Life

Wow. I am just in awe of this past week and it's happenings. The past 3 weeks have been very difficult. The last week and half of them the toughest. Sometimes I sit confused as to what all is happening and sometimes I wonder what on earth God's plans are for everyone. I will never comprehend this side of Heaven.

As you know on of my junior highers is just awaiting her time to go see Jesus. All signs lead to this happening today but Samantha just keeps fighting so I do not know.

Last week my mom called me and told me about a girl that my brother and I went to gradeschool with. Lauara Laughlin. She was 27 years old when the Lord took her. Laura was a newlywed when she was on her way to work one morning and a dump truck hit her. I watch videos and looking at pictures and stories online from her life, her wedding, from who she had become and my heart just hurts for those surrounding her.

Late last night I got a phone call from a guy I went to school with. He told me that he was sorry to leave a voicemail like the one he was leaving but that our friend Bobby from college had died that evening. Bobby was such a geniune guy. He found good in everyone and in everything and loved the Lord with his all. Bobby was playing basketball and on his way down from making a shot collapsed and went to Heaven. I know Bobby is in heaven, but here on earth our hearts hurt, we wonder why now, we will miss him!

On top of all of this there are some other big things floating into my office, that I know I can't take care of or take on on my own but that people I care dearly for are dealing with.

In Junior high I was presented with a plaque in chapel less than a year after my brother died. It was dedicating our school gymnasium in memory of my oldest brother Brian. Our principal picked out a verse for Brian that he found very fitting and I later choose it for my confirmation verse, I see it as a life verse.

Phil 3:13-14 "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize by which I have been called heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Our life is temporary here on earth.... we should constantly be looking at the finish line and know that the finish line is the start of life in heaven. We don't know when that line comes because we are just looking forward to Jesus, he knows us better than anyone and he coaches us up until that time until we are in his arms.

Keep looking ahead! The past is full of memories and those are fun, but if we look back we aren't focusing on what God is giving us for today, we aren't living this gift of life to the fullest. I am bad at doing this so many times, but thankful that my Coach leads me to the right path.

May you live each day in joy and happiness, taking set backs in strife and focusing on heaven.

You are all so special to me, and I am thankful you are a part of my life.

Love,

Mel

Samantha

Well, Many of you have been asked to pray for this junior higher of mine in the past. Now I ask you to continue to pray, but pray for peace for her, her family and her friends. I was called out to Stanford again on Monday night and spent almost 36 hours there. Samantha wasn't suppose to make it through the night. She did and she is still alive but it is just a matter of days now. She is at her home in Lodi now and she is just resting and enjoying visits from her family and friends that she requests to come over. She is on morphine and her brain is swelling. Her daddy took her to the coffee shop yesterday like they do every Saturday morning. She can no longer see and has been having a hard time with that but we just explain things to her and remind her a lot about who is in the room.

This week has been challenging. I took a tape recorder over to the junior high classrooms and let them record a message since she can't see cards. Some of them broke down after they recorded the messages. They had some tough questions or just didn't understand what was going on. I just hugged and cried with them and prayed with them. Some of these children have an amazing outlook, some of them have no idea what the magnitude of all of this is.

Samantha will be going to heaven soon, but there will be a lot of other people going to heaven as well because of her focus on putting others first and witnessing to anyone and everyone she could. The Holy Spirit is doing amazing things in the Lucille Packard Children's Hospital in Stanford. I pray that we can help to continue that. She has left books full of bible passages in waiting rooms, told doctors, nurses, orderly's, children, parents and so many others about how amazing Jesus is and that if you believe in him you have eternal life.

Samantha is a modern day hero in my books, she is an inspiration, she is a living example on how we should be living.

Samantha, I love you! I am excited for you that you will be made whole again soon in Jesus' arms. Thank you Samantha for sharing your life with me!

Sail Away

All I can say is that I helped the school fundraiser people out by dressing as my own sail boat and getting the kids excited about selling raffle tickets for the fundraiser.... I many times wonder to myself how I get into the situations I am in... then I realize there is none to blame but me...

So enjoy the picture... laugh with me or at me I can take it! :)