Heal Me

Please pray for me. I have started a nasty cold and I feel like crap. My head feels like it is going to explode and my nose is raw from blowing it so much.

My mom flys in tomorrow evening! I am SO excited to see her for the weekend. We have a lot planned, so hopefully I will be feeling better.

Thanks.

Long Weekends

Back at it! I love having long weekends. It's too bad that this Memorial Day Weekend was jam packed. Here are just a few things that we did:

• PAINT the Lofgren's rental house
• Go out to dinner with John's dad
• PAINT the Lofgren's rental house some more
• Watch the UFC fight (it was alright, nothing special)
• Church and then PAINT the Lofgren's house some more
• BBQ at the McIntosh's ranch, so much fun driving the GATOR!!

It was a great weekend, just a long one and not that relaxing. Thank you to everyone who helped in celebrating John and his 28 years of life. We had a blast.

A Taste

WE SURVIVED!!! John and I spent the weekend taking care of three youngsters (the Pennington clan). It was a lot of fun to play mom and dad for a couple of days but sobering at the same time. We are totally not ready to be parents. I know that parenting doesn't mean running into a house with three kids, but still it was difficult to say the least.

On Friday night as soon as we got to their house we got the kids ready to go to a birthday party at Skateland. It was a ton of fun and made me realize how you really can't think about yourself for more than a minute or two. As soon as we got there the young girl came out in me and I just wanted to skate, but instead I had to hold the hand of Tiffany (age 2) and slowly make our way around the edge of the skating rink. She had so much and so did I. I was able to see the excitement in her eyes and then so quickly the change to fear as she nearly fell on her bum.

Let's just say that John and I are pooped. We came home this afternoon and both fell asleep on the couch watching television for awhile and then discussed our feelings on parenting and parenthood and if we were ready or not. The consensus was NO, we are not ready right now.

Oh Really?!

Has anyone ever told you that they think you are depressed and going through a depression? How did you respond? What did you do about it?

I am not having a good morning so far and one of my co-workers thinks I am depressed. What a way to brighten my day, you might as well have kept your mouth shut and walked away. Maybe I am in a depression.

Hmmm.

Please Pray

My friend Kelsie was in a very bad car accident yesterday on her way home to her dorm. The driver of the other car was going too fast and could not make the turn and slammed into Kelsie head on. She is pretty seriously injured and is in surgery right now. She many broken bones in her legs and bruises and pain all over. Please pray for her surgery, that the doctors can repair the broken bones. This is especially hard for the family as they have two sons in the military and one of them was recently injured and blinded in an accident in Iraq.

Also, another friend in that same neighbor is battling cancer at the young age of 25. Brittany had cancer in high school and beat it and now doctors have found a large tumor in her back. She is also in surgery right now and I would like your prayers for her as well.

Thank you for your support and prayers.

GRRRR

I HATE MACHINES!!! They make your life so easy when they work and they make your life hell when they don't work.

I want a new RISO for the church office. If I win the lottery, I am going to buy one.

Sorry for my rant, but I had to get that off my chest.

New Found Glory

Last night, I was "in charge" of SURGE and I admit, I was very nervous. I don't know why, it went fabulously! The kids had a great time celebrating their detachments and the other advisors were very helpful.

I was talking to John last night about how I have changed as an advisor because of last night's leadership. In the past I have been the mother at SURGE. I always try and get the kids to be quiet and sit still and keep their hands and feet to themselves. Last night was the complete opposite. I didn't really care if they were quietly talking (except for one part where their peers were sharing deep feelings and stuff) or not really playing the games. I think it is because I had the control and the power of the night. I knew things were going to happen, both good and bad, and I didn't really care. I just wanted to hang out with the kids and that is just what I did. I think it has been a power and control issue for me in the past and hopefully it will not happen again. I loved the way I felt last night after leaving SURGE. I was exhausted, but I had a blast.

