THANK YOU, LORD!

Uncle Barry's home for Christmas!
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Aunt Ruth is home for Christmas!
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Aunt Kathryn is home for Christmas!
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Aunt Dottie is eternally home for Christmas!
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PRAYERS FOR KATHRYN, BARRY, RUTH, AND DOTTIE'S FAMILY!

Most of you have been updated by Robbie on Barry and Ruth's terrible ordeal...continue to pray for them both.
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Aunt Kathryn is in the hospital in terrible pain with what seems to be a hernia!
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Continue to pray for Dottie's family: James, John, and Abby
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We are sad that Dottie left us this week! This is from the Midland, Texas newspaper.

Dorotha "Dottie" Lane Sikes passed away December 16, 2008 at Manor Park in Midland, Texas, after losing her long fight with Alzheimer's.

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Dottie was born July 8, 1929 to John and Jewell Lane in Mulberry, Arkansas. She graduated from Central High in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She married Norbon P. Sikes on February 26, 1960 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The family lived in Monahans, TX and Hobbs, NM before relocating to Midland, Texas in 1980 for Norbon's employment with Gulf/Chevron Oil Corp. She was a loving wife, mother and homemaker to her family, a devout Christian and member at Fairmont Park Church of Christ. Dottie was preceded in death by her husband of 40 years, Norbon P. Sikes, and her parents John and Jewell Lane. She is survived by her two sons, John and his wife Abby Sikes, James Sikes; granddaughter, Juliet Sikes; brother, Paul and his wife Marilee Lane; sisters, Phyllis Nolen, Donna and her husband Leroy Jones, all of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Graveside Services will be held 11:00 A.M. Thursday, December 18, 2008 at Resthaven Memorial Park with Scott Sheppard officiating. Arrangements are under the direction of Ellis Funeral Home, 801 Andrews Hwy. Midland, TX 79701 (432) 683-5555. To place on-line condolences please visit www.mem.com.

EMERGENCY UPDATE ON BARRY - PLEASE PRAY

Ruth just phoned and said that Barry was not doing well and he was heading in for surgery right now. His stomach had been hurting for several days...HE is nauseated and hurting more and they think it might be perforated intestines, so she was requesting more prayers. She said the hospital is a very large one and they were confident in Barry's doctors. PLEASE PRAY!

PRAY for Barry AND Ruth

While Barry is hospitalized far away from home and Ruth is staying nearby...more has happened. Ruth either sprained or tore a ligament in or near her knee and spent 4 hours in the ER waiting for and receiving treatment - she has a splint to deal with and needs to stay off it as much as possible - recovery is 3 to 5 weeks. She says it won't be a problem since she's been mostly sitting, anyway --
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Barry had some difficulty last night...His MRI results did show that he does have meningitis. He will have about two weeks of antibiotic treatment ahead of him - but hopefully will be able to leave the hospital long before then.
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PRAY! PRAY! PRAY! FOR GOD'S DIVINE INTERVENTION FOR THEIR PHYSICAL HEALING AND SPIRITUAL ENCOURAGEMENT!
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PRAY FOR BARRY

Many of you have been keeping up with Barry's life and death challenges the last few days via email. Barry's fall and subsequent hospitalization have left us stunned. Yet, the wonderful news that we are hearing today is that he is up, walking, shaving, and talking. WOW! God has made the healing process to work in such amazing ways. Please keep Barry, Ruth, and family in your prayers. It looks like up to another week of hospitalization is possible.

PRAY FOR JAMES' SURGERY

We received this letter from Kent and Sharla about James' surgery scheduled for Thanksgiving day!
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Just wanted to ask you to be praying for James’ surgery tomorrow morning……….8:00 our time. It will be a 2-3 hour out-patient surgery on his inner ear. He has had an incurable infection that almost goes away but then comes back, for some time………and, it “might” be some of the reason we have been seeing a rash of seizures over the last month. When we got James 11 years ago his ears were full of a long-time infection and we had 2 surgeries placing tubes in his ears during the years, along with ongoing infections and eardrums bursting. This right ear was the worst and the drum is very thin from the many ruptures and now has developed a hole that does not want to heal……….which allows infection to begin all the more easier. Plus the eardrum has sucked in further than it should be due to being weak.

So, they will go in from behind his ear, clean out all the infection of the ear cavity and the porous bone behind the ear, review the condition of the 3 little bones, and graft some tissue over his eardrum, sealing the hole. We chose Thanksgiving day so he will hopefully be ready for school by Monday. There are some risks of nerves that feed the vision and taste buds in his mouth………plus, just the general anesthetic concerns. We had to cut his hair short today so we could razor an area around his ear…………so he looks like a real Indian……..thankfully he said he didn’t like it and will be glad when his hair grows back after the surgery.

