Let it Snow!

Right as I woke up this morning and started getting ready, it started snowing. Because it was a Teacher Workday, I knew that we wouldn't get "out" of school. However, about 11am, I did get to leave school early. Mat got to come home around 3:30pm. YIPPEE!!

Mat and I love snow but Patsy hates it. She doesn't want to go out and has decided that she just wants to look out at it all the time. She also loves barking at the little girl next door when she is out trying to make a snowman. I hope our neighbors don't hate us.

Tonight we are supposed to have sleet and freezing rain. I'm praying that we have a Snow Day tomorrow!!

Here are some pictures that I took today. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Home and Resting

I am now home and resting for the rest of the evening.

My endoscopy went well. I was nervous but tried to relax before it all started. The hardest part of it all was getting the IV.

After it was over and I was awake, my doctor came to talk to me. Here is what she found:
*I have some inflammation in my stomach. This is gastritis. Nothing major or new here.
*They took some biopsies of different areas in my stomach.
*I may have "Sphincter of Oddi" dysfunction. She mentioned this the last time I saw her but I still can't remember what it all means. I found this on Wikipedia.
*To test for the Sphincter dysfunction, I will need to go have a specialized MRI (an MRCP).
*After that, I will go back to visit her and we'll discuss the results of the biopsies that were taken today and the results of the MRCP.
*If nothing shows up and/or if she still thinks it is the Sphincter, she will schedule a surgery. This is a specialized surgery that I will have to go to Georgetown University Hospital to have done. I can't remember the exact name of it and when I tried to Google it, that just gave me information that I didn't want to hear. So, I'm going to hope that the information I am reading is wrong or that I'm looking up the wrong thing. I'm going to try not to worry about it now.
*My gallbladder scan came back normal. Even the doctor was surprised by this!!

Well, no diagnosis yet but I think we're close. I am so thankful to have a doctor that is taking the time to figure out what is wrong. She knows that I'm frustrated. I know that she is trying hard and that some things take time.

I'm going to try to rest this evening like I'm supposed to. I have graduate school work that I really need to do so I hope I can wake up enough to get that done.

By the way, if nothing I have written makes sense, it is because I'm still a little sedated. I'll have the effects the next few hours. So please forgive me for errors or crazy writing.

Endoscopy Today

In a couple of hours I will go in for my Endoscopy. If you don't know what that is, look here. I have had this done before and had no trouble that I remember but I'm very nervous. I went to work today to stay busy and keep my mind off of it. I'm so hungry and thirsty!! I can't wait until it is over and I can eat again.

Keep me in your prayers this afternoon.

My Miracle

Happy Saturday!

Today, is my first post taking part in the Christian Women Online Internet Cafe. I found this site a couple of weeks ago and am in love! So, I thought that I would take part in the fun today. Here is the task today:

In as much detail as you would like to share, please tell me a “miracle” that has happened in your own life.

As soon as I saw this prompt, I knew what I had to write about. Mat and I joke all the time that we know God exists because no one else could plan how we met and fell in love. Here's the story. Warning: This is LONG!

The story first begins in May 1982 when Mat was born. His father was in the Army and at the time, they were staying with Mat's grandparents, Naomi and John. They just retired a few years earlier into a cute white house near a cemetery. It was on "Chance" Street (I'll change the names of the streets to protect the innocent) which was just around the block from "Winston" Street.

When I (Jess) was 6 years old, my grandmother passed away from lung cancer. To help my grandfather, my family moved in with him. We lived in a cute white house across from a cemetery (creepy!!). This house just happened to be on "Winston" Street.

Mat and his family were constantly visiting his grandparents on "Chance" Street and taking nice afternoon walks to a certain cemetery. Mat had the sweetness to replace all of the flowers that had blown down.

Jess and her family lived with her grandfather for a few years, moved away to a new house, and then moved back. Jess and her grandfather often walked around the cemetery and Jess even rode her bike through the trails there.

Many years later, Mat applied for the Citadel and Catawba College. He did not get into the Citadel but did get into Catawba. He started there in August 2000.

During Jess's Senior year in High School, she knew that she wanted to go to Appalachian State University because they had the best Teacher Education dept. in NC. However, for some reason, she decided to apply to Catawba College. This was a much smaller school with a little known Teacher Ed. dept. However, she was drawn here because it was so close to her home. In May, she decided to attend Catawba. She started in August 2001.

