Power of Prayer

Well I as I sit down to right this many of you that know me will be like Duh this girl believes in the power of pray she was raised with it in her everyday life. Raised in it and seen it work so much that even when I wasn't following Christ the first thing I did when I found out my mother's life was in danger was to pick up the phone and called my Aunt and Uncle saying "We need Prayer." Those were the first words out of my mouth and later talking to Aunt Rhonda her first thoughts went to my brother who was at the time in the Middle East. Prayer has and will always be part of my life. But seeing it work in others life no matter how close to you they are and experiencing it first hand can be two different experiences. I don't want to say that either one less important then the other because they have both had profound effects on my life, but I just wanted to write about my recent experience. In October I surgery on my Achilles Tendon which left me in crutches for 6 weeks followed by 4 weeks of physical therapy. The first of January the Young adult community at my church had a retreat in Twain Harte, Ca. My friend is pregnant so instead of riding in the vans that go up we decided that we would take our car and ride up together. So as silly as it sounds driving can be quite the workout for a foot that hasn't had much action in months. Since the foot that was operated on was my right foot I was using it to push on the brakes or the gas and while this didn't seem to be a big deal prior to starting out the trip after 3 hours of doing this my foot was a bit aggravated to say the least. Well my friend Jenny gave me some Naproxen and I still found it difficult to sleep that night. The next morning was a fun filled day of hiking, sledding, and skiing/snowboarding. As you can well imagine none of these activities were overly appealing to me, but not wanting to be the party pooper as my Aunt Terri would call me I sucked it up and decided to go take pictures of the gang Sledding. I am so glad I did because what an experience of riding in the van with Katy who assured us that she "Does this everyday" to the watching the Californians way of snow sledding was purely entertaining (see post below). To credit Katy though she does know how to drive a van I will give her that!!! So after a pretty busy day of walking up and down the hill you can imagine how my foot was feeling. For my mother who may be reading this I want you to know that I had spoken to the doctor the week before and he told me that the pain was normal and I would probably have a lot of it for up to about 6 months or more. He had also told me if it didn't go away we could try a cortisone shot. This is something I was trying to avoid at all cost. That night we sat down to watch a video Tony had brought called the "Finger of God." I got to tell you though coming from a Pentecostal background I always find humor in how these types of movies are introduced. I experienced the same thing when attending a prayer meeting for the first time and I thought who this is so mello compared to how I was raised. I know it is out of the norm for the majority of people maybe that is why I find it so comical because it is pretty much normal in the family I was raised in so I guess I am so not part of the norm. I am very PROUD of that now. So during this movie I was in Pain I was trying to put my foot up to elevated it to take away some of the swelling and if Jenny had been in the same room I would have asked her for another Naproxen, but she wasn't she was watching the second part of the movie in another room. As the movie ended my friend Tony asked us to pray and not just pray but be bold and pray with one another. As we were all praying my friend Candice stood up and began to pray and as she prayed she prayed to take away the pain in my foot. She didn't lay hands on me she prayed from across the room. Like I said I am a firm believer in prayer but what happened next surprised even me....THE PAIN WAS GONE FOLKS!!! I didn't believe at first but as I sat there for about five minutes moving it up and down I coudn't sit by and not say anything. This doesn't sound like that big of thing, but before this I couldn't go up to my tip toes it was just too painful for me to do so. As I stood up to share the good news I stood on my tip toes without pain, I fell asleep that night without pain, I drove home then entire 3 hours without pain, today more then 2 weeks later I am WITHOUT PAIN. Praise God! I know what prayer can do I have seen it work in my family and I have had it work in me. I thank my Grandma all the time for her prays as I walked away from God there was one thing I always knew my Grandma Helen was praying that I was coming back to him. My Mom and Dad never let us leave the house for school growing up (even on the mornings we were running late) without taking our hands and praying for us! I am Grateful for that and hope to instill the same qualities in my Children one day.

