World Bazaar At Community Christian Church GFR BOOTH

The Booth comes alive!

Our friends Joe, Jake, and Mary all help us set up the booth.

Silly Rabitt, you can't put that there.

GFR survives because of Volunteers like Joe.

More Joe

Two founders and a daughter.

This was only half of our booth........

Ben, are you serious? A petting zoo?

bring in the sheep!

And the goats...Thank you Friendly Farms!

Mary lovin life!

Princess Amber with a bunny.


A pig and a bunny!

The story of Sarafina...

Melody escorting people through the story of Sarafina...

Our good friends Pam and Jeff with Mary!

Some of the Pahlows


Pastor Tim and Miranda

Newly Sponsored Family!!!!! WOO HOO!

Pastor Dave and with one of his boys

World Bazaar At Community Christian Church Kids City Project

Hut to Home BEFORE AND AFTER

In 2005, Kids City built this new home for Orphan Regine and her 3 siblings, but

the kids in Kids City (Community Christian Church's kids program) wanted more! So they built another home this summer, and then Friday night, November 17th, they sold birdhouses to build another NEW HOME!!!! They teamed up with CCC's Junior High STUCO who made blankets to sell and raised over $1800.00!!! Now we are talking a THIRD home for orphans!!!!!!! WOO HOOO!

Here Ken and Angela and their precious kids counting the kids piggy bank

money to buy a birdhouse.

Here is their Display

What a great Idea!!!

Another trip to the hospital

Ok, we went back to Edwards Hospital today. It was a tough way to wake up. Ben walked up quietly behind me and said, "My chest hurts." I didn't have time to react in a panic. I just started pulling things together and gave him an insulin shot before we got in the car. He WANTED to go to the hospital. That was the scary part. Not at all like Ben. But things have changed and we both take this very seriously.

Back on morphine, nitroglycerin, heprin... two more I.V.'s. Cat scan, chest xray, blood draws, EKG, ECG, Blood pressure going off every 2 minutes... Nothing was conclusive. So the cardiologist says, "You are too young to take chances. I am going back in to see the arteries again."

Turns out the stints are still in place and the blood is getting to the right places... but the blood pumping into his arteries are "sluggish" which can cause residual heart pain. Also, one particular med was slowing down the pumping a little too much. Endothelial Dysfunction...

Whatever! Bottom line is that he had another catheter inserted into his other groin to get to his heart. He absolutely pushed through all the necessary hurdles to get out of the hospital tonight... and here we are again, at home, watching Oprah. I feel like the world is spinning and we are on it for the ride.

It never ceases to amaze me how Ben rebounds from this stuff. He is the strongest person I have ever met. Just 6 hours ago he was getting his heart probed and now he is sitting on that same couch he was on last night and asking me, "Are you done with that blog yet"? LOL! The first thing he did was look at his email to see what new people were interested in sponsoring a family in Rwanda. He loves it... he lives for seeing other people have a full life. And here he is, living the fullest one himself.

I was amazed to see that after surgery the first person to drop by was Vlad (And by the way he is not Russian! He is Chinese and Philippino) ... the nurse that Ben had last weekend for three nights straight. Vlad brought in his two adorable boys to visit. And isn't that SO like Ben?? What other person can make that kind of impression? He is a magnet for people! The thing that makes me absolutely crazy is that Ben cares so deeply for EVERY person he encounters in his life. How can he do that and not get overwhelmed? Sheesh! But seriously, Vlad is Ben's new best bud and it is fun to see new relationships developing out of such a scary situation.

So here I sit, typing away and I could be sleeping... but I know that everyone and his brother will be wondering how my best friend is doing! So now you know! He is well. He is determined to adjust to the new diet and exercise as well as handle all the needles because he loves us so much. And we can't help but love him back!

Unexpected

There are only a few experiences in my life that I can say have changed me forever... my first time on stage, Ben leaving for the airforce, the birth of my first child, the love note that Ben wrote 8 years ago that said "Relax you are valuable"... OK, this is so strange. I can't even bring to my mind things that used to be important to me. I guess that is because nothing could prepare me for what happened last Friday. It has consumed me for 6 full days. All I can think about is right now and being in this moment. There is no way to expect your 37 year old husband to have a heart attack. It is an outrageous thought to imagine my life without him. And I cringe at the thought that I almost had to.

