So i guess i have been really bad at posting lately.
well let's just say my life recently has been so hectic!!
i am never home!!!
I am always going some where, or leaving for another trip.
and it is catching up on me!
I had to go to the doctor yesterday,
one) my mom had to be there because she didn't know what they were going to do once i got there, but she just stayed in the waiting room and did her work. it was my first time ever being in the doctor's room all by myself the whole time!! :)
two) they had me do two tests and blood work done, they took THREE vials of blood!! ((*side note* I HATE getting blood taken, as a kid i would kick the nurses)) and mid way through the lady dropped the third vial and had to reach over and grab another one.
it didn't hurt at the time, but afterwords i couldn't move my arm. :( now i have a huge bruise there!
i haven't gotten the results back yet, but she gave me two different medicine's.
and if the first one doesn't work after ten days i have to go back. :(
i HATE doctor's!!

Two Amazing Leaders. Mike & Katie

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go; some people move our souls to dance; they awaken us to new understanding with the passing whispers of their wisdom. Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon; they stay in our lives for awhile; Leave footprints on our hearts and we are never ever the same" -Flavia Weedn

Katie and Mike, you both are leaving HUGE footprints in my life.

Last night at youth just seemed like every other night there.
I got there early with Zanette and Reichert for worship.
We all were joking around and then it was announcements time.
I honestly don't remember the first announcements, but then Pastor Erik
announced that Mike had an announcement, and Katie came up with him.
The first words he said were "We're leaving" and honestly I thought he meant they were going on a long vacation this summer, but then he continued talking. Mike has been offered a job down in Oklahoma, and Katie and he are going to take it. I sat there and couldn't believe it. I didn't, but the tears came anyway.

I am always praying for the leaders/pastor of Stone Crew, and pray that God would just bless them so much for everything they do for us crazy teenagers. I guess I never realized that praying for that could mean them leaving. Because this is God's blessing for them.

Mike and Katie mean more to me then I think they realize.
Although I love all the leaders, to me they were "my leaders"
I could always go to either one of them for anything and everything.
When ever it seemed like I was having a bad day, or wasn't doing okay, you could be sure that there would one of them be coming over to talk, or to listen. I also have shared MANY fun times with both of them. Katie was my group leader for game, w00t w00t GO BROWN!! lol Mike and I have gotten into plenty of food fights and are always joking around. They always cared, and always put them selves out there for me. I remember one night I was going through a REALLY hard time, and was thinking about leaving the youth. Mike came over to talk to me and I told him that, these were his words for the most part lol
"Amber, I don't want you to leave, you are an important part of Crew, and it wouldn't be the same with out you, I know Katie and I would miss you."

Well Mike and Katie, I am throwing those same words back at you. Although you don't really have a choice in leaving like I did, I just want you to know how much you will be missed by me and the whole group, and how much you are loved. Stone Crew will NOT be the same without you. And I truly mean that. Thank you so much for everything you have done for us!! and for me!!!

You both are extraordinary people and God has His hand on your lives and it is evident. He is going to continue to use you in amazing ways!! I am so blessed to have had you in my life.
Although I am extremely sad to see you both leaving, and I am so excited about the works God is doing and going to do with you.

Katie and Mike, you both are leaving HUGE footprints in my life. I will never for get you guys. And you better not forget about us!!
I love you both.

Update on Dave

First i wanted to thank you all so much for the prayers. It means so much to my family, and Dave.
He is doing better!! alot better!!
I'm not positive if the tingling is totally gone from his head, but when we went up to visit him Tuesday night he said it has greatly decreased. His blood pressure is still HIGH!!! but we will keep praying for that.
They released him from the hospital either Tuesday night, or Wednesday morning.
The doctors say that it was not a stroke, but are still running tests to see what the
final conclusion is.
They found "spots" on his frontal lobe. The neurosurgeon is had a spinal tap done to see if he can rule out multiple sclerosis. If it is not that, it is either nothing, migraines, or serious stress.
we don't want to say that it is the worst, but we have never heard of a reaction like this from just stress or migraines alone.
but thank you so much for the prayers!!
it really means alot!!

Dave

Tonight at 5:30 we got a call from my aunt, informing us that
my cousin's husband, Dave, had a stroke.
He is 34 years old.
His wife, Amy, is expecting a baby in August.
I am close to my whole family,
but my whole life i have been closest to Amy,
and since Amy and Dave got married
i have gotten so close to him too.
He wasn't just an "in-law"
he is apart of this family.
we wouldn't be whole without him.
He can walk and talk but has no feeling in his head
at the moment.
He is at a hospital on the far north side at the moment
but they are trying to transfer him to a closer hospital
but traffic is impossible that they still haven't even left the
other hospital, yet.

