Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It was another wonderful cold White Christmas for my family up in Idaho! Seven people and 5 dogs made for a fun house! This Christmas visit was lovely with lots of food, thoughtful presents, relaxing, snowmobiling out in the field, and quality family time. We shopped, we ate, we watched "A Christmas Story" again, we discussed what it means to have faith at this time of year. All of it was wonderful! There was more snow than I ever remember and my parents said the same thing. It made for a slippery, icy drive home with a really dirty car, but all in all, it wasn't bad at all.

Thank you Marcus, Mom, Dad, Jenny, Aunt Joyce and Grandpa for making it so wonderful! And the dogs too (Molly, Elwood, Mulder, Scully, & Zoie)!

More pictures to come....

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Snow in Southern CA!

Snow behind the mountains near Santa Paula

What a weird season of weather this has been! Several weeks ago, we had Santa Ana winds and it was warm outside. These past couple weeks, it has been very chilly in parts of southern California and Nevada and we've even seen some snow! There were all kinds of reports about Vegas getting snow and the roads being closed. Saturday begins the trek for my family up to Idaho for Christmas. So far, the roads look good, but there's more snow on the way tomorrow, so pray that they clear up by Saturday for our safe travels. It's only supposed to be in the teens for a good portion of the trip, including my parent's house! Whoo! That's cold! I hope everyone is staying warm!

On another note, I wanted to say here how proud of Marcus I am for the work he has put into his house remodel. He is in the process of remodeling his kitchen and living room and he has done a great job. He did all the cabinet work himself and they are beautiful. All of his choices have been stunning as far as colors and decor. He is a really hard worker and you can see the results in the pictures.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Thanksgiving Trip and Babies!

Marcus and I had a great trip out to Louisiana for Thanksgiving filled with visits with family and sports and hospitals! We got in late Friday night to Baton Rouge after a flight into New Orleans on an uneventful, but funny steward filled flight on Southwest Airlines. Saturday, Marcus, his mom, Sue, step-dad, Bob and I went to the hospital to see Marcus' sister, Jill, brother-in-law, Michael, and brand new baby niece, Vivienne Estele. She was a cutie, and a good baby!

After the visit to the hospital, we went to the LSU/Ole Miss football game. It was pretty disappointing to see the Tigers lose so badly. After the game, we got a visit from Marcus' other niece, Marielle. She is almost 3 and is trying to cope with becoming a big sister and no longer being the "baby." She's not coping very well based on her fits, but she was trying to be good most of the time and she was pretty good on Thanksgiving.

Sunday, we had another visit to the hospital, and then we went to the LSU basketball game, which they won. After the game, Marcus' mom and step-dad took us to see Madagascar 2 (I like to move it, move it!) and then to a Brazillian steakhouse where the waiters walk around with meat and bring it to your table. I ate way too much.

Monday morning, Marcus went to the dentist (Michael is a dentist, so he gets them cleaned for free when he's home). Then we drove to Jennings, where Marcus' dad, Mac, lives. We visited with him, his step-mom, Pat, and his brother, Bill that evening.

Tuesday, we drove to Eunice to see Marcus' sister Jodi and her family. Her daughter, Courtney, was in the hospital after having double pneumonia, but she was able to come home that day. Jodi's husband Blake, son Scott, Courtney, Marcus and I all piled into the truck and went for a drive to the nearby town of Lafayette. We went to a couple stores, then we went to eat at a good steakhouse.

Wednesday, Marcus' dad came through Eunice on his way to go deer hunting, so we got up early to visit with him. We ran errands that day and then in the evening, went shopping again and then went to a pizza buffet/game/go kart/bowling/mini golf place for dinner. It was very fun!

Thursday, Marcus and I drove back to Baton Rouge for Thanksgiving dinner. At dinner were: Sue, Bob, Jill, Michael, Marielle, Vivienne, Michael's brother Mark and their parents, and Marcus' step-brother Jean-Paul and his girlfriend Allison. We took pictures, but I don't have any yet. Dinner was good and we were all pleasantly stuffed.

