September

Heather & Chris, South Miami Beach, August 11, 2009

Another month has flown by, and here I am trying to remember what all has happened in the last month. 

Let's see... we started the month with a Nerdsville Activity for our teens.  It's basically a scavenger hunt that has you doing a bunch of crazy, nerdy stuff.  It was SUPER fun.  I was surprised (since I had the Jr. High girls... all 4 of them in 7th grade) how they came out of their "shells" so to speak and really enjoyed it. 

On the 10th of September, I hosted a baby shower for a friend of mine.  Her baby was born in August, and with all the craziness of the month, we hadn't had a baby shower for her.  I was so nervous that I would get crazy emotional over the baby shower, but thank the Lord for answered prayers, it really went well.  I didn't cry AT ALL!   It sure was fun to have the baby there to hold!  A friend of a friend made a SUPER cute, delicious cake for it. 

That following weekend was the Shawnee Baptist Ladies' Retreat!  What a great time of fun and fellowship.

We enjoyed several convicting messages from the pastor's wife and youth pastor's wife from Franklin Road Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, TN.   Of course, we had to stay up playing games well into the wee hours of the morning! 

I got home that Sat. evening, and then Dakota came over to have a sleepover at our house.  We love having him... he is such a live wire!  He LOVES "Chwis, " too.  Dakota came in talking a mile a minute, and I don't think he stopped until it was time to lie down to go to sleep.  It was such a joy to have a little one around the house. 

That Sunday morning, we had the opportunity to minister in music at the Indiana campus of our church.  They have a small Sunday morning service over there.  Chris and I sang a duet, I played an offeratory on my flute, and Chris sang a solo.  It's been about 5 years since we've done that, but it was a joy to sing again (other than in choir.)  Our pastor's wife "turned us in" to the Music pastor at the "big church," and Chris is scheduled to sing a solo in church on Wed., Nov. 11th!  I'm excited for him to have this opportunity!

I've also been down to only working 2 days/week, which has opened up some ministry opportunities for me.  I was able to "substitute teach" a college class for an hour one week, talking about my job working with special needs kids.  I've been able to help out some with cleaning the church, and also have been able to attend a few of our school and college girls' volleyball games. 

Because of Chris' new work schedule, we have also enjoyed having more freedom to do things on the weekend... Chris gets off on Fridays and every other Saturday at 4pm now.  The other Saturdays he works til close, which could be anywhere from 6pm to not getting home til 9pm.  We've had several nights of having company at our house, or being company at someone else's house.  We have enjoyed that fellowship as well.

Chris' job is going well.  They've had a couple really good months, though September has been pretty slow.  We know God will provide, though.  As for my job, I'm looking for a new one.  I was taken off the other case that I have been working for a year now, and I think God may be trying to get me out of my comfort zone and get a new job.  It's just been one thing after another with my current job, and I'm SO over it!  We'll see what God does with all of that. 

Our October is booked solid... it seems like we have something going on every weekend!  It will be crazy, but lots of fun, I'm sure. 

Went to a lovely wedding on Saturday and took a few pics, so that was fun.  Oh, yeah - I forgot that I have been working on a few photo projects for other people - a calendar and a couple of Christmas gifts.  That has been WAY fun to do!  I would LOVE to do that for work!

Also, my friend who had her baby at 25 weeks way back in June was able to bring her baby home Sat., Sept 19th!  YEAH!  They are doing really well, and we are thankful for God's miraculous healing/providing health for this baby boy!  I could just hold him ALL day long; he's SO precious! 

Other than that, not too much is new in our neck of the woods.  Hope you all are doing well! 

Can it possibly be...?!?!?!

That I haven't blogged since MAY FIRST! 3& 1/2 months later... wow, this summer sure has FLOWN by. And, of course, like many of you, I am totally addicted to Facebook, so that has taken my time from blogging.
Well, here's the rundown of the past 3&1/2 months...
May 2-3, down to Atlanta to "get out of Dodge" for Kentucky Derby weekend. Scratched another baseball stadium off the list, saw my Uncle Dave, whom I haven't seen in YEARS, and caught up with some friends there for church. Rachel, my friend, was actually my roommate at Northland Camp the summer that Chris and I met. It was nice to catch up! :-)

The following weekend, Mother's Day weekend, we flew to Maryland for a long weekend. Ever since our in vitro fertilization/miscarriage, Chris has bought me tickets to go see my best friend in Maryland as a Mother's Day gift. This year, he came along. We had a wonderful time with Kevin and Jos, and got to catch up with a lot of friends from our church there. It made Mother's Day a bit easier for me! I'm so thankful for a wonderful, thoughtful husband!

