Showing posts with label ruben. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ruben. Show all posts

Mar 2, 2007

Off to bed - long day Saturday

A big thanks to Buddy, Amanda, Ryan, Derek, Jumoke, Pili, Charles, Megan, Ruben, Esther, Ashley, Matt, Julie, John, Tamra, Jana, Kezia, Naomi... your help providing materials, ideas, muscle while we packed everything up and loaded the trailer has been such a blessing to us. All we have to do now is wake up, take our last few items down to the truck and drive off. We had a nice meal at El Pollo Rico (which we're going to miss so much since it's so close and sooo yummy) and then we watched just a little TV and talked. Then our great friends presented us with a scrap book full of pictures from our two years here, and goodbyes from many different people from church. We looked at the pictures, but didn't really get a chance to dive into it. We'll enjoy reading it when we get home to Texas. Thanks again to everyone that had a hand in this wonderful gift.

Our time here has been awesome. I can't believe that we're leaving and that one year has passed since my brain surgery! Time has absolutely flown by. It just ticked past midnight and now it is March 3, 2007. One year ago right now my parents and Holly's mom were here and I was trying to get to sleep knowing that I would undergo brain surgery the following morning to remove my tumor. I didn't know it at the time, but the months following the surgery would be the most trying of my life. But here I am, one year later, driving off on one year to the day of that life changing day. Sometimes, it never seems like it happened. But every day I look in the mirror and I see the scar and my thin patch of hair from the radiation. It reminds me of what happened, and how far I have come. But I didn't do it alone. My wonderful wife, Holly, was there by my side every single day. She is my rock. And our family from Grace lifted us up during that time too. God gave you to us so that we could get through that time. In turn, we gave something back to others that are able to take our experience and somehow get through something in their lives just a little bit easier. I'm happy that God used me for that purpose. I will go through it again if I need to, because I feel I have helped more people having experienced this than anything else in my life. And it has made me a better person in the end.

DA Photo 2006DecThe next few months will be a challenge for us, but it's nothing we won't be able to handle. But for the next 40 days, I'm on vacation... my first in two years. Man, am I looking forward to it! Lastly, Holly shared with you that I am on the selection list for a promotion to E-7/SFC in the Army. This is great news since it means more dinero and it just feels good to know that I made the cut. I had to take what the Army calls a DA Photo (Department of the Army Photo) and submit it with my promotion packet. I thought I'd share it with you. Good night.

Mar 1, 2007

One Day and A Wake-up

Oh my...Roger and I are exhausted. Almost delirious. If there wasn't so much to do, we'd be completely delirious. And if it wasn't for our friends Ruben and Megan, we'd for sure be delirious. It's been a hard day. We had several errands to run. We really needed two full days off to get those last minute things done and visualize what we were really facing boxes and loading wise. But we only had one day and we tried to accomplish it all even if there were slight variations in our plans. One disappointing item was our Goodwill run. We had about six bags of goodies for Goodwill they happily accepted. But they would not take the bedside toilet and shower transfer bench left over from Roger's recovery. They stated some kind of liability/sanitation excuse and sent us on our way. This was our third attempt to get these items to needy hands. Roger immediately called a friend and there may be a solution. But if not, we may have to discard of them which we were hoping to avoid. We were hoping someone who really needed them could have them.

After a day of half hazard attempts at accomplishing last minute errands, Ruben and Megan came to our rescue to help us finish packing and accomplish a mock trailer load in the dining room to see if everything would fit. It's going to be tight, but we are going to try our hardest to get everything to fit.

Roger and I both will feel a ton of bricks lift from our shoulders after the trailer is completely loaded. Please pray the Lord will make room for all our stuff and we hit the road covered with His peace.

Until tomorrow...