Has it really been 3 months?

i can't believe it has been 3 months since i posted. i have been all wrapped up in facebook, i have just let my blog go. shame on me!!!!
a lot has happened in the last 3 months, some good and some not so good. but God has been there with us through it all.
my sister Gay, died, then my nephew died, and just last week i had a cousin to die. i just pray they all knew the Lord.
madisyn is a sophmore this year at Pendleton Heights High School. She is taking spanish, french, english, geometry and biology this trimester. she studies hard and is determined to make good grades. we are so proud of her. she has made several friends and meets them every morning before classes start to have prayer. she is not shy when it comes to speaking about Jesus....
this weekend (labor day) we are going camping with friends and family. on monday we will come home, and monday night we will visit dustin.
last sunday dustin got baptized. that just thrilled us all. he is doing very well and we are very proud of him.

Went to see Dustin

Brit stayed all night Thursday and Friday and went with Madisyn and I to see Dustin today. Wayne had to work and couldn't go with us. It was a long day, but well worth it.
Please pray for Dustin. Anyone that can and will, please write to him and send him words of encouragement and hope. He found a Daily Bread booklet and is reading through the Bible. He reads daily and is already quarter of the way through it. I want to thank everyone that has prayed for Dustin and all of our family, this is not easy on anyone. God bless you all.

He is being moved to Plainfield soon, but till he is moved his address is:

Westville Correctional Facility
Dustin Wayne Shepler 198634
5501 S. 1100 W.
Westville, IN 46391

Aaron's and his RC boat

Here is a picture of our son, Aaron and his boat.

Anyone that knows Aaron, knows he is very creative. This is one of the things Imost admire about him. He has the 'gift' of making something from nothing.

He had gotten this remote control boat shell. Well, he put a weed eater motor on it, put all kinds of gadgets and switches on it too. Today, he painted it and air brush painted flames on it. After Wayne went and saw it, he came home and told me I just had to go see what he had done from nothing. It is just beautiful and we are so proud of him. What do you think??

Grandparents day with Megan

Wayne and I went to school with Megan for grandparents day. We did a craft, math game, Megan read us a book and she gave us a tour of the school. We then had lunch with her in her classroom (it was too muddy outside). We had such a good time and loved every minute of it.

Megan with her teacher and assistant

Megan and Nana

Megan and Papaw

Madisyn and her prayer group!!

These are pictures of Madisyn and the group she prays with every morning before school. She asked God to send special friends that He would choose for her.... and He did!

Thank you God!

As most of you know, Madisyn has been praying for a good godly friend. This has been her desire for almost a year now. She has met some girls from school, but when they are around others, they talk bad or do something not good. Madisyn would go to lunch, put her food on the table and go to get a drink only to come back and her food be moved. She has been so hurt, and being her mom, it crushes me. It was coming down to me going and punching someone or GIVE IT TO GOD. I guess you know what i did. Madisyn has requested prayer at church and at our monthly meetings. I thank God for caring friends that have prayed for her.
Well, today I picked her up at school and she was so happy. She got in the car and told me this was her best day ever. She sais she was in the lunch room and these 3 girls that she had never seen before came up to her. One said, you are Madisyn aren't you? Madisyn said yes and this girl said someone had told her about her. These girls invited her to eat with them and were very nice to her. They were talking to her and asking her about Haiti and how she liked it here. Madisyn said she was happy but wanted to have a real friend. They asked her what she meant. She told them she wanted godly friends with high morals, no matter who is around. They all looked at each other and said they were Christians and they meet every morning before class in the auditoriam for prayer. They invited her to join them starting tomorrow. Madisyn said she went to the restroom and said Lord, if this is You,,,thank You so much.
I haven't stopped crying and thanking Jesus, not only for Madisyn meeting good kids, but for friends and family that have prayed and believed for her life to be blessed.

Grandparent's Day w/Kiara

Kiara and friend Lauren
Kiara happy Nana is there

Kiara and Mrs Bettis

kiara with flower pot

Teacher reading story

Kiara and I had a great time today. She took me a tour of her school....library, gym, book fair, etc. The teacher read a book to the class, the kids introduced who their guest was, and we planted seeds in a little flower pot that we decorated together. Sooooo much fun. Thank you Kiara for making it a fun Nana-Kiara day!! I love you little angel!

Grandparents Day with Kiara

So excited about tomorrow morning. I am going to school with Kiara for grandparents day. When we are finished, Kiara and I are going to pick up Karleigh at her school, and I will take them home. I hope to have pictures posted tomorrow night of our big day!!

Tomorrow Wayne and I are driving up to see Dustin. So far, I am the only one approved, but we are praying Wayne's approval will be there tomorrow. If not, he will have to sit in the car and wait while I visit. More than anything, I want Lori to be able to go and see him soon. There was a mistake on their application and it had to be sent in again. Please pray she gets to see him soon.

Today Wayne and I worked on our yard while Madisyn was at school. It's starting to shape up, but we still have a lot of work to do.

Yesterday Madisyn got her hair done. It really looks cute and she just loves it. It is supposed to last 3 months, I pray it does as it is so expensive.

Oh happy day!!

Yesterday I was able to go and visit with Dustin. As soon as I saw him I started to cry, then when it was time to leave we were both in tears. We had a 3 hour visit and now I can't wait till we see him again. He looked good and seemed in good spirits. He seems to be closer to God and for that I am thankful. He misses 'home and family' so much. We all miss him too and can't wait till he is home with us again.

Megan, Katie and "Flower"

Here are 2 of our little granddaughters, Megan and Katie. These 2 little 'angels' belong to our son, Aaron and his wife, Sharon. The girls were at their other grandparents house over the weekend. Sharon's dad has a new baby calf the girls have proudly named, 'Flower'

Happy Birthday Lori (sorry the post is late)

I have been so busy lately i neglected to wish my daughter, Lori, a very happy birthday. She turned 42 on Monday, March 10.

