Prayer Request

I received a phone call earlier this morning from a good friend of ours named Rose Bednarczyk. They just found out her husband Larry has cancer. She is understandably quite upset...she just cried...couldn't do much talking. My heart breaks for them, but not just because of Larry. This is their second blow in just over a month. You see, on November 16th, just 5 short weeks ago, Larry & Rose lost their oldest son, Jim to cancer.

Paul and I met Rose exactly 10 years ago when we moved back to the area, and Parkway Church was within driving distance again. She worked in the baby nursery and took care of Jamie from the time she was 7 months old. I had just found out I was pregnant with Ericson, and so when he was born, he also was under Rose's care. She then quit Parkway to focus on running her own in-home day care. My children spent 2 mornings a week over there when my sister Sara, brother Mark, and I decided to take an Aerobics class together at Victoria College...my niece Ashton and Ericson were 5 months old and we were trying to lose our baby weight. :) We just thought it would be fun to have Mark in there with us...and we did indeed have a great time! They also spent a weekend or two with Rose & Larry when Paul and I needed some time away and went out of town. We attended Rose's surprise 60th birthday party, etc. They truly treated us like family, and we loved them dearly!!

A couple of years ago, they moved to Temple so they would be closer to all three of their kids and grandkids. We would stay in touch through an occasional phone call & yearly Christmas cards. About 1 1/2 years ago, she called and asked me to pray for Jim because he had just been diagnosed with cancer. I tried calling to check on him a few times, but their phone had been disconnected. Then back in July, Paul and I took the kid's camping at Bastrop State Park. We had gone on a short hike and stopped to let the kid's play at the playground when we noticed a teenager sitting on the swings with a Howell T-shirt on. I didn't recognize him, so I didn't give it a second thought. A few minutes later, I noticed the little boy sitting next to him, and he was wearing a Victoria YMCA shirt. I looked at him a little closer, and it hit me! It was one of Rose's grandson's! I was so excited, because if his parent's were near by, I could get Rose's new phone number! I sent Noah over to see if his name was Caleb, and sure enough, it was! He even pointed to a picnic table a little ways behind where we were sitting, and there sat Rose!!!! I high-tailed it over there and she was equally excited to see us again! It was so neat to find them there!

Needless to say, they are very near and dear to our hearts, and we would appreciate your prayers on their behalf.

If you would like to see some pictures of this beautiful family, you can go to: www.youtube.com and type in "Jim Bednarczyk" in the search box. There is a 3 part video on there that they played at Jim's service. There's also pictures of Rose & Larry, and the rest of the clan.

Thanks for your prayers!!!!