Monday, July 7th, 2008...A day that will never be forgotten

On Monday, July 7th 2008, a day that most of us were going back to work, from a long weekend of celebrating 4th of July, the day known as independence, but somewhere in the deserts of Iraq, was a day that he will probably never forget. This day might not been told to anyone, until he decided on the day he returned home on December 9th. It was mentioned in an “Oh, by the way” attitude, to his mom and girlfriend, giving them a uneasy feeling. It was on that day that he released in small detail of what happened to him on that particular day, the day that earned him a Purple Heart. Some of you may not know what a Purple Heart is: a Purple Heart is issued to the soldier (or the family) that was injured or killed during combat.

I don’t know the whole story and quite frankly, I don’t want to know ALL the details, so I am going to do my best to make a somewhat of a true scenario that happened that day. This is only from my account and how God worked in my and my families life.

It probably started as a same ole routine, getting up, getting his army fatigues on, breakfast and getting his soldiers together for the mission ahead. They headed out in the heat of the day, his military truck probably the first in line, as they guarded the vehicles that were transporting cargo to their destination, when his military truck was struck with an IED (improvised explosive device), also known as the roadside bombs we hear on the news. His truck was equipped with a safety feature that would hit an IED before the truck itself would. Imagine a lint roller in front of your son’s toy dump truck; this is what the truck looked like. This lint roller hit the IED first, causing an aftershock, rattling the truck and the soldiers in it. I am unsure of the injuries of the soldiers, none of which were serious. I know the passenger, the Sargent of this group, sustained a concussion, causing ringing in his ears, and problems with his vision. Although he doesn’t know the long term effects of this, he doesn’t keep him down. He came home for some R&R with the rest of his group in August, not mentioning to anyone what had happened no more than a month before. He just visited with his family and enjoyed LIFE at home. He went back to Iraq and continued on his missions. Protecting and securing our freedom.

On Sunday, February 22nd, Sargent Grant Mattingly, my brother, and my hero, received the Purple Heart for his injuries sustained on Wednesday, July 16th. There wasn’t a time that I wasn’t scared for my brother, I prayed for him, for God to stay beside him, to give him the strength and comfort to get through this. I knew there was a possibility of him getting hurt or killed, but I knew that God had a plan for him. When I heard that he got injured, I first felt mad that he didn’t tell us when he was home for leave, but I knew that he didn’t want us to worry (I guess he knew us all too well, because I would have been worried myself sick), then I turned angry because he got hurt and I wasn’t there to be with him, to comfort him (it’s the big sis in me), then my angry quickly went away and a peace came upon me. Not knowing that my brother was injured, I had a heavy heart for sometime and I knew that I needed to do something extra to help him through this tour of duty. So, I knew that I need to pray (and have others prayer, too) more than ever that God would be with him and he was. He was there that day his truck hit that IED, God had protected my brother and the other soldiers in that truck. And I Thank God for that. What a marvelous God we have.

My brother is settling in to civilization (home), something I know will take time to get used to. Something that I am sure all soldiers have to get used too. They (all soldiers that have been deployed) were in extreme conditions over there. Something that we take for granted. They have to be on alert all hours, minutes, and seconds of the day. Not knowing if a simple bag would have explosives in them or a sweet child having explosives wrapped around them. They are always on alert, so when they come back home, they are still in that alert mode. The last couple of months we have all been trying to adjust having him back full time, we are trying to spend as much of our time with him. With a lot of the time he loves on his family, especially his nieces and nephew. They know very little about what happened to their Uncle Grant, especially the 2 littlest ones. Tristan and Grace know that their uncle is a soldier and went over the ocean to protect us and that is all they know. During the awards ceremony on Sunday, Grace saw his Purple Heart and thought of Valentines Day, her words were “It’s a Valentine’s Heart, Mom”. She doesn’t know what that heart really meant and probably won’t until she gets older and asks what that Purple Heart really is about. But every time I see my brother, I know what he endured for my freedom and the safety of this country. I am grateful to our Almighty God for being with my brother and bringing him back to us. We know have more time with him and being able to share the blessings God has given to us.

My brother is truly amazing, and my Hero.

