Former Campus Daughter Getting Married!

Proverbs 18:22 ¶ Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.

We are thrilled for Sarah and Josh. We have known Sarah since she was in junior high, and then she was our campus daughter during her college years. It was during her senior year of college that Sarah met her friend's brother who had graduated college the previous year. There was a spark there that grew and culminated in an engagement around valentine's. Josh and Sarah are getting married on June 28 at her home church in Alabama. Today we received our invitation to the wedding and will be there to witness Josh and Sarah pledge their lifelong commitment as man and wife. And guess who is going to be their ring-bearer? A sweet little redhead that appears often on the pages of my blog. We pray God's best wishes upon this Godly couple. Much love to you both!!!!!!!

Please Visit Lily's "CaringBridge" Site

www.caringbridge.org/visit/lilyjones

Today's Update on Baby Lily Jones

Matthew 9:35 ¶ And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

This is today's update on 2-month-old Lily Jones. Her parents went to church and school with our kids and both sets of grandparents are friends of ours. Please pray for Baby Lily's recovery from cancer surgery and for her total healing.

From: Rhonda (Lily's Maternal Grandmother)
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 9:15 AM
Subject: Lily Update

We have been amazed and humbled at the prayer support and love shown by everyone on Lily's behalf. We have an awesome God who has answered our prayers. The surgery was long and tedious, but Lily came out of it miraculously with four small incisions, and encouraging words from her surgeon that she believes all of the tumor was removed.

Lily still needs prayer for her recovery. She had to have morphine last night to help her sleep through some pain. It breaks our heart if she cries, so we are thankful for pain medication. Almost all of her little body organs were moved during the surgery, and we are praying that everything "gets up and running again" on its own. We are still waiting to hear back from the
bone marrow and tumor pathology. Then the oncologist will stage the cancer and tell us the plan.

Dawn and Josh have been doing great as a team. We believe in the power of prayer, so once again thank you for remembering Lily, Josh, Dawn, Luke and the rest of the family.

Love,
Rhonda

Jaden in Action ~~ Dot-2-Dot

A few days ago, I wrote an article about Jaden loving to do his dot-2-dot pages. His interest in doing them hasn't died down, and he did nearly a whole book's worth when I kept him yesterday. (Yes, we got in an hour of outdoor play as well.) He was working at my desk on his d-2-d so I grabbed my camera and made a video... primarily to share with his mom and dad, but I don't mind if you take a peek, too!

GRATITUDE IS AN ATTITUDE

I took a dear friend to the doctor yesterday. We drove her car (her insistence!), she treated me to lunch (her insistence!), and then she presented me with a tray of cookies she had made and had waiting on me when we returned to her house after the doctor appointment. Now WHO do YOU think blessed Whom yesterday? (I have no idea if I used the who and whom correctly!) I went to be a blessing to her, and she blessed me beyond measure.

My GRANDkids loved the cookies so I had them make a "thank-you" video to send to Joyce. Since my eldest grandson doesn't like to be in pics nor videos and is rarely seen; BUT he consented to be in this one last night, I thought I would post it to let everyone know that Jarrett is alive.

A Good Picture of Josh in Concert Last Week

Psalm 150:3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet:

You might remember that I didn't get any good pics of Josh in the band concert last Friday night. Brian shared his camera card with me and I was able to capture all of his pics. I loved this one of Josh playing so thought I would share it at this late date. He is the boy on the bottom middle in glasses. The handsome one. :) Double-click on pic for a better view. :)

Isabella's Spring Piano Recital 2008

Psalm 150:4 ... praise him with stringed instruments and organs.


We were so very blessed to attend Isabella's Recital on Tuesday Evening. Here is a "Smilebox" presentation of the video of her performance and about 10 pictures of the evening. Play the video and then click on each picture for it to appear in the larger frame. There are 4 pages of pics in total so look for the arrow button to move to the next page in the bottom right-hand corner of the page. I hope you enjoy!

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

ONE LAST TOOT FROM JOSH

We went to Josh's first band concert on last Friday night but didn't get a good view of him playing and failed to make a picture of Josh all dressed up for the concert that evening. At lunch on Sunday, I asked Josh if he would mind coming to my house so that I could "interview" him about the concert. He came and I made a video of Josh and his trumpet. I guess this will be our "last toot" for this school year. Josh seems to have some natural talent so I hope he will practice this summer and keep up what he has learned this semester in his trumpet lessons. And now, here's Josh.....

