Remebering Rachel

A few snapshots of Rachel at family gatherings.... I can't remember a time when she did not give a hug. I know with all my heart her story is not done, her legacy of love will continue to reach the hearts of the lost because of what she believed and how she lived her life.



Leazenby, Rachel Ort

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Aug. 21, 1981 - Dec. 24, 2008NILES - Rachesl Ort Leazenby, 27, of Sunrise Lane, died at 9:14 p.m. Wednesday, December 24, 2008, in Borgess Lee Memorial Hospital, Dowagiac, Michigan from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. She was born on August 21, 1981, in Berrien Center, MI, to Eugene Michael and Mary Linda (Noggle) Ort. She graduated from Brandywine High School in 2000, attended Lake Michigan College and graduated from Bethel College in 2005. Rachel was a teacher at Grissom Middle School in Penn-Harris School System, South Bend, where she volunteered directing a dance team. Rachel attended First Baptist Church, Niles, where she sang with the worship team. She also attended Granger Community Church, where she volunteered at the Oasis. She enjoyed photography and had her own business Vineyard Photography. On November 25, 2005 in Wesley United Methodist Church, Niles, she married Jonathan Edward Lea Zenby, who survives. Rachel is also survived by her parents, Gene and Mary Ort; Jon's parents, Kevin and Margie Leazenby; grandparents, Theresa Leazenby, all of Niles, Margaret and George Rankel of Mishawaka; sister, Leah (Jeff) Banicki of Niles; brother, Josh (Jennifer) Ort of Albany, NY; nieces and nephews, Emma Banicki, Madison and Kennedy Ort, Krickett Dickinson, and Shelby Vernon; sister-in-law, Rachel A. Leazenby of Niles and several aunts uncles and cousins. Funeral Services for Rachel Ort Leazenby will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday in Granger Community Church, with Dr. Bob Laurent Bethel College, and Pastor Jim Wing of First Baptist Church, Niles officiating. Interment will follow at Silverbrook Cemetery, Niles. The family will receive relatives and friends from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday in the Halbritter Funeral Home, Niles. Contributions in memory of Rachel may be made to Kids Alive.

Eddie Bear

This is Eddie, a Jack Russell Terrier. He is Joshua's and Alyssa's dog. I can't believe how stinkin adorable this little bundle of energy is, and yup I fell big time! What can I say? P. S. Bob likes him too :)

My new boss Greg

This is my new boss Greg Martin and his bride of 29 years Diane. You can learn more about Greg here

http://garmartin.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!!

The 90's

Yikes!! Check out these pictures of Bob and me taken back in 1990, scary I know! Glad those fat days are gone not to mention the hair and clothes.

Marbled orb weaver spider

This is a marbled orb weaver spider. I took the first 2 not so good pictures at Madaline Bertrand County Park and then googled when we got home and found the better picture of the bunch. I had never seen one before today and don't care if I ever see one again.

FIVE!

I did it!! I am so stoked, I decided this morning that I was going to try and run five miles. I have not been running very much because I did something to me knee, I have been doing low impact workouts. My knee still hurts a bit but is much improved so on the treadmill I went. Ok, so it took me a 57 minutes but I did it, actually with a cool down it was a grand total of 5.3 miles in 62 minutes at a 4% incline the entire time. For me this is quite the accomplishment. I have been flying high all day, endorphins are my friend, wheeeeeh !

Certain songs remind me of certain people...

For instants this morning while I was at the gym I had my Ipod on while I worked out. The song " You alone" came on, as I was singing along in my head and came to the words "I'm alive" that repeats several times , I thought about a gal that used to sing those words at our mid-week service. Her name is Kristin Davis, I always enjoyed watching Kristin as she had great stage presence and a beautiful voice. Kristin moved away a few years ago but as I was singing along I just kept thinking about her, I remembered her birthday is December 8th and that I should see if I could find her email when that time a year roles around and wish her a happy one.

Later that day Bob and I went to lunch and then decided to go walk the mall ( go figure! ) instead of going home and be tempted to loaf around the house. As we are walking and talking about to turn into a store Bob recognized a friend from church that was at the mall too. He said " hey there's Elizabeth", she spotted us at the same time, as we got closer to stop and chat I couldn't believe it, with Elizabeth was none other than Kristin!!!, I said to her you are not gonna believe this but I was just thinking about you this morning, I told her how I was reminded of her through that song and even brought up when her birthday is, kinda cool, hey?