President of the United States

In an era where children do not include "one nation under God" in the pledge of allegiance at school I must say that I find it rather refreshing to see President Obama close his Inauguration speech "God bless you. And God bless the United States of America." I honestly can't say that I have watched other past president’s speeches, but considering that this is a historic event in American History I did watch this morning as he addressed the nation and the world. Many people don't agree with him and not everything he stands for do I agree with (then again I don't know anyone that I agree with 100%). I think that the Hope he has brought to the nation is amazing. It is hard to believe that around 50 years ago blacks were segregated and now Barack Obama is the President of the United States. It makes me proud to be an American! I pray for his and his family’s safety as he embarks on this great journey to lead our nation in such uncertain times. GOD BLESS AMERICA....let us not forget those words.

MLB Fan in the House!!

Hey your favorite baseball fan is back....OK BASEBALL FREAK! Only 23 days until Pitchers and catchers report. It has to be a better season all around. I am ready for the A's to make a run again. Not sure if that will happen, but I have realized it is time for me to be back in the stands telling everyone my thoughts on how I would have done things different. I think Mom and I need to go to Wrigley Field. Not only would it be tons of fun, but maybe the healing factor I need. The past is the past and God has a reason for everything. I will admit I don't always like it, but he knows better then I do. So here is to a new and exciting baseball season! Thanks to Geremi for all the wonderful memories and being there for me during a time in my life where I needed to learn to smile again. You reminded me who I was and you are missed!

Restful Weekend

This weekend was full of rest. After the exciting week I had last week I needed it. There seems to be more excitement coming my way these days then I can handle. I am not sure if it is age or just too much going on in my life. As many of you know I have been working for the Warriors NBA Photographer for this season. It sounds more glamorous then it really is, but it is a lot of fun. Even though it does push my limits with a full time job and taking care of my main main Sly I have tried to make time for myself in all of it. This can be challenging and I am learning to plan my days better. Hopefully I get better at this soon because it has been a long time since I have had to do this. Especially trying to find time for God, time for working out, time for me, time for friends, time to clean, time to sleep, and I always find time to eat. My family and I had been doing the our own version of the "the biggest loser" this past year, but we have decided to take a break from that. I fully intend to lean on them though through our off time to keep me accountable to that. I have found myself in a challenging spot especially after being injured the better part of the last last year. I am going to get in shape and hopefully be running again before I return to Idaho in May. I will have to keep thinking about that because my friend Helen is always pushing me to run a Marathon with her....probably won't go that distance, but maybe a half will be in my future. Only time will tell though. "Shoot for the moon and if you happen to fall short you will still be a star" I am not sure who said that, but I have learned to dream big!!!

Happiness

Yesterday I posted my status on Facebook as "Rashell is grateful that it is my time to be happy" a few minutes later my friend Tony commented saying "Thank God for your foot." As I thought about it I have a lot to be thankful about. This past year alone God has done amazing things in my life and brought me through so much; I have become part of an amazing church community that is like family and I have an amazing family that sticks by me through thick and thin. So really what do I have to be unhappy about? As I thought about it society puts these social pressures on you and no matter how much you do it isn't enough. Why aren't you married, when are you going to have kids and if you have that what about your career, your 401k...I mean does it ever end? When will it be enough to make me happy? I was talking to my Mother’s birth mom the other day who I haven't spoken to in at least a year. The first question out of her mouth was "Have you met someone special?" I was like "NO", but I have a great job that I am good at, I have friends that love me, my dog is awesome, and I got to go home and be with my family this year to celebrate my Brothers marriage. Why is it that the only way I might be happy is if I am married? Don't get me wrong I would love to be married and have a family. I am sure God has a plan for me and I am trying to rest in that and trust that it will happen for me. If it doesn't then so be it he must have bigger things in mind for my life. One thing my parents have instilled in me is that "I would much rather wish I was married then wish I wasn't" For me marriage is a lifetime commitment that I would not enter into lightly and I won't get married for the sake of getting married or because everyone else thinks that I should. Ok now I will get off my soap box, but the point I was trying to make was that I have decided to be happy in this moment of my life. I am the only one that has control of that and I decide Happiness is the way I will go...it is so much easier then being negative all the time. I am going to trust in God and know that is plan is better then mine enjoying the moments he has given me now.

