over the last week we've been writing the names of retired and active CBF and IMB missionaries on strips of paper while praying for them. we looped the strips together and made a chain that stretches all the way around the sanctuary.
Monday, July 26, 2004
Saturday, July 24, 2004
Every other month, the youth and youth workers of JBC, including children, prepare meals and deliver them to folks in the surrounding communities. Some are homebound, others are needy, and some are just people we hear about who could use a visit and a kind word along with a warm meal. We prepared and delivered 84 Barbecue Chicken, potato salad, cole slaw and desert meals this evening, then came back to the fellowship hall, ate, and wrapped shoeboxes in preparation for Operation Christmas Child. We were amazed to see them do this last year, after we first got here, but now it has become a normal part of what we do. I think it is really cool that a church of about 50 people does this on a regular basis!
Last night at the ball game. I got there late because we had the closing ceremonies for our Vacation Bible School. By the time I got there they'd already scraped together a team, so I just stayed and cheered (i still had my watch and cellphone on, see?). good game. we lost by 3 runs. Played Farnham Baptist. Way back when, Farnham and Jerusalem were a two-church ... field?
Is that what they call it when more than one church shares a preacher between them? Anyway, Hunter and his wife Gwen are expecting their third child ... December ... right around Christmas, if memory serves. Don't let the gray beard fool you. Hunter is 4 or 5 years younger than I am.
BTW, Leslie got back at 4:05 this morning. She only found all four wheels off the road once on the trip home. :-/
Update from Fredericksburg
Leslie just called.
Cristal Esmeralda Rodriguez was born at 1:26 this morning, weighing in at 8 Lbs, 3 oz, measuring 20 & 1/2 inches long, delivered normally.
Angelica pushed for an hour and a half.
Everyone is tired, but doing ok.
Leslie is going to come home tonight.
Thanks be to God for the gift of new life!
grace & peace
Cristal Esmeralda Rodriguez was born at 1:26 this morning, weighing in at 8 Lbs, 3 oz, measuring 20 & 1/2 inches long, delivered normally.
Angelica pushed for an hour and a half.
Everyone is tired, but doing ok.
Leslie is going to come home tonight.
Thanks be to God for the gift of new life!
grace & peace
Friday, July 23, 2004
Leslie's on her way to the Hospital ... with Angelica this time
I was originally going to take Angelica for her weekly Dr's visit this morning, but she beat us to the punch. she called at 6:30, and told us that she's been having contractions since 9 O'clock last night, 10 minutes apart, varying now to 7 or 8 ...
I'm wondering if this is false labor, but she DID lose her mucous plug ... (is that what it's called?) I asked her if she would rather me or Leslie go with her, and her answer was a characteristic "whichever you prefer" ... we decided that Leslie should go ... she was a little (a lot) nervous, since Angelica only speaks spanish.
She called me shortly after 8:30 to let me know that they'd made it to the hospital. I'll post more as i get updates.
We're winding up Vacation Bible School tonight. It's been a loong week. We DID get to go boating with Soozin and Kelsey yesterday. Lots of fun, but i am now the same color as a freshly-boiled Lobster. I should know better. (sigh)
Grace & Peace
I'm wondering if this is false labor, but she DID lose her mucous plug ... (is that what it's called?) I asked her if she would rather me or Leslie go with her, and her answer was a characteristic "whichever you prefer" ... we decided that Leslie should go ... she was a little (a lot) nervous, since Angelica only speaks spanish.
She called me shortly after 8:30 to let me know that they'd made it to the hospital. I'll post more as i get updates.
