So sorry for not getting more information out sooner, and please allow me to thank all of you, from churches to individuals, that have called, emailed, tweeted, placed Bethany on prayer lists, and overall prayed and supported both Bethany and our family over the past number of weeks.
On Father’s Day, June 20th, we witnessed Bethany experience two of what NOW appears to have been a number of seizures of varying degrees. I say a number, as we have learned that many of the behaviors we had previously passed off as normal or simply random MAY have potentially been seizure activity.
For example, many of you may recall laughing with us or marveling when she would sneeze five to seven times in a row. Since she began her medication, we have not noticed her sneezing ONCE. At a total loss of understanding, we have come to call these previous attacks “sneeizures”. They may have been seizure activity, and they may not. We may never know.
I tell that story to give a slight insight into what our lives have been in the past two weeks. Everything we’ve ever watched happen to our daughter now has us wondering, “Was it a seizure? Did we miss something?” It’s a hard position to be in as a parent. It kinda sucks.
On a good note, the Phenobarbital medication that we give her twice a day (through a bottle nipple we attach to the end of a syringe) has apparently caused all seizure activity to cease. We are watching for anything out of the ordinary, and when and if we see something, we video tape it and email it to her neurologists in Dallas. We’ve not sent anything since the Friday we left the hospital on June 25th.
So… What Now?
For Bethany, we have a followup appointment with the Neuro team from Children’s Dallas at 3 months. In the meantime, its simply our task to observe. And to continue with her meds. Pretty straight forward unless something unforeseeable were to happen. All in all, she seems to be doing well and even giggles on occasion like you would expect a happy four month old to do…
For Share5, and for the rest of the family, the situation is a little more complex. That’s why this is only part 1.
This post is the fifth in a series of entries on our journeys through California during April and May of 2010…
Back in January of 2009, we were looking for somewhere to do a little work in exchange for somewhere to park the RV for a few weeks while we began work on a book. Today, almost a year and a half later, that book proof was shipped to the same place it began, and we are back where we started – geographically speaking.
Those of you who have been following for a while may remember the Chicken Coup project from 2009 in Lake Elsinore. The location is called Rancho De La Paz, or “the ranch of peace”. It is a re-entry point for YWAM missionaries and a retreat for pastors and full time ministers that need a little “down time.” Run by the Caruso family, the ranch has a few llamas, a dog, a cat, a bunch of chickens, and some ducks. The farm animals give people from the city something to look at that calms them, while giving rural missionaries something “familiar” as they handle re-entry into American society.
Last year we built the foundation for a new chicken coup. This year, we dug some holes for some trees, but we also got to paint the trim on the chicken coup. I finished with a full day driving a John Deere 210 Loader moving over 30 loads of horse manure… (view the full Lake Elsinore photo set on Flickr)
But back to my thought…
While we were painting, I thought about the fact that even though we weren’t there, the progress on the ranch continued. Multiple other volunteers had helped with construction projects, repainted fences, patched holes and did countless other things. Then we got to return and play a part again.
It makes me remember how I came back to my relationship with Jesus 10 years ago. Several people along the way, each doing their small or large part. Some laid a foundation. Some built on it. Others have helped dress up the project along the way. Every one of them played a critical part.
Thank you for everyone who has done a little work on ME. My life today is the fruit of YOUR labor.
Blessings from California, and now… On to Arizona!
This is the fourth entry in California Wrap Up, a series of blogs highlighting our travel through California in April and May of 2010.
Following our time in Simi Valley with New Heart Church, we headed south of Los Angeles and through the fun of LA traffic to one of the kids favorite overnight camping spots: Oceanside, CA. Specifically, they love Oceanside Harbor. It is a parking lot with no RV hookups and the spaces are super tight together, but it excels in the areas that are critical to the kids: playgrounds and wildlife! They have a great little play area right on the sandy beach, its only about 100 yds to the waves, and there are almost always a few sealions swimming around in the harbor to watch. We’ve been there about 4 or 5 times and every time there is a sea lion on the docks.