Lori, I love you so much and I thank God for you. I only wish some of your organizing skills would rub off on your mother.

Blessings to you always.

Road to recovery

Wayne is doing great since his surgery. Today they took the staples out and he had therapy for the 3rd time this week. He was also released to drive & i thought he would be so anxious to get behind the wheel. he said he didn't want to drive quite yet, i think he is enjoying be driven around. he was so happy to finally get those support hose off.
as of this morning he has lost 39 pounds since his surgery, and he is starting to get some of his energy back.
We want to thank all of you that have prayed, sent cards, visited and phoned. Most of all we want to say a big THANK YOU JESUS!!

Thank You Jesus...again and again

Wayne had knee replacement surgery last week and he has done wonderful, Thank You Jesus!
I woke up a couple of days ago sick with the flu. Lori and her girls have been sick and so has Sharon and the girls. All this has been weighing heavily on me. Things can't get any worse, right? Wrong!
Dustin got transferred to a prison three hours away and it makes me so worried for him. The enemy TRIED, i did say tried to play with my mind and put fear on me, then i remembered something wonderful.................. God has NOT given me the spirit of fear and He will take care of Dustin no matter where he goes. What a relief, knowing His Dad has him.
We haven't seen Dustin since January and miss him so much. We were hoping to see him within the next week or two. We sent our applications in and are waiting for approval. I called today and found out that it takes 2 months to be approved.......the bottom TRIED to drop out again. I felt physically ill when the phone rang. A dear friend (Rob) called to see how we were doing. I am usually a very upbeat person. I had just gotten the worse news i could imagine when he called. I answered and he said Georgi? I said oh hi Rob. He said what is wrong, is it about Dustin? I told him what i had heard and he let me know he and Angie would be praying for us. We hung up. The phone then rang again and it was Dustin calling. When i heard his voice i just cried and cried. He kept saying Nana are you okay? He must have thought wayne died during surgery or something. He sounded good and very strong in the Lord, I knew prayers were going up for us. when we hung up the doorbell rang...it was Rob. He said he just felt led to come and pray with us. oh my goodness, God is so good!!! I want to thank God now for all the friends he has placed in my life. Thank you Rob.... Now you think that is it for the bad and good stuff right? what more could happen?
i received an email from another dear dear friend that hears God. she said she had listened to kim clement and was listening to the cd coming home from work and had to repeat it twice to be sure of what he said : "some of you out there have a loved one behind bars and I tell you this, God is going to use them to roll back the gates of hell" .( When i read this i just lost it completely.)
I desire to have Him just take all of my flesh and Him just flow through me... This is a tough walk for :"God's Kids" all of us at this time.. He is purging us so he can flow through us freely.. and He is taking the most precious to our hearts and doing this, but at the same time He also is working on Dustin. Thank you Charlotte.
If any of you feel led to write to Dustin to encourage him in the Lord please do. you cannot send him anything but letters and pictures (no copies) no extra paper or stamps. His address is:

Westville Correctional Facility
Dustin Wayne Shepler #198634
5501 South 1100 West
Westville, IN 46391

My 2 guys need your prayers

Please remember Wayne today in prayer. He is having knee replacement surgery at 1:30 in Anderson. He will probably be in the hospital for 2 or 3 days. He has had pain in his knee for over a year, now the past 6 months it has almost been unbearable. I pray he will have a speedy recovery and feel great for the summer.

Also, please remember Dustin in your prayers. Lori got a letter from him and he said that he is very depressed and misses everyone so much. Please pray he uses this time to draw closer to God

Happy Birthday Megan

Here is our little 7 year old 'angel'. Megan is such a joy to have. She has such a tender heart and loves everyone. Seems like just yesterday she came into the world, now she is 7. I pray she draws close to Jesus as she grows up. She is a leader and could be such an influence on others, God can do mighty things through her.
We love you Megan...........HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Haitian Camp '09

Last weekend Madisyn & I went to Lafayette for haitian camp. We picked Brit up at school and followed Lori and Spike. Wayne had to work and couldn't go with us this year. We all really missed him.

Brit, Madisyn and I shared a room. I was telling Madisyn that she and Brit would share a bed and I would have a bed to myself. If you see the picture you will see that all 4 of the little 'angels' hopped up in bed with me. We had adjoining rooms with Lori and Spike. As the girls went to sleep, one by one, Lori would take them back to their beds.

We had such a good time. Madisyn loved being with everyone and swimming!!!

Snow, snow, and more snow!!

We woke up to over 10" of snow today and there was no school, needless to say, Madisyn was sooo happy to sleep in. She got up around 10:00, ate breakfast and started getting ready to go outside and play. She was so excited to get in the snow. She had said yesterday that when it snowed she wanted to make a 'snow guy', 'snow boy' or whatever you call it....she is so funny.

When she got outside she decided to wait a while to make her little snow friend, so she played with Dakota.

My Dad

January 16 my dad would have been 93 years old.
Here is a picture of my dad. I thank God for him and the way he always loved and provided for me, my mom and sisters. Daddy went home to be with Jesus 2 years ago, so I know he is having a good time.
I miss and love you Dad and hope to see you soon!!

Shame on me!!!!!

This is such a trying and busy time for our family right now. I forgot to blog a very special occasion. Last Friday, January 8, our little granddaughter Karleigh turned a big 5 years old! My how time flies. Seems like just yesterday she was just starting to to walk. I tease her cause she sounds just like Donald Duck when she talks. She is so precious and we love her so much. She is our little dress up diva......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARLEIGH