2 trust or not 2 trust!?

2 trust or not 2 trust, that is my question?!


Who do you trust? Your spouse? Your children? Your Parents? Family? Friends? Co-Workers? These would be people you physically interact with.

A yes to any of these I could understand. You have built a relationship with each of them. You can tell by their eyes or body language if they are lying. After time you can even tell by how they word something, or use a tone that sends the warning bells.

Who do you share your most intimate feelings with? Who would you trust to baby, house or pet sit? Who would you share the location of where you live with? Who would you make vacation plans with? Who would you buy a house with? Let alone live with?

If you list shrinks depending on the question, that's good. Who would you trust with your financial information example: check book, debit or credit card? Is your list shrinking, if not shrunk to only one physical person by now?

Now............. what if the only contact you had was thru email or phone? How much of your personal info would you indulge? This includes people met thru Facebook, Myspace, and anywhere else online. Take some time to ponder this post and reply. Even if you choose to not post a reply, please think about these questions, and how they apply to your own life.

Now I want to give you some more things to think about and to be aware of. First understand that I have nothing against making friends, and believe that a few make actually find love online. I have made some awesome friends online and hope one day to meet them in person. Meet at Starbucks, have a latte, or meet at a restraunt. But I would never invite someone into my home, nor let them know my address until I have met them and have gotten to know them. Online you can be anyone you want to be. If you have never met me in person, would you know if what I was saying was real or made up? That's my point you have no idea, nor do I about you. My home is my safe place. the place where my family plays and sleeps. It is our safe haven from the weather and the world. When we are having a bad day, things get better once we are home and able to relax.

It seems everyday we hear on the news about another woman killed, by an obsessed idiot, or ex-husband. We hear about woman who have been conned. A friend who will remain nameless, had this happen to her: She met a man online, he said the right things, she thought they were in love, he needed money, she lent it to him....... Her money is gone, so is he, and her heart is broken.

What I am getting at is, please be carefull!!!! Even when I meet people in public, it takes a long time until I invite them to my home, my sanctuary. Think I am paranoid? Hardly, once when leading a bible study, we had a new woman, who was not a member of our church, we were thrilled, for she was a new believer. I never met her anywhere outside of church. She became obsessed with me. She scared the crap out of me. Finally I had to confront her. She was angry, and began stalking me at church!!!! Of all the places to be stalked, I am thankful that it was church and not my home. When it was very evident that she was not going to stop, my husband and pastor stepped in and they protected me and we filed a report with the city police. She was never seen again, at least at my church. I have had one occurrence where she was at the same place at the same time, but there is no way she could have known I was going to be there. So I kept my distance, and moved on. Thankfully she never followed me home!

So I leave you this last thought. Please be very careful about what you tell someone online and in person. Really take the time to get to know them. There is nothing rude about not inviting someone to your home in this day and age, when violence is the norm. If I sound paranoid, it's because I have seen to many get hurt or taken advantage of.

Stay safe and God Bless!

Mrs. C.

Justin is home!!!!!!!!

Justin arrived home safely today!!! We managed to keep Abby clueless, she actually believed me when I told her that we (her, me, daddy, granny, di, and jesse), were having dinner together at the airport since there is a variety of food and everyone can get what they want!

I can finally relax, he is home, he looks great! Below is the video of her reaction to finding out why we really ate at the airport. Once we all had our hugs, we rushed off to church and I felt whole having my entire family worshiping together once again.

Pictured at top is Justin, Drew (aka dad) and Abby, middle is the three amigos, Jesse, Di and Justin, and the bottom is Justin, Drew aka dad, and Abby, and the lower pic is Granny, Justin and Abby. If after this edit they don't match up, I think you can figure it out! LoL!

What ended the mission early was that the org. that Justin was working for decided it would be economically better for them to replace Justin with a Kenyan and pay the Kenyan half of what they were paying Justin.

I am just so happy to have my son back home!

We are having a WELCOME HOME OPEN HOUSE PARTY on Tuesday April 14, 2009 from 5pm to 10pm. Whether you know Justin or want to meet him, we would love to have you over. We are asking anyone who has a favorite dessert, snack, or dish they would like to bring to share to do so. If you do not know where we live, please email me and I will send you directions.

We are also asking for assistance to cover the financial hit my husband and I took this week to get Justin home as quickly and safely as possible. If only this would have happened two weeks earlier, we could have cancelled our vacation and had the full amount to pay for his flight. If you would like to help, we will have a free will offering at the party, or you may make a donation on website http://www.tkpp.org/, or purchase some TKPP gear at http://www.covertdesigns.org/.

We want to thank everyone who helped get Justin to Kenya, his time was well spent. I am really tired and will share his full story another day.

May God Bless you in all you do!

Mrs. C.

My baby comes home 2day!!!

