so excited

Ok girls, I just have to say that I'm sitting here reading all of your blogs and I am SOOO excited to all be together in just a few short weeks for the blessed event of Stephanie's wedding! I cannot wait. First of all, Steph, it is ridiculous that we live in Tulsa and still do not see each other that much. PLEASE call me when you get a chance and tell me when we can get together. Because you are much busier than me. Don't forget that I am having a jewelry party on October 21st at 6pm. Please come. I'm actually selling the jewelry now and need you to come because I'm afraid nobody else will and it will be embarrassing. That's my news girls, I'm selling a quality fashion jewelry called Cookie Lee. It's kind of like Arbonne or Mary Kay except that it's really cute jewelry and there's no sales pitch or pressure. Just fun jewelry! Basically I just show it to my friends and when they have something they need new jewelry for they can buy it from me if I have something they like. I'm also doing some home shows and office parties and craft fairs to make some extra money. I thought this might be a fun thing I could do from home that could help provide some supplemental income for us. I keep some jewelry inventory in stock but you can also order anything out of the seasonal catalog. If any of you happen to be interested in seeing it, let me know and I'll mail you a catalog. No pressure! Just for fun. =) Anyways, enough about me. Liz, thanks for the Michigan tips, we'll take it to heart. I also want to add to Kim's blog that she was not only the one writing her crushes names in her journal with hearts around them, ... but I even remember a time when she wrote her love interest's name of the moment in the pockets of her jeans and I'm pretty sure that we could also find a variety of romantic infatuations listed on the inside of her closet door frame. hehehe =) So, quick update here. Seth has been sick all week. YUK! I haven't seen the light of day since Monday (5 days ago). I'm going crazy! Lilah is good. She's getting fat. But it's cute. My brother got engaged last weekend. I've attached a couple of his pictures from the evening of the big event. His fiance', Lauren, has threatend me with ugly bridesmaid dresses if I continue to laugh at Daniel's stupid attempts to woo her. (He's been calling her to recite messages of Love that he stole off the insides of all my Dove Promises chocolates.) He was attempting this last night at my house and she heard me laughing while he was on the phone with her. Anyways, that's it for us. Miss you all and love you!

My Fair Autumn

Where dost thou goest my fair autumn?! Autumn has slipped away. if you look closely, ah yes, there you go... snow pellets! It's freakin October people!!! The leaves on my two front trees are still green and fully intact. This is of utmost rediculous behavior! I wore my winter coat and mittens today... MITTENS! While this may be perfectly acceptable in climates such as Alaska, Colorado, and the North Pole... it certainly is not in Illinois. I'm really disappointed if you can't tell.
Oh, but i did get new tires today on my car, which makes a huge difference. So I guess I'm ready for the snow, whenever it comes. Now we'll be safe traveling to T-town next month. And this time, i've decided to have my tires regularly rotated because i did learn my lesson there. Oh, Chris and I just watched 'Stick It', that gymnastics movie that closely resembles 'Bring It On'. It was cute with some definate laugh-out-loud parts. I recommend it for a girls night... or if you, like me, have a husband who likes teen-age girl chick flicks. I love this man :)

Blast from the past

So I just upgraded my Yahoo e-mail account to the Beta version. And, for some reason, the little Yahoo gnomes re-sent some of my really, really old e-mails as new messages. My inbox was flooded with e-mails from around the time of our wedding, three and a half years ago.
It’s so weird. Like the me from the past was trying to communicate with the me of the future.

Anyway, I highly recommend this to anyone who’s a little bored – go back and read a couple e-mails you sent or received around three or four years ago. It’s really quite entertaining … and a little humiliating – sort of like reading your diary from jr. high where you wrote down a certain boy’s name over and over, surrounded by flocks of little hearts. Of course, I never did that – but I know some of you did.

Showers and weddings

Hi ladies!
So I thought I would post since I know it will be another long while before I'm on here again. I absolutely love reading all these posts - especially the ones about Grey's.

And, yes, Kimmie I am completely jealous, and that's honestly why I haven't been able to bring myself to call you lately! :) Just kidding. I am jealous though...the Grey's cast is SO much better than my incident with Garth. Thanks for the shoes for the wedding...I LOVE them and they'll be perfect for that day and after. They look way cute with jeans, too. :)

Liz - it's so good to hear a little from you! I hope we can connect tonight! I can't wait to hear your voice again. Too bad you can't meet me in Boston tomorrow!

Jen - I hope you're feeling better! You've been on my mind a lot, so give me a call when you get a minute.

Juls - Why is it that we live a matter of minutes from each other and we both seem to be too busy to get together. I have a shower gift for you and I want to see if you can do a trial run with the make up with me sometime soon. Of course, that means that we'll have to SHOP for make up. If you're ok with that. :)

Angie - I miss you mucho. I am so glad that we're getting better about our daily emails again, but somehow it's just not the same. Thanks for all the help you've been giving for the wedding! We'll chat about that soon.

Jamie - I CANNOT wait to see you and I am so glad you'll be able to make it in for the wedding! I hope school is going well with you and you have a great class this year! :) Have fun!!!

Ok, so as for me: I had two showers at the end of Sept / beginning of Oct. The second one was for my church and I got the best gift! They all got together and bought my mom a plane ticket to surprise me the night before the shower!! I was out bowling with church and my mom shows up at the bowling alley. Yeah, I freaked out. It was great. So she was here for about 3 days and that was wonderful.

Since then, I have been trying to do wedding stuff (32 days), but I was scheduled at Pottery Barn last week and I put in a bunch of overtime at SPARKS, so I didn't get much done until Sunday. It's coming along, but I still feel pretty far behind. This week, however, is dedicated to Jacqueline and her wedding. I will be out in New Hampshire (and Boston) until Saturday morning. I can't wait and I think it will be very fun.

Anyhooo...I can't think of much else to say, so keep in touch - keep blogging. Let me know when ya'll are getting into town so I can plan accordingly!

Love you girls and miss you lots!!!

Just a tip

Just a tip Juls, if you guys end up with the position in MI, move as far outside of Detroit as possible. Common sense, I know. But the further you get from those suburbs, the better off you are (especially for the value of your home in the long run). However, cheer up. I can't even get my mind around thinking of the cost of living in MI as being high after living out here. But, it's a buyers market in MI right now(it kind of is everywhere, but especially there).
Anyway, hello to everyone else as well. I miss you girls and am looking forward to seeing you all in about a month. Life here has been good. Nathan and I have been completely bogged down with work...grad classes, freelance work, church work, etc. But it keep us out of trouble. Although I'm enjoying my grad program, I'll be glad when it's over. It's quite a lot of work. Work is going well, although the school shootings of course change the atmosphere of school these days, especially in middle and high schools. Our schools is as locked down as possible these days. Yesterday afternoon, we had 2 high schoolers arrested on our school property with a loaded gun. Scary. Other than that, I'm settling into a routine with my new kiddos. I've got some tough ones this year, but what else is new. Ok well, I'm having a big fondu party this evening, so I had better go prepare:) Gotta love entertaining. It's been good hearing from everyone, and I hope the weekend goes well!

Wow!

Wow is all I have to say for you Kim. I am so very happy for you that you got to meet some of Grey's Anatomy. I am a little bit in love with Dr. McDreamy myself. Although, I have to admit that for the first time in my life, I have actually given Josh a goofy and embarrassingly cheesy nickname... I'm sure you can guess that it is "Dr. McDreamy." So, I have my own Dr. McDreamy now. There is something awfully sexy about a handsome, brooding, intelligent man. Especially in scrubs when he's saving a person's life. Josh does seem hotter to me when he comes home and talks about an intense case where he made a difficult diagnosis or scrubbed into a surgery and held a human heart in his hands. He also seems just as goofy and retarded as he always has when he burps right before he kisses me or picks his nose while he's watching football. Oh well, I try to cling to the sexier moments. Anyways, speaking of Josh... he's been in Michigan and Ohio for interviews this week for residency. They went pretty well. He interviewd in Garden City, MI (basically Detroit), and they offered him a position at their program. He also interviewd in Toledo and it seemed to go well. They said they would be contacting him in a few days to tell him whether they will be matching him for that proram or not. We're still waiting for a couple more interviews in Ohio to make our final decisions. However, all of these programs are good and it looks like we may have our pick or at least several good options. So, we will definately be moving this summer somewhere north. Probably to Detroit, Columbus or Toledo. It will be one of those three locations. This is a huge relief for us because we know that Josh will absolutely match at a surgical residency program no matter what now. We won't have to scramble into an empty, crappy program and Josh will definately be a surgeon which is what he very much wants to do. Big weight off our shoulders. The only thing now is that I'm nervous about finding a new house because the cost of living is pretty high in Detroit compared to Tulsa. I'm nervous we won't be able to sell our house in Tulsa. I'm scared to make all new friends and I'm sad to leave our church and friends and home here in Tulsa. I thought I'd only be excited to leave Tulsa and be closer to family, but I definately have mixed emotions. Although I will say that I have been feeling recently that our time in Tulsa and this phase of our lives is coming to a close. So it will be a new adventure to move and start all over somewhere else next year. Other than that, all is normal here. Seth and Lilah are good and we can't wait to see you guys for Steph's wedding. Love you all!

Fight, Fight, Fight!

I'm at work. For those of you who don't know exactly what company i work for, it's a software company for auto dealers. Well, in our new location, we are the second floor of our very own dealership (Quad City Suzuki). It just so happens that the dealership is filming an infomercial today. Have you seen one before? the kind that introduce you to the top players at the dealerships, give you a phone number to call, and tell you about their awesome deals for 30 entire minutes?
So right now, they are filming and it seems they are using a high school marching band in the infomercial. SO, there is a 15-20 member marching band playing school fight songs right outside my window. oh. my. goodness... YMCA!
Sounds like I've found my afternoon entertainment! wish i had a camera!

