End in sight....

Well - I have been slow on the update but wanted to share that court on Thursday went somewhat well, the outcome still 'stinks' in terms of the length of time, but God's in control so we are content with that.    Greg has approximately 249 days left to serve out in jail, and then he will be done with everything.   No probation or other conditions.     So that comes out to about 8.4 months, or the end of September.     Greg was very excited and praising God on Thursday, however was more down about it last night when we spoke because the reality is setting in of how long 8.4 months can feel.    I've been encouraging him to look at the positives and the fact that we now have a timeline.     I know, as he says, nobody has any idea of how hard it is to be in a jail cell day in and day out and be surrounded by people who are so negative and full of such evil idea / thoughts.    We are still unsure of where Greg will be at during these next 8 months, whether he is in the county jail or gets shipped away to one of the prisons.   We would continue to appreciate your prayers for God to reveal his purposes for this time for him, to protect him, give him strength, be encouraged, and find peace & joy in his circumstances.    Greg worries about many things in regards to the length of time he will be away - mostly his neices not knowing him, his relationship with his brother, and time apart from me and the rest of his family.   I would appreciate prayers especially in being the encourager / motivator that he needs when he calls, I'm finding it difficult to deal with the emotional ups and downs he is experiencing and give him the right kind of encouragement.    Last night I yelled at him that he had to 'choose' how he was going to react - he could choose to be negative about his situation or choose to trust God and be positive.   So... at this point today... I see the end of September as a tenative date when I will really get to see and spend time with Gregory.

Had my last preliminary meeting with my potential life group, and I feel like God is really going to bless me with some awesome women who need other women in their life to connect with, be relational with, and share in lifes struggles.    Feeling blessed by the worship, messages, and ways God is speaking through the music / sermons at Emmanual Christian Church.    This morning was on Exodus 3, talking about Burning bush moments, God's definiately given me my own burning bush moments.

Yesterday was fun, I got to play in the snow with Greg's brother's family.    It's been a long while since I've been sledding, I think I was as excited as the kids were about going.   Put my bib overalls and my muck books to use here in the city, haha, got a laugh out of explaining to Alicia that I was not wearing snow pants but coveralls.    Us country folk have some more practical uses for our coveralls.

Some pictures from yesterday - I had fun testing out my new SONY camera I bought myself with my Christmas money, really enjoy how fast and the quality of pictures I can now take.

1 Month Down

I just realized  that today officially marks my first month of being in Indiana.    Crazy how fast time flies.    

As I'm easing in to week 3 of the job, I'm still in somewhat of a 'training phase'.    I'm getting to know my staff and guys in my home.     The highlight thus far has been 'winning over' some of the guys who have hard personalities to crack.    Also another highlight was getting one of the men to smile and start laughing while playing catch (he doesn't normally do this).... to top it off I accidently nailed him in the face with the ball and he found this hilarious.   Now every time he sees me he has a big smile on his face.     I have 8 men's care I oversee - aging from 55-78 yrs of age.    They are all so unique and have such fun and different personalities.  

I'm starting to get plugged into a life group through a local church, this past week they started 'organizing us' into groups and it seems I've been placed with 3 other 'new' Fort Wayne residents within the last year.    One woman seems to be a widowed single mom, another single mom, and then another young lady who seems to have lived everywhere.     Seems to be some interesting dynamics, but I look forward to getting connected here.     I've been attending a 'Emmanual Community Church'...... definiately a large congregation.    The next 9 months the pastor is doing a sermon series on Exodus, and thus far I've really enjoyed his engaging messages based off the scripture passages.

Thursday is a big day for Greg and I as we hope to find out an 'outcome' for him at court.   We've been praying through it and just trusting God with whatever awaits him and us.    I believe God knows whats best, but I'm still making sure God knows my desires.     If only my Desires would be inline with his will.     Appreciate your prayers for thursday.    Specifically that Greg can get out of jail, and be able to move forward with treatment / help that he needs.     Court is at 1:30 (12:30 central time).