After 3 trips for me in 3 weekends, we settled down to work, work and more work... with our ministry responsibilities at church added in. We were able to have some fun in there, too!

June was a pretty quiet month for us, though I had a fun opportunity to do a "photo shoot" with my friends, JR & Abbi. They got married in December, and didn't really care for their engagement pictures. I went out with them one weekend while Chris was gone for some work training, and took a bunch of pictures of them. I am by no means a photographer, but I was pretty pleased with the way some of them turned out.

June 12 our church had a "Sister's Supper." It was a ladies' banquet for all females ages 4 and up. It was a wonderful time of fellowship, and God used one of the devotionals in particular to really speak to my heart about something I had been struggling with that week especially. I may have to post about that later.

June 23rd, my dear friend, Shanna had her baby, Mason, at 23 weeks, 5 days along... about 3 months early! It was pretty rough on me, but today he is doing FANTASTIC, and is really a tiny miracle!

On June 30th, my grandparents came down to the Creation Museum in Cincinnati (about an hour & 1/2 from us). I had not seen them in 2 years... to the day! (It was my baby brother's wedding anniversary, and the last time I had seen them was at Nathan's wedding!) I was able to take the day off and spend it with them, which was a huge blessing!

We celebrated July 4th at Indian Creek Baptist Camp (the camp run by our church) on Freedom Friday (which happened to be July 3rd.) Chris had the opportunity to preach in the service... only the second time he's actually had that opportunity since we left Maryland 3 years before. He did an awesome job (I know, I'm a little prejudiced!) I was very proud of him. We took Zack and Dakota with us (Dakota is the little boy I took care of for over 2 years). It was a wonderful night, and we enjoyed it!

July 16th, I was able to head up to Indianapolis for the day to visit with 2 college friends that liver there, Jess and Kelly (and their families.) I so enjoyed seeing them and catching up a little better! I don't live that far away, but it seems like there is never a really good time to go more often. :-(

July 22 was our 9th anniversary. We both had to work that day, but ended up having Friday the 24th off together. We slept in, worked out, then headed out for the day... visited Louisville Mega Cavern, ate at J. Gumbos, went to the Louisville Slugger museum, walked around downtown Louisville (and took pictures), then went to Morton's steakhouse for dinner. It was FABULOUS! We so enjoyed having the day together to celebrate our marriage and our life together.

July 31st, we went to a Louisville Bats game with our friends, April & Scott Mohler. We enjoy the fellowship with them, and wish we could get together with them more often, as well.

The first full week of August brings YOUTH CONFERENCE to Shawnee Baptist Church. This year was the 25th Anniversary of Youth Conference. It was AWESOME!!! We had 1,200+ teens here for 4 days to hear the preaching of God's Word for 3 days, then the last day they spend at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. They usually go to a waterpark on that Tuesday morning, but this year the waterpark came to them... We had a HUGE flood; actually a Flood Emergency was declared for Louisville... basically, if you didn't have to go anywhere, DON'T! It sure made it memorable! :-)

That same week was very busy for me... I worked all week, then was trying to visit with a couple people that were just in town for the week, plus get ready for vacation! I was blessed to be able to see a good friend from MN, Dawn, who was down here meeting her newest grandbaby... and her first granddaughter. I also got to spend some time with a little boy that I took care of in Maryland, Nathen, and his family, who were here visiting as well.

August 8th, after work, we left on VACATION! It was AWESOME, and I didn't want to come home! We visited Chris' sister, Sandy, and her family. We hadn't seen her boys (ages almost 8 and almost 5) for almost 3 years, and her husband in 5 years! It was great to visit with them! They live in West Palm Beach, FL... I was lovin' me some Florida (as my BIL would say!) :-) We went to the beach a couple of times, including going to Miami for the day (and saw South Beach).
On Tuesday, Aug. 11th (Chris' 34th Birthday), we attended a Florida Marlins game. For the first time, in ALL the games we've attended, we FINALLY made it on the Jumbotron at the stadium! We've discovered that it helps to have adorable nephews with you! :-) We ate at Shorty's Barbecue in Miami - one of the top 10 places to eat there. Chris and Tyson played golf two mornings, and played softball one night. Sandy and I got manicures/pedicures (a first for me!), and then I framed some cross-stitches for her, and arranged the pictures for a family photo wall in her house. We attended a home decorating class on Thursday night. Friday we went to Tampa... actually St. Petersburg for a Tampa Bay Rays game. We "tailgated" before the game, which was pretty fun. Finished up the vacation on Saturday by having a GORGEOUS day at the beach, in spite of the rain before we went, and after we went. Also had a joint birthday party (homemade pizza and DQ Thin Mints blizzard cake) for Chris', Tron's and my birthdays. Chris' b-day was the 11th, and Tron and I share a b-day on the 18th. Like I said before, it was a wonderful vacation, and we were so thrilled to be able to go.