We got up early Friday morning to fly home on another silly Southwest flight. We rescued Molly from the boarding place and had a nice weekend. Now it's back to work!

Congratulations to my cousin, Christine and her husband Franck! They had a baby boy today! Noah!

Happy Fall!

Happy Fall Everyone! I am excited for the holiday season to be here! I've already started some Christmas shopping. I can't believe that next week is Thanksgiving. It seems like November is going by so quickly. This Friday, Marcus and I leave for Louisiana to visit his family. Yep, we're dating again and it's great! This will be my second visit to Louisiana. This time, we're going to be there to see his sister's brand new baby, see an LSU game and eat a lot! I am really looking forward to it.

I hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving! This year, I am very thankful for God, family, friends, a place to live, a place to work, a place to worship, a car to drive, clothes to wear and Love! Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I'm Sick

I got the flu. Fever, chills, sore throat, stuffy nose, headache. It sucks. I've been home from work for 2 days now. I feel like I've slept the last 3 days away. I think I'll be back to work tomorrow. I am getting better....I hope!

Playlist

My friend Heather had this cool playlist thingy on her blog, so I decided to try it. Hopefully you'll like the music playing as you read my blog. If you don't, then just turn off your speakers! Ha!

Sorry I've been such a slacker lately on updating this blog. In general, life is great! I can't believe it's almost Halloween already! This year is going by so fast.

When there's something newsworthy, I'll stop being so lazy and post it!

GodChicks and Jenny's B-day

This weekend was a full one! I went to the GodChicks conference in Pasadena with my friends Kim and Debbie. This was my second year at GodChicks and it was a great time again! They have awesome worship, great speakers, presents and surprises! It's the funnest conference I've ever been to and probably the most inspirational. This year's focus was on becoming one company of women, who come together and make a difference. Afterall, we are 99% similar when you look at our DNA. If we could only focus on working together with our oneness and stop focusing on the 1% difference that tends to separate us. Two of the most inspirational women to speak were Priscilla Shirer and Lisa Bevere, great authors and terrific Christian women who made us laugh and cry.

This year's surprise was a ferris wheel! A real one, that you could ride and everything. Every year, Holly Wagner, the creator of GodChicks, comes up with a surprise after the evening session. Everyone walks outside and is just totally wowed. 2 years ago, she brought in a baby giraffe. Last year, the theme was about seasons of life and she brought in snow! This year, we got clown noses and got a ferris wheel! So cool!
Jenny's birthday was Sunday. My parents came into town to celebrate with her. Here's the family.We went to Moby Dick's on the Wharf in Santa Barbara. Happy 33rd Jenny!
Sisters.....

I did it!

Nikki and me, before the race, looking cute....the after shots weren't as cute....

I did it! I ran a half marathon in 2:45:00! The weekend was great! Lots of fun with running friends and supporting friends as well. We were able to go to the fitness expo, eat good food, hang out in Disneyland and best of all, finish the race. Everyone is trying to get me to run another one...we will see about that! Click on the picture below to zoom in on my time!


Now I'm up in Idaho visiting Mom, Dad, Grandpa and Aunt Joyce. After a 2 day drive, with a stopover in Vegas, I am here. The weather is beautiful, the scenery is great, and I am looking forward to getting some rest and relaxation!

T-5 Days and Counting

Only 5 days to go until the big half marathon through Disneyland! I can't wait for Sunday!

Long Busy Weekend

My weekend started early Thursday with a trip to the Ventura County Fair with my friend Nikki and her family. It was her 35th Birthday and she celebrated with some rides and some stinky farm animals, and anyone who knows Nikki knows how much she loved that! That evening, a bunch of her friends went to Buca di Beppo for her birthday dinner.

Friday, I took my little sister, Erin, to see Journey to the Center of the Earth. If you like Brendan Fraser action movies, this one will be right up your alley. Friday night, I watched the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics. I stayed up as long as I could, but missed the end.