Just down the road from Oceanside is the city of Vista, CA. One of the last times we were in Oceanside, our local friends mentioned a recovery ministry named Green Oak Ranch in Vista, so we decided this time to contact them. They agreed to let us visit and just hang out as guest to see what they were doing, so we headed to Green Oak for 3 days before attending a weekend service at Vista Assembly, where we had visited during Easter of 2009. (Remember the Tim LaHaye assignment?)
Green Oak was amazing. They have on site facilities for their resident recovery program including a full cafeteria, dorms, a chapel, and classrooms. They also have a over 100 acres of land that they also use for a retreat center, inclusive of a nature center, animal reserve with Llamas, goats, ducks, emu, a couple horses, a pair of donkeys, a bobcat, a longhorn, and a few owls. They have a full reptile center, a pool, and retreat cabins. Its quite a place. Most importantly, you can sense the presence of God in those who spend their days there. It is a place where lives are transforming and hope is being found. It is awesome, and we are blessed to have experienced it.
Back in December of 2008 we made a visit to our friend Marc Greene from Outreach Media in Oceanside, CA. During a lunch where we shared with him the 5 character traits behind Share5, he commented that we should share the concept more broadly by writing a book on it. I guess you could say he more than commented. He persuaded. He bribed. (He may have even DARED us a little bit…)
Bottom line was, when he made the comment at lunch that day, it just sat right with me. It registered in my spirit as a “Yes”. That week, we set out to figure out the process of writing a book.
God was, as always, faithful. We looked for a place to park for a little while to write while serving, and unbeknown to us, the woman whose home we were parked at also did writing clinics. She is a published author and was able to help me put some of the first concepts into the first words until they became the first chapters. God continued to provide both the insight for the writing and the resources for the tour, and just over a year later, we completed a manuscript and a series of accompanying case studies for what we would soon call “Share Well With Others – Creating a Life that Reflects the Character of Christ.”
This week, full circle and back in the very same parking spot that the book began in, we received the proof copy from our printer. As the ink dries on the first print run, we look forward to sharing it with you in the next weeks, and thank God for His amazing faithfulness!
See our first book as we open the package containing the very first printed copy. Public copies will be available June 1, 2010, so visit our site at http://share5.org/sharewell to order your copy today!
This is part 3 in our California Wrap-up series, highlighting our April and May travels in the state of California…
Mother’s Day weekend brought us an opportunity to share with the folks from New Heart Foursquare Church in Simi Valley (the sermon was Episode 1 of the new Share Well Podcast if you missed it!), but the preceding two weeks allowed us a little time to both relax, regroup, adjust to being a family of five in the RV, and possibly the most fun you can have with a sledgehammer, DO SOME DEMOLITION!!!
New Heart is in the middle of a sanctuary remodel, and they still had some wrap up demolition to do, so we all put on the work gloves and did everything from tearing out a wall to pulling staples from the stage where carpet had been removed. We were also allowed to throw out a few ideas for how the interior could possibly look and talk with those doing the design work to give them some new concepts to play with.
Pastor Paul Kuzma has been a great support and friend since we met a little over a year ago, and both he and his congregation continue to blow us away with their generosity. He even ran a 100′ cable over his fence from his house for us to have cable TV! Their staff and members are a blessing, and we’ll look forward to returning and seeing the finished project in the future!
It had been a little over a year since we last visited Southern California, so the months of April and May have felt a little like a reunion. In the next few posts, we’ll be bringing you a few of the highlights!
Our first time to stop at Moorepark, Grace Harvest was hosting Pastor Emmanuel Sackey, our partner and Pastor from Somanya, Ghana, Africa. We haven’t seen Pastor Sackey in over a year, so it was great to reconnect and have time to refresh vision with him! Watch for some exciting things coming soon connected to Pastor Sackey, Share5, and Revival Harvest Ministries.
Catalyst West Coast II – Irvine, CA
Back for it’s second year at Mariner’s Church in Irvine, CA, the crew of Catalyst West put on another great conference. Amy spent a good portion of her time with the Land Of a Thousand Hills Coffee crew, and I volunteered with the Catalyst team in the resource store. The kids? Well, they were doing one of their favorite things… encouraging people to Drink Coffee Do Good.
The following is a portion of a full blog entry recently written as part of my regular contribution over at GivMusic.com. To see the full article, click here!