Mat had a hard year as a Freshman at Catawba. Academics weren't what he concentrated on. However, he met some wonderful friends. He and these friends decided to create a Rugby team.

One day, at a "Club Day" at Catawba, one of Jess's friends introduced her to some of the boys on the Rugby team. Jess actually never heard of Rugby so didn't seem interested.

Jess had a hard year as a Freshman at Catawba. Academics were her life. She also met a young man on the Rugby team that she thought she would be with forever. This was not the best relationship for Jess.

During this year, Mat saw a girl (hint- it was Jess) across the Student Center. She caught his eye however she never noticed. For some reason, Mat vividly remembers this moment.

For the 2002 (I don't know what # it was) Super Bowl, Mat and his friends had a Super Bowl party. Jess and her boyfriend attended this party. Now Mat and his friends were not wild and crazy college guys. The most action at that party was Mat trying to be all macho and cool and impress Jess. However, Jess was completely oblivious to this and had a boyfriend so she wouldn't really have cared anyway.

During the summer of 2002, Jess went to work for a hardware store in her hometown. One day, Mat and "some girl" came into the hardware store. Mat and his family were visiting his grandparents. Little did Jess know that "some girl" was Mat's sister. Jess was so surprised to see Mat and really wished she had more time to hang out with him. Yes, Jess was still with the other boy but that day, things started to change. Jess realized that she liked Mat a little. Of course, she would never admit it to anyone.

When college started again, Jess frequently saw Mat. Mat liked Jess but knew he couldn't be with her so he began trying to pursue dating her roommate, Lindsay. He came over a lot but Lindsay wasn't really interested. Jess thought Lindsay was CRAZY because Mat was the perfect guy. He was sweet, caring, and a wonderful Christian.

Things started to go downhill for Jess and her boyfriend so they decided to take a "break". The night of this decision, Mat called to check on Jess because she had been sick. Her roommate wasn't there so Mat asked Jess if she wanted to go get "a cup of Joe". Being that they were in a small town and this was late at night, there weren't many places open. They ended up going to Waffle House! They sat there and talked for hours. They discussed their families and their lives. They found several odd things in this conversation. 1)Jess's middle name is Naomi and Mat's grandmother's middle name was Naomi. 2)Jess grew up in small "Ltown" and Mat's grandparents lived in small "Ltown". Mat was also born in small "Ltown". 3)Jess's grandfather and Mat's grandmother lived right around the corner from each other.

Around 3am, Mat took Jess back to her dorm and they couldn't stop thinking about each other. A couple of days later, they took a walk and decided that they couldn't date because they were really good friends and they didn't want to ruin that. They would just stay friends.

This is where it gets even better!! On September 24th, Mat and his friend came over to Jess's dorm. Jess said that she had to study and Mat offered to help her. So, Mat's friend invited her back over to Mat's dorm so they could study. Jess could use all the help she could get so she went. However, at some point, Mat's friend disappeared and Mat and Jess were left alone (of course with other people coming in and out) in the "Lounge" of Mat's dorm suite. They studied (later to be discoverd as the wrong chapter) most of the night. At 1(something)am, on September 25th, Mat and Jess kissed. There were fireworks (no, not real ones)! They decided that they should start dating. This was the best decision that the two ever made!!

During their relationship, they became amazed at how everything worked out. They couldn't believe that they had lived so close to each other back in "Ltown" and never met. There were so many special things in their lives that just seemed too much to be coincidence. God must have been at work!!

We dated for 2 years and Mat asked me to marry him on August 27, 2004. We were married on July 16, 2005 at the chapel at Catawba College.

Looking back at our lives, we can see so many times that God was at work. We know that we were meant to be together because of the things that God did. We both had serious relationships before each other and were upset when those didn't work out. However, now we look back and are so thankful that they didn't. We never knew God's plan but are so glad that his plan involved us being together.

On our wedding day, we each picked a song to play for each other. He chose "Unanswered Prayers" by Garth Brooks and I chose "God Bless the Broken" by Rascal Flatts. If you look at the lyrics of these songs, they truly say how we felt about each other and how our lives turned out. It was like those songs were meant for us.

As a couple, we have had our ups and downs. However, when we look back at what has happened, we know that we are meant to be together. Mat's grandmother one day told me, "God works in mysterious ways". He truly does!! I thank Him everyday for the miracle that her performed for me and Mat to meet and fall in love.

