It's been awhile

As the new year has come and January is already gone, I realize I don't write as often as I would like in my blogs. Here I am, a wanna be writer forgetting to post on my blog! Well now I have a new idea in the works. This blog is more of a personal nature and I am thinking about starting one that is inspiring and encouraging, young and old alike. "Musings of a Crooked Saint" by Your's Truly lol I can't wait to get started!
Before I do that though you need to hear all the good news! Well we bought a house and it was finalized on my 33rd birthday!! We also got custody of my other niece and nephew, I already had their half brother me. Unfortunately my oldest nephew had to go live with Mom because of his angry outburst with Elijah. So now we have 4 kids in our home and yes, I am homeschooling them all! Thank God they are in the same schooling bracket. Two first graders and two 3rd graders! They have done very well!
I also recently found out I have a disorder called SOD (Sphincter of Oddi Dysfunction) after having gallbladder like pain again when I already had it removed last February!  The docs got me started on nitrates to help with the spasms. All while desperately praying for another baby for our family, a prayer I had given up on. Not anymore though! I am holding on for my promise!!
We are excited about what's to come in 2014, not just personally but ministry wise. I will try to keep you as updated as humanly possible.
Hope the new year is treating you kindly.
Lots of love,
Shevonne

(Below is a picture of our New Home for Christmas)

Foster Care and what it means for our family

In April I found out my nephew Ryan was in need of care while his Mama (My Sister) got her life back on track. We took him into our fold and he has blended right in perfectly. The only issue, CPS is a nightmare! I don't mean like we are having problems with them, I mean like how completely unorganized and badly run it is. I have to give the Social Workers some credit, most of our workers have been pretty awesome. Then of course you run into those ones who seemingly hate their jobs, makes me sad for them. Ryan has been having a rough time as of late because he wants to see his Mama and I don't blame him. But when he talks about my Sister's Ex-Boyfriend (who is not his father but has been around for sometime) and calling him Dad, I feel bad for him. His Bio Dad is nowhere to be found and Ex-Boyfriend (Step in-Dad) seemed like a good guy til all the issues started happening. I have a hard time telling my broken-hearted nephew that he will probably not see him much and that Mama's time is limited now that she is in rehab.
Sometimes I wish I had someone to help us know what to say and do in these situations, but I let God guide me, and so far so good. Praying for the whole situation in general and that things start to mellow out and Ryan starts to feel more and more secure and at home here. Please pray for him too :)

Lots of Love and Prayers
Shevonne

Recording Video for our Ministry

I am nervous, not because I don't like talking about our ministry, weird thing is I'm scared of success! I'm sure it effects others too. But praying recording goes well and many are reached because of it!


Still waiting to do this video LOL (6.12.13)

Welcome to the world of Gastric Bypass

On Feb 27th I went in to have my Gastric Bypass surgery, it was uneventful for the most part, and I was able to leave the hospital in a day and a half, pain was more then I had expected, seeing I just had Gallbladder surgery 3 weeks prior. First few days were rough, not eating before surgery helped me prepare for not eating afterwards, but as the time passes, I find myself not even wanting to eat, but when I do want to eat I want regular food, not blended or pureed dishes. But this process is baby steps at each level, what I think I can eat, I cannot, what I once loved to eat I don't desire, but besides the mindful eating part, I find myself excited, full of energy and feeling healthier than I have in nearly 12 years!! I feel free, but a limited free, in a sense food once made me "feel" happy, but I realize now it's not the food, its the thoughts I had around food.
I am planning to eat better, start juicing and be more active! I am looking forward to new beginnings with my family, ministry, and well life in general. Finally feel like I am breaking out of the prison of fat I was locked in for so so long!! Praise God for new beginnings!! Now I'm just waiting on my body to completely heal so I can go conquer the world!!

Changes

So much in my life has been change, some good, some bad, but always changing.

