YAY!!! No more classes until Monday!!! I'm sooo happy!! This week was incredibly stressful! I am very glad that we had the revival meetings, I needed them, and God worked in my heart a LOT, but with church every night, classes as usual, work, and homework this week was a physical drag. Thankfully I don't have very much homework due Monday or Tuesday, so there isn't much for me to do this weekend. It will be so nice. I'm already getting into the swing of a lazy weekend, I've been in my jammies since 6:00, I've done most of my homework, and now I'm stretched out on my bed, underneath my warm blankets, texting and IMing with friends. ***sigh***
I only had one quiz today and I got 100% on it! :) Other than that classes weren't terribly exciting. Grandpa preached in chapel on how God prepared Elijah. It was a really good reminder to have faith in God, cuz He knows what He's doing.
I worked today, which is good I guess, although the four hours that I worked seemed to DRAG! I cleaned all of the bathrooms in the church building, administration building, and the girls dorm! It's a lot of toilets. Oh well, it pays my bill, that's all that matters. :)
Today is my roommates birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY REBEKAH!!! :)

Classes went really well today. I only had one quiz, which was really nice and I got 11 out of 10 questions right!! :)Yes, I said that correctly, 11 out of 10, I got extra credit! Yay!!
No work again today. I was able to get caught up on a lot of homework, and start working on some of my projects. I got a paper written for tomorrow. I had to write an expository essay for English Comp. I've been really struggling with writing it. I had a major case of writers block. At some point last night I suddenly got the idea to write the paper on how to find the will of God. This afternoon I sat down and wrote it in 15 or 20 minutes flat! God was good! Mrs. M proofread it for me, and I think it is going to be ok. :)
I learned a new skill this evening: pen throwing! I walked by the library tonight, and all of the sudden this pen came flying out the door and hit me! I laughed and attempted to throw the pen back at the guy, but missed by a LOT!! He then taught me how to throw a pen straight, and I now am proudly able to hold my own in pen throwing matches! LOL!!! :) The dumb things we do at college when our brains are fried, and we sorely need a break from studies! :) It was fun!

I hope classes went well yesterday. I had 2 quizzes and a test yesterday. With the revival meetings and work I really haven't had much time to study. I'm not very confident in my grades. :(
Thankfully I didn't have to work yesterday! It made me so happy. I had my first voice lesson. :) I have wanted to take lessons since I was in high school, and now FINALLY my dream is coming true! YAY!!
I got a box in the mail yesterday from mom! It was the first box that I've gotten all semester. :) Actually, it is the only "real" mail that I've gotten so far this semester. I haven't gotten any letters or anything like that. :( ...sigh...
I was able to run a few errands and get some groceries. I got FRUIT!! YUM! I haven't had a Star Bucks in weeks, I think the last time was right before I left for Christmas break. The grocery store that I went to has a Star Bucks in it! It was so good, but I had a major sugar low during church last night...not a good thing.
Last night was the final night of revival meetings. Pastor Joe Vassack was our speaker, he pastors a church in Connecticut. The title of his sermon was "Before the Lord." A point that really stuck out to me is that I can be right in the middle of God's work, but yet leave God out of it. It was a really sobering thought.

The best word I can think of to describe my life right now is BUSY!! I feel like I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off! (For those of you who are city slickers, a when you cut a chickens head off it can still run around! It's really weird, but cool to see the blood spurting out of a chickens neck as it runs around without a head!)
I again started REALLY early yesterday morning. We had a prayer meeting again at 6:30. It was good, although a little sad cuz there weren't as many people at this meeting. That's ok, God still met with us, and I was blessed.
Classes as usual. I had a book report due for Intro to Missions. I think I did all right...I hope.
Chapel was good. Dr. Mitchell poured his heart out yet again. He preached on "What Do You Want?" Talking about how with God we can have anything. It was so good, another reminder to rely on God and anything can be possible. I could sit listening to him for hours. He is such a Godly man.
Work was exactly that, WORK!! I do have another funny story. :) I was down on my hands and knees scrubbing one of the men's bathroom floor, when suddenly the door burst open and a guy walked in. It didn't bother me, cuz I'm used to having that happen, I normally send the guy to one of the other restrooms. This man was from our church in Brooklyn, and had gotten here to Stony Brook really early (I'm guessing they got here so early in order to avoid traffic), he was SHOCKED to say the least! I laughed so hard. I don't think I've seen a guy SO startled in a LONG time. :))
Last night was the last service that Dr. Mitchell was with us. :( The title of his sermon was, "When God Gets Personal." He was talking about God's touch on our lives. It was the best sermon I have heard in a very long time.
Today Pastor Joe Vassack will be with us. I hope God uses him as mightily as He used Dr. Mitchell.

