How quickly life changes.

So Sunday was Friend Day in Varaždin and we had a great day. We didn't have anyone saved but we had several visitors and a great day of fellowship. The church in Varaždin is growing weekly or at least having visitors in the services. The new building is such a blesing and so much larger than the old one. We have a nursery upstairs along with a room for SS and a kitchen. We're ecstatic and can't wait to see what God is going to do with this new work. 

Bro. Scott and Cody singing.

Sunday night after the services in Čakovec we came home and laid around a bit before bed. About 12:30 my head began to hit really bad and it continued until I feel asleep. I don't like to take medicines so I usually try to sleep my headaches off. Anyhow, at 1:30 I woke up with a pounding headache and Johnny suggested I go ahead and take something for it. I headed downstairs and then back up. When I started to go into my bedroom I felt a rush of nausea, I told johnny I had to vomit and I took a step into the bathroom. The next thing I knew I was on the ground trying to find which way was up. I called for Johnny while grabbing the radiator to pull myself up. I opened my eyes a minute or so later and had no idea how I got to where I was laying. Johnny said that it looked as if I had a seizure and he was calling our equivalent of 911. The paramedics came and the next thing I knew I was being admitted.
Monday morning the tests began. They weren't for sure but they thought it could either be bleeding on the brain, a stroke or even a tumor. The CT scan didn't show any bleeding or tumors. They pretty much ruled out a stroke. Anyhow over the next 3 days they ran all sorts of tests and found a problem with swelling in the back of my eyes. I have perfect blood pressure, sugar, thyroid and all so there was really no reason for this swelling except maybe a brain problem.

They also found out that C4 and C5 in my cervical spine and deteriorating. They said I have the cervical spine of an old woman, I call my neck EDNA now.

I have a doctors appointment on Monday, then to the eye specialist on Wednesday or Thursday and then an MRI on Friday. Please pray with me that the MRI will find nothing and that they can treat my eye problem. I guess for my neck, just pray for God's healing.

I'm home after 4 days but Johnny's making sure I'm taking it easy, he's so good.

Oh yea and Yesterday was Hannah's 13th birthday. We officially have all teenagers. Please pray that we survive!!

Public Service Announcement

Okay all you bloggers out there who don't already have an RSS feed on your blog this post is for you. 

Okay have you seen this little orange thinggy floating around Blogville, well it's the icon for a RSS feed. 

Why is this needed???

Well the RSS feed for your blog makes it super simple to add your blog to a reader. Let's say, If I come to your blog and I like your blog and want to add it to my Google Reader, Bloglines or whichever reader I use I could simply click this icon and it would automatically being me to the page to mark your blog.

The RSS feed is very useful and honestly it's a little bit of a hassle to have to add blog feeds to my reader manually. I love being able to add your wonderful blogs to my reader without having to go through several clicks. I'm a one-click kinda gal!

There are lots of ways to add a link for your RSS feed to your page. There are lots of widgets out there that are neat and really easy to use like the one in the pic below. You can get it here. 

                    

Or even easier is the one blogger provides in it's Gadget section. It's called SUBSCRIPTION LINKS and it's as easy as pointing and clicking. 

            

Once you add one of these handy dandy little gadgets then all of us out in Blogville can easily add you to our readers. 

Trust me, you'll be a better blogger for adding it!

THIS HAS BEEN A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Sometimes you have to fight!

It's true, sometimes we have to fight for the things that are really important in life. 

I run a van route to Gypsy village in Trnovec which is about 25 minutes from church. I usually have 9 or 10 kids come on the van but this last Sunday was different. 

3 children got in the van and shut the door. I was confused. "Where are the others?", I asked. The kids proceeded to tell me that they weren't allowed to come to our church any more.

I was in shock. If you have ever been a "bus captain" then you know what I was feeling. You get close to these kids. They become "your kids". 

So the kids told me that there was one old woman in their village that was spreading lies about our church. 

She said that if you were christened in a Catholic church and then you went to a Baptist church than that meant that you served two different gods. Then she said that as Baptists we allow our sons and daughters to marry each other, within one family, brothers and sisters. WHAT?? Are you kidding me? We found out later from one of Bro. Sam's new converts that this rumor has been circulation for years and it sounds like it was started by someone in the Catholic church. She also said that if you were a Baptist or went to one of our churches than you would have ciaos in the home. That Baptists had very crazy homes and had no peace. 

