Mister and Doctor

The First 3 Months...

2011-07-04T11:18:00.002-05:00

Well, our baby girl is 3 months old and she is growing more and more each day. She is becoming more alert and loves to observe the world! In fact, she usually doesn't like to be held where she can't see things. If she's awake, she wants to be sitting up, looking out. She's also begun "talking" more. She makes the most precious sounds and facial expressions. It all leaves me wondering, what does she think she's telling me? A few days ago, she even talked to the window curtain. Those who know me and Jack might say that she gets the trait of talking to a brick wall (or in this case a window curtain) honest. :) She grins alot and enjoys getting out and seeing people. She can usually be counted on to be good at church and other outings, although she is still not crazy about being strapped into her car seat. She's beginning to hold onto things more and we thing she is pre-teething because right now almost anything near her mouth goes in her mouth.

I'm sure most parents have similar experiences to ours, but she is so special to us that every day holds new, exciting moments. We take such joy in just watching her play, make new sounds, or sleep. I'm so thankful for a gracious God who allows us the opportunity to have these experiences and who gives us hope that existence can one day be even better than this life.

New Baby = Even Busier Life

2011-05-23T15:38:00.004-05:00

If there is still anyone out there who follows this blog...no, our computer did not break. Turns out, having a baby is time and mind-consuming. I have somehow lost all interest in most things that don't involve Lydia, including blogging.

However, since I am here, I will give a quick update. When last I left you, I was eagerly awaiting baby girl's arrival and it came sooner than expected. Less than a week before our scheduled c-section, my water broke and I had a c-section early that morning. Our Lydia is healthy, happy, and now nearly 2 months old! We feel extremely blessed by her arrival and are learning new things about being parents every day.

Thank you all for the prayers as we experienced this pregnancy and delivery. God has been so gracious to us as we have passed through this time and we continue to need his grace everyday. I will try to blog more, especially as Lydia begins to grow and say/do memorable things.

Almost time...

2011-03-18T21:51:00.003-05:00

Back in July, the day after my birthday, the pregnancy test I took at 5am revealed to Jack and I that we were pregnant. Later that day we had a doctor appointment where Jack asked the question, "Is this for real?" At that time, a due date in April sounded so far away which was good. Plenty of time to prepare. Well, here we are in the middle of March and before we know it our lives will change forever.

I am currently 37 weeks pregnant. What a blessing! When I had my complication almost 10 weeks ago, I really never thought I would get this far. I was sent home on modified bed rest and told that there was really nothing I could do to prevent another abruption, but hopefully taking it easy most of the time would help. It's been tense over the past 10 weeks, more so early on when we immediately got home, but everything is much better now and baby girl is still cozy in her womb.

She is breech. She has found her happy place with her head tucked tightly under my right ribs. She often reminds me her head is there when she seems to stretch out a little bit...toes wiggling in my lower abdomen and head pushing up against my ribs. Occasionally as I gently try to coax her down, she hits my hand with her little fist.

Due to her breech position, we have a c-section scheduled for March 30. That's right...12 days away. If she turns to the proper head-down position before then, we will likely cancel the surgery. But honestly, I don't think she's going anywhere. She's been breech this entire time and now she's curled up in a C position and happy as can be. There is a procedure where a doctor can try to manually turn her to the correct position, however the risk of that is abruption and since I've already experienced that problem this procedure would not be advisable. Honestly, I'm ok with a c-section if that's what needs to happen. With either method of delivery there will be pain, I will be scared, and in the end I'll have my little girl. So whatever method God wills for her to be born, I'm fine with it.

Since the last time I posted on this blog, we have really begun to get the house in order. Furniture, bouncy seat, playard, and stroller are all assembled. Clothes are washed and put away. Toys and blankets are washed and the nursery is in good shape. In fact, sometimes during my sleepless periods in the night I go sit in the rocker in her room and read. It's just nice being in there. Also since the last time I posted, I have become HUGE. At least I feel huge. It's funny how things change in these last couple of weeks. I've noticed that strangers who are typically hesitant to make a remark or ask a question about your pregnancy for fear of sticking their foot in their mouth are no longer shy about asking. Also, people automatically seem to give me more room. I was at a restaurant with Jack this week at a time when the restaurant was almost empty. He had dropped me off at the door and I went in to ask for a table for 2. The hostess walked me past all the tables for four and seated me at a table for six. She pointed to the tables for four and said, "I just hated to seat you at those smaller tables, hun." Wow. Apparently I look like I either need more room or more food.

Overall, this pregnancy has been such a blessing. So many things change during this process and the whole time I've been looking toward the biggest change of all which is now merely days away. Although we've had our ups and downs and one of the scariest moments of our marriage in the process, I can look back on this and say that I have been blessed to have the experience. I know the next step will come with new challenges and blessings as well. Thank you again to all who have kept us in your prayers. It has made a huge difference. Please continue to pray for us as the day draws near and beyond.

Update

2011-02-07T14:33:00.003-06:00

Well, it's been 3 1/2 weeks since my "incident" so I figured I should post an update on my condition.

Thankfully, there's not too much to tell you. The past 3 weeks have been uneventful, pregnancy-wise so baby girl is continuing to grow where she should be...inside me. :) Each day/week that passes without her delivery is a real blessing right now. Just a couple more weeks and we are out of the "danger zone" so to speak, as by that time she will be able to be safely delivered at home and will likely not have to travel to a NICU. Our last doctor appointment and ultrasound was a week and a half ago and she looked great. Her heartbeat was perfect and we even discovered that she has hair! :) I can't wait to see her again this week.

So, you may be wondering as I have gotten many questions on the subject, what am I doing now? Well, I'm on modified bedrest which really isn't too bad. I can get out of bed and even out of the house on a limited basis. I have been able to continue to work some after my gracious boss made some necessary adjustments to my schedule. Also, since some of my family members have been less than excited about me staying home alone all day, I've been spending time with family either at my home or theirs most days for part of the time Jack is at work. Some women complain of boredom during a time like this-- not me. I've continued to stay busy and with the recent resurgence of my affection for my bed and sleeping, the time is actually going by rather fast. The blessing to modified bedrest for me is that when I'm tired, I can sleep and believe me I take advantage of it. Also, I've been given numerous pieces of advice such as "sleep NOW...while you can..." :)

Thank you again for your expressed concern and prayers during our scare. We feel tremendously blessed that she still seems to be doing well and we are closer to full-term. We know that things can change with our next breath, but we are confident that God is in control of it all. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Things can change in an instant… (part 3)

2011-01-20T21:11:00.001-06:00

I promise I will not start this blog post talking about how Jack is not only updating the blog again, but has updated the blog three times in a roll!! I wouldn’t stoop to the level in which I would discuss how shocking it is that Jack has posted not one, not two, but three blog posts in less than 7 days. No….I would not do that. Therefore, I will begin my blog post talking about the adventures of our stay in the hotel room. No…I’m not going that direction…get your mind out of the gutter.

By the time we got out of the hospital it was after 7:00 PM. I know this because we were in the middle of watching one of our favorite TV show, How I Met Your Mother or HIMYM for short. This particular episode of HIMYM was one that we really wanted to see because it was the second part to a cliff hanger in which one of the character’s father unexpectantly passes away. It was a very sad episode, yet a very good episode. I have see others compare it to several episodes of M*A*S*H* and I would have to agree. While funny, it also had a wonderful somber part about it that brought a real life twist to the show and that particular episode. I must admit that while extremely happy that we were getting to leave, I was a little bit disappointed that we were being dismissed in that 30 minute period of time. However thanks to modern technology I did get to see the episode even if it was over 48 hours later.

ANYWAY, back to finding a hotel room. Before leaving the hospital, we had found what we thought was the place we were going to stay. Upon arriving at the hotel, we noticed that while it might have been a wonderful hotel, all of the rooms opened to the outside. Ordinarily this would have not been that big of a deal, however per doctor’s orders, Fran needed to walk for 30-45 minutes a few times a day in order to keep blood clots from forming. Having a room at this particular hotel would have made accomplishing this task quite difficult when you are trying to keep your lovely wife, who is several months pregnant, from getting PNEUMONIA!!! After reaching the obvious conclusion that this hotel wasn’t the best for our situation, we drove to another hotel right down the road. Upon arriving, we noticed that the lot was fairly empty (which wasn’t unusual since it was the beginning of the week and a non-extended stay hotel), however after inquiring about room availability, we were told that they only thing they had were smoking rooms. You may be asking yourself, “WHY in the world would a non-extended stay hotel in the middle of the week be so booked?” I personally think that’s a very fair question so I asked. Apparently they had some large group arriving that had yet to check in...in the middle of the week….after 8:00 PM….at a non-extended stay hotel…but I digress….again. Now, I’m not the smartest person in the world, but even I know that a smoking room wasn’t the room for me to try to get for my pregnant wife when we were basically going to have to live out of it for the next 36 hours. So, we kept moving forward and continued to look for another place to stay.

The next place we came to also had a fairly empty parking lot. Luckily they did not have a large group coming in, and therefore, had plenty of rooms available. After getting the best price we could, we unloaded the car and settled in for the night. By the time we got settled it was probably nearly 9:00 PM, and we were tired. After getting us unpacked and getting ready for bed, Francie and I were beat and went straight to bed. And. We. Slept. HARD! It’s amazing how much better one sleeps when you are not lying on this convertible chair that is suppose to make a “bed.” It’s also amazing how much better one sleeps when you are not woken up every two hours for something that really in the grand scheme of things could have been done much earlier or a few hours later. Seriously people. How hard is it to check vitals at 10:30 or 11:00 PM instead of 1:00 AM?!?!?! And if you need to check vitals at 1:00 AM shine a flight light on their chest. Is it moving up and down? Yes? Ok, they are good. Let them (aka us) sleep! Like I said, we slept wonderfully that night. It was some of the best sleep we’ve had in a while. Plus the king size bed didn’t hurt either! ;)

The next morning we got up and went down stairs to enjoy the hotel’s breakfast. It was quite good, and we probably ate a little more than we should have. However we were on “vacation” right? After breakfast, Francie and I went on her first walk. After walking we spent the rest of the day taking it easy and resting. In addition to doing some laundry (as I was out of clothes because I thought that I was going out of town for only 3 days instead of 5), I also was able to get a few things accomplished at work through remoting into my office computer, however the big highlight of the day was the 3 hour nap in the middle of the afternoon! I told you we were tired! Dinner was a wonderful meal (to go) from a Cracker Barrel down the street. After dinner we watched some TV and then went to bed.

The next day we were schedule to leave and try to head back home. After breakfast, I packed things up and we both got dressed and started the long drive home. Like I said in the first blog post about this whole ordeal, the NICU was about 2+ hours away from where we live. This time, however I took my time and we made it safely home. During the drive home we stopped in another city that happens to have one of Francie’s favorite restaurants, Chick-fil-a.

A quick side note that I wanted to mention, and forgot to, in one of the previous posts. Another favorite restaurant of Francie’s is an Italian restaurant that we do not have anywhere near our home town. The day after Francie was allowed to have solid food, I suggested to my dad that he go get Francie’s favorite dish at her favorite restaurant to help build up brownie points with his favorite daughter-in-law! :) Thinking that this was a wonderful idea; mom, dad, and my sister went and had dinner there then brought a meal back for both Francie and myself. Upon getting her meal, Francie preceded to….well I wouldn’t call it “eat”. It was more like “chewing-so-quickly-that-people-wonder-if-you-really-are-tasting-it-but-don’t-say-anything-because-you’re- pregnant-and-haven’t-eaten-in-several-hours” eating it. It reminded me of my grandfather (dad’s dad) who would sit down to a table to eat, put his head down (no necessarily to give thanks) but because it was closer to his food, and would not come back up until the plate was ready to be put back in the cabinet because it was so clean.

I mention the event of Francie having her favorite dish at her favorite Italian restaurant because the same exact scenario happened at Chick-fia-a on our way back home. :) After getting her chicken salad sandwich and fruit cup (because you know, she is trying to be healthy for the baby) I thought I had warped into a scene from the movie “When Harry Met Sally”. All I can say is that I sure am glad that there were not children around! :S But seriously, she did enjoy it so much that being the loving husband I am, I went and got a second sandwich for her to have later that day.

Once back on the road we made our way home (after another stop or two to stretch our legs) and arrived safely some 3 ½ hours after we left. To say that it was a whirlwind of a trip would be an understatement. I just knew that when Francie was taken up in the helicopter that I would likely be coming back home with a car seat in the back seat, and likely after spending several weeks in the hospital either being with Francie or being with our baby or both! By the grace of God this was not the case, and we arrived safely without a car seat in the backseat.

Since arriving home I have been able to go into work for short periods of time, and Francie has been resting and taking it easy. We cannot express how thankful we are to EVERYONE who has expressed concern for our situation. The visits, cards, prayers, calls, texts, well wishes, food, and other forms of concern have been overwhelming to us. We are truly blessed people with many, many friends and family who care about us. As we approach the end of this pregnancy (whenever that may be), we must pause to give our appreciation to the gift that God has given us and be humbled by the fact that life can truly change in an instant.

Things can change in an instant... (part 2)

2011-01-18T22:02:00.003-06:00

Well, we promised you an update so (drum roll please……………). Jack has updated the blog TWICE in a roll!!!! (crowds cheering, children jumping up and down, high school bands playing, cheerleaders cheering, dance teams dancing, and anything else that you can think of that would delay this blog post from discussing what it is actually about. ;-) )

At the time of the previous blog posting we were still in the hospital and had been diagnosed with a “marginal sinus abruption” with the treatment of rest and a lot of it. Since then things really haven’t changed on the knowing-what-happened front. Francie is continuing to rest to hopefully heal from the abruption that seemed to have occurred. However life has moved on since the last blog post on Saturday night, and in an effort to write things down for future reference and to keep everyone up-to-date on things happening, here is a summary of life from Saturday night until Monday evening.