Now, it's back to life, back to reality. I've had a little "hiccup" in my job situation, so am working a few less hours for now, and am really praying about the possibility of another job. I'm praying that if God wants me somewhere else, that He will drop the opportunity in my lap.

Anyway, that's the summation of our summer! I'm sure I've left out some things, but that's basically it! Hopefully I'll get some pics posted of different events on here soon. If I don't, you can look on my Facebook page... they are ALL on there! :-)

Have a wonderful night, and hope you all had a great summer! :-)

A few pics from Thunder's fireworks

Our friends, Abbi & J.R., playing with Raegan

Korissa found a new friend in Elaine
(Elaine shared her food! :-p)

Aunt Heather, Korissa, and Uncle Chris

Elaine & Larry Harold (Chris' college friend)

Uncle Chris, Korissa, Kim, Aunt Heather, & Raegan

"I can't HEAR you!"

Korissa & Uncle Chris watching the fireworks
(I LOVE this pic!)

Waterfall of fireworks off the 2nd St. Bridge

Of course, if you know me at all, you know I took WAY more pics than this. Again, you can check them out if you're a friend of mine on Facebook. All 200 of them are posted there! LOL

A few pics from the Thunder Air Show

He has TEETH!

Pics of Kim, Korissa, & Raegan's visit

Just a couple of pics from the girls' visit

Kisses from Aunt Heather

Sisters, Korissa & Raegan. We bought them these matching shirts for Christmas

Korissa & Raegan
(Raegan had JUST pulled the paci out of her mouth...)

Aunt Heather, Uncle Chris, Korissa, Kim and Raegan

God Works the Night Shift

Here are my notes from the session titled above:

GOD WORKS THE NIGHT SHIFT

Isaiah 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Why do we have to go through dark times in our lives?

1) So God can FORM us:

Galatians 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,

travail: transition period form: change, metamorphosis (Let God do an "Extreme Makeover" on you!) Every event in your life PUT TOGETHER means something, even though it may not make sense individually
until: a long time, a slow process
We are in transition periods (travail) as God changes (forms) us into the image of Christ, which is a long, slow process!

2) Because of the FELLOWSHIP He enjoys with us (I didn't get the Bible verse here)
God wants to spend time with us, and it is only in the dark times of life that we tend to seek that fellowship like He wants with us

3) He reveals His secrets and hidden treasures in the darkness
He puts us in darkness so that He can develop His image in us... just like photo film in a dark room

What do we do when we are in darkness?

1) Look to the Lord for forgiveness

2) Look to the Lord for guidance
3) Look to the Lord -> Look BACK on His faithfulness
4) Look to the Lord in prayer

When we depend on education, we get what education can do.
When we depend on others, we get what others can do.
When we depend on prayer, we get what GOD can do!

5) Look to the Lord and be glad!
6) Look to the Lord for His return... He's coming VERY SOON!

Hope this encourages you if you are going through a dark time... it sure did encourage my heart!

I'm going to try to share some of the other notes from sessions that encouraged/convicted my heart. I hope they'll be a blessing to you!

A month later...

Wow - this month has been really busy, even though I didn't know it was going to be this way! I'm all for surprises, and I got a great surprise this month.

On April 10, I went with our teens on a laser tag activity. It was VERY fun; I'd never played laser tag before. I didn't do well, but I didn't come in last, either, so I was pretty good with that!