I started bright, or should I say dark and early yesterday morning. I got up earlier than usual, and my usual is pretty early, in order to be able to go to the prayer meeting at 6:30. The prayer time was really good. There weren't very many of us, which was sad to me. I think that the few of us that were there really got a hold of God. I could feel the Holy Spirit there with us.
Classes went well. No tests, or quizzes , or papers due...yet. Deadlines are starting to loom up in front of me....YUCK!
Dr. Mitchell preached in chapel. He has such a heart for college students, and I can tell that he truly, honestly cares about us. I don't think he actually preached the message that he was planning on preaching. In the end it was more of a father to his kids chat. I don't think there was a dry eye in the auditorium. We were all blessed.
I had a really funny experience at work, actually, it was a blond moment! One of the first things that I was supposed to do was to start filling the baptistery. I started the water running and then went on to do my other jobs. I was cleaning away, and about 1 1/2 hours later I remembered that the water was still running! OOPS! :) It was a little, ummm well, full. Thankfully it hadn't overflowed, but it was a little too full for comfort! I was able to drain the excess water, and life went on. :)
Dr. Mitchell preached on Revival in the Family. Even though I don't have a family of my own yet, nor am I planning on having one for quite a while, it is still important for me to have a right relationship with God. That way when I do start my own family I will be prepared to train my children the way that God would want.

This morning was the beginning of revival services here at International. Dr. Judson Mitchell is here today through Tuesday evening and then Pastor Joe Vassack will be here on Wednesday night. So far they are going well, and God seems to be working.
I played my cello tonight for the offertory. I played "Come Thou Fount" and praise the Lord, it went well. :)
Morgan came over again today. We ate dinner at my grandparents...it was good. We then came back and I did her hair. It was fun to spend time together. :)
I had to practice with Bro. Randall at 4:00 and then choir practice began at 4:30.
Church started at 6:00. Immediately following church I had to work...I really don't like working on Sunday's, but I guess somebody has to clean up after church. Oh well, it pays my bills!
Now I am getting ready to hit the hay cuz I gotta get up REALLY early because there is a prayer meeting at 6:30 tomorrow morning to pray for the revival meetings. I am planning on going to it. There is going to be a prayer meeting every morning at that time for the duration of the revival meetings, and I intend to go to all of them.

Mom found this picture today and sent it to me. :) This was taken about 3 1/2 years ago. The story behind it is that is was a hot summer day, and we had been outside working on landscaping our yard with another guy who used to go to our church. It was the end of the day, and we were all hot and sweaty, I was talking about going how nice it would be to take a shower. Samuel was dead set against the idea, even going so far as to say that he didn't need a shower cuz he wasn't dirty enough! (remember he was 10 or 11 and still thought that showers were of the devil). I looked at the other guy and said, "Let's make him dirty enough that he will beg to take a shower!! We got the hose, and drug him to a pile of dirt and let the mud fly!! By the end of our mudslinging session he was more than willing to take a shower!! :) Good times...good memories!! Love ya Samuel!! :-P

YAY!!! I managed to complete all of my homework for Monday already!! I'm so happy. Now I have to work on Tuesday, and Wednesday, and so on...it's a never ending task!
I had quite a bit of homework for Monday. I had 9 chapters of Matthew to read for New Testament Survey, I had a LOT of reading for World History, I think it was somewhere around 30 pages of text book reading...YUCK!! I love history, but after a while it gets really old! I had a little bit of English Grammar homework, but I had already gotten most of that done yesterday between classes.
This semester I started working on the bus routes for Sunday School. We went out this morning inviting kids to come to church tomorrow. I won't actually be riding the bus for a few weeks because of my surgery, but at least I will still be able to get to know the kids by going out every Saturday.
Other than that, I'm not doing anything else today...just going to take it easy for a little bit before I start working on Tuesdays homework.

We had short classes today because our guys basketball team played New England Baptist College in Connecticut this morning. It was fun to be able to relax and goof off with friends. Unfortunately we lost, but not by much. I think the score was 93 - 87...I don't remember what it was exactly. I guess when the 2 schools had played before New England always creamed us! I guess we must be getting better...at least I hope we are... Next month we are playing them again, only this time it will be in Connecticut. I am planning on going to that game. It'll be fun.

