Carbon Monoxide

     We had been notching a “gas” smell every once in a while in our house for the last few months. It always seemed to not last long and go away. We should have been more observant, but if we had it would not be the testimony that it is for the Lord, Our God!
This morning Chris and the kids were already up and I was still in bed. I could not seem to wake up. Chris said that Braxton all of a sudden got up and ran into my room. He started telling me its 10:15 you have to get up, you have to get up. He would not take no for an answer and then he turned the lights on.
    I awoke from a dream where I had a splitting head ache. In the dream I had slipped on concrete and busted my head. I could not get up because of the terrible pain in my head. As I started waking up I was laying in bed trying to gather my thoughts. I knew and said to the Lord, You saved me from something big, You saved my life! What did I have a brain aneurysm or something. I did not understand what was going on, but I knew the Lord had intervened.
    I got up and walked into the living room. Chris and I started watching a DVR’D episode of Joyce Myers and I smelled the gas. I told him pause it, I have to call the gas people right now. I did, and they told me to turn off our gas appliances until their repair man got here. I turned off the furnace and fanned the door to get out the gas smell.
   The repair guy arrived 45 minutes after I called. He came in with his meter and it immediately started going off. He said you need to open some windows now. We opened all the outside doors and let in fresh air. He went out and tested our meter outside while the air inside the home was clearing. When he came back in he started testing our furnace and hot water heater. The problem was found to be our furnace. He totally disconnected it from our natural gas supply line, we can still use our hot water heater and inferred heater.
  Once he was done, Chris and I began asking questions. When he came in our initial reading of carbon monoxide on the house was 195 parts per million. (this was with the furnace being off for 45 minutes and the door being fanned) at 200 parts per million, people start dying. He asked how we smelled the gas. Carbon monoxide is essentially  odorless. He said you must have went outside and came back in and your eyes started burning or something? No we had been in the house the entire time. We could tell he was pretty stunned. I told him about the dream, the headache, etc. He said most people never feel the symptoms, they go to sleep and never wake up. We give all the glory to GOD! He not only saved me this morning, but our entire family! Praise the LORD! He has our family in the palm of His hand is taking care of us! I can’t wait to see what he has in store for us! People have been asking what we are going to do for heat. We have an inferred heater in the living room and the kids have electric heaters in their rooms. We might be a little cooler than usuall, but I would much  rather be a little cold than dead! :) Lol! Chris is doing great, getting better every day! Thanks for all the prayers! We love you all! We read Braxton his Psalm 91 book almost every night. How fitting it is!

Psalm 91:9-16 (NIV)
⁹ If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”
   and you make the Most High your dwelling,
¹⁰ no harm will overtake you,
   no disaster will come near your tent.
¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
   to guard you in all your ways;
¹² they will lift you up in their hands,
   so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
   you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
 ¹⁴ “Because he  loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
   I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
¹⁵ He will call on me, and I will answer him;
   I will be with him in trouble,
   I will deliver him and honor him.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him
   and show him my salvation.”

Our 2010 CHRISTmas Card Newsletter

　
　

　
CHRISTmas Greetings!

We hope that your 2010 Holiday season is off to a great start! This time of year is so busy for us! We have lots of holiday events to attend with church, the kids school and fellowship & outings with family and friends.
2010 has been the most memorable year of our lives. We took a wonderful family vacation in April, a Caribbean cruise. The kids had the time of their lives, and so did we!!
In May, Chris started noticing some problems with his extremities and this lead us to seek some Dr’s opinions. After seeing Dr’s here in Arkansas, he was sent to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The diagnosis came back as ALS or Lou Gherihs Disease. A terminal illness was not what we wanted to hear. We could not handle that. But Our God and Our Savior, Jesus Christ can!! We know that Chris has already been healed! He is getting better, we see it. For one example, when we were in Minnesota he could not hop on one foot but he can now! ALS is a disease that Dr’s say does not regress, but Chris’ is! Praise the Lord! It will sound crazy, but the ALS diagnosis has been a blessing. We are living the life Christ wants us to live, total service to and dependence on Him! The blessings He has poured out on our family is just amazing! We are working on becoming true disciples for Christ! We are walking in faith and keeping our eyes set on Him! We have changed a lot in the last 6 months but only for the better! Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23 We would like to thank you all for your love, support & prayers you have shown us during all this! You are all True Blessings!! 
Brittany and Braxton both attend Glenwood Christian School. They love their small school! Brittany is in 5^th grade and has 9 classmates. Braxton is in Kindergarten and he as 12 classmates. We feel a Christian education is the way to go! I am a subistute teacher at their school pretty often. Brittany is in to music, singing & reading. Braxton has taken after his Daddy and is a Mario Brothers nut! He loves to play the wii & the only thing he has asked for for Christmas is a Nintendo DS. (I have on good authority that he’s getting 1 ;)

