Operation Restoration 2009!

Four years ago today my beloved son, Philip went home to be with Jesus.  Words will never, ever be able to express the grief, that we still feel and the huge void in my heart that will always belong to Philip.  

However, last year I wrote a blog called Restoration Day.  I want to copy it over so you can recall it; then I will give the update.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

RESTORATION DAY

Some of you that read this blog know that today is the day my son, Philip passed away. November 19th of course will forever be a date that stops my heart for a moment, floods my eyes with tears, and fills my soul with much pain. First the day was referred to as "the anniversary of my son's death", then it was "the anniversary of Philip's home going". Neither of these titles fit any longer. For this week God has done something miraculous in my heart and my soul. November will and forever more be referred to as "Restoration Day". 

satan (and yes I most certainly meant to put a little s) has stolen from me ENOUGH! I am no longer going to sit on the sidelines and watch as one after one of the people I love are destroyed by the enemy. It is time for Christians to wake up to the death and destruction that surround each of us, that has affected each of us in one way or another. It is no longer enough to: put them on the prayer chain, pray for them when they cross our mind, begin earnestly praying for them after they have gone so far that their life is utterly destroyed. No, I am not waiting, I am fighting. There is time for praying (which is always) and there is a time for Fighting and Praying!
My friend that time has come in my life.

Every November 19th from here on I will Celebrate! I will celebrate that Philip is with Jesus, and I will celebrate the souls that I have seen restored over the year! I will see Philip again soon, and I am taking with me his Dad, his sister Kacey, Matt and John-Philip, his Wife Rhonda and his Children Madison and Malachi. YES I AM!!! But that is not enough. I am taking his grandparents, his cousins, his friends, his aunts and his uncles. YES I AM!!!

I am not sitting back any longer. I am running out of time. My alarm has gone off, the wake-up call has been received. I have answered and I am on my way to work.

This is where you come in...PRAY FOR ME! I am not naive enough to think that it will be smooth sailing, but I know who my Captain is. I am working for One who speaks and the winds and waves obey his voice. As a matter of fact He made them.

This simple and heavily quoted verses says it all. This is what God is doing in my life. 
"He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." Psalms 23:3
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I want to tell as many as I can about the love of Jesus. I want to tell them about the great "Restorer", He can restore and He wants to restore lives. I am living proof. 

People don't just wake up one day and say "you know, I think I am going to quit on God today, I don't want to serve Him, I don't trust Him, I am going to get as far into sin as I can and leave God and destroy my family. No it happens over time. It happens after a few hurts, some anger, some disappointment. But it happens...every day, it happens. I want to tell them and make them believe that they can be restored through the Great Restorer my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. These things could just as easily happen to me or to you. We make decisions everyday to serve God, to do right. I don't have to tell you how fast it can happen. If you have been around any length of time, you know it. Don't let it take death and destruction in your own family to realize the pain of those around you. I don't have the time to preach an entire sermon but you get the jist of it!

I have been earnestly praying for God's divine, perfect will for my life and this is where He has lead me. I don't know yet what all it entails. I am just taking one step at a time. I know I have a work to do. Call it a Ministry, a Work, whatever you want, I call it God's will for my life. 
My dear friend Nina named the "Ministry". I told her the new name for November 19th, then I shared with her my heart, my burden, and my excitement to go after my family, friends, fellow Christians, and strangers. She said with a big smile Operation Restoration. So there it is my friends please pray for "Operation Restoration"!

Well, let me begin by telling you what has happened in the last 12 months.  Last year at this same time we were facing some heartache with a very close member of our family.  She was beginning a relationship with someone that was not hers to begin a relationship with.  This hurt not only us but many people.  We struggled and struggled with it, we hurt so deeply for all involved, and....we PRAYED, and WE PRAYED, and WE PRAYED.  About one month ago, I was having my morning devotion and I truly gave that burden to God.  I totally surrendered, I told Him I could not carry it any longer, and that I totally trusted that He would take care of it.  Two weeks ago He fixed it.  The man went back to RESTORE his marriage and family.  The second half is going to be when (She), the member of our family realizes the truth of the situation and allows God to take control of her life and put the man there that He has for her.  It is going to happen and I expect nothing less than God's perfect plan to be completed.....soon.  

In March we got to see our grandsons that we had not seen in four years.  In April, the oldest one was beaten by his mother's boyfriend, and was in the hospital for over 5 1/2 months.  He died three times.  He is alive and recovering at home with his dad!  What a miracle!  You can read all about these miracles in the blogs about R.J.

