Yesterday was a special day.  It was the 16th birthday of our sweet Hannah.  Actually we celebrated the day before, but 16 years ago on March 7th, we got to meet one of the sweetest (most of the time) young ladies you will have the pleasure of meeting.  She is the only one of our children born in West Virginia.

I can remember Tab having a harder than usual time with Hannah’s pregnancy.  She was going to a Licensed Practitioner because the doctor’s offices were so far away from where we were living in Chesapeake.  I remember my wife getting anxious as the due date came and passed, and the Lady at the clinic was not scheduling an exam any time soon.  I was volunteering at the girls school at the time, and was talking to the counselor there at the school and she knew someone at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Charleston who said to bring her in the next day for a checkup.

The next day we were at the hospital as scheduled.  When my wife went back to get her vitals read, the nurse immediately asked her if she felt ok.  She told the nurse that she felt a little light-headed, but other than that she felt fine.  She called another nurse over and they had Tab lie down immediately.  Apparently Tabitha’s blood pressure was sky rocketing and this was not good for her or the baby.  They admitted her and got her to a room very quickly.  I remember them hooking her up and giving her something that she had not had with the other pregnancies……….  medicine to reduce her blood pressure.  This was a little unnerving, since anyone who knows my wife knows that she is a pro when it comes to pregnancy and child birth.  This is the woman who worried about me and told me how much she loved me when she was in the pangs of labor.  The nurses would be in amazement at how well she would handle the pains and keep her composure.  We had a neighbor keep the 3 older children as we waited on Hannah’s arrival.  My wife said to go get a bite to eat and get her bag from home, since we didn’t know that she was going to be admitted that day.  She said that it would be awhile before the baby would come.  I headed home, got her things, got a bite to eat and headed back to the Hospital.  Low and behold when I got there……. she was in full blown labor.

Not long after, with a room full of orderlies who were learning how to be doctors, Hannah came literally flying out of the womb.  The one orderly almost dropped her it happened so fast.  And here we were, no longer a family of 5 but now 6.  What a change.  Caleb was disappointed that he didn’t get a brother, but he was happy to be a big brother for the 1st time.  We were so happy, just as we have been for all of the births that we have experienced.  Hannah Moriah Magdeline Hughes was added to the Hughes crew.  My wife gave her all of the names because she wanted Hannah to be the Last one…….. Of course the Lord had another plan for our lives.

Fast forward a few years, and I have seen a cute little girl turn into one of the sweetest young ladies that you will ever meet.  She has a love of music (that she gets from me), a love of horses, and a love of people.  I can remember as she was growing up in church, she would just randomly, or so we thought, ask for prayer for different friends or family members.  I have seen in Hannah a deep care and love that not many teenagers have.  Not just a superficial love, but something that comes from the Lord Himself.  She does torment her siblings as all teens do, but she is just as caring and helpful if they need her.  I am so proud of her.  She has become quite the musician.  She can play the piano really well and plays the drums at church when Tamra cannot.  She also plays the guitar a lot better than she gives herself credit for.  We tease her about her “Southern Twang” that she has picked up living here in the south.  Hannah is a really good person.  We are proud to have her in our family and wish her many, many more wonderful birthdays to come.

Hannah Moriah Magdeline Hughes, I want you to know that we love you so much.

 

 

 

For This I’m Thankful………………………………..

As I have stated in earlier posts, I just want to be a light in this dark world.  I want to make a difference in other people’s lives the way so many have done in mine, whether they be family, friends, or mere acquaintances.  I believe that God’s Love conquers all.  It is the foundation that God gave to us through His son Jesus Christ.

Rebekah has a best friend that she met in college a few years back.  They were just casual friends at first, but as the Lord would have it, they have become quite close, sisters even.  Preyal is such a sweet young lady.  I first met her a couple of years ago at Columbia College where they attended.  She is spunky, and is not afraid to speak her mind, but yet respectful.  She is beautiful inside and out.  Rebekah always spoke highly of her.  It wasn’t until the end of Bekah’s Junior year going into her Senior year, that I realized just how special this young lady was to Bekah….. and how special she would be to our family.

From what Bekah has told me, Preyal was born in England just a few days after Bekah in 1992.  She told me the other night that her family moved to the US not long after that.  We joke that Bekah has an Indian friend, who was born in England and is now an American.  Preyal lost her Dad to cancer when she was a young girl.  So for a long time now it has been just her and her Mother Preksha.

Although I have not gotten to meet “Mommy Patel” as Rebekah calls her, I have spoken to her on the phone and we are friends on Facebook.  What I do know is that although they have faced some hardship as a family, they have persevered and are two beautiful women that our family loves dearly.  They are family in our book.