The proof

Ok, I was waiting until my friend sent me these pictures before I finished the whole story. I’m really not trying to drag this out to ridiculous lengths. I just felt I needed the evidence first.
So Grey’s Anatomy was filming in Seattle on Tuesday, and my friend and I hightailed it downtown to catch the very end of it. We got to see the end of one scene. Three of the actors from the show were there: the Chief, Burke, and McDreamy.


I don’t have a good picture of Patrick Dempsey because when he started walking toward me, I completely froze like a deer caught in the headlights. In his headlights, I should say. But he smiled at me and said, “hey” and then got on his phone to talk to someone more important. In my mind, it was the show’s producers and he was telling them that they should hire this cute little blonde he saw in Seattle. But that’s probably not really who he was calling.

If you’re not obsessed with Grey’s, this probably isn’t such a big deal. But if you’re like me, and have had dreams about working at Seattle Grace, then you’ll be excited about these photos (Steph, I’m talking to you.) .
You think you’ll be all cool and relaxed in situations like this, but then when they really happen, you stand there and gawk like a little teenage girl.


Anyway, just wanted to share my little brush with Hollywood. Love you all!

More to come...

I’m sure I can vouch for all of us when I say we’re all keeping the PA situation in our thoughts and prayers. What a horrible tragedy. I only hope this results in better security and safety for our teachers and students nationwide.

Ok, allow me a moment of complete shallow-headedness. I already told Steph about this, but yesterday I met some of the cast of Grey’s Anatomy. I’m not going to tell you which ones, or where, or how…you’ll have to stay tuned. But let me just say “yyyyyiiiiiiiiaaaaawwwwwwpppppiiiiieeeee!”
(That means yay.)

Also, I’ve been writing on my own blog lately, and for anyone interested, here’s the link: http://kaylind.blogspot.com
You should all go read it and post at least one or two comments just because if you asked me to post a comment on your blog, I would. So there.
It’s nothing amazing. Just a way for me to express myself on the scary Internet. And also a good way for me to waste a lot of company time during the day.

Anyway…gotta run. Love you all and miss you bunches!

Amish School Shooting

The words just don't go together. The community here has been overwhelmed with shock, grief and even fear. It is so hard to imagine what goes through a person's mind causing them to do such a horrific act on innocent children. Not to mention, he was a church going, normal person with 3 kids of his own. The whole thing is simply unthinkable. I can't imagine having to explain this to my own school age children, confronting their fears of going back to school. How do you assure a child that they are safe at school? In the past week there have been 3 school shootings: 1 in Colorado that was very similar to this one, one in Nebraska or Wisconsin where a principle was shot and killed by a student and now this. The question on my mind is - do I want to bring a child into this God-forsaken world? How do we stop these things from happening? It's all so overwhelming.
Now that that is off my chest - As far as I know, none of my relatives or family were immediately affected by this tragedy. However, I do have family in the Amish community here and prayers for them and those involved are appreciated. The Amish are now faced with so many things that they never even gave a thought to, such as security at school and at home. It is a community that is against any kind of violence and lives in peace with each other and the rest of the community. It is beyond their comprehension that something like this could happen to them. I just hope and pray that the same bitterness that caused this man to do this does not take root in the hearts of the Amish and the community.
Please pray...

Update

Hi girls! Just a quick update on life in Steph's world:

The countdown is upon us - 47 days until the wedding. AH! Things were coming together pretty smoothly until last week. Shawn's Grandma has been suffering with cancer for a while, but doing really well. She seemed fine until one day she just couldn't get out of bed. After that, things progressed pretty quickly. In two weeks, she went from being almost normal, to being bed-ridden and unconscious. So, we went to Chickasha to visit - thinking it would be just a little birthday party (Grandpa turned 86) but it ended up that she passed away about 12 hours after we arrived. No one was really thinking she would go that quickly. Shawn is extremely close to his grandparents so he's taking this pretty hard. He hasn't let too much out yet, but I know it's coming. We are leaving to go back to Chickasha tonight for the funeral tomorrow morning. It's really hard for us to focus on anything wedding-oriented right now, but there is still so much to do. SO, that being said - any prayers are much appreciated. I think this weekend will be good - I have two showers to get me back in wedding mode.

Most of you know Jacqueline is getting married in New Hampshire in a less than three weeks as well, and her father passed away in late April. Well, she ended up in the hospital late last week with appendicitis (sp?) and had her appendix out. 3 weeks before her wedding!

Ok, so other than that, I am SOOOO excited to see all you guys and to have a great time at the wedding. Just so you know - you're all invited to the rehearsal dinner on Friday night at 6:30. I'll get you more info as it comes in. Oh, and make sure to reserve hotel rooms ASAP so we can see if we need to block more. All that info is on the website : www.rohdeandcobb.weddings.com

As for your stories about bad gifts...I can't think of any, but yours made me laugh so hard in my quiet little office, that I almost had to leave.

Julie - I am going to try to make it to Lilah's dedication on Sunday - Shawn said he wanted to come as well, so we'll try to be there! I can't wait to see you!

As for everyone else - I miss you dearly! I love you, too! Keep writing - even though I don't write a lot, I still check it everyday to see what's going on with you guys! Love you!

big underpants

Hey girls! I don't have much to say. Other than having a baby, there's not anything new happening in my life. Lilah is good and pretty much just sleeps and eats all the time. She seems to be hungriest at night. I'm very tired. Oh, so very tired. Seth is good. He doesn't care at all about the new baby. He pretty much just thinks she's a nuisance. The only real interaction he tends to have with her is when she is in her bouncy seat. Seth is not allowed to play in the bouncy seat anymore. So anytime Lilah is in it, he squats down in front of her and hits her on the head and says, "no, no, no." He doesn't seem to understand why she's allowed to sit in the bouncy seat and he's not. He's very confused. Seth has also hit a new stage of terror. He is becoming a horribly unpleasant child. I feel bad saying it, but I rarely enjoy my son these days. I love him more than life itself, but I don't really enjoy his company these days. He is barrelling into the terrible twos and it's driving me crazy. Temper tantrums, whining all the time, rebellion and defiance. We have started spanking a little bit for certain things that Seth knows are wrong. He promptly responds by hitting us back and telling us "no, no, no." He does the same thing anytime we touch the oven or the dog bowl or anything else that he is not allowed to touch. Needless to say, I'm not completely sure spanking is going to be our most effective method of punishment. Although timeouts are equally ineffective as we have to hold Seth on our laps for timeouts because he's too young to understand sitting on a chair and he really does just love to cuddle. Anyways, enough of all that. I'm just praying Seth is going through a normal phase and that he hasn't actually been possessed by a demon. In response to Jen's post about wierd gifts... Josh gave me a pair of giant granny panties and a box of Raisinettes for my birthday 2 years ago. I still don't get it... but I just smiled and said thank you because he clearly thought it was hilarious. Well, I'd better go. Josh and I are having a date night tonight because his mom has Seth. Yippee! Love you girls!
By the way, Kim, if you do fly in for Steph's bridal shower, Lilah is being dedicated at church the next day (Oct. 1) and her baby shower is going to be after church that day around like 2pm just in case you can hang around in Tulsa that day. Just thought you'd want to know. Steph, you'll be getting an invite this week sometime.

You can say that again

Normally I would succumb to that old cliché, “It’s the thought that counts”. But what exactly was the thought there? Strange…very strange. But at least it wasn’t an embarrassing gift – unless you and Chris have abnormally oily hair or something… which I’ve never noticed, so I think we can rule that idea out.
Still, even that isn’t as embarrassing as having YOUR OWN MOTHER hand you a gift bag with a bottle of KY Jelly inside. Oh, there were other things inside, too…boring, mundane things like lip gloss and hand lotion.
I won’t even go into the conversation that surrounded that little exchange. Let’s just say I try not to think about it…ever.

To be honest, things have been a bit tumultuous with us lately. Between this whole issue of getting pregnant (or not getting pregnant, I should say) and our job stresses, other family issues, and now our ever-present houseguests, Adam and I were both feeling a little claustrophobic. But life being as it is, we hadn’t really gotten to talk lately…so things escalated over the weekend. Let me just say it all started with my ordering the wrong kind of pizza. Yeah, I know – it is the same as my attempting to murder his best friend.
Luckily, we were able to work it out before things got too ugly. Of course, having this be my not-so-favorite time of the month doesn’t help my emotional stability. At all. But I am blessed with a husband who enjoys working out our issues. We both can get pretty emotional…and, well, bitchy. It seems that the weaknesses we see in ourselves are the things we have issues with in each other. So, on that note, I have been looking for some good books on communication in marriage – anyone have any suggestions?

I’m so glad you posted, Jen. I’m bored at work and trying to stay motivated to make it until 5:00. Not that I really have any other choice…well, besides self-inflicted stapler wounds – which would probably get me excused from work…but also checked into a mental hospital.

Love you and miss you all so much! (Julie, I've been thinking of you! I'll try to give you call sometime soon! Steph, I'm a horrible person and haven't been to the post office yet. But I promise I will go today or tomorrow...or the next day.)

odd gifts

So yesterday Chris and I are at our nephew's (Landon) birthday party. He's 3 now. My sister-in-law gave Chris and I our birthday gifts as they are coming up soon. It was a box with a card. I'm not even going to mention how the card was made out just to Chirs, because indeed his birthday this year is much more special than mine (he'll be 30!) so i'll let that slide. But I will mention to you what was inside the box... Shampoo and Conditioner. I'll just let you sit on that for a minute... ... ... SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER!!!! Chris (straightfaced) says, "oh, shampoo...". At this point, we're both thinking there may be something else inside the boxes of shampoo and conditioner as many people reuse boxes, right?! But no, there's shampoo and conditioner bottles in the boxes. And my sister-in-law says "sorry, it's practical!"
OK, so Chris and I stuff our gift in my purse so no one else will make a strange/rude comment (or indeed say exactly what's on our mind). When we leave the party and settle in the car, we both look at each other and just bust out laughing. We laugh most of the 2 hour drive home. Who buys someone shampoo for their joint birthday gift!?
To top things off, the shampoo is stinky!!!
So, this brings up a discussion i think we should have some fun with... what's the strangest gift you've ever gotten? And while you're writing that post, go ahead and fill us in on what else is up with your life!

