Last Frontline service w/video

Here's our last Sunday together leading worship at Frontline.  I prayed that God would keep me calm during the songs so that I wouldn't fall apart up on stage.  He miraculously put a smile on my face and a joy in my heart that got me through the morning.  Not only was a I fighting the sad emotion of leaving the church and knowing this was my last time to sing, but I was also fighting my painful shingles rash which was constantly being rubbed by my skirt waistband.  The morning was an amazing success and a joy, to be able to leave on such a high note, and go out singing and praising the Lord!!

Here is the YouTube of the whole service...

And here are the songs we did and the approximate time they are on the video, but I hope you watch the whole video so you can hear the sermon too!

Go ~4:00 Not to Us ~9:15 My scripture reading ~16:40 In Christ Alone ~17:15 It is Well ~21:25 --sermon-- Blessed Assurance ~1:26:26

a tale of shingles

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Dr. with weird symptoms of pain and skin sensitivity.  The Dr. thought I had a pulled muscle.  After that appointment I started developing little blisters.  At first I thought it was poison ivy, but after a couple of days it became abundantly clear that this little rash was not acting like the poison ivy I'd gotten all of my life.   It was super painful and it was spreading.   So I went to the Dr. exactly a week after the first visit and they took a scraping... yeah, it was pretty barbaric and painful.  Of course it was shingles, just as I had assumed after I'd done a reasonable amount of google research.

this is how it looked at my second appointment 

this is how it looked after it had crusted over

This is how it looks now with most all the scabs gone, and even at this stage it is still painful, itchy, and sensitive to any kind of touch.

Even though not all of the rash can be included in the picture because there are other patches around to my back, this is the smallest episode of shingles I've ever seen (on google).  I was expecting it to last like 2 weeks, but it only really lasted a week after it was diagnosed.  I'm surprised that the areas that had started spreading, actually went away after I started on my meds... Yay.  Praise God.  And now I can go in my pool.

So there you have it.  I wasn't going to post about this but my husband told me I should.  Hope you find it helpful.

creative juices...

This is an arrangement I made...

This is a Buddha bowl I made...

This is veggie meat I made with the left over Buddha bowl ingredients.

Sweet potato, quinoa, black beans, beets, onions and oats and flour...

In fact, it looked so much like raw hamburger meat that it was hard to eat!

Miraculously, I think my shingles is getting better.  It's crazy that it should begin healing so fast. Thank You, Lord!

final Frontline...

I prayed that today would be a GOOD day...and it WAS.  I'm so thankful that God turned this into a celebratory day and not a gloomy depressing day.  It was Ryan's and my last time to sing at Frontline...and Darryl's last time on sound.  We are all leaving.  We all said goodbye.  I'm sad... BUT God was so gracious and merciful.  He gave me the confidence and the voice to stand up and loudly proclaim the goodness of God... and give Him all the glory!! 

I love Gretchen.... she took these great pictures... I will miss Frontline and I'm trying not to be sad.  I will trust that God has something in store for me (and my family.)

Amen.

I'm hoping to post a video from our last worship, sometime this week.

PS, I do have shingles.  It's very painful, and still spreading.  Another reason I'm SO thankful that God got me through the morning!

Last Frontline Practice

This was a sad practice...it was our last. PJ came in and hugged me a long time. He was emotional, said he'd miss us. I couldn't think about it though. I knew I had to get through practice and I knew I couldn't do that if I was crying. I'm praying the Sunday will be nice, and celebratory, and giving much praise and glory to God...

I'm going back to the Dr. tomorrow. I think I have shingles. yeah...

So far I've lost 29 lbs... got a ways to go yet!

the start of summer

I'm doing pretty good with my new way of eating.  So far I've lost over 25 lbs.  I'm averaging 2 lbs per week.  Even though I've still got a ways to go, I feel much better after getting all of those disgusting animals products out of my system.  I'm happy to be getting healthy again.  It's been a long time.

Made it in the pool to float around.  Not warm enough to swim yet.

We now have a little garden.  It's bigger than this picture makes it look.  Just enough room for some tomatoes, hot peppers, and some oregano this year.

Enjoying a healthy lunch by the pool.

This is a video of Darryl trying to shoot a huge blue heron that was about to eat our fish.  Don't worry folks, it's just an air gun.  Think the bird at least got scared.  The last time we had a blue heron all of our fish got eaten.  

Next Sunday will be our last week at Frontline.  It's so sad.  I was so emotional yesterday at church I kept getting choked up.  Next week will be especially hard for me because it'll be the last time Ryan and I sing there.  I trust God will find us a new church, but I'm not sure I want to go anywhere right away.  Think I want to take some time off.  And I don't think I will ever become a member of any church again.  I'm just gonna sit in the back and not get involved... yeah.