update!

In the "random stuff" entry several days ago, I mentioned having won a Brookshire's gift card.  In the official rules for the contest, it said that the cards wouldn't be mailed out til January, so I really didn't expect to see it for a long time.  Well guess what?  Yesterday the FedEx man pulled up to my doorway & handed me my gift card!!  Hooray!

email problem

Just a little FYI:

Something's up w/ my email & several other servers.  It doesn't appear to be any one server in particular & isn't consistently effecting the same people every time.  If you reply to an email from me & it bounces back, the trick is to start a new email (instead of replying).  For some reason, new emails get through, but SOME replies don't.

Alternately, I have a gmail account that you can send email to.  I rarely check it, but if you really need to get something to me & can't reach me some other way, send emails to Lizreeves2@gmail.com & I'll get them there.

Blissful, joyous, happy...all those nice words

Tonight I went on a date with my daughter.  While driving home, I was counting my blessings and enjoying her silly 6 year old banter from the back seat.  I found myself lost in prayer, thanking God for the joys of my life.

I am blessed with an amazing husband who loves me from head to toe, back to front, inside & out.  He loves my personality, my sillyness, my poor ol' sad body--even after 3 babies & years of little exercise & lots of yummy foods.  :)  I love this guy with all my heart and soul.  We met when I was just a couple months shy of turning 17, and here I am just a couple weeks shy of turning 32...and my heart has never stopped fluttering from the joy Larry brings me.  Thank you, Lord, for the gift of my precious husband...my love, my life, my best friend.

I am blessed with fabulous children.  I have three awesome kids who are talented & smart & funny & considerate & loving and compassionate.  They are (usually) very well behaved & well mannered and they bless my heart to watch them grow.  While I sometimes wonder about my parenting abilities, they certainly seem to be growing spiritually & mentally & emotionally & physically despite my shortcomings.  I am amazed by the way God changes them every day and how they continue to be my greatest source of happiness in this crazy world.

I am blessed with an absolutely precious family.  I couldn't even begin to describe them all here, but God knew what He was doing when he dropped me down into the lives of this family.  Isn't it fun to see how much more we appreciate & love our family the older we get?  My parents are awesome, my sisters are 2 of my best friends (although we don't get to see each other nearly enough!).  My nieces & nephews are all great kids.  I am truely blessed.

I am blessed with the most amazing group of friends a girl could have.  I have literally hundreds of friends that I consider 'close' friends.  I have a group of about 5-10 that I'd consider "best friends".  I am so lucky!

I am blessed with a super job and a great work environment.  My coworkers are wonderful, my bosses are stupendous (I'm really running out of adjectives here!)....I just can't gush enough.

I have said it before & I'll say it again.......

If I were to die tomorrow, that would be alright.  What more could I be blessed with in this life?  I'm anxious to stand & hug my Savior and see those who have gone before me.  I can't wait to touch the face of the One who made me, to walk the streets of gold & spend my days at His feet, singing praises to Him.

Life is good.  I have got to be one of the most blessed women in the world.  Thank you Lord for all you've given me and done for me.  It's all for you, Lord.  To God be the glory!

Thank you, God!

God is so good to us, always going a step ahead of us & making a way for us.  :)

On Sunday, someone walked up to Savannah & handed her a card.  The person told her to give it to her dad (Larry).  She agreed & that was that.  During church, she handed it to Larry.  He opened it & found an anonymous card with money in it.  I was working in the nursery so I didn't find about it until we were eating lunch after church.  We were both wow'd & excited about someone doing that for us.  Since this has happened to us a few times over the years, we know now to hold onto the money & wait to see what is going to happen soon after.  It seems like every time God mysteriously gives us a blessing like that, we have some disaster a few days later & realize THAT is why God provided us a blessing.

Anyway, today Larry took my van in b/c the maintenance light came on a while back & I was afraid it "meant something".  I wanted him to go have it checked just to make sure it was nothing & to get the light turned off.  He took it to Fairway today & got it checked out.  Apparently the light was just a reminder to change the oil, which he had done a couple weeks ago, but we didn't know how to turn off the reminder light so it was just on.  They shut if off for us.  While they had the van up on the lift thing, they noticed something else, though.  One of the tires' tread had completely separated & would've caused a "catastrophic blow out" (their words).  We had to replace the tire.  Without that mystery God-money, we would've racked up a little more debt today....but because we had it, we could afford to replace the tire!!!

