What a day!

I had a great day today. In spite of my original plans being cancelled this morning, it was a GORGEOUS day weather-wise outside. I went to the gym to work out, and did a BMI test again to see how I've progressed in this weight loss program. My BMI (body mass index - the percentage of body fat I have) went down 1%. It sure is encouraging when you eat right and exercise to be able to see results quickly. From the gym, I cam home, got ready, and took my husband his lunch (for today and the next 20 days that he needs his own lunch.) I buy him microwaveable sandwiches from Sam's Club... he enjoys the Philly Cheesesteak subs, and this time will try Angus Cheeseburgers. Anyway, I enjoyed the time with him during lunch. After he finished eating, we went out to the front of the dealership. He pointed out his manager, Ron's, demo drive vehicle... a Dodge Ram with a Viper engine. That may not mean much to some of you ladies that read this, but it basically translates to MORE POWER!!! Chris asked Ron if he could take me for a ride in it, but Ron said no b/c he didn't know if it would even make it to the gas station around the corner, the gas was so low. So, instead, he said, "But you can take your wife for a ride in the corvette." As you can imagine, my face broke out into a HUGE smile! Today, I got to ride in a corvette for the first time in my life! IT WAS SWEET! (and fast... I love fast!) I didn't get to drive it (seeing as it's priced at $40K, and I wouldn't want to wreck it and have to pay that kind of money for nothing.) I sure did enjoy the ride, though, and Chris enjoyed the driving. Here is 2 pictures for you:

The Corvette

Chris and I standing with the corvette in front of the dealership.

After that, Chris had to get back to work, and I had errands to run. I went by my work office and picked up some paperwork for additional work that I am doing next week. I received an e-mail from my cousin who is working with Campus Crusade in a foreign country, and a couple of their converts led 4 other people to Christ! How exciting to see the fruit of your labor, and those that you lead to Christ learning and teaching others also! I am thrilled at the way God is working in & through the lives of those that are working in this ministry.

I then went shopping for my mom's 60th birthday present. All of the kids are going in together on it, and I was asked to do the actual shopping, so I got to do that today. Just before I got home, I received the call from Chris that the closing went well, and there were no problems. I am just so excited, I just can't hardly believe that it is really true, and that we FINALLY do not have to worry about that any more.

Now I am at home, blogging, and rejoicing in God's goodness to us, and sharing our blessings with you all! It's been a great day, and I'm thankful to God for "daily loading us with blessings."


Psalm 40:5
Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

IT IS FINISHED!!!!

IT IS FINISHED!!!! Praise the Lord!!!!!!!!! The closing on our house is done and we no longer own a home.

The closing went through without any trouble, and we now have $2,000 less a month to pay in housing costs, as well as having almost ALL of our credit card debt paid off! Praise the Lord!!!

Today is the BIG DAY!

Well, this is it! Today is the day! (I can say that now that it is 12:12 AM, Friday, March 30th.) Again, I can't sleep, so here I am blogging. (What else do you do in the middle of the night when you can't sleep?!?!) Today is the day set for the closing of our house in Maryland. The closing is set for 4:00 pm. Everything SHOULD be in order (**please, Lord, let everything go smoothly!**) I am so thankful for the way the Lord has provided through all of this. Yes, we went through some VERY difficult times, but during the past 3 months, the Lord has TOTALLY turned our financial situation 180 degrees around. Chris and I stand amazed at what the Lord is doing! Back to the closing... our friend is authorized to sign the final sheet of paper for us, and the title company is going to wire the money directly into our bank acct. Wow - what a blessing that is. It will be so nice to be able to transfer that money right away and be able to pay off those blasted credit cards! :-)

Also, I know that I have said this many times before on this blog, but I hope I never get tired of giving thanks to the Lord for all that he has done for us. In this particular instance, it is God's provision through Chris' job. He finally did it this month... he sold enough cars to qualify for the extra $5,000 bonus, and barring some kind of freak thing where another salesman sells 6 more cars in the next 2 days, Chris should win. He actually sold one extra car than what he had to sell, and has 2 more selling days left in the month. I never dreamed that we would be given this much money. We are so excited to have now the opportunity to GIVE in a way that we never have been able to before this.

We were able to buy plane tickets for our trip to FL next week for my family's get-together to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday! This was a HUGE blessing as it will save us from 24 hours of driving to be in FL for about 24 hours, if we were lucky. This way, we won't have to put all those miles on my poor car, nor will we have to spend all that time driving, AND we will get to spend more time with my family. I am excited to see them all. We haven't seen Steve & Kathryn since their wedding in June 2005. We haven't seen my parents since Labor Day weekend right before we moved. We were able to visit with Nathan and Caroline a little over Thanksgiving when we were in Pensacola for Chris' family gathering. I haven't seen Heidi and her family or Greg and his family since Aksana was born in Feb. 2006, and Chris hasn't seen them since Steve's wedding. It will be nice to have us all together without being so busy with wedding preparations (which is usually what gets us all together at the same time these days... but only one wedding left for my immediate family - Nathan and Caroline in June.)

I have lost 10 lbs. now on my weight loss plan. I am super excited about all this! I am thankful that the Lord has helped me be INCREDIBLY disciplined with my eating... Nutrisystem has really worked well for me. Of course, going to the Y and working out 3-4 days a week has helped tremendously and I already feel better.

