Thankful for this journey

We all have experiences in our past that we wished had never happened, either because of someone or our own stupid actions. But now I am thankful for all the hard times, the ones from my past and the ones to come, God has, is and will use them to shape, mold and mature me to who he needs me to be. I know that this process takes a life time. I am His and nothing happens to me that He isn't aware of. I think back now on the years of our struggles, I mean you can't be married for almost 31 years without a few dark times. But I know now that God has used and is using them all, even the really really ugly ones, for my growth and His glory. Our past trials and blessings have taught me that I can Trust God for His best. I can trust him to provide for all my needs. I know He will..... I've seen him do it. But know this.......He knows my needs and your better than we do. I can see now that what I thought I needed and did not get........ was better to go without and wait on Him to provide what I really do needed. My needs tend to lean more toward physical needs and what He has in store for me usually is for my spiritual growth, and that is where I am wanting to be.  I love His timing and watching his hand in my life and the lives of my family. Everything we have been through and are going through and will go through will bring us to where He wants us to be. He gives us opportunities to share and encourage other people, and in those moments that he uses me, I know that all my struggles, all my sleepless nights, and all my tears will be used to bring him Glory. Just to know that He can use me brings me joy - joy in this everyday life.

Far Above Rubies.

Linda

A wife of noble character who can find?  She is worth far more than rubies.

                       Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.
                             She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.

Proverbs 31:10-12

She is loving, humble, full of grace and peace.

She is beautiful inside and out.

She is quick to listen and slow to speak.

She is kind and giving,

She is a wife, she is a mother and She is a grandmother...

She loves her husband with her whole heart and trusts

God for His will in all this.

When we speak on the phone I hear peace in her

voice.

There is not one fake, phony or selfish thing about her.

When she says she loves us, I know she means it.

Linda is a gift to all who come in contact with her.

I am thankful to God for putting us together through all this.

Proof that he always give us His best.

Cause no matter what, through all this I will have a renewed friendship.

And no matter what God's plan is Clay will he healed here on earth or Clay will be healed and be home with his savior.

As the days come at me like a runaway horse I have more and more quiet time

to just Be Still and Know He is God and also know that through all this He will Shine, in my

in my everyday life.

Two Men

One man is praying for life and another man is willing to give part of his.

The two men have been friends for all of their (almost) 50 years of life. Their grandpa’s were friends, pals……… partners. Jake Baird and Charlie Fancher, if they were together, the boys were together. Now years later, who would of ever believed that we would be where we are today. One man’s grandson is dying of hepatitis C that he got from a blood transfusion when he was hurt riding bulls, the other man’s grandson is willing to offer his life to help.

Clay in Alaska, Todd in Idaho, miles apart but now, closer than ever; closer now because Clay has recently accepted Christ as his personal savior, now the friends are brothers…………..sons of the sovereign King, whose timing is perfect. God knew this day would come before either was conceived.

I am in awe of my Lord, just thinking of how even before time began this was God’s plan for each of these men. This brings me comfort now and I will cling to it for the rest of my days. Just as God has planned these days and how Todd and Clay will be a part of each other’s lives forever. I spend almost every minute of everyday praising God for the days he has given me with Todd, I try so hard to understand his will when I know that His ways are higher than mine,

He planned that Todd and I would meet almost 31 years ago. That I would accept Christ as a little girl in a small town in east Idaho and my husband and I would meet at college in Twin Falls Idaho, My husband accepted the Lord as his savior shortly before we were married. We were so young and in love and through the years and lots of trials we have grown together in our walks and we have seen the hand of God working in our lives and in the lives of our precious daughters. I am so thankful that Todd loves the Lord with all his heart, soul and mind. He is not ashamed of God, not even for a minute.

 I am so proud of Todd and I praise God for my him everyday…………..of this everyday life.

