prayers for dad

after spending a week away i am now back trying to catch up. my time spent in mawanga village was beautiful. God continues to press in on me what He wants me to see. i will share all i can as i get my thoughts together. but first i want to stop and ask for prayer...

as i was away this week in eastern uganda, my parents back in texas went to houston for a check up on my dad's status. i read in an email last night after get back that the spot the doctors had initially found on his liver had grown. plus there may be additional spots in the liver and even possibly in his abdomen. 

these are not the words i wanted to read. it's not what any of my family wanted to hear. but i will remain hopeful. i will always remain hopeful. because hope does not disappoint. my God remains faithful. He remains good. He remains sovereign. He remains strong. i will keep claiming the truth of who my God is! He will overcome! 

my heart hurts to not be with them. it's difficult to hear news like this when i am so far away. so again i ask for prayer on behalf of my family. for my dad. for my mom. for my siblings. for my nieces & nephews. for all who have been a part of this journey. another 10 weeks then they return to rescan and evaluate once more. thankfully, that appointment will be during the time i will be back in the states for a couple weeks during christmas. 

thank you for standing with us in this battle! 

my God, YOU are here with us

constantly here with us

YOU are our everything, 

Faithful and True

(Constant - Charlie Hall)

2.22.11

this date will now be added to our memory bank. we have several of them and we may have more. this date represents when we received the news about my dad. the news that no one wants to hear. that it's positive. positive for cancer.

three years ago. on march 24, 2008 my dad was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. he endured many rounds of chemo & radiation. then on july 22, he underwent one of the most evasive surgeries to remove the majority of his esophagus. he went through many months of recovery to get off of a feeding tube. he was trying to find his "new normal". he did well. he overcame a lot!

fast forward to thanksgiving day, 2009...we rushed my dad to the emergency room for severe abdomen pain. he spent 10 days in the hospital and still no one could figure out what happened. not even to this day. our guess is as good as theirs.

one year later, during our annual christmas party (mom's side) in december, 2010, dad got a piece of meat stuck in his esophagus. had to take him to the hospital first thing the next morning to have it removed. he wasn't able to eat or drink for over 24 hrs. pretty scary when he is as frail as he is.

and now this week. feb 22, 2011. we add another date. we get hit with another blow of news. dad has cancer. again. it's in his left adrenal gland. next week, the meetings and the discussion picks back up. the treatment plan. the road ahead. the pros. the cons. the major decisions. it all begins. again.

it's been a rough week for us all. the unknown road ahead. BUT in the midst of the heaviness. in the midst of no hope. in the midst of sadness. in the midst of tears. in the midst of frustration. in the midst of not knowing how to respond...we have JESUS.

HE is our STRONGHOLD.
HE is our HOPE.
HE is our ROCK.
HE is our STRENGTH.
HE is our COMFORT.
HE is our LIFE.

and He is without a doubt HERE WITH US. He is where my eyes are fixed. and His name will be exalted through it all! i choose to lift up the name of Jesus through the life of my dad. may HE heal him. blessed be His Name!

*please pray with us as we walk down this journey...you can see updates on my dad's blog

the next few days

i am putting pause on my reflections from passion 2011 and will pick back up in a few days. i am heading out to a volleyball tournament in san antonio and then will hit the ground running next week with hosting a missionary and my good friend kelsey young. also, my family was informed that the doctors found a spot on my dad's left adrenal gland. he went down to MDA for a normal 6 month check up and got the results of his scan today. they are planning on doing a biopsy to determine if it cancerous or not. that is scheduled for sometime next week. we are all in good spirits and trusting the Lord with every step. you can read more on our families blog by clicking here.

my prayer in all of this is that God would make much of Himself. that He would be exalted. that He would be glorified. and that He would draw us closer to Him.

thanks for standing in the gap.