Praise the Lord for the way he works in our lives... even through the valleys, as well as on the mountain tops. I was thinking about all of the financial stuff today, and was realizing that all of this money wouldn't have been such a blessing to us (nor do I think we would have been as wise with our money as we are now) had we not gone through the 4 months of barely (if being able to pay them at all) paying bills and not having work that we got paid for doing, and the other trials that we went through recently. We now have a much better understanding that it is not our money, it is just God's money that He is entrusting to us to give us the opportunity to be good stewards with what He has given. I pray that we will always be found faithful, and that we will use this money to help others learn about our Great God!

Another Military Card

Since Dora requested that I send her the image "Godspeed" so that she could show it to her mom, I am posting the card that I made to send to her for that purpose. (Dora's brother is in Iraq right now.) I just bought the "Soldier..." stamp the other day, and love it. Anyway, here is a salute to our soldiers:

"Soldier~Because of your bravery, courage, and sacrifice, liberty & freedom are still ours. We are deeply grateful. GODSPEED"

Inside: "You are in my thoughts and prayers."
Back: "Missing you"

Military Pride

In honor of our military, I have added a few graphics to my blog. These serve also as a reminder to pray for our President and our military. I also want to honor those that I know (family especially) that served/are serving in the military:
My dad - Navy - Vietnam War
2 brothers-in-law - Marines
Another brother-in-law - Air Force
We also have a couple of close friends that have served/are serving in the military - Jeff W. in the Air Force currently, and Pete M. former Marine who fought in Iraq. (See his wife's post honoring him here.) Also, my good friends, the LaFlammes, have Rodney's dad who recently arrived back home from Iraq, and the Kinnan's - Dan just went back to Iraq from being on leave to see their newborn son.
I am sure that MANY of you either have family members and/or friends that are serving us and our country in the military. I just want you to know that I am VERY thankful for their sacrifice and for the freedom that those sacrifices offer me. Please continue to pray for our military, and their family members.

GODSPEED

"GODSPEED"

So, it's after 3am, and for whatever reason, tonight I can't sleep. Maybe I drank too much tea today and the caffiene got to me. Anyway, since I'm up, I figured I'd share with you what it is I do at 3am when I can't sleep!

Here is another card I made for our family member that is at Basic Training. A friend of mine owns this stamp set, which is now retired (meaning that I can't get it unless I come across it on ebay or something.) Being the good friend that she is, she stamped several variations of the images and sent them to me, so that I could use them. Since the set is retired, I am allowed to make copies of the images, which is nice. I cut out all of the images from the paper she sent, then put vellum over top to try to hide all the lines from the layers of paper. The word "GODSPEED" is stamped in red and embossed with clear powder on the vellum. The second picture I played with a little and you can see it stands out a little bit more.

Well, with that, I am off to bed to try to get some "shut-eye" before I have to get up for work in 3 hours! YIKES! I hope you enjoy my card, and remember to pray for our servicemen and women that sacrifice on a daily basis to provide us with our freedom. Thank you to those of you in the military!

Spring is here!!

Last Wednesday, March 21, officially marked the first day of spring. This tree was right on time... Tuesday night the branches were bare (seriously, I noticed, because I was so anxious for signs of spring!) and Wednesday morning, it looked like this! Literally, overnight, the tree burst into bloom!

I managed to take a couple seconds on my way to work one morning to capture this sunrise on film... well digitally, anyway. I love the flag in the picture, as well.


So - today, it is 82 degrees out! I'm lovin' this weather, but unfortunately, our apt. complex doesn't really have much of a nice spot to be outside, so I am wasting this beautiful day indoors, blogging! :-) I am so thankful for the beautiful weather!

Chris made it home from his sales conference, and was very encouraged. He has done so well (please forgive my bragging!), that the company that did the conference interviewed and videotaped Chris as a testimonial to their sales training. The speaker at the conference "took to" Chris pretty well. When he found out how well Chris was doing, he told Chris that if Chris implemented the things that he learned at the conference, in 3-5 years he should never have to take another "up" (customer coming on the lot at the dealership that does not have a salesman to work with). He should be busy with all repeat customers and referrals from his customers. The speaker also told Chris that by that point, Chris should have so many of his own customers that the dealership should have to hire a secretary and finance person just to work with Chris' customers! That is very encouraging! Now, of course, we don't know if that will happen, or what God has in store for us in the future. It is encouraging to see my husband so successful, though, and all the praise and glory go to the Lord for bringing in to Chris the people that will buy the cars. We are so thankful that the Lord led Chris to this job, and don't want to lose sight of that!

Yesterday, we were able to join another couple and their 4 kiddos for lunch after church. It was fun getting to know them better. We have been able to do this for the last couple of weeks, and it has been nice getting to know the couples with whom we attend church. Thursday, I was able to have lunch with a friend, and thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship with her, as well. It is nice to be making friends now.
Chris also started playing basketball with some of the men/college students after church on Sunday nights. He has really enjoyed being able to PLAY sports, rather than be coaching or in charge of refereeing the games. It's good for him to meet the guys that way, as well, just as I get to meet the ladies at stamping parties!

On a totally different note, my brother, Nathan, and his fiancee, Caroline, have made the decision to complete this semester of school, rather than sit out the rest of the semester due to Caroline's father's sudden passing. Please continue to keep them in your prayers, as I'm sure this will be difficult for them. Nathan will have one week to make up, Caroline, 2 weeks. Please also continue to pray for the LaChance family as they continue to grieve the loss of their loved one.

