Guatemala's Heart

This is the heart and soul of Guatemala, the faces. The faces of children and adults are the very core of what makes Guatemala so amazingly wonderful. The grace of a loving God can be seen on the faces of the ones who touched us this past week. Young faces, old faces, it made no difference. Literally, the JOY of the Lord IS their strength. I will write more about our week in Guatemala another day, but for now, I'll close with a quote from a prayer warrior for God, an elderly woman named Margaritia. Our trip can be summed up with one word..."ALLELUIA!"

Celebrate Numbers 84 and 6.8

On April 7th there will be a celebration of 84 years of life! Yes, my dear mom, Marian Prellwitz, will be turning 84! She lives in Lincoln, Nebraska in the house that she and my dad bought in 1981. She's alone now, as my dad passed away in December of 2005.

But those of you who know my mom know that she's seldom alone. She enjoys people! She thrives on them! Mom loves to go out to the stores just to see people. She calls it, "plowing around". She's also still keeping up with her bridge friends and spends time up at church putting the bult. tog. most Fridays. Her slow days are when she stays home and gets caught up in a book. Mom certainly has been a trooper about finding joy in daily life even without my dad.

The best way to sum her up is to reiterate something Ingrid said recently. Ingrid had called Grandma Prellwitz and when Grandma picked up the phone Ingrid said, " How are you?" Her reply..." I'm WILD!" So there you have it in a nutshell. Happy 84th Birthday Wild Thing!!!

The next celebration is an achievement I recently accomplished. I've been working on this for almost 20 years now and it has finally happened. As you know, I'm a Type 1 diabetic and have to take insulin either by shot or the past 5 years, by the pump. I am careful about watching my blood sugar levels and yet my hemoglobin A1C ( It's like a summary of sugar levels over a long period of time) has never been below the magic number of 7. The closest I've come in the past has been a 7.1. I was so thrilled by that number that I went out and bought a new pair of shoes! I call them my '7.1 shoes'! Even though it's advised to be below a 7, my health is still quite good all things considered and my doctor was fine with my number in the low sevens.

I am so pleased to report that when I saw my doctor on Monday, April 2, I was given the great news that my A1C was a 6.8! He smiled the biggest smile I've ever seen on his face, and I cried. In fact, I'm tearing up now as I type because it's just that big of a deal to me. I think this is one of the hardest things I've worked this long on, and tried so hard to do! 6.8!!! Praise God!

The numbers 84 and 6.8 are being celebrated on April 7th. Now I just have to figure out what my 6.8 purchase will be. Perhaps a new car? NAW! Let me know if you have any suggestions, and in the meantime, maybe I'll start looking in the shoe department.

GOOD Friday

Tomorrow is Good Friday. When I was a child I often wondered why it was called good. It just didn't make any sense why the day that Jesus died was good.

As an adult, I now understand that what wasn't good for Him WAS good for us. In fact, 'good' doesn't begin to describe it. Perhaps we should rename it to....GREAT Friday, or The Day Jesus Defeated Satan Friday, or how about It is Finished Friday?

I went into our sanctuary at Shepherd of the Desert today with the intent of taking a stunning picture of this cross to post on my blog. The result isn't exactly stunning but rather pale and lifeless. But the one thing that does show up are the outstretched arms. The arms that answer the question, " How much do you love me?" " I love you THIS MUCH!"

Christ died so that we might LIVE. He came to give life, and to give it to us ABUNDANTLY!

And if that's not good, I don't know what is!

Romans 5:8

"God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Added Blessings!

Drum roll, please!



With great joy I introduce you to Drew's wife, Lindsey, and reacquaint you with Eric's wife, Beth. They are such an important part of our family, and I wanted you to see their beautiful smiles for yourselves.

In my last post I talked about being the mother of four adult children. Now I can add these two wonderful women to that group and say I am the mother of SIX adult children! Mom, step-mom, mother-in-law, and you might as well throw in GRANDmother...it's a role I truly cherish. I am blessed by each relationship. I thank God for you all!

