THE SHACK

I just posted this on my other blog, so if you read both, you need to read this again so I can further prove my point. :)





I just finished reading The Shack and recommend it to EVERYONE. What an AMAZING book full of hope and working through the challenges that life and grief bring. I'm not an avid reader at all, but it is a goal of mine. However, when I find a book that I like, I will read it cover to cover as quickly as I can, as I did this book.

This book is not written for Christians. It is written for everyone no matter of their religious preference or level of faith they do or do not have. Please give yourself an amazing gift in 2009 and read this book! I would lend you my copy, but I am not letting it go. When you read it - which is very soon I hope - be sure to read the foreword. It will make the book fit together like the beautiful puzzle that it is.

The past two nights of reading "The Shack" have reformed my mind, my relationships, and my outlook on life. I feel a sense of purpose, comfort, purpose, and (*gulp* dare I say it?) . . . hope . . . that I haven't felt in a long time.

People are Talking . . .

. . . about this photo from prom my junior year of high school. What of it?


I'm sure my high school boyfriend (with whom I am still friends) would absolutely love that his photo is available for all the world to see. :) I'm even more sure that I would never post a picture of this caliber had Todd been standing next to me. I have to be married to the guy, ya know!

Project 365 - A Photo a Day

I found this on my friend Misty's blog, and I am going to join her! Granted, some of it will be under the ruse of wanting a new DSLR camera for my birthday. Until I hopefully get my birthday gift, I'll have to use my phone's camera and my point & shoot. (Which is close to the point of shot.)

I think I'll post my photos here (maybe weekly?) unless I decide to start a new blog for my project. That's doubtful since I have a hard time managing the blogs I already have now.

Why don't you JOIN ME? If you do, let me know. We'll need one another for inspiration!


Here's the info I pulled from the Project 365 website:

WHY DO IT?
Taking a photo a day is a big undertaking with big payoffs. Here are just a few reasons why you should consider doing it:

Imagine being able to look back at any day of your year and recall what you did, who you met, what you learned… (Often we find it hard to remember what we did just yesterday or even last night, let alone a whole year ago!)


Your year-long photo album will be an amazing way to document your travels and accomplishments, your haircuts and relationships. Time moves surprisingly fast.

Taking a photo a day will make you a better photographer. Using your camera every day will help you learn its limits. You will get better at composing your shots, you’ll start to care about lighting, and you’ll become more creative with your photography when you’re forced to come up with something new every single day.

TIPS ON HOW TO DO IT

6 Tips on How to Do It....

1. Bring Your Camera Everywhere
Yes, everywhere. Get in the habit. Grocery stores, restaurants, parties, work, and school. Going to a movie theatre? Snap a pic of the flick with your phone–there are photo-ops everywhere. If you have one of those tiny tiny cameras, you have no excuse not to have it in your pocket all the time. And if you don’t? Camera phones are a great substitute.


2. Make Posting Easy
You can install blog software like Movable Type or Wordpress on your own site and create an entry for each photo, but for true ease of use, try a photo sharing site. Flickr will let you post a week’s worth of photos in 2 minutes flat, and fotolog and Photoblog are geared toward a photo-a-day workflow. Making it fast and easy means you’re much more likely to do it.

3. Vary Your Themes
Try to capture the day’s events in a single photo. Perform photographic experiments. Take a photo of someone new you meet, something you ate for the first time, or something you just learned how to do. Take a photo of something that made you smile. And don’t forget to take a photo of yourself at least once a month so you can remember how you’ve changed, too.

4. Tell a Story
Use your blog entry, or your photo description, to explain what’s going on in each day’s photograph. How good did that dinner taste? What made you want to take a photo of that stranger? It’ll help you remember down the road, and it gives friends following along a better appreciation of why you took the photo you did. You don’t need to write a lot, just enough to add some color.

5. Don’t Stop, No Matter What
This is perhaps the most important tip of all. You will get tired of taking a photo every single day. Some days, you will consider giving up. Don’t. The end result is worth the effort. Remind yourself why you wanted to do it in first place.