My great surprise came on April 14. That night, Chris texted me to ask me what I was making for supper. Now, mind you, I don't ENJOY cooking... I don't even LIKE cooking, so I try not to think about it until I absolutely have to. Part of the problem is that Chris and I don't often eat together, b/c he doesn't usually get home until around 9pm. I am still TRYING to lose weight, and try not to eat after 8pm. I hate cooking for just me, and having him eat leftovers when he gets home, so I usually just cook for him when he's on his way home, and then I eat the leftovers for lunch the next day. ANYWAY, I told him that I hadn't planned anything, and left it at that. Well, he called me at around 9:15pm, and told me that he was on his way home, and that he was REALLY hungry, so I needed to make sure that I made enough dinner. As I was finishing up dinner, he walked into the house and said, "Hey, Babe, I'm home." My back was to the door when he walked in, and as I turned around, I saw that he was holding a blonde little girl...
SURPRISE!!! Many thoughts were reeling through my head in that moment until I recognized who it was... our niece, Korissa! I said her name, and her mom and sister stepped out from behind Chris! They live in Vegas, and we hadn't seen Korissa for 9 months, and hadn't had a chance to meet Raegan, since she's only 4 months old now! I was totally surprised... I had no idea! They had planned this for over a month. Kim's husband is overseas on business for 4 months, so they broke up his absence by coming here for a week in the middle of the four months! It was SO FUN having them here. Korissa just LOVES Uncle Chris, and I loved holding Raegan. Chris and I both still had to work while they were here, but I got off about every other day, so it worked out OK.
That weekend, the 18th, was Thunder Over Louisville... the big kick-off to the 2 week long Derby Festival before the Kentucky Derby. We all went down to the riverfront for that. Chris had a friend from college that lives in Nashville come up for Thunder, and he and his wife joined us, as well as a couple that are friends of ours from here. We had a great time! Even the girls loved the fireworks; Raegan fell asleep half way through them, in spite of the fact that one of her earplugs had fallen out.
We SO enjoyed having kids in our house, and it was very lonely when they left!
I packed in several days of work after they left, then last Thurs. headed down to Murfreesboro, TN, for the Sword of the Lord Ladies' Jubilee (conference.) I took two of my friends with me, and joined a few more mature ladies from the church to caravan down there. We had a wonderful time. It's so amazing how God always gives you JUST what you need, when you need it! I have recently been struggling a lot with the fact that God has chosen not to give us a baby right now, along with some other things in my life. There were 3 different sessions at the conference about God working through the trials in our lives. One of them was entitled, "God Works the Night Shift." The speaker was talking about how some of God's greatest work is done in the dark... a baby being formed in the darkness of his mother's womb, the rest and recovery our bodies do while we're asleep, etc. It was so encouraging to me! (I'll post the notes on another post here in a minute!) It was an encouraging, fun, but emotional weekend for me.
This week, I worked a lot to make up for the time I will be gone this weekend.
We're leaving later today to head to Atlanta, GA. The Kentucky Derby is this weekend here in Louisville, and we get Saturday off (because most everything around here closes for the Derby.) The kids in KY actually have today off school because it's Oakes Day (the "local's" Derby). Anyway, we don't really want to be a part of all that, so we've been leaving town for this weekend ever since we moved here. The past two years we went to St. Louis to watch the Cardinals play baseball, but they didn't have a home game this year. So, we decided to cross another baseball park off the list of parks we need to see, and so we're going to Atlanta. My uncle lives near Atlanta, so he'll be meeting us for lunch tomorrow. On Sunday, we are going to church with some long ago friends that we haven't seen in a while, and then doing lunch with them, and heading home.
Whew! Life has been busy! God is good, and we are thanking him for DAILY loading us with benefits... even our salvation! :-) (Psalms)
My baby brother is graduating from Maranatha next weekend, though we won't be able to be there. He and his wife are moving this weekend, so pray for them, and please pray that Nathan can find a job in Madison. Also, my brother Greg is graduating with his Master's Degree this weekend. (Not from Maranatha... can't remember the name of the school.) I have lots of cards to make! :-)
Well, I better get going... too much time on here already! I'm going to try to post some pictures, but if I can't get them on here, you can check my Facebook page if you are interested.
Thanks for stopping by! :-)

A LITTLE taste of motherhood...

Hello! Well, it was an interesting weekend at our house.

First of all, I have been going to a new chiropractor. I REALLY like him, and am so glad that I am finally getting my back taken care of. Unfortunately, I have to go through some extra pain as my muscles SCREAM at me because they are so used to being in the WRONG position, but it will all be better in a while. I'm VERY sore today... some because of the adjustments and muscle work, and some because of taking care of Dakota this weekend.