Ummmmmmm- do you think I like cheese?

Generally Sunday evenings if we don't dine out with our friends we just grab whatever we choose for dinner. Tonight I decide I wanted a piece of bread and cheese, cottage cheese and cheese potato chips!! Good thing it was reduced calorie cheese, non-fat cottage cheese and baked Lay's potato chips. So where are my vegetables? eeh, I will double up tomorrow.

I saved the little birds life...I hope

I stepped out into the garage today and noticed a female hummingbird flying around. She was trying to find her way out but seemed to be staying near the ceiling. I went and got a leaf rake and made several attempts to help the gal out. We came close a few time as I had opened the back service door thinking she might head towards the light. She actually landed on the rake a couple of times and I would go to lower it so I could release her but she would fly off and land on a ledge at the top of the door. She was getting tired I am sure but I wouldn't give up, at last I trapped her just so on the rake and lowered it out the door and off she flew, now lets hope she didn't go have a heart attack!!!

Milestones

I have been going to the gym now faithfully for about a year and a half or better. I like to set goals for my workout each time, generally I workout on the elliptical machine or the treadmill. When I workout on the treadmill I set the incline as high as it will go, set my time for 40 minutes at a fast pace, every once in awhile I will bump up my speed to a jog keeping the machine at the highest incline and jog for 5, 10 or 15 minute interval, believe me this is not easy for the princess that I am :) . I have been wondering if I could run for an entire workout so the other day I decided to try it, so I hopped on and took off jogging without any incline, I did it!!! I was so excited, that was on Friday, yesterday then I went back to walking fast and jogging at intervals at the highest incline, today I decided again to try and see if I could jog the whole time, I walked for about 3 minutes and then took off only this time I set it at half the incline. I did it again, both times I jogged 4 miles but setting it on an inclined helped me to burn about 100 more calories. It's something I would have never thought I would be able to do but with perseverance, faithfulness and hard work I did it!! I think I will stick to this goal for awhile and build up stamina for my next goal which to jog 5 miles.

Freak of Nature

Check this out, I looked out my bedroom window last night and saw this, it is a magnolia tree with a flower on it in the middle of July! Magnolias bloom in April, which it did. This happened last year too, wonder what is up with this tree, anyway I think it is pretty cool!

I have a new favorite snack

MMMMMMMMMMMM
Quite the tasty little treat!

South Haven Michigan

Day of fun a few weeks ago in South Haven Michigan , a beautiful day with amazing friends, a pirate Ship, sun, sand, ice cream treats! I love summer.

Flowers

Family fun Easter Sunday

Before and After

First picture of Josh is last May 2007

Second picture is Josh March 2008

He has been eating better and has lost a lot of weight, he was a 38 paint size and now can were 34 maybe even 32's. he also is trying to give up smoking and is doing quite well. Way to go Josh!

my sister Lisa

This is my sister Lisa, she is amazing, she recently found out she has breast cancer, she had a mastectomy about 3 weeks ago and soon will be starting chemo treatments then several rounds of short little radiation treatments. She has put her trust and faith in Jesus, her spirit is amazing. Today was the first time I have seen her since the surgery, she was very candid and open to all my interrogating questions and we even laughed at bit too :) I pray that she will continue to hang on to God's promises as her journey continues and that she comes out even stronger in her faith and that He will be glorified!!!

Way to go Lisa, you are a shining light in a dark world.

Love you!

Good Friday- "How Deep The Father's Love For Us"

As Good Fridays approaches I reflex on the lyrics to this song



How Deep the Fathers love for us

How deep the Father's love for us

How vast beyond all measure

That He should give His only Son

And make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss

The Father turns His face away

As wounds that mar the Chosen One

Bring many sons to glory
Behold the man upon His cross

My sin upon His shoulders

Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there

Until it was accomplished

His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything

No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ

His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward

I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart

His wounds have paid my ransom

Why should I gain from His reward

I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart

His wounds have paid my ransom

E + R = O

Today at a monthly meeting my boss asked for the next month to think and process this and then come with feedback when we meet in 4 weeks.



E - Event



R - Response



O- Outcome



Wow, three little words that pack a punch. I actually had an event today that made me stop and think E+R= O





My response? I really tried to rationalize and to accommodate.



The outcome? It's all good! and everyone was on the same page at the end.



What if we continually ask our self this in everyday life, whether it is when we are on a mountain top or in a valley our response just may have a huge impact on the outcome.

Hey...how did that happen?

