zephyrofgod

Good news!

My stepdad will be home in time for Christmas!

In fact, according to my mother, he's already home.

WOOHOO!

Here's the emails from my mother.

------------------------------------------------

We thank each of you for your prayerful intercession and are thankful to God for what He continues to do in this situation: 3. I sent another 10 pounds of paper to our attorney on Monday documenting the level of our indebtedness, the amount of money being generated by my jobs and Terry's, copies of all our receipts, an appraisal of our household assets (less than $2000), the police reports about the stolen car, pictures of everything we own, copies of applications Terry has completed in the last two weeks (including a copy of Sunday's Want Ads), etc...anything to document that we really don't have much money and Terry has not been "slacking" in trying to find a "real job." Terry has visited both the Full Employment Council and Project:Refocus through UMKC, and both have the same news: he qualifies; he can only do one program because they pull from the same federal funding sources; the don't want to put him into a program until the outcome of December 7th is known; his vocational area no longer exists and he will have to be retrained; and the job market in Kansas City is awful. Terry travels to Oklahoma City with a friend next Tuesday for his sentencing hearing on Wednesday. PLEASE PRAY: That our attorney will be successful in getting the judge to understand the above. That any underhandedness by the opposing attorney will be stopped. For God's grace and mercy in this situation. That Terry and I will be obedient to God, no matter what the outcome is. For peace. TERRY WAS SENTENCED TO 180 DAYS IN THE OKLAHOMA COUNTY JAIL AND IS PRESENTLY THERE. ACCORDING TO OUR ATTORNEY, HE WAS CALM, EMOTIONS WERE KEPT IN CONTROL, AND HE WAS RESIGNED. THE INFORMATION WE SENT, REFERENCED ABOVE, WAS TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION AND GOD WAS FAITHFUL IN EVERYTHING WE ASKED: (1) OUR ATTORNEY WAS SUCCESSFUL IN GETTING THE JUDGE TO UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION AND THIS WAS REFLECTED IN HIS DECISION. HE NOW UNDERSTANDS THAT WE DO NOT HAVE THE ASSETS OR THE MEANS THAT KAY'S ATTORNEY KEPT TRYING TO SAY WE DID. (2) KAY'S ATTORNEY'S "UNDERHANDEDNESS" WAS STOPPED. SHE WANTED $40,000 AS A MEANS TO HAVE TERRY RELEASED FROM JAIL EARLY, THEN $20,000. THESE AMOUNTS WERE CONSIDERED TO BE UNREASONABLE. SHE WANTED A LOT OF MONEY MONTHLY TO PAY THE JUDGEMENT. THIS WAS CONSIDERED TO BE UNREASONABLE. IN THE LONG RUN, THERE WAS AN AMOUNT OF $6100 (CALLED PURGE MONEY) THAT WHEN WE COME UP WITH THAT, TERRY WILL BE RELEASED FROM JAIL. THE JUDGE REALLY DOES NOT WANT HIM TO SPEND CHRISTMAS THERE. THEREFORE, I WILL TAKE THIS OUT OF MY ANNUITY, ALONG WITH $1500 ADDITIONAL THAT THE ATTORNEY NEEDS TO SETTLE HIS BILL. AFTER TERRY COMES HOME, HE WILL NEVER, EVER BE THROWN IN JAIL FOR THIS INCIDENT AGAIN AND AS LONG AS HE COMPLIES WITH THE COURT ORDER, SHOULD NEVER HAVE TO FEAR THIS AGAIN. AFTER THAT, THE REPAYMENT PLAN IS ACTUALLY PRETTY DO-ABLE: ONLY $300 IN ADDITION TO HIS NORMAL CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENTS, OR $500 A MONTH. OUR ATTORNEY BELIEVES THAT, WHILE THE JUDGE COULD GIVE US A JUDGEMENT TO PAY KAY'S ATTORNEY COSTS, HE DOES NOT BELIEVE THAT WILL HAPPEN SINCE IT IS OBVIOUS WE DO NOT HAVE THE MEANS. ADDITIONALLY, HE ALSO DOES NOT BELIEVE AN UPWARD CHILD SUPPORT MODIFICATION WILL BE PRESENTED FOR THE SAME REASONS. WHILE TERRY IS IN JAIL, HE WILL BE MINISTERED TO BY A FORMER PASTOR OF OURS, EDDY HELKER, WHO MOVED TO THE EDMOND, OKLAHOMA AREA FOUR YEARS AGO. TERRY KNOWS VERY LITTLE OF THE BEHIND-THE-SCENES WORK AND I WILL BE WRITING TO HIM TODAY TO LET HIM KNOW. PLEASE PRAY FOR HIS ENCOURAGEMENT. Please pray for our landlord, Brian. He is on the way to the hospital as I write this, after having spent the entire night on the floor, maybe from a stroke. He has been very, very kind to us and Terry regards him as a father. HE'S COMING HOME, PROBABLY THIS WEEKEND. IT WAS NOT A STROKE OR A HEART ATTACK. HE WAS HAVING PROBLEMS WALKING, BUT THAT ABILITY HAS NOW RETURNED. Please also pray for Terry's mom, Jane Barber. Jane has had several bouts of cancer during her life, and now has found a breast lump. Terry will be taking her to get a mammogram Friday afternoon. TERRY'S SISTER WAS ABLE TO GET THE SURGERY POSTPONED UNTIL AFTER CHRISTMAS. IT IS A VERY FAST GROWING TUMOR AND MAY HAVE METASTISIZED, BUT SURGERY IS STILL NEEDED. WITH TERRY COMING HOME BEFORE CHRISTMAS, THIS WILL ALLOW HIM TIME TO CLEAN UP HER HOUSE AND GET IT READY FOR RENTAL, SINCE SHE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GO BACK HOME. THE RENTAL INCOME WILL BE NEEDED TO PAY FOR HER ASSISTED LIVING/NURSING HOME EXPENSES. We are seeing that God still works, even when we do not see His hand. We are thankful to you, our intercessors. Know that we could never have overcome these issues without each of you standing in prayer with us. I am believing that this is really the end of things, and 2006 will bring us an opportunity to start over and rebuild our lives. PRAYER REQUESTS: 1. When Terry gets back, we will need to assess issues with the Neon, a permanent job for him, issues with his mom, our finances in general. We continue to look to God for provision in these areas. 