We're winding up Vacation Bible School tonight. It's been a loong week. We DID get to go boating with Soozin and Kelsey yesterday. Lots of fun, but i am now the same color as a freshly-boiled Lobster. I should know better. (sigh)
Grace & Peace
Friday, July 16, 2004
Sam Adams is the son of Darrell and Alice Adams. The picture was taken on a youth outing in June, he is 18. The Adams are friends whom we got to know at Crescent Hill Baptist Church, in Louisville KY, before we moved to Virginia Beach VA. In fact, it was Darryl's passing comment to me in ... early November or perhaps late October of 1992, something to the effect of "When are you going to marry that girl?" or ... (and I think this is more likely it ... it's sounds more like him) "It's time y'all got married!" my response to him, standing in the kitchen at Claude's, was "you know, you're right." so within a couple of weeks i'd gotten my brother in law to go with me to buy her a ring, and we got engaged on Christmas Eve, 1992, got married on July 18th, 1993, and the rest, as they say ...
A friend sent me an email yesterday morning letting me know that Sam was killed in a car accident early yesterday morning. Sam was just a child when we left Louisville. I remember him as a rambunctious, tow-headed 5 or 6 year old.
I can only grieve right now. It surprised me, how much it affected me.
Samuel Johnson Adams
SAMUEL JOHNSON ADAMS, 18, of Crescent Hill, passed away Wednesday in Topeka, KS, from injuries sustained in a car accident while on a road trip to Colorado. He was a talented musician, writer and photographer. He was a member of Crescent Hill Baptist Church, where he was very active in the youth and missions programs and the pursuit of social justice. He was a lead singer and guitarist for the local band The Writing Scar and had been playing in Louisville bands since the age of nine. He was a 2004 graduate of duPont Manual High School in the math and science technology program and was enrolled for the fall semester at Bellarmine University as a guitar/music technology major. He was the son of Darrell and Alice Adams of Louisville; the brother and brother- in-law of Laura Adams Henderson and Tyler Henderson of Indianapolis, IN; the grandson of Wanda F. Thornton of Shaw- nee, OK; the grandson of Edward O. Adams of Truth or Consequences, NM; the great-nephew of Dr. Edward and Betty Thornton of Louisville; and a friend and inspiration to many. The funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at Crescent Hill Baptist Church, 2800 Frankfort Ave. Visitation will be from 3-5 and 7-9 p.m. Sunday at the church. Arch L. Heady-Cralle Funeral Home in charge of arrangements. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Samuel Adams Memorial Fund through Crescent Hill Baptist Church. Funds will be used to support the artistic development of local youth. Sam's family asks that all who have stories to share about Sam, please submit to Crescent Hill Baptist Church or e-mail to adams"edgeoutreach. com.
Jennifer Nicole "Jenny" Goodhue (Samuel's girlfriend)
JENNIFER NICOLE "JENNY" GOODHUE, 19, OF Crescent Hill, passed away Wednesday in Topeka, KS, as the result of a car accident. She was a graduate of Ballard High School, where she was a member of the Latin Club, a library aide and sang in the choir. She had completed her freshman year at the University of Colorado, where she was active in the environmental education and ski clubs, and was enrolled for the fall semester at the University of Louisville. She was a lifeguard at Southern Seminary. She was a music lover, who loved to play the guitar. She was very active at her church, Crescent Hill Baptist, where she was working with the youth and worship planning team and had taken part in a youth group trip to Kenya. She had also assisted the youth working with Habitat for Humanity. She is survived by her parents, Margaret and Steven Cole and John and Nancy Goodhue of Colorado; sister, Caitlin Goodhue; grandparents, Karl and Letitia Gilbert, Ilene Good-hue, Ken and Joyce Cole and Kathleen Shields; and extended family. The funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at Crescent Hill Baptist Church, 2800 Frankfort Ave., with burial in Cave Hill Cemetery. Visitation will be from 3-5 and 7-9 p.m. Sunday at the church. Arch L. Heady-Cralle Funeral Home in charge of arrangements. Memorial gifts may go to the youth group at Crescent Hill Baptist Church.
Lord, please be with Darrell and Alice and Laura and Jennifer's family. They need you more than ever right now.