Wow! That was a lot but I did warn you. I hope you enjoyed my miracle story. I hope that you can see the miracles in your life.

Prayers for Abby

Stop what you're doing right now and say a prayer for Abby. She is having a very rough day.

Patsy's New Toy

I remember when I was younger and had tons of toys and chose things like boxes, laundry baskets, and pots & pans to play with. Well, when I came downstairs this morning, I found out that Patsy had taken after me.

This is what I saw:

Yes, that is a jar of peanut butter.

When we leave the house, Patsy has a bone that we fill with peanut butter. Yesterday, the jar was empty so I wanted to give her the jar to see what she would do. It sat there all day and she did nothing with it. This morning, when Mat left and I was still upstairs, you can see that she decided to finally play with it. When I left to go have my gallbladder scan done, I decided to let her just have that instead of her bone. When I came back, this is what was left:

By the way, I do know there is a recall on peanut butter but I think it is safe since she's been eating peanut butter out of this jar for months.

So, Patsy is just like another other little girl and chooses household items and food over her own toys. I just thought that she was so cute!!

Also, because there are more important issues in the world than my furry daughter, continue to pray for Harper and Brayden. Both babies are improving each day but still need lots of prayer. You can find buttons to go to their blogs on the left column of my blog.

--Jessica

P.S.- My gallbladder scan went okay but I was in a lot of pain because of the injection. I won't know any results for a few days. Monday I will have my endoscopy.

Inaguration of President Obama

Living right outside of DC is pretty great. We are just 15 miles from all of the Inauguration action. However, because we both hate crowds and because it is freezing cold, we decided to enjoy the Inauguration from the warmth and comfort of our own home. I can honestly say that I do miss being there but I have probably enjoyed it more here than I would have in downtown DC.
Anyways, in case you didn’t know, I am a conservative Republican girl and I hate all change. I am trying to get over myself and support Barack Obama. I think that he does have some good ideas and has definitely already changed a lot in America. It thrills me to see so many people my age that went out to vote and are excited about this new “era” of our nation. I just hope that everyone keeps up with this excitement and that they don’t lose the sense of responsibility that they have for their country. We cannot place all of the responsibility on Obama. We cannot expect him to just change everything overnight and we just sit here. We have to take on some of that responsibility ourselves.

Okay, politics time is over. Whether or not you voted for Barack Obama, he is now our President. It is an exciting time in our country and I plan to support him because he needs that. I do have my own ideas but he hasn’t called me up yet to hear those so I will do what I can from my nice little townhouse in Alexandria: I will pray for him. I thought I would share my prayer with you so that you can pray the same prayer if you like.

Dear God,
Thank you for Barack Obama and the excitement that he has brought to our wonderful country. Guide him in these next four years as he leads us through a tough time in our history. I pray that everything he does will honor you and be done with integrity. Give him knowledge as he must make difficult decisions. As he makes these decisions, give us peace and understanding as we follow and support him. Bless him and his family as they adjust to their new life and hold them in your hands and keep them safe.
I also thank you for George W. Bush and pray that you comfort him in this change. He brought us through the tragedy of September 11, 2001 and we thank him for that. May he know that he has made a difference in our country and know that he was successful as our nation’s 43rd President.
May you bless our wonderful country and help us serve you.
Amen!

Pray Pray Pray!!

I think I should just make my blog a list of prayer requests. It seems that someone always needs prayer.

This morning, one of my best blog friends (who has been praying for me through all of my illness), went in to have her delivery induced. This child was her miracle baby and everything was going wonderful all day until her delivery this afternoon. I mean this girl was in makeup and pearls!! Then, at delivery, Kelly (mom) lost a lot of blood and Harper (baby girl) wasn't breathing well. Her doctors think that she has pneumonia and are airlifting her to a Children's Hospital in Arkansas (that's where they live). PLEASE lift up Kelly, her husband Scott, and Harper. Harper is the 1st grandchild in that family and was Kelly & Scott's answer to many prayers after struggles with infertility. I have to trust that God will perform a miracle with Harper and heal her as well as give Kelly and Scott peace and understanding in this very difficult time.

You can follow Kelly's blog here and her dad's is here.

Also, another sweet blog friend Jenna (click here for her blog) had her baby boy (Brayden) a few days ago. He is also in a children's hospital in Arkansas (I think it might be the same one that Harper is going to) with lung problems. Please life up Jenna, her huband, and sweet Brayden. Jenna and her husband had also struggled with infertility and were (and are) excited about their sweet baby boy.

