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!!