There will be times you’ll think there’s nothing interesting left to take a photo of, and times you’ll think you didn’t do anything exciting enough to take a photo of. There’s always a great photo to be made.

Get out of the house and take a walk. Or stay inside and look around. Take a photo of something important to you. Take a photo of the inside of your house so you can see how your taste has changed over the years. Take a photo of anything, just don’t stop.

N.b. It helps if you’ve told your friends about the project and asked them to follow along. Their encouragement will keep you going!

6. Post early, post often
Plan on going through and posting your photos at least once a week so you don’t get backlogged and feel overwhelmed. Ideally, post every day or two. Again, spend the time up front to make sure it’s quick and easy to post. It’ll make all the difference.

Christmas 2008

I've gotten terrible at taking photos - both the process of taking them and actually doing it. Here are a few I did take though.

Our Christmas Card, 2008

I had to share because I love the photos! I removed our last name in case some of you want to dognap our precious babies. :)

Front:
(No, Mindy is not pictured since she doesn't travel well!)


Back:

The photos were taken by our awesome photographer Melissa, who has the patience of Job after dealing with my neurotic OCD behavior, Todd's frustration, and three wild & crazy dogs. And that was just for Christmas photos! It doesn't include our engagements, my bridal portraits, and shooting our wedding for over 8 hours! Love you M!

HUGE RAVE!

I finally did it. I dismantled all of my photo frames and old photo albums (which killed me!) and collected all of my photos. Nervously, I packed every single photograph I could find into three boxes. Everything from wallet-sized to 8x10s, they were shipped to Irvine, California, so the fine folks at Scan My Photos could shoot them all through their high-powered scanner.

Less than one week later, the wonderful postman dropped three boxes on our doorstep, full of all of my photos plus three DVDs contained over 5100 scanned images! Yes, I had over 5000 photos!

Now it's time for the really hard work. I have copied every image to my external hard drive, and I am cleaning up each photo and categorizing them. I'm also adding in all of my digital photo files. I will then burn images to CD or DVD and give them to family and friends. For Christmas, I gave family members an empty jewel case with a poem inside telling them what would be coming . . . eventually!

I hope everyone enjoys the photos as much as I am. I'm absolutely thrilled with the work done by Scan My Photos, and I am enjoying seeing all of these photographs from the past. Best of all, I know my photos are safe now. That's truly the best part.

Merry Christmas

Todd and I wanted to wish you all of the blessings that Christmas provides us. Our Lord brought to us His son, so that He may provide us all the miraculous gift of eternal life. While we know the holidays can often be difficult for many of us, know that His promise is always with you.

If you are celebrating Chanukah, we wish you blessings as you join with family each night to celebrate. Whatever your belief system, we hope that you are able to take this time of year to spend with loved ones, to relax and reflect, and plan for the renewal of a new year.

I started this blog as a way to entertain myself and find a way to journal a little of what life brings us. I doubt you find as much entertainment in it as I do, but I appreciate you reading our blog and getting a little view into our lives. Merry Christmas!

Hospital -- again.

Will - my 18 month old nephew - is in the hospital tonight with pneumonia. Poor baby boy. Please keep his little self in your thoughts and prayers, as well as my brother, sister in-law, and my niece, Aeva. This also means that Will may be quarantined at home for a while, and we can't have Christmas with him. :( We missed his first Christmas last year because he was in the hospital with - you guessed it - pneumonia. Here's a photo of him in the hospital one year ago today:

Will is just so.darn.cute. He felt awful but was still cute and happy. (Of course, Aunt Kristin made fun of him for having a cup on his head to protect his IV.)

A hospital wing should be built and dedicated to my family and friends. There have been 7 (count 'em SEVEN) hospitalizations this year in our family. My grandmother, mom, Rick, me, niece, SIL's mom, and now Will. I think that is enough. NO MORE!!!

If that hasn't been the worst year of medical issues for my family, then I don't really want to stick around for another year of this!!