My daughter, Kacey and her husband Matt have been really struggling with their marriage.  Many times it looked as if there were no way it would survive.  Again, through prayer and complete surrender to God...another miracle.  Matt got saved about a month ago... (the same time as the first miracle)  We were afraid to go to sleep one night because we were afraid we would miss something, for God was doing so much.  So, Matt got saved and he and Kacey look like newlyweds, and now he believes that God has called him to preach!  

I have a niece named Ima Joy who was doing drugs and living a wasted life.  When finally reaching bottom she called for help.  My dear friend Cathy, took her to UAB hospital and then set up a way for her to get to Teen Challenge.  Ima Joy had  several days to back out, because of the delays in getting everything set up.  She didn't back out and has made 60 days now and we are going for our second visit to her on Saturday.  RESTORATION!  To see this beautiful girl whose life was all but over, transformed into a beautiful, peaceful, young woman loving and living for Jesus....WOW!

You know I really should write these things as I go because I know I have forgotten some, I will try to do better next time.  It is hard to try and keep up with God, because He is so good, there is not enough time in the day to record all He does for us.  

I LOVE HIM, I THANK HIM, AND I PRAISE HIM FOR HE IS TRULY SO VERY FAITHFUL.  I really think I have come to the place in my life where I truly trust my father. If asked I would always say, "of course I trust Him", but did I really?

I believe that total surrender and true faith in my Father has allowed me to be front and center to His miraculous power.  It is so exciting.  The down side is how long it took me to get here.  

Don't think for a second I think that "I have arrived", because I know that won't happen until I see Him face to face.  However, I do know I am closer than I have ever been.  I still respond to things the wrong way and handle things the wrong way, and I kick myself, because I realize I cheat myself out of blessings and out of being affective for Christ's sake.  I just want to be a good soldier in the Army of God.

We are facing some things now that could really drag one down, but I know that God is aware of it and He will carry us through as always, I just want to keep on trusting Him. 

It has been a long, hard year.  A year filled with disappointment, pain, and lots and lots of tears, but....It has all been worth it to learn to trust God.

R.J. WENT HOME!!!

Wow! Five Months, 20 days later, R.J. is home! He has a long journey ahead of him, but he is doing well. What a miracle! Actually, it seems more like multiple miracles. He will be living with his father in Lawton, OK. He will be repeating 3rd grade but he will be back in the same school and he seems to be excited about that part.

Thank you seems so inadequate to those of you who prayed for my grandson. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I know the throne was bombarded for R.J. and God answered. He is such a miracle.

Please continue to pray for him. The trial for the man who did this is coming up next month. It is going to be a very hard time. Please pray for us all through this time ahead.

At some time I will post before and after pictures so you can actually see the miracles you were a part of.

Again, we thank you so much for your prayers.
Love,
The McGee Family

Malachi and Madison start school!

Well, that was another one of those firsts, that cause both joy and pain. Of course you all know that I sure was missing Philip. I imagined what he would be doing and saying as he took them for their first day. He would be funny and I would be taking pictures until he finally said, "enough Mom", let them go to school. After we left I would then drive him crazy with my memories of his first day, but he would listen and maybe even remember some of them and laugh with me.

I had that all in my heart as I took plenty of pictures and held them and kissed them while their Mom finished all the paper work. They cooperated with my picture taking wonderfully. Madison was sitting on my lap and she saw my eyes a "little" watery and she said, "you're gonna cry ain't you MeMe". I think I did very well.


For right now Madison likes school for the most part. Malachi says the best part of the day is the bus and the worst part is school! They are so cuuuute.

I thought I would share the pictures from the big day.

Rocky Arrested, Finally!

For all you who have been wondering....they finally arrested the guy who hurt R.J. He was arrested on the 21st of August. He was charged with "felony child abuse with injury.
He has a $75,000.00 bond so as far as we know he is still in jail. The trial is set for October.

R.J. is doing pretty well. He is at the rehab center. He still is under a lot of pain meds and he still can't have a feeding tube yet. It is 5 months today since he was admitted to the hospital.

There have been a lot of miracles in the last five months. He still has a long way to go. We have not got to see him since Father's Day week-end. We are praying that we will get to go soon.

Thank you so much for your prayers and anytime we cross your mind please pray some more.

R.J.

I am so sorry for taking so long to update. R.J. has really been at a stand still. Until......last week. R.J. got moved to the rehab facility in Bethany. He is getting physical and occupational therapy 2 hours everyday. He took 25 steps with his walker. That was a great big deal! He is a living, now walking, miracle.

