Friday, February 27, 2009

I will praise you in this storm...

Hannah Sullivan left this life and entered Heaven on Thursday at 2:25 pm. She will now be eternally healed...free of the awful disease that has taken her away from those who love her so desperately. We are left to now change from praying for Hannah, who no longer needs our prayers, but now pray for those she leaves behind. Brad, Jill and Bethany will need our prayers for the days, weeks, months and years to come. There will be so many milestones to bear without their precious Hannah and I can't even begin to imagine how they will bear it, but I know they will do it with their usual grace and faith in the Lord to get them through. Though I can't imagine going through what they have gone through this past year..even more so, I can't imagine going through it without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I hope everyone who reads this knows him as their personal savior. I hope you all know the Jesus that has brought the Sullivan's through this past year and will get them through the years to come. If you don't, I hope you will find me or someone who does and ask how you can have that kind of relationship with Him. The Sullivan's spoke often of Hannah's Storm and what it meant to their family. It was a great comfort to them. The song "I Will Praise You in this Storm" by Casting Crowns was especially comforting to them. Here it is...




God bless,
Sherri

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Carson's Salvation

Well, coming home Sunday night from church the kids and I were discussing salvation and about security of the believer...Gracen has a friend that goes to another denomination than we do and she has been asking a lot of questions about what they believe. I was muddling my way through answering them the best I could when Carson starts crying and says that he doesn't think he is saved and that he hasn't thought he was for a while now. He says that every Sunday when Bro. Robert says "If you died today do you know if you would go to Heaven?" that he doesn't know for sure if he will or not and that he's afraid he won't. I asked him if he remembers getting saved and he says he remembers telling me he got saved, remembers that he knew how he was saved and all of that, that he was baptized afterwards, but he doesn't remember actually praying and asking Jesus into his heart. I asked him if he remembered what he had told me that night when he told me he had already been saved (this was back when he was 6) He said sortave..he remembered that he told me that he had been saved at VBS closing in May..it was now August...but now he doesn't really remember if he actually prayed and asked Jesus into his heart. He thinks maybe he just knew how but he never really did it. Of course Gracen chimed in and told all about how she remembers where she was, Kidz Kamp when she was 7, and gave her entire story and what she prayed, etc. I told him that it didn't take exact words or a certain prayer exactly but that it did mean that you should know that you believed that Jesus died for your sins on the cross, that you asked him to forgive you of your sins and to come into your heart and live there forever and that no one could ever take that away from you just like we had been talking about with Gracen's questions. I didn't want to "convince" him he was saved if he wasn't and I didn't want to do the opposite so I just tried to tell him the basics in as simple way as I could. Anyway, I asked him if he was comfortable with the fact that he had done that and that he had asked Jesus into his heart and he said, no, he didn't think so. He just didn't remember doing it. He just remembered all the other stuff. I told him we could pull over right there and take care of it but that it was up to him and he said let's do it when we get home. I was glad so that Marty could be there, too. We got home and Marty asked him about it and he told Marty the same thing so we prayed together as a family and Carson prayed and asked Jesus into his heart. Afterwards, I asked him how he felt about it and he said much better. He seemed very relieved. He said he had been worrying about it for a while.

I really have worried about Carson's experience the first time..worried that he would look back and doubt it b/c then, when he was 6, he insisted that he didn't need to pray and ask Jesus into his heart at the time b/c he had already done it and I think he had all the mental ability b/c he's always understood everything so much earlier than most that he understood it so he thought well, I did it, but now looking back he's not sure he really meant it and at 9 doesn't really remember actually doing it..he just remembers telling me, then talking about it and answering all the questions b/c he did know all the answers and then getting baptized. I don't know whether he was saved then or not..maybe he was and he's just doubting it now...I really don't know. BUT, I believe he knows it now and that is the assurance that I want him to have. Whether he was before or not is really not an issue for me, it is that he now has whatever it was he was needing. Thank the Lord!! With the last week of so much sadness surrounding Hannah and my heavy heart and burden for her and her family, this did so much to lift my spirit. I still am burdened for the Sullivan's, but it was a bright spot in an otherwise depressing week.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Sullivan family

Today has just been one of those days. I know everyone has them. One of those days where you just want to go home and get in the bed, but you can't. You have to work, talk to friends, do things you don't want to do..all while your mind is somewhere else. Yesterday Brad, Jill, Hannah and Bethany Sullivan received devastating news..news that we have all been fearful would come. Through email updates on our prayer chain we've been kept updated on Hannah's condition as she has battled a glioblastoma, an agressive brain tumor, for about a year. Marty and Brad knew each other from college at OBU and so when we became aware of Hannah's brain tumor through our church's prayer requests we were burdened for their family. During the past year, our church has been blessed tremendously by the testimony of the Sullivan family. They have been a true demonstration of faith in the face of every parents worst nightmare. During this time every email update has always ended with "God is good." No matter if they were giving positive test results or a good day for Hannah or as in this last email on Monday where they shared the devastating news that without miraculous intervention that the doctor told them that Hannah's time on earth would likely be very short..they still continued to give glory to God and end with "God is good!" It seems so unfair that such tragedy would happen to such a Godly family, but we don't know the reason for these things and we can only trust that God will be and has been glorified through the testimony and life of Hannah Sullivan this far. No matter if she has years, months, weeks or days to come...she and her family have most definitely glorified God through their lives. They are a true testimony of faith that I aspire to have in the face of adversity. Brad spoke at church when their family came and gave their testimony and he shared that he wanted to use his experience to reach out to others that might be experiencing Cancer or other tragedies in their life. I spoke to him on the phone in November for about an hour when we had just found out that our friend's daughter, Brittany, had been diagnosed with Leukemia and I had emailed Brad and asked if he might talk to Tommy, Brittany's dad...through whatever means he had time or felt like he could do. Brad called me that night to get all the details and we spent a good while talking about his and Jill's experience with Hannah's diagnosis and I will never forget that conversation. Their desire to use their heartache to reach out to someone else was so heartfelt and unselfish. I can truly say that I believe that Brad, Jill, Hannah and Bethany have allowed us to see God through them. I know that if, as Jill has said, that God chooses to take Hannah home to live with Him that Brad and Jill will be okay. It won't be easy and they will spend the rest of their lives loving Hannah and I can't imagine how a parent survives it myself, but after seeing God use them this year I know that God is good and he is and will continue to hold the Sullivan family close in his arms. In the meantime, I'm still praying for that miraculous intervention!

