Sometimes I Write

On June 26th I requested prayers for Megan Speck. She was the lady I knew from BSF who was dying of cancer. You can read her request here. Anyway, my friend who was our leader last year just called me to tell me that Megan passed away yesterday. She leaves behind her 3 year old daughter Sophie, the loving parents who have been caring for her and her daughter, and a lot of family and friends who knew and loved her. I was really surprised to learn that Megan, knowing she didn’t have long to live, got married on July 15th! She spent her last days with the man she loves and her family and friends. That is amazing to me.

Though I didn’t know her well, I grieve with her family, especially her little girl and her mother. As a mother myself, it makes my heart hurt to even think about losing my daughter to cancer, or how my mom would feel if she lost me that way. I’ve also experienced growing up without one of my parents and I pray that Sophie will remember her mother and the good things she taught her in her young life.

Thank you for the prayers that I know God heard. Send another one up and thank God for the influence Megan had on those around her and for allowing her to be here for as long as she was.

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I don’t usually do meme’s, but since I was tagged by a precious new friend, I’ll go for it.

Five things to do before I die:
1. Write a book.
2. Travel to Scotland, Ireland, and Brazil.
3. Have great grand kids. 😉
4. Record a CD for my family.
5. Spend a week at a spa.

Five things I can do:
1. Organize anything.
2. Open my home and my heart to whoever God leads through our door.
3. Make the world’s best chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.
4. Lead people in worship.
5. Make friends easily.

Five things I cannot do yet:
1. Stay organized. 😉
2. Fit into my “incentive outfit”.
3. Quit worrying about my extended family relationships.
4. Light our gas grill.
5. Spend a week at a spa. 😉

Five things that attract me to the opposite sex:
1. Their eyes – if they’re kind and compassionate. They truly are the windows to the soul.
2. How they treat me no matter what my mood is.
3. How they treat other people.
4. Living from their heart.
5. Their love for God.

Five celebrity crushes:
1. Orlando Bloom – The best looking pirate in the world!
2. Mark Ruffalo – Reminds me of one of my favorite men.
3. Colin Firth – The original Mr. Darcy.
4. Wil Wheaton – since the 6th grade!
5. Dermot Mulroney – I’ve loved him in everything he’s ever been in.

I’m skipping the tagging other people with this…

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Slowly the king and his daughter became acquainted and eventually became friends. He came to visit her in her kingdom, and occasionally the princess and her family traveled to his. The king also introduced her to the other royal children. The princess enjoyed having more family, but still felt left out a lot of the time. The two princes and their younger princess didn’t really think of the princess as their real sister, so though they were polite and even friendly, the princess was still a bit of an outsider. She didn’t let it bother her since the king was now in her life for good.

Time passed quickly and eventually the king met and married a new step-queen. She was kind and lovely and they were good to all of the royal children. The step-queen had a son that was kind like his mother. In fact, the princess had known him when they were both teens. He and his wife added two more to the line of royal children.

14 years had passed since the king and princess had reunited. Their relationship was good – something the princess was very grateful for.

Then one day the king called the princess to tell her that the youngest princess was getting married. Because she knew the older princess was gifted with song, she wanted the older princess to sing at her wedding. The princess agreed though she was secretly annoyed with the younger princess. The younger princess had been living with her lack-of-commitment prince for six years already and they had a baby princess three years ago. She didn’t understand why the youngest princess was having a big, huge, gigantic wedding feast, though she was glad that the two were finally getting married.

Then she realized the ugly truth. Buried beneath all of the kindness in the princess’s heart was an ugly green streak of jealousy. The princess was shocked by this revelation and sad at her pettiness. Where did all of this come from? But she knew – oh she knew. Though the king had come to the princess’ wedding, he was not involved with it at all. He had been a stranger that day. A loyal friend had walked the princess down the aisle and presented her to her true love. Though the princess was grateful for the wedding she did have, it was not the grand feast now being planned for the youngest princess.

It wasn’t long before the princess realized that the youngest princess’ mother – the evil ex-step-queen, was dreaming up this fantastic feast and that’s why it kept changing and growing. The king arranged for the princess to travel to his kingdom for the feast, and the plans were set. The music was chosen, the grand ballroom was reserved, the Chicken Marsala was ordered, and things were moving forward.

But as the day of the feast approached, the princess slowly had a feeling of fear and dread well up in her stomach. She had trouble sleeping and eating, but couldn’t figure out why. Then in the wee hours of the night, it dawned on her. It wasn’t just about the younger princess. She was going to meet the evil-ex-step-queen for the first time and she was filled with both anger and terror. You see, the evil-ex-step-queen had not only been the biggest reason the princess grew up apart from the king, she also had spent many years making cruel remarks and calling the princess horrible, unrepeatable names to the princess’s family. The princess didn’t understand how a woman who had never met her could hate her so much. Perhaps it was because she had had to share the king’s heart with the daughter he had denied to make her happy.

The princess spoke with her lovely step-queen mother and she reassured the princess that she was loved and there would always be a place for her in the royal kingdom. She told the princess to ignore the evil ex-step-queen and to have a good time at the wedding feast. She encouraged the princess to once again keep her chin up and rest in the knowledge that the king and step-queen loved her very much. The princess had received these same wise words from her true love. If only the princess could get rid of that nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach…

The story doesn’t end here. The wedding feast is in August. The princess will give an update about her story after she returns from the royal kingdom. 😉

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If you didn’t know this already, we have a blog where we give updates and stories about our ministry. Benny posted a great story about one of our street kids today. I hope you’ll take a minute to pop over there and read it. Leave a comment. Pray for our ministry and the people we’re reaching out to. Here’s the link.

My good friend Jared has joined me as a co-author on my Sex, Love, and Marriage Blog. He has recently posted a two part story of his life in regards to touch hunger. It’s really good and we’d love for you to join the dialogue. Go ahead…click the link…you know you want to! 😉

Don’t forget to return here tomorrow for Part 2 of “A Princess Story”!

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Once upon a time there was a princess. She didn’t know she was a princess for a very long time because she was raised apart from her father, the king. Her mother, the first queen, did the best she knew how, but the princess always knew something was missing. She wondered why the king didn’t love her enough to come to her and share his kingdom with her.

One day she learned the truth. The king’s wife, the evil step-queen had gone into a rage when she learned of the princess’ existence. She was jealous that the princess had been in the king’s life before her, and she gave the king an ultimatum…the step-queen and her children, or the princess. For unknown reasons, the step-queen and her children were his choice. So the princess did the best she could to be brave and fill the void left by her father. For many years the princess dreamed of what the king must look like and wondered if he was kind. She dreamed of meeting him by chance and that he would be so impressed by her talents and beauty that he would include her in his royal family too. She dreamed and waited, and dreamed some more.

When the princess was old enough to leave for college in a far away land, she said goodbye to her life in the only kingdom she had ever known. She also said goodbye to the hope that the king would change his mind and put the evil step-queen in her place. With her chin held high, she rode off into the sunset while a single tear dropped to her cheek.

The princess loved her new life in the land far away. Eventually she met her handsome prince and they decided to get married. They sent a proclamation to family members far and wide and began the preparations for their wedding day. Then something scary and wonderful, and unpredictable happened. The queen called the princess to tell her that the evil step-queen had left the king and he wanted to know if they could meet and get to know each other. The king wanted the princess after all! The princess was excited yet scared and decided to think about it for a few months. One day she told herself if she didn’t give him a chance, she’d always wonder. This is what she had waited for all of those years. So they met…on her wedding day.

Stay tuned for part 2 of “A Princess Story”…

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