HERE I AM LORD

Today, my writing is with a heavy heart and much sadness......Just a week ago I prayed for another "Miracle" but not for me this time.  It was for my dear sister, Iris, who we learned a very short time ago had ovarian cancer.  How could this happen?  She had just been through so much weeks before with having a complete shoulder replacement.  All the check-ups and pre-op that was done prior to that surgery had gone so well! No problem.  After many sleepless nights and much anxiety anticipating whether or not to have this surgery, she began to feel confident that she would have a better quality of life, and was well on her way to recovery and hopeful for the good times ahead we could and would all share once again! However, that optimism was very short lived when she began having pains in her stomach and continued discomfort that just wouldn't let up. It was relentless!  We all wondered,   "WHY?  WHY?  WHY???"  Such a good person, loved her church, her bible study groups, singing in the choir, helping in the church or wherever she could. WHY? We were so very close!  There was never a day that we didn't talk on the phone to check on each other.  She took care of me my whole life from baby up!  She took the role of my mother, my sister, best friend and confidant!  I can't even imagine how life will be without her......

God, I prayed, "YOU can do what doctors cannot do! Lord, you know I believe in Miracles because it  was your miraculous healing that made me well in 1980. I have never stopped thanking you everyday of my life since then. So God, I prayerfully ask for another "Miracle" if it is your Will for my sister to make her well!"  If it is not your Will,  Lord,  because you need another angel up there to watch over us, or you have another need for her that goes beyond our understanding then it would be selfish of us to want her to stay here when she is in such pain.

Father, thank you for giving her the strength to accept your Will and help her loved ones now to be strong enough to let her come peacefully home to you!  And Lord, thank you for the time we did have to spend together!  Our families shared so much together.......happy times, sad times and all the in-between times.  Life is so short here on earth, and this just puts it all in perspective!  We lost a very "Special" Lady today but her "Spirit" will live on in our hearts and souls forever!  Thank you God for all the "Rocking Chair" memories!

In Jesus name, we pray!

Social Media Here We Come!

We are so excited for the progress we have been making the past couple of weeks. Now that summer is over, and we are officially in hibernation mode, we have been putting all of our efforts into our writing and social media in hopes of promoting our work. We are continuing to build our contacts and available resources that will help us meet our goals. We are excited to announce that our book, “A Mountain to Climb” will be published and ready for a Release Date in 2016 along with an official book signing event! Stay tuned for more exciting news…..and in the meantime be sure to check out our new Face Book pages and Twitter info:

Arlene – www.facebook.com/mystory1980 or Twitter me https//twitter.com/my1980story

Sharon – www.facebook.com/mymothersstory1980 or Twitter me https//twitter.com/momsstory1980

'Tis the Season

'Tis the season to be Thankful and Joyful, celebrate good times with family, and thank God for all of the blessings HE has given us!  This year has gone by so fast, and while Mom and I wanted to be further along in our book, we have still made great strides.  I know that this will take time, but am confident it will happen...all in GOD's time!  HE has blessed us with a loving family and friends, brought people into our lives for a season and for a reason, and for this we are grateful!  HE has shown us signs over the years that HE is here for us, guiding us, and leading us to fulfill HIS dream and ours.  Just recently this Thanksgiving, Jesus' face appeared to me in our pellet stove as I was sitting in my quiet place pondering life's moments, struggles, and blessings.  At first I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and quickly I realized it was yet another sign!  I know HE has my back and I just always need to believe and remember HE is always there!  So, I took a deep breath and let it go because HE is in control!  And I will cherish this sign with all the others, and especially those yet to appear, every time I thank GOD for HIS blessings!   Stay in faith along with us as we continue to believe and write our story! We are thankful for each of you and wish you a very blessed Holiday Season!!!!

I know the picture isn't that great, but I'd love to hear if you see him as well. Feel free to share your stories on how HE has made HIS presence known in your life!  We are very interested, and thinking of a side project that you could be a part of! 

 

The " T R A I N " of LIFE ...........

REMEMBER IT  -  SHARE IT  -  LIVE IT  

If you live your life with FAITH and do good things with LOVE,

you will get through  ANYTHING!!!  At birth we boarded the train

and met our parents, and we believe they will always travel by our side.

