Chrysalis House: Working From Home These Days

I have had a few calls lately wondering where I am and what I am doing since I am not at Chrysalis House....I will catch you up and let you know. I have had several things happen since last November that is keeping me home these days....in November, I began to have severe abdominal pain, I put it off as just stress. Me and a few people who volunteered cleaned Chrysalis House up and then decorated for our weekly Christmas tour, we had open house every Thursday serving cookies, hot chocolate, wassill, and coffee. We wanted people to come through to see all that we had done, catch them up on what our ministry was doing.

At the same time, my dad was about to have minor surgery.....the doctor's said that he had lung cancer and his emphysema didn't allow him to have just a biopsy and then surgery...so he could choose either or, or both...he chose to have surgery....he came out of surgery great, and found out that he did not have cancer, but a virus that most East Texans get....he was awake for 4 days and talking before he received a breathing treatment.... while having a treatment, his lung was ruptured and totally collapsed, he was put on life support and there was nothing that they could do to save him, his lungs were too bad...my sister, step mom and myself had to make the tough decision to take him off of the life support.

I lost my dad December 26th 2007...I praise the Lord that I know where he is and that I will see him again.....although I miss him terribly.....I still had severe abdominal pain, but put it off as stress again after losing daddy....I was very sad, couldn't sleep and felt so totally lost without him....I was close to him and he was my daddy and an example of what a dad should be, teaching me to love the Lord....one of my favorite memories of him was of him every morning, sitting in his chair with one leg under him, drinking coffee and having his quite time with the Lord reading his Bible....what a legacy to leave me and my sister.

At the same time that we were having Christmas tours, and right after losing my dad, I had been planning a huge two day special event with Best-Selling author, Shannon Ethridge called, "Completely His" which had been planned since the following October....it was a great success, but was very stressful getting things together because of the pain and the lack of sleep that I was not getting....but was a beautiful event indeed. I was still having severe abdominal pain, but putting it off as stress.

In February, my son came home from Twentynine Palms California just to say goodbye before he left for Iraq...leaving his wife in California and his baby (boxer) with us....I was still having severe abdominal pain, but thought with all that I was dealing with, it was stress....I really didn't feel stressed, because I felt as though I had left it up to the Lord, but you never know how your body reacts to stress.

I awoke in the middle of the night with severe pain one night and my husband had to take me to the E.R. in Mt. Pleasant and doctor's said it was just a virus...I knew better...yet they released me.

We had also been planning yet another fund-raiser with the High School Powder Puff game...it is where the Junior girls play flag football with the Senior girls and the football guys dress up as cheerleaders...I purposefully left the guys pictures off....they were dressed pretty bad and didn't make very pretty girls.....they would be really embarrassed if they knew that they were on a blog.

In May, I was having such severe abdominal pain that I finally called my doctor and he told me to come in right away....I had been bleeding internally since November and it was now May, I needed to have major surgery, and am now at home recovering from that...it will be a 6 month to a year of recovery time...the thing that has been amazing is this....I realized from home, I actually get more work done, I don't have as many interruptions as I did before, not that it was a bad thing, but I just didn't have enough time to do work. I have been busier giving presentations, I have been speaking to state representatives, congressmen, raised $27,000 for the roof, and am now at home working on grant research which takes up a lot of my time. I have researched close to 700 grants so far, and have about 600 or more to go and that is just with foundations, not including federal, state and corporate....but at home, I can do that.

I am also working on getting some men to place our roof on....I have bought the materials and am meeting and speaking to the Baptist Men of Texas in a couple of weeks to see if they are interested in helping out...I pray so, if not, at least we will have another contact.

Since the conception of the ministry, we have raised close to $500,000 in money, materials and equipment for Chrysalis House, we still need another $450,000 in case any of you would like to just donate the money :) Here is a breakdown of what is still needed....you have seen what we have done, here is what is left...if you or anyone you know that has any of these abilities and qualifications, wants to do a mission trip and can help, please contact me. The first three things that need to be done is the roofing (for which we have all the materials), the electrical throughout the building and then the fire alarm system, with those three things completed, we can then open one wing at a time.

