~Mother's Day Fun~

  

Mother's Day at our house is a big event.  My kids do everything in their power to make it super special for me.  This year was no acception.  This year they made me a plant stand out of an old stair frame they found on the farm and painted terracotta pots and planted flowers in them.  They're amazing!  

Here are some Mother's Day pix to enjoy!  I love, LOVE my kids.

My beautiful "big girl":  Dempsey Claire

My precious Lyric Darryn

My sweet "big" boy:  Cadence Lee

My silly tiny tot:  Canon Scott

Commited Adultery Lately?

I was reading in Proverbs 7 today.  I have to be honest, I really didn't think it applied to me.  I mean, I'm NOT going to commit adultery.  I could never hurt my husband or family like that.  I also thought, I could never stray THAT far from God.  But as I prayed over these verses, I began to realize that it isn't necessarily talking about the sexual kind of adultery.  I know what the definition of adultery is, but, I had to consider what other areas of my life that I commit adultery.  I began to think of the things that draw me away and entice me to "ignore" and "neglect" my relationship with God. What other sins do I get into bed with?  What do I do with my time, my energy?  What do my attitudes reflect?  I do struggle in these areas. 

What are things that draw us away from a committed relationship with Jesus?

     ~Time:  computer (where I struggle the most), t.v., books that don't honor Him and plant seeds of sin in our minds, shopping, even time with others can keep us from the time He deserves.

     ~Energy:  pursuing selfish ambitions, working too late (time away from our family and/or Him), worry, fear.  What things occupy us so much that they sap our very energy away? 

     ~Attitudes:  arrogance, bitterness, anger, selfishness, flattery?

All of these areas, plus some I'm sure I haven't thought of, can be the "Adulteress" that entices us and draws us away from our True Love.  The Bible says this path leads to destruction.  You see, if we haven't "bound His commands on our fingers & written them on the tablet of our hearts" (Prov. 7:3), we can easily be flattered and enticed away to "her house".  Verse 27 says, "it's the way to hell, even descending to the chambers of death."  I don't know what you think about that, but it down right scares me!  Song of Solomon tells us to "beware the little foxes that spoil the vineyard".  Little things draw us away a bit at a time.  Self-righteous attitudes convince us we're untouchable.  We're not, we must be on our guard.  

What are you a fan of?

I became a "fan" of God today. Not that I haven't been a fan for a long time - I just made if official on Facebook. I'm also a "fan" of Dr.Pepper and Taco Bell. Both of which (according to Facebook) I've been a fan of longer than God. I would have become a fan of God sooner...I just didn't know I could. I didn't know I had to make it official on Facebook. It is the means by which we declare our "fan-hood", afterall. Declare it on Facebook to make it official. Does this new declaration mean I now need to step things up a notch with God? I've made it known so now people will be watching me. Isn't that what we do on Facebook...watch each other? We watch to see if those on our friends list will live up to their "fan" declarations. Afterall...isn't Facebook the new measurement of our commitment to things?

Please Pray for the Bobby Michaels Family

Message from Lee and Rachel...

Our hearts are aching as we tell you that Bobby passed away this evening shortly after going into the operating room. Before the surgeons started the operation, Bobby's heart stopped with an instant "flat-line". The medical team tried for 45 minutes to resuscitate him but his heart did not respond.

We are deeply saddened by our loss...but rejoice that Bobby did get totally healed...with a new heart, kidneys, and any other part that might have needed fixing. The Lord knew the plans He had for Bobby...and today was his graduation day as he went to the One he loved the most and served so faithfully. We know he was carried away in the arms of Jesus.

Words cannot express our thanks for all the love, prayers, and notes of encouragement that have come to us by everyone who have been touched by Bobby's life. Our prayer for all of you is that you will experience the same peace and comfort that we have received from the Father.

We will let you know of memorial plans once these details have made. Thank you again for all of the love and prayers for our family.

We love you all deeply!

Lee, Rachel, and Jeff

Update on Bobby Michaels

Subject: Re: Bobby's Heart Surgery Tomorrow!

Bobby's heart surgery is scheduled at approximately 5 PM tomorrow evening (Tuesday) LOCAL BANGKOK TIME.

This is 3 AM PST, 4 AM MST, 5 AM CST, and 6 AM EST.
I urge you to do one of the following:

- Pray before you go to bed this evening
- Set your alarm for your particular time zone to be up and praying at the time of Bobby's surgery.

Again, this surgery is extremely risky, but to the Maker of Bobby's heart, there is NO risk! The family has requested that we pray specifically that:

- the Lord would prepare Bobby's heart condition to accept treatment
- Bobby's body would respond positively to the anesthetics
- the Lord would give the family the grace to wait patiently during the time of his surgery
- a renewed heart condition would lead to the healing of his other organs and strengthen his body

Deby and I echo the words of Rachel, Bobby and Lee's daughter:
Thank you for standing with us during this critical time. We love each of you and trust you will hear Bobby's beautiful testimony from his own lips in the months to come!