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Friday, July 09, 2004
Eusebia, Angelica, and Leslie go to Mary Washington Hospital
Thursday, June 3rd, 2004, 11:30
Leslie had been working out in the yard working for just a few minutes when her phone began to ring. I was inside doing some paperwork, and had a little trouble finding the phone. By the time I got it to her, the call had ended. Neither of us recognized the number. We hit send to call the number back, and Angelica, one of the women we’d met through the Healthy Beginnings classes, answered. Leslie recognized who it was and asked me to ask if it was ‘the baby’ – Eusebia was due to give birth to her baby the next day. I asked, and Angelica passed the phone to Eusebia. I asked her if she was having labor pains. She said she was. She sounded very calm, almost nonchalant in her responses. I asked her how long she’d been having them.
“Since last night, about 6:30.”
I asked her where she needed to go, hoping she’d say Tappahannock, meaning the hospital just across the river, 20 minutes away.
“Fredericksburg.” A little over an hour away.
Leslie and I looked at each other.
“How far apart are the contractions?”
“5 minutes.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Leslie got off the phone and said, “I have to go right now!”
She dropped the rake she’d been working with, threw off her gloves, and ran inside to wash off the dirt and gather a few things: a large plastic bowl, towels, and some water bottles. Meanwhile, I went and began to clear out the car. She came out and tossed the things she’d collected on the middle seat and grabbed a few of the things that were still inside and threw them on the ground. We were low on gas, so I handed her what money was in my wallet to put in the tank. We stood for a minute facing each other, holding hands, and said a prayer – asking God’s presence and care for the trip ahead.
‘Go be Jesus’.
She sped off. A minute later, my phone rang. She was stopping at the gas station just up the road, but realized she needed the blue plastic tarp, just in case.
I threw it in the back of the other car and met her coming out of the gas station, handed off the tarp, and came back.
A few minutes later, she called. She’d picked up both Eusebia and Angelica, another woman who was expecting, and lived in the same house with Eusebia and another couple. They were on their way to the clinic in Montross, which was on the way to Fredericksburg. She let me know that when she got to the house, Eusebia told her that the contractions had been 5 minutes apart since 9 O’clock that morning.
They pulled into the clinic, got out of the car, and went inside. There was no one there. They were all at lunch. A woman came to the desk, and Leslie explained the situation. The woman asked her to wait a moment, walked back to the back, and came back after a couple of minutes to tell her that if the contractions were 5 minutes apart that she DID need to go on to the hospital.
As they walked back out to the parking lot, Eusebia told Leslie that she was going to be sick. Leslie helped her over to the side and then ran to the car to get a washcloth and wet it. When she was done, they climbed back in the car and headed up route 3. She called to ask me how to get to Mary Washington hospital, and I explained the simplest way I knew, via route 17 to Hwy 1. As the trip progressed, the contractions kept getting worse. Leslie realized Eusebia wasn’t breathing through them and coached her through that. We had worked on relaxation breathing with each of our 3 kids.
Before they set out, Leslie turned to Eusebia and said, “This is REALLY important: if you feel like you have to have a bowel movement, TELL ME, because that means the baby is coming.” Eusebia looked at her blankly. She didn’t understand ‘bowel movement.’ Leslie tried to explain again, “poop” no go. Finally, she said ‘If you have to go to the bathroom REALLY BAD” that got through,
“I’ll have to stop, and you’ll have the baby in the car. I HOPE that won’t happen, but if it does, we’ll just trust God to get us through it, and … well … WE’RE ALL WOMEN. WE CAN DO THIS!”
As she got into the outskirts of Fredericksburg, she realized that getting to the hospital wasn’t turning out to be as easy as she thought it was going to be. She got on the phone again and called our friend Soozin Mullin, who confirmed for her that there was only one hospital in Fredericksburg, so if they just followed the blue ‘H’ signs, they should be able to get there without too much trouble.
