coffee and let's visit a while........:-))
My husband, Stanley, passed away Feb.16, 2007. His heart just stopped and he went to be with the Lord. He had major medical problems for most of his life, but he never once stopped serving the Lord. He was an inspiration to all he met. I was blessed to be able to have him for a total of 7 years. I knew him for almost 20 years, as we had worked together at our place of employment. During that time, he taught me many things about love, God, Deaf and Ministry. His ministry goes on through his family, his wife, his church and all those whose lives he touched through sign language. He was a sweet spirit, here, on this earth.
My name is Jackie and I live in south-central Indiana,
but am originally from Kentucky.
My husband, Stanley was from Indianapolis. He never moved too far from that spot.
I have 5 grown children and 17 Beautiful grandkids! I have 3 of my own and my husband had 2 daughters. I make no difference in step and "blood" kids or grandkids. They are all the same. I am "Mamaw" to them all! I have 3 great-grandchildren......two boys and one
girl, James and Nala, born to Daniel and Christina, and a new baby boy, Elijah, born to Dillon. My son is now
a grandpa!!!!!
My children accepted and loved Stanley very much. They all learned to sign, to be able to talk to him. I love my children very much, and the fact that they accepted my husband, is very precious to me.........
My oldest is Sharon. She is a nurse. Sharon is married to Chuck and they have
1 son, Noah and he is such a joy to us, as he
is our "miracle baby". Sharon waited a long, long
time and God finally answered her prayers with
this beautiful little one.
My son, Rick is a career Navy man and retired in March of 2005. He and his family live in
Washington state. He is married to Josie, who is
from the Phillipines, and together they have 5 kids,
Daniel, Diana, Dillon, (These 3 are hers from another
marriage) Jocylyn and little Rick. Also,
Rick has 2 that live in Indiana with their mother,
Chris and T.J.
Next is DeAnna (DEE). She is married to Shannon
and they have twin sons, Tyler and Taylor, who, by the way, are very good at signing!! They do skits at church to music and sign the music, also. I am very proud of these boys!
Both the boys graduated, this Spring, and are now in College, so they are not in church as much as they used to be. I am praying they continue in the Lord. She has a sign class at her church and is fast becoming very good at signing music. I am very proud of her..She and I, together, team-teach the class at her church. The class is always fun and the people, there, are really interested in learning to sign. Dee is, also, part of our Sign team.
THEN>>>We have...Stanley's 2 daughters, whom I love as my own, also.....
Jeannie.her husband is Bill....She is my husband's oldest daughter and she has
has 4 beautiful little girls, Sammantha, Aryiel,
Becka, and Payci..
Then there is Suzy..her husband is Chris. She has 2 beautiful little
girls, Emily and Kylie. And 1 son, Christian, born March 2005, my hubby's FIRST grandson.
That makes a total of 17 grandkids and 3 great-grands between us!!!!
We enjoyed spending time with all these kids!! haha,
Just not all at once!!!!! :-))
I am a Born-Again Christian and attend an
Apostolic Pentecostal church. I have put JESUS #1
in my life, both in my personal as well as my ministry......I know that without HIS Grace, I
would have nothing and share this knowledge with
everyone I know and or meet.
My husband, Stanley and I, team-taught a class at
our church in Basic Sign Language. Actually, he was my own sign language teacher!! That was how we got together!! Of course, we knew it was the Lord who arranged it all!! Stanley was
deaf, but could read lips quite well, and had some
hearing, with the help of 2 hearing aids.
I just, this year, changed churches. Transition is hard, but I know The Lord has lead me to this church and with His help, we will begin a Deaf Ministry here. In fact, we have had a couple of Deaf friends come to services. My church is... UPC of Highland Village, Bloomington, In.........pastored by Bro. and Sis. B.Andrew King.
Right now, I am the only interpreter there, for the Deaf, but I know that will change, as there is such a great interest in learning sign, here. There are several who are learning to sign music. We try to sign all music, even if there are no deaf there.