Saturday morning was another long run day. We did 13 miles. I walked part of it, but I still finished with a pretty good time, so I'm not too worried about the marathon. I know I can do it now! I am very ready to be done with these long runs though! Less than 3 weeks left.

Saturday night, I had a Girl's Night out with some friends from church. We went down to Laguna Beach for The Pageant of the Masters. What is it you ask? From the website -
"Ninety minutes of "living pictures" - incredibly faithful art re-creations of classical and contemporary works with real people posing to look exactly like their counterparts in the original pieces. An outdoor amphitheater, professional orchestra, original score, live narration, intricate sets, sophisticated lighting, expert staff, and hundreds of dedicated volunteers have won recognition for the Pageant as the best presentation of its kind."

Sunday was teaching the kids at church and going to church. Then a long nap...then more Olympics....then rest!

One more video....

This one will just make you laugh...

http://www.funnyjunk.com/movies/54/Farting+Preacher+Two/

Long Time, No See

It's been a while since updating the blog. Here's the latest...

Molly is doing well. I think she is adapting to being blind, although I don't think she likes it much. She still goes pretty slow most of the time and she doesn't play with her toy much anymore, but in general, she's still happy sweet Molly.

Our marathon training is going pretty well. Last week, we upped our mileage to 12.4 miles (kinda by mistake because we didn't know the run was so long until we checked a GPS). Last week, I ran the whole thing and my knees hurt for several days afterward. This week, we did the same distance and I walked part of it and my knees felt better. This weekend we're going for the full distance of 13.1 miles. Less than 4 weeks to go!

That's about the scoop for now...not much news to report. Here are a couple really cool videos worth watching. I hope you love them like I do. They'll make you feel good!

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=df9413fcab709c655791

http://www.maniacworld.com/twin-baby-moose-in-sprinkler.html

Molly Update

Thank you so much for all your prayers! We had one answered last week and we were able to go see the doggie ophthalmologist. She was very knowledgeable and was able to see Molly as an emergency patient. Unfortunately, what she found out isn't very good news. Molly has retina deterioration in both eyes that is not fixable. She has one of two diseases, either PRA or SARDS (if you want more info on those, I can refer you to some websites), which can happen in cocker spaniels around middle age (Molly is part cocker and 6 years old). She will eventually be completely blind, if she isn't already. It is happening very quickly and she and I are both having to adjust, but we'll be fine. The doctors and nurses were very encouraging that dogs adapt to being blind very easily because they use their other senses so much. She'll probably be way more well adjusted sooner than I will be. They suggested a book for me to read to give me some more tips on living with a blind dog. So far, Molly is still bumping into things, but she's doing ok. She's getting there! Keep praying that her sense of smell gets better. Right now, her nose still doesn't work very well!

10 Miles, 4th of July, and Molly Update

This weekend, we ran 10 miles. For some reason, 10 miles hurt a lot more than 9 miles last week. We all did it, but we all seem to be under attack of the enemy to keep us from being able to continue training. Whether it be sickness, soreness, injury, finances, time, stress or something else, we're all determined to keep going and not get beaten down. We have 7 weeks and God willing, we'll make it!

I spent part of 4th of July in Goleta with my college friend Jon, his wife Katy, new baby Caden, and Jon's family. Unfortunately, the nearby fires made for a smoky day, but the BBQ was good and Caden was adorable. I even came home in time to see some fireworks.

Now for the Molly update. As some of you know, my doggie Molly was run through a bunch of tests yesterday to determine why she is losing her eyesight. She's only 6 1/2, so it seems pretty early for it to be happening. I don't know if she has progressively been losing her sight, but it's become very obvious in the past week that she can no longer see very well. She has trouble with stairs, bumps into things, and clings to me to figure out where she is. So far, my vet determined that she does not have glaucoma, makes tears fine, has no external abrasions on her eyes, but does have some irregularity behind her right eye. He does not think she sees out of her right eye at all and sees minimally out of her left. The irregularity could be caused by a tumor behind the eye, but that's just a guess. My vet made an emergency appointment with a dog opthalmologist, and the first prayer of an appointment for this week for her was answered. We're able to see the opthalmologist tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm learning not to leave stuff on the floor that she can trip over or run into and I'm learning to be more patient and take it easy with her as she feels her way around. Please pray that it's a simple problem and easily treated. I am trusting God to work in her life.

