Please pray for Doris. She was ambulanced to Muscatine ER and then on to Univ of Iowa Hospitals on Saturday with lethal levels of potassium, kidney failure, and seizures. She is in Cardiac Intensive Care on 4th floor.

They were able to reverse the potassium levels which could have caused her to code at any minute. Slowly they have brought her other medication levels back to her normal. She had been vomiting on occasion starting Thursday and seemed to have a bug of some sort. Saturday morning she went into seizures while we girls were out to Farm & Fleet for a few minutes. Anna and Joseph found her and got Pat who called 911. The paramedics were there as we rushed back. During her ambulance ride to the Univ they had to shock her once as her heart was irratic.

She now is battling significant pneumonia. They are also transfusing her from an unknown blood loss source. Her kidneys are beginning to produce urine again thankfully. She has a face mask to help her breath as she was too weak to breath deep enough to keep the air flow right.

Please pray for our Doris. They say she is a model patient. Mary, Jeanie, Don & Sherrie, and I are taking turns staying with her day and night. Ron & Linda were up Sunday also.

Yours in prayer,
Donna

Hi All,

We awoke to birds singing, dew on the grass, and beautiful, wonderful SUNSHINE!! It’s been a bit cold and rainy the last few days, but promise of warmer temps today have me pumped!

Yesterday my baby turned THREE years old. Oh my gosh—as she says! She is turning into such a big girl—-fully potty trained now for a few months and FINALLY no more bottle nipples to suck on! God knew I couldn’t “lose” it for her, so He arranged for me to lose it for real. It only took one night of very little sadness and one morning asking Aunt Jeanie if it was at her house. That was the END of it!!!! I can’t believe it! She was more ready than I could imagine. PTL. Such a freedom for both of us.

God continues to show Himself mighty to me and my family. After much trauma and drama, I was finally successful in moving Amanda (12 yr old) out here with Anna and I. It is a blessing for all of us. She is a beautiful girl who needs a mother whether she wants one or not! We’re doing great and living each day in praise and thanksgiving to our God who is designing our lives. We are so blessed.

I pray all of you are living in the sunshine of his love and enjoying each day to the fullest. Love to all of you out there.

Sorry I missed your birthday my pal John!!! I thought of you all day and prayed for you.

Take care and see you at the wedding! Our lives are entangled with visions, dreams, plans, nerves, excitement as time rushes by! It will be the event of the year—at least if we have anything to say about it!!!

I can take no credit for this joke. It was forwarded to me in an email and the source wasn’t noted… so I can’t tell you who came up with it first… (p.s., please do not take this as a sign that I would appreciate a bunch of joke forwards… Dude, I get hundreds of emails a day)… Anyway, a little Holy Week humor coming your way:

CHURCH TELEPHONE

A man in Topeka, Kansas, decided to write a book about churches around the country. He started by flying to San Francisco, and started working east from there. Going
to a very large church, he began taking photographs and making notes.

He spotted a golden telephone on the vestibule wall, and was intrigued with a sign which read, “$10,000 per minute.” Seeking out the preacher, he asked about the phone and the sign.

The preacher answered that the golden phone is, in fact, a direct line to Heaven, and if he pays the price, he can talk directly to God.

The man thanked the preacher and continued on his way.

As he continued to visit churches in Seattle, Salt Lake City, Denver, Chicago, Milwaukee, and around the United States, he found more such phones, with the same sign, and the same explanation from each preacher.

Finally, the man arrived in the wonderful state of Texas. Upon entering a church, behold: he saw the usual golden telephone. But THIS time, the sign read: “Calls: 25 cents”!

Fascinated, the man asked to speak with the preacher. “Preacher, I have been in cities all across the country and in each church I have found this golden telephone, and have been told it is a direct line to Heaven, and that I could use
it to talk to God. But in 20 other churches, the cost was
$10,000 per minute. Your sign says 25 cents per call–Why is that?

The preacher, smiling benignly, replied: “Son, you’re in Texas now, and it’s a local call.

Hey family. I have an idea. Let’s start our own Amazon.com and call it Get-It-To-You-On-Time-Azon.

Just a thought.

…and you are winning essay contests and going on cruises and planning weddings and all sorts of good stuff.
Congrats ladies!

Good morning All,

What a beautiful, rainy, blessed day here in my hometown—Muscatine. Do I miss purple mountains majesty, you betcha. BUT GOD—I love that phrase—but God has planned for me to be in wonderful, buggy, humid, family-filled Iowa at this time in my life. I can only say, Praise the Lord for guidance, assurance, and most of all PEACE that passes my understanding.