Nothing New - well let's see...

Ok... So like I said, nothing new here. I don't even know why I'm blogging cause I really don't know what to write.
I'm currently at my mom's house cause I had to help her with an invitation. Well, let me tell you, I love when my mom wants me to come over on Saturdays... You see, Saturday is my laundry day and today happens to be 2 weeks worth of laundry day cause last weekend Joe & Ryan (Aaron's brother) were in town and I had to entertain them on Saturday so the laundry did not get done. Ok, back to my point. While doing laundry at my house, it takes me all day to get 4-5 loads done, but when I come to my mother's house, I get so much more done in less time. She has a magnificent dryer that spits the loads out in under 45 minutes. Just one of the perks of owning a brand new house I guess. So yea... All that to say I love to do laundry at my mom's. The little things in life.
Ok... So a little more about last weekend with the boys. One of these days I'm going to invite all of you girls down for a weekend and see how Aaron likes it. I'm tired of only having boys to visit. Last weekend was suppose to be a weekend with boys AND girls, but the girls bailed on me and once again I was stuck with the boys... Help! Somehow, I did have fun. Not sure how that happened. But I was also ready for them to leave. It's hard being the only girl cause you end up being the only one conscious of the fact that the house is getting dirty. On another note... It is hard to have anyone here over the weekends cause it invades on Aaron and I's time to be together. When you have a husband that works almost every night of the week, you begin to cherish the weekend time that you get to spend together and despise anyone that would try and infringe on that time. Ok... So it's not that bad, unless of course it happends weekend after weekend and then all of a sudden you are without time together at all.
So is anyone else looking forward to Steph's wedding? I'm so excited.
I guess Julie is in the hospital today birthing the first of the Sapphire's next generation... How exciting... Can't wait to see pictures.
Umm... Guess that's about it. Just one more thing... I know I don't write that often, but I do check it almost everyday. I love to see what is going on in your lives and I'm so glad I have friends like you all. Can't wait to see you in November!

Promotion

Hey gals. I was reading the blog yesterday wishing i had something to write about and realized i forgot to tell you about my promotion! My new position of Funding Manager started on Monday the 4th. It's a glorified title if you ask me... i didn't even get a manager's parking spot, but I'm ok with that :) It's a salary position which is a big blessing for Chris and I. Nice to know i can go to the dentist and not loose 2 hours of pay, ya know?
So other than that, I guess Chris and I are going through some other changes right now too... we had our last small group gathering at our home a week ago. This fall we are joining a young married small group and won't be leading at all. I've also joined the women's ministry and will be an apprentice leader for a table group. Chris has joined the set up team for sunday mornings. And starting at Christmas time, I hope to have the choir on a schedule at 6 weeks between performances!
My parents are in some sort of arguement with my oldest step brother's family. please pray for that situation. Meanwhile, they are considering more and more to move closer to us so I've been busy scoping out homes :)
oh, and I have recently started a blog for Chris and I. I basically put the same info on it as i do here, but if you ever want to check it out, i do have some cute pictures on it... chrisandjenakers@blogspot.com
I'm anxious to hear about our first second generation Sapphire, Julie!!

baby update

Hey girls! Just wanted to fill you in on the latest with baby #2. I had a doctors appointment yesterday and everything looks good. My doctor thinks I'm getting pretty big and I'm full-term now, so he has decided to induce me on Saturday, September 9th. He also did something at my appointment that has a good chance of inducing labor naturally. So I really could go at any time. Anyways, that's the update. Hope you all are doing well. We'll keep you posted when the baby arrives. Love you all! =)

It should be Friday

Not much new out here in Seattle. I was just thinking about you all and wanted to post a quick hello.
We’re leaving for Ohio tomorrow night. To save a little on the plane tickets, we’ve opted to fly a red-eye, which puts us in Columbus at around 11:30 in the morning. I’m planning on drugging myself with large quantities of Dramamine and alcohol in order to sleep the whole way. Either that, or Adam and I will duel it out on the computer Scrabble game we were nerdy enough to buy.
I’m looking forward to seeing my family – especially my sister and her kids, who I haven’t seen in quite a while. It’s always a little tiring being there though – family tensions and all. But we’ve got a jam-packed schedule already full of plenty of picnics, shopping, and golf outings, which should keep everyone happy.

Adam and I got lost in the ghetto last weekend. I’ve been trying to keep the whole experience on the DL, just because it was completely his fault and I didn’t want to embarrass him. But enough time has now passed that I think it’s safe to really blame the whole traumatizing experience on him.
We had gone downtown for the day, and Adam decided we should try taking a different bus home than the one we normally ride so as to avoid being smooshed into the back against the wall between two stinky homeless people. Yeah, I’m really that insensitive.
The bus he chose, however, took us far, far away from our home and dropped us off in the middle of a construction zone on the loneliest, most crime-infiltrated street in the city. There were no bus stops nearby, so we walked. And walked. And walked. Until we reached a gas station and a bus stop. Not a normal bus stop, though, where buses actually visit – but a bus stop so far away from civilization that a bus stops there about once every seventeen days.
Not willing to wait in the ghetto for seventeen days, I decided to call a cab. But no, cabs don’t even frequent this part of the city – it’s that bad. So we sat there, waiting for a bus, a cab, or a drive by shooting for over an hour.
Well, a bus finally showed up and took us closer to our home, though still on the edge of the ghetto. So we walked some more. And finally made it home almost three hours after we had left downtown.
The moral of the story is that being smooshed in the back of a stinky bus is much better than being stranded in the ghetto with whores and crack dealers. Remember that, girls.

Love you all!

Craziest Summer Ever

Ok, I thought it was high time I blogged again. I enjoyed reading all of the recent posts. I'm so glad to hear that everyone seems to be doing well as the summer winds down. My summer has been absolutely insane! We kicked off by going to Michigan for the 4th of July, then to Maine the following weekend for our anniversary. After that, Cally came into town for a week and a half. Then about a week to focus on stuff here. Off to Oregon for a week (which was amazing), and now Lisa is here. I start school on Monday and can't believe my summer is over! Somehow I squeezed in grad classes and community outreach work for our new church (I'm now the coordinator). I have an outreach planned for this Saturday, so that's added to the insanity of getting ready for the new school year. Maybe a little too much going on, but it's definitely been a blast. A summer to remember for sure. I think I've taken more pictures this summer than I have in the whole past year. Oh, and I also have a new nephew. My older brother had his baby boy July 28th. So all in all, it's been awesome. I've tried to send out pictures to keep in touch. We have more from recent activities that I'll send out soon. Lisa and I went to New York this week, and she's convinced she needs to move there, despite the fact that she didn't quite care for the public transportation and the overall stench of the city (can you tell it's not my favorite city?) But we had so much fun. It's fun to do stuff with people who have never done it and are so excited.
So now it's time for school to start, which I think I'm actually looking forward to. My focus now is there, with my classes, and on the community outreach. I should be taking a pretty intense course this term, and am a little nervous about it. But so far school has been going well. I've got about 4 classes under my belt, and probably will be done in a year and a half or so. Ok well, I've got to get working on the outreach for this weekend, and Lisa will be up soon. I'm glad to hear you're all doing so well.

Blog-iversary

This August marks the one year anniversary of our little blog. To commemorate this momentous occasion, I've decided to repost some snippets from the past year.

August 2005

From Angie:
I had a fab time with Steph this past weekend in Chicago - giving me a glimpse of the fun in store for our Sapphire weekend there. There is so much to do and everything is so much fun. By the way Steph, I love the area you live in, it is so cute, and your apartment - in spite of not being all that you invision it to be yet - is very cute and comfortable.

From Jen:
There are these tiny whitish-green bugs flying all around in the air today. They somehow sneak inside your car also so end up flying around your head, up your nose, etc. it’s very annoying and I just felt the need to share my annoyance.

From Julie:
Hey girls! Not to be rude or bitter... but it's still 100 degrees here in the scorching wasteland that is Tulsa. I don't even want to here about how you got to wear sweatshirts, or how you can feel Fall in the air, yada yada yada... It won't be like that in Tulsa for 2 more months!

From Steph:
Not to sound weird or anything, but does anyone else find that Tuesdays are just sort of a "filler" day? It like the day that kind of gets shoved in there because there's space and we need another day to get stuff done.

September 2005

From Angie:
This girl is nice... She is going to fix everything up for me. Ok... Nextel isn't so bad. Although I wouldn't recommend it cause it cuts out way more than it should.So yea... Tonight is veg in front of the TV night - although I have been doing that all week and really should be doing things that are productive - oh well... I have no plans for Saturday.

October 2005

From Liz:
I had Tuesday off, and thought I'd try this awesome new recipe for butternut squash soup. Well let me tell you, I had never cut up a butternut squash before, and although the soup was delicious, I don't know that I ever will again. It's the hardest thing to cut in the world, and so slimy after you peel it. And it smells like watermelon. Weird.

From Jen:
There was another spider in my bathroom this morning. Just as I was noticing him, he jumped right down at me! You know, how they can string down so quickly from just one little strand of web. Yeah, I screamed. stupid spiders!!

From Jamie:
Right now I'm on my fall break; two weeks of no school!! We had our first snow Sunday night/Monday. It was so pretty! Nick stayed home from work on Monday, so we just got to hang out. He even took me shopping. :)

November 2005

From Angie:
It's turkey day here, which means lots of time of relaxing and eating. My dad is away on a trip and all of my siblings are with the in-laws today, so its just me, Aaron, my mom, and Joe. It's kinda fun cause its quiet and my mom is teaching me how to make a turkey today, which is easier than expected. My turkey is coming along quite nicely.