I hope that makes sense to those of you who read this. It is kind of hard to explain and I don't know if I did a good job. You can ask me in person if it doesn't make sense.

Ahhh, so good.

P.S. Thank you to Krystal McIntosh for all of her hard work yesterday. I couldn't have done it without her.

My Quirk

Recently I have been exposing a weird side of myself that I don't think a lot of people knew about.

That is right, I am into tracking earthquakes. Everyone keeps talking about "the big one" that is supposed to be coming in the near future.

Awhile back, there was an earthquake while I was working and Nita Standke and I got online to see some details about it. Well, I ended up adding the website to my favorites and now I go on a few times a week just to see the activity. It is pretty interesting. Go check it out for yourself. You'll see how amazing it is (ya right) and you'll also see the 5.2 earthquake that hit northern California yesterday at 8:06 p.m.

What can I say, I'm a nerd.

Fun times

John and I had a great weekend, but a short one. Friday night we spent the night together and went out to dinner at a new restaurant (or at least new to us). We went to Marmalade Cafe in Sherman Oaks. It was so cute and quiet and the food was pretty good. I guess this is a pretty well known chain, but we had never eaten there before. I love going and doing new things.

Saturday John left with Carol and Bridget for a conference in Atlanta, Georgia. He is loving it, and I am hating him being gone.

I have some wonderful friends who have stayed with me and kept me busy and a special thanks to John's mom, aunt and grandmother for cooking me dinner and letting me crash with them last night.

John has left me in charge of SURGE tomorrow night and I have to admit, I am rather nervous. I don't really know what to expect. Hopefully it will go "well."

Well that is all for tonight. I should really try and get some sleep before tomorrow.

All In

I am so sleepy today. Last night I was awakened (and kept awake) by our neighbors having a poker party. There is a young guy that lives in the apartment behind us (I think he is the manager's son) and he loves to have people over. I don't mind that, but I do mind the parties that start after they get back from the bars on a MONDAY NIGHT. It is really annoying because his living room is right by our heads so we hear everything. There must have been 5-10 guys there last night playing poker from 2:45-4:00 a.m. I finally got smart and got ear plugs for both John and I.

I just want some peaceful sleep.

Marriage Retreat

This past weekend we went to Oxnard with about 10 other couples from the church for our Engaged and Young Marrieds Retreat. It was fabulous! The weather was amazing and the house was spectacular! We really enjoyed getting to know other couples and chatting about our relationship and getting thoughts, ideas and perspectives from other people that we love and that love us.

All in all we had a blast. A nice refresher.

Here is a picture of our group.

ER

Yes it is true, I did end up in the emergency room last night. Remember that migraine I mentioned in my post, well it caused so much pain and discomfort all throughout my body that I had to got to the hospital last night at 11. I could hardly move and was having cold and hot flashes and was feeling nauseous. I did end up having a fever and was a little dehydrated so they gave me some morphine (which hurt like heck at first, but then made me feel goooood) and some IV fluids. We were in the ER for about 4.5 hours. I was feeling good after the second dose of the morphine and they let me go home.

So today I am just hanging out around the house, keeping a low profile and just resting. I need to get some laundry done before we go this weekend, but I don't know if that is going to happen. Alright, it is time for another nap. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

Peace.

Can't Work

I have a killer migraine right now and it is having a serious effect on my functionality at work. I wish I could just go lay down and sleep for a few hours. Gotta go to SURGE tonight. Yee haw!

Pain, pain, go away.
Come again another.....

Wait, don't ever come back!

Long Awaited

Here are some of the pictures we took in Vegas. Nothing special, but it is a start. I will post more when I get the pictures from my parents. Here are some pictures from Red Rock Canyon and my nephew finishing off a Corona.

I hope this satisfies you all for a little.

I forgot to mention that we stayed at John's grandfather's house. It is so nice and elegant inside. Papa Omar was a wonderful host. He cooked for us and served us and took great care of us. We couldn't do anything without him telling us that he would do it and for us to sit down. He even gave us his own bed and bedroom and he slept in the office.