Thank you for all your prayers for his rapid recovery and the end to a long battle with this ear problem. God be praised, last time we checked his hearing a few years ago he still had about 85% of his natural hearing……….I think he has me beat.

Kent………and Sharla

PRAY FOR JENNIFER, JEFF, MARY, BARNEY, AND FAMILY

We received this letter to the family today from Barney.
Jennifer and Jeff...Mary and Barney...entire family, we are praying for you!


It is with a heavy heart that I write to you today. Less than 24 hours ago Jennifer went to a routine OB appointment (26 weeks) and they were unable to hear a heartbeat. An ultrasound confirmed fetal demise and she was induced last night delivering a perfectly formed 2 lb 1 ounce baby girl.

We are doing additional testing to find a cause for her intrauterine death, including genetics, but of course that may take many weeks. What we need now is the strength of your prayers. I pray that we can endure this. I know that God has prepared a place for us that is more than we can hope or imagine—my imagination just went through the roof. I know that God is down here with His sleeves rolled up helping us with our problems and with His infinite wisdom knows best, but I still wanted to try to spoil little Madison here on earth.

Jennifer and Jeff have gone home to rest. I am going to go back to work on Friday, if I can stop bawling.

Richly blest, but incredibly sad,

Barney

STAYING CONNECTED!!!

Thank you for stopping by! If you are a family member or a visitor and desire to reconnect with someone in the Sikes family just send your contact information to
transformedminds@comcast.net

If you are a family member who would like your blog added to the list above, please email the info to transformedminds@comcast.net

MIA YARETZI REYES IS BORN!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

TO ERIC, JENNY, AND ZION!!!

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Mia Yaretzi Reyes

born September 6 at 9:39 a.m.

6 + pounds

Healthy!

Mia means "mine" in Spanish.

Yaretzi means "always loved" in Aztec.

Grandpa Kent and Grandma Sharla say, "THANK YOU LORD AND PRAISE GOD FOR LITTLE MIA BEING DELIVERED SAFE AND SOUND...............THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS.......................GOD BLESS...................."

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Let us know what's happening and we'll post it here!

2 NEWS FLASHES:

1. Stewart Sikes has a new job! Stewart is now the new Executive Director for York County Development Corporation for York County,Nebraska. He has worked the past 19 years for York College, so this will be a whole new ballgame for him. We are all excited for him and his family. CONGRATULATIONS STEWART!!!!

2. Jordan and Jacqueline Sikes are sharing some good news at: http://jordandjacqueline.blogspot.com

SHARE YOUR NEWS FLASHES BY EMAILING THEM TO transformedminds@comcast.net

YMCA, ESTES PARK, COLORADO - Hosting Sikes' reunions since 1971!

A great place for a family reunion:

A great place for family fun:

A great place to celebrate being part of a large extended family:



A great place to confess your faith in Jesus and become part of the family of GOD:

Check back again around the middle of September and then around the middle of each month for new updates that will keep us connected until we meet again...we're part of the family that's been born again...

ALMOST A MONTH AGO!

It was almost a month ago when we were packing our bags and making our last minute plans for our trip to Estes Park. The Sikes' family reunion is now history...but we have reconnected in many ways...sometimes after many years...small groups of two, three, four, five...sharing memories, experiences, and of course, Jesus...

May GOD put this song on your heart today and throughout this new month: WE'RE PART OF THE FAMILY THAT'S BEEN BORN AGAIN

Click here to watch and listen to again:

SIKES REUNION 2008: Singing: Our last night - WE'RE PART OF THE FAMILY THAT'S BEEN BORN AGAIN

Great Reunion Pictures 2008: OUTDOOR ENTERTAINMENT

We saw that some went outdoors and entertained themselves while others watched...

We saw some FATHERS and GRANDFATHERS take their kids out for walks, hikes, and to play:

We saw FATHERS and GRANDFATHERS take some time for themselves...where's the golf pictures?

We saw COUSINS and SIBLINGS enjoy each others company...

It may be a few more days...

It may be a few more days before I get any more pictures posted. We're doing our second HOW GOD DOES FAMILY seminar Sunday - Wednesday in conjunction with VBS at Collingswood, NJ which is across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. It's been great...we're still tweaking our book...so, this is helping us proof and tweak and then we'll teach it in the fall at Pitman. Hopefully, it will be ready for binding after that. Anyway, this week we just see ourselves coming and going.

For a Sikes' family reunion connection...check out my Monday post POUR IT OUT! at http://momstransformed.blogspot.com/

See you in a few days! patti

Great Reunion Pictures 2008: INDOOR ENTERTAINMENT

There were those who just loved clowning around...
There were others who joined Krista in doing makeovers and showing off the results...

Of course, there were toys that were brought from home to share....or to play alone...

Then, there were the ongoing card games....

It was obvious that we are a musical family...

And when babies needed entertaining there was always "Mommy/Baby Massage"!