Stampin' Party Cards 03-22-07

Here are some cards that I stamped at a stampin' party I went to on Thursday. We made 3 cards each of the get well & sympathy cards, and then 1 each of 2 Easter cards. Since I don't send Easter cards, I made the flower one generic to enable me to add sayings for later use. The first card shown in each of the sets of 3 is the one made exactly like the samples. The other cards are my own variations using creative license! :-)

BTW - at the party they had lasagna, garlic bread, and a decadent chocolate brownie dessert! All of these are close to being my favorites...especially the bread. However, I was VERY disciplined and didn't eat ONE BITE OF ANYTHING!! (I was very proud of myself, in case you couldn't tell!) :-)

The card below is one I made for a family member of ours that is in Basic Training for the military right now. I am excited to get my new stamping order because I bought another patriotic set to use for the cards I send to that person. I apologize for the color... I took the picture without using the flash, and the artificial light caused it to have a yellow undertone. It looked much better in real life, believe me! :-)

"Some Gave All"

I'm BACK!

Well, it's been a while since I last posted. Things have been rather busy around here it seems, but yet I still don't feel like I get anything done. How does that work? :-) Actually, my lack of blogging is indication that I'm doing something OTHER than sitting on my tail on the computer... like EXERCISING! Yep, I know it's hard to believe, but it's TRUE! Read on for more details...

Here is the update on what is going on with us:

unwanted guest

Yep, you guessed it... we have had a mouse in the house. He apparently like saltines, ramen noodles (thankfully they don't cost much!), and some of my NutriSystem lunch bars (see below for more about NutriSystem.) I was a little bitter about the NS bars... I paid good money for those! Fortunately, one I was able to salvage by cutting off the end, and the other I cut in half and ate the rest that did NOT get nibbled on by our furry "friend." I guess this is a little payback from the Lord for not being sympathetic to my friend, Beth. Beth HATES mice, and she had one very tricky one in her house for 4 & 1/2 weeks. She tried glue traps, which the little thing pulled against the base of the counter until he got loose... several times. Finally she bought the real mouse traps and got him. Now, our mouse got the treatment you see above. However, apparently my mouse was small, because as you can see, the trap is licked clean, but the mouse did not spring it (twice.) I know D-Con works very well... if the mouse eats it. Since I wasn't sure that the mouse was eating it, after the first time the trap got licked clean, I mixed the peanut butter WITH d-con to make sure he ate it. He did, and we haven't seen signs of him since! Praise the Lord! (There have been no nasty smells, either, so we are hoping he died outside somewhere.) How do mice get in houses anyway? :-)

my weight loss program

I know I've already made mention of the NutriSystem program, but first of all, the exercise part that I am doing with it! Last Wednesday, Chris and I joined the YMCA. We had discovered, Monday night, that it is within about 2 minutes drive of our house... very conveniently located! :-) It is about a year old, and is very nice. We both started working out there. Last Saturday (Happy St. Patrick's Day, for any of you that care about that holiday), I met with a personal trainer (for FREE with membership) that set up a workout program with me. It's a 12 week program: 1st 4 weeks - 3 days - 30 min cardio, plus lower back and abdominal weight training - light weight, lots of reps. 2nd 4 weeks, as above, plus more strength training targeting other areas of the body... 3rd 4 weeks, more of the same, plus more strength training exercises. I can always add in days of cardio, so I am doing at least 4 days/week right now. I met a lady today that I think will be my buddy on M/W/F. Her name is Deborah. Man, time flies when you're talking WHILE you exercise!

Now for those of you who really KNOW me, know that I don't really care for exercise AT ALL! But, I'm actually EXCITED about this. This is the first time that I am DETERMINED to lose the weight... but more importantly, be healthy, feel good, feel like I LOOK good, and make these things HABITS!

So... here's the REST of the program (for now): nutrisystem

Here's how it works... You get a NS entree for breakfast, and add 1 serving of fruit and 1 serving of dairy or protein. (I usually eat yogurt and drink 1/2 cup of juice for my servings)

Sampling of Breakfast entrees
Lunch: NS Lunch entree, 1 dairy or protein, salad, 2 tbsp fat-free dressing
(My salad consists of romaine lettuce, raw spinach, mushrooms and cucumbers, with cottage cheese for the dairy/protein and basil&balsamic vinaigrette)

Snack: 1 fruit, 1 dairy/protein
(I usually eat cottage cheese with 1/2 cup no sugar added fruit)

Sampling of Lunch entrees

Dinner: NS dinner entree, 2 servings of vegetables, 1 salad or fruit, 1 fat(I vary this a little more, but usually eat cooked carrots, broccoli, cauliflower or green beans, or a combination of them, then fruit. I use 1 slice of American cheese for my fat if I'm eating broccoli and/or cauliflower. I'm not sure if that counts, but it does for me! :-) )

Sampling of Dinner entrees
Dessert: NS dessert
Sampling of desserts

I drink at least 64 ounces of water per day (most days) and green tea for a little variety. I can drink as much tea as I want, but usually limit it to drinking tea with dinner. I also have mixed things up a little bit to fit my lifestyle. I have moved some things around... for example, I eat more of the dinner extras at lunchtime, and eat my dessert after lunch. That is when I am most tempted to snack... when I'm at work and there are yummy (junk food type) things around to eat that I normally don't have at home... and I'm feeding kids every couple of hours. I figure it's better to eat it earlier in the day anyway, right?!? :-)

As close as I can figure (as of last Thursday), since I started exercising at the beginning of March, I have lost 6 pounds. I started Nutrisystem on March 12th. So far, I love NS!! It is so easy, you really don't even have to think about it! The food actually tastes good - I only had one thing I didn't like so far - and eating what I am supposed to eat actually fills me up. (I picked my own menu.) I figure that if I can just get used to the right PORTION sizes, I should be OK. The only thing that I DON'T like is that I still have to cook something for Chris, and I don't get to eat with him, since I won't eat after 8pm if I can help it. Other than that, so far, so good.