The Call

The call came in just like I knew it would, just like I had been expecting and yet I get got sick to my stomach to hear the words from Todd……”the transplant will be on the 30th of March”. I couldn’t breathe, I got dizzy and felt like I was going to pass out. For once I had no words....I had words but they just wouldn’t come out. My mind was screaming “please Lord make this be a nightmare” but yet my heart knew this was God at work……at work in Clay, at work in Todd and at work in me. This is actually "growing fruit" time for all of our family; I knew that the first minute Todd told me about the call from Clay.

The past 60 days, 1440 hours, 8640 minutes, have been a battle for me; a battle to not throw down the flag, to scream No Way, whatever it would take to call this off. But that would be taking control and that is not where I want to be and it certainly is not where God wants me to be.

There is no one, that loves, needs, or desires their husband as I do Todd. It has always been that way, even in the rocky, dark, stinking rotten days, (and we have had our share). We met on the 4th of October and were engaged on the 31st. Love at first sight is what people call it, some say there is no such thing, but I know different.

For 30 years we have been married, and our next anniversary will be spent in Sanford University Hospital in San Francisco, with me watching my husband recover from a major surgery that could take his life, but yet give life to another. A surgery that didn’t take my husband but a minute to offer to his friend. A friend who had called to share that he had given his life to Christ one minute and to tell us he was dying the next.

Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:3

I pray that all this will bring Glory to God, that we will be able to share with everyone we meet, the love of God and his gift of eternal life. I pray that through this I will be a light and that even though there will be minutes or even hours that I will be crying Abba Father, that I will lift up my eyes and cling to my maker, knowing full well that no matter how hard this is, I know...

that God will work all things for the good of those who love him, Romans 8:28.

You are welcome to share in next 4 or 5 months, but it will not be just another day in this everyday life.

One day at a time.....

This past was such a hard one, we were told by Stanford that it would be two weeks before they had and answer, so if you know me, you know I counted it out and circled the date that we should of heard from them. Well that day came and went and so did the next day. Todd finally got a call from Sanford late Friday; I was driving home from Idaho Falls when Todd called and tole me what they said, he was told that he was the best candidate for lots of reasons, mostly because he is alot bigger than Clay and 40% of Todd's liver would give Clay a good sized piece of liver to start with. This news made me proud of my husband, but yet a chill of fear came over me once again that reminded me of the day Clay called Todd and he offered to be tested. But I quickly started thinking of how this whole thing would bring Glory to our King and how He promises to work all things for our good, my Lord knows how much I love and need my husband; as well as our daughters and their husbands and our precious grandbabies, and I remembered that God is still in control and we are to be obedient and trust him completely, in the good and the hard times we must praise him always. That is what I will continue to do one day at a time in this everyday life.

Is the week over yet?

This past week has been a doosey. The days were packed with catching up at work and home, wondering if Todd will be the candidate for the liver donation for his friend Clay, and getting the computer downloaded with all the programs it needs in order for Todd to be able to work in a program provided by Thomas Edison. He works for hours every night after work. I am so proud of him.

It was cold at the beginning of the week and warmed up toward the end. We were suppose to get snow but it just did'nt happen. We have atleaset 7 more days until Stanford has all the results from Todd's tests.

I just pray for God's grace for each day. Somedays I struggle so bad with anxiety that I am sure I can't make it through this. This is a battle I fight only with the strength of God. I must continue to trust him for our future. In deed it is in these times we do our most growing in our realtionship. Stay tuned for updates on this journies of this everyday life..

San Francisco Trip # 1

The Beginning of a Journey that will change our lives forever..

Wednesday January 5th, I went to work and Todd stayed home to study and take care of somethings at the house before we leave. He picked me up at work and we went to Idaho Falls. My good friend Tony met us airport and he took our car to his house to keep it while we are away; What a blessing that was;

 Tony is a great friend and he and his wife are praying for us.

We got through security 2 and 1/2 hours before our plane took off even though they giggled at our laptop being so old and heavy. It was nice to get there early and we were the only ones in the waiting area so we pulled up a couple of chairs and played..................you got it YAHTZEE!!!

