Technical Difficulties

Our Internet keeps timing out and loosing connection and our wireless router died. So we sometimes have Internet and sometimes we don't. After about 20 calls into bresnan to get it fixed. They put us on a higher service level to where the people who know what they are doing will come and check out our cable connection and hopefully get our Internet fixed. I was originally going to post a blogger version of the message I gave at the Thrive Summer Camp. Being that our wireless router died I can't access my files on my external hard drive. Even if I hard wire it I can't access my files and that is very strange considering not everyone has wireless. So until I can access my external hard drive I have nothing but Technical difficulties to blog about. On a side note, Ashley is doing better today so that has been great! Looks like our prayers are being answered! Now lets hope her condition goes away completely. She is now outside playing in the beautiful sun that I am about to relax in.

Patients in the midst of a trial.....

I am willing to admit that in the midst of a trial my patients wears thin. However I need to stop and realize that instead of getting frustrated I need to stay calm and look to God for relief. Today while trying to get Ashley into a Doctor who could give us an explanation on what is happening, I did absolutely the opposite. I hit panic mode and got frustrated at the fact that I was being directed back to the place we started that held no answers for Ashley's condition. Every pediatrician that I called referred us back to urgent care after I told them I had already been there and they had no clue as to what was causing Ashley to have her spasms. I spent the good part of the day waiting for a referral for a Neurologist and a call back. Finally after a day of seeking help other then the ER or urgent care we got a call back.

As of now we will be taking Ashley in for blood work Wednesday (That is too long for me, however I must be patient). Then Monday we will be in to see a neurologist. I am praying they will not find something horribly wrong with her. I am not sure if I'm ready to go through that again especially since it is my daughter. I find comfort in the Lord and know that he is here for me and the family. Ashley has been amazingly brave through all of this and has been spending her time reading the bible, drawing pictures about Jesus, and playing with friends. She is such a trooper and still manages to laugh and smile a lot. It is funny how encouraging that is to me. I feel like falling apart and she feels like laughing. I have spent a lot of time snuggling her and trying to re-assure her everything will be all right. I feel helpless and wish I could just put a band aid on her to make it go away. All I can do is pray and wait.

A way to keep us focused on the Lord we bought the Kids Journals so they could write down what they got out of their quite times when reading the bible and praying. Afterwards we get together and discuss what we got out of our quite time. It is a comfort and a blessing to hear each others personal experiences. Weird as well when they seem to go hand and hand with each other. I am looking forward for tonight's family quite time.

A Frightening Development

A Frightening Development from Todd Harvey on Vimeo.

This Thursday my daughter Ashley developed some sort of involuntary muscle spasms in her neck and shoulders. These spasms cause her shoulders to shrug and her head to nod up and down. We took her to the doctor to see if he could find a cause. He did tests to see if there was some neurological cause but found none. So that is good news, however he couldn't come up with a good explanation for it. So he told us to keep an eye on her and if things worsen to take here to see a neurologist. I am praying that the Lord will bring her healing for whatever is causing this to happen. For all of you who have been praying and have offered up your prayers. We would like to thank you. There is much comfort in knowing that others are praying for our family.

Pre-summer Camp

It is the morning of our departure and I realize I thought we were leaving yesterday but that was because of my excitement to do so. So I am still home and on the computer blogging. I woke up this morning and made coffee while I surfed around on Facebook checking out what was going on in everyone's lives. I spent some quite time in the bible after I woke up a bit. A passage really jumped out at me because it is something I've noticed that has been fading away in our society unless it is a rare circumstance.

Proverbs 3:27-28; Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them. 28 If you can help your neighbor now, don’t say, “Come back tomorrow, and then I’ll help you.”

It is crazy to think on how many times I've needed help and someone who could have helped had been too busy with their own world to stop and help me in my time of need. Then I began to think about how I have done the same? Sometimes I think we get caught up in all the craziness and forget the world doesn't revolve around us. That we are in this all together. I think that I myself need to be more observant of others needs so that I can be there for them in a time of need.

I just thought I'd share with you what I got out of my quite time this morning. After today it will be about a week before you hear from me again. Trevor has his clothes spread all over the living room floor and is in the process of packing. So I need to get going and help him out otherwise he'll forget his underwear. : )

Fathers Day

First off I'd like to wish my Dad "Happy Fathers Day" again. Today started out slow and consisted of a mass consumption of coffee. I think I hit the snooze button more then 20 times and I am not exaggerating. After coffee and a brief breakfast of which my lovely wife made, we were off to Church. If you were wondering what wonderful creation Stacey baked up, it was an amazing crumb cake that was delish! We spent our morning at Church and listened to an awesome message about Jesus Christ returning to Earth. After service went up stairs to help with youth group where we spent most of the time in prayer. It was a great day of bonding with the kids and with God.

