My Hope

Right now I am watching My Hope with Billy Graham. God has used this man over the course of his life to reach millions and millions of people for Him. The coincidence of the airing of this program is that 13 years ago I sat in a completely full Alltell stadium listening to Billy Graham preach something very similar to this and God grabbing ahold of my heart. Also at that time my dad was drawing his last breath on this earth and making his way into the arms of his Father. I didn't know until I got home that evening that my dad had died. At that time I was so upset that I didn't get to tell my dad goodbye. I felt that I had been so selfish in going to that revival and not going to the hospital and being there with my dad when he needed me the most. I was so angry at God. After that I completely rebelled against God and everything that I knew was true. But in His mercy and love He welcomed me home with open arms, like the father welcomed home the prodigal son.
Now I have realized that God wanted me where I was that night. He didn't want me in the hospital watching my dad die. He wanted me in that stadium with people that truly loved me and cared for me. He wanted me to come home when I did so that my mom could tell me the news and the people that I loved more than anything in the world could be there to hold me and let me cry and mourn. The only thing that I can tell you that got me through that rough time of his passing and the time of rebellion after is the never ending love of Christ. When He saved me at 8 years old, I became His forever. Nothing that I can do will ever take me away from Him.
Please know that if you give your life to Christ, He loves you. He doesn't care about your past. He knows your sins and He took them all and placed them on the cross with Christ. He has forgiven them. He loves you. If you feel lost and alone, He is always there. He will meet you where you are. He loves you.

Sadness

The last few days have been filled with heavy heart sadness. No one has died and no one is sick but my heart is still heavy after a few events took place on Friday and some decisions made on Sunday evening.

I know that many of you know that I was planning on going to the Middle East at the first of November. Well, I believe that God is calling me to stay home and be a mommy and fight a battle for my munchkin. I know that there will be more opportunities for me to go but I was really looking forward to going. I am going to listen to the Lord's wisdom for what I need to do. Friday was a really tough day as I had to attend what I thought was an IEP meeting for Jack at his school. Well, come to find out it was not. It was just another meeting of school personnel telling me and our advocate and psychologist what Jack was doing wrong and how he was not doing anything to help himself. We have been fighting this same fight since October of last year. Two and half hours I sat in that room with 9 other people listening to them belittle the disability that Jack has and basically tear him down instead of seeing the progress he has made in almost a year. They kept telling us about the things he wasn't doing or the way his tone was to his teacher instead of finding the things that he was doing correctly. I know that God wants me to be home so that I can continue to fight for the services that Jack needs and to use these "issues" as teaching moments for the people at the school. Jon and I hit a new level of frustration Friday evening and couldn't believe the way that grown adults were talking about a 6 year old little boy or the fact that they thought that I (as his mother) was lying when I told them of all of the successes we have had at home with almost the exact same procedures that we have asked them to use at school.

Thankfully the last 2 days he has had really good days. I continue to pray that he will have good days and that his teacher and everyone at the school will see just how hard he is trying to do what is asked of him. All I want is for them to give him a chance - a chance to be who he is, especially with his disability.

For now.

Hate-Hate Relationship

Ok, I am going to vent for a minute. In late August of last year, Jack was diagnosed with ADHD and ODD (oppositional defiance disorder). He was placed on 2 different medications and we began behaviorial therapy. It has been a long road up to this point and the road continues and is never ending. With his ODD he gets frustrated super easily and can just totally melt down to screaming and tears.

Jon and I had to learn different ways to parent him. The normal ways of doing things do not apply with him because of his ADHD & ODD. Starting out was very hard because we were basically starting over. Jon and I both parent different to begin with so to learn a new way that we must do together was a whole new planet. When we started all of this, I was so confused as to what we should do and who we should call. I was literally in the school parking lot in tears because I didn't know what to do and the first thing that I did was to ask the Lord to show me the way. I have had some people say that we just wanted to put him on medication to calm him down. Let me just say this, the very last thing that either Jon or I wanted to do was put Jack on medicine. We only knew of the horror stories of kids with ADHD and the medication that goes along with it. Knowing all of that and knowing that I basically knew nothing about ADHD is why I asked the Lord to open all of the doors for the things that needed to be done and the paths that needed to be taken.

I truly do believe that God puts people in our paths for many different reasons. The first call I made was to our pediatrician. She has been his doctor since the day he was born and is a wonderful Godly lady and an amazing doctor. She worked us in for that afternoon and sat and talked with me about everything and all of our choices. She didn't automatically jump to medicine, thank the Lord. She also recommended that we see a behaviorial therapist. We found an amazing group that has helped us in so many ways.

I get so mad when people tell me that ADHD is not a real thing and that the parents just want to medicate their children. ADHD is a real disease. Kids struggle through this fast paced world we live in. I have seen the look of frustration in my son's eyes when there is a lot going on and his brain is moving so fast that he can not focus on one thing.

That is all of my ranting for now.

Kim

6 years old!

I can not believe that my sweet munchkin is 6 years old! His birthday fell on a Sunday this year and we took some cookies and juice to all of his friends in Sunday School. Where have these past 6 years gone. In just under a month he will be going into the first grade! He is the smartest and funniest little boy I have ever met - I know, I'm his mom. This past year has been kind of rough but we have all grown closer as a family. Here are some pictures of our 6 year old:

I love you my sweet boy!