On Saturday night after posting the last blog entry we had a WONDERFUL event happen. The complication that caused Francie to have to be flown down to the NICU finally stopped!! This was a wonderful event, and one of those times in which you get so excited about an everyday occurrence. We noticed that the complication finally stopped around 11:00 PM on Saturday night, so the 24-36 hour clock started ticking then. However, if the complication showed back up, then the clock reseted and we would have to wait another 24-36 hours after it had stopped a second time. Luckily this did NOT happen, but more on that later.

Sunday itself was a very busy day, however very little changed. The morning started out with the doctor coming in around 8:00 AM. In dress clothes, the doctor was excited to hear that the complication had stopped, however cautioned that it could slightly reappear if we didn’t take it easy. We did ask about Francie being able to take short walks, etc. on Sunday because we noticed that the complication appeared stronger on Saturday after Francie took a shower. The doctor seemed to think that moving around was a good idea and wanted Francie to walk around some, take wheelchair rides, and also sit up in the rocking chair in the hospital room. At lunch, I (Jack) finally took a break from the hospital and enjoyed a wonderful lunch with my cousin, her husband, and their little girl at a restaurant close to the hospital. It was nice to be out of the hospital, however unusually painful to leave my wife who was in the hospital. This, to be honest, was difficult for me to understand. I knew that Francie was ok. I knew that (Lord Willing) she would be fine for an hour without me there. I knew that her mom was there and that she would take good care of her while I was away. I knew that if needed, I could be back at the hospital in 3-4 minutes. However for some reason this didn’t seem to matter. I knew that I needed to take a break, but I didn’t want to. It was very strange. But I went ahead and enjoyed a wonderful lunch with my family (mom, dad, and my sister came as well).

Once we got back from lunch, we learned that Francie and her mom had a wonderful time together and Francie had been on her first wheelchair ride. In the hospital that we were at, there are some halls that have bricks as the floor. While it looks nice, it’s a little bumpy for a wheelchair. Because of necessity for where they were going, Francie had to go down this hallway. Afterwards we joked that if anything was going to shake loose, it would have during that ride! :) Again luckily nothing shook loose and the clock continued to tick. After lunch the parents felt that it was probably best that they head on home. My mom and dad wanted to get back in time for church that evening, and Francie’s mom needed to get back to check on Francie’s dad. My sister, though, didn’t have anything to get back to so she decided to stay one more night. While we loved having our family there, and would have loved for them to stay, it was nice to get to spend some time just the three of us. My sister and Francie were really good friends before Francie and I started dating, and while the relationship has changed some, I am so very thankful that my wife and my sister are such good friends. This is truly a blessing that I try hard not to take advantage of, and try to help keep active through us three spending time together when we can.

Sunday also brought some visitors that we were not expecting, but were extremely grateful for seeing. As you might have recalled on Thursday while we were rushing to the ER, Francie’s OB-GYN was in Denver. Early Sunday evening, our doctor showed up out of the blue. Apparently his flight had come in (the NICU hospital was in the same city has where he flew out of) and he thought that he would swing by just to check in on us. To say that we were shocked would be an understatement; however we were so thankful to see his face. We had a wonderful visit and filled him in on the things that were going on. He was so very thankful that everything seemed to have stabilized and that we might get to come home soon. After our doctor (from our home town) left, we watched some TV and an interesting thing happened to me personally. For a brief period of time I totally forgot that we were in a hospital. And for that period of time, it was bliss. I don’t know why I felt this way but it was wonderful and something that I was thankful to God for having.

Monday brought the possibility of being dismissed from the hospital, but Francie woke up that morning with a different (but potentially just as critical) complication. She was having contractions! :S And some were 20 minutes apart!! OH MAN was I nervous. Here we had stopped one complication and another one starts up just as it looked like we were out of the woods. Luckily they appeared to be more Braxton Hicks contractions cause by maybe some slight dehydration. So the nurses told Francie to drink drink drink! Now you force water (which goes right through Francie even when not pregnant) on a pregnant Francie …..well, let’s just say that Francie never really got comfortable for having to get up every 10 minutes! :S

In order to make sure that the contractions were not legit, they put Francie on the fetal monitor. Of course, just like when you take your car to the mechanic, no contractions came while on the fetal monitor. So, like with the other complication, it was again more of a process of elimination than actually finding out what was going on. While all of this was going on, the doctor came in for her daily visit. Encourage that the first complication had not reappeared, and not very concerned about the second, she told Francie to walk three times by 3:00 PM and then we would see about maybe being dismissed that evening. This ordinarily would bring one excitement, however we were just too nervous about the first complication popping back up and the second complication being present to really get very excited. After hearing what the doctor had to say, and seeing how good Francie was doing, my sister decided that it was time for her to leave too. Like with the parents, we totally understood her wanting to leave, however also was happy to have her stay. But my sister, who is a nurse, thought that we were probably out of the woods and that it was safe for the family medical professional to make her way home.

After my sister left, Fran took a shower and this totally wiped her out. Like how you are exhausted when recovering from the stomach bug. So Francie took a good long nap, and I just watched some football. It was nice. Nice and quiet, and again, it was like I wasn’t even in the hospital. After waking up, we started walking. After walking and having some lunch, the excitement began to grow about the possibility of us getting to leave the hospital. However still lingering was where we went after being dismissed…

At 4:00 PM the doctor showed up and we had a good long talk about what the future held. In talking with the doctor we came to the conclusion that it would be best if we spent another day or two in the same city as the NICU. We also discussed what the doctor’s definition of “modified bed rest” meant. To summarize, basically the doctor wanted her to do nothing (except the occasional walking) for a week. After a week, add a little bit of activity each week until we got to about 35 weeks at which time the local hospital should be able to handle the situation if the baby came.

Deciding to stay in the town where the NICU was, meant that we needed to find a place to stay. While we had many friends and family members offer their place throughout the weekend we thought that it might be best if we just got a hotel room. This way we wouldn’t put anyone out, and Francie could get the best rest possible, so we found a fairly inexpensive hotel that had all of the amenities that one would need when basically living there for 36-48 hours. While we would have loved staying with someone, and if we have to come back might take some people up on their offers, we are glad that we went ahead and got a room. Getting the hotel room actually gave us a chance to get some much needed rest. But more on that later…this blog post is long enough. :) (don't you just hate suspenseful endings!)

Things can change in an instant...

2011-01-15T21:38:00.004-06:00

Have you ever said something that you hoped didn't happen and it happen just almost immediately after? For example, you are speeding and the though crosses your mind that you hope that cop isn't up ahead waiting and yet around that very next curve there sets the cop.

Or have you ever said something was going well and then it breaks down? For example you say that your car has been really running well after having some work done on it, and the very next day you break down on the side of the road.

At the time Francie wrote the previous blog post I didn't know she had 1) written the blog post or 2) posted the blog post. BOTH of which are normally no big deal and has happened several times in the past (and to be honest probably will happen a WHOLE lot more now). However if I had known what I know now, I would have stopped her from hitting "Publish Post".

In the previous post Francie wrote "I've been blessed to have a fairly easy pregnancy so far." This sentence was one of those times where life immediately throws a curve.

Three days after posting the blog post, Francie and I were set to go to a Christian conference about 12 hours away via a church charter bus (aka a Greyhound style bus owned by a sister church). The bus was planning to leave around 2:00 AM that Friday morning, and so, the night before Francie and I were laying in bed trying to get some rest before getting up to go get on the bus. While laying there trying to go to sleep Francie raises up and says “SOMETHING IS COMING OUT OF ME!” Now if you follow this blog, and have done the math, you know that “something” was NOT suppose to come out for SEVERAL more weeks!!!!

While not the baby itself, there was something coming out of Francie…and it was not good. Knowing that this was not good, I immediately told Francie that we were going to the ER. After getting dressed, we quickly left the house and quickly arrived at the hospital. Now, in my defense, we live fairly close to the hospital, and it was late at night, and the roads were clear. :) But needless to say grass didn’t grow under my feet in trying to get to the hospital.

On the way to the hospital, Francie called our OB-GYN doctor and told him what was going on. Unfortunately our doctor was in DENVER!! Luckily our doctor has a partner who was in town and he was able to meet us at the hospital. Once we arrived at the hospital, the entrance that I needed to go to was locked for security reasons. Getting to the door, I realized that it was “locked” (it was a set of sliding doors that just was turned off so that they wouldn’t automatically open) so I simply “encouraged” the doors to open. :) Once in, I told Francie to sit in the nearest wheelchair and wheeled her to the section that we needed to go to.

After arriving in the section where we told to go to by the doctor, the medical staff performed several tests/ultrasounds/exams/etc within a very short period of time. One of the most important things that gave us some relief was when we heard our baby’s heart beat on the fetal monitor that put on Francie’s abdomen. In looking at the tests, it was determined that it would be best for both Francie and the baby to send her to the nearest NICU. This NICU was over 2 hours away via car (driving the posted speed limit). Because of this, the NICU medical staff said that Francie had to be air-lifted to this NICU; unfortunately I was not allowed to join in the excitement of riding in a helicopter.

After taking her away, both Francie’s mom and I got our things together and drove to the hospital 2+ hours away in less time than it would normally take. In my defense, we did leave around 2:00 AM, I had my flashers on, and the roads were clear. Now for those that might get upset about how quickly I was driving, let me first say that I never went speeds faster than what I have seen many people do on the interstate in just regular driving. :)

When arriving to the hospital Francie was already in her room with several pieces of equipment hooked up to her. There were several questions that we had for the medical staff and they were wonderful about politely answer them all. We cannot say enough about the doctors and nurses that we have dealt with so far. Over the course of several hours they did blood work, another ultrasound, examinations, and monitoring of the baby. Everything looked fine. Therefore because of ruling out every other possibility, they have decided that Francie had a “marginal sinus abruption”. In laymen’s terms this is where a very small part of the placenta breaks away from the uterine wall.

This seems to be correct in the research that we have done, and the only thing that can be done is to rest in bed and wait. By resting, we hope the complications of this event will cease and appear no more. If the complications do cease, and remain that way for 24-36 hours then the medical staff will reevaluate what actions will happen next. As of the time of this blog post, we believe that we have just entered the 24-36 window. However if the complication reappears (even to a slight degree) then the clock starts all over. While frustrating, we both would rather have the clock reset and nothing happen then to be sent home and something happen and Francie have to be flown again to where the NICU is located.

In all of this we can see many times in which God has been working in this situation. We see how God gave us a situation where we were already packed for an out-of-town trip so that we didn’t have to waste time trying to figure out what to pack at the last minute. We see how God prevented us from being on a bus on our way to the conference when this horrible event happened. We see how God kept us from being on the bus when it broke down in the middle of nowhere. We see how God allowed safety to each of the hospitals that we have dealt with. We see how God has made a potential very serious issue in which we could have lost our baby to a situation where in the long run both Francie and the baby are fine. We also see how God has allowed us to come to a city where several family members and friends live so that we can have a very large support group if we need it.

God is wonderful and has given us many blessings that we do not deserve. We thank him every day for these blessings and pray that we will use our blessings to His glory and ultimate purpose.

We seek your prayers and ask that you continue to pray for us as we continue to walk down the path ahead.

Speaking of the path ahead, you may be wondering what happens after the 24-36 hour window is up. Well…that’s a great question. Stay tuned because we don’t even know that far in advance yet. :)

Happy 2011!

2011-01-11T13:47:00.003-06:00

For the first time since I can remember, I have had no adjustment to get used to writing "2011" on paperwork this year. It usually takes me a good week or two (and at least one check to church with the previous year written on it) before I realize that I'm stuck in last year's number. I know it's a small thing, but I think the fact that I've had such a smooth transition into 2011 is based on a number of bigger things.

2010, while great in some ways, was also very difficult. In the spring 5 people Jack and I knew passed away in a period of 5 weeks. Some were people we saw nearly every day, others we barely ever saw, however losing so many people so quickly made me begin to dread the mornings wondering if that day would be another day when something tragic would happen. My heart still aches and I am still in prayer for those families and friends who have had to spend the rest of 2010 without the special people who left us last year.

In addition to the losses, my dad suffered a stroke this year in May. He is making remarkable progress, but there were definitely a few months of 2010 that were difficult due to that situation and it continues to be a daily struggle for him and my mom. It's a true reminder of how you life can change in an instant and things will never really be the same again.

But good things happened in 2010, also. We were able to go on a wonderful cruise to Alaska with my family. That was definitely an experience I'll never forget. It goes on the list of top vacations EVER. And of course the best news of all has been God's gift to us in the child we're expecting. I've been blessed to have a fairly easy pregnancy so far. I've been feeling good and have loved most of the changes and new experiences that have come with being a newly pregnant woman. I can't believe in just a couple more months I'll be holding her and seeing her face in person.

2011 holds promise to be a wonderful year. I know there will still be sad/difficult moments. God never promised us that life would be easy. But He provides us so much to be joyful about, I hope to focus on those positive moments rather than the negative. I hope 2011 blesses you with God's grace and all the good things in life.

My Christmas (To-Do) List

2010-12-17T12:56:00.004-06:00

Over the next couple of weeks, Jack and I have a "break." I put that in quotes because we have a mile-long list of things to do while we finally have several days in a row at home. One of which is cleaning out the "throw-it-in-there" room (soon to be nursery). It will be wonderful to have that room cleaned up, but I dread the process. We will also be registering over the next couple of weeks. All of this is in addition to our regular Christmas festivities, of course.

At 24 weeks, our little girl is about the size of an eggplant. While she does move at least a little each day, it's still inconsistent. I'm so thankful that she and I are doing well and we can really enjoy this Christmas anticipating all the wonderful changes for next year. Another item on the list for the next couple of weeks is our next doctor appointment and 4D ultra-sound. I'm excited about getting to see her again and hear her little heartbeat. I have a feeling after January, the ball will start rolling down the hill really quickly and April will be here before we know it. I'll feel better after we can get some of these important things accomplished before I start feeling more pressure.