Tagged Again

I've done some of these, and I don't even remember which ones. I'm doing this one because Shanny Said So!


Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about you.

3. Tag 7 random people at the end, and include links to their blog.


I'm sure there are more than 7 random and/or weird facts about me, but I'm just sticking with 7.

1. I never cared for animals - other than my cat Mindy - until I met Todd. I had pets when I was young, but I never took care of them or dealt with them well.

2. I am more than extremely scared (mortified?) of heights. I fell down two flights of stairs as a toddler, and have been afraid of high places since. According to my mom, as a young child, I would absolutely freak out just sitting on the doctor's table. Anything higher than a chair still freaks me out - especially catwalks, stairs with "holes" (gaps in between the steps) & escalators.

3. I have no septum in my nose. I used to, but after several nasal/sinus surgeries, it's basically gone. Sign me up for stupid human tricks.

4. I have two brothers and two sisters, but I am an only child. I am my parents' first and only child together.

5. At age nine, I was babysitting newborns. I babysat for multiple families in our neighborhood - anywhere from 1 to 4 children per family. As a teacher of 9 & 10 year olds, I cannot imagine leaving my baby with a such a young child. What were those people thinking?!

6. The veins atop my left foot form a "K". How convenient and strange, huh? Maybe God wanted me to remember my first initial when I'm barefoot.

7. Speaking of barefoot - I hate not wearing something on my feet. I am so tender-footed and HATE being without at least socks on my feet.

So . . . that's probably more weird than random . . . but that's me! And since I'm a rule breaker, I'm not tagging anyone. You can add this to your blog on your own accord!

Whatcha Doin'?

Joyce thinks she stole this from me, but I, in fact, stole it from her. :) Things I have done are in bold. It proves I haven't done much traveling, but I have done some living!

