Bluebonnet Pix

The girls and I ran out to Brenham for the annual bluebonnet pictures. Unfortunately, our portrait session ran short when Kait sat on a fire ant bed. She had a ton of bites, but luckily there was a Wal-Mart right by the patch!!!

If you think you're too young to get breast cancer....

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351378,00.html

Urgent! Prayers Needed! Updated

Amy (Lewis) Martin is having surgery this morning in Dallas. Aunt Nelva says she had been having pains in her side, went to the doctor and they found a tumor in her colon. Please pray for complete healing for Amy. And pray for safe travel for Carol and R.D.

Thanks!

Update:
I just talked to Shelly (Amy's sister for those of you who don't know her.) Amy was in surgery for about 1 1/2 hrs. which was shorter than they had expected. The surgeon thinks it was contained. He did take part of the abdominal wall because it looked like there was some there. But he said all the rest of the organs looked clean. Now they're waiting for test results on the lymph nodes.

Prayer Warriors... This family need fervent prayer right now. Shelly asked that we especially pray for Chad, Amy's husband. He's taking this pretty hard. And pray for Shelly -- she's on her way to Arlington to be there. And for just about everyone you can think of.

Amy's 36. She and Shelly and I all grew up together back in Old Fluvanna. I have so many memories of them. Shelly's the one who taught me that you could put mascara on while driving. Amy was one tough cookie on the basketball court. I remember one night when we stayed in Levelland for regional UIL and Shelly was doing exercises on the floor of our hotel room, and I just sat there and laughed. And I remember meeting up at the Fluvanna Community Center for 4-H and other stuff and wetting paper towels and throwing them at the ceiling to make them stick. When we were there for Mom's funeral last summer, some of them were still up there! Amy was such a fixture in my growing-up years, and I saw her a couple of weeks ago over Spring Break. She has three precious children -- wrapped around my kids' ages. Just pray for them all. Please.

Breast Cancer 3-Day "SALE" on Registration

Hi.
I haven't written on here about Steph's joining Jesus -- I'm just in weird place right now. But I will tell you that Stephanie's wish was that we could find a cure for breast cancer -- if not in her lifetime, then in Jennifer and David's.

The sad reality is that the researchers can't do that alone. They need the funds we raise.

So today you have a choice to make.

1. If you've already donated to our cause, please know we are HUGELY grateful!!!

2. If you'd like to donate to our cause, you can click on the box to the right to go to my website. All donations are tax-deductible. If you donate online, you'll immediately receive your receipt.

3. If you'd like to join us in the 3-Day, just go to http://08.the3day.org/goto/dlynbiggs. Click on "Join D'Lyn's Team" to start the process. If you register before midnight on Friday, you'll save $35 on the registration fee. Just enter "TEAMS" as your discount code!

4. If you're not going to support our cause, that's okay. I'll still love you! But please support SOMETHING. There are so many ways you can make a difference in this world -- for yourself, for your children. Remember that old devo song, "Love us nothing till you give it away." And it ends with "You end up getting more." That is so right!!

Big Hugs,
d.

Rest of the Costa Rica Pix

And now, the captions!!!

This was the golf course at the resort. Biggs played on Thursday afternoon. I think he had more fun checking out the iguanas than playing golf!!

That's me! The Four-wheeler champion of the universe!

What a hunk!
So here are Biggs and his buddy Chuck. The picture I don't have, but really wish I'd snapped is when Chuck rolled his 4-wheeler right before this was taken. It was a hoot!

Catalina Island
The Red Baron rides again. Seriously, these goggles were so old, I think the Red Baron did wear them!

Dude. You take one more step towards this mango, and I'm going to have to take you down!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these pictures!!! I'm going to have this one enlarged and framed!!

This is a Mama monkey with a baby monkey on her back.

Here we are with Chuck and Debby, after our 4-wheeler ride. Getting ready to do the Zip line.

The girls sent a couple of friends along with us. If anyone out there doesn't think TV commercials work, they just need to talk to Kait & Abbie.

This is the airport. It's just this big, open-air barn thing. With a big, ole ceiling fan. Security wasn't quite what it is in the States. Apparently this is a big upgrade from the grass hut they had until a couple of years ago.

What Cancer Cannot Do...

What Cancer Cannot Do

Cancer is so limited

It cannot cripple love

It cannot shatter hope

It cannot corrode faith

It cannot destroy peace

It cannot kill friendship

It cannot suppress memories

It cannot silence courage

It cannot invade the soul

It cannot steal eternal life

It cannot conquer the spirit.

Hank Murphy Interview

You know, I just found this interview that Hank did at The Branch a couple of years ago. I thought I'd share it with all ya'll. Blessed and Highly Favored.

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/testimony-hank-murphy/2862482694

More Costa Rica Pix

Okay. So I took picture after picture after picture of monkeys and birds and lizards and such in trees. And I have picture after picture of leaves. But at least in this picture you can see the monkey!!

This guy was pretty cool, don't you think?

Look! There's Brad Pitt! Oh, wait, it's just another lizard.

These birds were at a wildlife refuge where we had lunch.

This is a red macaw at the wildlife refuge.

On our way to lunch on Friday, we passed the winter nurseries for DeltaPine -- the company Dad works for. So I skipped dessert (yes, me!) and asked the driver to take me back there, so I could get a picture. My pitiful Spanish didn't get me in the gate, but here I am!

This would be the Big Momma crocodile.

Iguana....
Baby Croc.

This is the second-most active volcano in Costa Rica (I think.) I could have gotten closer to get the picture, but there was an electric fence in the way. Experience has taught me to stay on my side of such a fence!!

Okay. Here's the waterfall that was just the coolest thing. It was about 25 minutes down the worst caliche road you ever did see -- way back in a ginormous pasture. You got to the end of the road, hiked a little ways in, and found paradise!

This was in a little grotto beside the waterfall.

My Heart is Heavy

My sweet friend Paige called last night and let me know Hank Murphy had passed away. If you didn't know Hank, you missed out. Hank went to the doctor a couple of years ago because all of a sudden he'd lost a ton of weight. And he found out he had cancer. It had started as melanoma that went to his liver. They gave him 6 months to a year.

Biggs and I met Hank and his family shortly after that. His beautiful daughter, Lauren, was in Abbie's class at church. I thought a lot of Hank.

He was one of those people who, even in the face of cancer, had a wonderful spirit about him. Quick to smile, quick to give a hug, quick to share. There's no way to quantify what Hank accomplished for God's Kingdom during his illness. He shared God's love with everyone -- doctors, nurses, you name it.

Paige and I agreed -- this is one of those times when it's hard to be away. When you think of the people you love who are hurting and you just want to be there for them. I think of precious Ron Anders. Ron loved Hank. They had worked together on the "golf ministry," and when Ron learned of Hanks illness it hurt him deeply. Ron would take Hank to his appointments and keep him company along the way.

So, yes. My heart is heavy today. Especially for Hank's family. Especially for Lauren.

But for Hank, I couldn't be happier. Because there's not a doubt in my mind that he's with Jesus today. And that makes all the difference.

We'll miss you, Hank.

Costa Rica Pix

Sorry! Didn't have time to write captions this morning. I've got tons of pix and will post more as I can.

This is about as rough as our rafting trip got: (Not very.)


The other girls who were with us:

Long-nosed bats:

Some green lizardy thing:

Aren't the helmets cool???


Janet:

Yes!!! It's Molly Shannon!! Superstar!! With our friend Sherry:

And some dork who got in the way of what would have been an awesome picture!!