On a slightly strange note, I did a little music shopping on iTunes and Pandora recently upon the suggestion of a friend to get some lullaby music that I can play now to get the baby used to the sound. The idea is that playing this music when she's here will comfort her since she will be used to the sound. Did you know that there are several lullaby albums that have taken rock artists and made their songs into instrumental "lullabies"? I think the strangest one for me was "Dream On" from Aerosmith's lullaby album. I remember turning up the speakers loud in my car anytime I would listen to that song in college and now it's a lullaby? I guess in some ways it's better than the lyrics to "Rock-A-Bye Baby." :)

Moving along (in more ways than one!)

2010-12-03T15:32:00.003-06:00

I am now 22 weeks pregnant. It's hard to believe how fast this semester and this pregnancy has gone. I know soon I'll be saying, baby in arms, that this whole experience flew by. At 22 weeks, there are a few things I have learned and begun to experience.

1. Maternity clothes are heavenly, particularly at Thanksgiving. You can't get much more comfortable than elastic everything and never being self-conscious about your growing stomach because, after all, there's a baby in there!

2. Sleeping on your side isn't great, but it's manageable. I've always been a stomach-sleeper, back is second best, sides only when I have to. While my doctor has said that sleeping on my back some is ok, I am really supposed to keep it to sides if possible. I think now, after about 5 weeks of that I'm beginning to get used to it. Several pillows beside the bed that I can use and toss as needed also helps. Poor Jack, his bed is being taken over by a big pregnant lady and 5 of her pillows.

3. Feeling a baby move inside you is maybe the coolest thing ever. People keep telling me that I'll become tired of this and it will get annoying and maybe they're right, but right now I LOVE feeling her move around in there. I've been trying to pay attention to the times when she most often reminds me of her presence. So far I've noticed it most when I've been sitting and listening to student speeches or comprehensive exam defenses. Either she is a budding communication scholar or she's tired of hearing about communication and wants out of there! I haven't quite figured out which yet.

That's the news up to this point. I hope your December is going well and God has blessed you as He has Jack and I.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T20:05:00.002-06:00

As I spent time today making fruit salad and pumpkin pie for tomorrow, I couldn't help but spend time thinking about holidays. Every year about this time I reflect on the differences between this year and last as well as anticipate the future. It's been quite a year for us. Last Thanksgiving we never would have predicted that dad would be recovering from a stroke this year. He's doing really well, by the way, but still recovering. I also really didn't imagine that I would be pregnant this Thanksgiving. I'm sure I'll be nostalgic next year too, but next year I'll be thinking about the past and the future with our little girl in the kitchen watching me cook. :)

New to the Blog

2010-11-06T19:58:00.002-05:00

For your enjoyment (and mine, too) I have added two tickers to this blog. One is the countdown until our little one makes his/her appearance. The other allows you to "shop" through the produce section with me as our sweet potato makes its way to watermelon. I hope you enjoy them like I will!

Really? A Watermelon?

2010-11-03T16:24:00.002-05:00

Ok, so you know that I've been looking at websites that tell me the size of our little treasure. (This week is a sweet potato, by the way.) Well, today I was looking at www.thebump.com and I noticed a produce list for the entire pregnancy. I was enjoying looking at it until I got down to the last few weeks...

Watermelon...this child will be the size of a watermelon by the time I deliver.

Granted, I've been doing a good job of being in denial about the whole delivery part of this, but at that moment it was hard to ignore what's coming. :S

16 Weeks

2010-10-21T10:49:00.003-05:00

Just to update you, I'm officially 16 weeks pregnant. I have several sources that I go to each day/week to learn more about my baby's changes and how he/she is growing. He/she is about the size of an avocado now and although he/she has been moving for about 8 weeks now, I should start to feel the movements within the next few weeks. I am very excited about that part.

While there are definite signs that I'm pregnant (like the fact that I really can't wear my normal clothes much anymore) sometimes it is still difficult to believe. That is one reason why I'm so excited to start feeling the movements. Like hearing the heartbeat at my doctor appointments, feeling him/her move will reconfirm for me how real all of this is and remind me that in a few short months, I'll be holding a little Fran and Jack combo in my arms.

In a couple of weeks or so we get to have what my doctor called "the big ultrasound." I am eager to see how much baby has changed since the 8 week pictures. Plus, if all goes well, we will learn the sex that day. Please continue to pray for us as we work to make decisions and prepare for the big changes to come.

Help! This kid needs a room...

2010-10-11T14:55:00.002-05:00

Becoming pregnant leaves a couple with many more questions than answers. What is the sex? Do we find out the sex? Names? Preschool? Which college should he/she attend? Ok...maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself. (Although I have made the stipulation that the baby's name should sound good with "Dr." attached to it. Just planning for the future. Haha.)

Lately the big question on my mind (as well as the question I'm getting from others) is what is the nursery theme/colors going to be? Jack and I have made very few decisions so far in this process. What we do know is which room will be the baby's. Unfortunately it's the "throw it in there" room. Do you have one of those? Whenever company is coming over or you have some item that you need to put somewhere and there is no where it can go you "throw it in there." Currently, that room is a wreck for that exact reason. (If you are still following this blog, you'll remember that this is the one room not pictured in the House Remodel post.) Yeah. It was a mess then and it's still a mess now. With the door closed, it's out of sight and out of mind. So once we get it cleaned up and cleaned out, we need to choose a theme. Granted, we don't know the sex yet (although we do plan to find out) and that may have a impact on the theme. So here's my question...where do I go for inspiration or what are your favorite nursery themes/colors? I've seen a few things that I like and so has Jack. We probably won't make this decision completely until we know more and begin to get things cleaned up but I'm a little lost on this one right now. Any advice would be appreciated. [Be forewarned, posts asking for advice/help are likely to become more frequent.]

The Latest

2010-09-29T09:51:00.005-05:00

Back in July, Jack and I received some news. Much to our (and our parents') delight, we will be welcoming a baby into our lives in the spring. This was a bit of a surprise. It happened much faster than we expected. So it's taken a while for the reality to sink in. But as I move into my second trimester, it's becoming more and more clear that this is for real.

Other than some of the obvious signs, how do I know there is a life growing inside me? Well, for starters-- I'm EXHAUSTED! For the past several weeks, it's been all I can do to get through the absolute necessities of the day and go back to bed. In fact, my bed has become my favorite place. Thankfully we got a new mattress last month and it feels like a big hug every time I lay down. Another piece of evidence has begun to make itself clear every time I put on a pair of pants with buttons and/or clasps. I usually wear my clothes a little loose so it really hasn't been until the past week that I've realized that wearing my usual clothes is beginning to be uncomfortable. I have two pair of black pants that have a partial elastic waist and they are now in the running with my bed as some of my favorite things.

When we actually have time to think/talk about it, Jack and I are extremely excited about this news. It's going to be a big change for us. We've been married for 7 years and are satisfied and content in our life together. However, it seems clear that God has orchestrated this blessing for us and we pray that we can live up to His calling as parents. Please pray for us as we embark on this new challenge.

Alaska Vacation

2010-06-12T16:08:00.005-05:00

This has been an extremely eventful few weeks for our family. Some of it has been good and some not so good. Please keep our family in your prayers. I'll try to post about everything eventually, but this post will be devoted to....our Alaska Vacation! That's right, we went on an official vacation and it was terrific!

A few weeks ago, we went on a cruise with my family to Alaska. Most of my family has never been on a cruise so this was a very special trip because not only was it a new place for us but a new type of trip! We visited Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay National Park, and Ketchican. Our cruise also stopped at Victoria, BC, Canada. We didn't actually get off the ship at Glacier Bay National Park. That park has many different glaciers and our ship was able to take us near 2 of them for close viewing. It was amazing! Jack and I highly recommend an Alaskan cruise to everyone! It's worth saving for and putting on your bucket list. Here are a few pictures from our trip:

This is the front of our ship. Imagine yourself saying, "I'm the king of the world!

We saw some wildlife. The Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, AKWe rode a train in Skagway, AK through the mountains. It was BEAUTIFUL!Glacier Bay National Park

It was an amazing and beautiful trip!

Change

2010-05-12T11:14:00.002-05:00

Finals are over, the students are gone, and things are quiet around my office. I. love. it. The end of the semester always gets me thinking about change and this semester has me thinking about change even more than usual. As you have previously read, this semester has been unusually tough for my family. After losing the two friends I discussed in the previous post, three more people connected to us in some way died suddenly adding up to a strange and humbling 5 weeks this spring. I'm in prayer for those families every day, especially on days like last Sunday (Mother's Day). So, when the end of this semester came, I was particularly happy to see the change come. I'm not always a big fan of change. I HATE uncertainty. I'm a planner. I like to know what's going on, when it's happening, who will be there, and why. I like schedules, calendars, and school supplies. Not knowing kills me. However, there is another side of me that loves change. It's that side of me that drew me to being a professor and spending the rest of my life in a college-setting. It's that side of me that felt my soul dying when I was in my first job out of college and I realized at Christmas that I didn't get to move out of the cramped office I shared with the Fran Drescher-like person I worked with and have that change that college always provided at Christmas. It's that side of me that feels refreshed to live in a life scheduled by semesters- fall, spring, summer, fall, spring, summer. So, while some of me hates change, some of me craves it and is loving the fact that I feel a calming sense of peace for this spring being over and summer beginning. Happy summer. May God bless the change and stability in your life.

27 Days

2010-03-31T21:11:00.003-05:00

Within a span of 27 days, two young, lively, caring people have departed this world. They never knew one another and were geographically separated by hundreds of miles, but they did have some common characteristics. They were both in their mid-thirties...young. Their deaths were untimely, but health-related. They brought joy to people around them and those who knew them were shocked speechless by the news of their death. Finally, they were both friends of mine and to some degree my life will not be the same without them.

When the first death occurred at the beginning of March, I considered posting then, but I didn't really know what to say. Jack and I were both close to this person and since he went to church with us and we both knew him for a long time, it has been a slow process of recovery as we think of him and his family often and are still in prayer for them. While he did not have a wife or children, he worked with the children at church for years and they loved him, as did many many other people.

My second friend died today. She was a friend from my graduate school days. I have found that my graduate school friendships are very special and unique. We went through a specific kind of experience together and although we don't talk to each other daily-- or sometimes for months-- we make plans to meet each year at our annual conference, look forward to seeing each other, and we always know that, each other will be there if we need one another. She has left behind a precious daughter and husband. My heart aches for them.

I've never understood the fragility of life like I have in the month of March 2010. Do not take your life for granted. It is so important for you to take care of your health, spend time with those you love, focus on what is valuable, and be read to be with God whenever he calls you. Remember, "Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." James 4:13-15

The Olympics

2010-02-19T16:58:00.002-06:00

Ask anyone (especially Jack) and they will tell you, I'm not much of a sports-watcher. I wouldn't say I'm completely lacking in sports knowledge. Overhearing PTI while Jack gets his daily-dose does keep me vaguely informed and I usually fill out a March Madness bracket based on what I overhear. But, generally-speaking, I could care less about most sporting events unless I'm there- watching it live and in the middle of the action to enjoy the event in person.

So, I have to admit, I'm a little surprised to find myself glued to NBC every evening these days watching the Olympics. And I don't just mean the figure skating. In fact, that is not my favorite event this year (as it has been in years past). I have found the most excitement out of events like the speed skating, the snowboard halfpipe, and the ski moguls. My heart raced as I watched athletes like Apolo Ohno, Shaun White, and Hannah Kearney show strength and athleticism of unbelievable magnitude. It's been incredible. I've found myself going to class and telling my students, "You HAVE to watch the Olympics!" So, now, I say to you...from a regular non-sports enthusiast...you HAVE to watch the Olympics! :) It really is an amazing event and one that can make you think about things like patience, endurance, strength, and tenacity.

The Office Snuggie

2010-01-07T16:33:00.004-06:00

I know, I know, I know...we are terrible bloggers. Here I am enjoying my Google Reader subscription-- checking it almost daily for updates from all of my wonderful friends and seeing their beautiful Christmas pictures, reading about their adorable children, and what do I (we) do? Nothing. Not a darn thing. Not even so much as a Merry Christmas to the one or two people left in our tiny readership. Oh well. Thanks, if you still check in from time to time. It's a new year. Maybe we'll be better to the blogging world.

It's really a very silly subject that encouraged me to blog today-- the Snuggie. If you know me at all you know that I am a very warm-natured person. Typically, I like cool air blowing on me in the car. I'd much rather be cold than hot. My philosophy is, you can always put more clothes on, but there's only so much you can take off. Plus, I hate to sweat. However, despite all this, someone gave me a Snuggie for Christmas. Actually, I like it. It's blue and since Jack and I like to try to save money on heat by keeping our house cool, the Snuggie comes in handy.

I'm thinking of relocating the Snuggie, though. Since cold weather hit, I've found myself shivering in my office most days. I work in an older building and I love my office, but the windows are old and not terribly energy-efficient. It's typically rather warm in the summer and cold in the winter. While I have a space heater, the person in the office next to me and I cannot run our space heaters at the same time because when we do, we flip the breaker and have to wait for someone from maintenance to come flip the switch and give us our electricity back. So most days we stay warm in shifts. To alleviate this problem, I have an office jacket, office scarf, and office gloves (complete with the fingertips cut out so I can still type). I've recently thought about bringing the Snuggie in. How convenient would it be to have the full-length blanket over me (with sleeves!) when I can't run my space heater? But I'm torn...I always thought the people on the Snuggie commercial looked like cult members. I try not to be caught up in what others think of my appearance, but I also need to keep a certain sense of professionalism and dignity, even if I am cold. I can quickly hide the gloves if someone comes into my office, but the Snuggie would be more difficult to remove quickly. What do you think? Warmth or dignity?