What a weekend!

Cake!

My pre-birthday weekend was a lot of fun! My Aunt Joyce and grandpa were in town for my birthday party so my sister and I got to spend a lot of time with them. We laughed and a had a good time shopping and eating all weekend long. One of the funniest moments was watching my 94 yr old grandpa giggle as he watched my sister and me try to light a fire in her new fire pit in her backyard. He laughed at us until he tried it and realized how difficult it was....he was joking that when "you try to start a fire in a pit, you can't, but throw just one match out the window and the whole forest goes up!" Anyway, it was fun to see him giggle.

Saturday morning, my 1/2 marathon training continued. We ran just over 9 miles and it took us almost 2 hours. All 5 of us completed the whole course and we felt pretty good after that. After I got home, my family and I drove up to Santa Barbara for lunch on the pier and enjoyed the beautiful day.

Sunday, grandpa and I went to church while Jenny and Aunt Joyce helped my "Princess" friends set-up my birthday party. The party was very nice. It was a lovely outdoor garden party and they really made it special. I was so honored to have all those people there. I got so many nice gifts too!

Grandpa and meAunt Joyce, me, Grandpa, Jenny
Beautiful setting!

I have lots more pictures of the party. If you would like to see them, send me an email or post a comment here and I'll send you a link!

Surprise!

Here's me looking all surprised with the Admiral.

Yesterday, my boss had a branch lunch planned. I thought it was a little weird that he only gave us 2 choices of food and that we were even having a branch lunch to discuss work stuff, because we never do that. Anyway, in the morning, my friend told me that where we were going for lunch had an award's ceremony planned with the exact same menu items as our food choices....so I figured someone in my branch was getting an award. What I didn't realize was that it was me. It finally dawned on me when I walked into the room and saw my parents and my sister sitting there. What a surprise! Anyway, it's a nice fancy glass diamond shaped thing and a framed certificate with a really nice writeup. It is nice to feel appreciated!

Here's my family. No awards luncheon is too good for bunny ears!

Monterey Again!

Over the weekend, I went to visit my sweet college friend Jenn again. We had a great time. We went to see the new Indiana Jones movie, saw a 3-D IMAX movie at the new IMAX theater in Monterey, took Molly for a walk along the beach and saw jellyfish on the sand and otters off the coast (they were so cute!), ate good food and just hung out and relaxed. It was a lot of fun.

I also decided to cut my hair finally. It 's now shoulder length, which is easier to deal with for going to the gym and running and stuff. Which, by the way, we just increased our time and distance to 6.5 miles. I did it today without stopping, but I am tired and sore! I somehow managed to hurt my neck again over the weekend, but with my run today, everything else hurts more and my neck isn't bothering me as much. You take the good with the bad I suppose, and you take ibuprofen! And in other good news, my sister has a new job. She starts tomorrow and is very excited!

Memorial Day Weekend

I had a fun filled Memorial Day weekend with lots of eating, exercising and hanging out with friends.

Friday night, my friends Nikki and Kim, and Nikki's daughter and her friend and I went to Simi Valley to Nikki's favorite pizza place, called Chi Chi's. It was some yummy pizza. We went to the mall afterwards and walked around, getting a piece of chocolate at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

Saturday, I walked up Laguna Peak with Nikki and Kim. For those of you who don't know, it's about 5 miles round trip, up and down a steep hill near Pt. Mugu. After that, my running partner, Kelly and my sister and I went on a mission for a burger. Kelly found this list of the top 20 burgers in the country and she is determined to eat them all. We were supposed to go to this place in Hollywood, called Ketchup (even though it's not on the list), but they weren't open for lunch, so we went to Houston's in Santa Monica, which is on the list. Yum! It was an excellent burger with great service. I recommend it. I was doing a search for it online and found out that celebrities eat there too, not that that's important or anything. So after that, we became real tourists and stood in line for 30 minutes for cupcakes at Sprinkles in Beverly Hills. It is the thing to do now apparently. See the picture above...