How can I be more blessed??? Didn’t think it could happen, but I’m continuing to be reminded that every step is a new adventure. Oh my gosh! ALASKA!!!! How can this be happening? Only in the tapestry of my life designed by God Almighty. The scripture talks about blessings that we cannot even imagine—this is one of them. A sister who prayed to be able to share this cruise with ME—-and God answered even before we spoke. What a mighty God we serve.

This year of surprises, disappointments, shock, confusion, anger, etc. etc. is not a surprise to my Lord. I am so thankful for the years of trust in Him that has brought me to this time. His anchor is my stability and sanity. His anchor is lined with all of you—especially Jeanie and her family, Donna, and Doris. What love He has for His family.

Anna and I love you so much.

Moody Broadcasting Network ran a contest from March 20-31, 2006 in which you entered an essay “What About Moody Radio Floats Your Boat” with regional winners to be entered in the national contest for a cruise for 2 to Alaska September 16-23, 2006 accompanying a crew of Moody ministers, singers, etc. including Dr. Michael and Cindy Easley. I called in the morning of April 4th after finding a message when I got to work. I was on the radio accepting the regional prize when they asked if I was sitting down and then said I was also the national winner. Doris, Mary, and Anna heard it all. I had asked Mary to pray if she wanted to go with me as a friend of mine heard I was the regional winner before I went to work and called me.

Here is my essay which God helped me write in a rush 3/31/06…..
Each morning as I travel to my job I listen to WDLM and am inspired and uplifted and made ready to cruise as a Christian in the workplace and be a testimony for my Savior. I listen again as I return home each evening. WDLM helps keep me on course as a Christian. Each day is a new adventure on the open sea of life. The Moody crew anticipates all my needs and remains close by with constant assistance. I would not be afraid to cruise anywhere with this crew who uses Jesus as their compass.

You can access information on the cruise at http://inspirationcruises.com/html/moody_bible.html

Pray for Mary and me as we prepare ourselves for the Christian Cruise with the Moody Team. It will be like an ole fashioned tent meeting like we attended as kids- but we will be in a cruise ship observing the beautiful scenery God has created for our enjoyment.

Today is one of the most exciting days I can remember. I got a call from my friend before leaving for work this morning that I was the WDLM (Moody) regional winner and was eligible for the national prize of a cruise for 2 this September. I called Mary and asked if she would like to be my guest. She was VERY interested so I asked that she pray and get her radio turned to 89.3 and let me know who the national winner was. She and Doris found the station just as they took my call from work where I had a message to call their 800 number immediately. Doris and Mary then heard me interviewed and announced on the air as the NATIONAL WINNER of over 600 essay entries.

One night as I traveled home from Mary’s I listened to WDLM as I always have it on in the car. They reminded everyone to remember to enter the Moody Cruise Alaska contest which was available online. The next morning I remembered to check it out and was surprised to see that was the last day to enter. I quickly filled out all the blanks and rushed through the essay. Now I know God inspired the essay so that Mary and I would have the opportunity to cruise with Dr. & Mrs. Easley on September 16-23, 2006. Can you imagine how wonderful it will be on such a scenic cruise as guests of Moody Bible Institute? This will be a belated birthday cruise for Mary as she turns 60 in June.

I hope we girls can take Doris on a Mexican cruise in the not too distant future. I have promised to go with her on a cruise, but the Alaskan cruise would be much too cold, and I would not want to get her sick.

Getting the news of the win at work gave me a wonderful opportunity to witness for the Lord. One of the ladies I work with heard the whole interview before and after. She and Mary both said they kept remarking how kool the essay was and then read it. I am hoping to obtain a copy of it to share. They kept announcing there was a delay in announcing the winner. Turns out they were waiting for me to call in so they could tell me on the air. WOW!!!!!

Please pray that Mary and I will be able to use this as witnessing tool throughout the year. God has been very good to us.

Yours in Christ,
Donna

“Hello everyone. We had hoped and it even looked like the spot on Jackson’s lungs would not be cancer. But, after surgery to remove the spot we have now discovered that indeed it is a recurrence of the anaplastic wilms tumor. I just want to ask you all to continue praying for healing. We need a miracle more than ever now. The experimental drug had no effect on the cancer. So, now we will return to St. Jude Hospital on Monday to find out what the plan is for Jackson. Thanks.”

This little on-line cookbook project that I started five years ago is moving along at the pace of … well, sorghum. We are still working on the best bits (desserts for one). But we’ve made some progress. The cookbook has changed to a Wiki style (where users can add and edit on their own without going through me - yea!)… but we are still working out the kinks a little bit there. The other nice thing about using the Wiki is the search function is really quite good. Anyway, we’ve just posted the sorghum stuff if you’ve been dying to get your hands on those sorghum recipes whilst surfing the net at Starbucks….

More to come.