Karsyn Bell

Last Friday night a 4 year old girl past away due to cancer. She was full of life and loved Jesus with all her being. She memorized prayers and studied her bible. She was a light unto everyone and brought people to Jesus with her smile. Everyone's heart she came into contact with was touched by her love and generosity. This little life will be missed for the rest of time. But now, she is with Jesus, her Savior, and in His arms she will rest. She isn't in anymore pain and she is no longer suffering from her illness. No longer will she have to go to the hospital for tests; be pricked with needles; or have her blood taken for tests. 

Her family and friends will hurt and mourn, but she doesn't want us to cry. She wants us to celebrate. To laugh and not cry, to smile and not frown, to be upbeat and happy not depressed and beaten-down. We won't always know why God decided to take her away, but we know that He has a plan and a purpose and that he needs her. Little Karsyn taught everyone something. To love God, to be happy, to play, to pray, etc. She was a light. And her light hasn't burnt out because her life on earth is through, it still shines bright in the hearts of her loved ones that she is survived by. 

Her younger sister, Cami, is too young to understand what is happening. She tried to play and talk to big sister at the funeral. Karsyn never responded to her chipper baby sister, but Cami never gave up. As she grows older she will understand what happened, and that Jesus needed her for something so amazing that she couldn't quite complete the task on this planet. He needed her in heaven. They loved on each other well. 

Please, if you read this, send out a prayer to the Bell family and friends of little Karsyn. They, and I, could use that right now. To get through the grieving process. Thank you all. 

R.I.P Karsyn -- You are loved. 

Rachel Ort Leazenby

On Christmas Eve an amazing young women of God was killed in an accident. A 19 year old boy was attempting to pass her as she was making a left hand turn. It almost killed her instantly. Her life was a light unto many. She is loved and she loved well. She will be missed greatly. She is survived by her husband Jon Leazenby and her parents Gene and Mary Ort. 

This tragedy has affected everyone that has ever known her. She was a fitness teacher at Grissom Middle School in the PHM district. She was a wonderful sister, daughter, wife, aunt, granddaughter. The list would go on forever. I only wish that I will grow up to be half the women she is. 

MobileMe

Just uploaded more pics to my mobileme. Check em' out!! http://gallery.me.com/stephmariee

Don't forget to comment ;)

My little Cassie

So my mom and I took our oldest cat to the vet tonight to see what's wrong with her. The nice kitty doctor said that it was something with her thyroid gland that will affect her whole body. That includes lungs, heart, liver, pancreas, etc. The vet said that she needs to do blood work. So, extremely reluctantly, we decided it was best to leave her there over night. I'm not gonna lie, it killed me to leave her there. I cried. Even though I know that she will be perfectly safe and fine. This is the first night that she hasn't been home. With me. We'll get her back tomorrow and the results will be in Thursday or Friday. Cassie is 16 years old, which is very old for a cat. I'm very nervous that when the results come back, they won't be so good. My little girl is, of course, in my prayers. 

Life Happens

So, in light of recent events, I have realized that I have been in denial. God puts people in our lives for a specific purpose. We may not know what that reason is, but He does. And we must trust in that when He makes choices. Within the past week I may have officially lost a very close friend of three years. It has been a downhill spiral for the last six months, and we both knew the end was nearing. Neither one of us so willing to accept it despite the multitude of arguments over pathetic incidents, at least thats how I see it. After much needed prayer and thought, I have come to realize that God has chosen a different path for our friendship and I need to let go of the wheel and let Him take charge. I am hoping that our paths do meet together again, it's one friendship tat I never wanted to see end. This has lifted a burden off of my shoulders and opened new doors for improvement on my side and hers. That doesn't mean that she was a burden, it means the situation was and it made everything harder. Though we agreed that we need to take a break, sort through our own lives and only send an occasional text and have a conversation, it doesn't make this any easier. Loosing friends is very difficult. I have come to see that not all friendships will be lifelong. And when one comes to an end, through the next door will come another. This is a lesson learned and I will have for the rest of my life. 

First Blog

So I had a blog before, but I never kept up with it. I thought this might be a good place to just put some thoughts out there. 

More to come...