Angelica, who speaks no English, was assigned the task of finding the signs. As they began to make their way through town, Angelica would spot a sign, point and yell ‘Hache (AH-chay)! Hache! Hache! And Leslie would turn this way or that way. She had called the hospital to let them know they were on their way in from the parking lot in Montross. The nurse who answered asked if this was Eusebia’s first baby. When Leslie told her it was, the nurse said “you’ve got plenty of time. Just bring her on in.”
They got to the hospital shortly before 2. They were in the delivery room and suddenly Eusebia sat up and said “I need to get down. I have to go to the bathroom!” Leslie looked at her and said “No, that’s the baby.” Eusebia looked at her and said “No, I REALLY need to go to the bathroom!” To which Leslie again replied,
“NO, YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE THE BABY!”
Eusebia was too far along when they arrived at the hospital to be prepped in any way. No IV, no epidural, nothing. Leslie held her foot and coached her through the pushing, which only lasted a few minutes. Jessica was born right around 2:30, healthy, with a full head of black, black hair. All 4 of them were crying. Angelica’s eyes were as big as saucers.
Nicolas, the father, had gone to work that morning with his cell phone, and when the contractions started coming more frequently, Eusebia had tried to call him, but the place where he was working was too far removed to receive the signal.
Leslie called me a few minutes after Jessica was born to let me know, and I called up to the house to see if Nicolas had checked in to give him the update. He had not, and didn’t until that afternoon late, when he got home from work. He called me on my cell phone, and I congratulated him on being a father, and let him know that both Eusebia and Jessica were doing well.
By the time she returned that evening, Leslie was understandably exhausted. She’d been asked to preach at Corrottoman church that following Sunday. She’d been preparing all week for what she would be saying. When she walked in the door, the first thing she said was “this changes everything I was going to talk about on Sunday.”
Angelica is due the first week of August, but she has a feeling her baby will come earlier.
We asked her to call us as soon as she has had the contractions for a half hour. There’s only so much excitement we can handle.
For grace in the midst of chaos, and life in the midst of everything else, we give you thanks, O God.
Thursday, June 3rd, 2004, 11:30
Leslie had been working out in the yard working for just a few minutes when her phone began to ring. I was inside doing some paperwork, and had a little trouble finding the phone. By the time I got it to her, the call had ended. Neither of us recognized the number. We hit send to call the number back, and Angelica, one of the women we’d met through the Healthy Beginnings classes, answered. Leslie recognized who it was and asked me to ask if it was ‘the baby’ – Eusebia was due to give birth to her baby the next day. I asked, and Angelica passed the phone to Eusebia. I asked her if she was having labor pains. She said she was. She sounded very calm, almost nonchalant in her responses. I asked her how long she’d been having them.
“Since last night, about 6:30.”
I asked her where she needed to go, hoping she’d say Tappahannock, meaning the hospital just across the river, 20 minutes away.
“Fredericksburg.” A little over an hour away.
Leslie and I looked at each other.
“How far apart are the contractions?”
“5 minutes.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Leslie got off the phone and said, “I have to go right now!”
She dropped the rake she’d been working with, threw off her gloves, and ran inside to wash off the dirt and gather a few things: a large plastic bowl, towels, and some water bottles. Meanwhile, I went and began to clear out the car. She came out and tossed the things she’d collected on the middle seat and grabbed a few of the things that were still inside and threw them on the ground. We were low on gas, so I handed her what money was in my wallet to put in the tank. We stood for a minute facing each other, holding hands, and said a prayer – asking God’s presence and care for the trip ahead.
‘Go be Jesus’.
She sped off. A minute later, my phone rang. She was stopping at the gas station just up the road, but realized she needed the blue plastic tarp, just in case.
I threw it in the back of the other car and met her coming out of the gas station, handed off the tarp, and came back.
A few minutes later, she called. She’d picked up both Eusebia and Angelica, another woman who was expecting, and lived in the same house with Eusebia and another couple. They were on their way to the clinic in Montross, which was on the way to Fredericksburg. She let me know that when she got to the house, Eusebia told her that the contractions had been 5 minutes apart since 9 O’clock that morning.