December 2005

From Steph:
There's been drama on the romantic front as well. I've been talking to a guy named Shawn for the past few weeks. He's from Tulsa, though, so I haven't actually met him yet. He's a good friend of Danie (Erika's sister) and their family. We have really hit it off so far, and we are planning to meet the weekend of Dec. 16th. I think i am going there, just because it will be a little easier to coordinate...AND...he is trying to come to Angie's wedding as well so he can meet all of you. So, I guess that gives you an idea of how much we are interested in each other without having met, so we'll see what happens and if we're really compatible when we do meet.

January 2006

From Kim:
Happy 2006, everyone! I just want to say how great it was to see you girls over the holidays (we missed you, Jamie!). It's always so amazing to me how we can all just sort of pick up where we left off last time. I truly believe we have something special in our little group. I hope all of you know how much you mean to me. And Angie, I'm sure you won't be reading this any time soon (hope you had fun in Mexico!) but the wedding was truly gorgeous. It was so you and so classy. The whole weekend was such a huge whirlwind of fun. I'm so glad we were able to be there.

From Jen:
We even sat naked in the swim-up bar and held conversation with a group of nude people. I just felt so free!! no sunburn!

From Julie:
I just found out that I'm pregnant again. In case you're wondering, it wasn't planned at all. Quite the accident actually. But we'll just call it a surprise blessing.

From Liz:
We've also taken up snowboarding as a hobby (or I should say I have taken it up since Nathan did long ago). I am quite banged up from my first time going last weekend. I could hardly move the day after. But Nathan tells me I have a good "center of balance". Somehow I'm not feeling it as I'm continually falling on my tailbone.

March 2006

From Julie:
My doctor is very nice, but let me tell you girls, I am apparently not naming and claiming my healing from pregnancy nausea nearly enough because Dr. Ross (who is a very high strung, holy roller, Christian) told me yesterday that it is not God's will for me to be vomiting all the time...But I can tell you, by the time my quick checkup had turned into a 2 hour church service with Seth sitting in his stroller the whole time crying, I was about ready to shove the speculum down my doctor's throat. Seth handled things pretty well though by pulling an entire tray of sterilized equipment over onto the floor.

April 2006

From Jamie:
This time of year reminds me of you all so much. I was thinking about making Easter dinner, which brought back memories of the Easter dinner we had at my apartment my senior year. You guys are so special to me!

From Jen:
My tulips are in full bloom and they are gorgeous. On Easter morning I walked around the corner of the house to see the first red tulips blooming. I was so excited, Chris thought I wet myself.

From Julie:
Based on the view we got with the ultrasound (and it was a pretty wide-open angle if you know what I mean), it looks like we can pretty confidently expect the first member of the Sapphires Club, the next generation. It's a girl!

May 2006

From Liz:
And my goodness, is my little godson adorable. He's now saying a couple words at not even 9 months, and standing. I love it! It's an amazing feeling to put a little person down, and ee them cry until they make their way crawling and walking back to you.

June 2006

From Jamie:
I'm so excited. I need some good hugs from you all. I miss you so much!! I can't wait to see you in less than a day!! WAHOO!!

Hoping and praying our next blog-year is full of even more joy and happy memories. Love you all!

Scrapbookers unite

Jen, I have thought about doing the exact same thing! We could go into business together – you taking on the Midwest/Eastern sector, and I could handle the West. We could be Scappers for Hire or some other name that’s actually cute. We could have a website and everything. Oh, the possibilities.
Can you believe I haven’t actually done any scrapbooking since we moved – over a month ago? Yeah, all my supplies are buried in a box still somewhere. Even more appalling is the fact that I still have boxes. Many, many boxes. They taunt me every day with their haphazardly thrown together contents. And yet I wonder, what can possibly be in these boxes that I haven’t needed in the past month? Nothing that important, I suppose. Well, except my scrapbook supplies.

Love to you all!

Michaels

Today for lunch, I ventured over to Michael's to see what was on sale. Ok, I'm planning my next purchase at this store because if truth be told, I could spend hundreds of dollars there every week and still want more scrap book supplies! This week they just so happen to be having a really good sale... paper 4 for $1, paper packs marked down 35%, ribbon wheels for $1... it's a scrapper's dream! I am euphoric every time I think of visiting this store. My reaction got me thinking today - this can't be healthy! I really need to get out more if simply the thought of a craft store brings me to total relaxation. Someone help me!
Outside of freaking myself out about my obsession, I think my perfect job right now would be making scrap books for other people. Any thoughts on this?

My assistant, Gretchen, has left me. I have a new girl, April. I hate training. April's doing well but i still hate training...

In other news, everyone is currently healthy. We're on a nearly 2 week stretch of no one being in the hospital!

Julie, those pics of you and Seth you recently sent are so beautiful! thanks for sending them!

I miss you girls - Kimmie thanks for breaking the silence, I was about to go insane :)

update

Hey girls! I will join Kim in breaking the silence. I also don't have much new to say, but I'll try. Things have been kind of busy here the past week. I went with Josh to Philadelphia last week for his clinical board exam. We had a good time and very much enjoyed eating authentic philly cheese steaks with Angie and Aaron and Joe Caswell and his girlfriend. =) Josh is back in Columbus this week for his last week of surgery in Ohio. We'll be heading back to Tulsa this weekend with Lauren (my brother's new girlfriend) in tow. She's coming with to spend the week with Daniel because they're dying being apart. They're talking about a May wedding, so it's moving along quite quickly. I've been busy this week helping my other brother, Ben, move into his new house. Mostly I've been watching the kids so everyone else can move things. But I did spend the last couple of days helping Sarah unpack. They have a bit of a family crisis happening so they need all the help they can get. Sarah's prents came into town to help them move and her dad was having horrible headaches and vomiting. He finally went to the ER with my dad for a work up. My dad found a small tumor in his brain that was causing some minor hemoraging (spelling?). They think that the tumor is non-cancerous. But they are doing surgery next week to remove it and stop the brain bleeding. Sarah's parents will be staying with them now for at least a month because he has to be near this hospital for his treatment. He's kind of stranded here. In the meantime, Ben and Sarah's house is an absolute disaster because they just moved in on Saturday and nothing's unpacked. Now Sarah's sibling are all coming in to stay for a couple weeks too to be with her dad. Ben and Sarah are pretty overwhelmed. They could all use your prayers for sanity and her dad's health. It's a pretty scary situation. Unfortunately, I am not able to help out quite as effectively as I normally would. I'm slower and and can't lift anything heavy and I have to rest like every 20 minutes. I feel useless! I'm getting quite large and am ready to have the baby. I hope I have her a little early because I don't think I can make it 4 more weeks. But I just realized something quite exciting. The baby is due in September, which means her birthstone will be a sapphire! Anyways, love you all and miss you and can't wait to see most of you in November for Steph's wedding. Later!

Breaking the silence

You'd think that after not having written for such a long time, I'd have lots of insightful, important things to say. But I don't. So here's what we've been up to.
We bought a new bed over the weekend – we’d been sleeping on a king sized mattress on the floor for a couple weeks and decided it was time to upgrade. It’s a really pretty wrought iron frame that we bought at Ikea. I was so excited to find it, since my given budget for buying a bed didn’t really give me any alternative besides Ikea. The only problem is it didn’t exactly fit into the back of our Jeep once we got it out of the store. We unpacked it from the box, and tried fitting only the frame inside. But it still didn’t work. We tried a few different angles, thought about tying it on top of the Jeep…still no dice. By now, everyone had left Ikea, including the employees, and it was almost midnight and pitch black. So I stood around the empty parking lot and watched while my husband, the MacGyver genius he is, rigged up some kind of closure system so we could drive home twenty-five miles without the metal frame crashing out onto the highway. It worked, and now I don’t have to sleep on the floor any more.
I also got my hair done over the weekend. It’s a little redder than I had first wanted. But I’ve gotten a few compliments about it, so I guess it can’t be too bad. But it is fun being a redhead.
Work’s going well – just more shoes. And bags. And shoes. And bags. And occasionally some apparel here and there. I’m thinking about enrolling part time in a master’s course at the UW next spring. My company does a small tuition reimbursement. But thinking about it is about as far as I’ve gotten so far.
Well, I should get back to my shoes…Love you all and miss you bunches!

Condolences

Jen, I am so sorry about Nipper - as you know, I can identify! Also, I am keeping your grandparents in my prayers always. Thanks for keeping us posted! And, I had a feeling you guys would make it down for the wedding, but thanks for confirming! :) Give me a call sometime and we'll chat.
As for the rest of you girls - I miss you all dearly and I hope all is well with you!

