Justice

Justice.
Meaning:
1 [noncount] : the process or result of using laws to fairly judge and punish crimes and criminals

Today, our family received NJ state Justice. You may remember that 2 years ago, Feb 2009, my uncle was shot and killed by a then 17yr old young man during an attempted robbery. This happened just 2 months after my father died in his sleep from a kidney failure. Two brothers... in two months. No Parent should have to bury two sons.

Today, that young man, now almost 20 years old, received a sentence of 18years in state prison. He must serve 85% of that sentence. He will be at least 35 years old before he is released. He showed no remorse, and no concern for the family who's father, brother, husband, and uncle was taken from them.

It's a sad day to see two families torn apart. Years of missed holidays, special occasions, every day occasions, sporting events, school graduations, babies being born... years will have been robbed. He asked for forgiveness... My heart breaks for him. My heart breaks for my cousins, and my uncles, his brother.

God is good. The enemies plans will not prosper. God always prevails.

Here is the video clip from the news coverage today.

day 2

Was incredibly eventful.... Shiori had MANY firsts... First gardening with mom, first grocery store, first clothing store.... first American Picnic, first Jet Ski ride, first boat ride, and first game night... Probably more than she should have done in a given day... but what a trooper. She did start falling asleep on the way home and headed straight to bed.

This is Tracy's cousin Kara, with Tye & Shiori at Beaver Island marina

Tye & Shiori at the picnic :) He's really being awesome and helping her out.

lastly - Tye takes Shiori out on the jet ski. Awesome time! She loved every minute of it :)

G'nite all!

Havin a BLAST at KB!

It was a great day yesterday at Kingdom Bound. Tye, Lisa & Sam and I drove out and got there around 12 or so. Tye & Sam immediately went off to their own little world so then Lisa & I hit the vendor tent. That place is awesome. There's all sorts of things there to look at and buy. Music, books, tshirts, DVD's... jewelry. YOu name it they got it.

Soooo many already know that I sponsor a sweet little girl from Peru named Ines thru Compassion International. It is a fabulous organization who take care of kids all over the world in impoverished nations and help them get their medicine, immunizations, food, clothes, school and then the message of Jesus every day. I love it. Well we've been sponsoring Ines for quite some time - I want to say about 3 yrs at this point. Yesterday at the vendor Tent, Compassion had their tables set up and Lisa & I were browsing the little faces... and I came across a young lady who had the same birthday as me, same birth year as Tyler. She'll be 17 this year.

Now let me say this. A 17yr old who is on the table for sponsorship means that she has been sponsored in the past. It means that whomever was sponsoring her, can no longer keep their financial commitment to take care of her. However, Compassion has pledged to that young girl that she will always have a home at the Compassion center in her village, or town. It also means that she will only be eligible for sponsorship for 1-3yrs. I don't remember her name, but she was precious. Tall, beautiful and wearing a silver cross around her neck. She was also from an area that is ravaged by HIV/AIDS infected population. She didn't live with her parents either.

She has been on my heart all day, and all night. Now I'm really going to be putting God's word to the test when I say I'm going to sponsor her if she is still at the table on Wed. when we go back to KB. He said in his word - "God gives Seed to the Sower". I know that God is able to provide the right amount of money for me to send to this young lady, and still keep my sponsorship of Ines. I know God's economy isn't broken. I can't wait to reach out to her in my first letter. It's all very exciting.

Ok so next Lisa and I went and grabbed something to eat from the car, and hit a couple of seminars. One on what happens to Christian Kids when they leave home for college (Between the ages of 17-22). Did you know tha 72% of kids leave church? and only 20% of those that leave come back? YIKES that means for every 10 kids who are in your youth group - 5 of them will leave the church after highschool and 3 will never return. That's a huge %! Then we learned a bit about Campus life, and some of the ministries available on campus to keep this population of college kids engaged in church and Godly fellowship.

Next seminar was on modest, and appropriate dress for young people. The speaker was dynamic. She apparently is the director of pro-life ministries for the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, and quite frankly my stereotypical idea of her was blown to shreds. She was passionate, she was articulate, she really got her message across; at least to Tye & Sam. And she kept bringin it right back home to Jesus AND she used Scripture to back up her point! I was thrilled!

hmm... we ran into some friends and then hit the concerts - Matthew West, which was awesome, and SKILLET which pretty much rocked our worlds. They have a new album coming out in 3 weeks - AWAKE - and I cannot wait for it :)

Ok till next time peeps -

K

I cannot stress enough

How truly supernatural this week has been. It's amazing how everything for basically the past month TODAY (12/31 - 1/31) has really just worked out for my good and really come in above and beyond what I could have imagined.