I love you Grant and Thank you.

Sargent Grant Mattingly

The Purple Heart

God Bless...

Jess

12-year-old speaks out on the issue of abortion

**I forgot to add that my Uncle is out of the hospital and recuperating at home, Praise the Lord...Thank you for praying along with me**

I heard something on the radio that caught my ear on Focus on the Family on my way to work the other day, so I took some time today to look it up. There is always and will always be controversy regarding abortion, but I don't think I ever heard it from the view point of a 12 year old. This amazing speech about abortion came from a 12 year old, who presented this to her class for a class project. I thought it was only give you some statistics or just say that abortion is wrong, but she goes into great detail, she truly did a tremendous amount of research and studied what she was going to say and how to present it.
At age 12, I don't think I ever thought about sex or pregnancy it wasn't ever discussed among our peers (truth of the matter, we were nervous just sitting by the boys), but NOW the crazy thing is that there are several 12 year olds (or other teens) out there, that are thinking about having sex (protected or unprotected) and probably decide to go for it just because some of their peers say “yes”, “it’s the cool thing to do” or better yet “this will show me that you love me”, then possibly get pregnant and chose to abort their unborn child, so seeing this 12 year girl taking a stand on abortion and delivering this speech, may help someone decide that the risk of doing something that they are truly not ready for, is not really worth it. That they will be able to talk to their parents or seek the Lord when facing all trials of life to ask for guidance, comfort, and security.

This speech is about 5 minutes along, so you may want to watch it at home or during breaktime for those that are at work.



Jess

EXTRAVAGANT LOVE

Tuesday night, I had the privilege to attend one of Women’s Ministry gatherings at Providence. It was the PMS Club: “Praising My Savior” (gals between 18-40, if you are interested). This is a great opportunity for me to meet with these wonderful Christian women and enjoy fellowship and of course the food (thanks ladies).

This gathering was Chocolate Boutique and In-dulge yourself in God’s extravagant love.
“O taste and see that the Lord is good.” Psalm 34:8.

Mandy did such an awesome job in decorating, the women that brought in food was sinfully delicious. We had a special guest that Mandy invited, Holly, to come and speak with us. Mandy and Holly got to know each other through work. We started with prayer and Holly gave a lesson from the Bible. Just listening to what Holly was saying was awesome…to hear her speak about God’s extravagant love for us. She started with putting a drop of Honey on the tips of our fingers and she told us to try to resist the urge to lick our fingers until later (which I will tell you in a minute). She started off with a story from the Bible about a man’s wife that committed adultery, but he continued to take her back over and over again because of his love for her. Our God’s love for us is wonderful that he is able to continue to love us even when we do sin. When we steer toward some other love (money, social status, or whatever), his love is still there, it is EXTRAVAGANT. We/I need to realize that his love will always be there for me. I need to love God as much as he loves me and not worry about chasing after false loves. Holly also brought two friends with her and they sang the most amazing song. This is where the Honey came in. Back in time, Honey was a luxury and not many could afford it, so when they did they savored that sweet flavor. So, she said to when we feel the love that our Lord feels for us, to taste the sweetness of honey, the sweetness of love that we have for our savior. What an amazing moment this was for me personally. I can’t describe what I felt hearing this song and the love that I have for my savior.

Below is the song Extravagant Love from Casting Crows:





God Bless…

P.S. Please keep my Uncle Guy (my dad's brother) in your prayers, my cousin told me yesterday that he has been in the hospital since Sunday, and found out he has pancreatitis, then he was moved to the ICU on Tuesday for night due rapid heart rate. They should or have met with the cardiologist to make sure his heart is okay, but I haven't heard any more news. Thank you.


Jess

Weekend Update

Ready for the Gingerich's Weekend Update...This was a four day weekend for me (don't worry I so did not enjoy it, NOT), we were busy as usual. We will start with last Thursday night. We went to the last home game of the Barr-Reeve Vikings Boys Basketball Game, since this was their last home game, it is traditional to honor the Seniors that support the Seniors that are involved in sports, cheerleading, dance, band, chorus, etc. So, I had to go not only because my four Senior Vikettes were getting honored, but because all of my girls (Vikettes) will be dancing for the last time this season. It was really bittersweet, I am so happy for the Seniors being close to graduate...I am just going to miss them (Video of the dance posted below). They did another AMAZING job dancing...Have I told you how proud I am of these girls.

