Thanksgiving 2009

As always, I must start off my post by apologizing for not being very good at keeping up with my blog. So I'm sorry.....
Now I want to wish a very Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Where has 2009 gone? Here we are at the end of November, and I feel inclined to sit and write out all that I am thankful for. My cup truly runeth over!

(in no particular order)

- Finishing graduate school. I am FINISHED!!!!! That sounds so good to say! My graduation ceremony is on December 5th, but I have been finished with everything since Nov. 7th. So for the past 3 weeks, I have been studying ALL day usually from 9am-9pm for boards. Ok, so I may get in a nap here and there, but for the most part I just sit at home and study.

- For my husband. Without Scott I wouldn't be here today, only days away from being a CRNA (Lord willing). He has been my rock and my cheerleader. He has seen me in the worst of moods, he has had to listen to all my complaints, and has wiped away many tears in the last 27 months. Thanks honey, for always believing in me when I doubted myself and wanted to quit. You deserve just as much credit for my completion of CRNA school as I do. I am a better person because of you. Love you!

_ For Family and Friends. I can't leave out the ones that live both near and far away. I know you have kept us in your prayers for the past couple of years and I can't thank you enough for that. I realize I have let some relationships fall by the waste-side as I have had to commit my life to school for the past 2.5 yrs, but I have never stopped loving or thinking of you. That's just the thing with GOOD friends, you can pick it up right where you left off. So I'm picking it back up with some of you.......:)

- For my Lord. He has walked with me day in and day out, and sometimes has even had to carry me. Thank you Lord for placing me in this awesome opportunity to advance in my career and for the opportunity to go back "home." You are so good. Your blessings never stop amazing me. How wonderful you are!!! I pray that I can repay you through my actions and reciprocate my love for you to others. May I grow stronger in you and fall deeper in love with you daily.

- Finally.........for Baby July. Like I said God is soooo good. He even decided to bless us with a little one. We decided a few months ago that we were ready to start a new adventure and a new chapter in our life. So thanks be to God, we found out on Nov. 3rd that we would be expecting our first child.
Let me explain how I came up with Baby July's nick-name (that is not what Scott call's her/him). Anyway, being from TX and living up north, I frequently hear comments on the way I say things. Okay, some people just laugh and ask me to say words over and over again. Well July is one of those words that my girlfriends from school just LOVE for me to say. They think is sounds like "Jooolyyyy." So that has been my nick name for them for quite some time now. Once I broke the news to my buddies that we were having a baby, they said "Ooooohhhh, your gonna have a little Jooolyyyy" (in their best TX accent). So there it is.
I am 7 weeks along as of tomorrow. We had our first Dr's apt on Nov. 17th, and our first sonogram was today. The heart rate was a strong 122 beats/min. I could have sat there all day and just listened to it. The sound litteraly took my breath away. Baby July will be making his/her debut around July 15th!!! We are waiting till the big day to see if Baby July will be an NFL line-backer (like his daddy wishes he was) or if she will be a tutu wearing, karaoke singing, drama queen (like her mama was growing up).

Baby July, your mama and daddy already love you so much and we haven't even met you yet. I can only imagine how much this love will grow daily for you. We pray that God gives us the strength and wisdom to raise you in a house that always fears and loves the Lord above all things. Stay cozy in there and keep growing stronger and stronger. I cherish each moment God blesses me as your mom.




Happy Thanksgiving to all and I pray that this finds you well. I REALLY am going to try to do a better job keeping up the blog. Now that I finally have something interesting to write about, it should be easier to do.

Slacker

Well, I have done it again. I've let the blog go by the waste-side. Anyway, here is long post of pictures from our summer so far. This post doesn't even include pictures from our recent trip to San Diego (more to follow).
So these first few was from weekend trip to Itasca State Park in northern Minnesota. I had no idea that the Mississippi river began in Minnesota, here at this st. park.

Scott and our friends little girl, Macy infront of Minnesota's largest and oldest white pine tree.



Walking across the Mississippi.




Our dear friends. Thanks to them for showing us a new part of this beautiful state.


Mom and Dad's visit up north.

alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372094625864889442" />
Como Zoo in St. Paul. Which animal do you suppose was our favorite?



Made our appearance at the Anoka Co. Fair.
A Kenny Chesney wanna-be performed. Was actually a decent band.

Even had a rodeo.

Would you want to mess with this teacher???

Dad said he used to work on a tractor like this one when he was younger. The fair had some pretty cool old farm equipment that he really enjoyed.

Luvin' Some Lake Time

Ahhh...it's official, summer in Minnesota has begun! There aren't too many things that rank higher for me than the good ole' lake (I'm high class, I know). I love the hot air, cool water, and the stiffness after my first ski session of the year. I do know I sure don't ski as long as I used too, but at least, i've still got it (or at least I think so)!
We spent Father's Day up at Scott's folks' house. It is a pretty sweet gig. They have a wonderful house right on the lake. What else could one ask for? The Lord blessed us with amazing weather this past weekend. I look forward to many more!!!!