Nipper

Nipper is the name of our dog... my brother's dog actually. the summer before the 7th grade, my mom and I went on a mission to find my brother a miniature schnauzer. We found one, took her home, and named her Nipper. Tonight, I said goodbye to Nipper. She will be put at rest monday morning. I hurt for my brother. I am sad, and surprised that I cared that much for this dog. She was a good dog.
Thanks for listening!
More news... Grandma went in yesterday for an angiogram. They put two stints in one bloodvessel. though the surgeon was happy with the outcome of the proceedure, once again as she recovered, something else went bad. This morning, she had a slight stroke. The left side of her body has been effected. Everyone seems optimistic at this point, but there's also not much they know yet. there was no bleeding in the brain and for that we are so thankful. more to come as i get updates. I went to visit as soon as i heard today. Grandpa is taking this really hard. I've never seen my grandpa cry before today, it was heart-wrenching.
other than than, things are going well. The tomato plants are going wild right now and we've gotten to taste sweet cherry and grape tomatoes. Some large yellow ones should be just about ready too, yum!!
much love to you all.
Yes, Steph, Chris and I are coming to your wedding... but you knew that :)

My Girls

I just wanted to let you girls know that I have been thinking about you and praying for you! Juls - I hope you're doing better with your back! You're in my prayers with everything that you're going through and feeling right now - emotional and physical.
Jen, it's been a while! I hope the granparents are doing better! Kimmie - I missed your call last night, too! I'll try to call you tonight or this weekend sometime.
My life is pretty much the same. It's pretty full with wedding stuff and work. We have our site booked and I have my dress in my possession and the flower girl dress is purchased. We are ordering our cake today, I think. There are just the details to work out. We have our website up, sort of, but it's still a work in progress. We just got internet at Shawn's house, so hopefully I can work on things a little more there. Our RSVP page isn't popping up the way it should, so I have to figure that out.
Other than that, there are a few health issues that I am trying to figure out. I have to go in for a colonoscopy (sp?) sometime soon, but I am hoping that it can wait until after the wedding. They're expensive! Mom only has one treatment left (next Wednesday), so that's really cool. The bad part is that the chemicals are really getting to her now. She is pretty much sick all the time now. On top of that, she had to put our dog to sleep yesterday. It was SO sad. I cried and I wasn't even there. My dad was super upset about it - it's the only pet that he had ever been attached to. So rough times at the MN Rohde household this week.
Anyway, I hope to get the info up and correct on the website soon, then I'll give you the address so you can check it out. Also - if you guys could let me know if you're really planning on being here for the wedding, it will help me see how many rooms I am gonna have to get blocked. I have to sign the contract next week, so I better get on the ball with that.
Love you girls and I think about you all often!

update

Jenn, I'm glad to hear things are improving healthwise for the grandparents. I hope the rest of you are doing well. Things are fine here. I'm still in Ohio and it's been nice being with family. Josh is working all the time, so I really appreciate havig other people to hang out with while he's working. I feel like I never see him. He'll be in Columbus in August and I will only get to see him on weekends. I'm dreading that rotation. But, then we'll be back in Tulsa and his ER rotation in September should be quite a bit lighter. He just has to work like 15 12 hour shifts throughout the month and he'll have the other days off. Which will be nice because I will be needing him quite a bit that month as I will be ready to pop and we've still got a few things to do before baby #2 comes. The pregnancy is going well for the most part. All seems to be quite healthy. I'm still having a kind of rough time with nausea. It's lasting a lot longer with this baby than it did with Seth. But the worst thing recently has been back pain. I seem to have damaged the muscles in my lower back and it just won't get better. Dad and Josh gave me a cortizone injection last week and it helped, but then the muscles got inflamed again a few days later. There's nothing else I can do medically. So, dad has me on complete bedrest until it heals because it's been so bad that I can't walk or stand up. This happened when I was pregnant with Seth a couple times too but it healed in about 4 days and I'm going on 2 weeks this time. According to dad, my bones are splitting apart in my hips and lower back to make room for baby and this is causing my muscles and tendons to stretch beyond their capacity and get inflamed which causes crippling pain. Ah... the joys of motherhood! Anyways, I don't mean to bore you guys with my complaining. I only mention it because I would actually really appreciate your prayers that the back pain heals and goes away. It's not such a big deal right now, but I'll be in trouble if I'm still struggling with this when I have to go home because I can't lift Seth at all. My mom is basically taking care of Seth 100% right now, but I'll be more on my own in September. Daniel's girlfriend has offered to come stay with us and help with Seth if I'm still on bedrest in September, but I hate to ask her to do that. Plus, I just miss being able to hold my baby and cuddle with him and take care of him. Seth's been acting wierd the last few days and I think it's because he doesn't understand why mommy isn't taking care of him anymore. It hurts my heart. I was hoping to really be able to give him some special attention this summer since the baby's coming and he'll have to start sharing me soon. But now I can't even give him a hug. Anyways, your parayers are appreciated. I miss you guys and hope to hear some updates from all of you soon. Love you!

another update

thanks for all your prayers ladies, they are making a difference! Grandma is home and doing very well. She is able to drive once again. The angiogram is scheduled for thursday afternoon. Grandpa is still in the hospital and will remain there until thursday. He will see an infectious disease specialist friday in Iowa City. The antibiotics are making a slight difference still. Hopefully my next blog will be a report that everyone is home and doing well!

update on grandparents

Grandma went home yesterday! Grandpa though, is still in the hospital. They have ruled out a blood clot in his leg at the site of the infection and his white blood cell count is lowering little by little. On the flip side, they are doing an ultrasound today to see if the infection has spread to his stomach. He is still bed-ridden and had another fever last night. Keep praying!

praying

Hey girls! I just wanted to let Angie and jen know I'm praying for you guys. Angie, I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm glad you were able to get to spend timed time with family. I'm sure that meant a lot to them too. Let us know if you need anything at all. Jen, I'll be praying for both of your grandparents' quick recovery as well as for your family as they deal with the situation. It can be awfully tiring to be there to meet all the needs when loved ones are in the hospital. I'll pray for you all to have extra energy and peace. Keep us posted on how the grandparents are doing. Love you guys!

grandpa's turn

Now both grandma and grandpa are in the hospital. At least they placed them just across the hall from each other. Grandpa was admitted Saturday when he started shaking violently due to a fever spike to 103. They are unsure where the infection is, but are keeping him on 24 hour antibiotics. Meanwhile, Grandma has a nuclear stress test this afternoon. If all goes well with that, she could go home tonight. My mother is there this week taking care of both of them.
Oh, and my parents were named citizens of the year in Waterman, IL this weekend :)
Angie, so sorry for your loss. I'm glad you were able to make it to visit with the family after all. Those times can be quite precious.
much love,
Jen

Weekend Whirlwind

Hey girls... I wanted to update you on the latest in my life.
Unfortunately my grandmother passed away this past Thursday, which put our whole family into a whirlwind for the weekend. Because of Amish things I don't entirely understand, we were under the impression that the grandchildren were not invited to the funeral. We were allowed to go to the viewing, but with it being in Indiana a lot of us did not think it would be worth the trip for only a couple of hours with the family, etc... I had planned to go anyway and spend the day out there on Sunday, and drive home on Monday when the funeral was. Well... Last minute they decided to bump the funeral till Saturday. Unfortunately I had plans Friday night that I felt I couldn't get out of and thus had decided to not go at all. Well, my whole family went out Friday morning and I felt bad that I couldn't be there. Friday night at 7pm they called me and told me to fly out Saturday morning so I could at least spend time with the family after the funeral on Saturday. So after getting home at 3:30am on Saturday morning I packed, slept for an hour, and left for the airport at 5am. I am so glad I went. The time with my family and especially with my grandfather was priceless. He is doing well, coping well, and already looking for things to keep him busy. Please keep my family in your prayers as we all adjust to the change. It was not a sudden death, she had been dealing with tumors in her body for a couple of months and there was not much the doctors could do for her. We are all sad for the loss, but are rejoicing that she is in heaven and no longer in pain.
I returned home Sunday and now I am back to work.
Thank you all for your prayers and support. I miss you all.
Jen - I will be praying for your grandmother.

gramms

Hey girls, keep my grandma in your prayers. She went in the hospital Sunday with pain in her abdomen which they determined to be gall stones. Wednesday evening she had surgery to remove the gall bladder. In recovery, she had a minor heart attack. Hopefully today she will be moved out of the CCU and into her own room, providing her condition improves. I'm hopeful that she will recover and then we can continue finding out where the blockage is in her heart. It's really hard on grandpa, so also pray for him please... the man doesn't know how to make coffee, use the microwave, etc, etc. He just wants to take her home and asks for that every 5 minutes. Their names are Gerald and Marian (nicknamed 'Red' and 'Pat'). Thanks girls, love you all!

missing you!

Hey girls! I'm missing you all a whole bunch. Nothing is as much fun after being with all my girls for the weekend. I hope you've all been having a good week. Steph, I can't wait to see your dress! I'm sorry your location didn't work out. I'm sure you'll find something else that will be great. =) Congrats Jen on your new nephew. Very exciting! I'm glad you're having fun in San Diego Jamie. All is fine here. I've been in Ohio and it's been nice. Josh has been working 15 hour days and every weekend, so I'm thankful that I have some family to keep me company and help out with Seth. It's been pretty relaxing for me because there are so many people wanting to play with Seth and mom has been getting up with him in the mornings a lot so I get to sleep in. Very nice! =) It's kind of hard not having our own place and I have to admit that I struggle a bit with living in a house that I can't keep as organized and clean as I like. (Two of my brothers are still living at home and nobody in the family seems to enjoy order and cleanliness quite as much as I do, so keeping things clean enough for my taste is pretty much a lost cause and I don't have the energy for it). But at least I'm not really lonely like I would be in Tulsa. =) Seth is doing well and loving all of his family in Ohio. He seems to prefer his grandmas over me and I'm not sure how I feel about that. He never just wants to cuddle with me anymore and he cries for my mom. I'm afraid he's going to go through withdrawal when we have to leave and he'll be upset that he's stuck with me. Oh well, at least I'm getting a break for now. Well, I'd better get some sleep. Love you girls!

A dress

Hi everyone!
I hope this finds you all doing well! I haven't had a chance to post any of the pictures that I had wanted to from the weekend, but I have a goal to get that done this week!
Just some updates on the wedding...we didn't get our deposit in on time for our place, so we are starting from square one. I can't tell you how frustrated I am that people charge so much for these places. We really need your prayers to find another one in our price range soon.
Better news, though, is that I bought my dress yesterday! I spent a total of two hours at David's Bridal yesterday and found "it" as well as bridesmaids dresses. SO that's a big checkmark of my list. Again, I have pics of that, too, but haven't downloaded them yet.
I'd love to know how life is for you all, so email or post a blog!
Love you all!

Yippee!

Yeah! Congrats Aunt Jen. Sounds like a beautiful baby boy. I can't wait to see pictures.

I so enjoyed seeing you all this past weekend! I don't know if I can even express how much your friendship means to me. :) Thank you thank you thank you! I will try and keep this up a bit more this year.

