Praying for Kate ... and not giving up

I have been praying for a little girl named Kate McCrae for years. She has been battling brain cancer.

I was working at a radio station called Air 1 when I first heard about Kate through the lead singer of Christian band Sanctus Real. He was asking his fans if they could pray for that little girl. And for some reason, even though I now work at another Christian radio station, KSBJ, I have continued to pray for Kate and get updates through her CaringBridge website.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mcraekate/journal/view/id/540d31e4ac7ee9802568f3db/5

Today, as I read some of the comments, this one caught my eye:

Notice that it's from "God is Gracious:"

By God is Gracious — 7 hours ago

Hello beautiful! How are you? I read your story today, Miss Kate McRae. Pure, that is who you are! You want to know something? I think your on a boat, are you on a boat, Miss Kate McRae? You must be, because your momma said you were going up and down. And then she said you were just being way too silly :D Yup, your on a boat for sure! Momma said you are feeling tired. I know those waves can be big and make a person frightened and tired. That is ok though. Do you know why? The disciples were on a boat just like you and the waves made them go up and down, they were scared, and tired too. Do you know what they did? They ran to the bottom of the boat, the stern, and do you know who was there? Jesus! Guess what He was doing? Sleeping :D He listened as the disciples cried out. Then He went to the top of the boat and told the storm to STOP and guess what it did. Awesome, huh!!!! The Lord loves you and He is right there with you, your momma and your daddy. You know you can also lay right beside Jesus too because sometimes the storms will still rage but you beautiful can still rest and be refreshed. It is always restful and peaceful with Jesus :D Gosh, He is God for sure!!!! Be at Pure peace and remain at rest, lovely!!!"

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You and 2 others hearted this

I don't know what it is about that post that made it stand out & made me come back to it and even blog about it here. Maybe because it's so unique. Maybe because it makes so much sense.

I can't add much more, nor should I. This is the time to simply rest, pray, and abide in Him, our Lord Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

~Coppelia

Starbucks poke-n-slap debacle

It's Sunday morning.

The beds are made.

Teeth are brushed.

Clothes look cute. 

We got a nice Starbucks drive-thru breakfast & got to church on time.

But we're all miserable and I'm in tears.

All morning long it was "mommy says" and whiny "I don't want to's."

In the car, after Allyson poked Christopher in the eye and slapped his face right before we ordered at the drive thru, I let both of them verbally have it. After threats of "no breakfast," everyone calmed down and was deathly quiet for the long 45 minute drive to church.

But between the Starbucks poke & slap debacle & the deathly silence, we actually pulled out of the drive thru, into a parking lot, stopped and prayed.

We asked God for forgiveness. I asked Him that we didn't want our family to live in the sinful nature (arguing, fighting, bickering, anger & rage.) We want our family, our apartment, our home to be filled with His fruit: love, joy, peace ... nice conversations & fun.

Then we turned on the radio, and the song that played had to do with how God's mercies are new every morning. Every day when we mess up, sister hits brother; he argues with sister; we all whine and complain; IF we confess and ask God to forgive us, He does. Every morning, every day.

We all said our apologies and "I love you's," and reluctantly went in to church.

"If we ever needed You, Lord its now."

As a frazzled mom, before I stand in front of people to lead them in worship to God in church this morning, I needed that reminder of God's mercy. Thank You, Lord.

~Coppelia

Make my wish come true ...!

No, it's not too early. And this is only the beginning of ...

... the MOST wonderful time of the year!

Today is Day 1 of the 101 Days to Christmas countdown! 

But I'm not just going to post elf memes & go crazy buying stuff. What I love about this countdown is that, when all is said & done, you can look back and feel like you truly celebrated the real meaning of Christmas. 

If you're like me, you know the feeling of rushing to buy last minute gifts & getting annoyed at crowded stores because you have been too busy with family visits & church events & school gatherings & shopping & gift wrapping & you never got to sit down with a peppermint hot chocolate & enjoy anything & the whole thing was just a blur? 