Photo blog



Alicia tonight - we we're celebrating her 35th Birthday.    These are the kids I hang out with all the time - Mia, Maggie, Morgan, and Mason



This is Terri & Marty's Home - I'm blessed to be living here for the time being.   

This is my room here.    Big transition from having a house to being back in



Maggie & Morgan's Bedroom Project I helped with painting.



Mia's repainted and decorated room, had fun with this one too!

This is Terri - she's an awesome Godly woman - blessed to be able to get to know her and live in her presence.     She's also an amazing cook and grandma!   This is on Christmas day - we are having a Birthday cake for Jesus.

God's bigger.

Just had a great visit with Gregory.    Only getting to see him 20 minutes every two weeks is not enough, but it is better than nothing.

On Sunday Greg was put on a 'suicide watch' when a fellow inmate reported him for fasting to the nurse.    Greg had in fact been fasting & praying for three days, he was on day three and had planned to have a big meal on Sunday evening.     During that time he was really in prayer over several things and reading the word.      When the nurse asked him while taking his blood pressure that evening if this was in fact what he was doing, he shared how he was and how much God has been moving in his life, drawing him even closer,  and blessing him.     He returned to his cell, and within twenty minutes officers were coming to transport him down to the 'suicide watch' cell area.     Trust me when I say Greg was in NO WAY suicidal.     He was then put into a green 'dress' and put into a rubber room for the next 48hrs.    Just him and God.    It was a challenging time, but as he said 'God is bigger than any of this'.      He shared how 1 Peter 3 really came to light through this experience for him in regards to suffering for the glory of the Lord.

To say this was frustrating and difficult for Greg is only cutting the surface.     As he said.... how is ripping everything away from someone going to help if they are in fact suicidal??    Once again - another reason the jail system sucks.    This county jail is paticularly over the top now because they had someone kill themselves on their watch a few weeks back.

Thankfully this situation is only temporary.   God's got bigger plans for Gregory and they  go beyond the walls of the county jail.    He has court next week on the 19th, we are praying that God can move big time through the attorney and the courtroom that day so that Greg can be removed from the current situation and back into a positive treatment environment or come home.     But, no matter what happens next Thursday, we will rejoice.   So we ask you to pray with us!

MARVELOUS JOY

‎'I will thank you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. I will be filled with joy because of you, I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.' -Psalm 9:1-2

ReJO(Y)ice

Phillipians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always.   I will say it again.   Rejoice!"

Hello everyone!  

Just a quick update from Indiana:

This past week I started my job which basically thus far has consisted of training and classes that I've already had in Missouri or know about with being in the field for the last 10 plus years.    So, to sum it up, thus far it has been a LONG and BORING week!    I also found it extremely difficult to sit in one room for 8hrs a day.     Part of that was my need to keep busy and partly missing my 'outdoors' job.    This next week will allow me to get into the home I will be supervising and meet my residents and staff.   Starting Tuesday (Monday I have my last class of training) I will be working in the home along side my staff as I get to know the routines, patterns, etc... of the house.    So I'll have a crazy schedule this week working one overnight shift, one morning shift, a weekend shift, and a couple evenings.   

The home I'll be responsible for consists of 8 older male gentleman who are fairly low key and mellow.   I have learned this week that my 'partner' - the Residential Manager - is also new to her position and just started two weeks ago.     She is fresh out of college and has little to no experience, but together we will be a 'married' team, essentially knowing one anothers jobs and being each others counterpart.   The girl who is my partner is actually a girl I went and toured the agency with during my interview, so I have met her before.    I think we should be able to connect and work well together, and I look forward to building up a good team and system in the home we are responsible for.

I've been really excited about the professionals and peers that I have met within the company thus far, I think I am going to connect really well with my coworkers and supervisor.    I'm already worried that I'm gonna like it too much that I won't want to leave it.    You see.... all along the move to Indiana has been planned to be a short term experience - 1 year.. maybe two, but we'll see what God has in store with that.