Thanksgiving Weekend

2009-11-30T17:27:00.004-06:00

As you can probably tell, we've been a little busy this fall. Our posts seem to get fewer and farther between. This weekend was a nice break from the hectic life as we had a few days off and celebrated Thanksgiving with loved ones through continuous eating. It was wonderful. I made my first pumpkin pie and it turned out great. (Thanks, Rachael Ray.) And I bought almost all my Christmas presents after knocking out only a few of the Black Friday shoppers. (I didn't get there until about 9:00, so the 5am-ers were starting to drag their feet by then. They were much easier to knock down after they'd been shopping for 4 hours.) All in all, it was a well-spent weekend. Now, I will continue my non-stop Christmas music marathon.

Today

2009-11-05T09:34:00.003-06:00

I get a daily devotional over email that I try to read in silence every morning before I start my day. It has one longer scripture and one shorter scripture of the day. Today's scripture is:

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
-Psalm 118:24 (NIV)

Jack and I did not get to post anything in October. It was a month full of highs and lows. The best high moment was that Jack had a birthday! The lowest moment was that he lost his grandmother after a long battle with many illnesses. If he chooses to post more about that, I'll let him do that in his own time. Anyway, due to everything that has been going on, I think blogging has been something we just didn't think to do. When I checked my friend's blogs over the past month, I would think about updating ours occasionally, but I really did not know what to say.

Today when I read the scripture of the day on my email it made me stop to think about what a gift each day is to us. November is a month when we often think about being thankful. As I rejoice in today, I am thankful for my loving family, my precious husband, my steady job, my home, the freedom I have in my country, and most of all a loving God who created me, sustains me, forgives me, and loves me even when I take all of those things for which I am thankful for granted.

As you go about your day, remember that it is a gift from a loving Father and rejoice.

A year ago...

2009-09-17T14:17:00.001-05:00

A year ago this coming Saturday (9/19/09) will be one year since my uncle (dad's brother) suddenly passed away.

There are some things in life that you don't ever think that you will forget about. I foresee this being one of those situations. It was a Friday morning and Francie and I were getting up early to travel for a weekend get-a-way with my parents and sister. While in the city, I was going to get to see my favorite baseball team play against their chief rivals. It was going to be one of those well deserved, do as little as possible, family vacations. It was also going to be an early celebration of my 30th birthday and my wife and sister had spent months planning the trip not to mention way too much money on the game tickets. However just before we were set to get up, I got a call saying that my uncle was going to the emergency room and that it did not look good.

Now for those that don't know that side of the family, this actually wasn't an unusual event for my uncle. He suffered for many years with multiple diseases, and on more occasions than you or I have fingers and toes he has been at the brink of death and then came back. This time was very different. This time he didn't pull out of it, nor would any human been able to. See my uncle, unknown to anyone, had abdominal aortic aneurysm. The aneurysm burst that Friday morning, and because of this, my uncle passed away in his house, while my aunt was trying to take care of him like she had done for so many years.

Because of my uncle's passing away, we did not make the trip to see my baseball team play. We instead stayed home and were with family. Through the help of many family members and friends I was able to sell the tickets. I was told by my aunt that I could go on to the game that she totally would understand. I didn't care anything about the game. It was just a game. I had lost my uncle. My dad had lost his brother. My grandmother had lost her son. My cousins had lost their father, and my aunt had lost the one that she loved for 35 years.

(A quick side note about my uncle and my aunt. They meet in the same building that I now work in. I walk through the area where they met for the first time nearly every day. It's ironic how life works out and things are so connected.)

The next several days passed so quickly, yet seemed to last forever. I vividly remember certain situations that occurring during the next week or so, wishing that in some ways I could forget them however thankful in other ways that I won’t. We have all moved on over the past year. My cousins went back to their homes in a city about 6 hours away. My aunt continued to live her life. My grandmother has had many ups and downs health wise. So has my dad. There have been many joyful events (buying a house, dad making it through surgery, etc). There have been other sad events (grandmother’s health, etc). However we are all still here and we all still love each other. However Saturday will bring back a lot of feelings for everyone.
So if you don’t mind please say a prayer for my family on Saturday. I don’t know how the day will go. I do know that it will be hard on the entire family, especially since we will not be together. May God bless each and every one of you who read this blog. I pray that you enjoy the time you have with your family, however long or short it may be.

The House: Before and After...

2009-09-14T14:11:00.029-05:00

Last night we hosted our first large group in our home. The life group we meet with on Sunday nights from church came to our house for dinner, games, and a devotional lesson. It was a great evening. In preparation, Jack and I cleaned and cleaned so today, as promised, I have pictures of the inside of our house: before and after the renovations! (Please excuse the picture layout. Inserting this many pictures through blogger was more challenging and time consuming than I expected.)

Keep in mind, all of the before pictures were taken before the previous owner was completely moved out so the furniture was moved out when they left.

Let's start with the utility room:

Before:

Notice the green paint, green vinyl valances, and unpainted wood paneling....

After:

Now, it is a utility room so pardon the hangers and slight mess, but notice the beautiful tan and white paint, lovely new valance and new floor. There is also a new light fixture in here but you can't see that from this picture.

Now to the kitchen! Before:

There's that green paint again. And how about those saloon doors?

After:

So the changes in here include painted cabinets, new hardware, new light fixtures (again not pictured), new floors, new window treatments, new blinds, and new paint.

Some of the biggest changes occurred in the living room. So...here is the before:

The living room was originally two rooms: a den and formal living room. The formal living room was red with white carpet and a flowery border that was triple-glued (rrrrrgh)! The den was green (again) paneling and because of the fireplace the room was very narrow and offered few options for furniture set-up. So...we began to think about taking down the wall between the two rooms and creating one large living room for ourselves.

After:

Now we have a large living room and 18 people sat comfortably around last night during our life group meeting. As you can see, we also have new carpet, paint, window treatments, and light fixtures in this room too.

Guest bedroom and guest bathroom. Before:

The guest bathroom had gold lantern light fixtures that cast a yellow light all over the room, not to mention that they were hung low in mirror. Furthermore, there was no shower in the guest bathroom, just the (wonderful) jacuzzi tub. The guest bedroom was fine. The biggest problem with it was a ceiling fan that was improperly hung and no carpet. (Jack and I like carpet...don't judge us.)

After:

In the guest bathroom, we changed light fixtures, added a vent/light fixture, added the shower and marble around the jacuzzi tub, painted, and put in a new toilet. In the guest bedroom, we painted, added carpet, and changed the light fixture.

Finally, our bedroom and bathroom. Before:

Our bedroom had wall paper and no carpet. Our bathroom was green (again) and the shower tiles were falling off the walls. We ended up having to take the shower completely out and re-doing the entire thing. That was one of the largest projects we tackled.

After:

In our bedroom we added carpet, painted (after stripping wallpaper), changed the light fixture, and bought new bedroom furniture (which I love!). In the bathroom, we painted and completely gutted and changed out the shower. We put in marble instead of tile. Hopefully it will serve us well for years to come.

There are other rooms in the house not pictured here (the dining room, office, garage, and outside storage building) but these are the ones that are 1. clean and 2. the most changed. This project took up a large part of our summer and we are very thankful to our wonderful family who helped us with all the work and also friends and family who helped us move.

We feel truly blessed to be in our home. It is great for us and we have learned alot from the renovations (as you may have read if you keep up with this blog). Thanks for your prayers and support!

Dear Jacuzzi Tub...

2009-09-05T11:52:00.004-05:00

Dear Jacuzzi tub,

Thank you for coming into my life. When we first viewed what is now our home, our realtor showed you to us with some enthusiasm. While I knew your capabilities, I was only mildly impressed. We really weren't looking for a home with a Jacuzzi tub. None of the other homes we had seen had a Jacuzzi tub. It was not a deal-maker or breaker for us. No offense, but your presence in our home was merely icing on the cake. But now, oh now, I know the value that you add to our home. When I have had a long, very stressful, restless week, I begin to day dream about you. Turning on some music, pouring just the right temperature of water in you, and allowing you to work your magic, you can relax at least some of my stress away. Yes, you have your weaknesses. You are a little short, but then so am I. And you more than make up for your lack of length in your wonderful depth and many jets that shower me in powerful massaging bubbles at the push of a button and turn of a dial. Yes, Jacuzzi tub, you are truly one of the blessings in my life.

Francie

Welcome to the start of school!!!

2009-09-01T11:23:00.004-05:00

Our loyal fans may be wondering where the heck we have been!!! It's over two weeks since we last posted!!! It's amazing the earth hasn't split open and swallowed all of us whole!!

I can best sum up where we have been in just a six words....one short sentence. But first a story...

I was mowing the other day for dad (who by the way is recovering nicely), and I got a call on my cell phone. I didn't fully recognise the number (aka it wasn't a number that I had pre-programmed into my phone), however did think that the number looked familiar. So I turned off the mower and answered the phone. It was the nursing home that my grandmother is now staying in. It took several minutes of me saying "Hello!?!" to get someone to talk to me. It was Granny and the first words out of her mouth was, "You are alive!"

My response, and also my response to those who may be wondering where we have been, was....

"WELCOME TO THE START OF SCHOOL!!!!"

Seriously.....that was my response! :) I love my Granny, but one of the things that is weird is that some of our family members are having trouble realizing that for the rest of our natural lives come August , SCHOOL STARTS!! and with school starting, our lives get extremely crazy. However, things are starting to slow down a bit, so hopefully I'll be able to go visit Granny more often in the next several weeks.

Hope everyone else is doing well.

Jack

P.S. The phone conversation with Granny was good and we got to talk for a few minutes (I wasn't nearly as straight forward as I immediately was :)). I did get a chance to visit her a few days later, and it was good to see her.

Update on Dad

2009-08-16T23:46:00.004-05:00

For many of you that know us personally, we have tried to keep you up-to-date on dad's progress through other outlets. However, for those that don't have access to those other outlets below is a synopsis of the updates.

Aug 7

3:26 PM
they just took dad back. Surgery should be about 4 hrs. More later......

5:24 PM
surgery actually started at 4:15 pm. 5:15 update said that things were going well. Next update should occur around 6:15 with surgery ending around 7:15.

6:28 PM
surgery still going on and progressing. They say he is "doing well". Hopefully next update will be around 7:15 pm.

7:37 PM
survey went VERY well. Took kidney, tumor, and a few Lymph nodes for Pathology to look at. Results not till Wed of next week. Thanks for the prayers everyone. Still not completely out of woods but happy to hear the surgery went well.

Aug 8
8:57 AM
long night last night. He didn't sleep good because of the pain. Doctors have been in and are going to work on the pain. Overall in good shape, woke up from surgery wanting something to eat!! :-)

5:24 PM
It's nearly 5:30. The Dr's have been in twice today. Overall doing pretty good, but a lot of pain. He's went to the restroom, walked, and continuing to eat (however only liquids). The pain is the big thing we are dealing with because when he coughs it's extremely painful. Not going home today, and I'm not thinking that tomorrow he will be leaving even if he is released. Thanks 4 everything!

9:11PM
A very rough day today with a lot of pain and other issues. Very unlikely to get out tomorrow.

Aug 9
2:53 PM
He is going to be dismissed today. We are not very excited about this, but going to deal with it the best we can. He has an appt Tues to follow up the health issue we had yesterday. Because of this appt, he is going to stay in town till Tues. Overall in good shape. Very tired and still in some moderate pain, but overall he is doing good.

8:03 PM
we have been dismissed and are at a hotel downtown. Call if you need the info. Still a lot of pain and slow moving. Thanks for the prayers. They really mean a lot.
Aug 10
10:57 AM
he is doing much better today. He is getting around by himself, eating more, and looking better. We are headed back to home, but dad and mom are staying for the appt tomorrow. Updates will be slower but still as much as possible.

Aug 12
hopefully will come home today. Doctor's appt yesterday went pretty good. Not 100% of what we were hoping for, however overall good news. Expect test results on tumor today or tomorrow.

Aug 13
Tumor on kidney was cancer, however tissue around cancer was clean and lymph nodes were also clean of cancer!! Therefore dad is cancer free!! YAY!!! Thank you God for this blessing! Dad is still moving slow but doing well especially after this WONDERFUL NEWS!! THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR PRAYERS! This is truly answered prayers.

As you can tell it was a long week, however it ended well. While dad did have cancer, the cancer was contained and was totally removed during the surgery. We are very excited about the news about the cancer, and are thankful to the Lord for this blessing. Dad continues to recoop, however is doing well overall. Now we just have to get over the surgery.

While this media will not reach everyone that we know, and neither will the other media that we have been using, we want everyone to know just how much we appreciate all of the prayers, calls, questions, and concern expressed to both Francie and myself during the past several days. We are so blessed to have a loving earthly family, spiritual family, and friends who care so much about us and my dad.

Tomorrow is the big day....

2009-08-06T15:17:00.002-05:00

For those of you who don't follow my lame excuse of a prayer blog, I thought that I would also post something here.

Tomorrow is dad's surgery. To say that everyone is nervous would be a gross understatement. However we are all staying positive and hoping and praying for the best. God truely knows what we need and He will take care of us. Surgery tomorrow is at 1:30 our time, so please say a small prayer for him around that time (or before so that you don't forget). Fran, my sister, and I will be traveling down to the surgery location tomorrow morning. If you want updates please call or text either Fran, my sister, or myself. Slower updates, I'll try to post here so that everyone who reads this (even you, Mr. or Mrs. Stranger), will know how things went.

Thanks again for the prayers.

Oh no...it's August.

2009-08-04T12:39:00.002-05:00

Once again, August is upon us. Jack and I have come to learn that August tends to be a very busy month for us. It seems to have started when we lived in our previous location and were in charge of the campus ministry at our church. The beginning of the school year is always a big time in campus ministry so we usually had many big events with lots of things to coordinate, plus we both worked in schools so starting things up there added extra pressure to the mix. Living where we do now, August is still an insane month for us and as I turned the page on my calendar a few days ago it struck me that the days are upon us now.

