Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Short Blog....

My braces are off! Now, I will go work on laundry and watch LOST!!

Blessings,
Debbie

Sunday, February 22, 2009

The fourth and fifth grade teachers have moved.

This has been one exhausting week. Our school is in the midst of a building project. In a couple of years, the elementary school will get the second graders from the primary school. Phase one of the building project has been completed. The new media center, offices, and second grade wing have been completed. So, the fourth and fifth grade teachers had to move into the new building. The new building will not be our permanent home. We will be moving again once the fourth and fifth grade wings are completed. The fourth and fifth grader teachers, who are in the pods, are still in the pods because there were not enough classrooms for them.

Most of the *moving* teachers have worked late packing their rooms, moving their rooms, and setting up their rooms. Luckily, the community came together and lots of help came to move the heavy stuff. I was amazed at how positive everyone has remained during a some what stressful time. The teachers and staff not moving were blessings to many of the moving teachers and staff. They showed up on Saturday, rolled up their sleeves and worked along side their colleagues. The plan for the third grade wing is to gut it and renovate it in the near future after the fourth and fifth grade wings and cafeteria are completed. Then, the third grade teachers get to move into the second grade wing and the rest of us get to move out into our new buildings.

At the present time, we will not have a cafeteria since that building is being knocked down. The children will be eating in the gym. This created more work for the powers that be in having to plan a new schedule since the gym is now on double duty.

This week has been busy for me teaching. I am trying to catch my students up with the other two math teachers. I have some tests to grade and lots of grades to post in my grade book and on the computer. So, I will probably be working late, again, this coming week.

Exciting news, for me, is that my braces are coming off on Wednesday. Unfortunately, I will have to take off Wednesday. I am going to make DETAILED lesson plans for my sub to follow.

We still have not heard from our Christi and Bobby. But, we are still rejoicing in knowing they are alive. I know that God is in control and I am trusting His timing in all things.

Blessings to all of you!
Debbie

Friday, February 13, 2009

Trying to get back into the normalcy of life...

Surreal seems a good word to describe the events of our lives for the past several days. A two decade old prayer was answered a week ago Monday evening. We were given the news that our precious children, Christi and Bobby, had been found. When Bill Sharp sent us their photographs, I couldn't stop crying. I kept touching their beautiful faces on the computer screen with my hand.

There are no words to describe that moment when I saw their faces. How does one verbalize those kinds of feelings?

Right now, we covet prayers. We are praising God for allowing us to find out that they are alive. We are praising God for allowing us to see photos of them. But, we are heartbroken over not seeing them or talking to them.

Last night, as I tried to go to sleep, I wept for my parents. I wept for all the pain and sorrow they have inflicted on so many people. I wept as I thought of my father behind bars. I wept as I thought of my mother. There is such an array of conflicting emotions concerning them. On one hand, they are my parents and I never stopped loving them. Yet, the people that I should have been able to love and trust tried to destroy our reputations and stole our two oldest children. They did the unspeakable to us and to my children. If not for Jesus Christ carrying me all these years, I would not have survived. But, Christ showed me how to walk in forgiveness and faith.

Christi and Bobby are in the forefront of my thoughts and prayers. I have not ceased praying that God is giving them grace, gentleness, and assurance. I am praying that true memories of their lives with us with begin to surface. When we visited California, I was thankful that they had been raised in a beautiful state. I tried to imagine what their lives had been like. As I looked at the view of the mountains, I wondered how many times they gazed at those mountains?

There is no way we can get back all the years of their precious lives. We have lost that time but our fervent hope and prayer is that we can begin building a future with them.

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Our news..........

First, I know that many of y'all know that 2 or 3 weeks ago, Mark did several interviews. This was in regard to a ten year old lead on finding our children. Honestly, I didn't expect anything to turn up. But, as always there is hope - even the smallest glimmer.

Yesterday evening when Mark was at Brewton Parker College playing in one of the groups he is in, he got a call from our police detective Bill Sharp. He told Mark that he felt like they had found my father in CA. He was sending me a poorly scanned photo of him to identify. I immediately knew it was my dad.

Mark came home to be with me and we began calling prayer warriors to cover my parents, my children, the police in CA, the FBI, our detectives, Michael and Paul and Mark and me. In the meantime, there were several phones happening between Mark and Det. Sharp.

(I am trying to give a time frame of events in our home last night. I may be off on some of the times.)

At approximately 12:30 AM this morning, we got a call that he had found photos of my beloved children. He scanned those and sent them to me. The children are beautiful.
Sometime after 12:30 AM, our detective called to say that the San Jose Police had this man, in custody.

This morning, about 30 minutes ago, Det. Sharp called my husband with the following information.

The man admitted to being Marvin Maple (my father).
They believe that my mother is dead.
My father has a stroke a few years ago but has recovered.
My beautiful daughter, Christi, has a nursing degree and works in hospital administration. Christi is still single.
My handsome son, Bobby, is married. I don't have any other information on Bobby at this time.

Det. Sharp and his partner are arriving in CA this evening at 11 PM with the signed paperwork to extradite my father to Tennessee. The FBI is involved, too BUT it was this God-sent man, Bill Sharp and his partner who have done the impossible. I will forever be grateful.

At this point, I have no idea if our children will even want to talk with us. We are praying that their hearts and minds are ready to hear the truth. I cannot stress enough to y'all how grateful that I am to see their faces and to know that my prayers of God granting them a somewhat normal life has, in fact, transpired. God is good.

I have had 1.5 hours sleep. I went to work and my principals sent me home. My co-workers, Joy and Brad, are handling everything for me. I cannot thank God enough for his compassionate care. He is faithful.

I am still ill and have a severe migraine but I am convinced that the one who has carried me this long.... will not forsake me now.

Right now, my urgent prayer request is to put a desire in Christi and Bobby to rejoin our family. I know that they have lives out in CA. But, I am hoping that the years the locusts have eaten will somehow begin to be restored.

To God be the Glory.

Love to each of you who have been faithful all of these years in praying for my broken hurting family,
Debbie