So, Friday my and my little girls, made rice crispy treats & delivered them to their Daddy and Papaw at work, then to Memaw and Kaycee at the house, and went to Greta's to drop off some for them (Greta was working and I was surprised that Rob was home, enjoying the mommy role for a day...that ones for you Greta). Once we did that, it was off to my cousin Jacy's play. She played the lead role has the first woman medical pioneer, Elizabeth Blackwell. She did an amazing job. After that we went home for naps, then to WalMart to get some groceries.

Friday night, we went to Nana and Papaw's and gave them their treats along with Grant's. We had a nice time visiting them. It was strange to see my dad at night time, he started day shift earlier than he anticipated, but he is really enjoying it. By the end of the night, I was worn out, my voice was starting to get hoarse and cracking.

Saturday, was Valentine's Day...We got up as usual, but after getting ready for the day, I was back in bed. My throat was closed, I barely could talk, and I was exhausted (it was so bad that Matt started to call me Steve), so Matt enjoyed hanging out with the girls. When I woke up, they had been to town, made Valentine cards. Matt even made me one out of construction paper. If you ever saw the commerical with the guy that made his wife a card and he said "I am just that kind of guy", well Matt totally stole that guys line. Because when he handed me his card, he said "I am just that kind of guy". Too Cute!!!!

Then it was off to Memaw and Papaw's to get the Balloons for Baby Andon's celebration (see post below).

Matt took me and the girls on a date night. With a stroll in the park (it was too cold to get outside, so the stroll was in his truck), then off to Mi Pueblo's for supper and then a movie. It was truly romantic. Grace really liked it, as for Izabelle well she is still too little to understand.

Sunday, was church, then home to tidy up, and off to the Truelove's for Small Groups.

Monday, was cleaning day and getting things ready for our guests...We are housing some of the guys that are here for the CMC Fellowship Conference.

My 4 day weekend has ended, my voice is getting better, Izabelle now has an ear infection and I had to go back to work:(. But I am off tomorrow. YEAH!!!!

Here are some pictures of our weekend:

Grace on the way to the ball game

This is what I found on Sunday...To sleepy heads

I heard Izabelle giggling Monday morning, went to her room and found her like this. And asking for her other sock.

Vikettes Performance:

The video will not upload, so I will post that on a later date. Sorry:(

Until Next Time...

Jess

P.S. This coming weekend we (I mean my side of the family) will be attending something special and emotional on Sunday. I don't really want to post about it now, but hopefully I will be able give some insight next week. Just say a small prayer that we will continue to look upon God for comfort and rejoice. Also, to remember that God does have a plan for all of us.

Celebrating Baby Andon

I wanted to get this posted on Saturday, but unfortunately I don't have internet at home, so I had to wait until I could get to one.

Saturday, February 14th, we CELEBRATED Baby Andon. It is amazing how one life can touch so many people. My thought and prayers are continous for Baby Andon's family. They have truly became inspirational through their faith. Chelsa and I have gotten to know one another through the blog world and facebook. She has been a great friend and gave me great insight on some of the topics that we have discussed. From the first time I talked to her on the phone, I heard her son in the background doing something (I think something boys would do) and Chelsa didn't get mad or anything she just simply say "Oh Dear", so if you ever catch me saying "Oh Dear" it's because of her. I came to realize that I shouldn't get stressed or upset at things that I can't change, so I just say "Oh Dear" and it seems to help me take a step back, breath and smile. Thank you Chelsa.

What better way to CELEBRATE Baby Andon, but with Balloons. We figured that Baby Andon needed some balloons to Celebrate with Jesus. Grace released two balloons before we were ready, so we did a retake, and released another one. So, Baby Andon has 3 balloons that he can play with.

Below is the video from Grace:

God Bless...