However, at some station our parents will step down from the train,

leaving us on this journey alone.

As time goes by, other people will board the train; and they will be

significant, i.e. our siblings, friends, children and even the love of our life.

Many will step down and leave a permanent vacuum in our lives.

Others will go so unnoticed that we don't realize they vacated their seats.

This train ride will be full of  joy, sorrow, fantasy, expectations, hello's, goodbyes

and farewells.  Success consists of having a good relationship with all

passengers, requiring that we give the BEST of ourselves!

The mystery to everyone is:  We do not know at which station we ourselves 

will step down.  So, we must live our life to the fullest and best way we can; 

Love, Forgive and Offer the BEST of who we are.  It is important to do this

because when the time comes for us to step down and leave our seat empty,

we should leave behind beautiful "memories" for those who will continue to 

travel on the Train of Life!

We wish you a joyful and wonderful  "journey" on the train of life.  Reap success 

and give lots of "LOVE"! More importantly, thank GOD for the journey! Lastly, we

thank you for being one of the passengers on our "Train"!

Summer Winds Down - WE WIND UP

It's been a while now since I had pen-in-hand, and as the summer begins to wind down, I realize how very F  A S T  time really does go!   It seems the older I get, the faster it goes....... Sharon and I have been busy behind the scenes with our writing but at the same time, have really enjoyed  the beautiful warm summer months.  Deep Creek Lake is one of our "favorite" places to go. We love the tranquility and peaceful feeling that comes from just being in touch with nature and the beauty that God surrounds us with.  It is the perfect setting to do our writing and share  some quality time together.  I'm looking so forward to the fall months as well, with the beautiful colors of the changing leaves.  We are so Blessed!

For an update to our previous posts, we have been anxiously waiting to hear from Guidepost about the stories we submitted for the current contest they are running , but having not heard from them to date, we will now go to Plan "B" to accomplish our goal and get our story out there to  follow through with the mission we feel we have been called to do.  As Sharon said in her previous post, it is a bit hard to go back in time and re-live some of the "bad" memories of that horrific time in our lives, but it is very therapeutic as well for both of us.   I've learned a lot just reading the chapters that she has put together so far.  Things that I wondered about, worried about  and played out in my mind at the time, but actually now reading from her perspective the reality of it all truly is hard.   I do believe there is a reason for everything and everything happens for a reason. I also believe that things happen in our lives that we have no control over and we must go through these experiences in order to grow in our faith  and learn from them.  I have learned to take "One Day at a Time", and to remember that nothing will happen today or any day that God and I together can't handle.

It is our hope that you will continue to follow us on this awesome journey and we welcome any feedback you would like to offer as we continue to go on this adventure together.

Keeping the Momentum Going

So this Blogging thing is new to me and especially Mom.  I’ve never blogged before and have only read a few.  I’ve started following some fellow blogging authors that truly have provided some great information that will prove to be very helpful once we get further along in the process.  Since we are only in the beginning stages of our journey, I’m struggling with what to write about in this Blog.  Obviously, we want to attract more attention to our Blog and our adventure, so any suggestions would be great.  We appreciate you sharing and following us along our way.  Feel free to comment and play a part with us in our journey.

Currently, I have 4 Chapters written and Mom has been concentrating on some research while hoping to get started this weekend with writing some of her chapters.  I don’t want to get too far ahead of her.  The chapters come very quickly and they just seem to flow without any struggle at all. Reliving your childhood with such vivid memories is amazing.  It’s as if you were still right there back in time.  Your feelings, all of your senses....you close your eyes, and its 40 years ago.  

Although I am only in the beginning chapters setting the stage for what is about to come, I know it will get more difficult reliving the emotions all over again, especially for Mom.  We know this will be therapeutic for both of us and will only strengthen the bond we already have with each other.  While I worry about Mom reliving this horrific time in her life, I know how strong she is today and that this will only make her even stronger.  Getting her story written and her testimony documented means everything to her. God put her through this for a reason.  For that reason alone, we are driven to keep the momentum going so that we can help others by giving them the incentive to be hopeful in any crisis situation or circumstance they may be facing and a reason to believe in “Miracles” because they DO happen. 