Nick and I are in San Diego right now, and we must have a reunion here someday! This city is absolutly amazing. :) The conference that I am attending is a lot of fun for me. Nick calls it "Geek Fest 2006". There are a lot of techies here, but they are all teachers. It is so great to be among people to aren't afraid to use techonolgy. :)

Well...I hope you are all adjusting after this weekend. I love you lots!

PS. Could you all email or post your current address and your and your hubby's birthday and anniversery? I will put together a sheet for you all and send it to you! :)

Aunt Jen

I'm an official Auntie! Bailey Christopher Duncan was born at 12:30 this afternoon. He's 8 lbs, 4 oz, has dark hair, and likes to scream. I'll get to meet him tonight! The labor went very well for my sister-in-law, Carol. She went from 5cm to 10cm in about 45 minutes and didn't have to push very long. Julie, I'm praying your second one happens like that! I'll sent pictures out soon!
Thanks for the great weekend, girls. I had a blast!

Going crazy

Aargh! I still have to work for three more hours! ...And I'll I want to do is pack my bags and get on the plane!

WAHOO!

I'm so excited. I need some good hugs from you all. I miss you so much!! I can't wait to see you in less than a day!! WAHOO!!

jumping out of my skin excited!!

I can't stop thinking about this weekend! It's consuming my mind!

Can't wait...

Is anyone else excited about this weekend!
Can't wait to see you all!

The Itinerary!

Ok Ladies...here's our potential itinerary...Just to give you an idea of what you need to bring as far as money, clothes, shoes, etc. Let me know your thoughts...

Friday evening: Dinner in, hot tub/pool, movie in or out...

Saturday: Breakfast in (bagels, etc) Taste of Chicago (no admission - food cost only...), shopping, etc. for the afternoon - or to a beach...

Saturday evening: a) Free dance lesson and dancing in Grant Park at 6pm - it's something Afro Puerto Rican
b) Grant Park Orchestra (free) at 9pm - outside as well...
c) Navy Pier Fireworks (15 minutes long) at 10:15pm
d) Chicago at Sunset Cruise (2 hours) at 7:45pm (Cost $22)
e) Clubs around the area...
(I figure this leaves us a lot of options depending on the weather and what we "feel" like doing...dinner would be somewhere in there too. This also leaves us options as far as costs if we don't want to spend as much)

Sunday: Breakfast out (or in...depending on what we feel like doing)
Shedd Aquarium - anytime - closes at 6pm... cost $23
Dinner out (maybe with Joachim?) then back to the hotel or whatever our fancy...

The only other costs added in there are transportation...the train into the city will be about $5-8 total, but then we have cab fare if we need it, buses or the "L". Each bus and "L" ride will be $2...cab fares vary of course.

Again, going to and from airports will be taken care of by me or Jen.

Let me know any thoughts or ideas on this, but I wanted to give you an idea of what we were thinking of doing. By no means do we have to do any or all of this. Just ideas.

Love you girls! Can't wait to hear from you!

I know, I know...it's about time...

Hello friends! Can you believe in just about two weeks we will be able to see each other face to face? AHH! I am so thrilled! Jamie - i am really looking forward to hearing about the great things that happened in China! I've been thinking of you a lot.
Obviously, you guys all know that my world has been a little crazy lately. I am really very happy here, and very happy that I am engaged to the love of my life. I am truly looking forward to my life with Shawn and all the adventure that it will bring. Anyway...I hope everyone is planning on bringing pictures of the last year of their lives so we can all really catch up.
Work is good too! I just started at a different place last friday and it's working out wonderfully. I feel like I just jumped into the middle of a lake, and it's sink or swim, but it seems to be a great thing so far. I do a lot of organizing - of people and of things - and keeping everything moving right along. It's an architectural firm, so keeping things moving smoothly is very important.

Just FYI - if any of you are in town (hehehe), we are having an engagement party on June 24th...I am looking forward to it, but it also makes me a little sad. None of my family can come at all, so it's just mutual friends and Shawn's friends and family. I talked to my mom today, and she was a little blunt, but it's true - it was my choice to move farther away from my family, so it makes it more difficult for times like this.

Jules - I will try to call you soon - I was thinking about getting together early next week to hang out. Then I'll give you the info on the party, if you can come.

I love you girls and I CANNOT wait to see all of you!!!
Hugs and kisses!

Nothing New

Hello Friends -
I don't have anything new to blog... just the same old stuff going on. Although i am excited to see you all in 17 days!
Kimmie - i loved the pics from San Fran - sounds like you guys had fun.
Juls - I'm so excited you are having a girl... can't wait to meet the future Sapphire :)
Steph - Congratulations on the engagement... can't wait to see the ring and hear about all the wedding plans!
Jen - Sounds like your house is really comming together nicely... hopefully we can make a trip out sometime, i would love to see it!
Jamie - You are somewhere in China as i am writing this... know that we are praying for you and can't wait to hear all about the trip.
Liz - Miss you and hope to hear from you soon.
Ummm... not sure what else to write... i'm kinda computered out, it's the end of the day and i'm ready to go home.
In spite of the fact that i don't write often or have anything interesting to write, i do check often and love to hear about what is going on in your world. I miss you very much and think of you everyday!
Love and prayers:)

The San Francisco treat...ding ding

It's getting late and I should be getting to bed, but I stayed home sick from work today, so I've got a little cabin fever. And, since I slept in till noon, I'm not too tired yet. But I am feeling better, so that's a good thing.
Adam and I went to San Francisco last weekend -- for Memorial Day and to celebrate our anniversary. I can't believe it's been three years! Sometimes it seems like just yesterday...and other times, it feels like thirty years. :p He also gave me a pair of sapphire earrings! I love them and wish I could wear them every day. But they're pretty dressy and don't go with everything. I was very surprised -- he even picked them out all by himself.
We had a great time in San Fran, though. I found the Full House houses! :p We spent a day in the Sonoma Valley, tasting wine and walking and driving through all the vineyards. Basically all we did really was eat and drink. We also spent a lot of time at the beach where I didn't get sunburned...or even suntanned. And, we managed to climb all the way from Fisherman's Wharf up to Lombard Street - because the line for the streetcar was two hours long. Yeah, I thought we had hills in Seattle -- geesh. My calves still hurt from that. But we were very proud of our chubby little selves after we managed that feat.
So now we're busy getting things done we weren't here to do over the weekend. Adam's little sister is coming to stay with us this weekend. She's going to visit a few of the colleges out here, so we're trying to entice her with all the wonderful Seattle perks. Unfortunately, my apartment is a mess -- I haven't even unpacked -- so we have all that to do tomorrow night to get ready for her arrival.
We're also deciding on where and when to move. Our lease is up, and we're trying to decide if now's the time to buy or if we should just rent for a bit longer. We do have some more debt to pay off -- so we'll definitely wait for that to be gone before we do buy...but I'm ready to find something a little bigger for sure.
Hope all is well with you girls! Love ya!

Busy Memorial Day Weekend

Hi girls, did everyone enjoy the long weekend?
It was so nice for us to have an extra day. But we didn't relax, we worked hard! We have decided to tear down the present shed in our back yard, and rebuild the side storage room on the garage - therefore making it our new shed. We started Saturday morning tearing the side room apart. Sunday we bought supplies (and partook in the Sunday - day of rest). And today we built the frame to the new shed. As I just got in the shower I thought to myself, I have never been so dirty! I smelled, oh boy did I smell! Anyway, it's rewarding to look out and see some really good progress. Another week and the walls will be up. and yet another... the old shed will be torn down. Chris also bought another little gift for us, so that when our back yard is complete, we can sit and enjoy it... Patio furniture! I was thrilled! It's like our anniversary gift to ourselves :)
So I couldn't help but wonder what the Sapphire girls did on this extra day! Steph, I know I said I'd call you this weekend. Sorry, I failed... now I am reporting to the basement to SIT ON MY ARSE all night long. I barely had energy to wash my hair!
Anyway, all this to say, I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend. Very excited for the end of next month when we get to see each other!!
Bye girls, love you!

Late night and bread

Hey all!

Just thought I would drop you a note as I sit at 1am waiting for banana bread to bake. Things here are busy and time seems to be running out on me. Which is why I am baking when I should be sleeping. School is almost done. One more week and I'm finished. Some cool things have gone on in the last few weeks. At school my team won a grant from HP for $35,000 of technology. So at the moment I'm actually writing to you from my new laptop! It has some amazing features. I'll have to bring it with me to Chicago. Speaking of... My plane ticket is bought and yet I'm not sure where I fly into. I'll email you girls when I figure it out.
Another amazing God thing is that our one trip to China is just about paid. Thank you so much for your prayers and gifts. You are such a blessing to us! We leave for China June 4 at 2:30am from our church. I think I've figured that it is a 20 hour flight. we are going to be working with kindergarten during their "Reading" month. Please pray for us. We Won't be told exactly where we are going until we reach Hong Kong.
So that is a quick update. Nick and I are doing well. I hope I don't make it sound like we are always struggling. We are definitely learning a lot, and loving every minute. I can't for you all to really hangout with him. Maybe in November?
Well-I better get ready for bed. The bread is almost done. I love you all and can't wait to see you very, very soon!