Second, I oriented at my new work case on Friday. It made me cry as g-ma of the patient explained to me that she is caregiver of the little one because the parents abused the patient so much. She was only 8 pounds on her first birthday. How could ANYONE do that to their child?!??! Anyway, she is doing much better now, and g-ma is thrilled that I am coming to work there. Another dose of encouragement that was desperately needed.

Got a phone call at 12:30am Saturday morning informing me that *J* was being admitted into the hospital. Thankfully, after a few tests, they decided that there was nothing wrong with him, but I missed a couple of hours of work, besides getting the living daylights scared out of me when the phone rang in the middle of the night! :-) I also got to sleep in a little bit, too, so that was a blessing.

Dakota's mom called Saturday afternoon, asking if I still wanted to watch Dakota, since he was sick with a low grade fever. I told her I didn't care if she didn't. I knew she really needed a break. I overheard her asking D in the background if he still wanted to go to Heather's house, and he said "YES!" Then she asked if he wanted to stay with mommy since he was sick, to which he replied, "I not sick!" That was it... I told her that she could bring him anyway. I ended up getting up with him twice in the night because he woke up and then needed medicine. We did try to go to church (I kept him with me instead of putting him in the nursery.) He fell asleep on the bus ride (we went on the bus route with Chris), and slept about 15 minutes. He woke up at church, and was VERY whiny and wouldn't be quiet in the Sunday school class, so we went home. He fell asleep at 11:45am, and slept til 2:30 or so. In spite of him being sick, we enjoyed having him here. I'm not sure that Chris slept much either after D woke up the first time. :-) He's so smart, and it is so fun to hear all the things that he is learning. He did really well!

I finally fit into a dress that I bought a while ago, and we got pictures taken for the church directory. Hopefully they turn out nice. They looked a little iffy on the camera.

After life being so mundane for a while, it seems like life is going crazy the past two weeks! Also, got an e-mail from my bro, Steve, today, and they resigned their position at the church where he was youth pastor. They are headed up to Wake Forest, NC, to go to Southeastern Seminary there. They will be moving the week of May 24. Please pray for them and the youth group as they adjust to this change. Steve has been youth pastor there since April 2005. Thanks!

That's about it for now, I believe! Hope everyone had a great weekend! Oh, yeah... we have snow forcasted for tonight here. ???? The weather has been CRAZY! At least it melts fast here! I am thinking I still didn't move far enough south! :-)

Lightening

Yet another post today... here are some pics that I caught (or partially caught) of lightening the other night. You can see the forks of lightening if you look closely, so apparently my camera does fine photographing lightening. I used the fireworks setting (rather appropriate for trying to catch God's fireworks on camera, I think!) and it worked pretty well. Now, if I just had a tripod and a quicker trigger finger...

Top left, you can see part of the lightening:

Flash after lightening:

If you click on this picture and enlarge it, you will see
some forks of lightening at the top in the very center:

Two posts in one day...

AMAZING! Well, I just had to write this... because I feel like I'm about to burst! Of course, I can't share any details (no, I'm not pregnant - though I WISH that were the case!) I just had a very unexpected bit of news fall into my lap, and it's just something so unreal, I'm surprised that it didn't come yesterday because it would have made for a very good April Fool's joke. Actually, it's one of those things that almost seems like an April Fool's joke, even though I know it's for real. (Now do I have your attention??!?!) I guess I'm just throwing it out there to ask you guys to pray for Chris and me in this situation. If you don't ever hear anything more about it, I guess it just wasn't God's will for us. However, if it does come to be, then you will DEFINITELY hear more about it! It's so amazing how God works!

I had the chance today to go out and take some more pictures. The weather again was beautiful... until some thunderstorms rolled in and it poured rain and there was much lightening and thunder for about 30 minutes. I wish my trigger finger was fast enough to catch lightening on camera! :-) It's calmed down some, so I'm going back out. I'll post more pics later... took a bunch of pics of tulips... they're my grandma's favorite flower (she's Dutch... you know, Holland and tulips are almost synonomous!) I'm going to make some cards for her using pics with text on them that she can send to her friends.

Please keep us in your prayers! Appreciate it! :-)

Drama, drama, drama...

Here's a little update on my life...

