This is the e-mail that I got today about Joshua's little friend from school. Little Jessica had brain cancer.

Subject: Jessica is home with Jesus

Message:
Today, the Lord answered our prayers and healed Jessica completely by taking her home to heaven this evening at 7:17 P.M. Jessica was doing well all day yesterday and had a good night of sleep. At around 10:00 AM this morning, her breathing became very labored and shallow. We could see what was happening so we told her she would soon be going home to be with the Lord and how proud of her we were. We told her it was OK to go and to not be afraid. She couldn’t talk but she communicated to us she could hear and understand us by squeezing her hand. Shortly after this, she was no longer conscious during this time of shallow breathing. We comforted her and told her continually how much we loved her. We were of course all praying for her too.

She passed on peacefully in our arms. With tears, we thanked God for loving Jessica so much that he wanted her home now. We thanked him for allowing us to be her parents. We thanked Him for making it so obvious that she went straight to heaven as Jessica loved Jesus more than she loved us. We thanked Him for giving us insight into why this happened as He used Jessica to touch the lives of so many people over the past year. If there were was nothing after this life, then Jessica’s passing would truly be a tragedy but we know Jessica is in heaven with the Lord so it is not a tragedy. It is difficult to say good-bye but we will see her again.

We thank you all so much for love, prayers and support. Please know that God has answered those prayers. Our family is doing OK and we ask that you continue to pray to for us over the coming days. We will have a memorial service for Jessica in a few days and will likely have the time and place announced on Friday so please check back at this website for that. Everyone is invited to the memorial service.

In closing, we give God the glory and praise and we thank you all so very much!

God Bless,
Ted, Lisa and Christina
If you would like to read more about Jessica, go to her churches website

1. WHAT IS YOUR FULL NAME? Karlene Sue Chapa
2. WHAT COLOR PANTS ARE YOU WEARING? Ivory.
3. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? ‘Somewhere only we know’ By, Keane
4. WHAT'S THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Krispy Kreme
5. DO YOU WISH ON STARS? Well, I wish on the Maker of the stars.
6. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Blue Green
7. HOW IS THE WEATHER RIGHT NOW? Cold.
8. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My mom.
9. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT YOU THIS? Yes.
10. HOW OLD ARE YOU TODAY? 29
11. FAVORITE DRINK? Non-Alcoholic would be Cherry Coke, and Alcoholic would be Midori Sour.
12. FAVORITE SPORT? Football (Go 49ers)!
13. HAIR COLOR? Light brown with blond highlights. (Thanks to my sister-in-law Kristin).
14. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No. 20-20 baby!
15. SIBLINGS? Yes, one older sis: Kandice (but everyone still calls her Kandy), three younger brothers: Bryan, Philip, and Thomas (but everyone still calls him Tommy, he’s the baby).
16. FAVORITE MONTH? October
17. FAVORITE FOOD? Angel hair pasta with Alfredo sauce from the Olive Garden!
18. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Sure Thing.
19. FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR? Christmas.
20. WHAT DO YOU DO TO VENT ANGER? The last thing I did was cut up my credit cards and my ATM card. I was angry with myself.
21. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TOY AS A CHILD? Paper dolls at Grandma Bette’s house! Woo-Hoo!
22. SUMMER OR WINTER? In So. CA? What’s the difference? I pick winter.
23. HUGS OR KISSES? Uh, depends who I’m giving them to. I do not kiss friends hello or goodbye. I give them hugs. The only people I give kisses on the lips to are my husband, and my two boys. I give hugs and kisses on cheeks to my other family members.
25. WHAT SEASON DO YOU LIKE? Fall
24. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? Vanilla with strawberry sauce.
25. WANT YOUR FRIENDS TO WRITE/ E-MAIL BACK? Yes!
26. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Kandy!
27. WHO IS LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Those who already sent this
28. LIVING ARRANGEMENTS? I have a wonderful husband, Bob, (not Rob) two boys (Joshua 7 and Caleb 4) and one fish, oh, and the neighbor girl KC that’s always at our house.
29. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? When I was cutting up my ATM card.
30. WHAT IS UNDER YOUR BED? Shoes! Shoes! Shoes! And more Shoes! All of which are mine, might I add. I’m a shoe hog.
31. WHO IS THE FRIEND YOU HAVE HAD THE LONGEST? My sister, Kandy, and my friend Krista.
32. WHAT DID YOU DO LAST NIGHT? Moved all of our furniture into the dining room and kitchen. We’re getting new carpet, finally!
33. FAVORITE SMELL? When I make my Caramel popcorn. Mmm.
34. WHAT INSPIRES YOU? The Bible
35. WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF? I get scared everytime I make Bacon and sausage. Little splashes of hot oil burn me. I hate that! Oh yeah, I’m also deathly afraid of Clowns! Darn you Stephen King!
36. PLAIN, BUTTERED OR SALTED POPCORN? Salted! I love Salt!
37. FAVORITE CAR? My Dream car? Corvette baby! My favorite car that had the most memories? The Suburban that my parents drove all of us 5 kids in.
38. FAVORITE FLOWER? Sterling roses
39. NUMBER OF KEYS ON YOUR KEY RING? 6
40. CAN YOU JUGGLE? yes
41. FAVORITE DAY OF THE WEEK? Friday
42. WHAT DID YOU DO ON YOUR LAST BIRTHDAY? Everyone came over and we had our own never-ending pasta.
43. HOW MANY STATES HAVE YOU LIVED IN? 1,So.CA, and for about two weeks in Ohio on vacation with my grandparents when I was 11.
44. HOW MANY CITIES HAVE YOU LIVED IN? 7
45. HOW MANY COUNTRIES HAVE YOU LIVED IN? 1
46. HOW MANY CARS HAVE YOU HAD & WHAT WAS THE FIRST CAR THAT YOU HAD? The first car I had was a little white 1987 Chevette. It stalled on me when I was 8 mos. Pregnant with my first son. And it was raining.
47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Bellflower, CA
48. WHAT COLOR ARE YOUR EYES? Blue
49. WHAT'S THE LAST CONCERT YOU WENT TO? REM baby! We're going to see Wilco next month. I can't wait!
50. WHAT'S THE BEST PRESENT YOU'VE EVER RECIEVED? A hope chest from my husband for christmas when we were dating.