Josh In His First Band Concert Last Night!

What a joy to watch our GRANDchildren grow up. Josh turned nine last week and is completing the 3rd grade. He has a big heart and is a great kid. We are so very proud of our middle grandson for many reasons, and last night we were proud of Josh, the band member!

In January, Josh began taking trumpet lessons at school and then about a month ago, all of the different beginning 3rd grade band members came together as a group. Last night they played two songs in the Grades 3-8 Awards Concert. Amy was the emcee for the concert. We heard the Cadet Band (grades 6-8 and they were as good as any high school band I have ever heard), Tonettes (4th grade singers), Harps (grades 3-7), Beginning Orchestra (grades 5-7), Jaffe Orchestra (grades 4-8), Third Grade Band (Josh's group!), Elementary Band (grades 4-5), Patriot Singers (grades 5-6), and the Intermediate Orchestra (grades 4-7).

Of course, I tried to make some video of Josh playing and of Amy emceeing. It turned out horrible. We were too far back, Josh wasn't high on the risers, and it just wasn't a good situation for filming. But, I got a video (IT IS CURRENTLY UPLOADING ON YOUTUBE) and you can at least hear the band. When the video is posted here, Josh is on the front row far right~~ and is the first dark-haired boy. Amy was the emcee of the program and did a super job.



After hearing all of the excellent bands, orchestras, harps, choirs, and the giving out of awards, all of the musicians (327 of them representing grades 3-8 at the Academy) came together for the grade finale to play/sing a wonderful patriotic medley. I got the last word of it ("forever" in Stars and Stripes) and you can see Josh kind of in the middle of all the white shirts ~~ in front of the boy wih the prominent bowtie. It was a GREAT evening, and we look forward to watching Josh progress with his trumpeteering!!

"Resting in God's Love" by Baby Lily's Maternal Grandmother, Rhonda

Song of Solomon 2:12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;

Rhonda (in the red dress) and her family: Front Row L-R: Daughter Pam holding Baby Ellie, Rhonda, Dawn (expecting Lily) holding Little Luke, Rhonda's mother, Jean. Back Row L-R: Pam's husband Casey, Dawn's husband Josh, Rhonda's husband Dan, and Rhonda's son, Danny. (Double-click on any pic to enlarge for better viewing.) And now from Rhonda.....

Dear Prayer Warriors,

Let me share my heart with you for a minute. I spent the night with Dawn and Josh last Saturday and Sunday and took care of (2-month-old) Lily so that they could get a good night's rest.
(Picture is of Josh and Dawn with Luke and Lily.)


Early Saturday morning I had asked God for a special promise. I was holding Lily closely and looking out the livingroom window. It was about 6:30 a.m. I noticed a birdhouse on the backyard fence. A mommy bird and daddy bird were making visits in and out of the birdhouse, feeding their young. God reminded me of the song "His Eye is on the Sparrow." It is one of my favorite songs; Dawn has sung it a few times in church. It wasn't long before Josh and Luke joined me in the livingroom. We were quietly waiting for Dawn to wake up. I mentioned my thoughts to Josh as we sat there looking out the window watching the birds.

Later that same day Dawn was checking her email and mentioned she had a really sweet one from George (a friend from church) . As she read it to us, he too was conveying the exact same assurance and comfort to Dawn that the Lord had given me earlier that morning. A couple of the verses follow:

Let not your heart be troubled, His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Matthew 6:26 "Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"

Lily is precious in God's sight. She is under His wings and nothing can happen to her without His knowledge. I am clinging to the promise that He is watching over her! Another verse I love is Psalm 91:4 "He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust."

Keep praying on Lily's behalf. Pray the surgeon will be able to remove the whole tumor (on Tuesday, April 29). Pray for total healing from this cancer. Pray for Dawn and Josh to be strengthened, encouraged and comforted in God's love. Pray for Luke as he will be separated from his parents for much of next week. And please keep praying for the other family members as well.

Resting in God's love,
Rhonda