Beyond the Bulletproof Glass
May 10, 2010
I was recently reading a blog post from a gentleman named Lee Bezotte. He was describing an experience that he recently had (with his six year old son in tow) that regretfully is both symbolic of a growing tendency in our society and an unfortunate consequence of our own insecurities combined with a slightly skewed view of reality.
In his post, he mentioned visiting a handful of churches in his community on a weekday with the intent of inviting the pastors and staff to a workshop on social media. Stepping out of the social web space and into the physical world, he was shocked at how inaccessible these churches really were. Some were locked down and empty mid-week, with nary a person to be found. The most poignant, however, was the church that had grown so large, so popular, and possibly so controversial in its community that the staff “greeted” them… from behind a wall of bulletproof glass. …read more
Our first 500 miles as a family of 5 are in the rearview mirror! Yesterday, we loaded the minivan, whined emphatically that it was not the RV, and headed for Portland, OR where Amy and the 3 KIDS will spend the next 9 days with family. As she visits great grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and cousins, I will fly to Phoenix on Saturday for the first of the two UthBuild March builds in Puerto Penasco, MX. When the first home is complete and the keys are turned over to the new homeowner, I will fly back to Portland, rejoin Amy, Bethany, Dillon, and Emily, and with the alphabet order restored, (A, B, C, D, and E… Yes it was intentional) our family of five will have what we hope will be a return drive to Boise as uneventful as the outbound one!
So… if you are a High School friend of Amy’s and in Portland this week, drop her a line! She is in town. If you happen to be in Mexico, come on by the build site and pound a nail or make a sandwich. (less likely, yes, but believe it or not, we do have a woman “coming by” in Mexico that just HAPPENED to read about the builds, contact us, and volunteer!)
Upon our return to Boise, we will be spending around two weeks helping my mom transition from the Elks Rehabilitation Hospital back to home. Then we’ll load the RV and see where God takes us! (Thank you to those who are taking a role in helping make my mother’s transition happen- from meals to overnight stays to visits to phone calls- while we are out of town!) She is continuing to recover well from spinal surgery, and is expected at this point to regain all functions that she lost prior to the surgery. Praise God!
A very special thank you to the team at the Catalyst Leadership Conference, who today launched the Catalyst West Coast 2010 website! Why the thanks? Well, the “unusual” background of this years site (the theme is “Unusual Tomorrow”) features various nonprofits that are taking “unusual” approaches to impact our culture. To see Share5, just refresh the page (after you’ve checked out the Word Made Flesh site) and turn off the foreground at the top!
Stay tuned. We’ll be talking to the guys at Catalyst about a group rate discount for Share5, and we’ll let you know. Regardless, if you have the ability, join us at Catalyst West Coast in Irvine, CA on April 21-23, 2010!
While I understand that there are no longer 12 full days before Christmas, I also understand that the issue of homelessness and the plight of those without a home will not go away on December 26th. With that, I would like to challenge you to consider taking on the challenge within the 12for12k “12 Days of Christmas Homeless Push”. It provides 12 simple, practical ways that you can both create an impact and increase your awareness of both this issue and those that find themselves in the unfortunate place of being affected by it.
I am currently preparing a three part series on homelessness that we will roll out on this blog in the days leading up to Christmas. The posts were originally written as guest blogger posts for another organization, so once they roll them out, we will link to them from here.
Stay tuned, and Merry Christmas. To steal a line from the 12 Days challenge, may you find yourself being human to another human being this Christmas!
Love as Jesus loved. Live as Jesus lived. Share Well With Others.
So sorry for not getting more information out sooner, and please allow me to thank all of you, from churches to individuals, that have called, emailed, tweeted, placed Bethany on prayer lists, and overall prayed and supported both Bethany and our family over the past number of weeks.
Mother’s Day weekend brought us an opportunity to share with the folks from 
Our first 500 miles as a family of 5 are in the rearview mirror! Yesterday, we loaded the minivan, whined emphatically that it was not the RV, and headed for Portland, OR where Amy and the 3 KIDS will spend the next 9 days with family. As she visits great grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and cousins, I will fly to Phoenix on Saturday for the first of the two 
Share Well Podcast at iTunes