A happy digression

Hey girls! I just have to tell you that Seth digressed this week developmentally, but that it has been the most blissful digression I could have imagined. Seth would never have anything to do with a pacifier from the day he was born. He would always just spit it out. I didn't mind too much because I didn't really want him getting attached to a pacifier anyways. However, he has always been a bit dificult when it comes time to sleep or relax. most babies would suck on a pacifier and calm down. Seth always took more creative calming methods. Fortunately, he was a really good baby so it wasn't too bad. His naptimes have become a rather serious problem the past few months because he simply refuses to sleep during the day. He fights it and will often times sit in his crib laughing and talking to himself for hours before I finally give up and get him out of bed. Consequently, he gets cranky the rest of the day because he's always exhausted. So, 2 days ago, Seth was playing in his toybox and he came across an infant pacifier that had gotten stuck in with the rest of his toys. He promptly stuck it in his mouth and wouldn't spit it out the rest of the day! I take it away during his awake times and at night, but I've been letting him have it for his naps during the day... and he's been sleeping for hours! So far, everyday that I let him nap with his pacifier, he goes to sleep immediately without even a wimper and he sleeps for 2-3 hours. It's been the most wonderful thing ever! I know... he can't get attached to a pacifier now. He's just a few months away from giving it up completely. But I don't care! I won't let him have it unless it's nap time, and I won't let him use it to fall asleep at night... but if he will sleep during the day and be a much more pleasant child and let me get stuff done every once in a while... then he can suck on that thing to his little heart's content (at naptime). Seth is doing well these days. He's walking all over the place on his own now. It's pretty cute because he hasn't quite caught onto needing to bend his knees yet, so he kind of looks like E.T. when he's waddling around. He's into everything, but he's a pretty happy kid all the time. He says "hi" and will diligently say "thank you" whenever he is handed something... or takes something from you. He has also learned to "moo" like a cow. He will shake and nod his head in response to questions and in conversations consistently like he really is involved and understands everything you're saying. His favorite thing is hair. It's wierd, I know, but he loves to bury his little hands in your hair whenever he can reach you. He'll sit on my lap for an hour at a time just resting his little head on my chest, with his arms wrapped around my neck so he can hold my hair with both of his hands. It's kind of quirky, but I love the cuddle time, even if he just wants my hair. He is starting to find my bulging abdomen irritating though. He gets annoyed that my belly is getting in the way of hugs and wrestling. He tries to crawl in my lap and doesn't have as much room so he tries to push my tummy out of the way. It's only gonna get worse! =) I'm starting to feel a bit better these days. The nausea is not gone, but much better. I'm still waiting for my real pregnancy appetite to kick in. I haven't been able to really put down a good quantity of food yet. I actually get full quicker than I did before I was pregnant. I find that irritating. Now that my nausea is more under control, my most common craving is buffalo chicken wings and Coke. I could eat them almost all the time. That really has been my only major, intense craving with this pregnancy. I also eat a lot of fruit and some other things usually sound good. But buffalo chicken wings and Coke is my "have to have it" craving. Healthy, I know. That's about it for us lately. We've been staying busy doing landscaping and other house projects this week. I'm working on getting Seth's big boy room put together. He's going to have a Hawaiin, surfer style room. I found a cheap comforter and some accessories and I just have a little more to get so that I can get his new room set up. We're keeping a double bed in his room though so we'll always have a place for guests to stay in case anyone happens to be passing through. hint, hint... =) Well, I'd better go. Seth needs a bath and we need to go outside and enjoy our beautiful weather today. Love you girls!

I'd been wanting to post for a few days too but i feel like i'm begging for attention when I have 2 posts in a row. So thanks Julie, for breaking down and posting! Oh my gosh, 45 days until we all see each other again! Which reminds me... I've got pictures from the following events and if you have any other events you'd l ike included in the sapphire scrapbook, send them my way soon!
Jamie wedding, Liz wedding, Angie wedding & New Years Eve festivities, Pictures of Seth, Steph and Jen visits in Chicago, Kim and Julie's cruise
Also, if you've got your plane ticket for the reunion weekend, please email me the info so Steph or I can arrange to pick you up from the airport. Be sure to let me know if you're flying into O'Hare or Midway!
So an update on the Akers... we're good! We sold our mini-van about 2 weeks ago to the dealership just under my office. We've planted all our herbs and most of the garden now... it keeps raining so it's been a little rough. Oh, and I learned the other day that I have rhubarb growing in the back. It looks like our raspberry and blackberry twigs (not yet bushes) survived the winter and could possibly produce fruit this summer. that's probably boring to all of you, but it's quite exciting to me :) I can't believe we're coming up on our one yesr anniversary soon. Sometimes it feels like 10 years and sometimes it feels like just yesterday (when I remember that I still haven't started my wedding scrapbook!)
I must be going now... work has gotten busy. Miss you all!

Ok, ok, ok...

Yeah, I guess I'll give in, too...Honestly, I've been thinking about posting something for about a week now, but I just haven't made myself sit down and do it yet.
So, I just finished up my third week working at Onlineshoes, copywriting. At first, I was a little lost, then I was just kind of bored, but now I'm getting to know my coworkers and it's going great. The job itself isn't the most stimulating -- I mean, how much can you really say about shoes...really? But I am learning a lot -- I mean, a lot -- about the shoe industry, as well as fashion...oh yeah, we have handbags on the site, also. I may not really need any more purses, exactly, but they are fun to look at and try out.
So since we're all sharing websites right now, here's mine: www.onlineshoes.com. (By the way, tell Nathan good job on that website, Liz -- it's stellar.) I just wrote some copy for Uggs that might be up, and I've been doing a lot of outdoors and athletic shoes -- Columbia, Timberland, Reebok, etc. My job is mainly to write the product descriptions, as well as the features, for each shoe.
My mom was out visiting last weekend -- sort of as an early mother's day present. I had to work a couple of the days she was here, so she kept herself busy cleaning my apartment and taking Duray for walks. We did get down to the waterfront and got to do some other touristy things -- I think she just really needed a break from Ohio. She and my dad are officially divorced now and she received the settlement. So now it's up to her to start the long process of getting past all of that. It's still very weird for all of us. She did go buy a new car, though. :p
I'm going to be purchasing my ticket to Chicago this weekend -- yay :) Had to wait until I got a little money in the bank first...
Well, Adam's in ground school today, so I'm off to go meet him for lunch...

Love you all!

I Give In

Ok, I give in...I'll post. I actually had to post something on a blog for the church we're planting, so I checked this one as well, and thought I'd post. Juls, I think you're asking the wrong people for parenting advice, as oh, none of us have kids. If I were you, I'd trying light spanking and/or time out in his crib when you say no. That might help him associate "no" with negative consequences. "redirecting" works sometimes, but being in the education field I think it can be full of crap sometimes. So there is my expertise with my wealth of knowledge. I just get to enjoy the benefits of godparenting my little godson right now, which means I get all the perks with none of the hard work. And my goodness, is my little godson adorable. He's now saying a couple words at not even 9 months, and standing. I love it! It's an amazing feeling to put a little person down, and see them cry until they make their way crawling and walking back to you.
Anway, on another note...we're quite busy here. Things are stepping it up a bit with the church launch, which is in Sept. We have a lot of outreaches and work to do this summer. Between that, classes, visiting fam, and fam visiting us, our summer will be completely insane. Check out the splash page Nathan created for the website... lifesongonline.org
Other than that things are normal. Work, classes, time with my hubby, family. 26 more days of school and counting. Ok, gotta get going. There's a food drive this weekend, so my parent's food pantry will be inundated with food that needs to be sorted. Good luck with your new challenges Julie, and I hope everyone else is doing well!

somebody write something!

Hey girls!!! The blog is getting a little dry these days... We need to hear from you all. I miss your updates. There's nothing new here. Josh is working crazy hours and I'm going a little crazy staying home with Seth all day. He's going through kind of a trying phase. He's been whiney lately because he constantly has a cold and is teething. He has also recently discovered negative attention which he thinks is hysterical. Rather than being ashamed by mommy and daddy's disappointed looks and firm "No"s... he thinks it's funny and will continue his negative behavior while mocking us by furrowing his brow, shaking his head, and saying "no, no..." over and over again. It's difficult to know what to do when he's throwing his food on the floor, drinking out of the dog bowl, and pounding on electronics within his reach when any negative response from me and Josh only prompts his immediate laughter and mockery. Girls, I'm needing some parenting advice. I don't know whether to start baby timeout, light spankings, or to simply ignore his bad behavior and "redirect" as many popular parenting magazines suggest. Because we've tried it all and nothing seems to be working. Anyways, post something to break up my boredom. Love you girls! =)

thank heaven for little girls!

Julie, I'm thrilled for you! And I agree with Kimmie, I've been needing an excuse to look at and purchase little girl things :) I go shopping for little boy stuff for my expected nephew and feel like I've been neglecting the little girl departments!
Not much new here. I'm fully enjoying this spring with all the flowers in bloom and my lilac bush filling the back yard with glorious smells! the garden has been tilled and we are getting ready to plant the vegetables in a few weeks. Chris and I just got back from a long weekend in Washington DC. We had a wedding and spent a few days sight seeing. The place is just beautiful I tell ya. We saw lots of sights and... one really funny one. We visited the George Washington Island to see the Teddy Roosevelt memorial and as we were leaving (walking) we saw a woman jump out of her previously parked car as the car drove straight in to the Potomac River! It was so strange! No one was injured. I wonder if she didn't mean to do it because heck, if i just drove my car into the river and nearly went in with it, I would be a LITTLE freaked out. she was giggling. giggling! chris just had to take a picture of the car in the river, so I'll make sure it gets online sometime soon.
Bed time!

Yay!