So you all know the electric has been out at my house on the main floor since Tuesday/Wed? Well yesterday a guy from our church came out to take a look. Turns out there was a bad breaker that controlled the lights on the first floor. That was a cheap, and easy fix. Brian also went around and checked our outlets for grounding, and reverse polarity. He'll be coming back out in a few weeks/months to fix some of those. So we were chatting and he also checked out our garage - and fixed that in like 5 minutes! Woah! I have lights in the house, and the garage... and it was not expensive. He's very reasonable for an electrician.

So we went back to the house and while I was writing out the check, he mentions that his wife called and their washer broke, the motor went on it. So we're talking and I'm telling him that I was having a new washer installed tomorrow (today) because ours took a dive. We got to chatting and he asked what brand. I told him it was Fridgidaire and he asks can he take a look at it? Sure... so we go back to the basement, and it turns out to be the exact one he has (just a year or two newer)! Well the motor was fine on mine, it was the inner tub, and shock absorbers that busted on mine. So don'tcha know he takes the washer home with him so he can dismantle it and use the parts for his washer? Yeap!

talk about great timing! God is amazing how he works things out ain't he?

Well - I guess there is a ton more to share, but I am whipped and want to get home. My house needs a good cleaning and I have bills to pay! Oh - one more good thing just to say so. I'm down 14.4lbs total so far. So this week I lost not only the 2lbs I gained last week - but an additional 1.4lbs on top of that. I feel pretty good and can definitely see it in my clothes. They are ALL hanging on me! LOL

Love you guys!

Hello!

Well hello all :) I can't believe it's been more than a week since I updated, and yet it feels like soo much longer than that! It's just been so busy around here that I haven't had time to think, let alone update. And since internet at home is few and far between - I can't really take a lot of time for blogging at work ya know?

Lets see... I've been scrapbooking with friends so when i have a chance I'll update those layouts, I've been to two different states (OHIO and INDIANA) and I've bought a car, and got my hair cut...lol Between Dr's appts, renting cars, checkingout dealerships, and all the other things life throws at you... wow. That's all I can say.

The car thing turned out really well - I'm getting a Ford Freestyle - it's a 2006 and has about 40K miles on it. I think I'm getting the good end of the stick as my PT Cruiser had 146K on it... So this is a pic of it. Granted, mine is green - but I like it just the same. It's basically a crossover SUV/Wagon. The new 2008/2009 models are called the new Ford Taurus. Mine seats 6 and is pretty cool. Later on I might look at having a remote car starter installed, and if I fall into some extra money I will put a moonroof in it also since I do miss that from my PT.

I have to admit that blogging about my dad's memorial service is hard, for a myriad of reasons, and I think I almost lost it there a couple times, but I think.... I'm hoping no one really saw that. It's hard to know that he's gone, and I should have been more involved in his life - and I wasn't... but I can't go back only forward. This pic is my family. My 3 uncles, Gary, David and Paul are here, Aunt Sue (Uncle Gary's wife) and myself, Tye and Beth (dad's girlfriend) in the center. Isn't she cute? Yes, we are smiling, but my father wouldn't have had it any other way....


Well, on to more updates. While we had a serious reason for our trip down to Indiana, the pit-stop in Ohio was well spent. I really enjoyed hanging out with my Aunt Hannah and Uncle Mike, and of course my cousin Katie. Her kiddo Connor is sooo cute! I just want to eat him up! Here's one of the BEST pics from the weekend... Aren't they sooo adorable?

Well that's it for now - I'll update soon. We pick the new car up on Tuesday - so If the snow ever lets up and I can be outside for more than 5 minutes at a time...lol I'll post some pics!

Riley vs the Hot Pepper

Heres a fun little memory from mom's last weekend. My nephew Riley was being mr. tough guy and was eating some of Doug's really hot peppers! YIKES. He wasn't tough for too long though -after about a minute the heat caught up to him :)

enjoy!