Every year in February, Columbia College has an activity called “Dad’s Night”.  I had attended all four years with Rebekah as a student up until last February.  As we got to know Preyal and had gotten closer to her and her mother, I asked Bekah last year to invite Preyal to come to Dad’s night with us if she wanted to.  What I didn’t realize is that Preyal was pretty close to her dad and the thought of celebrating was too hard for her.  I remember that at the last two Dad’s nights, that Preyal would leave campus, and come back later in the evening when the festivities were over.  The one year, I waited for her to come back to campus, so that I could say hello and goodbye before going back to Gaffney.  Bekah had told me sometime later that Preyal was touched by my gesture to stay behind just to say bye to her.  I am not sure when exactly, but casually as I would get to say hi in passing when Bekah was on the phone with her (which is all the time), she began to call me Dad, and I would call her my Indian daughter.  She got to come to Gaffney sometime last year and cook for our huge family an Authentic Indian dish.  We enjoyed it so much, but enjoyed spending time with her even more.  We have grown closer over these past couple of years.  We Hughes’ tend to adopt people into our family without hesitation.  We are a big family so another 2, 4, or ten people is no big deal for us.

As I was praying one day, It came to me again to have Rebekah contact Preyal, and tell her that I would like to bring Bekah and come down on Dad’s night this year (being her Senior year) and that we could maybe go out to eat or just do something so that she wouldn’t have to feel so bad on that night.  So thankfully she said yes, she would love for Bekah and I  to come down.  So this past Saturday, Bekah and I headed to Columbia for “Dad’s Night”.  We had a great time.  We played games, had our picture taken in the booth, and got to go out to eat dinner together.  We came back to campus and hung out for awhile.  Reluctantly, she and Bekah got up and danced on the Wii game(I have video to prove it!).  It was great to see her having a great time with her best friend.

As we were leaving Preyal gave me a sweet card thanking me for being a great “Dad” to her.  For going out of my way to travel two hours away to be there for her.  For me it was an honor.  To share the Love that Christ has put into my heart, and to share the same kindness that He showed to me almost 30 years ago.  When He accepted me into His Family.  I want to not only say the words but to also to show Love to others.  So if that means that I get to be a “Dad” to someone else who wants or needs one, that is alright with me.  I would never ever try to take the place of Preyal’s Dad, and I have told her that.  But I am here for her if she needs me, in whatever capacity that may be.  Just like the Lord is here for all of us. So Preyal and Preksha, thank you for letting us be a part of your extended family.  We love you and pray for you daily.  You are part of the Hughes clan. (God help you. LOL)  I love you my Indian daughter. I know that your Dad would be just as proud but probably so much more proud of the woman that you have turned into. I am here for you whenever you need me.

Love Dad

 

For This I’m Thankful………………

As I am sitting here this lazy Sunday afternoon, I got to thinking of this past week and what unfolded.  I just returned a couple of days ago from a trip to Northern Kentucky.  Not a trip that you really ever want to make.  To say goodbye to a loved one…..

My Aunt Doris Caddell had been fighting Dementia for some time now, and even though she put up a good fight, she went home to be with the Lord last week.  I hadn’t seen her in quite some time.  As a matter of fact, I really can’t remember when the last time was that I saw her in person.  She was my mother’s older sister and 1 of just 4 of the remaining siblings.  I had been in contact with my cousin Shellie over the past few months and she asked if I would come and perform the Funeral service when the time came…….Of course I agreed.

As I was travelling north early Thursday morning, I got to praying and meditating on what the Lord would have me to speak during the ceremony that evening.  I thought of the usual things that a nephew would.  I remembered that Aunt Doris had introduced me to chicken and dumplings.  A love affair that I continue to this day. (Actually, I tell people that you can keep the chicken and give me the dumplings..).  I thought of the house across town from ours and going there on Halloween one year and going trick or treat with Shellie, Andrea, and Dwight(I called him Bucky, his nickname).  I remember going just across the street to 6th district school and playing on the playground, and the fun times at Uncle Ed and Aunt Doris’ house.

Then as I was driving, the Lord reminded me that Uncle Ed and Aunt Doris were the 1st ones to ever take me to church.  They were attending Burlington Church of the Nazarene which at the time was holding service I believe at the fairgrounds.  I can remember a Vacation Bible School or youth program going on, with a lot of activities.  They were the ones who introduced me to Jesus Christ.