This past week has been something else. Chris started to get sick on Wed. night. That is never fun, because I always feel so bad that there's nothing I can do to make him feel better. :-(

Last Thurs. morning, I'm putting my stuff in my car to go to work, and I get a phone call from Maxim (my work) saying I don't have to work that day. Jake (from work) says that it's nothing against me, that the parents and doctors decided that they only want 2 nurses working the case to cut down on risk of infection. Fine, I understand that (if that's REALLY the case)... but you can't tell me that they called you at 0600 this morning to tell you that! Work should have called me the night before when they found out about it so that I didn't have to get up and get ready! Besides, they called me a 5 min. til 0800... if I would have actually left on time for work, I would have actually been at the house when they called and that would have been extremely awkward for the other nurse and the family. So (if you couldn't tell) I was pretty mad, and in tears. I'm SO sick of dealing with this stuff from work. Chris tells me not to worry about it, that God will take care of everything, but that I have to call Nick (the office manager) so that he will get work for me (otherwise nothing gets done.) The guys always tell me that I'm one of their best nurses (blah, blah, blah) so they're doing what they can to get work for me... yeah, right! ANYWAY, Nick calls me back and tells me that the parents don't WANT ME there anymore (which is totally different than just saying they only want 2 nurses in the house!) Apparently Mom said that I "discipline" the other child and they didn't like it. The Thurs. prior to that, she told me that I was her favorite nurse, and that she only felt safe with me. How does that work? I was really hurt by that, and mad that she didn't say anything to me (about the "discipline" thing, if that was a concern. If she would have just told me that she didn't like it, I would have stopped. (Not that I disciplined the other child, I just told her a couple of times not to touch something.) Although, if a 2 year old is touching my stuff, I'm going to tell her not to touch it! (By the way, that mom told me she is bipolar, so I'm wondering if I just said something on the wrong day and set her off.) So - now I'm mad that Jake didn't tell me the truth when he called me that morning, too... then Nick proceeds to tell me that he's frustrated with me that there is now THREE families that don't want me to work for them. Two I knew about, but THREE?!?!?

Well, there was another mom that I oriented on her case, and she was mad the minute I got there b/c Maxim was trying to switch nurses on her, and she didn't like it (I don't blame her.) She totally ignored me the whole time I was there until she left for work, and only talked to the other nurse. (This was back in November). They called her (Thurs.) and asked if she wanted me to work there, and she said, "I just don't think that I would get along with her." She didn't even give me a chance! (Not that I really wanted to work for her, anyway, but still!) Then Nick tells me that the mom that "fired" me back in November told him that all I did was sit around all day, and that I didn't take care of her daughter. That is absolutely NOT true, and anybody that knows me knows that I work hard at my job! (The occupational therapist that works with J also works with that little girl, and says the mom is just trying to get a nurse in that will watch both of her kids - not just the one - while she runs around, which we are NOT supposed to do. She'll say whatever she wants to get rid of them if she can.) By this point, I was VERY hurt and angry, but didn't even try to defend myself b/c it's just not even worth it. Obviously, anyone who knows me knows that I don't just sit around and not do my job! I was also upset, too, b/c I kind of feel if they think that about me, that now I have a bad testimony of what a Christian is supposed to be. I don't want them to think - "Well, that nurse claims to be a Christian, and she was a horrible nurse!" - which makes God look bad! As a Christian, I feel that I should be the best nurse they ever have!

Well, that was all on Thursday. I was still pretty torn up about it, but J's mom (the other mom I work for now) assured me that she trusts me and that she's not going to fire me! :-)

Chris continued to get more and more sick over the weekend... lots of drainage down the back of his throat that would gag him and make him throw up. Not so bad during the day, but keeping him up coughing, gagging, throwing up all night. On Friday he started getting dizzy anytime he changed positions from lying down to sitting, sitting to standing, etc, and I KNOW he was running a fever, even though he wouldn't let me check his temp. Finally, Saturday morning, he tried to call in to work, he was feeling so awful. Well, they told him that they needed him, but he didn't have to come in til 4pm, since Todd (the other finance manager) was leaving for Indy that night. I told Chris to go to the urgent care, which he ended up doing. When he was on the way there, his boss called and asked him to come to work as soon as possible; Todd was really backed up. Chris was really feeling dizzy, so I was really concerned about him driving, but macho man thought he could do it himself, and I couldn't do anything about it, since I was at work! He did manage to get to urgent care, and (as we diagnosed before he went) he had a sinus/ear infection. The doc said his sinus cavities were so swollen it was amazing that he could even breathe through his nose! Chris got some good drugs... antibiotic, strong decongestant, and narcotic cough syrup! :-) He then went to work, but was so dizzy that he couldn't hold his head up without supporting his head with his hand! They had him do the paperwork side of things, since he was looking so bad they didn't want him having to deal with customers! He stayed home from church all day Sunday, which was our 86th Anniversary Sunday, and is feeling much better, but is still getting dizzy at times (mostly from meds, I think, and the fact that he didn't really have ANY real food for a week, since every time he ate he would gag and throw it all back up.) He was pretty lightheaded and sick to his stomach for a while yesterday, too. So - I'm praying that he gets back to his old self SOON! I feel so bad since I can't really do anything for him, and he hasn't been much fun to be around! :-( Some of you would be surprised that he hasn't hardly talked to me in a week b/c he's felt so bad (not b/c he's mad at me!) That's pretty amazing considering his affinity to talking! :-)