Anyhow, I drove my 3 kids to church and was so upset. It was like someone had taken something from me of great value and SHE did. After church when I took the kids home I made an date to come back out there to the village and have an open meeting of sorts for them to ask anything they wanted so the lies could be cleared up. 

Yesterday Johnny, myself, Bro. Rich, Bro. Sam, Bro. Scott and Bro. Alen all went out to the village. The parents of the 3 children welcomed us to their home and Bro. Rich began to witness to these folks. He went through the plan of salvation very thoroughly and then gave those who wanted to an opportunity to be saved. Both parents of the 3 children prayed and a few others standing around also. Praise the Lord! I don't pretend to know the hearts of these people but it doesn't take a lot to ask Jesus to save you. 

After the Gospel was presented we answered questions, well Johnny and Bro. Rich basically. After wards the  dad of the 3 told said, "So what I'm understanding is that you keep coming back to the Bible, that's what is so important." WOW, he got it!

As we were getting ready to leave tons of children came up to me and asked if they could come to church. It was sad because I only have a 9 seater van and there were way more than 9 children who wanted to come. Praise the Lord! He is so good to give us ministries and people to serve. I'm blessed to know these children and maybe, just maybe one day I'll see one or more of them give their lives to Jesus to reach their own people. That's my prayer and I know He hears it.

Some things and people are worth fighting for. Sometimes we give up way too easy and the Devil easily wins the battle. We need to get tough and fight back a little, claim what is God's for God. 

New Start

Today is a new day for me and today I started tracking my intake with SparkPeople. SparkPeople is wonderful and so useful. It has all the tools a person needs to keep track of calorie intake and fitness goals. So today is the first day of my lifestyle overhaul. I'm pretty excited about it and motivated thanks to a few friends who are doing awesome.

I know that past failures or even successes don't determine my ability now and I'm on my way.

I'll be posting periodically about my weight loss and or in the unlikely case, gain.

So as of today,
6/30/2010 -  0 lbs. lost

19 years ago today...

...a very young Johnny and Tori were married in a little Baptist church in Texas. We were babies at only 18 and 19. We were so in love and couldn't be without each other. I wouldn't change a thing. We were young, unlearned and naive but we grew together and it worked out perfectly. 

What a wonderful decision I made when I said yes to this man. He has been my rock and my strength. He has kept me on the narrow path and has led our family in the way of Christ. He has taken me to more places than I ever dreamed of. He has made me feel more feelings than I thought possible. 

After 19 years of marriage, he's not the same man I married. No, he's amazing. Every year he becomes more wonderful, if that is possible. He thinks about me in ways that amaze me. I am his life outside of Jesus Christ and He adores me. I am so blessed to be allowed to spend my earthly life with Johnny, God is so good to me. 

So I scanned a few photos from our wedding and thought I would share them. YES, that's really us!!

Our first kiss as husband and wife. 

Stop laughing, yes that is a mullet! He was just 19 years in this photo. 

Me after the ceremony.

Johnny and I yesterday in Austria.

Johnny and Tori Leslie, married June 29, 1991. 

19 years later standing on top of a mountain in Austria, in love more than ever!

Below is a repost from our 15th anniversary with a little synopsis of how we met. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every time I say fifteen years, I have to stop and think, "is that right, could we have possibly been married 15 years?". I know to you couples who have been together more than 15 years, this is no big deal but to me it's HUGE.

God is so amazing! I sit and wonder what I did to deserve to sleep beside him at night and to watch him laugh at the same old reruns of Hogan's Heroes, to make his coffee in the morning and loosen his tie after church. The only conclusion I can come to, is that God is full of grace. Other than my Lord Jesus, Johnny is the loveliest gift God ever gave me,

We met one night at his cousins wedding. His cousin and I had been best friends since we were very small. And although I had never met Johnny I knew all about "Cousin Johnny". David bragged on Johnny like he was 7 ft. tall and could move mountains. We had been spending time with the same people all our lives, in the same houses and for some reason we never crossed paths.

Finally, after living our youth with the same people we finally met, God knew it was time. Johnny was not 7 ft. tall and I doubt he could move mountains in the literal sense but he was something special. I couldn't tell you what it was, but there was just something about him; a sincere sweetness. I loved him from the first time he spoke to me.