Other than that I didn't do much exciting today. I did have to work. For those of you who don't know, I work on campus in the Custodial department. That is pretty much a glorified word for toilet cleaner! It's ok, I really don't mind the job, it pays the bills, I don't have to try to find a ride to work, like I would if I had a job off campus, and besides, I like the people I work with.

Well, it is quickly becoming my bed time. No big plans for tomorrow. I guess I'll see what happens...I'll probably do homework...my favorite!

WOO HOO!!! The second day of classes and I survived!!
7:30 this morning had me sitting in room 208 in Christian Home. It was a really packed room...only one seat was empty! It will normally be a class that is taught by Bro. Barnes, but since he is on a missions trip right now it is being taught by grandpa.
I had a free hour this morning!! YAY!!
Chapel was good today, Bro. Kistler preached on 8 times when not to make decisions. It was really good.
Following chapel I had "Christian Womanhood." It should be a good class, we will pretty much be spending the time on Proverbs 31. We have a LOT of big projects...from what I've heard from other girls it is one of the hardest classes offered!!!
My last class of the day was Intro to Missions. It is a really small class...so it should be a lot of fun! We have a really cool project: we have to come up with a week long missions conference in our church. We have to do all the planning, contacting missionaries, coming up with places to put up the missionaries, make sure we stay in a budget, the whole 9 yards....it'll be a LOT of fun!!
That was all of my classes today...
I've been studying and now I'm a lil bit tired, not yet fully recovered from my surgery..... I think I'm going to sleep for a little bit.
I have choir practice at 6:30 and church at 7 tonight....then more studying!!

The first day of classes....oh joy! My day started bright and early, 5:00. I did my normal morning shower, iron clothes, etc, I read my Bible then prepared everything for classes, and made coffee!! :)
My first class began at 7:30, English Composition! I really hope we learn something in that class, so far we learned how to use a dictionary! WOW!! Sooooooo exciting!
World History II was my second class. It is a REALLY small class made up of people who will be fun to study with. It shouldn't be too bad except that we have a LOT of material to cover in one semester!!! LOTS of reading to do. It's a good thing that I like history.
Chapel came next, Grandpa preached.
Third on the list of classes for today was English Grammar. I actually think I will like the class, or at least understand it, which is a good thing knowing my track record in English. :)
The fourth class of the day was New Testament Survey. Grandpa teaches it, and his style of teaching is easy for me to understand. It will be a fun class for me cuz I'm sitting next to my roommate's fiancee, I LOVE giving him a hard time!!! :) Poor Tommy!
My final class of the day was choir. We are working on several new songs for a recording that we will be doing in March. There will be several choir songs on the next college CD. Some of these songs will also be sung at graduation in May.
I didn't do much this afternoon. I took a short nap, I still haven't built up all of my strength yet from my surgery. I got some reading done and I went to Wal-Mart with grandpa.
This evening I made amends with a friend. Some things had happened, and a lot of it was my fault. It's so nice to be friends again. :) It was a nice reminder of how good God is to take us back as His friends even when we have wronged Him.
I plan to get some get some more reading done for N.T. Survey and World History tonight before I head off to bed, hopefully at a descent hour.
Tomorrow starts another day full of new classes, although not quite as many as today, thank goodness.

Hmmm.....lots to write about....where should I start??
Maybe I should start at the beginning...our new President. President Barack Obama became our President around 12:00 today. I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the man, I didn't vote for him, and I don't ever plan to vote for him. But he is our President now, and I'm tired of hearing people make fun of him. I can tell you right from the start that I will probably at times criticize the President, I would do it for any President, I don't care who he is, I don't agree with everything that anybody does, goodness, I don't agree with myself half the time!
Today I had several blessings. First of all I was asked to work an extra 2 hours a week. I know that doesn't seem like much, but it is quite a bit. I was cut by three hours, so now I'm almost back up to what I was originally working.
The other blessing is that I was cleaning out a drawer this evening and I found a check that I'd never cashed for almost $100!!! WOW!! God is good!!!
Classes start tomorrow. I am taking 20 credit hours! I will be busy, but for the most part they are all classes that I think I will enjoy. I am taking 2 English classes, YUCK!!!! I'll survive...I hope.
I am going to hit the hay. I've gotta start getting back into the swing of school and getting up at 5:00 every morning! YAY!!! :(

Today I registered for all of my classes. I am taking 20 credit hour this semester! Yay!! :) For the most part I am taking classes that I like, so it shouldn't be too bad...I hope.
It snowed last night and it was ABSOLUTELY beautiful today. I took a bunch of pictures...it was gorgeous!
I started back to work...fun stuff!! I just love cleaning...makes my heart sing, well not really.
I'm really tired, so I'm going to go to bed, hopefully in a few more days I'll be feeling more like myself and be able to write more. Lately by the end of the day I'm exhausted, it really stinks. I guess that is what surgery does...

