Tales from the Clumsy

Hello again,

So I have a couple of things to talk about tonight, and the first is what inspired the title of today's post. 

Walking home Sunday night with my husband behind me on the stairs, I hit the edge of a step and fell.  I managed to hit my forehead and chest on the edges of the steps because my hands were stuck inside my pockets - it was cold!  So while I am trying to catch my breath, Julius watches a bump grow on my forehead. Now, as some of you know, Tulsa and surrounding areas have received some ice and snow the past couple of days; however, this happened the night BEFORE the ice showed up.  We put ice on my head for about an hour before I finally went to sleep, no lasting problems other than slight swelling and an invisible bruise.  My main concern was the bruise I felt along my chest. It hurt to take breath for a full day after, but it has gone mostly away now.  HUMPH!

As for my other news, it will be short but informative.  This morning I had an outpatient surgery called a D&C.  I cannot remember what it stands for but basically the doctor cleaned out my uterus so the I can finally heal from the miscarriage.  I had been bleeding consistently, though not heavily, for 21 days, and I wanted done with it! I was in at 8 am and out at Noon. Doctor said all went well and I will get a check up in a week. I feel fine, actually, just the same as when I went in, so no worries there.

Love you all...thanks for stopping by!

New Opportunities

It is truly amazing how God places people into one's life!  Let me tell you about the new group of people Julius and I are involved with.  Two Saturdays ago (the week before the miscarriage), I was working at Lowe's (go figure) and checked out a man who was recruiting for a job providing financial services.  Well, I did not think I was interested, but I took his name and number as a possibility for Julius.  He was interested for about 3 days but never called.

After I went back to work at Lowe's, I decided I really wanted to quit, so I called him to find out more info for myself.  When he told me that it was all about flexible hours, can work part-time, and most usually work evenings and weekends when they want, I was very interested.  We made an appointment for the following Monday (which was Jan 12th) to meet for more info and an informal interview.  He told me about how they provide a financial needs analysis for possible clients for free, which provides a detailed plan about how to get themselves out of debt as fast as possible, and then what they would need to save or invest in order to retire at the age they hope to do.  Eliminate Debt and Retire Financially Independent is the focus of these plans.  Well, of course I was a little skeptical, but I set up an appointment for that night to sit with Julius and the recruiter to do our own financial analysis.  He took our credit card debt, our student loans, and the home mortgage we are about to take on and put a plan together. 

When we met again Tuesday night, he showed us the plan and how it would take us only 7 years to pay nearly $160K off and be debt free, without increasing our current income...OMG!  We were hooked.  So we stuck around to hear a presentation they do every Tuesday night to teach about the company, and we found a home.  We totally identified with the goal to "Save"  people who are in debt and "Rescue" them from living paycheck to paycheck.  

The skeptics in us were still whispering in our ears so that we signed up to work part-time but with silent reservations.  That same Tuesday night, we were invited to meet the Regional Vice President (RVP) Marshall Gudgel at his home where he and his wife host an "American Idol" Replay Party with many of the people working in the office.  He saw us, welcomed us, and gave us the attention we needed to find a mentor.  He discovered that we are hungry to build our own business toward financial independence and almost immediately invited us to their year-end gala Jan. 17th outside Oklahoma City.  He told us the speaker was a strong Christian man who can really show us the big picture of the business.  BTW-Did I mention that at that time we had met at least 2 other Christians in the office, including Gudgel?

So, I called in to work Saturday and we drove to OKC.  WOW...I say WOW! Julius and I were blown away by the force of people involved in this region of the company.  Not only were they not restricted by corporate mentality regarding their Faith, but nearly all mentioned God in their speeches.  The speaker Gudgel told us about, Jim Beaulne from Canada, quoted Scripture at least two times in his speeches.  Then, to hear how focused these people are about helping people get out of debt and improving their lives was very inspiring!  Their message is, help others and you will be blessed; focus on helping people, in all their individual situations, and you will find the compensation to achieve your own dreams.  (Did I mention they make a lot of money?)  

This company is currently apart of Citi Group...which you may know is apart of the bail-out crap going on.  However, Primerica Financial Services was its only company to make money during this recession.  The only one, and it is because the people who work it are focused on doing what is right for people.  Can you imagine a company that would want to provide a debt consolidation loan and to have that person pay it off ASAP! Like in 8-12 years? I do not...most only want those interest payments!

Anyway, I wanted to share a little excitement we feel for this company and to let you all know how right this feels.  I have put in my two-weeks notice at Lowe's because it will be in the way of my learning the business, but also because these past two weeks have shown us that our reasons for my working there are no longer present.  But that is another story.