On my 32nd Birthday I had decided my body was not changing the way I want it to. I have ALWAYS struggled with my weight, in fact when I say ALWAYS, I mean 22 of my 32 years. Yes that is right since I was 10 years old!! Had they knew then what they know now, They meaning Doctors, would have seen it was hormonal due to PCOS rather then some young girl eating too much. Honestly I didn't eat all that much til after a brief  ''I will only eat once a day kick'' when I was on in middle school up into High School. Then food was always my friend, especially sweets. Later in life this grew into a LOVE/HATE relationship!
So here I am, on the brink of major change for my body and my life! My decision to change came by finally planning and going through with having Gastric Bypass. I prayed to God, "Please do WHATEVER it takes to get me to this place of change!'' Sure enough God heard my prayer, only I had my gallbladder short circuit in Dec. 2012 where I was in so much pain and could not eat much, I lost 11 of the 14 pounds I needed to lose before surgery, but was I going to have gallbladder and Gastric Bypass together now?
It took many visits to the ER and Docs before they finally realized what was going on with my gallbladder and decided to do the gallbladder first, since it wasn't stones, the Docs wanted to make sure after taking the gallbladder out that my pain goes away, in case they miss something and it might be another issue. Where as with the Gastric Bypass I would be in pain for awhile and I would never really know if the gallbladder surgery fixed the issue I had been having.
Monday I have gallbladder surgery to remove it, and 3 weeks from then on Feb. 27th I will be having Gastric Bypass Ruin-Y Surgery. Am I nervous to have two abdominal surgeries in one month?? HECK yes!! But I have something most people don't, faith in a great God, and an over abundance of coping mechanisms to deal with change and stress.

On top of all the body changes, comes Leadership changes in our ministry For the Broken. My husband has stepped down as Co-Founder so he can concentrate on school to become a Pastor! I am uber excited for him and our family. Though I am now in the spot of needing to find someone as passionate and dependable as Bobby is. I am praying God brings the perfect person, and for it not be a frantic decision based on worry or need to fill a spot. I want the best for this ministry. Those who are hurting and in crisis need the best, most compassionate, dedicated people to help them get through the storm. Granted my hubby is still helping me out with videos, presentations, and meeting information, but he does way more than that on any given day!

I am excited for the changes, because I know as I get healthier also I will have more energy to devote to family, ministry and all of the stuff I do. God has made the timing perfect and I am counting on him fully for the whole process, beginning to the end.

So here is to one amazing year of change!! Yay for 2013!!

Today and everyday

I am all in! And yes any of you who have gone to church have probably heard this term particularly around alter call, but this is a truth that we should grab onto, not just in our minds, but in how we live life, relate to people and especially how we live out Christian life.
Pastor James talked about how Ruth gave up everything she knew after her husband died, to trust God and had her life in his hands. Where the you go I'll go! She knew whatever it was that was ahead of her, had to be better then what was behind her.
My prayer for all of us is that we see Christ, and how He went all in. He wasn't timid when he gave His life to redeem us. He became our sacrifice and grace. He did NOT say "Maybe I'll redeem them"...
No he forgave us and didn't look back. Grab on to Jesus who is your Boaz, and give your life to GO where He goes!
Live Dangerously!! With unshakeable faith, for the Warrior Christian inside you wants to go ALL IN!!

Sick Days

Some times it feels like sick days are everywhere. This week I celebrated my 32nd birthday and also was sick, dealing with my daughter having lice, and also enjoying the gift Aunt Flo gives every month! Lord knows I needed rest, and well today I take it, movie and tv all day with the kids. Though Monday I slept til 1pm this is a process not a fly by night getting better. We have to willing sometimes to give ourselves permission to be restfull more then a few hours or one day, we are allowed to get better completely before picking up the next task. Otherwise we are constantly working on half full. So this week has been great, waiting to feel better but blessed to have the time to cuddle up in blankets, break a fever, and recover! This season if you get sick allow time for recovery, it truly does help!