So how are we doing now that summer is pretty much over? Well, the boxes are probably about 50% unpacked. I've basically completed the kitchen. I have some items to donate and some to store, but otherwise the kitchen is done and I love it. The other rooms are getting there. I've found myself staring at boxes of things now that I'm just not sure what to do with. I'm sure you have those items-- the ones that you really don't want to get rid of, but yet what do you do with them? That's the stage I'm in. We haven't hung any pictures yet because boxes have been lining the walls and it would be too much trouble to move them to hang pictures. So, there is still alot of work to do, but in time all of that will get done. It may be Christmas before it's done, but it will get there.

I survived turning 30 and I can now use the phrase, "well, when I was in my 20's..." I was able to get together with some of my friends from college, most of whom also turned 30 this summer, and we had a nice dinner. We all marveled at how strange it is that our college years were approximately 10 years ago and how old that makes us feel. I really enjoyed getting to see them and catch up.

Jack and I both had goals we wanted to meet for work that may or may not be met before school actually starts in a couple of weeks. I guess that is just the way life goes. I think God is trying to teach me to let go of my plans and be ok with going on his time schedule, not my own. So I'll continue to work on all of the things on my list and hope that this year's August goes well. Pray for us as we move through this crazy month.

Finally moved in....kinda!

2009-07-27T07:54:00.003-05:00

Well this past weekend was a big weekend for our family. On Saturday we moved the rest of the stuff from the house we were renting to our new house. There are still somethings in the garage at the old place and the house needs to be cleaned before we turn it back over to the family member we were renting it from. However, for all practical purposes we are totally in our new house!!! YAY!!! Nearly 3 months after we took possesion, we are finally living in OUR house. It's kinda weird though. For the first time I can remember, I kept myself awake last night (not for too terribly long) worrying about everything else that has to be done. AUGH!!!! We haven't even unboxed everything....heck we haven't even unboxed 70% of our stuff, but I'm already worried and thinking about what has to be done NEXT!! DANG IT!

However, I eventually fell asleep and everything that needs to be done will eventually get done. God will provide. While I had a moment I wanted to stop and thank EVERYONE for helping (physically or financially) us during this process. I would try to name those that helped, however I am affraid that I would leave someone out. To everyone that did help we owe you a huge debt of gratitude. Without your help we would not be in the house as early as we were. Heck we may not be in the house at Christmas if it was just us working on it!!

Again thanks for keeping up with us on this blog. We hope that you have enjoyed the frustrations, joys, and lessons learned during the process of getting the house done. More will come as we work on the other projects that are keeping me up at night! ;)

NYC, Birthdays, and Moving In

2009-07-24T09:20:00.003-05:00

Much has happened in the past few weeks. Jack and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary by spending the night in our new home. Our bedroom furniture came in a few days before our anniversary and with some help we moved in just enough items that we could begin sleeping in the house. It's been good to start the moving process. After this weekend, we hope to get the last of the boxes and furniture out of our old home and be completely moved into our new home. It will probably take a while for all the boxes to be unpacked, but that is ok. It feels good to be in. Once I can get organized enough to take some pictures, I will post the before and afters (I know, I know, I've been saying that for a while.)

This past week I actually went on a little vacation. (Good timing, right?) Well, last winter my mom suggested that she and I go on a trip for my big 3-0 birthday this summer. She and I used to do alot of traveling together when I was in college so this was an opportunity to do something like that again. The idea was to go to New York for a long weekend. So, back in February we booked the plane tickets. By the time it was over with, the long weekend turned into almost a week because flying out on Thursday was cheaper than Friday and coming home on Tuesday was cheaper than Monday and we found a good deal on a hotel. Anyway, all of this happened way before we knew that Jack and I were going to buy a house and renovate and move in at the end of July. But that's what happened, so last week I packed up with my nerves shot and left for NYC. It was a great trip and a much needed break from reality.

Here are my recommendations for anyone going to NYC:
1. If you are going to stay at least 5 days get a City Pass. The pass is an advanced ticket to several museums/monuments and if you want to go see everything on the pass, it's a good deal. Plus you don't have to wait in any lines get tickets. This saved us a ton of time and helped us schedule our trip.

2. Save your money and plan to bring an extra bag home with items you purchase there. I have never seen so much stuff to buy in one place. There are stores, street vendors, souvenir shops, and markets everywhere. And most of them will reduce their prices when you start to walk away. This is a true test of self-control.

3. Get a really good map, especially if you plan to use the subway. New York subways can be tricky. We met one woman from Athens who said she had taken the wrong train three times. She had been to two other countries where she didn't speak the language and had been able to figure out the subway system but was having a very difficult time in New York.

4. If you are planning to see a Broadway show, get up the day of the show and go to TKTS in Time Square to buy your tickets. The line looks long but they move you through fast. If you are really counting on going to one particular show you may not want to do this (they don't sell tickets to everything) but if you are ok with two or three options, this is definitely your best deal. We got half-price tickets to 9-5 (Excellent show!) and ended up being 6 rows back from the stage. It could not have been better and there is no way we could have done that for that price had we bought them in advance.

So now I have returned and this is probably going to be my last time to post while I am still in my 20's. Looking back on the past decade, so much has happened in my life. I've done most of what I wanted to do and I have changed alot since I was 19 turning 20. If you had asked me then what my life would be like now I would have never guessed it would be like this. But that is the nature of life. I can't even imagine what I will be writing when I'm 39 turning 40. What a decade this will be...

Lessons on Home Remodeling - Tip #4

2009-07-06T10:24:00.001-05:00

Trimming doors when new flooring is installed.

It's time for the weekly installment of Home Remodeling tips from Jack and Francie!!! (I started writing this and then Francie beat me to the post so I had to slightly modify mine. NO big deal.)However, regardless of that this week you get a two for one deal!!! Call it our summer special! ;-)

Tip #4: Trimming doors when new flooring is installed.
Last week the vinyl was laid in the kitchen/utility room. Because of the people who laid the vinyl having to also lay down underlayment, the doors in the utility room leading to the garage and outside needed to be trimmed. BUT the people who laid the flooring didn't trim doors. SO in mentioning this to others they said that the carpet people should trim the doors. Thinking that the doors to the bedrooms might also need trimming, we hoped to just have him also trim the doors that the vinyl layers did not. In the famous words of Ray Stevens......WRONG! The carpet is being laid today and when asking them about the doors, they also said that they were not suppose to trim the doors either! SO now we have to try to trim the doors ourselves or find someone who will. So tip #3 in the house remodeling of the Jack and Francie's house is...."Ask before you buy the carpet/vinyl/tile/etc if the layers will trim the doors. If they don't develop a plan assuming that the doors will need to be trimmed."

Lessons on Home Remodeling- Tip #3

2009-07-06T10:01:00.003-05:00

Never celebrate too early.

We have learned over the course of this house remodeling venture that nothing is as simple as it seems. Most things take longer than they should and don't work the first time you put them up, hook them up, hang them up, or turn them on. Yesterday we decided to go ahead and move the washer and dryer to the utility room closet. There is no hook-up at our current residence so the washer and dryer have been in storage. I am very excited about the idea of being able to do laundry in my own home again once we get moved in! So we discovered first that the dryer will not plug into the current electrical outlet because the outlet and the plug on our dryer don't match. Ok...we have to switch another outlet. So we brought the washer in to hook it up. Everything was connected beautifully. Time to try it out. Hot water...works. Cold water...works. Warm water...works. Hallelujah! Something works the first time!! I did a dance in the utility room. "Celebrate with me! Something works the first time!" But, alas, remember Tip #3. We began to drain the water we had just put into the washer and behold....water all over the floor. There was a bad hose that needs to be replaced. We spent the next 30 minutes or so sopping up water with some kitchen towels we found from the previous owner and a few paper towels. When Jack disconnected the hose...whoosh! another big rush of water. We got it all cleaned up and dry but needless to say we have a washer and dryer IN the house but neither are in working condition at this time.

Oh yeah, and this weekend was the 4th of July. Happy Independence Day, everyone. We did take Saturday off-- away from work AND the house-- to enjoy a break and the festivities. It was a nice day for both of us. Praise God for the courageous men and women who serve our country and protect our freedoms. May God bless us even in our weaknesses.

Lessons on Home Remodeling- Tip # 2

2009-07-01T10:05:00.004-05:00

When the previous home owners leave you a cabinet full of cleaning products, take the opportunity to use them and assess their value.

Today, I will evaluate three-- that's right THREE-- home cleaning products for you. Kaboom! (in honor of the late Billy Mays), George Foreman Knockout Multi-Purpose Cleaner (our former homeowner must have liked infomercials), and Windex with vinegar (yuck). I cleaned the guest bathroom last night because it is finished. Yay! Both bathrooms are actually done, but I was only able to get to the guest bath last night and I really need to give it another good cleaning, but last night gave me the opportunity to test out these three amazing products. Here is my assessment:

While I mean no disrespect to Billy, the Kaboom! disappointed me. It left a weird white residue on the counter top and just didn't seem to clean well. So it was out. Same goes for the Windex with vinegar. I searched through the 15 bottles of cleaning products I inherited with the house looking for another glass cleaner, but to no avail. This Windex left several streaks that I could not remove so I'm going to have to clean the mirror again. So, out of our triple product test, the winner is....George Foreman's Knockout Multi-Purpose Cleaner! Actually, this was pretty good. It seemed to clean well on multiple surfaces and didn't leave any kind of residue or film. Is there anything George Foreman can't do?

Lessons on Home Remodeling- Tip # 1

2009-06-26T09:20:00.003-05:00

When an electrician comes to your home to create a place for new ceiling fans and install them, DO NOT take the time to put the ceiling fans together to save time for the electrician. Your efforts will be futile.

Wednesday night, before the electrician was to come on Thursday, Jack and I decided that we needed to put our two living room ceiling fans together to save the electrician time and save us some money. Mind you, our home has no lights right now because we took them all down (again to save us some money) so the electrician can check the wires and secure the boxes where fans used to be. So Jack and I sat in the living room with head lights (flash lights on an elastic band that you attach to your head) and put together ceiling fans after church Wednesday night. Thursday when we came to make sure the electrician had no questions for us, the ceiling fans were all but completely disassembled in the living room floor. "We can't hang them assembled," the electrician informs us to our dismay.

Things are moving along and hopefully the house will be move-in ready soon. It will probably be ready for us before we are ready for it, considering that I haven't packed one box. Not one. I think I am avoiding the whole situation. I would rather take one or two mad packing days than begin to pack slowly and take one box over at a time for several days. As soon as things are complete I promise I will post the before and after pictures so you can see what I've been talking about for the past two months or so.

Here a year...

2009-06-23T13:48:00.003-05:00

It hit us this past weekend that we have been in the town that we now live in for a whole year (Saturday, June 20th was actually exactly one year). It's amazing how things change and yet how things stay the same. When we left the town we were living in we were very excited about moving, while at the same time very sad about leaving some of our dear friends behind. But here we are a year later and it's funny how things have changed. We are glad to be moving where we were, but as the saying goes "You can never move back 'home'." How true this has been. We are excited about being close to family, however this presents unique challenges (in SO many ways). We are excited about our jobs, however this past year has been very, very, very stressful on both of us (and unfortunately this doesn't look to be getting any better). We are excited about working with a ministry that has a leader and a church that strongly supports it, however the "perfect" situation really isn't all that "perfect". We are excited about buying a house, but the jobs that we (and everyone else) think that we should do before we move-in never seem to cease. We miss our lives in the town we left. We really miss some of the people we left. We miss the smiling faces of the students we left.

Will the other saying of "time heals all wounds" fix these problems that we seem to have? Who knows. Stay tuned! ;)

Space

2009-06-08T14:05:00.003-05:00

Last week I decided to make a call to the contractor just to see if we were still on schedule to have the wall taken down between our formal living room and den. According to what he had told us when we had the estimate done, this job would probably be done about the middle of June, so maybe next week-- if we were lucky. Thursday morning he called me back and when I asked him when he might get to us he said, "How about I come today?" TODAY?!? My heart started to flutter. This was the big job I was waiting for-- and earlier than I expected. But on the phone I kept my cool. "Sure, today would be fine," I said in my most professional sounding voice.

By the end of the next day, we had a big, beautiful, open space where a wall once was. Jack and I sat in our lawn chairs in what used to be a small formal living room and looked into the open space that is now our whole living room. It's terrific. We are so pleased. The job is not completely finished, but close. Painting is well on its way. The bathroom showers are getting their marble treatments today and hopefully Jack and I will make flooring decisions soon. Things with the house are really falling into place. Soon, I hope to post some before and after pictures of the inside of some of the rooms so you can see the transformation. I want to wait for completion so you can really see the difference (paint and all).

On another note, I started a summer Bible study with a few friends today. We are going to meet weekly and I am excited about it too. I think it is going to be a real blessing to me to spend time with some other women each week discussing God's word and learning how we can pray for one another. My summer class will meet for the last time this weekend and then I will just finish up grading and be able to check that off the list of things to do this summer. I hope I can continue to be motivated to do the rest of the work I need to do but with God's help, I know I will be able to do what needs to be done and let go of the rest. Thanks for your prayers. I have been able to feel his peace the past few days.

Grow in Happiness

2009-06-01T11:43:00.003-05:00

Friends and loved ones...pray for us. I was sitting in the doctor's office this morning, reading the text book for my summer class (because of course I can't let any time go to waste) and I ran across these sentences: "Indeed, part of human happiness depends on not feeling overburdened-- at least not for too long. Few things are as debilitating as feeling frazzled by having too much to do and too little in the way of resources to do it." This is at least my third time to read this book and when I read those sentences I stopped and re-read them at least 3 more times. What a true statement to characterize how Jack and I have been feeling for the past year. I don't know why this particular life adjustment (new jobs, move, new house, etc) has been so much more difficult for us than previous similar experiences but it has continued to drain our resources and doesn't seem to be letting up. I realize that in some ways we probably bring these feelings onto ourselves, but they don't make the stress any less real for us. So, I ask for your prayers that we can learn to manage our lives and balance our responsibilities so that we can prioritize properly and feel a sense of peace and rest. Within that, with God's help, we can grow that "human happiness" the author speaks of in my class's text book.