With the power of prayer and God, miracles can happen!!

More Tests

Wow! Two posts in one day- this is amazing!!

I went to the doctor this afternoon. There is no diagnosis or relief yet. The doctor was more concerned this time and we went over EVERYTHING from the past two years. She is trying to figure out if this problem has been building or if it just popped up one day back in November. Then, she had to press on my whole stomach area and I really wanted to cry. It hurt so bad which surprised me. There are two areas of me that really hurt but when she pressed, everything hurt! It was not pleasant. Here is where we're headed now:
*All of my blood work was normal this time except one little liver test which was still high. There have been two liver tests that were high but one has gone back to normal. That was good news! Now, she is just worried about that other one that is still high.
*Next Wednesday, I will go have a Hida Scan. This is a procedure that will take about two hours. It will show if my gallbladder is working correctly.
*The 26th of January I will go have an endoscopy. I will be sedated for this but it only takes about an hour (that includes recovery time). They will put a tube down my throat and see into my stomach area. They are also going to do a biopsy at this time. Right away, the doctor should be able to tell if there is something going wrong there and what we can do to fix it.
*If the two above tests do not show anything, I will need to have an MRI of my liver and possibly a colonoscopy.

PLEASE keep praying that they find something (and preferrably with these next two tests). The past few days (especially today) have been very painful. School was especially difficult today because I was in so much pain. I just don't have the time to take off anymore especially since I have to take days off for these procedures. I am trying to make it through the best that I can.

Thanks for all of the thoughts and prayers. Keep them coming!

Pray for Abby

I wanted you to know about Abby.
She was adopted from Guatemala. At three years old, she was diagnosed with a high-risk, aggressive form of Leukemia. Certain genetic complications have put her chance of surviving the treatment at about 20%.
I am praying for her and her family. Would you pray for them too?
You can find more about Abby here, on her family blog: http://www.riggsfamilyblog.com/2009/01/about-abby.html
I've also put a little button on the side of my blog. You can click that and go to her family's blog.


Please pray for sweet little Abby. Tomorrow (Wednesday) she starts a new phase of her treatment in which she is least likely to survive.

Not Me!

Welcome to Monday!

I have done a horrible job of keeping the blog updated the past few days. I have been very busy since I went back to work and graduate school started back up. Hopefully things will settle down a little this week.

Thank you for all of your sweet comments and thoughts about my bad day on Thursday. Friday was actually a little better. I'll take a little better over worse!

To start off the week on a fun note, I thought I would take part in MckMama's "Not Me! Monday" again. The list below is things that I of course did not do. Remember the joke here?

• I did not wish there would be snow last Monday so that I didn't have to go back to school. I need a much longer vacation than 1 1/2 weeks!


• I did not research crock pot recipes and buy a crock pot cookbook so that I can now put dinner in the crock pot in the mornings and go. I LOVE to cook so I definitly would not do this.


• I did not complain when my graduate school professor corrected me on something. I did not want to cry and just give up at graduate school.


• I did not wish that my professor would be changed to an easier one.


• I did not regret ever starting graduate school.


• I definitly did not leave a load of laundry in the dryer for 5 days! I would never do that. Also, I did not "fluff" it about 5 times to get the wrinkles out before I actually took it out of the dry.


• I do not have more clothes waiting in the dryer to be folded. I am always so good about doing the laundry and getting it right out.


• I do not have dishes sitting in the sink. That is just so disgusting and I would never do it!


• I did not consider changing my "blog title" to something all about me since Mat doesn't really care about it. However, I stopped that idea when I couldn't think of a good title.


• I do not have some much school stuff to do that I need to stop blogging.

Have you not done any of these things this week? I really need to start keeping a list of things that I do not do throughout the week in order to have better things for "Not Me! Monday". Maybe next week I will have a list of things.

In a different direction, I am going back to my doctor (the specialist) tomorrow afternoon. My pain has been a little worse over the past few days so I called and got an earlier appointment than the one I had scheduled for next Wednesday. I REALLY do hope that they will figure out what is wrong. I don't have the time or energy to go through more pain and/or tests. I just need some relief!! So, please keep me in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow afternoon. I will try to get on here and blog about what I find out (if I actually find out anything).

Have a great evening!! And, do not do any of the things that I did not do this week!

Pulling My Hair Out!!

Yes, that's what I've been feeling like today. It was one of those days when...