Fast forward a few years to when I was 12.  My mother’s younger sister Janice was sick with Cancer.  Aunt Jan was like a second mother to me.  The Hughes’ and Hales were together a lot when I was growing up.  I would spend a lot of time with her.  She fought a brave fight as well, eventually moving on to her reward.  As I mourned her passing, the thought came to me of what came after this life.  Do we just die and go into the ground forever or was there something more.  Her passing started me on a journey that I have been on for almost 30 years now.  A few weeks after her passing my Aunt Alma and Uncle Oscar started taking us to church.  I witnessed my mother give her heart to the Lord one Sunday Morning at the same church where I first attended, but in a different permanent building.  A few months later, at Mt. Hope Nazarene campground, I gave my heart to Jesus Christ myself.

We attended Burlington Church for a few more weeks after that, until Uncle Oscar decided that he couldn’t make that drive, so we started attending Eastside Church of the Nazarene.  And as fate would seem to have it, we were attending church with Aunt Doris and Uncle Ed.  I really loved being able to attend church with some of my family.  I would go up to Aunt Doris and pat her hair gently and call her my “little poodle”.  She would laugh and give me that look.  Uncle Ed would give me singing tips when I began singing solos and in the church choir.  We would attend church with them until I got married and eventually moved on to another church.

And as life goes I lost touch with Ed and Doris.  We would move to West Va. and then to South Carolina.  I would see them occasionally, usually at funerals unfortunately.  Then as time past on Facebook.

So as I stood before my family and friends the other night to speak on behalf of this beautiful, wonderful woman, I knew what she would have me to speak.  Along with the funny anecdotes of the dumplings and poodle hair, she would want me to tell of her lifelong love affair with not only Ed Caddell, but with her savior, Jesus Christ.  I felt that my family should know that 30 years ago I was where a lot of them may be right now.  Not understanding what is after this life, or how to cope with losing someone that you love so much.  All I can say is to trust in Jesus.  I wanted to introduce Him to them the way the Ed and Doris did for me so many years before.  I pray that as she looked down on us that night that she was proud of what was said.  I know she smiled to hear Rodney’s words, for he did an outstanding job.  I pray that all of my family and friends know how much I love them and how honored I was to be able to speak.  Thank you for that privilege!

So as I was following the hearse up the hill the other morning, I was not filled with the same lost feeling that I had 30 years ago.  This time I was reminded of the Love of Christ and the hope that we have as Christians that tell us that when we die in the Lord, we are heading to a wonderful place of peace and perfect rest.  So Aunt Doris I say this honestly……. Rest in Peace in the arms of Jesus.

 

For This I’m Thankful.

I haven’t been too thankful lately…..

I started this blog just as a way for me to show my thankfulness to the Lord for all that He does for me on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis.  I also wanted to show others that in this terrible day that we live, that there is a God in Heaven that loves and cares for His people.  That there is still something to live for and to believe in.  I still do.

Over the Christmas holiday, I was wanting to post for different birthdays and especially Christmas to celebrate the birth of our Savior.  I just wasn’t feeling thankful.  It was not especially hard this year during the holidays like it has been in years past.  I guess I was just looking too close at the trials and hardships of people around us, trying to reason it all out with a carnal mind and not trying to look through the eyes of the Lord at it all.  I see such hurt and despair in so many lives that sometimes if you are not careful, you can let it get you down and forget ALL of the Blessings that we receive on a daily basis.  Bottom line……God is so good to me!

The Apostle Paul states in   1Cor. 15:19 that “if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”  And that was what I was doing.  Looking at this life through the flesh.  Even at church I would get a touch, but not like I normally would.  Each day would bring more discouragement.  I noticed that I was starting to get that “grumpy complex” back with my wife and family. I was fighting this as I do not want to put them through that again.  So I would try to hide it from them and would find myself sitting up at night just pondering everything.  As I posted in one of my earlier entries, I want to inspire people, not bring them down.  I had to make a decision to really believe Christ and His Word or not.

Well…   I choose to believe Him!   I sat awake last night once more.  Not in despair, but in repentance.  I cried out to the Lord and asked Him to renew the faith and hope back into my spirit that I once had, and to help me grow stronger in Him as we see this evil day approaching.  I want people to see there is hope in this world.  There can be peace in turmoil.  We have a safe place to run to when all goes wrong.  I do know these things, but I had forgotten from whom I receive my strength.

 

 

How could I not be thankful.  I have been given an incredible wife and 6 great children to share my life with.  I have been blessed to stand behind the sacred desk and to preach the Word of Life, and to see it do miraculous things in peoples lives, including my own.  I for the most part, have had good health, and been blessed in so many ways that I can’t even count.  I have family that love me, friends that are dear to me, coworkers that I enjoy being around.  Most of all, I know the Creator of Heaven and earth personally.  I have known His voice and have been led not only to the mountain tops but also through the valleys low.  Both paths for my good.  To teach me to “trust in the Lord with ALL thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” as it says in Proverbs 3:5.