Please keep praying for his physical and psychological healing. The person who did this is still not arrested yet. He also cannot have anything other than TPN right now so he is getting no nourishment to his small bowel right now. That needs to happen.

Thanks so much for all the prayers. Please for his brothers Connor and Bryson. We had the boys for a week and they shared with us "what happened". This was such a heart wrenching story I can't begin to share right now. The abuse was to all the boys, R.J. just got the worst of it.
Please pray.
Thanks,
Lora

Update on R.J.

I was in Oklahoma visiting R.J. last week-end. He is out of ICU and in "stable" condition. This is such a miracle. He is still not out of the woods he has a lot of healing to do. He is still not able to tolerate the feeding tube to his stomach. Therefore he only has the TPN. He spiked a fever on Wednesday and they found the infection was in his "central line". He was taken in to surgery and the line replaced. Please pray that is all it was and the infection will be gone.

Please pray for R.J. on the emotional side. He is dealing with a lot. He has been in the hospital for three long months. He doesn't believe me when I tell him that he is getting better and that he will heal. I told him he will run and play again, and he said "no I won't MeMe." Needless to say that broke my heart. Pray also for his brothers Connor and Bryson who are in Tennessee with the other grandparents. All three have been abused for some time now and they all have a lot of healing to do....we all have a lot of healing to do.

I will update sooner next time. Sorry to take so long. Thanks so much for the prayers, that has been what has sustained him and us.

R.J. told who hurt him!

I waited a little while to post this because I wasn't sure what was being done and I didn't want to risk some freak thing of this possibly getting out before the detectives did their job. After searching my email address book I know there is no problem there and the guilty folks sure don't know about my blog.

Last Friday on May 8th, the psychologist came to talk to R.J. and get him ready to speak with detectives. At first his was a little intimidated by one of the detectives. I met him and I believe it was probably due to his size. He is a very nice man but very large, and my R.J. is very little. The psychologist picked up on this and asked if he would feel better speaking with just his dad and the other detective in the room, R.J. said "yes".
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After just a few questions and making him comfortable R.J. told them that "Rocky", his mom's boyfriend is the one who hurt him. They then ask did he hurt you with his hand and the detective held out an opened hand, R.J. shook his head no and then folded his little fist and made motions like hitting his stomach. Though we knew this was probably the case it still made us literally sick to our stomachs when we heard.

This man was supposed to be brought in the following Monday for a scheduled lie detector test and interrogation to follow. He was cooperative at the beginning of the investigation but he has since refused the test and has "lawyered up".

My husband spoke with the detectives on Friday. They say they could arrest him but they don't want to arrest him and then let him walk, they want all their ducks in a row. They are now planning to question R.J. again and have the CID video tape the interview and then turn it over to the District Attorney.

Isn't it amazing how the wheels of justice turn. Seems to me that more is done to protect the perps more than the victims.

Politicians.....the D.A. is retiring and a new one is coming in so that supposedly slowed things down. Don't you know if it was the D.A.'s grandson it wouldn't have got put on hold because the "retirement dinner is today"...direct quote from the detectives.

Yes, I am upset. But praise God, I am glad my hope for justice does not depend on the detectives and D.A., but God the supreme judge knows about this and it is in HIS hands regardless of what the authorities believe. Trust me, it is hard however to not want to help God out with some speedy revenge of my own. "Vengeance is mine saith the Lord, I will repay."
At some point I know that I know to pray for this man. I will be honest as of right now I haven't done that. Oh great, there comes the conviction so guess what I am going to stop and do now.


Well, I'm back and that was hard. When I stopped writing to pray, I asked my husband had he ever prayed for Rocky. He said, "yes, a couple of times, I even witnessed to him when I was there." Well, we see who is more spiritual in this situation.

I honestly want the man to meet Jesus, (in more ways than one)....just kidding. I do pray for his soul, but I just as much want him to pay for what he did to my grandson. You know it's hard sometimes to know how to pray, but thank God for Jesus who just takes it to the Father for us.

By the way, R.J. is still in PICU at Oklahoma Universtiy Children's Hospital. He is doing well considering. He is still having "wash outs" every other day. He has 6 drains out of his abdomen. They are all doing the jobs they are supposed to. He has the colostomy in place and it will be there for a year. He is still not "out of the woods" yet, but he sure is a lot closer. We still need your prayers and thank you so much for your prayers, phone calls, and emails. They mean more than you know.