Sunday, I got to help teach the kids at church and then I enjoyed the continuing series in the Book of Acts that we are going through at church. Sunday was also a day of rest, from both pigging out and exercising.

Monday, I got up early to meet my running/walking group. In case you haven't heard, I signed up to do a 1/2 marathon through Disneyland on Labor Day weekend! So I am training my little shoes off nowadays. We ran 5.5 miles on Monday and we're doing well, right on schedule with aches and pains and all. But hey, no pain, no gain, right? Right...ask me tomorrow after another 5.5. miles tonight....anyway, after my run, my friends, Kim B, Karen, Karen's friend Marilyn and my sister and I went up to Santa Barbara to see the chalk drawing festival, I Madonarri. There was some artsy talent and creativity there, which I can admire because I have little. Then we ate at a restaurant in Summerland on the way home. All in all, a great weekend!

101 Things

My parents came to visit this weekend. It is always a challenge to figure out what to do while they are here. Lately, we eat out, a lot. We nap, a lot. We do yard work at Jenny's house. We usually watch a NASCAR race.

So this time, I had some more ideas. I wanted to go see the musical "Wicked" down in Hollywood, but by the time we looked at tickets, they didn't have any of the cheap ones left. I also had a list that I pulled off the internet of 101 things to do and see in Ventura County. We made a good dent in the list. We went to the Union Oil Museum in Santa Paula, got a bag of fresh oranges from a Fillmore fruit stand, found the Fillmore fish hatchery, saw the Ojai Valley from the stop along the Dennison Grade, saw downtown Ojai, did the drive from Santa Paula to Fillmore, found the Motorcycle Monument:The Warning, and saw a view of the city from Grant Park. All in all, we had a really nice relaxing weekend, and we ate out a lot, napped some, did some yard work, and even watched the NASCAR race Saturday night.

News

The trip to Georgia and South Carolina was nice. It was so good to see my old college buds, Aaron and his wife, Larry, Anthony, Jeff, and of course Mike and his new wife Jenny. The wedding was beautiful and the scenery was incredible. I wish them the best.

I also got to see part of my family that I don't get to see very often. My Uncle Rich, Aunt Sara, pregnant cousin Christine and her husband Frank, cousin Keith and his two boys Ethan and Colin, and Keith's girlfriend Nicole and daughter Natalie. We ate some good food and got to experience a little of life in the South.

And, here's the latest, and unfortunately, it's not great news. After a lot of talking, Marcus and I ended our relationship last week. There isn't much to say, so I won't go into many details here. I am sad and hurt, but I know it's for the best. Thank you to all my friends and family who have been so supportive.

On top of that, my sister lost her job on Friday. What a week we have had. Fortunately, mom and dad are coming this week, so there is something to look forward to and be excited about. Please pray for peace for my family. It seems we are supposed to go through these trials right now and God is teaching us something. We know He is in control, even though it's difficult right now.

Women's Retreat and Trip #2

Clockwise from top left: Cora, Kelly, Nikki, Kim, me

My church had a Women's Retreat over the weekend at the Hyatt in Westlake Village. Our theme was "Beautiful One." We are beautiful inside and out and this weekend helped us to remember that and refresh us. We are so blessed to have such wonderful ladies at our church. They gave us sunglasses, as you can see above and we modeled them beautifully! It was a really great weekend of healing and learning what God has for us.

They played this video at the conference. I hope you all enjoy it and get as much out of it as I did. It is so awesome to know how God sees us is not how we see ourselves. He sees that we are so much more beautiful!