I discovered the awesome website (www.101daystoChristmas.com) a couple of years ago. As much as I love the holidays, some times I would wait to decorate because I was too busy. Or I'd hold back from doing things I love like ice skating at the park, buying new decorations or splurging on certain gifts because I hadn't really budgeted for it.

The countdown helps each day, starting today (yay!) with helpful tips & ideas to plan ahead, think through traditions and make sure you plan, schedule and budget what's important to you. 

When was the last time you made time to think about this ahead of time?

"All I want for Christmas is ... "

Think about it. Sign up for daily reminders on the countdown website. Dream & anticipate that this could be a truly special Christmas. 

🎶 Make my wish come true ... all I want for Christmas is you! 🎶

http://youtu.be/sWEfszb9h8Q

~Coppelia

Smiling, Whining & Parenting

These are the faces of my kids on the way to church ...

I love their smiles! They're excited!! We're all singing in the car, listening to worship music on "Enter His Gates" on KSBJ, the radio station where I work. I love this!! 

But when we got to church, the whining started. "I don't WANNA go to "Chispa", the Spanish Sunday School class," said Christopher, my 8 year old. Little sister was ok, but then gradually started siding with big brother. 

They were starting to get on my nerves and I didn't want to lose my temper in church. But I was about to.

So, I sat the kids down and had A TALK.

I told them, especially Christopher, that when I was his age, about 8 years old, I hated church. 

I hated church. There. I wrote it. 

We did not have "fun." We had to sit in church with the grown-ups. We listened to grown-up serious sermons. 

I tried to explain to Christopher that the reason why I didn't appreciate his attitude was because we had just been having a blast in the car. We just had a yummy chocolate croissant & chocolate milk Sunday breakfast treat. He was going to have fun with friends.

I encouraged him to think about that. Pretty please. And then we marched off (begrudgingly) to "Chispa."

I knew that I just had to survive that difficult parenting moment and then everything would be okay.

Once the kids got signed in & walked into their classes, they were greeted by all their friends and the fun continued.

And I didn't really lose my temper.

It's a work in progress. I'm not a perfect parent by any stretch of the imagination. But little moments like these make me thankful.

I'm thankful that I get to be a Mom. I'm thankful that we have a church that makes the experience SUPER fun for the kids. And I'm thankful for awesome kids that, whining aside, make my life awesome. And fun.

Dancing with the Scars

What I saw on TV last night was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.

In general, we avoid dealing with any imperfection, delay or disability. It's uncomfortable. We ignore, look away, or smile out of pity.

But every now & then, a person with disabilities shows up and changes everything. Gold medal snowboarder Amy Purdy, and her professional dance partner Derek Hough did that last night on ABC's Dancing with the Stars.

I'd seen the show before, but hadn't watched it in a long time. Since I wasn't feeling well, I was zonked out on the couch & just left the TV on, half paying attention.

I am so glad I did!

I have experienced this a few times in my life. People with disabilities have impacted my life in many ways. But Amy and Derek took it to a new level.

I have seen my Dad, Emilio, gradually lose his sight. He lost the ability to drive a car when I was younger. He struggled with maintaining jobs and battled disappointment and loss. But he danced with me at my prom (its a puertorrican thing...families go to the prom!) He gave me away at my wedding. He relocated from Puerto Rico to Dallas, TX in his 60s and is actively pursuing job opportunities. He's involved in church. And he continues to hone his conservatory classical music training on his grand piano. Plus, I've seen my Mom stay by his side through it all. Amazing.

In 4th grade, I met my friend Cristina. She had a glass eye and could barely see with ger "good eye". But Crissy's parents saw her & treated her as a normal girl. She rode her bike. We went to the movies & always sat in the front! We had a BLAST on church retreats to the beach in Vieques, went bowling, you get the idea. She's now a married teacher with two boys in Austin, TX.

From a young age, I saw disability as something that didn't have to hold you back from doing whatever you wanted.