The wedding went off well, Johnny was best man. I can still remember him standing against the wall with a starched white dress shirt, crisp blue Wrangler jeans, and snake skin boots. I can remember what I was wearing too, I can even remember the smell in the room. He was so shy, he could hardly talk to me, I think I did most of the conversing. We got along perfectly from the beginning and stayed by one another's side the whole evening.

After the reception he asked if he could take me home and because my ride was now on his honeymoon, I accepted. It was actually a very quiet ride home, we didn't talk much but I thought about him all night. Was this guy going to change my life, who I am and how I think? He pulled his yellow Buick into the year, killed the engine. We sat in the dark for a moment and then simultaneously got out. He said he wanted to see me again and after he gave me his phone number and told me to call him, he leaned towards me and kissed me on the cheek. I waved goodbye and floated into the house.

"This is the one, Mom", I said as she realized it was me coming through the door. "Mom I'm going to marry this one." She sleepily replied, "okay dear" and drifted back to sleep. I lie in bed most of the night thinking about how he kissed me on the cheek, he was defiantly different then all the other guys I knew. There was something sweet about him and I loved it.

After waking the next morning I immediately thought about his phone number written on a crumbled piece of paper in my purse. Wait, what if he didn't really want me to call, what if he was being nice. I thought all morning about it and was just too scared to call him. I didn't. I was so upset the entire morning thinking about this guy. What if I never seen him again, why was I so silly.

I heard mom call dad from the window in the kitchen, "someone keeps driving up and down the street" she told dad in a bit of alarm. I ran to the window, it was him! He had come to me! I watched him drive past my house more than 6 times before he finally stopped. I was elated. I couldn't believe it was him. I walked out and said, "Hi" he said "Hi" and 8 months later I gazed into his blue eyes, held him trembling hands and said "I do."

There really was something very sweet about Johnny and not until much later did I realize what it was. Johnny had accepted Jesus as his personal savior just weeks before we met. The sweetness, it was Jesus in him. I'm sure that our lives were orchestrated by God for a very special purpose; 3 beautiful children who love the Lord and a family of Croatian believers who love the Lord.

All I can say, is God is so good and Johnny I love you!

Pesky Pickle Problem?

Ever get tired of dealing with those pesky pickles? Tired of people staring at your pickles? Well, on a recent trip to Austria I found the solution to our problem. Clearasil Ultra Anti Pickle Creme!

This miracle stuff claims to reduce the size of the offending pickle in just 4 hours, that's pretty amazing!

Okay enough of that stuff, just thought I would share a laugh with you. Oh yea, and that is the real stuff there, actually photographed on Friday while grocery shopping in Austria. 

Incredible Blessing!

Any of you who follow either my blog or Johnny's know that children have a special place in our ministry. We know that they are the next missionaries, preachers and church members of tomorrow. They are the hope of our grandchildren. The only hope they have of living in a Godly world.

Reaching adults in Croatia is often next to impossible. Many of them will receive Christ's free gift but refuse to serve Him. We're trying to train these children from early youth to love Jesus and serve Him.

Anyoo, we have been running to van routes for years. I run one to a Gypsy village in Trnovec along with Traci and Johnny runs one to Pribislavec with Bro. Scott. These children come from very difficult homes and are many times starved for real affection. I love these children. They mean so much to me. Anyhow, back to subject. Johnny has been using our big red church van for his route for years and I usually pack out my 7 seater with up to 12 people on my route. Well we have been really heart broken lately because big red has been very sick and finally hit bottom.

We have been praying for the money to buy a new church van for a while and God answered our prayers with a miracle a few weeks ago. A man that we have never met but attends a like minded church decided to be used of God to meet our need. Actually he meet the need but giving not only enough money to replace Big Red but also enough to buy yet another van. So now we have 2- 9 seater vans.

We are so thankful for our Brother in Christ who chose to be used of God. Not only were we able to purchase two vans but we had enough money left over to have the church name and phone number on the side of the van along with a Scripture verse. We also had enough money left over to tint the windows on both vans. Tint is very important because it allows us to pack out 9 seater vans with double the occupancy allowed without drawing attention to ourselves by the local law keepers. I know we shouldn't drive more than we have room for but who has the heart to tell someone that there isn't room for them to come to church, NOT ME!

Hey God loves these people and they're worth all the work and money it takes to get then to His house.
Many thanks to all those who gave toward this need, thanks for being used!