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=940d29d99efe8d53f17d&page=1&viewtype=&category=mr

This Wednesday, Marcus and I leave for Georgia and South Carolina. We are visiting my uncle and his family, Marcus' old friend from a long time ago, and going to one of my college friend's wedding. It will be a full trip, but a lot of fun and we're looking forward to it! Please pray for a safe trip and lots of fun!

We're Back!

Pat, Suellen, me, Marcus

We're back from our trip to Virginia! We had a great time. After spending an hour and a half on the phone with American Airlines, we got a flight and made it there earlier than expected. Marcus' friends, Patrick and Suellen, are a wonderful couple and we wish them happiness in their new marriage.

We got there Thursday evening and Pat cooked us a really good dinner of bleu cheese stuffed chicken breasts. Pat's mom and stepdad had dinner with us too. We were all pretty tired, so we went to bed fairly early that night.

Friday morning, we had errands to run for the wedding. Pat's best man, Randy and his wife Teri showed up that morning too. Then Pat and Marcus went for a motorcycle ride. Then we all got ready to go to the rehearsal at their church, which was a very old Episcopalian church. Friday night, the rehearsal dinner was at Pat and Suellen's house, where Pat's mom cooked a wonderful dinner of Beef Wellington for almost 40 people. It was so good and we were eating leftovers for a while.

Saturday was the wedding day. We tried to keep Pat's mind occupied by playing Pat's Playstation Rock 'n Roll game. That is fun! You try to play the guitar or sing and keep up with the game. It was funny to watch us all try to score points. We were having so much fun, we were almost late to the church. We got there on time though, and the wedding was very nice. The reception was at Stratford Hall, where Robert E. Lee was born in the Plantation's library. It was a nice place and a nice dinner. They packed up all the leftovers and we took them all home with us. We spent the evening snacking and watching Ratatouille.

Sunday, we went to Washington DC to go to the Air and Space Museum. We did a quick walk-through and saw an IMAX movie and then we headed back home. We were all getting pretty tired. Pat and Marcus worked on the motorcycles in the garage for a couple of hours and Suellen and I spent the evening chatting.

Monday, Pat and Marcus worked on the bikes some more, then we all went for a ride through the country. It was nice. We were still tired from the long weekend, so we just relaxed the rest of the evening watching tv and eating spaghetti, playing with their giant dog, Winston, and their 3-legged cat, Mirabelle.

We flew home yesterday on an uneventful flight and were able to take a nap. It's back to work today after a wonderful time away from reality.

We're Going!

Well, our flights got cancelled, but we got on another flight. Instead of Burbank to Dallas to Richmond, now we're going from LAX to Washington Dulles. Oh well, no biggie. Praise God we got a flight and we'll be there tomorrow!

Will we or won't we...

Marcus and I are playing the waiting game today to see if our flight to Virginia has been cancelled for tomorrow. Since we're flying through Dallas, on an MD-80, the chances are pretty high, but maybe we'll get a newly inspected aircraft that is ready to go and our flight will be fine. Please pray that we have a safe and uneventful flight.

We're headed there for a wedding of one of Marcus' friends. It should be a fun time and hopefully the rain won't come like it says it's going to. I'll post pictures of the trip later...if we go!

Garage Sale!

This was my garage last night after we prepared for a garage sale. I figured getting married and moving in with Marcus is a good reason to go through my old stuff. Plus, my apartment complex was advertising it as Ventura County's largest garage sale. Well, it was kind of a bust. There weren't very many apartments participating, and there weren't many buyers out there. I did get rid of some stuff though, and I took the rest to Goodwill. And yes....all of those stuffed animals were mine....bye bye stuff....

Easter Celebrations!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! Marcus and I went to two church celebrations. My church had two services on Saturday night, so we went to the later one. Sunday morning, I took care of the kids (13 of them!) at my church for the first service, then hurried over to catch most of the service that Marcus' church put on at the old beautiful Camarillo Ranch House. It was a gorgeous spring day in sunny southern California and a wonderful day to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Lots of Good Stuff

I guess a month is long enough to keep everyone waiting on the blog news, so here's what's been happening. These last two weeks have been especially busy.