Thanks for reading the long post, we will keep you updated on our progression.  Our goal is to be promoted to RVP ourselves after one year! Pray for us!

Things can move on.

Well, our doctor's appointment today went well enough. It looks like the hard part has past and I am on the mend, barring any further developments.  Dr. Sterling said that we can try again after a couple months and, "hopefully, see you again in 3 to 4 months!"  We are relieved and can finally move on.  These past few days have been very difficult for me to handle, largely because the event was not completely finished. 

Now, we are looking forward to creating our home, which will happen within the next couple of months, we hope.  Julius and I have been into the home a few times to get pictures and measurements, so planning has been apart of our home-bound life this week.  He uses a program called Sketch-Up that allows him to take Jack's building plans and create a 3-D image with lots of details, so that clients can better visualize what they are building.  Well, we decided to play in the program with our future home and are having fun planning how our furniture will fit, getting a idea about decor, and even getting the information to price things, like new trim, etc.  When we are nearly done, I would like to share the pics with you all here.

That is all from me right now.  Thank you so much for the prayers, love and support this past week.  It is still difficult to talk about but I will bounce back quickly enough.  We love you all!

-Kimberly

God has a Plan.,..

So many times in our lives, we set some kind of plan for ourselves: get a certain degree from a certain college; graduate and get hired at a company making a set salary; finding a spouse that fits some pre-conceived mold; getting a house in a particular city / location; raising X number of kids; and retiring at a certain age living off of a certain amount of income for the rest of our life; so on and so forth. However, these plans do not always come to fruition - either as we had planned or as we had hoped they might be. When our plans get changed, we do not always have the answers as to how they got changed or why. As I have personally witnessed in my life, it might take many, many years before we are shown why our carefully laid plans were altered. After enduring one such major change in my plans, I came to the realization that God had a plan for me all along that was much more beneficial to me (having a relationship with Him) than what I previously had as 'my plan'.

Kimberly and I, together, fervently believe that God has a plan for us and we pray and remain open to the changes in our lives that are set before us.


This belief was tested very dramatically late last night as Kimberly's body began to terminate the pregnancy.

We made the tearfully scared phone call to the on-call doctor and told him everything that was happening and he sadly agreed that it sounded like a miscarriage. Since there is not much of anything that doctors or medication can do once the body begins this process, we decided to stay home instead of going to the hospital. We already had our 12-week appointment set for Tuesday, so they moved it up to first thing in the morning.

We were staying up late unable to go to sleep when Kimberly had this strange urge and asked me to get my Bible and read to her. I was a bit dumbfounded, but thought it was a good idea - albeit, I had absolutely no clue what part of the Bible could possibly help with a couple experiencing a miscarriage. Kimberly reminded me that her mother Donna had mentioned how good Romans 8 was (while we were visiting them at Christmas) and neither of us could remember what it said, so we opened it up and I started reading. We were both very amazed and relieved with what all of Romans 8 says, but especially so with verse 18:

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."

This is also the chapter that says in verse 31:

"If God is for us, who can be against us?"

And verse 38:

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

All we could say was... WOW! After reading all of this we both felt peace about the situation. We also believe that God has a plan for us and we intend to be a part of His plan.

The next morning when we showed up at the doctor's and did the sonogram, they found that the fetus only measured 1.7cm at 12 weeks (it was 1.4cm at 8 weeks and should have grown at least a couple inches since; at 1.7cm, it would have only been estimated to be 8.5 weeks old instead of 12). He also could not get a heartbeat.

We since came home and prayed again and are hoping that her body will finish the process without us having to use certain medications or surgery to complete the miscarriage. We will be trying to get her lots of fluids and sleep this week and would appreciate any / all prayers. This is still very difficult to even type on a computer - much less speak about, but we have informed both of our families of everything that has been happening. While we are both normally able and willing to talk to most everyone about life, this is something that we would very much prefer your prayers more than the phone calls.

We love you all and will be keeping our parents informed, if you have questions. In the meantime, please pray for us, for Kimberly's body to heal completely and quickly, for God to continue to use us in his plans, for the understanding of Kimberly's employers, for knowledge and insight from the doctors and nurses, and - if it is God's will - a healthy pregnancy and baby sometime in the future.

In Him,
Julius & Kimberly

Contributers...OOPS!

Hey there,

If you are wondering why you are no longer listed as a Contributor or why the invitation to contribute has been voided, here's why.  We did not realize that this status would allow for all of you to create new posts.  While we love you all and want to hear from you, we want them to be in the form of Comments, not new posts.

Our 12 week appointment will occur in the morning.  We'll let you know how it goes!

143