Chris' work

Chris is still doing an AWESOME job at work. At the risk of sounding like I'm bragging... well, let's face it... I AM! Chris has sold 13 & 1/2 cars (deals) this month so far. Most salesmen average 8 cars a month! Chris had 11 cars out before the second pay period of the month started, which exceeded his goal of getting into double digits before the 15th. As of Tuesday night, he was 5&1/2 cars in front of everyone else at the dealership. Praise the Lord for his provision through this! So, you may ask, "What is Chris' secret?" It's simple. Every day before he gets out of the truck at work, he stops and asks the Lord to help him sell one car today. The Lord has honored that... not every day... but enough to make him very successful at his job. He actually is at a sales conference now in Indianapolis, to which the manager says he NEVER sends salesmen unless they have worked at the dealership for at least a year. The management loves Chris, and are constantly encouraging him, and telling me that they hope he stays around for a LONG time. You don't know how encouraged and proud it makes me to see my husband successful in a field that he has never worked before now. I thank the Lord often for giving Chris good success in this job.

My work

Well, my work should be changing at the end of this month as well. I don't have to work quite as much these days to help financially, so I am actually quitting one of my cases. There are many reasons for this, but it boils down to the fact that I do not feel that I am the best nurse for this particular patient. I get very irritated and frustrated, though I know some things this patient does are not their fault. However, it is getting overwelmingly stressful, and since I don't HAVE to work that case, I'm not going to continue to do it. I will be going full-time at the other case that I am working, I believe, and will be very happy to do so.

Our Maryland House

We received all of the papers to sign from the title company today for our house closing. We are blessed to have a friend in Maryland that is willing, and with our authorization, is also able, to sign the HUD sheet for us so that we do not actually have to be physically present in order to close on the house. Only a little more than one week, and Lord willing, our house will be sold! YEAH!!!

I believe that is about all for now. I think I have pretty much caught up with the events of the past couple of weeks that I've been out of blogging land. Oh, yes, one more thing...

Google Reader

If you have not yet discovered Google Reader, you need to check it out. It is a great time saver for those of you who check multiple blogs on a regular basis. As a matter of fact, it saves so much time, it will allow you extra time to surf for other blogs that might be of interest! :-) Though I do miss going down the list and clicking each individual bookmark, and reading all the comments others leave on people's blogs, Google Reader really has been good for me since I don't have as much free time on my hands now that I'm working out. For those of you who have no idea what Google Reader is, it is a central place where you can subscribe to the blogs that you frequent. Instead of checking every blog every day for updates, you can just go to Google Reader, and it will show you only the ones that you have not read. When you subscribe to a site, make sure you mark the box for "Mark all read." Anyway, it is a great time saver, and thanks to Trisha, who introduced this to me!

More scenes of Kentuckiana

I don't know how much you all will appreciate these, but I'm going to post them anyway. I took most of these pictures a couple weeks ago on a walk I took around our neighborhood. The weather was beautiful (82 degrees), and I just couldn't stay inside. The "lakes" are part of the "lake view" of our apt. complex, however, we can't see them from our building, nor would I consider them "lakes!" There are tons of geese that were on the one pond (and goose "grease" all over the ground that I was stepping very carefully on!) I have a new found fascination with things of which I would not normally take notice, i.e., the fenceline and the old dock. I guess this kind of comes in response to my friend, Jodi, who has a photo blog. She tries to take pictures for every day of the year. I thought this was a really cool idea, but have not done it myself. The idea now keeps me looking for "photo ops" in the mundane of my life. I hope you enjoy them as I have!

The other thing that I have noticed is the sky around here. They tell me that we have a lot of pollution in the air due to being located in a valley. Not real healthy for all of us breathing the air, but it makes for some GREAT sunrises and sunsets! I love the way the sky looks around here... it's beautiful. Of course, the pictures don't do God's beautiful paintings on the sky justice, but you get the idea!

More Baby Pics

Congratulations to my friends, Deb and Jennittia (and their husbands and families), on the recent arrival of their little ones. Both of them have given me permission to post their baby's pics, so here you go...

Mike and Deb's baby, Audrey:


Audrey was born February 23 at 11:28am. She was 8lbs 2oz and 20in. long.

Mommy and girls: Ava, Deb, Audrey

Sisters: Ava and Audrey... they are exactly 2&1/2 years apart

The family: Ava, Deb, Audrey, Mike

What a sweet big sister!

Daddy's girls

And now, Rodney and Jennittia's little one, Judson (and big sister and brothers):

Judson joined the family on Fri. Feb. 16, 2007 at 6:55 PM. He was 6 pounds 7 oz. and 19 inches. "His first 18 hours or so of life were pretty scary but things have leveled out beautifully. He just did not want to breathe on his own very much. He was hooked up to many wires and stuff for a while, but now he is fine. Praise God!! " ~ note from Jennittia

Judson

The Kiddos: Bryce, Tyler, Kristen, and Judson

Love the spiky hair! :-)

Judson

"My" baby - "Lil' D"

What do you think??? Could they be my kids?