Our Deaf Ministry, and Sign team, is called "Silent Praise". We do a lot of traveling around to other churches to spread the Word through our signing music.
We learned a lot through my marriage to Stanley, about the deaf community. We will try to incorporate them into our church's worship services.
The Deaf are a world that is, largely, ignored by the "hearing"world. Little things that we take for granted, are often missed by the Deaf people.
Like Bible stories and jokes and little "sayings" that make no sense, but we, as hearing people, understand them. Sometimes, it is hard to explain what they mean....As interpreters, we have to interpret all we hear and that includes the jokes, too. Our Pastors, sometimes, tells funny stories, and when the whole church is laughing, the Deaf look to us, to explain what is so funny.
I do understand a little more, as sometimes, when we were with several of Stanley's deaf friends, they signed so fast, I did not understand all they "said". I know how frustrated I got, so therefore, I understand how the deaf feel in our hearing world.
I used to get nervous, when we would go to another church, because I always interpreted for my husband, but , it was such a normal part of my life, that I did not worry about others watching me. We were at a restaurant, once, and there 9 Deaf and 2 hearing people..WHAT FUN!! That poor little waitress....:-))..........Others were watching the signing and I am not longer nervous. It is a major part of my life and I love it!!!
I have had people come to me after a service, and tell me how much they enjoyed watching and what a blessing it was, even tho' they don't understand "sign".
I have a very dear friend, In Az, who signs music and we visited her in the summer of 2002, and it was awesome to watch her sign the music. She has a very "Poetic" way of signing and I loved watching her. She did the music, and I signed the sermon....GREAT teamwork, Judi!!!!! :-)
God blessed us through this ministry and I will continue to do His work, as long as He allows me to be on this Earth. My Husband has gone Home and his work is finished. Now it is up to me and others to carry on and I will do so to the best of my ability and through the blessings of the Lord, as he grants me the grace to continue.
We had a lady, in my old church, who was very hard of hearing. She is learning to sign, and she told me she didn't realise how much lip-reading she was doing, until she learned to sign. She said she didn't know she was missing so much......... Her telling me that, blessed me so much..we both were crying...........Thank You Jesus!!!
Right now, we only have one man who is able to interpret, and he just happens to be my son-in-law! :-) More men are needed, for the men's things..........conferences, breakfasts, etc.etc........I went to a men's prayer meeting and interpreted but I felt a little out-of-place............LOL......
We have some deaf friends who attend a little country church, in Ky, that has no interpreter. The man is extremely hard-of-hearing, so he helps his girlfriend to understand, with what little he hears and, also, reading their lips. So, we had been going down there often, so they can enjoy the services with me as their interpreter.
We are praying someone develops a burden to learn sign so they can start a Deaf Ministry there. I love that little church....the people are so sweet and they make us feel very welcome when we go there. !!!!
UPDATE!!!! there are, now, several learning to sign there! Praise the Lord!!!!!
It is a little over 2 hours drive for us, so it is not bad....in fact, the drive is beautiful.....Some of the road runs right along the Ohio River and what a gorgeous drive in the Summer!!!! 'Course, I won't drive it in the Winter, since I have no desire to slide right off into that water! LOL
So......God is expanding my Ministry and I love it.......I am retired, now, so I have more time to do some traveling. I teach several classes each week, and there are 4 churches that have new Deaf Ministries, coming from learning to sign with us and it humbles me and makes me feel so good, to know we are doing a good work for Jesus Christ. I know, with all my heart, that I am doing what the Lord has called me to do........there is a whole world of Deaf people who know nothing about the Lord..we need to reach them in these last days........
In October, 2004, and again, in October 2005, we had a week-end Deaf Revival, at our church, with Bro. Kenneth Rowan, from Kansas. He is an awesome preacher who just happens to be Deaf.....What an annointed Man of God he is!!!!!! His wife is "hearing" and she does voice interpretation for the ones who do not sign.