The Work Continues...

2009-05-26T09:34:00.005-05:00

Demolition continues at our house. We officially have a hole where the master bedroom shower used to be, but we also have a new shower head where there previously wasn't one in the guest bathroom. Tiles have been removed and I think I saw a little smile on Jack's face when he got to take a sledge hammer to the shower floor this past weekend. It is fun to work with tools and tear stuff up, no matter what it looks like when you are through.

The wallpaper removal is a whole different story. Whoever put up the border in the living room and dining room loved wallpaper paste. LOVED wallpaper paste. I think they must have found a good sale on it somewhere and just hated not to use it all because they double or triple pasted this border on this wall. It was going no where. This border had to be removed in layers-- the top layer, the backing, and then the sticky residue left behind kind of like when you remove a price tag from an item and the residue is left, but worse. My mom, Jack's mom, and I, along with my cousin, and a few others from time to time have worked on it for days and we have about a wall and a half left to remove.

We are beginning to consider paint colors and floor coverings so everything is moving along nicely. We are rather boring when it comes to paint, so that choice shouldn't be too difficult for us. And when it comes to floor coverings, we prefer carpet. I know, I know...hardwood is beautiful. Hardwood is THE thing to do. Hardwood is easy to care for (sort of). We've heard all of the arguments and seen all of the eye rolling when it comes to floor covering. We do have some original hardwood in the house, but we just prefer carpet. So, we will protect that hardwood by choosing a carpet that we like and enjoying the comfort of nice, soft, warm carpet. Thank you.

Between all the work at the house and all the work I'm doing for my summer teaching, I completely forgot that this past weekend was a holiday weekend until last Friday. So while I enjoyed having the day off yesterday and spending some restful time with our families, I now have to be mindful of the shorter work week in completing what I need to do for my summer class. I am trying very hard to focus on enjoying each process that I am dealing with this summer, from the house, to teaching, to all of the other work I am having to do. I know how quickly this summer is going to pass me by and if I spend all my time worrying about how quickly it's going to go or wishing the house was done and I was moved I'm not going to enjoy any of it. So instead I'm trying to learn as I go, take pictures, and enjoy the processes I'm involved in. I hope that will help me make the most of this summer.

Renovations

2009-05-14T15:26:00.003-05:00

We closed on the house two weeks ago tomorrow. It feels great to have a home even if we don't live there yet. Since my job is more flexible than Jack's and allows me more opportunity to slip away and meet plumbers, contractors, etc for estimates, I've been calling people and meeting them for the past several days.

Some things have been difficult about this part of the process that I didn't expect. For example, do you know that there are multiple ways to take down a wall in a home? We met with 7 different contractors/carpenters who were qualified to take down a wall between two living rooms and each of them described a completely different way that they planned to take down our wall. Some of them seemed viable, others seemed a little scary. All of it was a little overwhelming. The fun part for me was listening to all of them talk about what they would do and how they would do it so now I can ask some questions and talk about taking down a wall and sound half-way intelligent about it. "So are you going to put a header up there or are you going to use an LVL beam in the ceiling?"

That's right...just call me Francie Vila. Or better yet...name me after one of those people on HGTV who never actually does any of the work but stands back and watches other people while smiling and talking about it like she knows what's going on. Yeah, that's who I want to be.

We have pretty much settled on who is going to do most of the work now, so it's a matter of making some of the detailed decisions and waiting for when they can work us in. So far-- so good.

Summer has begun as far as my school year goes. I am teaching a class that begins shortly so I haven't really gotten to take a break yet, but I look forward to taking one soon...maybe.

House Update

2009-04-30T10:36:00.003-05:00

Quick update folks-- we are closing on the house tomorrow morning. I know for some people this is no big deal at all. For me, this is huge. I feel the need to celebrate and freak out all at the same time. We don't plan to move in for a while because we want to do some renovating to the inside and we are blessed to be able to stay in our current location until that work is done. I know the next few months is going to be filled with decision-making, first experiences, and eventually moving which may all be stressful but it will be worth it to enjoy our first home together. We are truly blessed. Hopefully as the summer moves on we will be able to post updates on our progress. Keep us in your prayers!

Easter

2009-04-14T09:59:00.002-05:00

We celebrated a wonderful Easter Sunday with our families this past weekend. Our minister and song leader were used by the Holy Spirit to deliver an outstanding worship service and I was literally moved to tears as we sang Worthy is the Lamb. I am thankful that he who had no sin was sent to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21)....the righteousness of God. When I think of myself and my inadequacies, I cannot imagine being the embodiment of the righteousness of God. But that is the amazing gift of grace that God gave us through Christ, his sacrifice and his resurrection.

Thank you for the cross, Lord.
Thank you for the price you paid.
Bearing all my sin and shame
In love you came
And gave amazing grace

Thank you for this love, Lord.
Thank you for the nail pierced hands.
Washed me in your cleansing flow
Now all I know
Your forgiveness and embrace

Worthy is the Lamb
Seated on the Throne
Crown you now with many crowns
You reign victorious
High and lifted up
Jesus, Son of God
The darling of Heaven, Crucified
Worthy is the Lamb
Worthy is the Lamb

Update

2009-04-07T16:13:00.003-05:00

I know we haven't posted in a while. This month has been CRAZY. Spring is busy for me in the semester at work, but we have also been busy personally and had to take care of a few things. I do want to say this-- thank you for your thoughts and prayers on the house situation. We found one. :)

This past weekend, Jack and I were out working in the yard. While moving trucks around we missed 4 phone calls from our realtor. She left a message on both of our phones. When I did get back in touch with here is how our conversation went:
Realtor: "Are you in town?"
Me: "Yes..."
Realtor:"I have a house you need to see. It has some great features for you and a huge outbuilding that Jack will love. You need to come see it."

So Jack and I talked briefly and we asked her when would be a good time to come by.
Realtor: "Now."
Me: "Well, we've been working in the yard all day, we aren't cleaned up at all."
Realtor: "Doesn't matter. No one is here. Come on over. You've got to see it."

So Jack and I got into the car with the faint smell of our outdoor workmanship and headed off to see this house. Part of the reason the realtor was in such a hurry was because the house was priced very well. Very well. Her concern was that if we wanted it and we didn't move on it soon that someone else would make an offer before us.

So we went to see it and it was great. We brought our families in and they loved it too. While we normally take a long time to make these kinds of decisions, we also knew that other people would be seeing the house that afternoon. So we went ahead and made an offer. By Sunday afternoon, we were on our way to buying a house! Now we are in the process of inspections, securing the loan, etc and it is wonderfully distracting. If everything continues as hoped we will move in sometime this summer after we have done some updating to the inside of the home.

Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers. We are very excited that we have found a home and we pray that everything moves smoothly from here.

With this ring...

2009-03-03T20:55:00.002-06:00

Our Wednesday night Bible class at church (which is aimed at college students) is about Christian marriage this semester. It has been interesting for Jack and I as we are called on from time to time to offer insight on the subject. Last week we were asked to participate on a marriage panel. Other couples also participated. The couple who was married the longest had been married for over 50 years which is no small thing these days. There was a "newlywed game" which Jack and I lost and then some time for us just to answer questions. Getting different perspectives from different couples who had been married for different lengths of time was eye-opening, even for me.

Tonight I went out to dinner with 3 other wonderful Christian women. Two of us were married and the other two were single. As usual, part of the conversation dealt with men and those of us who were married found ourselves talking about the adjustments that marriage brings to your life. Issues like where to squeeze the toothpaste tube and which side of the bed to sleep on can become sources of stress like they never were when you were single and had complete control of your own toothpaste. Shortly after Jack and I were married I accidentally gave him a black eye with my elbow when I turned over in bed. Oops. We went to church that week and everyone gave me dirty looks. I had alot of explaining to do.

I am thankful that God created marriage. Being married to Jack has richly blessed my life. That's not to say that we don't have challenges...all marriages do. However, with God's help we have been able to work together through tough times and I believe we will continue to work through them as they arise. We've got the toothpaste thing figured out (with a handy little tool that you put on the end of the tube). We're still working on some of the others. :)

What is God Saying? - Your input is requested

2009-02-23T13:47:00.007-06:00

For those that know us well, Francie & I try very hard to listen to what God is telling us. Without giving too much of us away, on every move/career change/etc we have striven to listen to what God was trying to tell us in the situation. And for the most part, we feel that He has guided us (or for this blog post - told us) through various incidents, "signs", etc as to what we needed -or what He felt was best for us - to do.

So we find ourselves again at this crossroad and we are trying to listen to what God is telling us to do in regards to buying a house where we now live. To try to help you understand what we mean, without giving too much away below is a timeline.

After accepting a job, we started looking for houses to potentially buy. Know that we have never owned a house before so we are virgins at this and trying to not make mistakes as we go along. In looking at houses, we got in touch with a real estate agent and a financial broker (both we know personally and consider friends).

We didn't initially buy but continued to look over the period of several months while we have been renting from a family member (a HUGE blessing that we feel so blessed to be able to use). NOTE: We have enjoyed where we are living but there are a few things that we miss that are kinda driving the desire to buy a home.

After several months of searching we just did not find anything that we loved. Because of our current housing situation we weren’t willing to "settle" for something. We really wanted to find something that we loved and would be happy in for several years. Doesn't have to be permanent but we’re looking at least 5+ years of living there.

While we were looking, both our real estate agent and our financial broker left the business because of the current economic times. We by no means fault them for making the career change, just a part of life and taking a while to buy a home.

So in all of this we started to think that maybe God was trying to tell us to wait on buying a house. After all we really didn't have 20% to put down on a house in the price range that we were looking in. Besides this we had several other family issues that we were having to deal with (some that have been documented on this blog and Jack's Prayer Requests).

So we were just waiting. That is until this past Thursday night.

Since we have started looking we have had family members occasionally tell us about houses that they have come across. This has been very handy in the housing search as both Francie and I have been swamped with other issues but it allows us to know about houses that we might have missed.

This past Thursday night my mom sent me a house that she found online that we were interested in and I was very interested in (and for those that know me best this is a rare event). So since our agent had resigned from the business we decided to just contact the person selling the house in order to at least look at it.

Well the house went under contract LAST NIGHT!!! WHAT LUCK! AUGH!!!

So my question to everyone out there is.......What do you think God is trying to tell us? We would like to finally get “settled” in the town that we live in, however we don’t want to make an unwise decision and would like to continue our history of listening to God in these life changing decisions. But we are just SOOOO confused. And if God is trying to tell us to wait, how long do we wait? Or is God trying to tell us that we need to move on this more quickly because we might miss out on what we need? The last three times we have been semi-interested in a house by the time we asked to see it, it was under contract. Are we too slow on the trigger? What is your perspective?

Distance

2009-02-23T11:57:00.002-06:00

Jack and I went out of town this weekend to the place where we used to live. We hadn't been back since we moved last summer and it was wonderful to see old friends and drive around in the town we lived in for 4 years. There's alot to be said for distance. While distance can be difficult if you are separated from someone you love, distance can also be healing. Getting away from difficult situations can begin to heal you. Even when you have to return to those places of hurt, leaving for a short time can give you new perspective. I'm thankful for distance, not just because it has helped me to move forward from a difficult couple of weeks but because it has helped me in other ways and other parts of my life too.

Thank you for all who have been praying for me and my family. God is good.

Complicated

2009-02-16T10:56:00.002-06:00

When Jack and I started this blog I hoped it would be a light-hearted way to share our lives with people we know and occasionally people we don't know. I often find myself laughing out loud when I read blogs from Mandy or smiling when my friends share stories about their children. Unfortunately, our life has not been as light-hearted as I would like it to be recently and that is why I have really avoided posting anything.

I have had a personal experience recently where one of my family members has found himself trapped deep in complicated, messy, addicting, and stigmatized sin. It's the kind of thing you would never expect to happen in a "good Christian family." Many people, myself included, are still reeling from the news and while I am mostly able to move through my days as if everything is well and normal I do have emotional break-downs from time to time. The whole situation has had me thinking quite a bit about God and Satan, the world and eternity. To God, we are all broken, fallen creatures. Suffering through our weaknesses whether they be private or public. No sin, whether it be jealousy or murder, is worse than any other in the eyes of God. And ending your life in that sin will cause you to face eternal punishment regardless of what it is. In this world, our sins have consequences. And those consequences create levels for us that make us feel as though one sin is worse than another. What's worse, at times the consequences we face for our own sins have drastic effects on those we love even though they had absolutely no control over our actions. Sin and Satan are two powerful forces.

I'm not writing this to draw attention to myself. Although what has happened is in my family, it is not an immediate family member and the effects on me personally are really going to be relatively minor. My concern is more for those who are going to be deeply affected for the rest of their lives. Romans 8:26 says, "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." That verse holds a great deal of meaning for me right now on multiple levels. Please pray for this situation and take time to consider your own weaknesses. If you are struggling in an addictive sin and need help to get out of it, please get the help you need before it is too late. Let us allow our Christian brothers and sisters to help us through our weaknesses and follow the words of Galatians 6:2, "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."

Lag Time

2009-02-05T17:02:00.003-06:00

I know it's been a while since we have posted. Without going into detail...we've experienced technical delays. We are almost back to normal now so hopefully we will have more to talk about and be able to post more regularly. For now I'll just say that we are moving along through the cold days of winter. This time of year is usually a little less than exciting for me. I've come down from the Christmas high and have yet to be excited about the spring changing of the weather. Maybe you've experienced the same feelings. Anyway, I've added a Bible verse of the day to our blog so I hope it will cheer you during what could be construed as a dreary time of year. God bless you.