While we are both excited about the progress we have made so far, we only wish the process didn’t take so long.  I have heard how it takes most writers a year or longer to have their finished product, and we realize we will have challenges and obstacles along the way, but we will take each day one day at a time trusting that God will pave our way to accomplishing His “Will” and our “Dream”!

Thanks again for your support and the feedback we have received so far!!!

Happy Independence Day Junior!!

Last week we celebrated the 4^th of July!  We hope that everyone had a great Independence Day celebrating those who fought and continue to fight for our Freedom.  This year, Independence Day took on a whole new meaning for my lifelong best friend, Karen, who lost her Dad to Cancer.  He suffered from the same disease that took my Father and also my Mother-in-Law.  Karen and I have been friends since the 7^th Grade so we have grown up together.  Having spent a lot of time at Karen’s over the years, her Dad, Junior, was also a part of my life.  He was a great man and I remember he would always tease me or crack a joke to make us laugh.  I will always picture him riding his tractor cutting the grass.   Those who knew Junior knew that the 4^th of July was a Holiday that meant a lot to him.  This year he was able to celebrate up in Heaven with his parents and family that went before him.  It was his Independence Day free from pain and suffering that goes along with Cancer.  My heart goes out to his family and all of the families who have to suffer through this terrible fight!  Here’s hoping that one day there is a cure and Freedom for ALL from the terrible disease called Cancer!

It's all about 'Perspective'

After 34 years of talking about what we 'want to do', it is so surreal sitting here blogging about what we are 'finally doing'!  All of this time we have been motivating each other at different points in our lives, and we are both finally on the same track and the excitement is just radiating from within.  This weekend was truly an eye opening experience and so therapeutic as well.   We mapped our story out and plotted the Chapters on how we will bring this together.  Then in the workshop, it was all about perspective.  Luckily, going into it we already knew from who's perspective we would be writing and how many perspectives it would include.  The Author / Presenter was able to provide us with some one-on-one time and great advice on our next steps once we have a Final Draft.  So for now, as you can see in the pictures below, it was a very productive weekend and we are so excited to start putting 'ink to paper' as they say. 

Our First "Writer's Workshop" - SUCCESS!

Another "Sunny" day here in MD......Sharon and I thoroughly enjoyed our writer's workshop today.  The author who instructed the class was very informative and we are now well on our way to accomplishing our goal.  Stay tuned for further updates.

No turning back now!

Well we made some progress over the weekend.  Mom's testimony was sent out to Reader's Digest and getting it in the mail to a few others!  Heard back from a publishing company with someone expressing some interest....but thinking it was more of informational facts for us that will come in handy in the future!  It's all good!!

We had to postpone our story mapping this weekend. Looking forward to that, and our a Writer's Workshop!!!  Pics will be coming over the weekend ....

We Believe!!!! HE is talking to us in many ways!

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

God has an appointed time to fulfill the visions, dreams and desires in your heart. Just because it has taken a long time or because you’ve tried and failed doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen. Don’t give up on those dreams! Don’t be complacent about pursuing what God has placed in your heart. Our God is a faithful God. No matter how long it’s been, no matter how impossible things look, if you’ll stay in faith, your set time is coming. Remember, every dream that’s in your heart, every promise that has taken root, God put it there. Not only that, but He has every intention of bringing it to pass. Hold on to that vision today. Declare by faith, “My time is coming. God is working behind the scenes on my behalf. I will fulfill my destiny!” As you continue to hold on to that vision and speak life over your dreams, it won’t be long before you see them begin to take shape. You’ll see your faith grow, you’ll see your hope strengthen, and you’ll see yourself step into the destiny God has prepared for you!

Preparation for Workshop

Been a bit of a slow down this week as Mom hasn't been feeling too good.  Our goal is to spend some time together mapping out our story next week in preparation for our first Writers Workshop next Saturday.   The 'signs' keep coming though which is keeping us motivated.  Getting ready to send out her testimony to a few magazines and influentials that may also want to join in supporting our story!  Stay tuned for a picture of us hard at work!