Greg is doing great, we've had some ups and downs these past few weeks.    One of the biggest battles for us is communication, not because we want it to be but because of the circumstances we are in.     Those circumstances being limited time windows for him to call, loudness on the cell block, and static on the phones as at this time Greg remains in jail.   Despite the circumstances, we believe God's in control of the situation, Greg continues to see God use him with men he encounters within his cell block.   We are specifically praying for a guy named John and his wife Amanda and their kids Zach and Obadiah as this man wants to see restoration of his marriage and his family.   

I get to visit Greg every other Tuesday evening, so this week I will get to go see him for the second time since moving here.    It's like you would imagine, straight out of a movie scene talking to him through a plate glass window and a telephone receiver.    Definiately not one of those life experiences I ever that I would be having, but I'm confident that this is a temporary challenge for us that we will be able to look back on and see God's mighty hand at work.

You may be wondering why Greg is in jail ~ to make a long story short he was put back in jail over a comment he made to a peer at the Kelley House.    The comment was about a security guy that he feels has had beef with him ever since he first escaped out of the house last spring.    When Greg returned to the house in August with a heart change and a desire to be in the program for the right reasons he sat this guy down and apologized for his actions.    That being said, things continued to happen and Greg still has felt that this guy has wanted him to fail within the program and twisted his reports around to make Greg look worse off than what actually has occurred.     The weekend I moved to Fort Wayne he said something in venting to his peer that 'kharma is a bitch' about this paticualr guy and that was reported to the staff.    The staff then took Greg and discussed situation, and they talked about how he should have handled his feelings towards this gentleman.     Greg knew right away he messed up, he shared how he should have handled his frustrations more appropriately by approaching this guy personally and discussed his feelings, however they still saw Greg's comment as a personal threat to this staff.    So when this staff came in on Monday morning he said he felt uncomfortable and to send him to jail.    Greg did not directly threaten the guy or have any intentions of this nature, however because of the stingent rules in the jail operated rehab program he went back into jail, so has been sitting in jail for the past 3 plus weeks.     In court Greg chose NOT to return to the Kelley because he feels that no matter what that this paticular staff member will continue to do what it takes to keep trying to see Greg fail and the bottom line is Greg just wants to move forward and move on with his life.    As everytime Greg returns to the program their is the possiblity they can restart him back to the beginning, and they continue restarting him in the program for the next three years.   Greg is very fond of his therapists, doctors, and staff within the program and will tell you that the program has changed his life for the positive.    Despite that fact, he and I both agree that we don't want to live in constant limbo for the next 3 years and allow them to dictate his future.    We confidently believe God's in control and he's got a better plan.   

So NOW we wait until Greg returns to court on the 19th, we ask for your prayers for God's hand in the courtroom and working through the attorney - Adam.    Our desire is for Greg to be able to go into a house arrest program through the Veterans Affairs Administration.     A year ago when Greg was originally sentenced for his DUI he was sentenced to 3 months house arrest, at the time he was homeless and because he didn't have a place to go they assigned him to 3yrs with the Kelley House.    We are praying that he will be able to finish out his remaining sentence via house arrest or work release or be cleared of everything completely!   Worse case scenario he will have to finish out his time in a jail cell.

I know this sounds like a complicated mess, but I want you all to know that I'm so proud of the man Gregory has become as by the grace of God he has become a spiritual leader, an excellent communicator, and has developed a heart for people.    His broken road / or rather our broken road has been such a blessing!  We are both confident that no matter what God has got this in His faithful and caring hands and all we can do is walk forward in faith and confidence.   

So - I say it again - REJOICE!   God's got everything under control.    I'm so blessed here in Fort Wayne as I've got Greg's loving and busy family to keep me fulfilled and needed.    I am loving my living situation with Terri and Marty - it's nice and peaceful.      I guess as my friend Courtney said in my response to how much I was loving living within a retirement community  'you always were an old soul' .... yes.... I am an old soul and like my time to read and reflect.    I have been missing Missouri, but have also been enjoying to exciting new experiences and life here in Fort Wayne.    Exciting to walk in faith and see where he is taking me in 2012!

Have a blessed week!