Praying with great expectancy for Bobby's complete healing,
Kirk Dearman

Update on Bobby Michaels

I got this email from Bobby & Lee's daughter this morning. He's still not out of the woods, but he is stable. Please continue to pray for him. If you'd like to email them and let them know you're praying, Rachels email is rachel@bobbymichaels.com
____________________________________________________________________________________

Hello again dear friends!

I made it to Bangkok, Thailand safely and of course my luggage stayed back in Chicago! :) Hopefully it will be arriving in the next day or so... It was so wonderful to see Jim and Cheryl McCandliss waiting at the airport and then to see my parents at the hospital! Even under the great strain that Bobby's body is going through, he still recognizes familiar faces and his face lit up when our eyes met! What a precious moment for me!


I want to first update you as I found out that some previous information was not totally accurate due to translation barriers... None of the events that happened were reported incorrectly but we were originally under the impression that Bobby had some heart infections. That is not the case, he had a myocardial infarction (commonly know as a heart attack but check out wikipedia.com for more info). At this point in time Bobby's heart is way too weak for tests to determine his heart's condition. The Doctors are pretty confident that there is heart damage but they are not sure how extensive it is..


His blood pressure is stable but is lower than what is should be. He is still on hemo-dialysis as the kidneys are not functioning. We still have a long road to recovery but the Lord is MORE than faithful and we know that we can rest in His promises! Thank you for the continued prayers and emails! We are making Bobby a book of everyone's emails and comments. I apologize that I haven't been able to respond to everyone personally but please know that each email is being ready and will be added to his book.


Here are our current prayer requests:

* for his blood pressure to continue in a steady climb upwards
* for his kidneys to start functioning
* Doctors to have wisdom & understanding for diagnosing and finding an appropriate treatment plan

Much love,

Rachel and the gang

Urgent Prayer Request for Bobby Michaels

We got this from Bobby's daughter early this evening.  Please be in prayer for this giant of the faith and Missionary/Musician.

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST UPDATE (BOBBY'S CONDITION): 

Hello Dear Friends and Prayer Warriors,

We come to you once again in need of your prayers. Bobby's heart isn't working properly, yet... My parents arrived in Bangkok last night (Thailand time) and in the morning the Dr.'s took Bobby out of the room to go run some tests. On their way down to the exam room, Bobby's heart stopped beating and they resuscitated him and took him immediately into surgery. They put 2 stents in his heart and removed a blood clot. After recovering from this surgery, he was then transferred back to his room where Mom was waiting for him. While they were setting him back up in his room, his heart failed again and once again they resuscitated him. The reason for this was that the muscles were too weak to do their job. His heart was accepting the stents though J Bobby did really well for the next 6-8 hours. He has tubes down his throat and is needing to rest and stay still. He has been quite restless though during all of this...

About 3 hours ago Bobby's heart gave way again and it took the Dr.'s 20 minutes to resuscitate him this time. During this time, Mom said she was sitting in the room with Bobby & praying and crying out to the Lord asking "WHY?" and why was she there all alone without anyone to be with her. She said the Lord's presence came over her in a way like never before and He said to her "so you know that I AM enough!" Mom said that she stopped crying and felt total peace and that the Lord promised her that He wasn't taken Bobby away, this is all the while Bobby is still unconscious. The Dr.'s were finally able to revive Bobby but he is still in a SUPER CRITICAL stage - medically speaking! The Lord has given us His peace and His promises that He is not done yet with Bobby. Mom was also reminded of the stories in the Bible of when people had seemed "dead" and the physical circumstances seemed to be the same but the Lord said "No, they are just resting". 

I just called Mom again a few minutes ago to see if anything else had changed so that this update would be very "up to date" and she said that Bobby is resting very well right now. She said also that the Lord told her that "He was having a meeting with Bobby and they just needed to talk" :) Dian and I think that this was the Lord's way of making Bobby rest as he is always wanting to be social and interacting J As huge, strong and giving as Bobby's heart is figuratively speaking, we are praying that the same would be given physically to his heart!

Jim & Cheryl McCandliss, along with a dear friend, Jennifer, from Singapore just arrived at the hospital in Bangkok and are now with Mom. Bobby is alert and aware and trying to talk J which isn't working very well with a tube down his throat!

Here are some specific prayer request again:

• That Bobby would just rest and for his restlessness to be gone
• That his blood pressure would stabilize
• Continued wisdom for the Dr.'s and medical team
• For Mom to be able to get GOOD rest
• For Jim & Cheryl to be able to get good rest also
• Wisdom & Knowledge for Mom, Jim, Cheryl & Jennifer as decisions need to be made

Bobby can never be accused for not loving someone enough and we thank you from the deepest parts of our hearts for loving our family enough in return! I will probably be headed over there soon and will keep you all posted as to what's happening. Thanks again for your prayers, love and support! This road has been a lot easier to walk knowing we have your support!

Love to all!
Rach and the Family