It was cold and when we boarded the plane was less then 1/2 full so we were able to sit where ever and had two seats to ourselves. It took a long time for us to get take off and then twenty minutes after we lifted off we had to return to Idaho Falls because the plane had some problems. I was so cold I was about to cry, we sat in the plane for almost an hour and then they unloaded us and we went into the building for 30 minutes, at that time we knew we were not going to make our flight to Denver so they rescheduled us for a later flight, we were very thankful that they were able to do that (thats how God works) Some people were unable to reschedule, some were very upset and angry for the delay, that, I couldn't understand.

We were safe on the ground, HELLO!

we got to Denver at 8:30 and hustled, meaning ran clear to the other end of the airport to our gate.....

but we made it! Todd even let me use the restroom, yeah that is just the kind of guy he is.

We made our flight from Denver to San Francisco even though Todd and I didn't get to set together, he was setting right behind me. I was freezing still, I have never been so cold for so long.  We got off the plane and waiting to see our big brown suite case come around the carousel at the baggage claim, when I saw it, it almost looked like an old friend, funny huh? We were told by a young man I sat next to on the plane to find a "Super Shuttle" to take us to the Stanford Guest House 27 miles away.

In California everything is out side, like they think it is warm or something.

We stood out side waiting for our "Super Shuttle; at this time we have only met maybe 5 people who speak English. The girl at the Super Shuttle Stand was kind and for that I was thankful. She said lets hope that your driver speaks English and I was like ha ha, that's a joke....right? Yeah well, it wasn't; we got on our little van with 3 other people and our Czechoslovakian driver who, I was sure, was going to kill us. But again God kept us safe and we arrived at the Guest House in one piece; by 1:30 we were showered and in bed. so hungry but more cold and tired.

 Stanford Guest house

 Waiting for the bus to go to the Hospital, big day of testing.

 heading to the building for the CT scan

 Stanford medical building.

 College Medical Library

Thursday, January 6th, our first appointment was to check in at the liver donor clinic then we went and Todd had to have a blood draw at this time I jumped into the hospital gift shop and bought two lap blankets for our flight home, and then we met with the nicest lady, Aundrea, she pretty much puts all this together for the donor. We met with the two surgeons real nice and very kind and patient. Then the liver specialist and then a lady named Jessica, not sure what she was there for. But after 4 hours in the same room without lunch, we were worn down but Todd still had to go and have a chest X-Ray and a CT scan. I had something to eat and then we walked over to another building for his appointment. Then back to the cafeteria for a meal for Todd, boy was he hungry. Then we called for the Guest house bus and they came and got us.

We both had one meal this day. crazy.....

Friday, January 7th, our only appointment for this day is with the social worker, at 10:00 She was a good person and she helped us get some answers to a few questions we have been having.  I appreciated her. She was an older lady and I could tell she was sincere, when she said she was there for us.

After the appointment we walked and walked and went to a different cafeteria and found another place on campus to eat that was a lot better.  When we first got there, there was maybe 20 people there, we got our meals and sat down to have a nice meal and visit. In 15 minutes the place was so full we couldn't hear each other talk. We finished our meal and left for another long walk and then called the bus to pick us up. On the way back we wanted to stop at a little plaza that we have been seeing and was close to the guest house, but we were too afraid to ask, but get this, the driver pulled in and said, I hope its ok, but I have to pick up someone here. We said it's great cause we wanted to stop here. One of the many little ways that God supplied for us there. We got off and saw a Starbucks, a drug store, a yogurt shop,bank,  nail salon and Safeway market! I asked Todd if he minded if I got my nails done and he said sure, he wanted to go for a little walk. By the time he came in to the salon my new friend Kimmie was almost done with my nails. It was a fun time. We pickup a roasted chicken, some fruit and vegetables and started our long hike to the room....all up hill...by the time we got to the room I was pooped, I took a shower and tried to take a nap while Todd studied. We had a nice little picnic and watched a movie. We got up and packed and picked up at 8:00 for our Trip to the airport. We got checked in and had a meal, THANK GOD!