Then, October, '07, we had Bro. and sis. David Rouleau, from Michigan, come for a weekend Deaf revival and it was awesome. God is so good!!! The Rouleau's are the Michigan District Deaf Ministry directors. She is "hearing" and she does the voicing for him as he preaches.
~~ My Testimony to the Power of Prayer ~~
In March, '99, I was very sick and in the hospital.
The doctors told my children......."if you have
anything to say to your Mom, you better say it
now. Unless something happens in the next hour,
you will lose her."
I had blood clots in my lungs. Also, my blood
pressure had "bottomed out", which means..I had almost
NO pressure!! Well, I didn't realize just how
sick I was! I couldn't understand why my girls
were so upset, I thought I had brochitus, or maybe,
pneumonia! Little did I know, I was about to see
God in action!!!
My daughter, her husband, his brother, and their
assistant pastor, Bro. Jim Langley, prayed for me
and I felt such a peace come over me. I wasn't
afraid and I knew I would be ok.
Well, after being in the Progressive care Unit
for 2 days, they sent me home because..and I
Quote.........."They couldn't find anything
Wrong with me!!"!!!!!!!
Praise the Lord!!! He healed me and I have been
telling everyone since that day!!!
Then, In October,(2004) I was diagnosed with Colon Cancer.....after a routine Colonoscopy, during a normal yearly check-up. I had no problems, or trouble, so it was quite a shock when the dr told us what he found! I had several polyps and a large tumor. Well, we were devastated, to say the least!!!!
So, In November, just a few weeks later, I had surgery to remove the tumor. It was bigger than they thought, so the surgery was a little more involved that they thought. BUT>>>>>>>by the Grace of God and an excellent surgeon, I am Cancer free and no bag on my side!!!!!!!! Praise the Lord!!!! I do not even need to go through Chemo or radiation, either!!! God sure is good-huh????
I believe God touched my body........They did a CT SCAN of my abdomen, Pelvis, and Liver, looking for more Cancers.......and found nothing. But let me tell you why I believe they found nothing!!
My husband knelt and prayed for me every night for several weeks, before the surgery. You have to understand how hard it was for my sweet hubby to kneel down by the bed.......He had a very bad back......DJD and his spine was, basically, crumbling. He had 2 major surgeries on his back, incuding a "fusion", and no more could be done. He, also, had Cardiomyopathy and his heart was pumping at about 18%. So it was difficult for him to get down on his knees.
One night, as he prayed, I felt a "heat", like a heating pad, radiate from his hands over my stomach. I know, in my heart, that God touched me that night!!! The next day, I had the CT SCAN and they found nothing!! WOO-HOOOOOOO!!!!! SO>>>>>>>when you hear someone say that God
doesn't heal......you tell them to come and
talk to ME!!!!!! I am living proof of the
Power of prayer and the Mercies of our God!
UPDATE!!!!!! AWESOME!!!!!! After going through all that....in Feb,2005, I started having some problems. I called my doctor and he ordered a couple CT scans. They showed some lesions on my liver, suspected to be cancer spread from my colon. Well, if it is in your liver, you are pretty well finished, you know..if you are lucky, maybe 6 months to a year..maybe......
Well......Praise the Lord!! The church prayed, as did many many friends, and then, they ordered another Scan. This time a PET SCAN...kinda like an MRI but it takes about 3 hours to complete. It said......................NORMAL LIVER BACKGROUND...NORMAL BODY SCAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Do you remember the old time Pentecostal churches?? Some would have a pair of crutches, or a Cane hanging on the wall, from a "healing"....
Well, my pastor took copies of my test results...before and after...and put them on the board for all to see!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have PROOF of what God has done for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you would like to see our picture, click here
Memories from my
dearest friends.....
Click on the church if you would like
to read more about the church we attend.
It was made by a dear friend, Shirley,
that also attends this church......
WEDDING PICTURES