2. For healing for Terry and myself, so as to not keep expecting bad things to happen. This will take some time. Knowledge on how to rebuild our lives. Healing for the victimization and traumatization we've both been through. Strengthening for our relationship. Please pray as the Spirit leads in this issue. 3. Terry's children are still a huge concern. Kay has gone to Kevin and lorded her "victory," and promising all kinds of things, like a new truck for him, etc. Kevin (and the rest of the kids for that matter), think that love means that you get "things" from people and that the amount of "things" indicates the width and breadth of the love one has for the person. We started this because of our concern for them and their well-being and we still have that concern. Please pray that their eyes will be opened in this regard. 4. To ask that Kay, her family, and her attorney will be blessed. For sure, they all think they have won, but they really haven't. They can't take away our relationship with God, they can't take away His majesty or sovereign nature. They can't take away His promises to His children. They can't control Him. They live in deceit, despair and the filth of humanity, not realizing that they can become clean. Time is short. They need the saving knowledge of Christ today. Please pray for that. My personal thanks to Pastors Don Lewis, Robby Morales and Doug Fry, the Women's Intercessory Team, and the Elder Team of Full Faith, Pastor Eddy Helker of Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma, and Pastor David Milton of Colonial who have all stood with us in faith, prayer and support during this time. On behalf of our family, we are all exceedingly grateful and indebted to you. Personal thanks to all who sent a gift of money, gift certificate, gave the gift of your friendship or prayer, etc. This is the Body of Christ working the way it was meant to work. Your testimony remains true and strong. Looking forward to a great Christmas! ------------------------------------------------ Both our attorney and Pastor Eddy Helker were able to visit with Terry this weekend. Both report that he is doing well, especially under the circumstances. Our attorney, Jim Pearson, says that he has been allowed to get out of the cell and does not fear for his safety (which was something I was concerned about). Jim gave me the information to wire transfer the money to his trust account, which should be there by close of business tomorrow. Jim will take the cash, along with money to get Terry a bus ticket, and he will get him out of jail and take him to the bus station. God willing, Terry will be back with us by Wednesday evening. An update on Terry's mom: I was very, very concerned about how I was going to take Terry's place in taking care of his mom (Jane). Terry was cooking for her, cleaning out her fridge to make sure she wasn't eating rotten food, trying to make sure she took her meds, looked after the dog, etc. There was no possible way I could do this. Saturday morning Jane called me and sounded like she was drugged. I had committed to coming over and and just hung up the phone when I received a call from Terry's sister, Sherri. We met at Jane's house and after a few short minutes, concluded that there was no way she could continue living there without supervision. Sherri took Jane home with her until after surgery, and I have Jane's dog, Millie. When Jane is placed in a nursing home facility, we will place Millie with someone who has already said she would take her. I am very, very thankful that God took care of these details. An update on our landlord: It appears to have been a medication reaction, and Brian should be back at home either tonight or tomorrow night. Terry, and then Jake, have been looking after the house while he's been gone. What lies ahead: (1) Issues with Jane's house to generate revenue to pay for the nursing home. Will probably include renting it out. (2) Issues with Terry getting a permanent job. It appears he has lost his flower delivery job due to his incarceration. He will have a judgement to pay off and we need to pull ourselves out of debt. We continue to wait on God to see how He will help us deal with these issues, and are grateful that He has shown himself faithful in taking care of us. AMEN.