Well, let me enlighten you!

Kenapocomocha is a community owned coffee house in our sweet, little town. The name is actually very clever. Kenapocomoco is the Indian name for the Eel River which runs through town, change moco for mocha and you have a very creative play on words! Normally the shop closes at 4pm, but Tuesdays are special days: pizza days! They make their individual pizzas to order with all local ingredients. the dough is made and baked on site, as the basal is grown in their herb garden that you walk past while entering the coffee shop. The pepperoni comes from Hawkins's Family Farm, which is also local. Let me just say, this is top is cozy and the pizza was delicious!

Given it's location, we could have easily walked (and were planning on it). But, I was not feeling well and we needed to go to the hardware store afterwards so we opted to drive. I think the next Tuesday we join them for pizza night we will definitely walk for some exercise and fresh air!

Here are the pictures I snapped during our evening:

Love the location of the coffee shop!

Lovely side salad with made fresh daily ranch dressing...yum!

One word: D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!

Overall, we love it and will be going back! :)

PRAYER REQUEST!!!

Naomi with her Mom and Gene last Thanksgiving in Florida

Please be in prayer for a family member of mine in Florida. My cousin Naomi was hospitalized on Sunday after being found passed out in her yard. Her liver and kidneys are failing and she has been on dialysis since Sunday, and is showing some kidney function improvement. Right now she has a team of 6 doctors working with her to determine a diagnosis. Today they were calling an autoimmune disease specialist in as well. She is very sick and needs many prayers for strength and healing, we are also praying for the doctors to find wisdom and give an accurate diagnosis soon so that treatment can begin!

Her CaringBridge website is this: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/naomidavies

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support! We serve a healing God!

"Is anyone among you in trouble?  Let them pray. Is anyone happy?  Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick?  Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up.  If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.  Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."
James 5:13-16