Today we went to the mall after we pigged out at the "Chinese barffet" as Bob call buffets. We wanted to walk around to help digest all the gross food we just ate ( can you tell I didn't really enjoy the fat fest like I anticipated?)

Well anyway, one day last week I was walking up the stairs to retire for the evening with a pair of jeans I had and taken out of the dryer and folded, a glass of lemonade and the wiener dog in the other arm ( he is old and deaf and blind and can't climb stairs anymore so I was assisting him, aren't I a good mom? ) I was about half the way up when I walked out of one of my slippers and proceeded to fall ( slide ) down the stairs, taking everything with me minus some lemonade that spilled out. The slippers I had on were given to me by my mom because they were to big for her, OK, so I wear a size 8.5 shoe and she wears a size 10.5 , she was gonna get rid of them so I said I would take them, what was I thinking? To big for her but OK for me? Blonde moment I guess. After falling down the steps I got mad and threw the darn things away.

So today when we were leaving Sears I decide to look at slipppers ( perhaps more than I have fallen out of this particular apparel and that is why they are called slippers- I don't know) They had some marked down 50% off plus another 30% off so being the big spender that I am I decided to splurge and purchase them at a whopping $ 5.18.

I payed for them ,we got in the car and came home, as I was cutting the tags off of the slippers I looked down and the bag that the slippers had been placed in and noticed it was a JC Penney bag! What the heck? I had to stop and think for a second about where I actually made the purchase. I wonder what a supervisor would say to that employee if they had seen this happen.

The story doesn't end here, on the receipt was a survey to take so I decided to go ahead and fill it out ( with a chance to win $ 4000 sears gift card- ha ha) and one of the questions was asking about some of Sears competitors, hmmm can't remember if JC Penney's was one of them but I bet they are. All this to say I now have slippers that fit, I bet the wiener dog is thrilled!

Gum

I was thinking about gum the other day. I like gum. I chew gum during my workout so my mouth doesn't dry out ( I bet there are a few of you that wish it would! ) I chew gum when I get thirsty and don't have something to drink. And I like to chew gum after I eat because I am craving something sweet or should I say still craving sweets. Anyway, I think gum is amazing. My favorite brand is eclispe peppermint. I also wrote a song once about gum, it goes a little like this:

I like to chew gum

I like to chew gum

I like to chew gum

I like it a lot.

Does anyone remember the gum in the movie Willy Wonka? wasn't it like eating a meal, the more ya chew the different flavor you would get, it was like a whole meal. Boy wouldn't that be the cats meow.

SMILE

Like most people I go to the dentist 2 x a year, so six months ago I made my appointment for the next six months. In the mean time, we have a monthly checkpoint meeting that a handful of us meet once a month to work on leadership. The meeting ended up landing at the same time my dentist appointment was so when the dentist office called to remind me that I had a 11:20am appointment I decided to ask if they had any different times available, she said yes we have a 4:00 today, well , we were hosting workshops today so I declined. The more I thought about it the more I thought I should just go ahead and go today so I could attendane the Tuesday meeting. I ran it across my boss and she agreed so I quickly called back and said I would take the 4:00. The gal at the dentist office replied she had a 3:00 so I said I'll take it. Upon arrival I signed in as always, took a seat and proceeded to wait, and wait and wait, finally after sitting there for nearly 35 minutes and watching people that had came in way after I got there, I decided I should inquire and see what the hold up was. I walked up to the counter and notice that on the sign in sheet every name has been crossed off except mine. I asked how much longer it would be until I got called. The gal asked for my name and what time my appointment was for, so I explained to her the changes and she replied oh the 3:00 is for tomorrow, which was not what she said when she said the 4:00 had been filled. I then asked why no one had followed up with the name that was on the sign in sheet that had never been called out or crossed off, the whole time I was asking the gal the question another lady was nodding her head yes in agreement with me. I asked if they would be able to squeeze me in anyway today but they declined. She then asked what I wanted to do. I said well I have to reschedule so she began to look at the calendar and couldn't get me in until March 10th. Without a schedule in front of me I did not want to commit to the date and asked if I can call them. I left frustrated and a bit angry for the lack of better words. Don't get me wrong I realize people make mistake but the fact that not one person chose to call my name was enough to make me go home and change dentist. I did call them back but it wasn't to set the next appointment it was to ask them to transfer my records to my new dentist. AHHH GEEZE!

"It's a blustery day Pooh"

and I'm not going anywhere today!

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