I (Autumn) work at my gift shop in Amity Wed-Friday. I really enjoy it and it gives me a lot of time for Bible study. I also still sell Avon. Chris is no longer working. He has been awarded disability benefits, but he will not draw until April, after the standard 5 month waiting period is over. We get to spend a lot of time together and he works at the shop for me when I have to subistute. It is such a blessing to get to spend so much time with him, he worked so many hours the last 3 years for the USPS. We hope you all have a very merry CHRISTmas and a happy new year! And remember to keep Christ in CHRISTmas, because with out him it’s just a mess! J
Love, Chris, Autumn, Brittany & Braxton Fagan 138 Pine Street Amity, AR 71921

Branson

 Chris, Brittany, Braxton & I got to take a trip to Branson, November 19th-22nd. Chris parents & my parents also came along. Oh and our Shih tzu, Blaze. We stayed in a three bedroom condo and really enjoyed it. It was Chris, the kids & my first Branson at CHRISTmas time experience. All the lights were sooo pretty. Espically the ones at Silver Dollar City. I have never seen so many lights! The kids absolutely loved Silver Dollar City. We got 2 days for the price of 1 from the Branson Tourism Center. They rode every big ride they could! The giant swing & powder keg were great rides! Braxton even got to ride powder keg and loved it!
     The first night we were in Branson we got to watch The Miracle of Christmas at the Sight and Sound Theater. It was WONDERFUL!!! So highly reccomend it! The Holy Spirit was in that theater!! Brittany was buying some almonds at the theater and we all had on our Fagan Friends in Faith Tshirts and the lady at the concession stand asked her about her shirt and she told her about her Daddy. The lady took Britts hand and prayed for our family!

Huge CHRISTmas tree at the Sight & Sound Theater.

Christmas shop at SDC

Big tree at SDC during the day

Braxton & Poppa in line for the train ride.

The train ride stops midway and an old man tells THE CHRISTMAS STORY

during the ride. So nice to see a theme park spread the gospel

of Jesus Christ!!

On the train ride, the back 2 benches

Day 2 at SDC

The weather was so nice, not to cold, not to hot!

Nativity Play at SDC

Braxton & Autumn on the pulley swing (a workout)

Train during the nightly prade at SDC

The big tree at SDC at night. Interactive with lights

and music! Beautiful!!

On our last full day in Branson we went to several places in Branson.

We started with the fish hatchery, neat place & free.

Branson Landing

Big tree at Branson Landing, in the room underneath Braxton got to sit on

Santas lap. Brittany would have no part of Santa. Our girl is growing up.

We had a great Thanksgiving. First we went to Alpine to Chris' Grandma's family gathering. Got to see alot of family. Congratulations to Kevin & Shannon, we hear there is a new little blessing on the way!

Then we headed to Mimi & Poppas in Norman for lunch. My Mom fixes a great Thanksgiving meal!! We got to visit with alot of my  Mom's family. The kids got to play with their cousins and had a great time. 

Friday moring I hit the black Friday sales with my friend Leah. Got alot of good deals, and did not see any fights or crazy people. We got to walmart at 4:50 and I missed out on getting Braxton a DS (his 1 Christmas gift request.) I am looking for one on-line.

As I blog we are watching the Santa Clause. We watch all 3 Santa Clause movies every December, its a family tradition. :) 

As we celebrate this CHRISTmas season lets not forget the reason for the season, Jesus Christ!! 