Dave is someone who i relate to so much.
He isn't just Amy's husband.
or a cousin, he's a friend, some i look up to.
and he plays a role as the older
brother my sister and i never had.
He makes fun of us all the time,
we are always joking around.
He has made it appoint though to make sure
I know that he is always there when i need to talk
about anything.

He always asks about "the guys" in my sister's and mines life.
and we would make up nick names for them, so we could still talk
about them around my parents with out them knowing.
he would ask about school and he was always asking about college for me.
and our friends, and church.
he always cared.
he knows me and my mom's relationship and said
that i am to stay over at least once every two months if not once a month
to just get away from everything.
i am so lucky to have him as a part of my family.
Dave, Amy, and I drove all the way to Ohio, to get
their first baby, Daisy, who is a dog!!
she is soo cute!!



*this is amy and dave at the Sox game we all went to one the 4th of July.*




*this is just Dave.*




*this is Daisy, their first baby girl!*

Please God. don't let anything happen to him.
we need him!!
please keep Dave and our family in your prayers.

One year

March 22- 23, 2007.
Two days of my life that i will never forget.
Thursday i was ready to walk away from God, give up.
I didn’t want to keep going, it didn’t seem worth it.
but then i got the phone call...Cassie had been hit.
it was unreal, but we all knew Cas, she was strong she would make it.
The last news i heard before i "went to bed" that night was
"She isn’t out of the blue, or red, but she should be just fine."
I woke up, got ready for school,
and as soon as school got out Bethany and I were going to go see Cassie at the hospital.
We didn’t get to make that trip up, it was to late.
Riding the bus to school i got the call....
she hadn’t made it....
-Cassandra Theodore Merca-
but to me, just Cassie.
On March 23, 2007 a wonderful young woman of God was taken from us. We all agree it was to early, but God had other plans. I know everyone wants to say how unique they are, but Cassie truly was. She loved with her whole heart. She sought after God like i have never seen in a person her age before. She cared for everyone. She was the shoulder to cry on, the hug you needed, and the person who always had the words to say. She told you what was on her mind. She told you what you needed to hear. She made mistakes, tons of them and she would be the first to admit it. She wasn’t perfect, far from it actually but the difference was she always strove towards holiness. She had such an anointing on her life. God used her in so many ways. Her life wasn’t about her at all. It was ALL about God and His plan for her life, and showing the world to God.
She always fallowed her heart, and never gave up. She started to pave the way for Stone Crew Ministries.
No one will ever forget that girl’s eyes. or her smile.
Her laugh brought light into the darkness.
She had a voice of an angel.
She used all of her talents to worship God. whether that was singing, playing the drums, swimming, playing water polo or her best talent of all just talking.
Cassie’s last year at Fine Arts she sang, "Do They See Jesus In Me?"
she did an amazing job. but when people told her that she got mad.
She didn’t want it to be about her, she sang that song for God and God alone. She didn’t want the credit.
She was a daughter, sister, cousin, niece, leader, but most of all she was a friend.
Cassie was i think the strongest person i have ever met!!
&& not just in the physical sense of that
She was strong all around!!

I love Cassie so much. She has forever impacted so many people’s lives. Cassie, you will never be forgotten.

Losing Cassie was and still is one of the hardest things i have ever experienced.
When she died she took a part of me with her.
Although she was younger then me, i looked up to her.
She was always seeking God.
I wanted passion like her.
She is the one we would all go to tomorrow.
But she isn’t here...
I still look around youth some nights or during Sunday school
and expect to see her walking in.
Or i’ll look into the drums area and expect to see her smiling face looking out.
It hurts not having her here,
more then most people will ever be able to understand.
Since March 23, 2007 there hasn’t been a day that i have not thought about her, missed her, loved her....
At the age of 15, Cassie impacted more lives then most people will in their WHOLE life.

Tomorrow Cassie will have been gone one whole year,
and to be completely honest i do not know if i am ready for that.
I remember every detail about that week like it happened yesterday.


Cassie, never really died. i mean yes physically she died, and spiritually she is in heaven,
but Cassie lives in our memories of her,
in the stories we tell people.
Cassie will never be forgotten.
and always be loved.

I miss Cassie so much.
i really really do.
i learned so much from her.

"A million times we’ve needed you. A million times we’ve cried. If love alone could save you, you never would have died. In life we loved you dearly, in death we love you still. In our hearts you hold a place no one else will ever fill...it broke our hearts to lose you...but you didn’t go alone, part of us went with you...the day God took you home."

" … Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed" (Psalm 139:6).

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither things present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height or depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)