WooHoo!  Ain't God good?

random stuff

This is one random post....lots of various topics here.

Topic #1:  They like me, they really like me!

I love it.....our neighbor kids all like me.  I love that all the kids like to come visit my kids, but even more awesome that they also come to talk to ME!  I was telling Larry this very thing tonight when the doorbell rang.  It was a neighbor girl---coming to talk to me!  Talk about good timing for that conversation.  He just grinned when I went out to stand on the porch & talk to her.  He knows that I eat that up!  It ended up that she wanted to tell me about her babysitting & camping experience last night.  This same little girl found me on myspace several months ago & added me as her friend.

Another of the girls (a year younger than Savannah) frequently shows up in the yard when the kids are playing just to talk.  She'll still go off & play, but she almost always comes back to talk to me.

The only other boy on our street (who is 13 or 14) comes by to play with Samuel all the time (which is tooooo stinkin' cute b/c it makes Samuel feel like a REALLY big kid!), but he always wants me to come outside & watch him do skateboard tricks & bike tricks.

Tonight, the little girl across the street was sitting in her driveway looking through their mail while I was talking to the little girl above (the one telling me about camping this weekend).  The girl across the street came running over & shoved a piece of paper in my hands & said "I can't believe they're doing this to us!  It's just so awful.  I'm so embarassed."  I quickly scanned the paper & realized it was a letter to her parents from the school explaining the puberty/sex education video they'd be showing next week.  The parents have to sign & return it to give her permission to see it.  Anyway, I thought it was cool how she ran over to show ME this letter, as if she considers me a friend, not just her friends' mom.

A lot of the little girls on the street are madly in love with my nephew, who is their age, so I hear about how wonderful he is frequently.  Tooooo cute.

I have always told Larry that I wished to be the sort of mom who made her own children, as well as others, comfortable enough to come talk to about anything.  I'm so excited to see that is a wish that is coming true.

Topic #2:  Cute Sarah-ism

I ran to the store this afternoon & took Sarah with me.  When we came out, a man had just pulled up & left his car running (not such a wise thing to do, but whatever...).  Sarah looked at it & said "MOM!  He left the cranker on.  He's going to run out of gas like that."  I loved that.  The cranker, huh?

Topic #3:  I actually won something!

On the Brookshire's ad last week, they mentioned a web game.  I checked the site & started playing the game daily.  It's set up like a slot machine where you click on a "spin" button to spin the wheel & then click another one to stop it.  If you hit a "jackpot" you can win anything from a $10 gift card to a year's worth of free groceries.  Today I won a $50 gift card!!!!!!!!  I was so excited!

After reading through the rules, it says they won't mail out the gift cards until "8-10 weeks after the promotion ends".  I had to giggle b/c the game ends the 2nd week of November, meaning I won't actually SEE that gift card til January or later!  Oh well, that's ok!  It'll be a nice blessing whenever it arrives!!!  Maybe by then I will have forgotten about it & it'll just be a nice surprise to have it show up in the mail!

Topic #...well, whatever number I'm up to!

Just wanted to say...for the record....I'm LOVING my cable internet!!!!  It is sooo neat to be able to sit down to view a website & actually get there w/ the page fully loaded in less than...oh, say 15 minutes.  :)

Casting Crowns concert

Ok, I should make it clear up front that (sniff) I didn't make it to the Casting Crowns concert (sniff) but several of my friends did.  Several of them have (sniff, sniff) already emailed or posted to myspace to tell me it was awesome.  (sniffle, sniffle)  My husband did have free tickets offered to him (sniff) and he did turn them down (sniff, sniff) since we both had meetings to attend last night, and I'm proud to say that we each handled our parenting duties maturely instead of attending a silly concert (sniff).

And since I'm not the least bit sad or upset (sniff) about missing the CC concert last night, I'm going to share w/ you the lyrics to my favorite CC song here (sniff).  I hope you (sniffle) enjoy it.

You can see the video for this song on my myspace page (www.myspace.com/thekingslady) too!