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21

Sierras near Kernville, CA

Marcus and I are back together and enjoying our lives with each other. Last weekend, we went to Kernville, CA to get away and see some snow. While there, we decided to make it official to spend our lives together and he proposed. I said yes! We tried to get a picture of us at that moment, but the camera didn't work, so this is one of us a little bit later. Molly went with us and had a fun time in the snow and at the hotel and even though she really didn't like riding through the curves in the car, she did well. It was a wonderful trip.

We don't have any details of a wedding or date yet because we want something small, but I'll post it if we decide to do anything.

So that was the big news until last week when my family found out that there might be something wrong with my dad's heart. He went for a chest x-ray for coughing a lot after being sick with the flu. The radiologist said his lungs were fine, but that he may have a dilated aorta. A CT scan was ordered and that report came back and said that he did have a dilated, dissected aorta and once the cardiac surgeon in Boise was consulted, the recommendation to have immediate surgery was made. We found out about this on Tuesday of last week. Wednesday morning, Jenny and I flew to Boise to meet with my parents and help check my dad into the hospital. We got him all settled and we were all getting used to the idea (although we didn't like it) that my dad was going to have open heart surgery the next morning. When the cardiac surgeon finally came by about 6:00 Wednesday evening, he said he was "underwhelmed" at the scans and since my dad had no symptoms of feeling bad, he really didn't think my dad would need surgery and didn't have what the others thought he had. He ordered another CT scan and an echocardiogram to make sure, but the results showed that my dad was fine and by 11:00 Thursday morning, we were on the road back to my parents' house in Twin Falls with my dad driving and no worse for the wear (except for a couple of bruises from where they tried to start an IV). It was a true miracle that he did not have to have surgery and God gets all the credit for it. We had many people praying for him and I thank you all for that.

God is so good and He has done exceedingly and abundantly more than I could have ever have asked for my family and me! Praise Him!

Happy Valentine's Day!

1 Corinthians 13

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Wow! What a weekend!

Wow! What a weekend! It started Saturday morning with a baby shower for the director of Children's Ministry at my church. She's asked me to help out at church when she goes on maternity leave. The shower was lovely. She got a lot of cute stuff for her baby boy, Jaden, expected in March sometime. We played several games, and none of them involved eating baby food! Thank goodness!

After the baby shower, I got to go see the Hanna Montana concert/movie in 3-D! It was crazy! There were so many little girls there. It was out of control! Erin and Michelle loved it. Heather and I loved watching Erin and Michelle, even though we couldn't sing a single Hanna Montana, Miley Cyrus, or Jonas Brothers song - they knew all the words.

Erin and me
Heather and Michelle

Sunday, I went to my sister's house and watched the Super Bowl. I can't say much for the commercials, but at least the game was exciting at the end. My sister's little dog Mulder is doing really well now that he's on meds and he's eating like a champ. I must say though, that one of the funnest parts of the day was flipping over to Animal Planet during the boring parts of the game to watch Puppy Bowl IV! That is the cutest thing ever! It's 3 hours of watching puppies play! Now that's entertainment!

The Most Anticipated Movie Event Captured in Disney Digital 3-D

This weekend, I "get" to take my little sister, her little sister, and her little sister's big sister to see the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Best of Both Worlds Concert/Movie in 3-D. Please pray for me as I will be surrounded by hundreds of screaming teenage girls!

There is a Person Inside Me....

Mountains of Ventura County

There is a Person Inside Me

Who Wants

to invent something

to be a Big Sister

to pay off my loans

to meet Colin Powell

to fly in space

to write a book

to use my degree

to take my dog for a swim

I found the above on an ad in a magazine during my freshman year of college. I pinned it up on my wall and looked at it every once in a while. It's been hanging up in my home office for 7 years now. I still like it, and I still look at those things as some really good goals. I think I have 3 of them down, 4 if Molly liked to swim. The rest may come, but I have some new goals too.