This picture is of one of the little ones that I take care of and his brother. Obviously, Z took the picture... not bad, I'd say, for someone who has short arms! Lil' D looks like he is scared to death. Lil' D's mom told me that her sister looked at the pic and asked mom if she was SURE that the boys were HERS, not mine! She said they look an awful lot like me. What do you think?

I'm not posting their actual names due to privacy and all that.(Love HIPAA) Lil' D's mom gave me permission to take these pics and post them.

I work with Lil' D two to three days per week right now. Starting in April, I should be working there all 4-5 days that I work. Lil' D was born at 27 weeks. He was less than 2 lbs, and only twice as big as a regular size Snickers bar. He is now 16 months old and weighs a whopping 18 lbs! :-) He is so cute, but such a stinker. As his mom puts it... "what D wants, D gets!" Well, not so anymore, since he has such a "mean" nurse in Heather that doesn't let him have everything he wants! Mom tells me I'm the best nurse she has, and she is glad that SOMEONE brings some discipline into the household... her words, not mine! :-) Lil' D has QUITE the temper... if he doesn't get what he wants, he will pull his own hair (which makes me laugh - it doesn't hurt me a bit!), pull on his trach (also does this when he wants attention that he is not getting like he THINKS he should), or throw himself backwards (one of these days I'm not going to be ready for it, and he's going to land on his head on the floor!) However, he is so adorable, it's hard to stay mad. His hair is a beautiful color, and so soft. His eyes, too, are beautiful... you should see them when he is wearing blue! If only his attitude wasn't so bad...

Actually, for the most part, he is pretty good. I love working with him... he loves to be rocked to sleep, and I've found that if I hold him while he's sleeping, he will sleep 3-5 times as long. Rough job, huh... holding a sleeping baby for 2-3 hours out of 8 hours and getting paid for it! It definitely helps fill the baby void in my heart for the child I hope to have someday, if God will bless us with a child of our own. I also am multi-talented... I usually finish charting or cross-stitch while he's sleeping, which helps me get my other stuff done as well.

Well, that's about all about Lil' D. I know some of the pics in the slide show are very similar, but I thought they were all so cute that I couldn't pick just a couple! Enjoy the pics of "My Baby!"

Prayer request **update**

Here is an update on my prayer request.

They did an EEG on Caroline's dad Saturday morning, and gave them the news around 2 pm that there was no brain activity. They did a second one that afternoon to confirm that there was no brain activity. They kept Mr. LaChance's body on life support until this morning, when they did surgery to harvest his organs... he was an organ donor. Nathan said that everyone seems to be doing a little better this morning. Apparently, the doctors believe that Mr. LaChance never came back to life (brain activity) from when they found him dead early Friday morning.

Please continue to pray for the LaChance family and my brother, Nathan, as they have a lot of very difficult decisions to make in the coming days and weeks, as well as going through the grieving process. Don LaChance was a Christian, as is the family as far as I know, so thankfully they can rest in the fact that he is now in Heaven with Jesus Christ. Nathan and Caroline are in the middle of a semester at school, so they will have to make decisions about all of that, and their wedding planned for June 30th is also coming up soon. Mrs. LaChance has a son, Danny, that still lives at home, and then they also have another daughter, Sarah, who is married.

I cannot imagine what they are going through right now. Please keep them all in your prayers.

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST! **update**

I talked to my brother, Nathan, this morning. His future father-in-law's name is Don LaChance. Nathan said that when the nurses found Don on Friday morning at 4am, he was already dead. It took them 30 minutes to revive him. He is now in a coma, and they are doing an EEG this morning to measure his brain activity. He is on a ventilator, and his oxygen saturation is now in the high 90's, which is really good. Nathan said his heart seems to be beating strong, so that is not as much of a concern at this point.

Nathan said that the doctors don't know what caused this. When Don had surgery on that same shoulder last October, he had bad reactions to the pain meds. They don't know if that had something to do with it, or if it was something to do with his sleep apnea, or what. Nathan said Caroline is up and down right now, and her mom is doing worse than yesterday (I'm sure the shock is wearing off.)

Please continue to pray for the LaChance family, and my family as well as this affects us, too.

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST!

Please pray for Mr. LaChance. (Sorry, I don't know his first name.) He is the father of my future sister-in-law, Caroline, (my brother Nathan's fiancee.) He went in for rotator cuff surgery yesterday, and had a cardiac arrest during the night last night (actually early this morning.) He is now in a coma, and I believe, on a ventilator. Apparently he aspirated (breathed in) some fluid during this time as well. He is 49 years old. My mom said that his heart seems to be fine now, but his lungs are the problem. The doctors don't know/won't tell Mrs. LaChance what the cause of this was. Please pray that the Lord will completely heal him, and that the doctors will have great wisdom in caring for him.

Nathan and Caroline are to get married on June 30th this year. My mom said that at this point things don't look good. The LaChance's have 4 children, I think, Caroline being the youngest. Nathan and Caroline flew home from Pensacola Christian College today to be with the family. PLEASE PRAY for them and their family.

Thanks so much... we will keep you updated as we know more.