Well, I was tagged by my friend rosebud! Here is what I have to do:
1. Fill in your memories of 2008.
2. Link my blog to yours. (Or my profile, at least.)
3. Tag others, and comment on their blogs so they know they've been tagged.

Here goes!

~A good book I read~
One Small Miracle by Lance Wubbels

~A great film/movie I watched~
Indescribable

~A new place I visited~
Niagara Falls, Canada

~An inspiring verse or quote I read~
"Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart" ~Unknown

~A new skill I acquired~
How to text without looking at my phone :)

~A lesson I learned~
To be willing to listen to authority....they're a whole lot smarter than how they may come across!!!

~A moment I will always remember~
When my family surprised me by showing up for Thanksgiving


I now tag bro. milk and viper 1

My flight yesterday was very smooth and uneventful. We took off on time, although they did have to deice the plane before we left Chicago because it was snowing a little bit. The fight got into NY about 5 minutes late. Not too bad. The beginning of the flight was a cloudy, so there was no opportunity to really see anything down below (I was sitting in the window seat), at some point in time the weather cleared and the view was stunning!!
Grandpa picked me up at the airport and then we went to my grandparents home where I ate ice cream!! Yum!!! I then went to the dorms and I went to bed almost immediately.
Today in church Pastor Cazis spoke on the importance of strengthening your marriage, and tonight he preached on the church in Thyatira from Revelation 2.
This afternoon I finished unpacking. Morgan spent the afternoon with me, it was a lot of fun. We are so much a like, it's scary!! Watch out world when the 2 of us are together!! :)

I'M IN NEW YORK!!!!
I will post more tomorrow...I'm going to bed now....zzzzzzzzz........

A friend of mine sent this to me & I thought it was so good that I'd post it for all to read:

~*~ HALF MAN AND HALF BOY ~*~

~The average age of the military man is 19 years. He is a short haired, tight-muscled kid who, under normal circumstances is considered by society as half man, half boy.
~Not yet dry behind the ears, not old enough to buy a beer, but old enough to die for his country.
~He never really cared much for work and he would rather wax his own car than wash his father's, but he has never collected unemployment compensation either.
~He's a recent High School graduate; he was probably an average student, pursued some form of sport activities, drives a ten year old car, and has a steady girlfriend that either broke up with him when he left, or swears to be waiting when he returns from half a world away.
~He listens to rock and roll or hip-hop or rap or jazz or swing and a 155mm howitzer.
~He is 10 or 15 pounds lighter now than when he was at home because he is working or fighting from before dawn to well after dusk.
~He has trouble spelling, thus letter writing is a chore for him, but he can field strip a rifle in 30 seconds and reassemble it even faster...in the dark.
~He can recite to you the nomenclature of a machine gun or grenade launcher and use either one effectively if he must.
~He digs foxholes and latrines and can apply first aid like a professional.
~He can march until he is told to stop, or stop until he is told to march.
~He obeys orders instantly and without hesitation, but he is not without spirit or individual dignity.
~He is self-sufficient.
~He has two sets of fatigues: he washes one and wears the other.
~He keeps his canteen full and his feet dry
~He sometimes forgets to brush his teeth, but never to clean his rifle. He can cook his own meals, mend his own clothes, and fix his own hurts.If you're thirsty, he'll share his water with you; if you are hungry, his food. He'll even split his ammunition with you in the midst of battle when you run low.
~He has learned to use his hands like weapons and weapons like they were his hands.~He can save your life - or take it, because that is his job.
~He will often do twice the work of a civilian, draw half the pay, and still find ironic humor in it all.
~He has seen more suffering and death than he should have in his short lifetime.
~He has wept in public and in private, for friends who have fallen in combat and is not ashamed.
~He feels every note of the National Anthem vibrate through his body while at rigid attention, while tempering the burning desire to 'square-away ' those around him who haven't bothered to stand, remove their hat, or even stop talking. In an odd twist, day in and day out, far from home, he defends their right to be disrespectful.
~Just as did his Father, Grandfather, and Great-grandfather, he is paying the price for our freedom.
~Beardless or not, he is not a boy. He is the American Fighting Man that has kept the USA and countries all over the world free for over 200 years. He has asked nothing in return except our friendship and understanding.