Mom

Slacking, Soccer and Israel

I have been slacking in writing. Life has been busy - very busy. One good thing to report - I talked about prayer in my last post. The little boy that was injured severely is home! He spent 7 weeks at Duke Hospital. Thankfully we were able to visit them while they were there. So many people prayed for sweet Ben and God answered many of our prayers.

I have spent the better part of the last week and a half watching the US Men's team playing in the Gold Cup. I love watching soccer when it is on TV - it doesn't matter if they are just playing a friendly or playing in a tourney I am going to watch it.

It is looking like that I am going to be making a return trip to the place that holds my soul - Israel. Wherever my boys are is where my heart is but I love Israel! We are going to be doing some construction work and then touring the country. I am looking forward to it and to getting back to the country.

For now,

Kim

Prayer

The power of prayer is often underestimated. People sometimes say that they will pray but they are just talking - I am guilty of this. I have been trying very hard to pray for those whom I tell I will. I am getting better. I am not perfect but that is okay. Late Tuesday evening, I received an email stating that the 5 year old son of our new worship pastor had been in a horrible accident and was being life flighted to Duke Hospital in Durham, NC. This little boy (and his twin sister) are 4 days younger than my sweet Jack. I can not even begin to imagine what his dad is going through. This little boy went through a 15 hour surgery to save fingers on his left hand and to fix broken bones in both of his arms. He has a very long road ahead of him. He has spent the last 2 days in the hyperbaric chamber to help with tissue.

We are going to Pittsburgh next week and we are going to drive through Durham so that we can take them some food and have Jack take Ben something to cheer him up.

For now, just keep praying for Ben.

Kim

Passion Play, Spring Break & Easter

This month has completely flown by. I can't believe how fast the month went by. The month started out with the start of Passion Play rehearsals. I spent a good majority of the month in some type of rehearsal for Passion Play. This time of year is always the craziest but I LOVE it. All of the people that work behind the scenes and the actors on the stage all have a great relationship and we turn into a family by the end of it.

This year's Passion Play was amazing!!! We had about 15,000 people attend during the 3 performances and had 324 people open their hearts to Christ. It was a wonderful weekend. The Friday of the Passion Play was my mom's 50th birthday! My stepdad took her out to dinner and we threw her a birthday party last night.

Last Monday started Jack's spring break. He has had a laid back week hanging out with my sister and Jon. Friday, we spent most of the day together. He had some testing Friday morning and then wee just spent time together. It was nice not having ball practice or anywhere to go during the week (other than work).

Today was a wonderful day. Jack looked so handsome in his easter outfit.

For now.

An Open Letter to the President (& Congress)

Dear Mr. President (and members of Congress),

Thank you for doing as little as humanly possible to stop the current sequestration that has begun. I am an Army wife but not a typical one. You see, my husband is in the Florida Army National Guard and is an Active Duty member. As of right now this sequestration and furloughs are not effecting our family but they are effecting a lot of people that we know and the community that we live in. One thing that I am having trouble wrapping my head around is that every single one of you up there in Washington took no direct actions to stop this from happening. You have one side that wants spending cuts to take effect and the other side wants to raise taxes on those Americans who are trying to help bring the country back to its "American" standards. You all let this event happen to our country and then turn around and pledge $60 million to the war that is being fought in Syria. Are you kidding me?! You have just let a good portion of the country's Defense workers go on furlough and cut a lot of money from the national defense budget but you magically found millions and millions of dollars to help support a war in Syria. Priorities people.

I have an idea - why don't you let some of us normal American military families come up there and show you how to budget the money that you all are responsible for. I know that for my family when we don't have money in the budget for certain things, we don't go and spend money we don't have. We do not have any credit cards. We are very diligent with the money that we have and that the Lord has entrusted us with. You all make outrageous amounts of money to sit in a chair and fight and argue with each other. You do not know nor do you see just how all of this is going to effect the country. I think that you ALL - yes, you Mr. President, too - should be required to live for a year on what an enlisted member of any branch of the military makes. You should have to pay for basic health insurance and then for any medical bills that come with having basick health insurance. You should have to worry about either paying your mortgage/rent or putting food on the table for your family. You should have to face the unexplainable rising gas prices and utility bills. You should have to worry about your son and a diagnoses of ADHD and ODD and going to kindergarten in a public school. You see, you all live in an alternate reality. You do not have all of these things to worry about. I know that you have things that concern the country that you worry about but you all seen to forget about the people of the country. You forget about the people that elected you into office. You forget about the people that are counting on you and your decisions that you make.

While I did not vote for many of you, including you, Mr. President, I am told by my Creator that I am to pray for you. God raises up and puts leaders into place that He wants in place - for such a time as this. Even though I am afraid of what will happen to my husband's job and to the economy of the country, I believe that God is trying to tell us something. He is shaking this country to show us of our wicked and evil ways. We can either listen to Him and what He is trying to tell us or we can ignore Him and watch our beloved country demise. I will continue to pray for all of you that you will hear the voice of the Lord and think incredibly hard about the decisions that you make regarding our nation.

Thanks.

Kim Kees