They pulled into the clinic, got out of the car, and went inside. There was no one there. They were all at lunch. A woman came to the desk, and Leslie explained the situation. The woman asked her to wait a moment, walked back to the back, and came back after a couple of minutes to tell her that if the contractions were 5 minutes apart that she DID need to go on to the hospital.
As they walked back out to the parking lot, Eusebia told Leslie that she was going to be sick. Leslie helped her over to the side and then ran to the car to get a washcloth and wet it. When she was done, they climbed back in the car and headed up route 3. She called to ask me how to get to Mary Washington hospital, and I explained the simplest way I knew, via route 17 to Hwy 1. As the trip progressed, the contractions kept getting worse. Leslie realized Eusebia wasn’t breathing through them and coached her through that. We had worked on relaxation breathing with each of our 3 kids.
Before they set out, Leslie turned to Eusebia and said, “This is REALLY important: if you feel like you have to have a bowel movement, TELL ME, because that means the baby is coming.” Eusebia looked at her blankly. She didn’t understand ‘bowel movement.’ Leslie tried to explain again, “poop” no go. Finally, she said ‘If you have to go to the bathroom REALLY BAD” that got through,
“I’ll have to stop, and you’ll have the baby in the car. I HOPE that won’t happen, but if it does, we’ll just trust God to get us through it, and … well … WE’RE ALL WOMEN. WE CAN DO THIS!”
As she got into the outskirts of Fredericksburg, she realized that getting to the hospital wasn’t turning out to be as easy as she thought it was going to be. She got on the phone again and called our friend Soozin Mullin, who confirmed for her that there was only one hospital in Fredericksburg, so if they just followed the blue ‘H’ signs, they should be able to get there without too much trouble.
Angelica, who speaks no English, was assigned the task of finding the signs. As they began to make their way through town, Angelica would spot a sign, point and yell ‘Hache (AH-chay)! Hache! Hache! And Leslie would turn this way or that way. She had called the hospital to let them know they were on their way in from the parking lot in Montross. The nurse who answered asked if this was Eusebia’s first baby. When Leslie told her it was, the nurse said “you’ve got plenty of time. Just bring her on in.”
They got to the hospital shortly before 2. They were in the delivery room and suddenly Eusebia sat up and said “I need to get down. I have to go to the bathroom!” Leslie looked at her and said “No, that’s the baby.” Eusebia looked at her and said “No, I REALLY need to go to the bathroom!” To which Leslie again replied,
“NO, YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE THE BABY!”
Eusebia was too far along when they arrived at the hospital to be prepped in any way. No IV, no epidural, nothing. Leslie held her foot and coached her through the pushing, which only lasted a few minutes. Jessica was born right around 2:30, healthy, with a full head of black, black hair. All 4 of them were crying. Angelica’s eyes were as big as saucers.
Nicolas, the father, had gone to work that morning with his cell phone, and when the contractions started coming more frequently, Eusebia had tried to call him, but the place where he was working was too far removed to receive the signal.
Leslie called me a few minutes after Jessica was born to let me know, and I called up to the house to see if Nicolas had checked in to give him the update. He had not, and didn’t until that afternoon late, when he got home from work. He called me on my cell phone, and I congratulated him on being a father, and let him know that both Eusebia and Jessica were doing well.
By the time she returned that evening, Leslie was understandably exhausted. She’d been asked to preach at Corrottoman church that following Sunday. She’d been preparing all week for what she would be saying. When she walked in the door, the first thing she said was “this changes everything I was going to talk about on Sunday.”
Angelica is due the first week of August, but she has a feeling her baby will come earlier.
We asked her to call us as soon as she has had the contractions for a half hour. There’s only so much excitement we can handle.
For grace in the midst of chaos, and life in the midst of everything else, we give you thanks, O God.
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