I'm going to answer some questions that have been asked of me:
First of all, why am I going for Secondary Ed instead of Elementary Ed? A lot of people have asked me that over the past couple of years. Here are my reasons: I strongly believe that God has called me to help teens. Secondly, I want to teach the "hard" classes that will hopefully help high schoolers decided what God has called them to do. I want a houseful of kids some day, but I don't think I could teach little kids for 20 or 30 years, I don't have that much patience!!
Next question: How did I bribe Adreonna the other day when she was mad at me? I tried EVERYTHING! Candy, chocolate, promises to do things with her...all to no avail! Finally I found a stuffed animal and took it out to her and told Adreonna that the animal was sad because it couldn't go with me to NY. So I asked her to take care of it for me. That finally brought a smile to her face. I felt soooooo bad!!
How am I getting back to New York? I'm flying via South West Airlines from Midway in Chicago to MacArthur on Long Island.
I will try to sum up my break in fifty words or more, that might be a little hard though...I'll try.
I got into Chicago to snow, by the time I got home though, there was no snow! I was VERY disappointed!! Chicago was getting lake effect, but not us. :( For the first week in a half or so I was feeling great! Got to sleep in, text with friends in NY and elsewhere, visit with friends here, and pretty much to nothing! It was WONDERFUL!! Then one day I doubled over in pain while I was eating a meal. For the next 3 weeks I ate almost nothing, and went from doctor to doctor, and test after test before finally the docs found out that my gallbladder was VERY diseased and needed to come out! They got me in for surgery the next day, it went well and now I am ready to go back to school!
While I was home I also was able to go into the jail several times. That is always a blessing to me.
I also played my cello for a wedding and did several Christmas programs.
OK, is that at least 50 words??

I'm going to write a quick post tonight cuz I'm tired and need to go to bed!
I think I'm just about packed...just a few last minute things that need thrown in and then I'll be all set. Hopefully my suitcases aren't too heavy! :)
I made bread again today. Actually I taught my 14 year old cousin how to bake bread. She got the biggest kick out of kneading the dough. I'm glad she enjoyed it cuz I really don't care for that part of the process! It turned out really well, only because I didn't teach her how to poison it...that will be in our next lesson!! :))
Dad preached in church tonight! That was cool. He preached on prayer. It was really good!
It was COLD here today! The temps didn't make the double digits, and the windchill didn't make it above 0!! Tonight on our way home the actual temp was -13!! Who knows what the windchill is!

I have lots to write about today...prepare for a loooong post!
To begin with I have to tell you a story from last night. After Adreonna and I did nails I tried to jokingly convince her to come to New York with me. I told her that she'd be the pet of the dorms, with 27 big sisters to mother her. Then I told her that it would be 270 fingernails to paint!! She told me no, so I thought that was the end of it. A few minutes later her mom found her sitting in the corner crying...she was trying to decided whether she wanted to stay in Indiana, or come with me to NY...she was really struggling! :( I told her that I had been joking. She wouldn't speak to me for a long time after that. I finally had to bribe her...I'm such a bad cousin!
I woke up this morning to COLD!!!!! I don't think the high got into the double digits today! BRRRR!!!! I went to take a shower, only to have mom tell me that there was something wrong with the sewer and I wouldn't be able to take a shower...I ran to a friends and took one there. Mom and I then went to the doctor for a post-op visit. The doctor was shocked at how well I was doing! He was very, very pleased. :)
The roads were atrocious! We got 4 or 5 inches of snow yesterday, and another 4 inches of snow today! It is beautiful outside...it's great to look at, but you don't want to be in it, believe me!
Tonight we went into the jail. Mom, Samuel, and 2 other kids from our church, as well as me, did music. Dad went too, but he didn't really do much. :) It went well, PTL!!! I had fun, as usual.
I have tried very hard to not get into politics on this blog, and so far I've managed, but I've got to say a couple of things.
I am a big lover of talk radio. I like the big names, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Michael Reagan, and so on. This morning I was listening to Glenn Beck, he was talking about having faith in government. He listed quite a few of the governmental offices, such as the treasury, dept. of education, dept. of labor, the CIA, Congress, even the office of the President, and asked which of those do you still believe in. I thought about it, and really, I don't believe in any of those anymore. I don't care which party controls that White House, or Congress, the government is no longer "By the People, and for the People." It is now "By the politicians, and for the politicians and the special interest groups." The ONLY thing in government that I still believe in and am proud of is our military. They are the ONLY part of government that is still by and for the people. THANK YOU to the men and woman in the armed forces who still give me, as an American, hope for our country.
Another thing that has been bugging me, all of these bailouts of companies. For goodness sake, if a private company goes under, then they go under. We don't need government rescuing these companies, I don't need my tax dollars going towards that, why don't we instead try to eliminate our national debt instead?? That might help the economy! DUH!! But then again, we've got POLITICIANS in office who are approving all of these bailouts for their own personal gain...more votes! I got an email from somebody the other day listing the sorts of facts about Wal-Mart. It told how much money people spent a day there, and all of the profits that they are making. Then the end of the email said, "Why don't we let Wal-Mart bail out all of these companies?" I lost it! Why is it that if one company is failing, then we have to make the companies that are succeeding look bad? I know some people don't like Wal-Mart for various reasons, and that is fine, but to me that is the WORST reason to hate them, just because they are making a profit in a bad economy. It's called CAPITALISM, and principle that our country was founded on! DUH!