Have a blessed night,
Sherri

Monday, February 16, 2009

Gracen's First Valentine


Well, it was bound to happen...a boy gave Gracen her first rose for Valentine's Day! He also gave her a bear with a double-heart balloon attached. I mean I didn't get anything from a boy for V-day until I was in like jr high school!

Marty and Carson were gone for the weekend to Monticello to Tommy's Lodge, Firehunt. A big group of men took their boys down to rabbit hunt, fish and ride four-wheelers Friday through today. There are about 25 or so that go every year and they have such a good time. Carson and Marty both came back today full of stories and still grinning from their big time. It's so great that they can have this special time together with the other fathers and sons.

While they were gone, Gracen had a basketball game on Saturday morning. They won 13-2. Gracen scored 9 points and here are a couple of pics from her game. One is of her shooting under the goal..compliments of Kelly Dodson. :) The other I took of her waiting on Mt. Ida to bring the ball up the court. Both Carson and Gracen's teams have 1 game left next Saturday.





God bless,
Sherri

Friday, February 13, 2009

Crying Under the Bleachers

It's Friday and we are out of school today and Monday for a short winter break. I needed a break because we have had so many games the last 6 weeks or so and I am so tired so I needed some time at home. Marty and Carson have a big weekend planned in Monticello with all the men and boys. They are going to Tommy's Firehunt Lodge to rabbit hunt, fish and just "be boys" until Monday. This will be I guess their 3rd annual trip and they are really excited and ready to go. Carson left this morning with some of the men from Kirby and their sons and Marty will go down after his game tonight.

Last night Marty's jr boys played in the finals of the Jr High District Tournament at Van-Cove. They went into overtime and ended up losing by three points. It was a great game and they had the chance to win a couple of different times..missed a 3 almost at the buzzer that would've sent it into a second overtime. Well, both of my kids really get into the games and Gracen was weepy for a minute but she quickly got over it with a hug from me and I assured her they played good, that's the way it goes sometimes, etc. She was off to shoot on the court. Then Jackie starts motioning to me that Carson is down at the end of the bleachers crying. I go down there and he has crawled under the bleachers and is absolutely crying his eyes out. He keeps saying that daddy should've won, why couldn't daddy win the game, he wanted daddy to win so bad, he just wanted to daddy to win, all while just crying and crying. It was just pitiful!! I had to make myself not cry FOR HIM! I of course told him the same things I told Gracen, that daddy would be proud of his boys for playing hard, that we were almost all 8th graders and we would be even better next year and on and on to no avail. I finally told him to get it together..nicely..went to get him a water and he finally drank a little, settled down enough to come out and I got him distracted playing basketball with Brody...a basketball can cure anything with him! When Marty came out he went straight out the door to the bus and I went out and told him what Carson had done and he said he wanted to get under the bleachers, too! :) Carson went out and talked to him and cried some more until Marty reminded him we beat the conference champs that had beaten us earlier in the season by 20 plus points in the semi's so we should still be proud of what they had done and that cheered him up that Marty was positive about that so off we went to the car. He's so tenderhearted and lives and breathes basketball already. I hate to see him so serious, but hard to reason with him when he sees Marty working so hard in the game to win. Carson can't flip that switch when the game is over. Have to keep working on that!

Have a blessed day!
Sherri

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Umpire Jr. Tnmt. Champs


The Kirby Jr. Teams both played in the finals at Umpire last night. They both won beating the Wickes jr girls and the Umpire jr. boys. Both were very close games. The kids had to pose with the trophy after the game and Carson has even started getting his own piece of the net to save just like daddy.

On Friday night, we were going to actually be at home for the only night of the week and Carson had his friend Deric over to spend the night while his parents were gone to the Beta Club convention. They were playing Nerf Basketball in the living room..like Carson does pretty much all the time when he is at home...and Carson lost his balance and hit the corner of the wall. He cut his open about an inch long and we took him to the ER. They didn't want to staple or glue it because of where it was so they wrapped it up and sent him home...I could've done that!!! He did like the way they wrapped his head..said he looked like an Indian!


They told him not to play in his game Saturday morning but he and daddy vetoed that and he played anyway.

He also has to go to the principal's office tomorrow morning for saying something ugly to a little boy. I'll update on that tomorrow. Never a dull moment at our house!!

God bless,
Sherri