Scenes of Kentuckiana

I thought I'd share some pictures of the area where we live. It's always interesting to me how things co-exist. For instance, I put in some pictures from around our apartment complex. There are these neat rows of apt. buildings with well landscaped, manicured lawns. But just behind (or actually in front, since we drive past it to get out) the apt. buildings is this tanglewood area with an old hay barn, an old rusty truck and dilapidated motel (?) in it. Other pictures are just things that I see on my way to work that I love to look at, so thought you might enjoy as well. Here's scenes from "Kentuckiana!"

Happenings over the last week...

This past week has been a rather crazy one at the Mitchell household. Last Friday, I had the day off work. The situation was a little crazy... I was scheduled to work, but when one of the guys from the office sent my schedule to me, he didn't include the first 3 days of the month. Therefore, I thought that I wasn't scheduled to work. Then I found out that I was supposed to work Friday and Saturday, but the child I was supposed to be taking care of was in the hospital on Friday, so I didn't have to work anyway (which was FINE with me!)

I joined Chris for lunch at his work that afternoon, and as we were eating in the break room, the TV was on. President Bush was giving a speech at a school in New Albany, IN, which is basically next door to where we live! (I wish I could have seen him... that would have been SO cool!) He also gave a speech somewhere downtown, so they had freeways and roads closed off, which totally messed with traffic.

After enjoying lunch and some time with Chris, I headed over to go shopping at a store. I received a gift card for this particular store for Christmas, and it is now going out of business, so everything was 30-80% off. I figured it would be a great time to get the most for my money! After a few trips into the dressing rooms to try on armloads of clothes, I came to a decision... I HAVE TO LOSE WEIGHT! I've been saying this for a while, and I've known this for a while, but trying on clothes really hit home that day. I am big enough that I can't really wear a size 16, but too small to wear a women's 16. I have determined that I WILL NOT shop in Plus sizes! So, in order to carry out this determination, I am going to exercise at least 4 days a week (no Sundays, and I don't really have a chance to exercise on the days that I work 10 hour shifts). Chris and I also decided that I am going to try the nutrisystem food program. (You may have seen commercials for it on TV.) I don't know if it will work, but I'll let you know if it does. Some of my struggle in losing weight is that I don't see results right away, and it's very discouraging. With my body type, I can lose inches like crazy, but not lose pounds right away. In the past, I have had Chris take measurements of my body in order to record progress, and will do that again. ANYWAY... I have had it with my lazy, undisciplined self. Hopefully, this will go well, and I can look good for my bro's wedding coming up in a couple of months.

Later Friday night, after finally finding a knee-length denim skirt and a pretty red tank for layering at the store, I arrived home and went to exercise. I opened the fridge door to get my water bottle out, and as I closed it, realized that there was water on the top of the door (the freezer is above the fridge.) I opened the freezer door to investigate, and found that everything in my freezer had thawed out! At this point, it was after 7 pm. I called Chris and told him about it, and when he got home, we called the 24 hour maintenance guy. (I did get my exercising in, by the way.) He came over, and determined that the compressor had gone out, requiring a new refridgerator. Long story short, we finally got a new fridge yesterday, after losing everything that we had in the freezer because we had to go for 5 days without one. I am thankful, though, for a few things... 1) we didn't have much in the freezer because I needed to go grocery shopping. 2) I didn't have to cook for 5 days! 3) Chris' paycheck was enough that we had the money to eat out, without it hurting us financially. 4) We live in an apt. complex that provides that appliance, so we got a brand new fridge free to us.

The other thing that happened Friday night was that I was doing laundry, and the dryer stopped partially through a load. I don't know what it was with us and appliances that day, but it was crazy! Chris went to work on Monday and was talking to a couple of the guys at work about it, and they told him about a store whose manager buys cars at Chris' dealership. This manager gives great deals to anyone who is an employee at the dealership. One of the guys told Chris, too, that it is cheaper to buy a new appliance these days than to have them fixed. He paid over $150 to get one of his appliances fixed, and could have bought a brand new one for a little over $200. Chris went and talked with the guy at the store, and bought us a brand new dryer for just under $200. It normally would have been about $75 more, had he not worked at the dealership. That was a blessing! Again, we had another blessing in that the Lord had provided enough money in Chris' paycheck to buy the dryer out of our checking acct, rather than having to put in on a credit card.

Besides all of that drama on Friday, we have been struggling a little with not feeling well. Chris had a horrible headache on Sunday night. I have been fighting off some kind of stomach thing since Tuesday night. I felt horrible at work yesterday, so I didn't eat anything all day. When I got home from work, I went to take a nap, and slept for almost 3 hours. I woke up at around 8 pm when Chris called to tell me he was on his way home from work. I cooked dinner for him, and then we watched a movie, then went to bed at 10:30 pm. I slept well all night, too. We both woke up with stomach issues this morning as well. Hopefully, we will feel better soon.

We heard from our realtor that she now has the contract to our house in Maryland signed and in hand. The home inspection is scheduled for tomorrow. If that goes well, the selling of our house should be a done deal.

Well, other than that, we have just been busy with work. Chris sold 5 cars in the first 2&1/2 days of March. That is encouraging. He was going to take today off, but one of his customers that came in yesterday told him that she would be back at 9 am this morning and she was "bringing her checkbook." He went in to work this morning! :-)

Valentine's Day

I know this is a little late for Valentine's Day, but I wanted to post it anyway. I had a pretty good day. My husband sent me an e-card from work because he didn't have a chance to get to the store. It was really cute and sweet. After Chris got off work, we met at Fazoli's for dinner (this was about 8:30 pm). Chris promised me a "rain check" for a good dinner at a nicer restaurant later when we could enjoy it more.