Electrical Bid= $217,500

Plumbing = $52,920

Construction= $43,991

HVAC= $39,664

Fire Alarm System= $25,250

Roofing= $27,000 (which we have)

Outside Doors= $24,000

Insulation= $12,500

Sprinkler Heads only= $5,000

This is my dad, my mom, me (the baby) and Tammy Renee Parker of whom I was named after....My dad was stationed at Fort Hood and was in the Army....I was born there and cost my parents a total of $5.25 and that was for my mother's meal.

Another favorite memory....my dad and I made this costume together for a church event that we were having....if you couldn't guess, I am a pumpkin.
I have always loved this picture of my dad.....looks like he is in deep thought.
My dad was such a great grandfather to my kids and they loved him very much....he helped me every chance that he got with them....he is getting them ready for the day for me....I loved catching a picture of them.
My dad was a great fisherman and won this huge event winning a few thousand dollars....we were all so proud of him and were all there celebrating the day with him.....he LOVED to fish among other things.
My dad was so proud of my son, Aaron....the Marine...this would be the last time that Aaron got to see my dad before he passed away.
This was set up at my dad's funeral....a picture of his wife Sherrie, his racing helmet and a picture of him inside his race car....he also loved racing....that is where I get my lead foot and have to take defensive driving so much that I could teach the class.

My baby son Aaron who is just 2 here and so precious....the time has flown by so fast and you never think of them ever leaving you....I am so proud of my son...the Marine....he was a beautiful little boy.

Aaron at a birthday party at McDonald's....he was so precious and loved it.

A sure sign of Aaron getting older and putting up signs for his sister's to stay out of his room.....I had to save it.

Aaron with me and his sister at his 8th grade graduation....what a proud day for us....I couldn't find one of his graduation High School pictures....I am sure that I could if I looked hard enough.

Aaron went hunting for the first time during deer season....having never been before and shot his first deer....it was huge....he was so proud and we cried for being so happy for him....he didn't have his dad to show him how to hunt and had no one....my step-dad took him on this day and h cried like a baby himself....Chris had just had his bicycle accident and was in critical condition but was recovering from home.

Aaron loved going on mission trips....the men bragged on how hard he worked....he went with Chris this particular year to Milwaukee on a mission trip....he is building a wall that was needed at a church.

The first thing he wanted to do after coming home from Bahrain was go to the Dairy Queen and get a Blizzard....every time I talked to him, I would tease him about getting one....this was one of the first things that we did.

The day he graduated from Boot Camp in San Diego....we went to watch and then bring him home....we were so glad to see him....and he was just as glad to see us.

One of the few, the proud, the Marine....my son, Aaron Chase Welch.

The next few pictures are of the Chrysalis Christmas tour that we had every week of December and then on the Sulphur Springs, Christmas Tour of Homes....it was an honor....we actually had around 16 trees up that were decorated and all 40 bedrooms had decorations in them.

This is the "Completely His" event with Shannon Ethridge....you can visit her web-site to see what new releases she has coming out....she is a best selling author and speaker.....this was an awesome event....women are signing in at the table receiving their shirts, name tags, books, pins, etc.

Shannon Ethridge....great speaker and author.

This was an actress (Patti Lovelorn....looking for a wedding as a bridesmaid) that was hired to come and be a part of the program.....she has been a life long friend to Shannon....she was great....if anyone would like to hire an actress for an event....I can hook you up.

Shannon's book table with her mom on the left and Skyla on the right....Skyla graduated from Teen Mania with my daughter Ashley....they both were taught under Shannon....Skyla now works for Shannon.

My two good friends, Vicky and Cathy.

We served the women a 4 course meal....served by Judy's Kitchen.....it was a great dinner....and I had a lot of help with the serving.

Starting their meal with a salad and parmesean bread....waiting for the rest of their meal.

Flower arrangement that my friend Aldona made for the reception.

The Wedding cake....the theme of the event was on being the Bride of Christ and knowing what that entails....so our decorations revolved around that.....it turned out gorgeous....the cake was donated by our dear friend Kara Petty.

I had just gotten my daughter's wedding dress out of the seamstress and thought it would be a gorgeous prop for the dinner.....it was a surprise to everyone, including Shannon....my dear friend Kim let me borrow the manican to place the dress on.