Thanks Papa!!

What a Weekend

SHE DID IT! Nicole and Karanja got married this weekend (on Sunday). I had such a blast hanging out with Nicole and her family all weekend. I drove out to Corona on Thursday so we could get up early and head to Glen Ivy Hot Springs for a relaxing day at the spa. Friday was fabulous!! We had our own little cabana with our own cabana boy to serve us. Nicole and I got stress relieving massages were absolutely amazing. Too bad it was only 20 minutes long, just a tease of a massage, but still relaxing. After the spa day, the younger (but still old enough) girls went out bar hopping in downtown Fullerton. It was good times.

Saturday we drove to Riverside for the rehearsal in the morning and then back to her parent's house in Corona for the rehearsal lunch. It was nice and easy, the rehearsal was short so that was nice.

Then came Sunday! The BIG day. I was asked by Nicole to be her "coordinator/gopher." I didn't realize how big of a job that was. I was running around sweating before noon. Besides a few people being late, the wedding went off fabulously (a little chilly for my preference). Nicole made a beautiful bride and Karanja looked amazing in his purple tux (yes, it was lavendar). It was well put together and planned.

Congratulations Broomfields!! Enjoy your honeymoon in Jamaica! Karanja, thanks for the rum punch:)

Back to real life in the church office.

Here We Go Again

John starts school again tonight and I am really not looking forward to it. Sometimes I feel like I lose my husband for 10 weeks and then boom, he's back, and wait a second, gone again. There is just something about school (maybe the stress and pressure) that makes him seem different to me. Maybe it is just me, because he doesn't seem to see or think anything different. We have so much fun when we are together and have no cares and nothing to do, but even on weekends during school he is preoccupied and has to study and just doesn't have the time to spend with me (which I need). We'll see how this quarter goes. I have to admit that this school season of our lives is going pretty fast and will be over sooner than I think.

So this quarter John is going to be in school on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays so I am trying to find something new and different to do. I am looking into starting school at Pierce to go back and get my nursing degree. I haven't met with counselors or anything, but it has been something I have been thinking about doing and talking about doing for a while now. Also, I have thought about joining a bowling league on Tuesday or Thursday nights.

Pray for me, pray for us. Nothing is really wrong, I am just struggling trying to find my role in the home and trying to find out how to meet John's needs and how my needs can be met also.

Check it!

I found this when I got on the internet to check my Google email account. Why can't we have an "Earth Hour" every day? It seems logical and plausible (at least to me). If you are around tonight, turn out your lights at 8:00 p.m.

I will be posting some pictures from our wonderful weekend in Vegas.

Mysterious Ways

Sometimes it seems like we just get complacent. I know I have a lot recently. I have just been letting this apartment stuff work itself out and have learned to accept the place that we live in.

Until now. God sends mysterious messages and He has definitely given us one. Upon returning home from work yesterday we were greeted by our apartment manager. He plainly told us that there was a notice from the county saying that our unit did not have the proper permits or any permits for that matter. What this means is, we WAIT. We have to see if the landlord can get the proper permits. If he can, great, we can stay. If not, we get evicted and have to move.

Just when I thought our apartment problems were on the mend. God must have some better place for us to live. Thanks for the eviction God.

I've Found Something

In response to Amy Souza's blog on "things" I have found ONE of my many things. Last night John and I sat down to watch TV and eat dinner and upon finishing dinner I was inspired. Not by the TV or anything John said, but by my boredom and laziness.

Over 4 years ago, I started embroidering squares for a quilt I was going to my make for my newborn niece. Well let's just say I wasn't that motivated so I never finished it.

So last night, I brought out my box of patterns, thread, needles, etc. and sat down and started embroidering. It was so calming and so relaxing and I was still able to watch enough TV and enjoy John's company.

It really made me feel great to have something to do even in the quiet of my own home even if I do look like an old grandma doing it.