One of my favorite things about Valentine's Day is my annual gift from my father-in-law. Ever since the year that Chris and I were dating, Chris' dad has sent me a box of Lindt chocolates. (Chris' mom, all of his sisters, sisters-in-law, and granddaughters get boxes of chocolate, too.) They are wonderful, and I only allow myself to eat one a day until the box is gone. The best part is that Chris' dad reminds me every year that I AM NOT SUPPOSED TO SHARE WITH CHRIS!!! I enjoy that part! :*) Chris gets a gift from his mom every year for Valentine's Day, so I don't feel bad about not sharing... at all! I am so thankful for wonderful in-laws.

I received another surprise for Valentine's Day this year. My grandma sent me a hand stamped Valentine's Day card.

My grandma has never stamped before this. They had a ladies' fellowship at her church that was a "cruise" theme. On this "cruise" they had different stations that you could do different things, and one of them was stamping. My grandma made the card above on this "cruise" and sent it to me. I was very honored! :-) I told her that I was very impressed, and we determined that it goes to show you that you CAN "teach an old dog new tricks" (Grandma is almost 79 years old) as long as they still want to learn!

All in all, it was a pretty good day!

Recent Creativity...

Precious Moments Cross-stitch for my nephew

(he was only born 2 years before I finished this!...But hey, you have to give me credit,

I didn't start it until 3 months before this Christmas, and finished it in January!)

Better late than never, they say!

For those of you who love stamping and crafts, I'm posting some more of my recent creations for your enjoyment. I'm not really fancy with the cards... that takes time and money! (Or at least more creativity than I have!) Also, please forgive the quality of scans/pictures. Some of them I had to scan b/c I didn't have the camera at home, and my scanner does not like cards that don't lie completely flat. I'll leave it up to your imagination to view the real thing! Hope you enjoy my version of art!

Recent Creativity... Thinking of You

Thinking of you warms my Heart

Sending Warm Thoughts your way
(latte)

Sending Warm Thoughts Your Way
(hot chocolate colorblock)

Sending Warm Thoughts Your Way
(hot chocolate colorblock ~ 2)

Delight in Life
(This one, too, did not take a picture well because of the light colors used)



Thank You spots

Thinking of You/Thank You Elk

Thinking of you/Happy Birthday

Our Love Story: The Engagement **finished version**

First of all, I just wanted to apologize for how long it has taken me to write this. (For those of you who I left hanging...) Things have been a little crazy busy around here, and I just didn't have the time to type this all out.

I left the last "chapter" of the story after Chris and I visited his family in New England for Christmas. We both went back to work, but by this time we knew for a fact we were getting married, and had already set a date. I did not have any idea when we would get engaged. Chris was coaching JV basketball at the school where he was, and also was the Varsity baseball coach. The seasons overlapped, and because of these responsibilities, he had very few weekends open for the rest of the school year. I thought, because of this, that we probably wouldn't get engaged officially until the end of May, when Chris finished his job at the school and moved up to MN for the month and 1/2 before we got married.

Chris also told me that he wasn't going to tell me when he asked my dad if he could marry me. This was not a big deal for me, because I thought I would be able to tell by my dad's reactions to things when Chris asked him. In January, I started my wedding preparations. My mom and I went shopping for my dress. We found "the dress" at the consignment shop where my sister bought her wedding dress 7 years earlier. I also had the same lady that altered my sister's dress alter mine. My sister jokingly told me that it was a good thing that my baby brother, Nathan, wasn't a girl, because that lady wouldn't be alive to alter a dress by the time he got married!! (She was a very sweet retired lady that did dress alterations "on the side." However, her house was FULL of dresses. I got all of the alterations done on my dress for $60! She was awesome!) ANYWAY, I bought my dress in January, and when we got home, my mom had me try it on for my dad to see. My dad at this point was being a BIG JERK!!! He said that the dress was "nice" (compliments are hard to come by with him), but how did I know I was even getting married? He made it sound like Chris hadn't even asked him yet. Well, I was not in the frame of mind to go around wondering, (I was actually pretty mad at this point - maybe more frustrated would be a better way of putting it.) I went downstairs to my dad's office and called Chris. When he answered the phone, I asked him, "Chris, did you ask my dad if you could marry me?" He replied that he had already told me that he wasn't going to tell me that. I then demanded, "Christopher, you better tell me RIGHT NOW!!! Did you, or did you NOT, ask my dad if you could marry me?" **At this point I burst into tears** He asked me what was going on and I told him, and then he calmly says, "Yes, I already asked him and he said yes!" That made me even more mad at my dad, but I was VERY relieved to know that he was just teasing me!

Throughout the following weeks, I continued working and making wedding preparations. Chris and I continued to talk twice a week on the phone, but I was missing him like crazy! I think it makes it so much harder when you don't know for sure when you are going to see each other again. Chris kept telling me that he was out looking for rings, and I kept asking him when he could come see me again. He told me that he didn't have a free weekend until Spring Break. I had to work the week that he was on Spring Break.

As Valentine's Day loomed near, I was missing Chris more and more. I started begging him to come see me, but he kept telling me that he couldn't. For Valentine's Day, he sent me 2 dolphin figurines, then sent my mom some money and had her buy me 2 lavendar roses and a Precious Moments "I love you" balloon. (That was the best Valentine's present I've received from him so far... it's not a big celebration day in our house right now. It just seems like we never have the money to do anything at that time of the year.) I cried on the phone to him almost every time we talked..."I miss you so much..."