It is after midnight and I can not sleep. I need 2, but I am so excited to see my son today. He left for Kenya the day after Christmas and was originally supposed to come home in March. Then he was offered a two year long term volunteer gig (you can read about the whole saga at http://www.tkpp.org/ ). Then due to circumstances out of our control, Justin sent me a text Saturday morning, as I was getting finishing packing and getting ready for breakfast with Chip and Dale at the Disney Grand Resort and then fly home. This is the text you never want to get from your child. "Mom, call me asap, it's an emergency"!! So I called him, got the scoop and since I knew he was safe with a friend (that I believe God put in Justin's life to protect him), I told him to sit tight and I would handle everything as soon as I got home. We were able to get him on a flight this week and today I will get to hold my son tight and praise God he is safe and home. As I write this, I am praying my son's flight from Kenya to London was safe, as well as the 8 hours that he has to wait for his flight from London to Phoenix. I am praying for him to arrive home safely. I have missed him so much, but yet had peace from God, that my son would be OK. God is Good. Even though Justin won't be staying for the 2 years that he was so excited to do, God was with him all the time, and still is. No matter where Justin is, God has plans for that boy, and I can't wait to see what is next.

For me, this is the best Easter Gift God could have given to me, other than having Jesus die for my sins, kinda wish is could have happened two weeks earlier so Justin could have gone on vacation with us. It is ironic that this happened at the end of our vacation. We have not had a family vacation for years. I have been sick for many years, had too many surgeries last year and this year is going to be a frustrating years of more doctors and therapy. We kept waiting for me to get better, and knowing now that it is not going to happen (don't worry its not terminal, just disabling), we decided now was the time. And with the economy, we figured if we did not go now, we may not be able to afford to go for many more years. It felt odd not having Justin with me at Disneyland. This was the first time, I have been there without him, he has been there once without me for a Jazz band competition. Our Disney trips started with me and Justin (and his Aunt Ami) going for Justin's 3rd birthday. Then I took him for his 5th, 7th, and 8th. My mom joined us for his 8th and we skipped the bargain hotel and stayed at the Disneyland resort. Then later that year Justin and I went again for my 30th bday. For his 9th birthday, my husband (at that time he was my fiance, we married later that year) and his brother joined us. After Drew and I married, our new family moved to Denver. It wasn't as affordable to go as it was when we lived in AZ, so we didn't, then after moving back to AZ, I became pregnant with Abby. Once Abby turned 3, we headed back to Disneyland. This was our first trip to Disneyland in over 5 years. On our 2nd day, I had to be taken to the hospital, ended up having an appendectomy. But that did not stop me! We added a day to replace the one lost during surgery and with a wheel chair and meds, my husband, kids. and I continued to enjoy the happiest place on earth. As a make up trip we went for a few days the next year. It has been 3 years between the last trip and our current one. We had a blast, we have been there enough to be able to relax and do what we want and not feel we have to rush and do everything. We always go for a week, that gives us time to see all the shows, or parades or spend time at the hotels or resorts. The only thing missing this time was my son. I pray I can earn enough money to take us back next year and have him with us.

Besides Disney (which I will tell you all about another time), the most awesome thing about Justin's return is: The last time we worshiped at church together as a family was Christmas Day morning, the day before he left, and now after we pick him up at the airport, we will be heading to church together, with my mom and prayerfully his friends, to worship together for Maundy Thursday. What a Blessing! I am crying as I write this, because God is so good, and I will be praising Him for so many things tonight.

I spent today getting Justin's bedroom freshened up for him. Will finish doing some laundry for him and washing his bedding when I get up in the morning. Plan to buy him some comfy new pillows too!

We will be having an Open House Welcome Home Party for Justin next week. I will be posting the time and day on our website. And for those who are out of state, the next week we will have an internet chat party! We are also scheduling speaking engagements for Justin at Holy Cross and Family of Christ Lutheran Churches. His experience was amazing and he touched the lives of many.

Well I better head to bed, have laundry and shopping to do tomorrow, before we head to the airport. Oh yeah one last thing, Abby has no clue!!!! She thinks we are just going to Starbucks with Di and Jesse before church tonight!!! And because our family is known to go out to eat at a hospital (good and cheap food!), and other crazy things like that, she won't catch on when we go to the Starbucks at the airport, she will just think it's cool! Can't wait to see her face, when Justin comes thru the gate!!!!

God bless and good night!
Mrs. C.

My first Blog!

Wow, my first blog. Never thought I would be doing this. But as my Facebook addiction grew and I wanted to share more, I found that writing notes, wasn't enough, unless I reposted them to my profile daily. Seeing, that more of my friends have started blogging, I thought I would give it a go! But it is late and I need my beauty sleep. Will give you some insight into my life 2morrow!

Good night and God Bless!

Mrs. C.