What an Amazing Birthday!!

Thank you to all the amazing people in my life that made me feel so loved and blessed today. It all started last night when I went to take Sly out I found my car like this! Several text message, phone calls, Facebook wall posts I was overwhelmed with the love I was feeling. I want to thank my friends and family who made today very special. It is a tradition to wake up by a phone call from my dad and today was no different :-) After going to work in my newly decorated car I was greeted with a wonderful Birthday Cake from my "Buddy" MO. It was so cool she had taken the time to go to the bakery and get Ice Cream too. I was planning to get off work early, but even though that didn't happened I did get good news. Looking forward to hanging out with some friends for dinner I walked into my Apartment which looked like this as you look down the stairs. I never thought turning 35 would be so much fun...kind of like turning 18 all over again! Now we are off to a grown up dinner that 18 year olds probably couldn't afford...so I guess I really am 35 after all.

Fishing in Idaho!

Being in Twain Harte brought back memories of home. Especially since I was talking with a friend about Idaho. It was amazing to me that someone was so intersted in the place that I grew up (because let me tell you it isn't that exciting). As I thought about it I was wondering if I would even visit if it wasn't to see my amazing family (BTW Auntie Terri I would pick you too). Then I went back and started looking for some pictures to show Drew and was wowed by nature and how spoiled I was growing up. I know you can't find this in California unless it is on a post card. So of course now I am home sick and can't wait until May to hang out with everyone. I asked Dad if he would take me fishing. Even as I write that I can see my family falling over in shock, but we are going to do it. Hopefully when I come back in from Idaho I will have some big fish pictures to share (LOL). Well maybe we can even take Baby J and show him how us "country folk" live.









We will go four wheeling, play in the creek, and hopefully get in a few rounds of Golf while I am at it. As you can see from the pictures above my last fishing trip on the North Fork was in 2003....way too much time has gone by.

Twain Harte

This weekend I traveled to a small town call Twain Harte with my Young Adults small group from church. It was a lot of fun to relax, hang out with friends, and experience God in new ways. It is amazing how my church family is quickly becoming a major part of my life. I have grown as so much this year and a half and the feelings of hopelessness and being alone have diminished. I will have to write more on that, but at a time when I am less tired.

I couldn't wait to post this for all my Idaho folks who have grown up in the snow. I went sledding in California for the first time this weekend and it is NOTHING like how we do it at home. It was fun, but different. As you can see there was a gentleman with a pool "flotation device" in his hand coming up to go sledding. I was like "YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME....but as you can all see I was not.
Just when I thought is couldn't get any crazier then it already was as I was leaving there was a family setting by the roadside BBQing??? Well I guess it isn't any different then hot dogs and marshmellows around the camp fire at the bottom of the sledding hill....being from Idaho though it seems more normal then pulling out the grill in the grass at the bottom of the sledding hill. Then again when have you seen so many people on one hill in Idaho with so little snow sledding.....I guess it is a matter of perspective. We would never drive that far for this...then again I should just be thankful they weren't charging a fee to use the hill. I am always learning something new in Cali even after 11 years!

Blogging is my New Goal in 2009

Since I have enjoyed my cousin Tori's blog spot so much I figured I would give it a shot in 2009. If nothing else it will give me a reason to try and do something exciting with my life because who really wants to hear about my recent obsession with Heroes? As I wasn't a champ of keeping up to date with our family blog "the Tub Tub club" this might prove to be more then a bit of a challenge for me. I will do my best Auntie Terri, but you know how that goes. I will do my best because I know that my mother always wants to know what is going on in Sly's life (LOL)

I am going to post this short message and send out the website so I am looking forward to blogging again soon!!