Whirlwind

Casey Ryan O'Ferrell

Life has certainly been a whirlwind for me since I last wrote. I suppose I'll start with what happened on April 20, 2008. My mom recieved a phone call at 9:15 AM saying that my little 11 year-old cousin Casey had died in his sleep. This was absolutely the last thing I was expecting to hear about as I was getting ready to go to church. He was perfectly healthy, and no one was aware of any pre-existing condition.

My mom immediately left the house to take my Aunt Linda and Uncle Tommy (Casey's grandparents) along with my Mema up to Gainsville to get with the family. My dad and I packed and left soon after. Turns out Casey had bleeding in his brain (the cause is unknown) and died peacefully in his sleep around 3 or 4 in the morning. It's likely that no one could have seen that on a brain scan and there was absolutely nothing anyone could have done (even if he had been at a hospital) to save him.

My mom and I stayed up with the family and took care of the kids most of the week. We left on Tuesday to come home so I could go to school for Wednesday, and then left once again on Thursday to go the viewing. I totally appreciate the prayers that went out for me and my family. I was honestly hesistant about seeing Casey at the viewing, because I always wanted to remember him just like I had last seen him. As we were walking into the funeral home, an awesome peace came around me as I walked up to see Casey. I immediately became completely secure and peaceful about the fact that Casey is in heaven. It was great to have God's peace within me so that I could be there for the rest of my family. God always amazes me with his faithfulness, and did not dissapoint as many good things actually came out of this tragedy:

1. I got the know my cousins, Lauren and Amanda a whole lot better

2. God strengthened my dependence on Him

3. John (Casey's dad) has dealt with this surprisingly well and is letting this strengthn His walk with Christ

4. It brought lots of broken families together

5. I got to see my cousin Justin and talk to him about some of the life choices he's making

After the funeral on Friday, my dad took me to Grad Bash at Universal Studios in Orlando. It was a blast, and I may write more about that later. After a long night there, we came home at about 5:00 the the next morning only to pack and get ready to leave on Sunday for FBLA States. I had fun, won a $500 scholarship, and made some friends, but I am so glad to be home.

Cathy, Forrest (from Hello Goodbye, Me, and Anner)

I'll hopefully be home more to update this thing so I don't always have a super gigantic entry to do as I did this time. Oh, and one more announcement:

Wavorly, Nevertheless, Ruth, and Article One are coming to Carlson Memorial United Methodist Church in LaBelle, FL on June 16th! Be looking out for more details soon!

-Brit

Our God is a God who saves...word documents?

So, many of you may be wondering what in the world my title means. Well..here's the story:

Last Thursday, I knew I was in for a busy day. The day before had been bad because I had locked myself out of the house, my dog had escaped, and I had been late to school as a result of the lock situation. I was determined that Thursday would be better. I had to go to school, go to work, print out my speech outline, do my index cards, take a shower to get ready for the Golden Apple dinner awards (where I had to introduce Mrs. Bridwell), go to speech class, and then leave early to go to the banquet. Wow.

So it started out okay..but soon turned bad once I got to work. I proceeded to stick my jump drive in the computer only to find that for some reason, my outline had not saved on there! I had hope that it may have saved here on the laptop, so I came home. Of course, it wasn't here on the laptop. I decided that I would take a quick rinse off (not getting my hair wet) and then go to class and tell my professor what happened. She's very understanding, so I knew it wouldn't be a problem. However, once I got in the shower, my shower head fritzed out and came on on its own, causing my hair to get wet and messed up. Ahh! I called my teacher yet again to let her know that I just simply wouldn't be able to come to class (though I had missed the previous week due to FBLA districts...yes, it's only a once a week class). She said it was okay...and that we would talk about it at our next class. After that, I went to my grandparents house to get a shower and went to the banquet. The rest of the night was great! The speech went well, everyone had a great time, and it was just an overall good evening.

So...here comes the reason for the title! duh duh duh duh.....
I went on the laptop to start my outline for the second time...and decided to save it on my jump drive after I finished the thesis in case the computer went out. Just as I was about to replace what I thought was the faulty file, something told me to open it. So, I opened it and was extrememly surprised to find that my outline was there! I was about to replace it!!

I have no doubt in my mind that God was who told me to open the file, and that he personally put it there. These last few days have been stressful for me (really because of no good reason), and God has shown once again that he's always there.

Sorry for making that saga sooo long, but I just had to vent I suppose. I feel better now. Hope you enjoyed hearing about my silly stressful situations, and God's amazing faithfulness. Praise Him!

Britt

You are faithful..you will ever be...lalalala

So right now, I'm kind of happy. =) We got a $1000 check from a lovely man today at church for Jubilation Jam. Cody came running out of the office to tell Chelsey and I, but I thought something had gone terribly wrong. God is so faithful! I know that if we do this for His glory, that He will be faithful and that things will work out. I just pray that I would not worry so much, and have more faith in the incredible things that God has planned for this.

Also, Pastor Benton took us out to El Morro today for lunch. I had the buffet of incredible Cuban food celebrating Ms. Pam's birthday. She is such so fun to work with, and we had a great time at lunch. Yummmyyy!

I'm going to bed now, but I though that I'd post this in honor of God's faithfulness, because he has really been teaching me how to trust lately. Keep praying for Jubilation Jam! It's coming together, and I just have a wonderful feeling that this will be a wonderful ministry to South West Florida! woohoo!

Britt