BRRRRR!!!!! It's cold here!! I just ran to the store with dad and it was 7 degrees outside!! We got a bunch of snow last night. We are supposed to get a LOT more snow tonight and tomorrow! Schools are already closing! YAY!!!
Today I ran around doing errands...it was fun!!! :) I love being out and about! :)
Tonight was nail painting night with my 7 year old cousin Adreonna. She got a set of nail stuff for Christmas and decided that I needed to paint her nails for her, so I did, doing each nail a different color. Then Adreonna wanted to paint my nails...all different colors, so I let her. It was fun. All of the colors are pastel, except for a dark blue. It looks really funny cuz the blue nail stands out like crazy!!! It cracks my mom up. :) I think I'm going to leave it that way for at least a day...its fun!! :)
This afternoon I started packing to go back to college. I fly out of Chicago on Saturday. Hopefully the weather calms down before then so that my flight won't be cancelled or delayed. Pray for that cuz I really want to get back to school, I'm looking forward to finishing my first year of college.

YAY!!!! I finally got out of the house today!!! :) I ran errands with mom. We didn't go anywhere exciting...it was just out! So nice!!
I made cookies today, they were chocolate and peanut butter chip. They were really good!!! :)
I do want to say a BIG thank you to a friend of mine, Lucas as well as his family. Today Luke left for Marine boot camp. Thanks for your sacrifice...we appreciate it!
Tomorrow we are supposed to get quite a bit of snow and wind...that should be really exciting...it'll be a great day to stay inside and bake. :) It'll be fun! (right Morgan??) :-)

BORED!!! That is exactly how I feel today. I didn't go to church today cuz I wouldn't have been able to sit up for that long. So I've been home all day long!! I need to get out BAD!! I can feel the walls closing in....AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
I did make bread today, so that at least got me up and moving around...but it still wasn't getting out! If it weren't so cold and snowy I would've gone for a walk, but that wasn't an option.
Tomorrow I am planning to get out and do SOMETHING!!! What, I have no idea, but I will be out of the house! YAY!!! I'm trying to dream up something, I'm not too big on shopping, but I'm willing to brave just about anything at the moment. I wish it were summer cuz I could go down by Winona Lake and sit on one of the benches and watch the ducks and geese, and the boats, and the people....mmmmm.....sweet dreams.
If anybody has any ideas what I could do, let me know!

People asked me today how I was feeling, I told them that I felt like I'd had surgery yesterday! :)I guess that's how I feel, I don't know, I've never had surgery before. I can tell you that I'm going nuts! I'm soooooo bored! I went to Walmart with mom today cuz I HAD to get out, I was going stir crazy! It was wonderful to get out of the house for a little while.
I want to thank all of you who have been texting and calling me...it's great to be able to "connect" with the outside. :) Please keep it up...it makes me happy.