Praise You in This Storm
I was sure by now,God, that You would have reached down
and wiped our tears away,
stepped in and saved the day.
But once again, I say amen
and it's still raining
as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain,
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away.

Chorus:
And I'll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
for You are who You are
no matter where I am
and every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to You
and raised me up again
my strength is almost gone how can I carry on
if I can't find You
and as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away

Chorus

I lift my eyes onto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth
I lift my eyes onto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth

Chorus

Samuel Spells for the Teacher

When I picked up Samuel from school yesterday, his teacher walked him to the car giggling.  To the mom of a little class clown, I always know that means she's got a funny story to tell me.  As soon as the door opened, she started giggling & said "Mom....we decided he doesn't have any spelling problems after all."

Huh?

Apparently at recess some kid was playing rough & attempted to punch him "down there".  When he went to tell the teacher (thank God it was Wendie---my friend's wife!), he told her that some kid was going to punch him in the P-E-N-I-S.....because, after all, he didn't want to SAY that word to a lady he doesn't know all that well yet.  Spelling it must've been ok, though.  LOL!

I think Wendie has since been revived from her heart attack.

Someone gimme a needle....gotta pop this swollen head of mine!

What a great day this was!!

Today at pick-up time, one of my students' parents told me that I'm the best preschool teacher her kids have ever had.  She raved about how much her child is loving school, & how much she loves me.  She even asked if I'd consider moving up to the next age group next year so she could request that her child have me again!  As if my head didn't swell enough from that..........

When Savannah's principal brought her home from tutoring his boys today, he complimented Samuel's behavior at the Scout meeting last night.  He said that he was "very impressed" with how well behaved he was.  Clearly, being a middle school principal, he sees a lot of bad kids, so I figured his views were a little skewed, but then again he has 2 little boys of his own, so he knows what boys this age act like.  And so then of course my head swelled more........

Tonight I opened my emails & found one from another of my students' parents.  She has twin babies, so she always uses the drive-thru line to drop off & pick up her child.  (it's too hard to load & unload babies twice a day!)  She emails me to get info & share news w/ me.  Tonight, I opened it & she talked about how much fun her child is having at school.  She went on to say that her little one told her tonight "I love Ms. Liz.  She's my best friend."

Man........I'm just floating now.

Of course you know that means tomorrow will have to be a big bummer of a day if this one was so good.  Murphy's Law, ya know?

::::closing my eyes & sticking my fingers in my ears to sing LA LA LA loudly::::  Nope, not gonna believe that!  It's going to be another good day!!!!!!!!  It is, it is....really!  ha ha

update on "the stink"

Since several of you have emailed me to ask....no, I never found the source of the stink.  Apparently it was a combination of factors (laundry, dishes, trash, air being stagnant & still all day in the house, etc.).  By last night, the smell was gone.  I guess the combination of cleaning like a crazy woman & getting the air moving in the house knocked it out b/c today we went to church & came home and I don't smell it anymore.  Whew!  Glad to get rid of that.

P.U........pee eewwww.......pee you?

Ok, since I don't know how to spell the word I'm thinking of in the title line, you'll just have to read it & sound it out!  haha!

Have you ever walked in the door after being gone all day & gotten hit with a wave of stink?  I mean, like the dishes were left in the sink or the laundry was stinky, or the trash needed to be taken out?  Ya know what I mean?

That's what happened when I got home from the retreat today.  I walked in & WHAM, right off the bat, the funk smell hit.  I'm sure I looked like a bloodhound walking from room to room sniffing & trying to find the smell....or rather the SOURCE of the smell.  (cuz after all I could already SMELL the smell!)  Anyway, so I roamed from room to room sniffing.

I emptied the trash & took it outside & then came back in.  Shooey!  That didn't do it.  It still stunk.

So I did the dishes & went to the mailbox & came back.  :::cough, cough:::  Nope, that wasn't it.  I could still smell it.

I gathered up all the laundry & started a load.  Hmm....nope, that still was not it.  I could still smell it.

I went around the house w/ the bottle of Febreeze & hosed down all the couches, beds, carpets with it.  Sniff, sniff....gag......nope, I still smell it.

Holy moley!  What is left?  I swear.....it's like something died & then invited over 6 guests to die with it.  ewwwwwwwwww!