joy

Disciple Now 2010

Last weekend I had the privilege of being a leader at Disciple Now at First Baptist Hurst. I was placed with 25 seniors!! It was sooo much fun!! We all stayed at 1 house so it was a little crazy as you can imagine sleeping in just about every place. :) The weekend included: worship lead by the David Hassel Band, teaching by a guest speaker, a picture scavenger hunt (pictures below), bringing sack lunches and hot chocolate to the homeless in Ft Worth, dodgeball, broom ball on the ice rink, and a time of intimate worship in setting our hearts on the Lord. We had great small group (it was still large with 25 girls...haha) discussions regarding who we are in the Lord and finding our identity in Him. Our theme for D'NOW was Roots. I am so thankful for all the conversations I had with the girls. I love getting to know people, hear their story, and simply coming alongside them as we run after Jesus together. God moved in all of us this past weekend and my prayer is that He would continue to rend our hearts to Him!

Here are some pictures from D'NOW...all of these are a part of our scavenger hunt Friday night

Some of my girls "underwater"...

The group with our "feet off the ground"

My girls being "wall art"

We had to make a "human target"

During worship...

Karen, Judy, and I at broom ball... I think it's become one of my new favorites!!
Sunday morning...
25 Seniors...love them all!!

Today (Friday), I am heading down to San Antonio for a volleyball tournament!! I'm so excited!! First of all, I love road trips. Secondly, it's San Antonio. Thirdly, I'm hoping to get to see my sister and a few friends along the way!! Please keep my volleyball girls in your prayers. Pray that God would provide opportunities to share with them about who He is. I have already seen some ways He is doing just that! :)

Also, continue to pray for a place to live. The Lord has completed my time with Karen. Her son and his family will be moving in with her next month. I am needing to find a place to move quickly. I am not sure on where or with whom. I am beginning to feel a little anxious in seeking that out, but it becomes difficult when I am babysitting all day and then volleyball practice at night. I believe the Lord is preparing that place, but it hasn't been revealed to me yet. Pray that God would open the door and move quickly!!

Lastly, I feel like the Lord is leading me to start a bible study/small group with some of the girls in the youth group from church. I am so excited about this opportunity and the time I will get to spend with them. It brings such joy to my heart in being able to walk alongside these girls at their age and do life with them...to mentor, disciple, or just hang out...I am thankful for it all! God is moving mightly and my prayer is that He will use this to further His name! I have nothing to really offer them, but God does. I am humbled to be where I am and so excited to see what is to come!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

For the Glory of His Name,

Joy

Past Few Days

This video has been long awaited but I wanted to show you my room. I took this video the first day I arrived. Those are mosquito nets you see around our beds...and yes they are still out and about! 

Yesterday Heather, Paige, and I went to Kamwala Market to find couches for the Children's Village we are opening and I was modeling the different ones we were looking at. There weren't many options as you can see we had choices of this lovely orange color and green.

Heather and I sitting in the chair that we liked. We are going a love seat, a sofa, and a chair for each house. They are going to look so great!

Today (wednesday), I stayed at the Villa to work on some things on my computer. When you are out on the ground seeing kids and having meetings it's hard to catch up on emails. Plus we just had several projects to do on the computer. It was nice to get some things done. I went for a run this afternoon and then got back in time to cook a delicious meal!! We are trying to do our best of cooking a variety of things so tonight we made Spaggetti, salad, and had bread. It was probably one of my favorites so far. 

Tomorrow, we have our first big staff meeting with all our Zambian staff. Greer arrived yesterday and we are finally ready to get together with our team here. It's exciting and we are ready to begin the preparation for Camp LIFE which is only a few weeks away. Within the next few days we have several more of our American Staff arriving so please pray for their safe travels. We actually had one staff member miss his flight and he had to stay at London for 2 extra days....anyways, I'm off to bed.

Prayer Request:

>For the Opening of the Children's Village (we have so many things to accomplish in a short amount of time)

>For wisdom in knowing the timing of everything

>For God to lead us in the direction we need to go

>For my time spent with the Lord to multiple and for richness

>For the Lord to utilize my gifts in discerning the situations of the kids that I see daily

>For wisdom to know which first 12 kids (out of 300) kids need to move into the Children's Village (we are in the evaluation process right now)

Many Blessings,

Joy