On March 1, 2000, (a Wednesday night), Chris and I were talking on the phone. I was crying because I missed him so much and BEGGING him to find some way to come visit me. The next night, my mom told me that I needed to dust the house (this was one of my "chores" as a 22 year old living in my parent's house, paying rent, mind you!) I hadn't done it the weekend before, and she was ADAMANT that I dust that night. I didn't feel like doing it, and kept telling her I'd do it this weekend. She won, and I dusted the house. I just couldn't figure out WHY it was such a big deal that it be done that night. Then we started talking about Chris moving up to MN after his school year was finished, and Mom suggested that maybe he should stay down in AL that month and a half to work, b/c he could make more money that way. She effectively got me all in a tither; I was very distraught. I asked her if I was just supposed to wait and get engaged the week before my wedding and go for 7 months without seeing Chris, and then see him for maybe a week, and then get married?!?!? She went on about how she and my dad dated long distance (a 2-3 hour drive is NOT long distance in my opinion... you could still see each other every weekend if you wanted!), etc, etc... I was not buying it, and I was getting really mad. Then I noticed that she was smirking at me. That made me really mad. I told her to stop laughing at me... it wasn't funny! Little did I know...

Friday morning, I was in the staff prayer meeting for the school. My dad told us that he had a meeting in the Twin Cities at 11am, so wouldn't be around that day. I was my dad's secretary, among other things, and so he always told me, usually in detail, where he was going, when he would be back, etc. Well, the "natives were restless," so to speak, so I had to go out and settle down the school kids. After I left, my dad told the rest of the teachers what his purpose in The Cities was.

The day went on like a normal school day, for the most part. It was very busy, though, and the kids had tons of energy. I was in charge of all the testing (administering tests, monitoring, collecting tests, and grading them ~ we had an A.C.E. school). After school, I was downstairs grading tests. My dad came in the church door with an armful of mail, and a red rose in his hand. He handed me the rose, and told me there was a package upstairs on the table for me. I asked him who the rose was from, and he told me that it was from him. (My dad, at that time, hardly bought roses for my mom, much less for me! I thought that was kind of weird, but I still had no clue as to what was going on.) So, I headed upstairs to find my package.



(This is a little diagram to help you "see" what happened, rather than me try to explain it in words)

I came up the stairs and around the corner. As I rounded the corner, I saw a small black box sitting open on the table with a diamond ring in it. I gasped, and just as I did, but who would appear coming around the corner from my room, and down on one knee... but CHRIS!!!! I TOTALLY FLIPPED OUT! I hugged him, and then started saying, "I can't believe you're here, what are you doing here?" over and over. After about 2 times of that, he finally managed to get me to stop talking so that he could ask me, "Heather, will you marry me?" To which I responded, "Sure, I'd love to... I mean YES!!!!" (see former chapter of the story for the significance of this!) I gave him a HUGE hug and a kiss (my mom said I could kiss him when we got engaged!) :*)

When Chris put the ring on my finger, he asked, "Is this ring OK?" I had told him that I wanted a small ring, white gold or platinum, and princess cut. My ring is NONE of those things! I took one look and replied, "This ring? You're asking if THIS RING is OK? Yeah, I'll keep it!" :-P

After somewhat recovering from the shock, we went downstairs to show off my ring to everyone that was still at school. Of course, they all knew that we were getting engaged, so had to stay around to see the ring. My mom was substitute teaching at the public school which was right next door to our house, so we went over there to show her as well.

It was a wonderful weekend. We so enjoyed the time together, and I even forgave Chris for all of his deceitfulness in planning. :*) However, the surprise was totally on me, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. I had NO CLUE that he had planned all of this.

So - there it is... my love story. I'll save the rest of my story (wedding, etc) and pictures for another day when I have more time. Hope you enjoyed reading my story! :-)

**I apologize for this not being complete the first time I published it. I didn't realize I had done that until today! Sorry to leave any of you hanging!**

Link Change

First of all, I have to apologize. I have not been very careful to protect the information of others on this blog... and for my inconsideration I am sorry. I guess I just haven't thought about the dangers lurking out there in the web world. That said, I have changed all of my links to protect the innocent! :*) Just kidding! Instead of posting the individual names of the people to whom the links belong, along with their maiden and last names, I have changed the link to the web addresses or blog titles. Again, I apologize for not considering your privacy, and thank you for bringing that to my attention! I promise to be much more careful in the future!

Pictures of our nieces

These are Aksana's (my brother Greg's little girl) 1 year old pictures! I apologize for the quality, but I took pictures of the pictures in order to put them on my computer! I love the bead necklace... I think she just looks so sweet in these pictures!

Here they are!!!! I FINALLY received some pictures of our newest niece, Korissa. These pictures were taken at the hospital just after she was born. She was 9 lbs, 6 ounces, and 21 inches long. Her mom says that she was a "chunky monkey!"

Here is Korissa with her mommy on Sunday, 02/25/07. I don't know what you think, but this position does not look very comfortable. However, I think she is absolutely adorable!!


Here is the proud grandpa, and another awkward position of being held. If Korissa keeps getting held like this, she may have to see a chiropractor! :*) Just kidding!

It is kind of amazing to me how big she is! The little boy that I take care of is 15 months old, and he's not quite double her size (he is almost 17 pounds)!