Afterwards the family and some friends all went out and ate at Famous Dave's for some really good barbecue food. The kids all got Mac and Cheese? I have no idea why but they liked it. It was good food and conversation with good people. After we were done there we went shopping (This is forbidden on Fathers Day). However during this shopping I picked up some new swimming trunks so all is good. So overall today was a great Fathers Day for me. I all you fathers out there had a good one!

Thrive 09 Summer Camp

It is almost here! Two days from now will be the day we depart for my Church youth group summer camp. I am so excited to be part of this because it is such a blessing to see Kids and young adults mature in the Lord. I have been praying that this time out in the wilderness will bring everyone including the leadership not only closer together but also closer to our awesome God! While at camp there will be music,devotions, and a guest speaker who will be giving messages daily. On top of that there will be games and a lot of fun activities! Trevor my oldest son will be attending and I am so happy that he is going to get to experience all of it. He is such a good kid and I can't wait to see the Lord work through his life. I hope that after this experience he and all the other students will draw even closer to the Lord. I have been so blessed to be able to help do the Lords work. There is no greater reward then to do what God calls us to do. I am truly humbled by all he has done in my life and in the lives of those around me.

Insanity!

Recently one of our local breweries went out of business and the last of their product has hit the grocery store shelves and once it is gone it is gone for good. This being the case people who like the beer are frantically trying to by it while supplies last. Being that I work in receiving at a grocery store I get to take special orders over the phone. This last week I received a call from a guy in Texas requesting that two cases of his favorite beer be shipped to him because he heard the brewery went out of business. This of course is against the law so we weren't able to do this for him. He stated that he loves that beer and it is a tradition to drink it when he comes here on his vacation during the summer. He asked that we hold it for him till August when he takes his vacation.

He stated that he'd drop everything and drive out but he figured after all was said and done it would raise the price of beer per bottle to about $25.00 and he decided he wouldn't do that. However a week later I had the privilege to meet this guy in person. He drove all the way from Texas for two cases of beer! I have never heard or have seen anything so crazy since beanie Baby frenzy at McDonald's! I told him that he was crazy and that it must be really good beer to have driven so far. He ended up buying 3 cases and I hope he enjoys every last drop!

Skull Church Rehearsal

The family and I just got back from Skull Church rehearsal, and I have to say that it is going to be very cool! It is an interactive Church service that allows people to text in questions via cell phone or Internet and have them answered live during the service. The Q&A will follow a message given by pastor Levi Lusko. I can't go in to too much detail but it is going to be very cool! Another really cool thing is that I get to serve with my oldest son in the ushering ministry. He is so excited to step up and help out with the Church that it gets me choked up just thinking about it. I can't wait for opening night to see the people who come in off the street to see what this Skull Church is all about. My prayers are that they would find salvation through Christ and that many who may pass judgement on this new outreach would have their eye's opened to what God is doing through it. For more information please visit http://www.skullchurch.com/

Kintla Lake Hike.

Last Monday I went hiking with the Men's outdoor ministry. On this trip we hiked about 20 miles all together. All 20 of them were in the feeding ground of Grizzlies that just came out of hibernation. Along the trail there were bones and spinal cords of deer with the ribs still attached.
A deer hyde here a deer hyde there and scattered bear droppings weaved with fur. It was a great hike even though it was kind of scary hiking in Griz territory. However we had 6 guys packin bear spray and making lot of noise. We didn't see any bears or any deer the full length of the day.
In between Lower Kintla Lake and Upper Kintla Lake stood a couple of very impressive waterfalls. I could resist but snap pictures of them. One of them was on this steep hillside of which we all scaled to reach what was half way up what looked to be about 300ft. The pictures here do not give it justice!
Physically I have been preparing for these intense hikes. Cardiovascular wise I was fit, however my feet themselves couldn't keep up with the rest of me. I blistered severely half way through the hike, making the return hike hellish. It felt as if I were walking on bloody stubs. The only thing that kept me walking was the thought of a big fat juicy Baconator from Wendy's of which I indulged in before I called it a night. I have decided to invest in some better foot wear for the next trip. I hope to prevent any blistering that may occur. I am looking forward to making the summit of Mt. Jackson this summer. It looks like it is a rough go, but I love difficult hikes. It builds character and endurance. If the weather holds out this weekend I plan on chillin and grillin. I hope you all have a great weekend!