Encounters
I've had some strange encounters in my life.
Particularly with roaches.

Story number one: I was about 6 years old. My family and I were at this crappy place to eat dinner. The waiter gave my mom her food. Then he gave me my food. The moment I was about to pick up my corn bread to eat it, a huge roach falls down from the chandelier onto my cornbread! We all screamed our heads off, except for my dad of course. But he had a pretty disturbed look on his face. It was that cop grimace(one eyebrow raised and lips pressed together, with the mustache of course).

Story number two: I was about sixteen, and living at my parents house. It was 6am, and I had to beat my four siblings to the shower before school. I turned the water on to take a shower. I'm washing my hair, when low and behold, I open my eyes, and the biggest a** cockroach I ever did see, staring right at me. I got the he** out of dodge as fast as you can say, 'Oops, I just crapped my pants!'

Third and hopefully final story: My husband and I were living in our first little apartment. I had to get up at 6am, (why is it always 6)? I got out of the shower, put a clean towel on my head, and walk into our bedroom. I did not want to wake up sleeping beauty, so I attempted to look for my clothes in the dark. Bad idea. I start to feel this little tickly thing on the back of my neck. I'm thinking, it's probably a stay hair or something. Nope, biggest a** momma was out to get me. It followed me from my mom's house to my new house. I started screaming and twirling around, hitting my neck as hard as I could. I threw the towel off of my head, and turned the light on. There it was, on the ground, still alive, trying to scamper away. Oh no you don't! I squished that cockroach with satisfaction. Why do those things creep me out so much? Oh because they want to eat me for dinner, or lunch or breakfast. That's why. Sons of b****es!

I'm sorry to post about something sad, but our friends need all the prayers they can get right now. My son used to go to school with Jessica, age seven. She had cancer in her brain. Last year, she went to Japan for surgery and went into remission. Six weeks ago, she was still in the clear. Last week she woke up in the middle of the night screaming that her head hurt. They went to the ER, and Jessica had an emergency MRI. The Doctor saw SIX new tumors. One the size of a golf ball on the stem of her brain, the others are all down around her spinal fluid. The doctor said that if he did an MRI just on her spine, he's sure there would be tumors all down her spine. The doctor told Jessica's father that if this was his seven year old daughter, he would let her go to be with Jesus. He told them that Jessica has three weeks to live with no treatment. Even if they did do any treatment, they could only treat a few tumors at a time. The other tumors would just keep multiplying while they were treating the others. And it would be very painful for her to go through any treatment at this point. If you breathe on her wrong it would hurt. I found all of this out on my birthday. I was in shock. I can't imagine what her parents are going through right now. We know that God is in complete control at all times. Please pray for Jessica that she would not be in any pain that medication could not get rid of. Her parents also want everyone to pray that Jessica would be able to have a smile on her face one last time, and to play with her younger sister one last time.