I swear......I leave for less than 24 hours & this is my welcome home.  Ick!  Well, at least the dishes & laundry & trash are done now.  :::Shrugs:::

On an upside, the retreat finished up about 1:45.  We had the facility available to us til 3:00, but everyone was just going to sit around & chat to kill time.  Since I knew Larry was taking the kids to Elkhart for the afternoon & wouldn't be home til 5:00 or 6:00, I decided to go ahead & come home for some peaceful "me time".  (well, I am alone, but I think the smell may drive me to go somewhere else for that peaceful part!  Maybe if I lay down & take a nap I'll wake up & the smell will magically have disappeared.)

The retreat was great.  We went to a pretty, quiet place here in town called Pine Cove.  (See previous post for a link to where we were.)  It was a great location.  My cabin overlooked the lake & was made like a hotel room, so it was a really nice facility.

Last night, our famous Pat S. spoke about how we're treasures to God.  I've heard her speak on this topic before, but I love hearing the message she gives.  She told us that she spent years & years really hating who she was.  She spent oodles of money on psychiatrists & pills trying to find a way to love herself.  One day, God gave her a revelation while she was raking the yard about His love for her & it changed her life.  She said He spoke to her so clearly about His love & what she meant to Him and then he gave her a "prescription".  He asked her to say "I am special & loved by Jesus" 3 times every day.  At first, she felt egotistical doing it because she was afraid someone would hear her, but since she was a stay at home mom, she found moments when she could hide in the bathroom & just whisper it at first.  Later she would say it out loud.  It took years to reach a place where she could look herself in the face (in a mirror) & say it.  She then handed out mirrors & asked us to all take it & look at ourselves & repeat part of Psalm 139 (I am fearfully & wonderfully made!) and tell ourselves that we are special & loved by God.  Of course, we all felt like dorks holding a mirror & talking to ourselves and hardly anyone could do it without giggling.  Seriously though, how messed up are we ALL that we can't look ourself in the eye & say how special we are to God?  She shared scripture that highlights the ways God made us so unique & special.  She said that at one time, she was really beating herself up when God gave her a vision of Jesus on the cross, grotesquely bloody & gory.  She said the image was so intense & brutal that she was literally turning her face because she didn't want to see what God was showing her.  In that moment He asked her "what MORE can I do to show you how special you are?".   :::chillbumps:::  Anyway, her talk was really good!

Afterward, we had FUN TIME WITH TRICIA.  For you local gals, this is Tricia from KVNE.  She is such a sweetheart.  I have the privelege of knowing her personally & I call her my "celebrity" friend.  :)  She had all kinds of funny games for us to play as a group & finished up with a singing bee.  Apparently there is a game show on now like this, but of course I've never seen it b/c I don't watch much TV.  The way it goes is that they start a song & you have to be able to finish it when they stop the music.  (or at least finish the next several lines)  We were in groups at first, but eventually they had to choose one representative from each group to sing for the group.  Because they were playing mostly all current contemporary Christian music, I knew pretty much EVERY song & was LOVING this game b/c I was just sure my group might win (hello, pride?).  When it came time to pick a rep for the group, they chose me to go up IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE GROUP & get a microphone stuck in my face.  Yikes.  I totally lost, but I did get to kiss the hostess (ha ha) as a consolation prize before leaving the "stage".  Turns out, the song I lost on was one from the new Casting Crowns CD.  Man!  I want that CD anyway, but now I really want it!

This morning my buddy Angeline spoke about healing.  Now I don't mean the slap you in the forehead & squeal kind of healing.  She spoke about emotional/physical and spiritual healing.  Without sharing too many details of her personal testimony (b/c she specifically asked us to not talk about it elsewhere), she told us several stories of her life where God has healed her in one way or another.  It was a beautiful, sweet time of worshipping God for all He's done in our lives in one form of healing or another.  Toward the end, she said something that really resonated in me.  I'm not sure if this was her own statement or if she was quoting someone, but she said "Healing is not the absence of symptoms, but the presence of our Holy God".  Wow...amen!

The theme of our retreat was "His Treasure".  We had door prizes & goody bags & games all associated with a "royal" theme speaking to our being His princesses.  We had a great time & were blessed.  Thank you, Lord for my time away to rest & refresh.