A few years ago, my husband and I relocated from Puerto Rico to California. While working at a radio event at a mall in Temecula, I had the amazing, life altering experience of watching Nick Vujicic live. 

He was born without limbs. Talk about having special needs and challenges. He shared about his unbelievably difficult life. How do you do anything if you don't have arms and legs?

Just ask Nick! He travels the world. He uses a special weelchair, and then gets out of it and goes on stage in front of millions of people to inspire them. He is an impossibility. But God says nothing is impossible for Him! Nick shares how, if God has helped him, no matter what we may go through, God can help us, too.

This all brings me to what I saw on TV last night.

I had not heard of Amy Purdy until last night. She had bacterial meningitis as a teen. She lost both of her legs and ended up with a kidney transplant. Her dad was the donor.

Then, she won three World Cup gold medals in adaptive snowboarding. Amazing!! 

So, she can snowboard, but could she dance? 

For this week's choreography, she got special prosthetic legs that keep the feet pointed, so she could dance.

And she danced ... and her partner Derek, sweetly, gently, led her in the most beautiful, awe-inspiring, tear-jerking dance I have ever seen.

The song was "Human" by Christina Perri. And Derek and Amy showed us that you can transcend the limits we sometimes put on what a "human" can do.

A Fall Surprise in Spring!

You should've seen his face! 

Well, ok, this is his face, but I wish you could've seen my eight-year-old son Christopher's initial reaction!! 

We stopped at Starbucks for a little Saturday afternoon treat, and he saw something he didn't expect to see for another, oh, 5 or 6 months!!

Today is March 30th. We're a week into spring. The temperature has to rise another 20 to 30 degrees and hit 100 in the summer before it starts to cool down again in the fall and we can all enjoy pumpkin spice treats. 

Except that today, my son, who loves pumpkin scones, looked at the food options today at Starbucks and saw one!!

When I ordered it, the barista looked at me like, "Ma'am? You realize it's Spring. We don't have (glances at the food section) OH! Ok, I guess we do have pumpkin scones! What would you like with that?"

 Lol! I had to laugh!!

Sometimes we get unexpected treats at the "wrong time". Or in the wrong season. We can be adamant about things being "impossible", so we don't even dare to ask.

What if we could get a treat that we are not supposed to get because it's not the right time yet? 

God says in the Bible, ask and you shall receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened.

Why not knock? You might just get a pumpkin scone in the spring!

~Coppe

Everybody "can" except you

Oh, my poor allergic daughter.

I'm thankful that, of all the things she could "suffer", my four-year-old daughter is simply dealing with a dairy-allergy.

On most days, we barely notice it. There are so many dairy-free alternatives & vegan-friendly food that we have found it downright easy to "cope". 

Then there are days like today. :(

We enjoy going to church on certain Saturday nights. My hubby Adam & I both serve on Sunday mornings, so it's nice, whenever we can, to sit and enjoy a church service without worrying about production cues and set list order and rembering all the announcements I have to share on stage.

But tonight there was a sign on the preschool kids' room: Allergy Alert! The snack today is ice cream, whipped cream, fudge and sprinkles. :(

That meant everybody would have some, except my daughter.

Granted, there might have been other kids with health issues that I didn't know of who also would not be able to eat the snack.

But I didn't know. And I felt bad for her.

Before leaving, I told her that she couldn't have the ice cream, but we could get a sweet treat later. :) 

She happily darted off to play. And when I picked her up, she announced that she had made a new friend! Yay!

What a relief.

She wasn't crying, feeling left out or limited. 

She had fun!

And I felt relief. 

Even though there was a part during the church service when I couldn't help but think that she might be feeling left out during snack time, my worry and fear were mostly unnecessary.

Sometimes it feels as though everybody "can" but you. It feels like a big deal. A HUGE hurdle. A night-ruiner. 

But I'm glad (and relieved) that tonight wasn't ruined. We didn't have to jump a huge hurdle. It wasn't a big deal. 

Everybody could, my daughter didn't, and it was ok.

(She had a birthday cake pop & enjoyed it, too!)

~Coppe