Mom's Blog

Hey all,

Just wanted to let you all know that my mom has set up a blog. Many of you know that back in July my mom was diagnosed with stage two cancer. She will be posting updates about treatment and such on her blog.

Here is the web address: www.barbarabeam.blogspot.com

Clay

I have recently been faced with a... difficulty, shall we say, in my life. I would not call it a "tribulation" or a "trial" because it does not compare to what many people face in life. 


This is just a little something that the Lord has shown me that can really be applied to any "difficulty" you may face in life and I just wanted to share it with you all. (Most of it was thought about at work when I have nothing else to think about)


It is amazing what God will do if you just surrender to him. The sermons that my pastor has preached lately have been EXACTLY what I needed. It almost seemed like I was going to church and "selecting" the sermon that I needed to hear that day. The Lord just laid it out for me. Specifically one of the sermons that my Pastor preached was on the omniscience of God. He preached about how God knows why we are going through whatever we are going through and he cares. It was just what I needed to hear.


Well at work I began to think about things the Lord puts us through. I preached a sermon in nursing home last Sunday about "suffering" and how to deal with it. I knew the basics and of course I know the verse "And we know that all things work together for good..." Of course we know suffering is for growth and depending on the difficulty, it helps you in that specific area of your life. But I could not help but wonder, "what else? Is there one thing that we can ALWAYS look to as we go through ANY difficulty?"


I began to think of the story in Jeremiah 18. Where the Lord talks to Jeremiah about the clay. And how the clay was "marred" in the masters in hand. He had to take the clay and remold it to the way he wanted it to come out. Suddenly it hit me. The master (the Lord) takes the clay (us) and does not give up on it! He has not given up on the piece of clay!


The Lord showed me that one thing we can always look to in times of trouble is quite a simple revelation. He isn't done with us yet! I have not done anything SO terrible or SO wicked that God just said "ya know what? It's not worth molding anymore, just forget it" No! He has not given up on me, he is going to mold me and make me what he wants me to be. I would much rather have the Lord work on me and make me more like him then just sit as a marred piece of clay. Thank you Lord for not giving up on me!


That's pretty amazing when you think about it... The God of the universe cares enough to not give up on me.
Psalm 8:4  What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 


I know this sounded so simple, and so obvious but it was a great refresher for me. It was a blessing to me and I wanted to share it with you all.


Since I am blogging... I might as well tell what has been going on lately :)


School is going well and I am looking forward to mid-terms. I am starting a 7.5 week online 3 credit hour Civil War class... wow! it should be interesting


I still work at Wal-Mart... Mostly working outside (that is why I have had so much time to think) I have gotten some cashier shifts here lately. I would love to get into the electronics department sometime, but I feel I am were the Lord wants me at this point.


My Sunday School class is getting big! It is exciting. We have twin boys that are coming named Elijah and Isaiah. The Lord has really given me a burden for them lately. They both have speech impediments but both seem very smart. I was able to talk to them on Wednesday night about the gospel. One of them said they weren't a sinner and the other one said he was. I asked the one that said he was a sinner if his brother was a sinner. He, of course, said yes :). They did not get saved, but I am thankful for the opportunity to teach them in Sunday School and help with them in Master Clubs.

I hope everyone... everyone? Does anyone even read this anymore? haha. I just thought it was nice to get my thoughts on... paper? how bout on website :)

As I was saying! I hope everyone is doing well! Leave a comment if you so choose!

What Cancer really does....

Many of you, if not all of you know, that my mom was recently diagnosed with stage two breast cancer. She started chemo a month or so ago and has really had a positive attitude through the whole thing. Recently, my mom has started to lose her hair and has had to wear hats.

My youth pastor had a meeting with the men of the church that were 40 and younger... I kind of thought... what is this all about? To make a longish story short, He told us that since so many people had cancer he wanted to do something. He told us that when he saw my mom with her hat on at church, it really hit him hard. He decided that he was going to shave his head. Immediately when he told us that.... I was on board! My mom and two other people in our church are fighting cancer or have fought cancer just recently, and with my mom being one of them, I of course was willing to do it.

The main reason is to remember them in prayer. He told us to keep in mind that every time we look at ourselves in the mirror, or someone asks us about our bald head, we can pray for those with cancer in our church. We can also use it as a witnessing tool, tell folks about all the guys that did it because we care for our church family....

So here are some pictures of my bald head!!!! I am going to try to get a pic of all the guys that shaved their heads.... Pastor Ingalls, Mr. Malfi, Adam, Tyler, and I :) Maybe a group pick

Never knew I had something on top of my head haha

Take that cancer! You won't win :) God and the support of his people will! Good Game.... we win :)

Memorial Day 2011

Here in our wonderful town, Auburn NY, we have a special display of American flags in honor of our troops and in honor of the 9-11 tragedies. Just down the street from our church there is a park that has over 2,000 American flags in which honor fallen troops. It is such an amazing display! I got chills just taking pictures of it. Enjoy!

Hoopes Park in Auburn

Each flag was dedicated to a soldier

My personal favorite picture

My mom and I enjoying the park

Here is an overview video of the whole park! Enjoy!!!

My Four Year Old Birthday

As you can tell.... I was a bratty little kid :)
Enjoy! I laugh every time I watch this haha

Ah, The Joys of Spring Break

My mom treated my dad and I to some ribs tonight :)

Yummo!

I let him have some too :)

Like father like son :)

Long time no blog!

Hey guys! So it has been a looooooong time since I updated my blog. Too long. How do even update a blog when you have not touched it for 2 months? I don't even know.

Much has happened since volleyball marathon. I guess that is a good place to start. I am on spring break right now! So that means we as a college raised enough for it. duh. Individually I raised $450! Which means I get a day off of school for a Chicago Cubs game :). You can still click the donate button on the top right of the page, but you will just be donating to my school bill ;) Which I'd be ok with :)

Spring Break has gone well so far. Not too much going on. Trying to get some reading done for school but that isn't working out too well. It seems as if I am not as motivated at home as I am at school. But I will get some done. :)

I go back to school on Friday the 11th. School doesn't restart until Monday though. I go back on a train which of course should be more than fun... ha.

I am enjoying the time at home to spend some time with my parents and watch some Yankees games :). The Yankees have been doing real well since I've been home.

I miss my friends from college but I will see them in a few days :) I hope everyone is doing well. I will try to write something more often while at school.

Does anyone look at this anymore? leave a comment if you do :)