Prayers for Ray Garza!

By now some of yall already know, but some don't, that one of the High School golf coaches out in our area was seriously hurt in a motorcycle accident. We have been praying for him, as well as MANY others. Him, his wife and kids are wonderful people who we have had the pleasure of getting to know because our kids go to the same school with theirs (they have 4) and Emily and one of their daughters have taken dance and played tball with last year. While he has shown some improvements, he still has a long way to go and isn't fully awake or aware yet. His wife is asking for some special prayers starting tomorrow. Here is a copy from their carepage:

Ray's trach went well and it is so great to see his handsome face. He truly has a glow on his face. He is so beautiful. The arm surgery went well. It was actually broken in 5 places, mostly in the humerus. They have put a plate in it and it should function fine. The nerves were bruised, but not detached. That will take some time to heal. They washed the foot wounds out but did not do the muscle/skin graft surgery called a flap. They hope to accomplish that later this week. He is scheduled for an OT to come see him soon. He is getting very stiff in his joints. He has lost over 20 pounds already. His alertness is not very frequent yet and the nurses told me this is normal and eventually he will respond more often and then completely wake up. This may still take a long time. This leads me to the next part of tonight's update. I really want to bombard heaven with so many prayers on the 9 days before his birthday. Making May 8th be the 9th day of our "super" prayers. If you are able, please help me. Please start a novena with me on Wednesday, April 30th. The last day will be May 8th (Ray’s 36th Birthday). Below explains what a novena is. A novena is a devotion consisting of prayer said (most typically) on nine successive days, asking to obtain special graces. (Ray’s complete healing). These may consist of scripture reading, recitation of the Rosary, Chaplet, or other small prayers throughout the days. The idea is to send up as many prayers as possible, praying for something fervently. The practice of saying novenas is derived from Scripture. After Jesus' Ascension into heaven, he told his disciples to pray together in the upper room and devote themselves to constant prayer (Acts 1:14). The Apostles, Blessed Virgin Mary, and other followers of Jesus prayed together for nine consecutive days, concluding in the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. I know people of all faiths are praying for Ray. That in itself is absolutely beautiful. God loves us all! Many, many of you have sent me healing scriptures. Thank you so much! Dodie Osteen (Joel Osteen’s mother) also used these same scriptures to defeat cancer. She speaks up here during the week. I am listing a link to her website below. If you can read these daily for nine consecutive days, I know God will hear us. I am also not forgetting the little flower St. Therese sent us a few days after the accident letting us know that God is listening and healing Ray. Below is a link for a novena asking her to pray for Ray’s healing. I figure if we can have the Church Militant (Christians here on earth) and the Church Triumph (those already in Heaven) all praying for Ray, we will send up a mighty prayer for Jesus Christ our Lord to heal Ray. Thank you all so much! Healing Scriptures: http://www.alighthouse.com/healingscriptures3.htm St. Therese Little Flower of Jesus http://www.ewtn.com/therese/novena.htm#pray Please continue the Miracle Prayer I know this is a lot of praying… more than I have ever done. However, this branch is bearing fruit!! “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” John 15:7-8 We are seeing this happen!!!!!

Please help them out by praying for Ray!

Sorry it has taken so long!

We have been so busy and I just have neglected yall. Sorry!!! I have so much to say I don't know where to start. We are almost finished with baseball season. It has been a great year and the kids are having so much fun. When we finish with baseball the boys will go on to swim team. They are very excited about it as it will be the first time we have done this. JT has been begging to do it so of course Dylan wants to try too. Emily doesn't and that is fine. She will be taking a summer dance Diva Camp in July. We will have a busy summer ahead of us. My new header photo is of a birds nest with some eggs at my sisters house. Thought it was cute!

My niece Cassie took some pictures of the kids game the other day and one of herself:



And here is one of my niece Tori bumping the ball at one of her volleyball games:







With all these baseball games I thought I would post a few more pictures:

The weather had been nice the last few weeks. One day the kids got some silly string and had fun getting each other with it and then they jumped on the trampoline:

We had a couple of additions to our family. JT and Emily got more fish and Dylan got another one. So far these are all still living. Here is a picture of JT's and Dylans, Emily's was camera shy:

We had some wild baby rabbits out here and the kids had fun watching them until they left so Popsy and Mimi bought the kids a pet rabbit. It is a dwarf that is 8 months old and full grown. They named him Tyler:

Last weekend we had company come over. We had hamburger and hotdogs and snowcones and the kids all played. The boys pretty much played baseball the whole time and the girls played dress up and even went outside and played baseball for awhile before they decided they needed their make up.