So today I stand in a renewed assurance that I can make.  You can make it.  With God’s help we all can make it!

 

For this I’m thankful.

I am sitting here wondering how to start this entry.  I have been a firm believer in God’s supernatural healing power.  I have experienced healing in my own body on so many occasions and have seen others healed that it never really was an issue for me in my walk with the Lord.  I have laid my hands on many people, anointing them with oil and praying the prayer of faith and have seen God do supernatural things that no man could explain away.  We have had a daughter that was born dead (black and blue) and not breathing, and as my wife pleaded with the doctor to tell us what we had, and him telling her that it didn’t matter now,  and then hearing her cry out “in Jesus Name breathe” and hearing the baby cry out gasping for that first breath of air, yeah I’ve seen God’s hand move. (Gabby is 13 now and a beautiful soul). We have prayed for our children over the years that God has healed when other children had the same symptoms as them and were sick for days or weeks.

I have also seen the Lord heal my wife.  She has had at least 2 heart attacks that we know of.  I have seen her vomit red foam as she cried out to God for healing while we were praying for her.  I have felt the power of God come over me as we have prayed over her and immediately she would be better.  But there was this time……..

For the past few weeks she has been going through a battle in her body.  She was hurting in her legs and lost feeling in one arm and hand.  So we did as we do…… we began to pray.  It is not that we don’t believe in going to the doctors or seeking medical help, it is that we have taken God at His Word.  We try to trust in Him, and He has never failed us.  We support anyone who wants to go to the doctor.  We have just experienced His healing power so many times, that this is the norm for us.  But this time there was no immediate healing like times past.  So we continued to pray.   She got worse.  She couldn’t hardly walk and needed help to get from the couch to the bathroom at times.  She couldn’t get up and down the stairs at church and had to have help.  She barely could hold a pen in her hand.  But God did heal.  As she started getting feeling back in her arm, the other arm and hand began to lose feeling.  Again, I have seen God heal this woman that I love so many times, that I guess I just expected God to move, but He didn’t……. not right away anyhow.  So as any christian does at times, I began to doubt.  And not only doubt God, but also to fear that this was it for her.  That maybe Jesus wasn’t going to hear our prayer this time.  I then I began to read stories of others who are going through some kind of suffering, and I began to be so grieved.  I would go find a place where I could cry and try to comprehend my life without this beautiful gift that God had blessed me with 25 years ago.  I had forgotten who Jesus Christ is and what His word says about healing.  He suffered stripes for our healing.  I began to look at the hopelessness of this world we live in.  As Paul stated in the Bible “if in this WORLD ONLY we have our hope, then we would be men most miserable.”  I can admit that I was in anguish and despair about this, unlike any time before.  I have always believed that if we put our trust in the power of Jesus to heal then we have to accept the answer that he gives.  But the thought just kept coming to me that she might be taken from me this time.

That was until yesterday………………………..

It was not a special day other than being the Lord’s day.  We got up and did our normal Sunday morning routine.  We got to church as usual.  Made it through Sunday School and was in the morning service as we have done just about every Sunday morning since we have been together.  The sermon was a good one. Again, just another day in the Lord’s house.  Then as the message was coming to a close, the Holy Ghost began to move in our midst.  One brother in the Lord began to shout and dance in the Spirit, then another cried out and fell forward onto the floor in awesome worship.  Pretty soon the church came alive with the power of God.  We were all shouting and praising the Lord.  About that time, my Co-Pastor came down to my sweet wife and prophesied to her to cry out to God for her healing.  At first she was a little hesitant as she had not been able to even stand totally on her own.  Then a wave of cool breeze came across the back of our church and she let out that familiar cry that I have heard her cry many times in our lives.  She began to shout, and then to walk up and down the aisle of the church.  She was not stumbling or shaking as she had in weeks past.  She needed no one by her side to help her along. She was HEALED!  I could do nothing but drop to the floor and cry out to God in gratitude for another miracle………. and to repent. To ask the Lord to forgive me for my doubt and unbelief.  To ask Him to help me to remember that He has the FINAL say and maybe spread some hope in this hopeless world we are living in.  Friend don’t lose hope.  Remember God wants the best for us.  Trust in Him!   What a blessing to know the God of Heaven. And so today………….

For This I’m Thankful.