Well, I am now gallbladderless! :) We left our house at a little after 5:15 this morning, reminded me of my every day life at college! We got to the hospital around 6:15, I was the first patient in outpatient surgery...I got the pick of the rooms...well not really, that was just my imagination. :) They started doing every thing to get me ready, everything was just about done, except for starting the IV. They tried in my left hand, the nurse had it in but it infiltrated into my hand! Thankfully the nurse caught it right away. They tried another vein, but it rolled on them! YUCK! About that time the anesthesiologist came in and looked at it and told the nurses that he would do it in the OR and if he couldn't get it in the first time he'd knock me out and then put the IV in.
They took me into the OR, it was COLD!!! Thankfully they have warm blankets that they covered me with...it was nice and cozy. The doc got my IV on the first time!! YAY!!! he told me that if anybody ever tried to stick me again and couldn't get it the first time to tell them to call the professionals! :) That made everybody laugh.
I started on oxygen, and then they gave me the anesthesia, I was out before I knew what happened to me. :)
The surgery took about 40 minutes, I think. My gallbladder was so diseased that my body had naturally started to grow adhesion's around it to protect my other organs. It's a good thing that I had it taken out when I did.
The nurses in the first recovery room where I went directly after surgery were really cool. My main nurse had been a missionary in Papua New Guinea! We had some really cool conversations about missions. The other nurse has a daughter who is a missionary in Turkey. Because it is mainly a Muslim country, Christians have to be underground.
I then went into another recovery room where my family was able to join me. I had asked the doctor if I could watch the surgery, but he had said,"NO!" I then asked if I could see my gallbladder after they had taken it out, again he told me no. :( He did say that he would give me pictures. That made me happy. So when my family came into the room they told me that the doctor had not only given them pictures, but also a DVD of the entire operation!! COOL!!!!
I was discharged around 11:00 this morning. I went outside to snow! :) It was really pretty, but the roads were really bad. :( We got home about noon.
A real victory today: I was able to drink Sprite, a little bit of coffee, and eat about half an egg, and a little bit of jello without any pain!! YAY!!
I am feeling pretty well. I have a little pain, but its amazing what pain killers can do! :)
Thank you for all of your prayers! I can really feel God working in everything.

I had a HIDA scan today, don't ask me what that means, I don't know. Pretty much it tested how well my gallbladder works. It was a 2 hour scan! It was great, I got to watch I Love Lucy and The Waltons while it was going on!! :) At least I wasn't bored! Apparently my gallbladder didn't function the way that it is supposed to...answers at last!! Yay!! Things moved very quickly from there, I was able to get in to see a surgeon immediately, God was good. I am going to have my gallbladder removed tomorrow morning bright and early at 8:00! We have to be at the hospital at 6:15! YUCK! The hospital that we are going to is an hour away, soooo we have to leave at 5:15, sure reminds me of college life!
The surgery is out patient, and will take between 30 and 45 minutes. I will be back home sometime tomorrow afternoon or evening.
I will greatly appreciate all of your prayers.

Today I had my Esophagogastroduodenoscopy, in other words, and EGD. I don't remember it at all cuz I was sleeping. :) The doctor didn't find anything. :( He is really worried that I'm not eating, so he had the HIDA scan, which was scheduled for Friday, rescheduled for tomorrow morning at 8:00. He is pretty sure that my gallbladder isn't functioning properly and will need to be taken out. If the test ends up the way he thinks he is going to get me in to see a surgeon ASAP. If I have to have surgery hopefully it will be really soon so I will be well on my way to recovery before it is time to go back to college. :)
Other than that I did absolutely nothing today. We got home around 2:00 and I went to bed and didn't get up until after 5:00!!! It was wonderful. :)
Thanks to all who have prayed I appreciate it a LOT!

I went to the GI doctor this morning and she scheduled me for an endoscopy tomorrow morning at 10:00. That is a scope that goes down my throat and looks at the esophagus, stomach, and part of the colon. Hopefully the doctor will be able to figure out from that what is wrong. They will be putting me under for that, should be fun...I don't know, I've never had anesthesia before. :) On Friday I'm going to have another test that tests how the gallbladder functions. Hopefully they figure out what is wrong and can get it fixed quickly so I can be on my merry way to college next Saturday.
My dad's surgery went well. Thanks for all of your prayers. It took about an hour from the time they called him back until he was released. He is sore, but other than that he is not having any problems.
I can't stay out of the kitchen not matter what! Today I made chocolate chip sour cream muffins. They looked really good, and smelled good too. Should make everybody happy for breakfast in the morning. :)

To begin with I want to congratulate my dear former co-worker, Bonnie Webb, on the safe return of her son, Steve (left), from Iraq. I think he came back to the U.S. around Christmas time, but today he came home for a 2 week leave. I'm going by memory, but I think he was in the mid-east for 8 or 9 months. He serves in the Indiana National Guard.