1. Started your own blog. Uh, yeah.
2. Slept under the stars. I have been camping before and slept in cars. Does that count?!
3. Played in a band. I played the saxophone for three years in junior high. I was pretty good, but quit in 8th grade after being switched to the only tenor sax in the band. You mess up = everyone looks at you = teenage angst
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland/world. When I was young. There are photos to prove it. Sounds like torture now that I'm old.
8. Climbed a mountain. Depends on how high of a mountain, but I'm saying yes. No repeling off the sides & stuff though. Too scary.
9. Held a praying mantis. I've even seen them having sex. Luckily I wasn't holding them at the time.
10. Sang a solo. Not in front of people, though.
11. Bungee jumped. Never will unless someone ties my dead body to a rope and throws it off a ledge.
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch. Some cooking and scrapbooking.
15. Adopted a child. Praying it won't come to that.
16. Had food poisoning. Oh Lord, yes.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty. Scared of heights & stairs, so I don't anticipate this being a part of my future.
18. Grown your own vegetables. Tomatoes & strawberries. (Yes, I know strawberries are a fruit.)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight. Yes, but I wasn't over 12 and I wasn't nekkid.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill. I agree w/ Joyce - those are called “mental health days”, everyone needs them. Mental illness is a disease, people.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping. You didn't think I'd go into detail here, did you?
27. Run a Marathon. Nobody would chase me alive for 26.2 miles. Me being alive is the key word.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse. I think I was in 5th grade. You know, before the world was truly created.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset. Back in the day . . .
31. Hit a home run. ha!
32. Been on a cruise. No, but we both want to take one!
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person. Would love to. My parents honeymooned there in 1970.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors. I'm such a mutt that I probably have & might not have known it.
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language. My sister and I have a language we speak in front of the kids. Of course, she screwed it all up and told the kids what it was.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied. I'm a teacher folks . . .
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing. I climed Red Rock Canyon if that counts. I have pics to prove it. It wasn't on the sides of the cliffs though. It was rock climbing to me.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David.
41. Sung karaoke. Uggghhhhh
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight. Yes, but it wasn't an all romantical thing.
46. Been transported in an ambulance. Both transported myself and rode with others.
47. Had your portrait painted. Caricature only. Does that count? My Dad had portraits done of us from photos - amazing.
48. Gone deep sea fishing. Do they drink beer for this? I'd be willing to go if they did. And if someone would bait my hook. And reel in my fish if I got thirsty. And take the fish off the hook. And help reapply my sunscreen. Sounds like a fun thing to do!
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling. We snorkeled at Trunk Bay, St. John USVI during our honeymoon.
52. Kissed in the rain. I'm sure I have, but again, there wasn't some romantical moment. Yes, I like the word 'romantical'.
53. Played in the mud. What are china tea sets for when you're young?!
54. Gone to a drive-in theater. LOVE drive-ins! Wish we still had them. Our family went when we were young, and we went in high school (to drink & hang out).
55. Been in a movie. Only one for school stuff.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business. Yes, but I didn't put much into it. Therefore, I didn't get much out of it.
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies. Girl Scout cookies & Camp Fire candy!
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason. Yes. :)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving. That would be hell-to-the-no. Unless someone tied my dead body to a parachute & dropped it out of a plane.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter. No, but I flew in a plane with no doors/windows. Skeerey.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy. My Pooh Bear, china sets, and a couple of small things.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial. Yes, by myself.
71. Eaten Caviar. Not alone but with something.
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job. What a blessing that was!!!
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone. My leg - playing football. I was 30. My mom thought I was ridiculous.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle. Yes - scared the crap out of me since I've had a couple of friends die in motorcycle accidents.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car. I typically only buy new. Guess I'm a snob like that, while Todd refuses to buy new. He's more practical than I am anyway.
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper. In college & our engagement and wedding announcements in the Dallas Morning News.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House. Drove by during a tour!
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating. Fish, but I didn't clean them so it doesn't really count. Did you see my deep sea fishing comments?!
88. Had chickenpox. Yes, atop a severe sunburn. It was awful!
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous. Depends on how famous we're talking about here. Local celebreties? Yes. Music stars? Yes.
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one. Unfortunately too many.
94. Had a baby. Well shit. Who wrote this quiz??
95. Seen the Alamo in person. Uh YEAH.
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit. I joined a class action suit and got a $22 check in the mail recently. Sweet!
98. Owned a cell phone. Yes, since 1990. I used to have a permanently mounted one in my car. It had a short in it, so you had to bang the handle on the steering wheel to make it work. HAHA!
99. Been stung by a bee. When I was a kid.

Play for the Cure

We want a cure for breast cancer! Each time you play this quick & easy game, Pepperidge Farms will donate a dollar to the Susan G. Komen Foundation to help find a cure. All you have to do is play. Share it with others!

Our Latest Splurge

Todd and I purchased a new home entertainment wall today. It'll be a month or so before we receive it, but we are really looking forward to it!

Here she is:

Right now we are using an old dresser-type piece of furniture which is beginning to sag slightly from the weight its holding. (Well, so am I for that matter!)

You can see the TV & in its current state in the distance of this photo. I'm too lazy to crop it right now.



I'll definitely take some before and after photos next month. As I watch TV tonight, I am envisioning how it will look. I can promise it will look SO much better!

Scrooged!

As you may remember, my Dad recently performed as Scrooge in "A Christmast Carol". They made some changes to the play this year, so it was different than in years past. Dad - as always - did a fantastic job!

Below is Scrooge with his off-stage family. His makeup is ick and even ickier is Dad's nappy hair sticking out and disgusting, scratchy beard. Yes, the night after his last performance involved a haircut and big time shave.


Me, Dad, Marilynn (my stepmom), Kilee (niece), Cindy (sister), & Todd (husband)

While we're looking forward to Dad playing Scrooge again in the future, we are never looking forward to that scraggly hair and beard. Oh well . . . the things people do for fame! :)

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity-Jig

Rick is being released from the crazy house hospital today! His Dad and sister are here, and they have been a huge help to my mom. Thank you for all the prayers, good thoughts, calls, notes, & emails. They are MUCH appreciated! It's amazing how one day everything can change.