Here is poor Cinderella cleaning:

Saturday was a lovely day for a parade. NOT!! It was raining in the morning, but JT's baseball team was in the Frontier Day parade. The kids had fun even though it was still sprinkling. This was our teams trailer decorated:

Here are the boys that braved the weather:

We weren't the only ones. My sister Susan son is in FFA so they had a trailer too. Here is Hank and his friends on their trailer:

Yesterday my niece Tori turned the big 13. My sister Susan now has all teenagers! I feel for her, I know I will be there one day too!

I think that is about it for now! I will TRY to keep this more up to date! Have a great week!

Hello out there!

We have been so busy and I have been so tired I just haven't posted. I have a lot to share, but just not the energy to do it. I will get around to it soon though! Until then, have a blessed day.

Strawberries!

Well after a rough Wednesday, the rest of this week has been ok. Busy, but not bad. Took Dylan to the dentist and the took an x-ray and said his adult teeth looked fine and didn't seem to be chipped or anything.

On Thursday we went to a local farm with a group of friends to pick strawberries! The kids had fun. We got 3 buckets full so got stuff to make strawberry shortcakes and stuff to make a pie, now what to do with the rest of them?

Do you just ever have one of those days?

Well today is mine. Nothing major or really bad happening just a day that has been trying my patience,which is a little thin already! When I gave the kids a bath tonight I walked away for just a few minutes and when I came back, the kids had water everywhere. JT thought it was funny to lean against the jets and have the water spray everywhere (and I mean every where). Dylan thought it was funny to take one of those splash balls and throw it up to the ceiling and leave marks all over it. Then I don't know how much bubble bath they used (or should I say shampoo because we are currently out of bubble bath) but mix that with the jets of the whirlpool and there were bubble everywhere.

The worst thing today though has to be the boys were wrestling in the living room, I had told them to stop and then I told JT to get started on his homework. I went into the kitchen to wash my hands and next thing I know Dylan is crying and comes running in the kitchen holding his mouth with blood just pouring out. He says JT kicked him. So JT comes running in there and says that Dylan was holding onto his leg so he kicked trying to get him off. Well once I got the bleeding under control we noticed something funny! Dylan was missing his other front tooth. Yep, JT knocked it out, it wasn't even loose. We can't find it either so I don't know if he swallowed it or what. Dylan was already missing one from running in the house and falling and hitting his tooth on the door jam in the hall, now the other one is missing from horseplaying. I am not happy about it at all. Who knows when they will come in and I am afraid this is going to affect his speech. Ughh! Well at least we are all alive and healthy. Here is a picture of my toothless little man.

Dirt!

What is it about mud or sand that kids just gravitate to it? I don't know, but my kids had a blast this weekend playing in the fresh dirt hill that Mimi and Popsy got. They would climb it, dig in it and fill the wheel barrel up and dump it out.

It was a beautiful weekend so we spent pretty much all weekend outside. After playing in the sand again today they got the water hose out on the trampoline and played with their cousins Cassie and Tori and then they moved the sprinkler to the swing set and played in the water. Then they went over to my sisters house behind us and played in the mud with Tori. They were covered head to toe in mud. If I hadn't been so busy trying to clean them up I would have gotten a picture. It was bad though.

Friday was an eventful day too. My sister Susan called me early that morning to tell me she had taken her son Hank to the hospital. She thought he might have appendicitis. Tori (her daughter) had it back in 2002. Sure enough he did. They had to remove his appendix Friday evening. He is doing better now, just in a little pain and he is already home.

Now time to get ready for another busy week of ball practice and games. Hope everyone has a blessed week!

Funny story!

Ok, no pictures, but want to say first off, thanks for the love and sticking around and reading about me and my family! I have the best family and friends. Now for the story, Emily has started carrying around a book and pen and is always telling us not to look at her diarrhea! I have corrected her and told her that it is a DIARY not diarrhea, but I heard telling JT again this morning to stay away from her diarrhea. Just thought I would share.