The flight from San Francisco to Denver was nice and when we landed we hit the ground running to our next gate and the bathrooms. It's always better when Todd has to use the bathroom too. :)

The flight form Denver to Idaho Falls started getting cooler and even though Denver had no snow, it was a welcome site to see the snow out the window as we got closer to home. When we landed the wind was blowing and it was cold but really there is no place like home. Well there you have it, the first leg of a possible long journey. That through the Grace of God, the prayers and encouragement of our beautiful daughters and other family and friends, was a success. Until we know the decision on the tests we will continue to press on, Trust God, and living this everyday life.

Almost home at the Denver Airport, still cold and hungry, so we share a nice meal.

The First Day of the New Year

Waiting on God

Waiting or being patient is one of the hardest things to do, it is for me anyways.

I am one person who likes to make a decision and then get on it and get it done; you know,

so you can go on to the next project or decision. ha ha

I used to be real bad at making a list of what needed done and just going at it, probably a good trait if

not abused. I have learned a lot of lessons in the 50 years I have lived and one of the most valuable lesson is to wait, I don't mean to be lazy and wait for someone else to take care of it but I am talking about obediently waiting on the Lord. Seeking His will, asking for His hand.

I have found that when I ask God for direction and wait on him, his timing is always best.

Sometimes he causes me to wait because I am not ready for where He wants to lead me. Sometimes I have too much garbage in my life to move on. We all have plans, dreams and goals, but if we are packing garbage like a bad attitude or disrespect or something that we have allowed to control us, then God will not take us to the next step.  We may have to stay at that frustrating job or in that situation we are in until He thinks we are ready for the next step. This past year I made great strides in getting healthier physically and spiritually, it has taken a lot of work, and some days I didn't do so good, but I continued on, one step at a time waiting for God to lead me where I need to be, and not rushing ahead only to find out that I went the wrong way. I will trust God for each day of this new year. I have such a long ways to go but looking back it is easy to see that through it all, when I was still and waited on the Lord the results were far better than anything I could have done on my own.

I am excited to continue on with this journey in the coming new year and I hope that you will stop by and be encouraged as I share this everyday life.

Cold day here is East Idaho...

The snow plow has just come down the lane. The water in our house started to freeze; Todd has gone to go start the heater in the well pit. This is easily one of the coldest days of the year, but yet Todd and I are enjoying our time together. I enjoy any time with Todd, we play Yahtzee and cards and laugh and talk. I am truly blessed to have him. Seems like I cherish him now the way I should have been all along. I realize this is a journey, that my LIFE is a journey and as long as I continue to press on seeking God's face, spending time abiding in his will, I am right where I am suppose to be.

So I will continue to be joyfull all of my days, (all of them) the best I can, and even though some days I will fail, I will start all over the next morning with renewed grace from my Lord.

Till Next Time, God Bless

Ummmm hello

I know it has been another month of nothing. I had and have great plans, in my head, to get up and running with consistent blogs to share my everyday life. About 2 months ago a really good friend of my husband Todd called to share that he has excepted the Lord and his Savior, can we get a great big Hallelujah!!!!! and then Todd's friend said.......I'm dying...............wow, right?

My husband said that we all would be praying for him and his wife and if there was something he could do to just let us know and Todd's friend said well unless you are O positive there is nothing more you can do. Todd then said well, I am O positive......we filled out 16 pages of Live Donor forms and faxed them to Stanford University to start the process of testing Todd to see if he could possibly be a donor for his friend. We fly out on the 5th to San Fransisco for two days of tests and consultation. The past two months have been a roller coaster of emotions for Todd, our daughters and myself. I wanted to be angry, upset, frustrated,even insulted about this and then God said to me "what if it was Todd that needed a liver?" I know that if this was my husband that his friend would do the same thing for him. We know that there is no greater gift than to lay down our life for a friend. I have to trust God for each day and that He will be Glorified through this. If my husband is the best possible match I will be trying to post as often as possible so that you all can share in this everyday life...

Stay tuned for updates....