Last Friday he was playing basketball at our church and felt chest pains, couldn't breathe, and had radiating pain down his left arm... all the classic signs. He told Tim Bakker our pastor to call 911. The cardiologist later told us it saved his life. He had a 100% block in one artery and another 80% block as well. Both required stints which holds open the artery for bloodflow. But even while I speak those details, I can't help but look at those words without remembering his face while I was running beside the gurney... "I'm sorry. I love you. Tell the kids I love them." Paste, that was the color of his forehead. I saw blood somewhere. But mostly I watched in horror as his mouth gasped for air and he spoke to Tim next to me... "Take care of my wife. Take care of my kids."

I will never be the same. I know Ben won't be either. He made it through the surgery and had complications with Diabetes. His blood sugars wouldn't go below 300 for a few days. They started him on insulin shots. In order for us to leave the hospital, he had to give himself the shots. It was horrible for him. He has a phobia of needles... and to think he has to give himself 4 shots each day as well as prick his fingers 4 times. It is amazing that he has toughed this out and is sitting on the couch right now playing on the computer. Honestly, if it was me, I would be throwing a fit saying, "Why me?? How come I have to do this crazy low fat, low carb, low sodium, low cal diet? Why can't I just be like everyone else?" But he doesn't. He is working on accepting this situation... and so am I. But it is so much easier that he WANTS to be healthy. One of the things he kept saying in the ambulance was "I want to live!" And that is so true. Ben wants to live... and apparently God wants him to as well.

The first few nights I couldn't sleep at all... I kept trying to hear him breathe. How ironic that when I came home 3 days later, Hope snuck into my bedroom, tapped my on the shoulder and said, "Mommy, are you breathing?" Breath has become important to me and all of our children. Walking too. Oh, and even eating. Well, I have to add sleeping... Hmmm.... Interesting. The things that strike me now as so important are SO simple. Dha! But it is true!!

I guess what I want to say is how God has spoken to our family about this crisis. We have all become part of the healing process through eating right, excercising, etc. But more than that, we have embraced trusting God. On Friday after surgery, Hope came home from school to find church friends waiting for her. They explained the situation and she called us. When she got on the phone with Ben (who was still groggy), she exclaimed, "Daddy, there was a miracle today! God talked to me at school and told me something bad was going to happen but that it would be ok. I heard him say that and it really DID happen just like he said. Daddy, I know He is real! He really did die on the cross for me!" It was the first moment I realized that we were not the only ones growing through this situation.

Many people have been helping us and supporting us. We feel so much love and care. Prayers are flying into heaven for us and we are so grateful. Thank you for being there... We love you all.

A story I can't believe

Sometimes I forget the horrible things our families have experienced. I came across this story today and thought I would share it with you. So many of our families have been traumatized in this way. Flora's story helps me remember why we are in Rwanda. I love all of our families and can not imagine how they go on after the things they have seen. But I am honored that we are doing something about it! And so can you!

'Living among the dead' - as seen on BBC April 4, 2004

Flora MukamporeIn 1994 in the village of Nyarubuye, Rwanda, the Hutu majority went on a killing spree in the local church, slaughtering neighbours and friends. Flora Mukampore lost 17 members of her family and saw her neighbour doing the killing. This is her story.

We used to go to church with them and they taught us together that committing murder is a sin and God punishes those who kill. We thought that no one would dare come to attack us at the church because the church is a holy place. [When the killers arrived] our men were ready to fight, even though they didn't have any weapons, so they died standing. You would not think that they were all going to get killed because they were very many. We did not think they would get killed.

My neighbour Gitera was there. Imagine someone leaving their home, knowing the possible victim's name and their children's names. They all killed their neighbours' wives and children.

All the people they were cutting fell on me because I was near the door. I had too much hair but it all was washed with blood. My body had been drenched in blood and it was getting dry on me so killers thought I had been cut all over. They thought I was dead. I lay down on one side with only one eye open. I could hear a man come toward me and I guess he saw me breathe. He hit me on my head saying: "Isn't this thing still alive?" Immediately I heard my entire body say "whaa". Something in my head changed forever. Everything stopped.

Afterwards, when the cold wind blew. I woke up. But I did not realise that there were bodies around me. I did not remember what had happened. I just thought they were normal people and so I slept among them like we had slept before the killers came.

Later I heard a girl say: "She is rotten. It's all over for her. Does she look human to you? "
Then I realised that all the people around me had decayed. When they sat me up I realised there were maggots and I started removing them off myself.

Can you imagine living with the dead? At some point God helped me and made me unconscious because if I wasn't, there is a possibility that I would have committed suicide. But, I wasn't conscious and anyway killing oneself needs energy. Can you imagine. People died on the 15 April and I lived among them until the 15 May?

~Flora