I was sitting here thinking of all of the things that I love about being a dad.  The hugs, the countless drawings I have tucked away to embarrass them when they have kids, and the countless times that I have heard the words “daddy’s home!” when I have come in the front door.

I think back to a cool November day in 1992.  I was a young new husband of almost a year, and here we were going to the doctor for my wife’s checkup on her due date.  After a short time back with the doctor, my beautiful pregnant wife came out with a nervous smile on her face.  She tells me “it’s time” and just like that we are walking (slowly) across the pavilion from the doctor’s office building to the hospital.  We get her checked in and comfortable, I run to the car to get her things, and then the process begins. ( I forgot to mention that her water broke on the doctor’s examining table).  So here we were, a couple of young people who just a few months earlier were stunned to hear that we were going to be parents, now in a labor/delivery room about to embark on a new chapter in our lives.  As the labor increased, I saw something in this woman that I had fallen in love with and chosen to marry.  I saw the most beautiful look on her face as she was pale and sweaty, and at times in immense pain.  I saw a mother developing before my eyes.  She was so focused at what was happening and I was standing around not sure what to do.  As the time wore on and the pains came more frequently and more intense, and after my wife had an epidural, she was ready to have this baby.

As she was pushing, and at times throwing up from all of the stress that she was under, I began to see a little glimpse of a head that was appearing.  It was becoming all so real at this point.  As the nurses called for the doctor to come in, and seeing my wife in such pain and anguish it became like a slow motion movie in my mind as I think back.  The doctor had to use forceps (salad spoons as we called them) to help pull this beautiful little baby girl from her mothers womb.  I was standing there with the video camera rolling as my firstborn daughter was delivered right before my eyes.  A beautiful bald little girl with a hint of red hair showing.  She let out a cry that let me know that “hey you have now entered the realm of fatherhood.”  As they took her to the scale to weigh her, clean her up and suction nastiness out of her nostrils, I stood amazed at this little person who was grabbing hold of my finger and  forever changing my life.  I continued to video as our daughter was placed into the arms of an eager mother.  I watched as they began to bond instantly.  Her eyes wide open and looking around at the world she had just entered to.  I watched my wife cry with tears of joy looking at this miracle of life that she was holding in her arms.  I didn’t know at the time, but my wife had prayed and prayed that she would be able to become a mother.  She wasn’t sure if this was possible since her sister at the time had tried many times and wasn’t successful.  So here we were, no longer a couple, but a family.

Now 23 years later, I look across the room at a young lady who has grown into a beautiful strong Christian woman.  She is a college graduate now.  She has grown from that bald baby girl, to a sweet curly redheaded girl who always was thinking of others more than herself, to an awkward teenager, to a responsible young adult who loves Jesus, loves life and is a hopeless romantic.  I stand in amazement sometimes that the Lord would have let me be a part of this wonderful person who touches others.  As I read some of the Facebook posts she received for her birthday yesterday, I see a selfless person who wants the world to see Jesus in her.  I think of her unselfish attitude to take a year off from her schooling to come home and just “help” her mother around the house, and be there for her.  You see that bond that I saw on that day 23 years ago is as strong today as it ever was.  So on this day after her birthday I want to tell the world about this wonderful young lady that I will always see as my “little 4 year old”.  Rebekah Elizabeth Hughes I love you.  I am so very proud to be called your daddy.  I pray that God will give you the desires of your heart as you continue to serve Him.  So today…………….

For This I’m Thankful

 

Hello. My name is Mark.  I live in a small southern town and have decided to document some of the true blessings that have and will come to my life.  I guess I decided to name this blog For This I’m Thankful, because over the past few years I have noticed that in my life I seemed to always be in some kind of bad mood.  My wife and kids would see me coming and would whisper ” here comes dad, and he doesn’t look happy”.  I guess that I have focused so much on the negative of life, i.e the bills, the sicknesses, the failures in life, the regrets, etc that I realized that I have overlooked all of the true blessings that surround me on a daily basis.  Even as I write this first entry, I sit in Awe of how much God has truly blessed me and how much I truly have focused on the “bad” and forgotten all of the “good” that inspires me everyday.  I am a firm believer in Jesus Christ, a Co-Pastor of a small congregation, a full time working dad to some amazing kids and the husband to an “angel” of a wife for the last 23 years this month.  As I start on this journey, I want to look back on some of those blessings that I had long forgotten.  I want to be thankful in the here and now.  I want to inspire people and be a light in this dark world.  I want people to see Jesus Christ through me.  I may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but as I write, I want people to have a place to come and experience hope and an occasional laugh.  Maybe a tear also.  So with this first blog I just want to say…………………    For This I’m Thankful.