A scripture has been layed on my heart often as Chris & I tell others about our love of Christ. Alot of people confess to believe in God, but it is so much more that that! 

 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. James 2:19 NIV

If you are walking with Christ the Bible says you should "bear fruit."

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

   ⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.  John 15:1-8 NIV
 It's not about religion its about a realonship with Jesus Christ!!
We hope you all have a wonderful CHRISTmas season.
Much Love from the Fagan Family!

Catch Up

  It feels like it has been forever since I blogged! My laptop hit the dust right before we left for Minnesota, so I have not been able to blog. Chris' parents have loaned us a laptop until we can get another one. I am hoping there will be some good deals on them after Thanksgiving! Hopefully I will never have to go this long without blogging again!
  We are doing great! Chris' healing has begun! For example, at the Mayo clinic he could not hop on 1 foot during the medical exams, but he can now!!! Praise the Lord!!  We know that God is going to heal Chris. We are not in denial in any way and as some have said, "well you have to have that kind of attitude." I'll tell you right now, it is not an attitude, it is FAITH in Holy GOD!!!! Just watch and see whats gonna happen!! I don't know if total healing will come in 3 minutes, 3 days or 3 years, but its coming!! When people of God come and tell us that The Lord has told them that the Lord is going to heal Chris completely it is just more affrimation for us!!  I have no fear of my husband dying young, where as before he got this diagonsis I feared every day that I would loose him or the kids. satan used that fear on me every day, but he can't anymore! God helped me smash that dirty serpant!
    This will sound so crazy, but we are blessed that Chris got ALS. It has brought us to the place we are suppose to be in our spirtual lives. Life is about serving God whole heartly (not straddling the fence)! We have gotten rid of so many of the sinful things in our life and home that the Lord has showed us so far, I know there is more and more he will reveal and we will continue to throw them out.So that we may become more like Christ! As Christians we were trying to live for God and for the world. It does not work!!! We took inventory and have made alot of changes.Some changes were harder to make than others, but where He leads we will follow! If we want all of God's blessings poured out on us we have to be willing to live totally for Him! We are not the Chris & Autumn we use to be.
⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. Romans 8:5 (NIV)

We were missing out before. Salvation is only the beginning with God!!
So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Revelation 3:16 (NIV) 

If you are seeking God's plan for your life, seek Him, spend time in His Word and prayer! He wants so much to be closer to all of us, but we have to reach out to Him!

So give yourselves completely to God. Stand against the devil, and the devil will run from you.⁸ Come near to God, and God will come near to you. You sinners, clean sin out of your lives. You who are trying to follow God and the world at the same time, make your thinking pure.⁹ Be sad, cry, and weep! Change your laughter into crying and your joy into sadness. ¹⁰ Humble yourself in the Lord's presence, and he will honor you. . James 4: 7-10 (NCV) 

We had a great weekend last week. The kids got to enjoy several fall activites! We went to 2 fall festivals. One at the Glenwood Country Club and one at the kids school, Glenwood Christian School. The kids had a blast!

Getting a pumpkin painted on his face

Ring Toss

Train Ride

Mario & Blue Fairy

On October 3rd our church, Amity FBC, put on a great benefit for us! So many people came out and were wearing their Fagan Friends in Faith t-shirts! Thank you so much to everyone who came out and to everyone who helped put on the fundraiser!!! We appreciate you all so very very much!!! It was such a wonderful day! Great food, music, fellowship and fun!!

The next day we flew out to Minnesota. They had the most beautiful

autumn foliage we have ever seen in person. We stayed at the

Kahler Grand Hotel right across the street from the Mayo Clinic.

Nice place, but so happy to be home! God Bless!!!

Chris in downtown Rochester, MN

Silver Lake in Rochester, MN

100's of Canadian Geese that live on Silver Lake year around

because of the nearby power plant that keeps the water warm.