Finally! Now I have a reason to buy those adorable pink froofy baby things.
Congrats, Juls! Keep us posted.
I didn't realize Tulsa was getting pounded with storms so badly. Hope you're all okay!
Love ya...

baby update

Hey girls! I hope you're all doing well. Kim, I'm so happy about your new job and I hope that you're getting all settled in and enjoying your work. (sorry I missed your call the other day, I don't even know how I didn't hear my phone ring) All is fine here. Josh is working nights this week. It's not too bad except that tonight is his first 12 hour night and we happen to be under tornado attack all night. I have already spent part of my evening at Panera Bread in the freezer with Seth because it was a safe place to hide from the first round of tornados that swept Tulsa while I was eating dinner with a friend. I just crawled out of the hallway where I sat in the dark for an hour with Seth asleep in my arms while we hid from the second round of storms and tornados. We have a brief reprieve, but I will probably be heading back to the hallway or bathroom with a sleeping baby to take cover from the third round of tornados in about an hour. It's a crappy night for Josh to be gone all night. You girls know how I'm afraid of thunder and lightening, let alone tornados! Before I got married, I spent most thunderstorms in bed with Kim because they freak me out so much! Anyways, there's nothing new happening here. I just wanted to post to tell you all that I had my ultrasound today to see if we could identify the baby's sex. I'm only 18 weeks, so I'm a little early to get a completely clear view as the genital area has just recently developed completely. However, you can get a pretty solid picture at this point that is rarely misleading. Based on the view we got with the ultrasound (and it was a pretty wide-open angle if you know what I mean), it looks like we can pretty confidently expect the first member of the Sapphires Club, the next generation. It's a girl! =) The doctor looked at her from every angle to make sure there was nothing "poking out" and he and Josh both decided that it is most definately looked like a girl. Hopefully, we'll get another good picture at another ultrasound when I'm further along to just verify her sex. But we feel pretty comfortable with it right now. I'm pretty excited. I had psyched myself up so much for a boy so that I wouldn't be disappointed that I can't quite believe that it's a girl. It will be fun. Well, I'd better get going and watch the weather again. Love you all!

New job

So I'm officially a full-time working girl now. I just started yesterday as a copywriter at Onlineshoes.com. I'm mainly writing product copy and things like that for the website. It's going to be challenging, but definitely interesting (I mean, I had to read fashion magazines yesterday to do 'research' on brand images...). The pay is exactly what I needed and the office is about a mile and a half from home (I know this because I missed my bus yesterday and walked most of the way!).
Other than that, things are pretty much the same. Adam and I were in Colorado for Easter -- our nephew Dylan really got into the Easter egg stuff this year, so that was pretty fun. I'll post some pictures whenever I finally get them off the camera -- Adam and I went kind of overboard on our egg-coloring this year. It's always quite an event at his family's house -- everyone all sort of has a contest to see who can be the most original, funny, or whatever.
Adam's birthday was on Tuesday -- I got him flying lessons that will start this Saturday. He's very excited about it -- hopefully the weather is good so we can go up.
We're getting more involved in church -- we found one that seems to be perfect for us. Very young and trendy, but also traditional in some aspects. We've been making some friends there and are really starting to feel connected.
I guess that's about it from me -- love you all!!

saying good-bye

Hi girls,
I just got off the phone with Stephanie and felt the need to post. Tonight I said goodbye to Jaren. She leaves on saturday morning to move back to Arkansas. these last 2 weeks have been really rough on both of us, saying goodbye again. But I'm really thankful that God gave us this time together.
Friday morning we leave for Washington DC. We're going to a formal military wedding, and also will see some sites while we're there. We get to share a hotel room with my mother-in-law :) won't that be fun!!!
I don't think I told you that my brother and his wife heard they will be having a boy. They've chosen the name Bailey Christopher. I'm super-excited and can't wait to start buying little boy clothes.
My tulips are in full bloom and they are gorgeous. On Easter morning I walked around the corner of the house to see the first red tulips blooming. I was so excited, Chris thought I wet myself.
Our company has moved in to the new office building and it's fabulous. It's professional looking, which is quite a change for our company.
And I think that's all I have to catch you up on. Love you ladies!

Happy Easter!

Hey all! I thought I would just give you a hello. This time of year reminds me of you all so much. I was thinking about making Easter dinner, which brought back memories of the Easter dinner we had at my apartment my senior year. You guys are so special to me!

Not much is going on with us. Missions is really starting to kick in. We are suppose to have over 50% of our money in, and Nick and I are running short. We have found a few extra jobs to do in the evening, so hopefully that will help. :) We are working a gardeners for a lady next week. I hope my green thumb can grow in between now and then! ;)

Kim, I'm so sorry for your loss. I am praying for your family and your mom. I hope you all have a great time in Longmont! :)
Jennifer how was the move? Are you enjoying your walls and door? It is amazing how much you appreciate simple things when you've gone with out them for so long. :) How is Chris doing? We are praying for him.
Steph...how was the move? I'm figuring you are on your way or close to being in Tulsa.
Julie - I hope you are feeling better and that you can let your "faith doctor" know that all is well. ;) Your story made me laugh and cringe at the same time. I think I would have told the man off.
Angie, thank you so much for the birthday card! I had a such a wonderful day and hearing your voice made it that much sweeter! Thank you!! The picture is great too, I can just imagine us when were are old and wrinkled sitting in the inner tubes on some lake during a summer. :) I can't wait for that too happen!!

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter!! I love ya tons! I'm counting down until I see you in July. I have my plane ticket bought!!

Remembering

Well Adam's watching the Discovery Channel and I'm waiting for laundry to be done, so I thought I'd post something while I was thinking of you all.
Thanks for the thoughts and prayers for my family in the past week. My mom's still having a hard time with the fact that one of her siblings is gone -- that's a feeling I can't even imagine. We've all been going through our memories, finding all kinds of obscure events and family gatherings, trying to remember the special little moments. It's funny the little things that your mind brings back to your attention when you immerse yourself in remembering.
My mom gave me an old picture not long ago of her on her wedding day. It's a beautiful old black and white photo of my grandmother helping my mom with her veil and my Aunt Joan (the one that just passed away) is standing next to my mom, admiring her. It's such a lovely picture -- I think I might frame it for the wall. They all just look so young and happy -- and skinny! Those girls must have had waists smaller than Scarlett O'Hara! Good grief. Where did I get all my curves from??
Anyway, I wasn't able to make it to Ohio for the funeral -- the tickets were just outrageous in price because of spring break. But I'd like to get back sometime in the next couple of months, hopefully. Times like these I sort of forget why I wanted to live so far away from everyone. It's very frustrating when all I want to do is see my family -- and I can't. Normally, it's not an issue -- we can fork over the money and just splurge on a ticket. But when the cheapest one you can find is $900, that's not really an option.
Is anyone else having to pay taxes this year? This is the first time we've had to and ... ouch. Guess we need to pop out a kid or something before next year. Too bad we can't claim the pets. I mean, Clover could be a child's name, right?
Write soon, girls, and keep us all updated on your lives! Steph, we need to catch up soon! Have you finished packing yet? Julie, how was Seth's birthday party? I was thinking of you all weekend -- you'll have to post some pictures! Jamie, Adam and I will be in Longmont this weekend -- we'll wave as we fly over! Hope all is well with everyone. Love you, girls!

just stopping by

Hey ladies,
I've been missing you all so much lately, and thinking of you constantly as I watch the count-down to sapphire reunion tick away! Life is finally settling down after getting the floor completed. I love the look of it all, and the new trim, and the smooth finish. I will say that it is a bit slippery sometimes, so if you ever come and visit, keep that in mind. Last night I came close to falling on my face. Chris visited the doctor a week ago and was put on a very low dose blood-pressure medication. Please pray that the medication, along with the weight loss that's occuring will help lower the blood pressure.
Our office is relocating to Davenport next friday. I'm imagining that will be an interesting experience for all. I get an office with 4 walls (this is a first!), a big window, and only one door (also a first). It'll be nice when everyone's settled in.
Julie, I loved reading your story about the super-spiritual doctor. I probably would have just snapped at the guy! I couldn't imagine just sitting there and listening to all the blabber. How did you stand it!? Kimmie, I'm praying for you and your family as you mourn this passing. Jamie, I'm praying for you and your hubbie, that God would direct your communication to be effective. Stephanie, I miss you too much and we really need to talk! Hope things are coming together for the upcoming move. i'll try and call you this weekend.
lots of love!

Sympathy

Hey Kim, I just wanted to post a quick note to say that I'm so sorry about your aunt passing away. I did not know your aunt had cancer. Which one is it? Anyways, your family is in our prayers. Please let us know if you need anything at all. Where will the funeral be? Let us know if you're going to be going and when so we can be praying. Again, I'm really sorry. Love you!

Quick note

Hi, girls. I just have time for a quick post right now. Just wanted to let everyone know that my mom's sister just passed away last night. She had breast cancer and had been struggling for over a year now. So it wasn't a total surprise, but still a bit of a shock as everyone assumed she'd be discharged from the hospital in a couple days. But she slipped away pretty quickly and peacefully - my uncle didn't quite make it in time to be there with her when she went. I'd really appreciate prayers for my mom right now. I think she's still in shock - she hasn't really broken down yet. I'm trying to decide whether I should and can go to Ohio this weekend for the funeral. So I'd appreciate your prayers as well.
Anyway, hope all is well with you girls. I love you!

Is anyone normal?

Hey...what a crazy last few days. I just needed to write and not feel like I'm a drama queen. I probably am, but oh well. :) Nick and I have been trying to discuss an issue that just hurts me. I can't figure out how to explain it to him though. Everytime I bring it up, it confuses him more and more. The problem may come from me not really knowing how to verbalize what is going on. Am I normal? I sure hope so. Anyhoo...I think I'm learning to let it go a little, but then again, maybe not. The small issue that sets me off is that he doesn't respond to me when I ask, holler or sometime talk to him. I know that's a 'usual' thing for guys, but I guess I didn't realize how much they don't listen. :) I must have done this to my mom when I was a kid. I realize how much it must have driven her crazy. When he has to repeat something to me, he assumes that I don't trust him. That is what hurts the most. I can't seem to figure out how to make him see that I do trust him. The latest incident was when were cleaning the house and had the radios up loud and doors were shut. The thing that gets me the most too, is that I know he was working on a surprise for me...and I always seem to blow them.

Anyways...thanks for reading and hearing my heart. I needed to vent to a safe place. I sure do miss you guys! I wish often that I could just transport you all into my world for a moment. A quick hug and an assurance that I'm normal, then you could go back to your lives. :)

I love you all and I'm praying for you all that time!