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!