Minnesota

Greetings again from the state with 10,000 lakes. Chris is having more testing done as we speak. they would not let me go back for this one....? He will aslo have a spinal tap today. We are praying that it will be painfree and he will not get a headache from it.
   We are soooo ready to go home!!! Hopefully we will be done with all the Mayo clinic stuff tomorrow afternnoon, then Thursday morning back to the Minneapolis airport and home!
  Chris has been feeling pretty good. He does get wore out if he has to walk alot so we have been making use of the wheel chair the clinic provided.
  We had a good 3 day weekend while here. Saturday we walked down  to Silver Lake and saw all the Canadian Geese that stay year round, because of the warm water, provided by a powerplant. There were hundreds of geese, I will post pictures of everything when we get back home. From Silver lake we took a taxi to the theaters and watched The Switch and Sectarait.
   Sunday we went to a local Baptist Church that provided transportation. Herd a great Sunday School lesson and sermon. It was a very welcoming church, really glad we went. Then we took it easy the rest of the day, ate some left overs, read and went to bed early.
   Monday was my 29th birthday and we went to the Mall of America. The place was HUGE!! We had a really good time. We did not buy much, but enjoyed walking around (rented a wheel chair 4 Chris) and looking at all the stores and displays. That night we went out to dinner, and had a wonderful time.
  Hopefully the next time I post we will be back in ARKANSAS!!! :) 
Love you all and thank you so much for all the prayers!!! Much Love!!
  

Mayo clinic

  We are here at the Mayo Clinic. This will be a quick update so excuse my spelling, grammer etc.
The team of neuroligist this morning still think its ALS after 3 hours of exams. He is had several test run today and will continue to have to go all over this huge place thur October 13th for more test, consultations etc. I know the test are necessary to find out what it is for sure, but some are so painful. During the last one they stuck needles in muscles all over his body, including his tongue. Of course he is taking like a trooper. He said "if this helps 1 person get saved, it is so worth it."
    I feel like God wants it proved that Chris has ALS. That way when he is healed there will be no other explanation of his healing other than GOD! This is just so hard to see my love have to go through all this. I really hate it. I feel like a big baby as I sit in this waiting room and fight back tears. Chris is being so stong and I am barely holding myself together.
   He just got done with testing/exams today, they start again tomorrow at 7 am. We will be up here over the holiday weekend Oct 9-11 so maybe we can do somthing fun. I will try to updated again soon. Thank you for all your prayers, facebook & text messages! Some of the scripture I have got today come at just the right time! Love to all! ~Autumn & Chris

A Fun-Filled Saturday

Yesterday we went to Hot Springs for what our little family calls "a kid day." We headed out the the Legends Hot Air Balloon Rally first. Unfourtanely, the Balloons could not fly because of the wind gust, it was to dangerous for the piliots. But we did see a huge car show and the kids got to do a huge inflatable obstacle course while there. They loved that!

First we stopped by our favorite fast food place, Taco Bell, for lunch!!         

As for the car show, I have no idea what models, years etc most of the cars in the pictures are,

I will leave that to you car buffs. Chris was saying what years & stuff, & I was hearing

"blah blah blah" ;) I took pics of the ones I thought were pretty!

The guys scoping out a hot rod

Brittany had had about enough of the car show!

They stand just alike!

They loved the obstacle course

He made 2 out of 3 baskets

After the kids zone we headed to Eryk's Birthday party at Central Bowling Lanes.

He is in Braxton's class at school. The kids had a blast! Thanks 4 letting us come Coleman Family!

Lucky for you the bumpers were there!

Braxton & Carly Beth. Corn dogs, chips, cake & Dr. Pepper

Chris & Caroline (Carly's, Ethan's & Laci's Mommy)

I bowled a high score of 66 I believe. I did get teased that maybe I should have played with the bumpers like the kids did! I had fun though, thats what counts. The Hog game was on while we were at the bolwling alley & the game was going really well for Arkansas. We liestened to the rest of the game on our way out to Bonnerdale to see some of our cousins. Well you all know what happened with the game..... :(  

Out at Bonnerdale we looked at the house my Great Grandmother lived in all her life. One of my cousins is having it completely redone & it looks fantastic. Chris and I sat on the porch and visited with Jess, while the kids played out in the dirt. 

View from the porch where I spent my days until I started Kindergarden

God's Handiwork!

On the way home from the country we got to see the most beautiful sunset.

Such a wonderful way to end the great day we had!