Getting Away to the Gulf Coast

2009-01-20T15:39:00.002-06:00

This past weekend Jack and I attended a conference in Panama City, FL. Gulf Coast Getaway has been happening in January for almost 20 years. In recent years, it has moved to the MLK weekend because there are so many students that travel great distances to be there, they wanted to allow an extra day for travel.

I've written before how much singing is an encouragement to me in worship and this weekend is the epitome of great singing. Imagine nearly 2000 college students praising God with more joy than when your favorite team wins the Superbowl. It's incredible. I'm thankful for having the opportunity to be there and witness it. Students are also blessed by great speakers and opportunities to give and serve. Lives were changed this weekend.

College students are the future of our world. Their lives are turbulent, changing, and forming during these difficult years. It is our responsibility to guide them into becoming who they will be for the rest of their lives. Events like Gulf Coast Getaway can impact those students in ways that mold and shape them. Praise God for people who understand how important those college-age years are and who work to provide for those students. I'm thankful for those who created weekends like this past one and the ministers and volunteers who agreed to take students to it.

New Beginnings

2009-01-08T15:05:00.005-06:00

Living on a school schedule provides an interesting viewpoint on time. School marks definite beginnings and endings multiple times each year. While most people are thinking about what's new around Jan. 1, for me it's more like mid-January and mid-August.

Each year at the beginning of a new semester, I usually have both feelings of eager anticipation and trepidation as I imagine what my new groups of students will be like. Even classes I've taught multiple semesters are made new by the arrival of a new group of students. And each class usually develops its own special personality. What will this group offer? Will they be enthusiastic? Intrigued? Bored? Frustrated? Nervous? Probably a little bit of all of that and more as the semester continues.

Next week will begin a new 16 week semester full of surprises, new relationships, and learning for the students and myself. Next time I blink, I'll be walking into graduation and this new beginning will become an ending. That is one thing I do love about this job-- change in new beginnings.

Taco Soup

2009-01-06T18:12:00.005-06:00

One of my favorite things about winter is soup. It's comforting, easy, and delicious. I'm making a recipe for dinner tonight that I thought I would share. It's from a friend of mine at church. If you like chili, you will certainly like this soup. It reminds me of chili, but it's different enough that it offers some variety.

Taco Soup

Ingredients:
2 lbs. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 (.05 oz) packages powdered ranch dressing mix
2 (1.5 oz) packages taco seasoning
1 (16 oz) can black beans, undrained
1 (16 oz) can pinto beans, undrained
1 (16 oz) can kidney beans, undrained
1 (10 oz) can Rotel, undrained
1 (14oz) can chopped tomatoes
2 (16 oz) cans white whole corn
2 cups water

Directions:
1. Cook onions and meat together until brown, drain
2. Stir in dressing and seasoning mix
3. Add other ingredients and simmer for two hours
4. Garnish with cheese, serve with tortilla chips or crackers

This soup also freezes well. I put some left-overs in a gallon Ziploc bag and laid it on a cookie sheet to freeze flat (you can stack multiple bags on the cookie sheet to freeze). The frozen soup bags take up almost no freezer space and when I need a quick lunch at home I can quicly defrost and reheat this soup and it's delicious. Enjoy!

New Background

2009-01-06T16:05:00.001-06:00

We are experimenting with a different background for the blog. Let us know what you think!

Christmas & New Years

2009-01-03T22:13:00.005-06:00

Well it's Saturday, Jan 3th at 11:30 PM. My vacation for all intensive purposes is over. My employer gave us 2 weeks off this holiday season in order to try to save some money in energy costs, and also to give the employees a small token of a gift since we didn't give cost of living pay raises this year.

I personally really enjoyed the time off. To say that it's been a extremely stressful semester would be an understatement. Anyone who has moved, had both spouses start new jobs with huge projects demanding your time in the first 2 months of employment, a death in the family, and another family member having major health issues would totally understand. But please understand I'm not trying to complain or seek sympathy from anyone, but pointing out how stressful the last half of 2008 had been. However like I said, I was sure glad that I got the time off.

Since Fran also had the time off we used the time to visit old friends, spend some time with family, and just lay around the house and relax. Here are some of the stories of what we did.

Dinner out - we took the opportunity to eat dinner with some old friends (Michael & Lacy) from a town that we previously lived in. We went and ate at a popular restaurant that is famous for a special meat dish. This restaurant also has their complex decorated to the nines with Christmas lights. This is also the place where I asked Francie to marry me. It was nice to get to spend some time with old friends and celebrate personal accomplishments with each family. The accomplished that were celebrated were: Francie & I celebrated Christmas, Fran's graduation, both of us getting jobs, our 5 year anniversary, and us moving to the town we live in now. Michael & Lacy were celebrating both of them graduating, their 5 year wedding anniversary, them buying a house, and both of them starting new jobs. We had a wonderful time and miss spending time with them like we use to. Hopefully now that we live 1 hour away instead of 5 hours away we can get together more often.

Shopping - Francie did some shopping during the break as well. This actually was a huge blessing because we didn't have all of our Christmas shopping done. Two FULL days later and several hundreds of dollars, the she was able to finish up the Christmas shopping and also spend some quality time with her mom, aunt, and grandmother.

Christmas Eve - Christmas Eve can be a stressful time for the two of us. Both sides of the family celebrate Christmas on the same day and usually at the same time. We have been blessed since we have been married that both families have been flexible to adjust the time so that we can spend more time with each side. However it's still a very busy evening and makes us feel rushed in trying to get everything crammed into 3 hours or so per family. Things may change in the future regarding this as the families get older and bigger and certain members pass on, however for now it is a very busy night.

This year we started with my family first. My mom's family gets together and everyone eats a pot-luck meal (as good, if not better, than a country church pot-luck meal). After dinner presents are usually opened. We didn't get to stay for most of the presents being opened, however did manage to stay for the big present for Granny H. The cousins went together and got Granny a 15" digital picture frame for Christmas. She had been using her laptop (Christmas present last year from her kids) as a glorified digital picture frame, so this year in trying to keep her laptop working as long as possible; the cousins went in together and got her the real thing. She really likes the present and I hope that is provides her hours and hours of joy. Another present that Granny got was a popcorn popper. Back in the mid-70's several of Granny's kids were getting married. One summer three out of the six kids were married within 6 months of each other. Shortly after that Poppy (mom's dad) said that kids were going to start popping up like popcorn, and sure enough it happened. 30 years later a lot of the next generation is starting to have kids. So one of my cousins got Granny a popcorn popper. It was a very touching tribute and gesture by my cousin and I hope that Granny enjoys.

After spending time with my family we drove the 15 minutes to Francie's aunt's house for Christmas with Fran's family. They had already eaten dinner so once we got there we opened presents. We are a very blessed family and really fooled Santa this year by the amount of gifts that we both received.

Christmas Day - Christmas day we also have to split the time with each family. However unlike years past when we drove in for Christmas, this year we were able to sleep in our OWN BED!!! It was soooo nice to be able to get a good night's sleep in your own bed during the Christmas rush. We started Christmas morning with my parents opening presents with my parents, my sister, and us. After all of the presents were opened we enjoyed a full breakfast that mom, my sister, and Francie cooked. We were able to get Granny D (dad's mom) to come up for the opening of the presents, however due to not feeling good she wasn't able to stay for breakfast. Again we are a very blessed family and really fooled Santa this year by the amount of gifts that we both received.

After opening presents and breakfast we went to Fran's grandmother's for lunch. No presents were exchanged but apparently Santa made a stop by Nana's house and left something for us on their tree. :)

Doctor's appts - we also was able to take care of some medical stuff during the break. Both Francie & I had some tests ran (nothing major just making sure a couple of things are the way they are suppose to be), and I had a follow up visit with an allergy doctor. All in all we are in good health and pray that God will help us continue to be this way for many, many, many more decades.

Baby visiting - Over the last month we know of four couples (yes FOUR couples) who had babies. Three of the four were babies of my cousin's and we were able to visit two of them during the break. The fourth was a child of some friends from church. We were also able to see him while still in the hospital. All parties involved are happy, healthy, and doing well.

Birthday celebrations - we were able to take the opportunity during the break to celebrate Fran's step-grandfather's b-day. He and Fran's grandmother will have been married 8 years (on 1/8/09) and I know that the family is happy that he is in our lives.

New Year's Eve - This year we really didn't have any major plans for New Year's Eve. In years past we would go downtown to a festival that was held in the town that we lived in. The town that we now live in doesn't have any of these celebrations so it's an every-man-for-himself type situation. The church that we attend did end up having services NYE (New Year's Eve) and after attending that we had a late dinner with the campus minister and some friends. Afterwards we went back to the campus house and played games till the ball dropped. After watching two stupid morons perform Evil Knievel type stunts and watching the ball drop, we continued to play games until about 2 AM.

Work - Yes, even though I was off from work I did have to work some. However, the work that I had to do was regarding my private consulting work. There were a few issues at the church that we attend that I had to take care of, and another issue at the campus ministry house that the church supports. I also did some work on a computer that Fran's mom gave us since she wasn't using it any longer. I was also able to use some money I got for Christmas to upgrade the computer slightly, however that stuff hasn't come in yet. :S

Rest - Believe it or not we did get some much needed rest. Both weekends in the break Francie & I spent the day in the house, in our pajamas, and enjoying the avoidance of the stressful life outside the four walls of the house. It was nice to get some much needed rest and sleep for both of us.

Fun times - Francie & I also did some fun things during the break. We were able to go to have a date (we saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, went out to eat, and then went grocery shopping). This was our typical date nights where we lived previously while Fran was getting her PhD. Having a "Jack and Fran date night" was really nice because it brought back some good memories of our previous lives in another town. We also bought a board game and have been playing that. We got the idea from Nana & Bob as they love to play Scrabble. However because I can't spell AT ALL, we decided to go with a game that didn't require spelling but did present some mental thought.....MONOPOLY!!! So far we have played 4 games and I'm ahead 3-1, but whose counting.....right! ;) HAHAHA

Overall it has been a very busy break, but at the same time a very relaxing break. Monday will start the new year for the two of us from any employment sense, and the list of things to do at work are long. However with God's help and some patience on our part we will get everything done.

I hope that each and everyone of you had a wonderful holiday break (no matter how long it was) and that you were able to rest, relax, spend some time with family and friends, and take care of some personal issues just like Francie & I were blessed to have the opportunity to do.

Love to all,

Jack

Granny Update

2008-12-31T11:38:00.007-06:00

Per Mandy's request and in an effort to let others know about the on-goings in our family I thought that it might be a good idea to update everyone on my grandmothers.

Nana (Fran's mom's mom) - Nana is doing really good. She is still working and she and her husband Bob are very busy with rentals, business, dr's appts, and other tasks that they have on their plate. Nana is a wonderful person and a blessing to our family. She has been so helpful to Francie and I (as have others) in getting settled in to where we live. She has had a wonderful Christmas and if the good Lord wills will continue to do the things in her life as she can.

Granny H (Jack's mom's mom) - Granny H has been doing good. My uncle and aunt from the Windy city came in for part of Dec. It's been good to see them since we haven't been able to do so the last several times that they were in. Since they were in it gave my mom (and her sisters) a break from having to take care of my grandmother. The timing couldn't have been better (see Granny D update for reasons), and for the most part Granny H has been doing wonderful. We did have a slight scare last week as her blood pressure was very high and she was complaining of a headache. With her history of strokes this was two things red flags that need to be dealt with immediately. Since it was at night (btw why does this always happen at night? Why can't people just get sick during the day when Dr's are actually in their offices?!?!?) we took her to the ER and after a few hours (3-4) and some new blood pressure meds they sent her back home with instructions to the family to keep a close eye on her blood pressure. Other than that things have been going good. Christmas time was a wonderful event and more posts on that hopefully will come soon. But all in all Granny H is doing really well. Granny D on the other hand......

Granny D (Jack's dad's mom) - for followers of our other blogs this might be somewhat repetitive, however I'll try to be as brief as possible (which for those that know me can be somewhat difficult). The last part of 2008 has been one thing after another with Granny D. Here is the timeline.....

Sept - my uncle (her son) passes away. Very unexpectedly and very difficult on the family and my grandmother.
Oct - Granny falls at a local restaurant and cuts her knee. No damage other than the cut which is about 6 inches long going across the knee left to right. 13 stitches are inserted to close the cut and Granny is sent home.
Oct (a week later) - Granny says that the stitches pop open. The story changes and still to this day is somewhat uncertain to exactly what happened. However whether they popped open or not she did admit to using scissors at some point in the process. Surgery is performed, infection is cleaned, cut is cleaned up, staples are applied, and a immobilizer is applied to where she can't bend the leg or touch the staples. She spends a few weeks in rehab for strength and treatment.
Nov -Granny with my aunt head to FL for the winter. During a stop at my cousins house Granny falls and the staples come loose. While in the hospital they find a spot on her lung. Scare is given that it might be cancer and we go down to meet the rest of the family just in case it is. The spot ends up being pneumonia and after a few more days she goes and stays with my cousin at her house. Dad stays with her to help with Granny and the kids. Before she leaves the hospital to go to my cousins the doctor takes the staples out. As you might have guessed, while staying at my cousins the cut pops back open and more staples are applied. After about a week Granny and dad come home.
Dec - Granny calls dad saying that she is dying and for him to come down immediately. Dad goes down to Granny's house (she lives next door to my parents) and they make the trip to the ER. Granny goes back in the hospital (4th trip since Oct) and is given treatments for the infection in her body. While there she gives us a scare on the heart and blood pressure. Making a long story short she finally gets to go back home a few days before Christmas. She's now been back at home for 8 days (at the time of this blog). And if she makes it through today, it will be the longest period of time she has been at home without having to make a trip to the hospital since she fell in Oct (at least according to Fran). We were able to find someone to stay with her during the day. This has been a HUGE blessing for her and the family. I try to go see her as often as I can, however with everything else going on in our lives it can make it quite difficult. Hopefully Granny D will continue to improve and be able to stay at her house for many more days, weeks, and months.

