Thinking of Donna

Well I have made the hard decision that I cannot go down for Donna's memorial, so I wanted to post here and let you know that I am praying for everyone. I pray that the service will be a celebration of life and that there will be joy and laughter along with the grief when remembering her life. In the time that I served with her in Children's ministry she was such an encouragement and so much fun to be with at Koinonia. My heart is with all of you even though I can't be there. Love and miss you all.

VALOR is a TEENAGER!!!!!!!!

Wow. Can't believe we have a teenager. We don't feel old enough :-) Not only is it Valor's 13th birthday but it is also his golden birthday, 13 on the 13th. Big day. While I was looking back at these pictures, it seems like another life time. I put so many pictures on here so I will try to make the words short.

We are so proud of Valor and the young man that he is becoming. He loves the Lord and is not afraid to share Him with anyone. He is our evangelist at school and with his friends. He stands up for what he believes in the classroom and is not afraid to speak out. He loves going to Youth Group Bible Study at Matthew's Cafe and Calvary Chapel .

He loves sports: soccer, baseball, hockey, etc. He would try just about any sport. When he is not playing sports, he loves hanging out with his friends. He has a great group of friends. He has been playing the bass guitar at school for three years now. He is also our book worm. We can't keep enough books in this house for him to read. He is a great student and loves school.

We used to jokingly pray for the Lord to come back before we had teenagers, but we are actually looking forward to this phase (most of it). We love being able to have "adult" conversations with him about politics, religion, and just everyday life. This is the age that they start making more "life" decisions for themselves and it is exciting and scary all at the same time.

Well Valor, happy birthday. We are very proud of the young man you are becoming. The verse we have chosen for you is:

I Timothy 4:12 "Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity."

Love you,

Mom, Dad, Ethan, Jadon, Breandan

2 Months old

8 months old

2 years old

Valor 4 years old, Ethan 2 years

4 years old

Daddy and Valor 5 years old

First day of kindergarten

Valor 6th Birthday, Joey Kovacs 5 years old

7 years old Space Camp

8 years old

Valor 9 years old, Jadon 4 years old

10 years old (Uncle Neil & Aunt Holly's wedding)

Valor 10, Breandan 1 1/2

Mommy and Valor (1o)

Valor 11 years old

Jumping off the rocks at Bear Hole - 12 years old
12 years old

Playing cards with Mema 12 years old

Valor and Joey 12 years old

Back Again finally

I can't believe it has taken me so long to post again. We have had some crazy weeks. Anyways, thanks for the responses about "Quality people". Lots of good things to think about. God showed me a lot in it but to make it short I think, the main thing is how do I see people. Do I look at people and and find them less quality then myself?, Do I compare them to me (or others) or do I compare myself to others and Do I look for quality in myself based on others or on Christ. Well I know where my flesh wants to go with this one but I know I need to guard myself against that. Christ should be our measurement for quality of ourselves (we are not to judge others) and as long as we strive to be like him (though we will not make it in this life) we are on the right track.

There are a few Casting Crowns songs that talk about the church, that this really made me think about. Some of the songs off their first album "Casting Crowns" talks about the church and what is the "church" really doing to reach people. Are we looking for comfort in where we are (or what church we go to)? Or are we reaching out to those that the world sees as less "Quality", the ones that might make us uncomfortable, the ones that need Christ just as much as those that are considered to have "Quality" in the world. Christ hung out with the people that were not considered quality in his day, very few times was he with the "Religious Leaders" and when he was it was not usually good. I guess where we are at is going to depend on our maturity in Christ and where we are in our walks with him. All of our needs are different and they are different at different times of our lives.

OK so I went a couple of different directions here and it was not exactly short. I hope this all makes sense, to you as I try to explain here what God was showing me with this.