Today I went back to the doctor because I haven't been getting any better, actually I've been getting worse! I'm still not eating, I have pretty much no appetite. I'm really tired all the time, probably because I'm not eating. My doctor decided to send me to a GI specialist and managed to get a quick appointment for me, tomorrow at 11:00. She thinks that I will probably have to have some tests done including an endoscopy which is a scope that goes down the throat and looks at everything inside. Yay! Hopefully they will figure out what is wrong, fix it, and have me all ready to go back to college in less than 2 weeks.

Also tomorrow, my dad is having oral surgery at 11:15. If you think about it please keep him in your prayers as well.

Ok, I guess that my post ended up really wacky so I copied and pasted it and am going to republish it, sorry about that. :(

Another weekend come and gone. Just two more weeks and I'll be heading back to New York and my second semester of college. I'm kinda looking forward to getting back into the swing of school, I do enjoy studying. Although, I'm NOT looking forward to the not so wonderful cafeteria meals, fighting for a shower in the mornings, all the noise, and oh help us all, the drama!
My weekend wasn't too exciting. I'm pretty tired all the time, probably because I'm not eating very much. I needed to get out, so I went to the store with mom, which managed to wear me out. After that I took a nap and then made supper. I love being in the kitchen, just in case you haven't noticed. I just made a simple casserole, it looked good.
This morning in church pastor preached on the unchageableness of God in a changing world. It was a good message for the first Sunday after the beginning of the year. With all that is going on in our world it's great to know that God is there and is the same "yesterday, today, and forever." No matter what happens He is there. Another point in his sermon was that we have unchangeable Salvation. How wonderful to know that it doesn't matter what we do, or what happens we are always saved.

To add on to what I just wrote, one of the verses that pastor used today was II Thessalonians 2:16 & 17 which say: "Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work." I don't think I had ever noticed those verses before, they are a wonderful comfort to all believers.

Thanks to all of you who have told me that you are praying for me. I appreciate it very much. I will keep you updated, but as of now there is nothing new. I am not planning to drop out of school for a semester, I will have to cut back my work hours from 30 to 15 or 20 max. Other than that all that will help is prayer.
Just because I'm sick doesn't mean that it keeps me from the kitchen! Since nobody can catch what I have I have free reign of the kitchen to bake up what ever my heart so desires! :) It's wonderful! Today I made an applesauce cake. It looked really good, and smelled good, and I ended up with rave reviews! :) So wonderful. I also made a batch of puppy chow, which for those of you who don't know is Rice Chex with a chocolate, peanut butter and powdered sugar coating. I know that is good because it's one of my favorite munchies. Of course, I LOVE chocolate and peanut butter, so the two combined....YUM!! :)

At last...the promised pictures of my cousins. I'm sorry that I didn't get them up sooner but I'll explain that in a moment. We had a great time with my cousins running around. I LOVE little ones, they are so much fun. :) The kiddos had fun playing outside before supper. I think dad also managed to con them into helping him clean up some of damage from the ice storm a week and a half ago. After supper they played several games, there was lots of laughter. :)
So now for my explanation for why I haven't posted in several days, its pretty simple, I've been REALLY sick. Anytime I would eat I'd get really bad cramps. It got to the point that I hardly ate anything because it hurt so bad. Last Tuesday, (12/23) I went to the doctor and he said it sounded like I was having gallbladder issues, and ordered an ultrasound of that area to be done on Monday, (12/29). The doctor told us at that appointment that it was very possible if the ultrasound came back positive that I would have to have my gallbladder removed. So I had the ultrasound done, and it came back negative. there was nothing there, that was very frustrating for me, because I just wanted my problem fixed. On top of that my doctor is out of town this week, his nurse told us that our only option was that if the symptoms got really bad again I should go to the ER! So we decided to wait and see what would happen. Everything got progressively worse until finally last night it was BAD!! I was in constant pain, and if I tried to eat I had MAJOR cramping. Last night, or I should say early this morning, about 12:15 my parents took me to ER. They did blood tests, and had to poke me 6 times before finally being able to get a vain! The tests came back fine. The doctor said that he thinks I have an ulcer in my stomach! I guess too much stress at school. They sent me home with 2 medications and said to follow up with my family doctor. So that is where I am at the moment. Hopefully everything gets under control before I have to go back to college later this month.
I hope everybody had a WONDERFUL new year. I know God has a plan this year for everything in our lives. Trust Him, that's all we can do.