9 baby ducks with their mama

Duke soaking up some sunshine as well

Duke, earning his keep, and keeping the sweet ducks off HIS property

I even showed my husband up and caught the one and only walleye of the weekend!

Some some random pictures(mainly for my Bobo)of flowers out of my garden.

Update

Well, here is the update on Scott's dad, Rich. After additional testing and scans, the cancer in his lung has spread to his spine and ribs. Not to be confused with bone cancer, his diagnosis is still small cell lung cancer that has metastasized to his bones. The oncologists have increased and changed his chemo regimens. His prognosis for a "recovery" status has dropped from 75% to 30-50%.
We continue to pray daily that if it is God's will, he be completely cancer free. The liver ultrasound was negative for tumors. The spots they saw were only cysts. Praise God! As always, additional prayers are welcomed and greatly appreciated.
May everyone have a wonderful Father's Day this Sunday, and take time to enjoy every moment God blesses us with the amazing men in our lives.

A Prayer Request

I have a special request. For those of you who don't know, my father-in-law Rich was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer in Feb. He has under gone 3 bouts of chemo and radiation with high hopes that they caught the cancer early and is in a limited phase. The MDs were hopeful that this type of tumor responds well to chemo.
This past week, he under went a CT of his chest and abdomen to see if the tumor shrunk. Unfortunately, his left lung is still collapsed and they were unable to see if the tumor was present. In addition, there are suspicious spots on his liver and spine. Of course with my experience, I start to think the worse. Rich now has undergone additional test to see if in fact theses "spots" are malignant or merely cysts.
We pray daily that God's will be done, but selfishly we want these tumors all to disappear. Please join me in lifting up Rich. He is such a strong, positive man, but I know deep inside he is battling and scared. We can never have enough people praying for him. Scott has been amazing through all this as well. He is handling this much better than I would.
Thank you all! I will keep you posted, we will find out Tuesday the results and get a new game plan.
God Bless!

Catching Up!

Wow, time sure does fly by when your having so much fun. The last few weeks have been super busy. I am officialy on my last rotation for school. That sure sounds good to say! Only 6 more months to go.
The weather has been great up here. My flower garden is ready to take off. I will post pictures when they are in full bloom. It looks punny compared to my Bobo's though. I was in Texas this past weekend for my cousing wedding which took place in her backyard. It was like what I picture heaven being like. My camera ran out of juice so I will have to depend on family sending me pictures to post. Words cannot describe how beauiful it was. God has certinly blessed her with an amazing talent to tend to HIS flowers.
The following pictures are of this past weekend. I was able to spend one last weekend with my little bro. He and his wife are leaving for Japan on June 17th for 3 years! He is a Marine and will be training and flying the C-130's. We are soooo proud of him and will miss them dearly.
Since we were able to have most of the family all together, we decide to celebrate Mabry Lynne's 4th birthday a few weeks early. She already thinks she is 4 and nobody is going to tell her different. She also had her first dance recital. They were precious. Marly Ann is one of a kind and sweet as can be. I just love her unruly curly hair. It fits her personality to a tee! It was such a blessing for us all be together, even for a little while.






PawPaw teaching Mabry how to swing the golf club.

We sure will miss this guy!








Okay the next few pictures shows just how "red-neck" we really are. I finally downsized from an SUV to a car (which I love), so we are super excited to have an economical vehicle to go to the lake in. Scott keeps his boat up there, but forgot to take the rest of his fishing rods up there. Yup...you guessed it. In the Passat they go. Poor Duke, he no longer has free range in the car, and must stay confined to the blue blanket. Anyway, "we got her done."




School friends
God Bless and have a safe and wonderful summer!

March Madness

Even though my bracket this year was a total flop, March still managed to be another exceptional month, especially for my sweet hubby. Seeing that March is his birthday month, he really had a fun time.

Celebrating Scott's birthday at a Brazilian Steak House. Very yummy!!!

Scott has been working really hard, and has looked forward to this day for a LONG TIME. He is finally the proud owner of a new fishing boat. It doesn't do a lot for me, but he reassures me that it will pull me skiing. That's all I really care about. Now if only the ice will thaw, we can get it in the water and play.



Just hanging out in the truck.

I rounded out the month by passing a required pre-board exam. That was a huge relief and weight off my shoulders. Now I am in Park Rapids, a small town in north-western MN, doing my rural rotation for 3 weeks. I miss being at home, but am getting great experience with epidurals and spinals. It is a facility very similar to what I will be doing in Sweetwater. Only 9 more days left up here. It snowed another foot this week. That kinda put a damper on my great month, but this can't last forever.....or can it? Spring, feel free to show up anytime now!!!!