I.C.U. leaving the ICU!

Rick was released from the ICU yesterday and moved to the IMC (Intermediate Care) unit. :)

Here's the latest from Tuesday/Wednesday:
- Since being admitted to the ICU late Friday night, 19 liters of fluid have been pulled from Rick's body. And he is still experiencing edema (swelling).
- Kidney biopsy results are back. Luckily it is not Wegener's Disease, although the symptoms sure did look like it. Results showed it is GN Nephritis, which basically means a secondary infection (which they believe to be strep) caused the kidney infection, which in turn caused the kidneys and heart to fail due to infection and excessive edema. You know, kinda like the leg bone is connected to the foot bone!
- Rick has had opportunites to be on room air vs. oxygen, his bp is still good (on meds), etc. He is feeling more comfortable, and hoping to feel human very soon.

Our focus in now turning Sick Rick back to Well Rick. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. Rick thinks they all started "kicking in around late Monday." We ask that you continue to pray for his strength and healing. Please pray for my mom as well. She's not feeling too great this week, and I know she's running herself into the ground. At least she scheduled her next echocardiogram for Wednesday.

Update on Sick Rick

Disclaimer: I'm too tired to reread and edit this, so please just deal with any & don't judge!

Sick Rick is still in the ICU. Nurses got him out of bed & into a chair yesterday, but he began to swell again. He's still on Lasix (to pull fluid from the body), bp meds, oxygen (at a lesser concentration), antibiotics, etc. His bp and O-sat is better but only because of the meds.

Today Sick Rick is looking & feeling better (cracking his awful jokes again), but doctors want everything stabilized before they move him to the IMC - Intermediate Care Unit - which is a stepdown unit from the ICU. Doctors performed a kidney biopsy today and hope to get results to trickle in starting tomorrow. They are thinking there is a possibility that Sick Rick had strep and it grew into a staph infection. That would explain the fluid build up that caused the heart & kidney failure. We'll see, I guess. Thanks for the prayers for Sick Rick - keep 'em coming!

Please also keep my mom in your prayers. She's running between floors while working & checking on Rick (he's on the 3rd floor, her unit is on the 2nd), spending time at the hospital after work, and even went home late last night to decorate some for Christmas. Of course, she changed the air filters while she was up in the attic at midnight. ("Well, I figured I might as well change the while I was up there.") She had an echocardiogram scheduled for today & she cancelled. Nurse Kristin called to tell her that the echo WILL be done before the end of the week.

I'm tired of our family supporting the local hospital systems.

Update

Rick is improving. So far, so good. He is still in ICU and will remain in the hospital through Tuesday or so. Mom was able to get several hours of sleep last night and is planning to work tomorrow. Thanks for the prayers - keep 'em coming!

And now . . . a moment of Steve. He's been in a very playful mood the past couple of days - bringing me toys, balls, ropes, etc. This video is of us playing ball, or you could say me trying to keep his tennis ball. :)

Prayers for Rick, please

Please keep my mom's husband, Rick, in your prayers, good thoughts, etc.

Rick wasn't feeling good Thanksgiving, & we just thought he was being a whiny male. Yesterday he finally went to the doctor & the doc called my mom saying Rick needed to go to the ER. The doctor personally drove Rick to the ER. His bp was up to 240/140, O2 sats were only 80, lung xrays looked awful, and his hands & feet were very swollen. He was admitted into ICU (one room away from mom's room from 13 weeks ago). My mom was up there all night in her scrubs since she went straight upstairs from work yesterday. (Rick's at her hospital.)

They are continuing today to bring Rick's bp down, he's on oxygen, and he'll have some testing of his heart and kidneys done today. He's obviously very sick and experiencing congestive heart and renal failure. Hopefully the medications he is on will help pull fluid out of his body, keep him comfortable and let his organs heal. If not, Rick will be scheduled for a kidney biopsy to see what should be done next.

I will try to keep updates on here, but until you hear otherwise, your prayers are appreciated.