Jess

Happy Valentines

I can't believe that Valentines is this weekend. Although we have no plans for Valentine's Day (tears)...but I really don’t know what my non-romantic, Hubby has up his sleeves, so no plans might become plans. Anyway, Grace had her Valentines Day Party at Preschool on Wednesday, so Tuesday night we were busy doing our Valentine Project. I was going to make some cute heart sugar cookies, but when I was getting everything ready, I was missing one ingredient and it was too late to make a trip to the store.

Here are some pictures of our night:
Making our Heart Butterflies

Masterpiece

Grace started to lay out her clothes for the next day and everything has to be the way she would wear it the next day.

I posted a couple of days ago about a friend (and family) that recently lost a child. She has become a friend through blogging and she has been so inspirational to me. No words will ever be enough to show how much they mean to us. So, another blog friend, Courtney, has come up with the idea to honor her child, Andon and the love of his family and friends. So, on Saturday, February 14th, we will be celebrating little Andon by celebrating. We will be dedicating our post Saturday to Andon. You can check out Courtney’s blog for more details.

Until Next Time…

God Bless

Jess

Caption Please

This is what I found Izabelle doing the other morning...I think she got tired of her Daddy telling Mommy to do the bills.

Future Banker of America...Hopefully she won't need a Bail Out...HEHE:p

Feel free to make your own caption, just leave it in the comments.

God Bless...

Jess

Happy Birthdays

Yesterday we went over to my parents house to celebrate the BIG BIRTHDAYS of February. My mom's birthday was last Tuesday (3rd) and my sister and brother in law's is this Tuesday (10th). We celebrated with a supper and cake afterwards.
Below are pictures of the Birthday Kids:)

My mom, she is an amazing mom and my best friend. She is the one I go to first if and when I have a problem or need advice. And somehow she knows exactly what to say (must be that super power moms have). She is always there for me and I am always there for her...Especially on the days she wants to go SHOPPING:) just kiddin.

My dad and mom:)

My sister is another one of my best friends. Although we look alike we are completely different, but always seem to get along (well most of the time, hehe). She is amazing mom and nurse.

My brother in law, Jason. He is such a car guy...he's even in a car club. He is amazing father to his step-son (treats him like his own) and to his daughter. He is always willing to help, especially his procrastinator sister in law. Thanks for making our dance songs:)

Christina and Jason Happy Birthday to you all!!! We love you!!!!!

Until Next Time...

Oh, I forgot to mention some GOOD, no GREAT NEWS!!! My dad told us over the weekend that he is going to DAYS. He is a coal miner and has been working nights, what seems to be FOREVER, so a position opened up and he jumped on it. Which is great, because anytime the grandkids have any programs in the evenings he can go. YEAH!!!!

God Bless...

Jess

"Be Still My Soul"

I am weeping inside…As some of my blog sisters already know and have posted on this sadness that came to our fellow blog sister and her family yesterday. I got a text yesterday morning saying to keep her in her prayers because of the issue that surrounded her and her unborn child. At that moment I sat there saying a quiet prayer to myself and woke Matt up and told him to do the same. I kept them in my mind all morning, thinking that she was going to be okay and possibly having a new baby by the end of the day. Later that afternoon my sister in law called and told me the news of our blog sister. I will not go into details, but one that she is grieving the loss of her child. I sat there, numb, heart sinking, I didn’t know what to do or say. I got off the phone and immediately said a prayer for her and her family. Then it felt like brick tossed into the pit of my stomach…Things could change in the blink of an eye. I am at a loss of words for this family…What do you say? I just pray and knowing that God is with them is comforting. Please keep them in your prayers.
I am leaving you with a video from Selah singing "Be Still My Soul/What a Friend we have in Jesus"


God is always faithful and is always with us.

God Bless you all.

Jess

Pictures

Here are some pictures that we took last week while we were snowed in. I didn't feel like loading them up to a slideshow, so its kind of long.

Grace waiting to go outGrace and Izabelle Ready for some fun!
First Steps into the snow Snow Angel
What do I do? Dare me??
WHOO HOO!!!! Okay, Okay, I will try it:)

Waiting for Puppy
There she is! (aka Our Big Dog) Time for our Performance
Getting Ready for Bedtime...

Izabelle helping mommy clean...the only one that helped Saturday (don't worry I was right there)
God Bless...

Jess