Now.......off to find that stink!  (or take a nap.....)

Retreat!!!!!!

No, I'm not calling my soldiers off from the fight, I'm shouting "RETREAT!!!!!!!!" as in Ladies Retreat!!!  Yahoo!

It's that time of year for me to load up my tiny travel sized toiletries & pack my PJs for a ladies retreat!  I'm so grateful that it's come to that time, too b/c our last several weeks have been a little wild around here & it's time for me to take a break.

I won't be too far from home & my "only" job while I'm there is working the altar if anyone comes up needing prayer or wants to make a decision for Christ.  It's all ladies from church, so I doubt there will be any salvation decisions, but ya never know!  God works in fun ways sometimes!

This is where I'll be http://www.pinecove.com/retreats/woods.php.

I guess I'll "see" you when I get back!

random ramblings

Over the course of the past month, I've been going through lots of new changes.  A new job being the primary one.  But also, going from being a full time stay at home mom to being a working mom.  Even if I don't work 60 hours a week, I am working 5 days/week now & that is totally new to me.  The last time I worked 5 days (or more) per week was July of 1996 while I was still pregnant with Savannah.  Of course, in the interim, I've worked 24/7/365....but I am talking about paying work outside of my house!  ha ha...you moms know exactly what I mean!  Seriously, though, this has been an adjustment for me.  Doing the whole routine of going to bed earlier has, I'm sure, been good for me since I tend to be a night owl.  I'm getting more sleep these days, but I'm losing all that late night "me time" that I like!  It's ok, though.  I am loving my job.  I have a great group of kiddos at school and I am working in a great environment.  The teachers in the rooms on either side of me are super!  One is a friend from High School (Hi Jennifer!) who it's been really fun to reconnect with.  The other one is a friend of hers from church who I've had a lot of fun "clicking" with.  We see things eye to eye.  Good thing since we share a bathroom (for our kids) all day long & have to see each other frequently!  My bosses are great and the school is exceptional for preschool & kindergarten.  I really am blessed.  (if only I could be a little richer on payday!  ha ha)

Samuel's dyslexia testing came back fine.  He's not dyslexic after all, even if he does have a thousand "symptoms".  The lady who did the test commented on the fact that he has TINY hands for his age.  Of course, they're not proportionately weird sized for his TINY body or anything, he is a little bitty guy.  I just thought it was funny that she commented on that.  He has HORRIBLE handwriting, so I figure it's just a matter of fine motor muscle control at this point since he does apparently have the freakshow hands thing going on.  (ha ha...just teasing)  Anyway, we're having a meeting next week to talk about the testing they did & to see what else we can all do (together, teamwork between us & the teacher) to help him out.  The poor kid can't spell worth a dang & alwayssss takes 2-3 hours to do 30 minutes worth ofhomework.  Something's gotta give because I've got 2 other kids who are usually tapping their feet waiting for me to work on their homework with them.  Hopefully we can figure something out.  Til then, we'll muddle through.  I love his teacher.  She has been such a sweetie.  And across the hall from his class is the wife of a friend.  She has really taken to Samuel, too.  Of course, he charmed his way into her heart the week that school started.  :)

This weekend, I've been thinking about Andrew & Kourtney a lot.  I sure miss them.  I love those guys to death & it struck me this weekend that on Oct. 16th, they will have been gone for 7 months.  It's hard to believe that it's already been that long.  They were here for 13 months, so they've been there for just about 1/2 the length of time they were here.  As far as I know they're doing just fine.  Their new 'parents' fill us in on big things, but I am sure we don't hear all the details.  I think they're functioning better there b/c there aren't other siblings to 'compete' with.  It's a hard reality to know that my home wasn't 'good enough' for them.  I mean, it was a great home as far as stability goes of course, but it wasn't what they needed.  It's hard to come to that conclusion & recognize that about your home when it's working just fine for you.  I was reading the journal of Thunder's mom (see previous post about his death for that link) and hearing her go through all the same emotions I felt in those first days after the kids left brought me to tears.  Like I've said before, I realize "my" kids didn't die, but the grief process has been the same.  The loss is just as great.  I found myself reading her words, nodding my head & understanding everything she's going through.  It was good for me to read it though & see how far I've come as far as the grief thing goes.  It feels like just yesterday I was grieving the way she is now and I realize that I am in a place now where I can talk about them & talk about their new lives in their new home without totally losing it.  Moving on without them seems wrong for this mom's heart ...but at the same time, when there are other kids involved, you have to move on for their sake.  You can't sit in your pitty puddle forever.  Life has to move forward & move on.  But oncein a while, let me sit in my puddle, ok?  Don't shove me out of it or try to talk me into stepping out of it.  I need my puddle now & then.  :)