Beth and Lindsey, you are valued and loved. I close with some verses from Proverb 31:

"A wife of noble character , who can find? She is worth far more than rubies."
"She is clothed with strength and dignity' she can laugh at the days to come."
"She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue."
"Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."


Note: Eric and Beth were married June 7, 2003 and reside in Albuquerque with son Nolan.
Drew and Lindsey were married December 16, 2006 and are currently serving a mission
Guatemala City, Guatemala. They will return to the states this summer and move to CA
for Drew to return to his university studies.

Now it's four ADULTS!!

Today marks a landmark event. I am now the mother of four ADULTS! Drew, the youngest of the four, turns twenty-one today!!! Happy Birthday, Drew!

Here's a bit of history to help you understand this blog posting.

The year was 1999 and Drew was turning thirteen years old on March 11th. It was a big deal. The other amazing thing was that with Drew marking the beginning of his teens, Eric was winding down. Eric was still nineteen at that time, but would have his July birthday that year and turn twenty, leaving the teens behind.

The kids presented us with buttons that said, " I am the mother of four teenagers!" for me, and the one for Jim read, "I'm married to the mother of four teenagers!" We laughed and laughed and I wore mine not only on that day, but for a long time afterwards. I was thrilled to be the mom of four teenagers.

I continue to be thrilled to be their mom. Mom, or step-mom, to me they are all four children of my heart! I thank God and praise Him for the gift of four remarkable, no longer teenager, ADULTS!! May God bless you and keep you, Eric, Ingrid, Sarah, and birthday 'boy' Drew! I love you!

On My Own!

Greetings from Sue, the blogger!

Here we go, this is the 'solo' flight of Sue the Blogger. There is no one around to help me and I've gotten up the nerve to try this without any of my grown up kids... On my own!

The part I've enjoyed the most about the blog aspect is the ability to attach pictures. I never mastered that on the emails, so hopefully when I finish writing this brief note I'll be successful in posting a couple of pictures. That's the goal, at least.

I really am on my own for the next week, as Jim had to make another trip to Colombia and left late Sunday morning. After considering the choice of being bummed that he wasn't here, I gave up on that idea and decided to go for a long walk and see what was outside my four walls. What I found was wonderful! I saw many beautiful plants and spring starting to bloom here in the desert. I saw things that I normally don't see because it's usually dark outside when I run, and when I run I'm using up every bit of energy on the activity itself. So walking was great.

What I did realize is that I wasn't on my own. I was walking with the Lord and He was showing me that He loved me in so many ways. He just had to slow me down and get me off by myself. It was like water to the parched soul in the desert...a refreshing time and even better yet, a much better option than the pity party I was headed for. I even carried my water bottle with me, which I don't do when I run.

The thirst was quenched, and it was my thirsty spirit that was filled. And to be perfectly candid, I enjoyed being on my own! I highly recommend it!

Hoping to find a couple of pictures of water...representing the water of LIFE! Drink up! Cheers!

ps. Picture on left is in the desert/sand dunes of Namibia, Africa in June 2006. Picture on right is the Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA in August 2006. Nalgene bottles have high milage on them!

Nolan's birthday trip

It's wonderful to be back on the blog! I ran into trouble after writing only one blog and needed help. Jim and I are here in Albuquerque for a quick 'Third Birthday' trip and Beth has patiently worked with me to publish a second blog complete with a couple of pictures! Thank you, Beth!

Nolan turns three on Feb. 26th and Jim and I have been enjoying playing with this precious grandson of ours. He's full of energy and smart as a whip and we cherish this time we've had to hang out with him and play! The great news is that his most recent screen for cancer came back clear! We thank God!

It's my goal to be able to continue making additional posts when I'm on my own, so watch for them. If you don't see anything until the end of March you'll know I wasn't successful, and needed to wait until Ingrid visited us the last weekend of March so she could attend a good friend's wedding. I rely on those wonderful tech/computer savvy kids of mine for help.

That's all for now. There are many more pictures I'd like to share, so watch for more in the near future.

JOY in Jesus!
Sue