So there is the update on the Granny's. I hope that this wasn't too long, and I hope that each and everyone of you have a wonderful new year. Even though the end part of 2008 has been very difficult for my family, 2008 as a whole has been a good year for us. Fran became a Dr., we moved to our hometown, we have our health, jobs, a roof over heads, family, and many other blessings - we are so blessed to have what we do and I'm very thankful to our Heavenly Father for those blessings.

Happy New Year!!

Jack

Merry Christmas

2008-12-23T14:25:00.003-06:00

It's funny how Christmas makes you reflect on the past. We have dedicated our Christmas tree to sentimental, meaningful ornaments which means that each one tells a story and reminds me of something. I could stare at it for hours.

My life has been filled with many Christmas memories, both good and bad. I remember waking up as a small child to find Santa's presents in my grandmother's living room floor. One year (when I was 7) I received a doll house that you had to put together. Santa's elves had brought it to me unassembled and by 7am, it was done! I remember being so proud of myself for putting it all together alone. I also remember being in the hotel in Memphis when my grandfather was in the hospital with his heart problems. Mom went to the hospital gift shop just after it closed and convinced the clerk to let her in to buy a little Christmas tree for our hotel room. I was 13 and I was so sad that my grandaddy was sick and we weren't home for Christmas.

This year is one of mixed blessings for our family and it's difficult sometimes to wrap my mind around. I pray that as you enjoy the next few days-- eating big meals, opening gifts, and thanking God for the birth of his Son-- that you have some memories to look back on. Merry Christmas. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and give you peace.

Critical Windows Update

2008-12-18T10:05:00.002-06:00

I try not to combine blogs, however I did want to take a moment and mention a posting that I just finished on my Tech Blog. It's regarding a critical windows update that came out yesterday (12/17/08). Please take a moment to read it and follow it's advice. Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

It's the most chaotic time of the year...

2008-12-12T10:13:00.009-06:00

Neither of us has been able to post in several days, so I thought I would write a quick update today. This is the first weekend in three weeks that we will be home and I am thankful for that. After San Diego and Thanksgiving, we spent the weekend seeing Jack's grandmother who was in the hospital out-of-town. If you follow Jack's prayer blog, you know all about that. Bless her heart, she and her family need prayers right now...but that's another story.

Last weekend we went out-of-town to celebrate Jack's mom's 60th birthday. Her twin brother and his family joined us too. We participated in some holiday events while we were there including looking at giant Christmas trees and decorating gingerbread houses and cookies.

The gingerbread cookie thing was one of my favorite parts of the weekend. Jack's cousin-in-law did the most creative one which is the "gingerbird" complete with a beak and yellow claws. My sister-in-law's was pretty good too. She is a nurse so she made a ginger patient with a neck-brace and cane. Good times.

December seems to be going unusually fast for me this year. I adore Christmas and everything that goes with it. Taking down my tree in early January is depressing to me. As I have been grading final exam papers, I've been listening to the all-Christmas radio and trying to get in the spirit of the season. This year, though, everything is so different and busy that I haven't been as excited as usual. I made myself put up our tree. I only have a few gifts bought. We haven't decorated the outside of our home at all. Bah-humbug. Hopefully after some much-needed rest and a few days off I can bring myself to enjoy this Christmas. If not, maybe I'll just make my gingerbread man walk around quoting lines from Shrek.

Sunny San Diego

2008-11-26T00:04:00.007-06:00

Yesterday (Monday) in the wee hours of the morning, Jack and I returned from a wonderful work/vacation trip to San Diego. I thought I'd share a little bit of our trip today, which will continue the tradition we have unwittingly started of blogging on Tuesdays. :) Also, this post will include our first photographs (which has now caused this post to actually go up on Wednesday).

San Diego has long been one of my favorite places to vacation. There are wonderful things to do, the weather is always beautiful, and it reminds me of Hawaii without having to cross the ocean on a plane. (I hate to fly.) Since my national conference was in San Diego this year, I convinced Jack to take a day off work and come with me. Here are some of the highlights.

One of the great things about this trip was getting to see some of our friends that we rarely see anymore. We spent Friday with one of them and took a break from the conference. Since all of us had been to San Diego before, we decided not to rent a car and instead we went to things we could walk to which began with a trip to Horton Plaza (a shopping mall). At Horton Plaza we learned the reason why Cinnabons are so good:

Yes, that yellow ball in the middle of the dough is butter. All butter. Paula Deen would be proud.

Another interesting site we saw while at Horton Plaza was the outdoor ice skating rink. Yes, I said outdoor ice skating in San Diego. It was a beautiful, and rather warm, 74 degrees when I took the picture of these people ice skating:

I taught them how to do that.

After Horton Plaza, we went to Petco Park and got a behind the scenes tour of the park. It was actually very interesting. We sat in luxury boxes and seats worth $43,000 for the season-- something we will never do again unless we pay another $9 each for a tour.

The rest of the weekend, we still got to see friends and I spent some time working. Sunday we packed up to come home. I think we could have both stayed another week and not complained. On the plane flight home we met a nice man our age who works at a gun store in Las Vegas. We spent some time talking to him about almost everything and before we parted company he gave us his phone number and said if we were ever in Vegas we could come by the store and he'd teach me how to use a machine gun. Those of you who know me are probably laughing out loud right now. :)

What did you say?

2008-11-18T14:27:00.003-06:00

Something interesting has happened over the past 24 hours that makes me want to talk to you about the subject I study-- communication. Even if you haven't spent an unnatural amount of time in classes and the library learning about communication, there are probably a few things that you know about it. The thing I want to focus on today is precisely what I am doing now, communicating online. When you send e-mails, Facebook or MySpace messages, there is a HUGE amount of room for error. The other person's background, mood they are in when they read what you've written, and circumstances surrounding the message can have a large impact on how they interpret what you say.

So, my friends, be careful. Nonverbal cues like smiling, tone of voice, and gestures are not easily interpreted in written, electronic messages. I suppose that is why we invented emoticons. :) But even then, the possibility of being misinterpreted is still greater than in face-to-face communication. Think before you type and if you aren't sure how your message will be taken, hold onto it before you post/send it. Maybe later you will feel the need to make some modifications. Never use online communication as a substitute for things that need to be said face-to-face. Try to be sure you are clear in the message you are trying to get across. Jack is excellent at that as he usually will take extra time to reiterate his message and be sure it is coming out the way he means for it to. My business training causes me to lean towards brevity, although writing a 200 page dissertation did help me be more thorough and expansive... but I digress.

Technology is a great blessing, but it can also cause us to open up a can of worms. I hope as you continue to write e-mails, blogs, and Facebook posts that you think before you click send. And if you are on the misinterpreting end (as I was in the past 24 hours), take the time to clear it up with the person you misinterpreted. Thankfully, my friend did express what she really meant to me and I had the opportunity to explain why I reacted the way I did. Hopefully our relationship is not damaged. I also hope that your relationships are not damaged by something as simple as miscommunication.

Thanking the Veterans

2008-11-11T13:06:00.003-06:00

This post really isn't about what's going on in the Mister & Doctor family, however more about what is going on today in our great country. Today as we all know is Veterans Day. The day that we salute and honor those men and women who were in the armed services.

While I (Jack) never was in the service I do know several people who were. And even though I would like to put their names on here to honor them, I am going to pass on that opportunity for privacy sake. However I encourage each and every one of you who know someone who was in the service to thank them for their willingness to serve.

May God continue to bless our country as He so richly has in the past and may He bless all of the men and women who lay their lives on the line for this country each and every day.

Singing

2008-11-10T15:00:00.003-06:00

This weekend was really extraordinary. Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday night, we attended a church event and spent hours in song. It really reminded me how much praising God in singing helps me feel close to Him. Here are some of my favorites:

For the Lord is a Righteous God
How Deep the Father's Love for Us
May My Steps Be Worship
Holy Ground
Above All
Can He Still Feel the Nails
Faithful Love
Mansion, Robe, and Crown
Good to Me
He Knows Just What I Need

This is a very short list in no particular order, but I wanted to share with you some of the songs that make me feel close to God and often uplift my spirits. I'm a big fan of Christian Contemporary Music too, but I'll save those favorites for another post. What are some of your favorite worship songs? Please share them with me in the comments.

Staying with Granny for the first time.

2008-11-06T18:05:00.002-06:00

On Tuesday night Fran & I stayed with my mom's mom (i.e. my maternal grandmother or Granny H for those that are part of the family). Granny has been in…well…let's call it "fair" health for several years now. And like several people who are up there in their years, we have had to have someone stay with Granny during the day. However the last few years someone has had to stay with her at night as well. Because my grandparents were blessed enough (or crazy enough - you pick) to have six children, her children have been the ones to mainly stay with her at night. Lately because of other family member’s health issues, the ability of her children to stay at night has been limited to just a few of the kids.

Now that we are back in the heart of God's country, we are able to help out from time to time and stay with my grandmother. Last night was our first night to stay with her. To say that we were both a little nervous would be an understatement. Because what the heck would I do if something happened? How would I handle the situation? What if I didn't hear her in the middle of the night if she needed help? ALL of these questions, plus more, were running through both of our heads. So we thought, and prepared, and planned, and cooked, and researched, and prayed, and thought some more, and the day came. Tuesday. The day we elected a new president. The day we elected the country’s first non-caucasian president.

Now for those of you who don't know me very well I think of myself as a person who tries hard not to be prejudiced. However keep in mind my grandmother (who is almost 90 years old and not in the best health - mentally or physically) grew up in a time in which, well let's just say that she's 90 years old. And we stayed with her, on the night that we elected our first non-caucasian president.

To say the least it was interesting, I bet I heard the words “oh me” 27,000 times. Actually it wasn't that bad and neither was the evening. Wasn't nearly as bad as I thought that it might be (both regarding the election and staying with her in general). Fran made a wonderful potato soup for us (joined by my dad since Katie & mom decided that they needed to go shopping in a town about an hour away) and Granny enjoyed it so much she had a small second bowl. After dinner we spent most of the rest of the evening watching the election results. Granny slept through the whole night, and I know this for a fact since she snored 98% of the time, and in the morning she got up on her own, and gave us a kiss, and we left for work. Hopefully we will be able to stay with her some more in the future. I just hope that it's not on another election night! ;)

Love you Granny!

Hopping on Board and Halloween

2008-10-31T10:50:00.004-05:00

Ok...so I learned yesterday that my husband wanted to start a few blogs. As you may have already read, we have talked about this before but compared to our blogging friends it seems that our life may not include many blog-worthy moments. We don't have any cute children stories/pictures, exciting vacations, pregnancy-related changes, or hurricane fiascoes (like Mandy) to talk about. However, we will give this a try and create a presence in the online world apart from our facebook pages.

Sitting here at my desk, avoiding grading papers, I began to think about Halloween. When I was a kid I loved Halloween. Scary stories fascinated me. I loved the imaginary world of ghosts and creepy dead things lurking in the graveyards. My favorite books were the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Since my mom was an elementary librarian, I had access to those books almost any time I wanted to read them. I think I scared Jack this morning when I revealed to him that I used to decorate my room with skeletons that I had cut out of paper and other frightening decorations that would have made me disturbed had my child been decorating her room that way. I think my mom knew I just had an active imagination. Anyway, it's interesting the way Halloween changes as you get older. Dressing up was a highlight of my childhood (even when it was too cold to wear the costume without a jacket, which always ruined the look of it). In college, inner-city children would come trick-or-treat at our dorm rooms. One year I bought those fangs you can glue to your teeth so you look like a vampire. Otherwise I dressed normally, so when the kids came to our door and I smiled at them they would scream and run away. It was fun. Last year we had a trunk-or-treat event at church and I dressed up like a tree (don't ask me why). Then I dusted off my old balloon animal skills and made swords, hats, flowers, and dogs for the children. I don't decorate my house for Halloween like I used to decorate my room. But thinking about that does make me wonder what our own children might do when they encounter Halloween.

Blogging Rules

2008-10-30T19:30:00.003-05:00

Check out a resent post I made on my tech blog. (http://jackstechcorner.blogspot.com/2008/10/blogging-rules-to-live-by.html)

Remember always be careful when blogging. You never know who is watching. Dum dum dum! (playing of cheesy organ suspenseful music)

Seriously, the rules I posted about blogging are excellent rules. Please take a look at them and try to practice safety while blogging.

Hello World!!

2008-10-30T19:18:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone. Well we have officially bit the bullet. Even though I would consider us pretty tech savvy people, we have been putting off getting a blog because we didn’t think that our lives were interesting enough to have a blog. And in order to clear the air, there is NO big event that occurs after 9 months of cooking that is causing us to have a blog. We are NOT pregnant! However, I’ve been thinking about blogging for a while. I know several friends, family members, and religious brothers and sisters who do blog. In reading their blogs I began to think more and more about how I could use a blog. I felt God pushing me to blog. I know that sounds silly, however clarity can be found in one of my other blogs. I began to think about having just one huge blog in which everything was put. However the more and more I thought about it I felt that it would be best to break it up. So today I bit the bullet (and dragged Fran along with me) and created not just one, not just two, but THREE blogs (this being the third one).

WHAT HAVE I DONE?!??!?! :S

Oh well. We’ll see how long it lasts! ;)

So what will this blog contain?

Well I haven’t cleared everything with the boss (aka the wife) yet, however I invision this blog being the blog about the two of us. Things (either together or separate) that we experience, are having to deal with, are on our minds, or just a general sounding board for our friends and family.

So here we go, off into the wild blue yonder!