Last night, Larry & I did something we haven't done in 10 years.  We went out to eat with JUST another couple---no kids.  And it wasn't a family get together.  They called yesterday morning & wanted to take us out, so we jumped on the chance.  Our kids went to their house & played while we went to eat.  Yahoo!  It was nice to have a grown up discussion with other big people.  :)  Thanks guys!!!  I'm so glad y'all thought of it & invited us!  We had a good time!

Hmm....what else?  I guess that's all my rambling thoughts for now.  It's late.  Larry is on call for the church this week & left here about 10:30 to go check on someone.  It's nearly 11:40 now, so I think I'm going to give up on waiting up for him & head to bed soon.  :::yawn:::  I'm getting sleepy.  Nightie night!

Jackson Feliciano

I don't know if you'll recall my prayer request post a couple of months ago about him, so a quick refresher.....

 

Jackson Feliciano was born to a couple at our previous church in the Fall of '05.  I got to see him one time when he was just a couple of weeks old.  We left at the end of Oct '05 to begin attending the church where we are now, so I didn't really get to know Jackson.  His mom was in my MOPS group that year, so I did see her briefly through that following May.  She was at another table, though, so we were in the same group, but didn't really KNOW each other.  Anyway.....there really is a reason I'm telling you all this.

 

Earlier this year (January or February I think?) Jackson began having unexplained, uncontrollable seizures.  He ended up spending a month in a drug-induced coma in one of the bigger Children's hospitals in the Dallas area.  During that time, there were lots of tests run to try to figure out what was causing his seizures.  Even in the highly medicated state, he would have constant seizures.  Unfortunately by the time he came out of the coma, there was a lot of damage done to his brain and he was no longer the same baby boy they had before.  By summer, Jackson's parents were told that he would likely not live another 6 months because whatever disease he had was causing rapid brain deterioration.

 

Although they could've taken this news in many ways, they briefly mourned the shock of the news, but then chose to take the days/months/whatever they had left with Jackson & create vivid memories with him.  They took a trip to the beach, of course always staying near a hospital.  They took lots of pictures & spent every waking minute with their sweet boy and his brother.  They poured their time into researching the possible diagnoses they had been given & making decisions about setting up a fund for research after Jackson was gone.  They have lived such a strong testimony to the faithfulness of God these past few months.  Hundreds, if not thousands, of people have read Jackson's website journal where Marci posted about his condition & the progression of things & they have all been brought to prayer for their family.  One little child effected so many lives in East Texas for God.  What a special little guy!

 

Today, Jackson received a complete healing from his disease as he stepped into the arms of God in Heaven.  At 2:00pm this afternoon, Jackson passed away peacefully at home in his mother's arms.  He will be remembered this weekend at his funeral service....and for much longer by most of the community in the Tyler area.

 

Thank you, Jeff & Marci, for sharing your sweet boy's life with the rest of us.  May God bless you as you walk through the days ahead.

 

You can go to www.carepages.com & do a search for his page if you'd like to see his pictures & read the journal.  His page is titled SweetJackson.

Guitar for sale

Peavey Dyna Bass

Electric

Excellent condition, beautiful metallic iridescent charcoal gray color

 

Case is a little beat up, but guitar is gorgeous!

 

Asking $200

 

I have a picture if you want to see it.

 

(Sorry to all my long distance friends....gotta sell it locally unless you're willing to pay the shipping to get it to you!)

prayer request update

http://caringbridge.org/visit/thunder

Thunder passed away during the night last night.  If you have a moment, please go to his journal site & leave a note of condolence.  His mom explains his last hours in today's entry.  So sad.

God bless his sweet family as they mourn this great loss.