• You have a great meal planned and forget to turn the crock pot on. So, your great meal sits in the crock pot all day not cooking. Your wonderful husband has to resort to buying McDonald's on his way home.
• All day long you might as well have been talking to a wall because your students weren't listening.
• You decide that you get the most frustrated with those who do something when you just said NOT to do it.
• You decide that you should probably never have children because you have will have no patience left at the end of a school day.
• At the end of the school day, your room literally looks like a tornado has hit it. There are little pieces of paper, whole sheets of paper, books, pencils, glue, and tissues (yes, tissues) all over the floor.
• You realize that you're blogging about school and your students.
• You come home and the dog has had an accident on your hardwood floors.
• Your dog has also chewed through an extension chord. Somehow it didn't shock her and you're thankful she's alive so you can yell at her. Then, you realize she has no idea what you're saying.
• After eating the husband's wonderful meal of McDonald's you sit on your couch and don't want to do anything because you're so tired.
• You wonder if tomorrow will be any better.
• You're praying for a snow day even though snow (or even rain) is not in the forecast. We can hope for miracles right?
• The most exciting part of your day is finding this contest for a Keurig Brewing System and you pray that you'll win.

Please pray that tomorrow is better. Even just a little better will be great!!

P.S.- That brewing system is AWESOME!! My in-laws got one at Christmas and I love it. But you don't want to enter that contest because you want me to win. :)

New Year, New Hair

I went today and got my hair cut. Three whole inches are gone!! I had been wanting to do something different because when it gets really long it just seems to lay flat and do nothing (you girls know what I mean). So, I finally decided today to go get it done. This is a huge step for me (and Mat) because he loves my hair long. After he finally convinced me it would be okay I got it done. Well, here is the end result:


So, what do you think?

By the way, thank you so much for the prayers about my blood work. Yesterday when I went to have it done, I was very nervous after the last ordeal. However, the sweet little man who took my blood this time was so great at his job that the needle barely hurt!! I didn't think he had even done it! He was so sweet and seemed so proud when I told him that he did a wonderful job. I could tell that he was not one of those people that just sticks you in the arm and goes on about their day. I definitly plan to go back to that lab again. So, thank you for the prayers. Hopefully I will hear something on Monday or Tuesday. I will be so glad when the doctors find something out.

Okay, that's all for this time. I don't have anything else exciting (like a hair cut or blood work was really exciting!!) to say.

Happy January!!

Patsy's Turn

Happy New Year!! This is Patsy and I've taken over my Mommy's blog today because my friend Dawson tagged me to list 6 random facts about myself. Of course my Mommy loves me so much that she let me borrow the blog for this.

Here are the rules I have to follow:
1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.


All about me, Patsy the Coonhound:
1. I was rescued back in August (maybe it was late July) from a puppy mill. I was one of the breeder girls that got to have all of the puppies. When I was rescued, I was VERY sick. Luckily my friends at the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria took great care of me until my Mommy and Daddy got me. I am soooo glad that I was rescued and adopted!
By the way, if you are looking for a pet and you're in our area, I highly recommend my friends at the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria!!

2. My favorite thing to do is eat. When it is meal time, I dance around the kitchen and bark. My Mommy and Daddy think it is so funny. I keep telling them they're not feeding me enough but they don't listen. They call me "Chowhound" instead of "Coonhound". I'm just a hungry girl!!

3. My best friend is Hogan. He lives with my Granny McCarl and COL McCarl. He is just one year old but he is bigger than me. We are the best of friends and I LOVE going to his house. We play for hours when we are together and I never want to leave him.

4. I HATE getting in the car, loud wind, thunder, and hard rain. I'm not a scaredy cat like some may call me. I am just very aware of sounds. A girl's gotta know what is going on around her!

5. I LOVE my toys, sleeping, and laying outside! A girl can't have too much sleep, sun, or too many toys.

6. If you come near our house, I have to bark at you. It is just me alerting my Mommy and Daddy that someone is coming. I especially like to bark at the kids that walk down to the playground near our house. I am so excited because I think they are coming to see me. I really won't bite you or even jump on you if you come in to see us. I just like to bark.

As you can tell I am a wonderful happy dog. Everyone loves me so much!!
Have a wonderful 2009!

Love, Patsy

P.S.- I don't know lots of pets that have blogs so I don't know who to "tag". If you are a pet or pet parent and want to have this on your blog, I tag you. You're it!!