I mentioned our Anniversary Sunday... we had over 200 kids in teen church, 12 saved and 8 baptized! I think they said that we had over 100 people saved overall that week (they did outreaches in the community and had people saved there, so they are included in the count). We also had our 20/20 Vision service... the plan for our church to be COMPLETELY debt free by the year 2020. We had a special one-time offering, and then commitment cards for giving. The one-time offering was over $22,000, and the total with offering and commitments was over $118,000 - almost $119,000, and they are extending the time for 30 days to give people that were on vacation, etc, the chance to participate. Pretty awesome! Praise the LORD!

Lil D's mom, Tonya, called me on Monday night, and I think God knew that I needed that phone call. I was still really discouraged over the whole work thing, and thinking that maybe those people were right and I'm not a good nurse. Tonya called to ask me if I would be willing to babysit Lil D this weekend (I don't work for her anymore b/c Lil D doesn't need nursing care anymore!) She hasn't been able to go out for a long time now, and just needed to get away for a night. She wanted me to keep Lil D Saturday night and until she gets off work Sunday afternoon. She told me I was her #1 choice for babysitter (even over family) b/c she knows that I love Lil D, that he'll be safe with me, and that she won't have to worry if I take care of him. I told her what had happened at work the week before, and she told me that those moms will be wishing they had kept me when they get the horrible nurses that don't care and don't know what they are doing! That made me feel much better! :-) Tonya even said that her dad, who is an alcoholic and don't know squat about people (in her words, not mine!), told her that he could tell I was a good nurse. (I saw them at Lil D's b-day party back in Nov.) So - God knew that I needed that encouragement AND I am babysitting Lil D this weekend... overnight... here at my house... should be interesting! :-) Chris asked me if D will actually go to sleep, and I told him that D will do anything I MAKE him do! Then Chris reminded me that I'll have to get up early to get both of us ready in time... and I told him I know! I'm a little leary, but at the same time, rather excited to spend time with D again. I MISS HIM!

So - now I have a case that I'm going to be working for this month ONLY, since it is in Palmyra (which is 26 miles away). It's a job, I guess. I'm really not looking forward to the commute again, but like I said, it's work. Please pray that they can find something closer for me to do starting in May. Since my car is leased, we really can't afford to put tons of miles on it right now.

I have been consistently working out 4 times a week for almost 6 months now! That is a major accomplishment for me! I met a girl, Stacey at the gym, and we've worked out together a couple of times now. It's really hard to get our schedules together! I have been really discouraged at the whole thing, though, since I've only lost 15 lbs. I KNOW that muscle weighs more than fat, and when you gain muscle you don't necessarily lose weight right away. However, it's really nice to see the numbers going DOWN on the scale! Well, I wore a dress on Sunday that I wore a few weeks ago. It fit fine last time, but was still a little tighter across my stomach than I would have liked. Well, I noticed on Sunday that it fit more loosely than the last time I wore it. I have 2 more identical dresses in a size smaller that I bought at the same time (different patterns, of course!) They didn't fit then (the zippers wouldn't zip all the way up), but Chris told me to keep them as incentive to lose weight! Well, I dared to try them on Sunday afternoon... and would you believe it?!?!? THEY FIT! OK... they didn't exactly FIT well, but I could actually zip the zipper, and I could wear them. They are still a little tight across my stomach, but I would wear a sweater with them anyway, so maybe I could pull it off. I was so excited, though... now I have TWO new dresses to wear, and they are really cute! We're getting church directory pics done on Sunday, so maybe I'll be brave enough to wear one for that!