My list would be ammended to add:

to lead someone to Christ

to become a wife and mother

to give more than I get

to learn from the past and let it go

to be thankful in all things

Great News!

Great news all around for me this week! Praise God for He is Good All the Time!

Thank you again for all the prayers for Mulder! He is doing much better. He has been diagnosed with something called Addison's disease, which means some of his homones are all out of whack. With medication, he will be fine though. He is eating again, more and more each day, and he's playing with his toys again, which is what Mulder loves to do, so the old Mulder is almost back. He will have to take the meds for this disease and for his heart for the rest of his life, but it should be a long happy one from now on!

I finished my taxes early this year and thank goodness, because I'm getting money back! That feels so great! I can't wait to see that show up in my bank account!

Church was great this week. We're going through the book of Acts, and how to be a Church like the one in Acts. I taught the kids this week too, which was really fun until a strange unknown lady came in to try and help. She left without too much hassle, but we weren't sure what to do about her at first.

This morning, a couple co-workers and I filled another coworker's office with 150 balloons for his 50th b-day. That was fun! He was shocked!

After many days of rain, and even snow in the hills close by that I can see from my apartment, we finally have some sun! It's a chilly, but beautiful day out there!

Mulder

It's been a rough couple of weeks because my sister's dog has been very sick. Here's the latest update and thank you so much to everyone who has been praying!

My mom flew into town last Thursday to help Jenny and me (mostly for mom-support, you know how that is). My mom and I took him to the vet on Friday to test his liver to make sure it was ok to put him under to take his bad tooth out. We decided to take the tooth out that day without finishing the liver test because we knew the tooth needed to come out and it would help to start his recovery if we took the risk. We prayed that day until we got the news that he woke up, which he did. He had a nasty tooth removed that had a rotten root, and then another small tooth removed. It took a while for the anesethia to wear off and his mouth hurt for a while, so we continued to feed him with a little syringe. He still wouldn't drink water either, which really worried us. We kept up the feeding over the weekend, but he wasn't getting much better and he still lost weight. We just couldn't get him to drink anything on his own and he walks away when we come at him with any food. We got worried again yesterday because he kept shaking too, which he's done off and on since the surgery. We took him to the vet again and he said we could keep trying and keep pumping him full of liquids and food ourselves, or we could take him in for a couple days and put him on an intravenous dose of liquids. The vet also took another blood test and urine sample. My mom and I pumped him full yesterday, but he still wouldn't drink. He would go to the water bowl and we knew he was thirsty, but he just wouldn't do it. That was, until last night when we had a major breakthrough! We sat down to dinner and Jenny tried and tried, she eventually got a different bowl of water and finally he took a drink on his own! We were all crying and so happy! It was a miracle! He drank and drank because he was so thirsty. Then later in the evening, with a little persuasion, he drank again, and again this morning. He still needs coaxing, but he's getting there. The food is another story though, but we're praying that he wants to eat again soon too.

So here's what we know so far. His bad tooth is gone and his mouth is healing fine. His liver levels were fine with the first part of the liver test, but he still needs the second part to be done. We'll find out the results of the blood and urine tests this morning. His heart is enlarged, but with medication, he can live a long time. He is currently off the heart medication right now to see if that is effecting his appetite and causing the shaking, but he'll need to go back on it sometime.

Prayers are needed for a completely healthy liver, a clear blood and urine test, breakthroughs mentally and physically so he will want to eat and drink again and begin to put weight on again (he's so skinny), and the ability to take the heart meds with no side-effects. Also, pray for my mom, who's home with him now, that he doesn't fight the food she's giving him. He has a tendency to be a little feisty when that syringe comes at him!

The prayers are working and please keep them up. We believe he will be healed and that he will eat on his own again in Jesus' name!

More Christmas Pictures

My Aunt Joyce gave my mom, sister and me gloves and scarves. Here we are modeling them.

Here's Grandpa, modeling his new robe.
6 Dogs!