My workout partner, Stacey, referred me to her chiropractor (I've been looking for a new one - a GOOD one!), so I went this week. I LOVE him! I think it will really help my back. Found out that my lower spine has a curvature in it because my hips were not level, and that my neck does not have the curvature that it is supposed to have in it (it's off by 22 mm!) With the adjustments, my muscles have been really sore, but I know that it will be better soon! No pain, no gain, right?!?! Also, there is massage therapy/acupuncture available through this clinic, and my chiro suggested acupuncture to treat infertility. He said the acupuncture doc is 6 for 6 with women who were infertile having babies since they've been treated. Hmmm... another MUCH less expensive option to consider! We'll see what happens! I don't know if we'll do it or not, but it's another option.

Other than that, not too much is going on here (isn't that enough?!??!) Drama, drama, drama! :-) Thanks to all of you who are still reading! :-) I know I haven't been very consistent with my blogging, but I've really been struggling with some things over the past couple of months... not having a baby mostly... and I try to not always be complaining! :-) Actually, life is pretty good for the most part, but I have a tendency to focus on the negative, so I seem to complain much more than I should! (Anyone else have that problem?!?) I'm enjoying the time with Chris, and we've just been keeping busy with church, work, working out, and trying to get some sleep. We're also enjoying the warmer weather... would you believe that we actually laid out in the sun 3 weeks ago?!?! Yeah, for those of you who live up north, we laid out in the middle of March! Makes me SO thankful to live further south than we used to! :-) We've also been enjoying Wednesdays off together, and our dinner dates on Wed. night before church! Life is good, and God is good! I'll end this with a few more of my fav pictures from the last month!

Spring is here!

I'm so thankful that we live further south than we used to... spring comes a little earlier here. :-) About 2 weeks ago, I got off work a little early. I'd been wanting to stop and take pictures around the area. Many things catch my eye as I drive by, but I'm usually running late or having to be somewhere. That Thursday, I had time on my hands. I took my camera and just started taking pictures, and walking, and taking more pictures, and walking, and taking more pictures...

5 hours and 301 pictures later... here are some of my favorites:

More pics to come when I have a bit more time to upload them here. Don't worry... I won't share all 300 of them! :-) If you have me as a friend of Facebook, though, you can see all of them... the good, the bad, and the ugly! :-) For now, it's bedtime! Enjoy!

Free Giveaway!

Hey, everyone... check out my friend, April's, very cool pink purse. It's the free giveaway on the blog linked here: http://allieparkersthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/02/fgf-crochet-purse.html

I'm not really into pink, but this is adorable! You can see more of her creations on the link to Stitch Twitch on the link above. Happy looking!

So long, Lil *D*

February 4th was a sad day... *D* is doing so well that he no longer needs home health nursing care. His mom wants me to take him to church with me, though, on the Sundays that she has the boys (every other weekend), so I'll still get to see him some, Lord willing. Here are a few pics from the last month and 1/2 I worked with him.

Mouthful of banana

He so looks like he posed for this shot, but he really didn't!

This one cracks me up, too, because he was standing there talking to "someone" on the phone, and if you look closely, the phone cord is not even plugged in! I'm gonna miss him!

Vacuuming

You know your kid is smart when he walks around at 3 years old reading a dictionary! LOL When I asked him what he was reading, he told me something about "your toes." :-)
There is Pepsi in this little cup (his mom gave it to him, NOT me!),

and he told me that he was "drinking coffee." Too funny!

(and I'm not sure why the picture is flipped that way, but I

didn't know how to rotate it on the post.)

*J*

Here's a pic of the other little one I care for... Little *J*. He's almost two, and is SO sweet! I love that I caught this shot of him... his mom cried when she saw it. After not knowing if he would survive major brain surgery, or if he would even be cognizant after the surgery EVER, he is doing SUPER well! I'm grateful for the opportunity to work with him.

New Baby *A*

This is my new job at work... No more little *D*, but a new baby *A*

She fell asleep with her hand on her face like this... it was so cute. The little blue thing that you can see sticking up in a couple of the pictures is part of her ventilator tubing.

Love baby hands!!!

Look at all that hair! It's such an unusual color, too... she's precious, and I'm glad I get to care for her for a while... that is, IF the 12 hour shifts don't kill me first! :-)