My Birthday :)

I had a wonderful birthday today. It actually started yesterday with Irma giving me a birthday muffin and flowers (Sarah and Katherine made me cookies and a beautiful card) and then continued today with Pam making me scones (YUMMY) this morning, thoughtful gifts from the roomies, a half-day at work (a side trip to the doc's to get exsanguinated again- as much as that isn't fun, I did get to use my favorite word on my birthday :) and I got happy shots, so that is a very good thing!), a facial at the spa, and dinner (RIBS!) with some good friends. Thanks for spending time with me on my birthday guys, it was fun! I'm excited to see what will happen over this next year and I pray that I will walk with Him every step of the way.

Me and my FULL rack of ribs that I have been looking forward to ALL week

I was much more lady-like in my excitement over the ribs than Josh was...

Stephanie, Shelly, me, and Stacy (sorry, Sara :(, you got cut out of the picture...)

Todd, Stacy

Josh and Lisa

part of Pam :), Claire, Lynn, Christina, and Paul laughing as the TR people yee-haw me

Lisa made me a birthday cake (oh yeah, and thanks Josh! ;-) ). It was super yummy!

A best thing...

So on the list of best things ever? A child's unconditional love. Such a blessing. Over the past couple of weeks, my sister has told me the following stories about my nephew:

He was sitting on the bed looking at the family album and saw my picture and started talking about how he loved Sissa and Sissa got him "this" (he was wearing the wicked cool sweatshirt I got him for Christmas :) )

Yesterday, he was eating breakfast and looked up at my sis and said "Sissa is a girl. I love Sissa". Later that day, they went for a walk and walked over some chalk pictures some kids had drawn on the sidewalk. JM stopped walking and looked down and then got all excited, telling Monica "I DID THIS!!! I did this with Sissa!". Which we totally had, back in September when he and Monica came to visit, he and I let her take a nap and we went outside and drew chalk pictures for an hour. :D. How sweet that he remembers me. Definitely a blessing from God, since I only get to see the tyke about twice a year. Awwww, happy face.

Hospitality Event #2

So in keeping with our tradition of having one hospitality event a month, we had the Yohe family, the Sinclair family, and my friend Lynn over for some lasagna eats today. Good times, good times...

More on Hope...

Remember little Hope? Well, the good news is it is not cancer (yay!), the bad news is that she is still very sick and just miserable. They are admitting her to Johns Hopkins Hospital tomorrow. Anyone know how to make a little 6 year old girl NOT afraid of needles? And please, keep praying for her!

Houston Auto Show 2009

As per tradition, I rounded up a group of co-workers and we headed to the Houston Auto Show. No, I'm not looking for a new car right now...I just like to drool over the pretty cars. I was convinced of several cars that I thought I liked that I now know I will never purchase (like the 2009 Honda Accord- not a fan of the body style) or a Saab- I've decided it has a duckbill platypus-dinosaur beak type of front end. Not very pretty. Here are some pics:

1968 GT 500
Beautiful car. I am a HUGE classic car fan (my parents even got me the 2009 Classic Mustang calendar this year :) yeah, there's a '65 'Stang in the background :grin: )



2009 Dodge Challenger. I didn't like the Charger. I saw the Challenger as a concept car and I think they did a very good job of maintaining the lines from the classic style. Plus, it's orange :)


I was not impressed with the field of view however...sweet, just saved myself $45k!


Why won't they let you sit in the really cool cars? This is the 2009 Nissan GTR- it won Motor Trend Car of the Year. Awesome car.


Lisa, me, and Lynn checking out the Volkswagon sound system


Totally can't remember who designed this concept car, but the windows were boggling our minds


Lynn, Josh, and Mike, marveling over the price tag of Lisa's wish-car- BMW 500 series

Hope

This is an excerpt from my friend Shari's blog (you can see the whole post by clicking on the "The Schiels" in the list of blogs on the right hand side ->). The Schiel family is in Marlyland while Darrel (Shari's husband) attends Pastor's College and will come back to our church in May. Their 6 year old daughter Hope has been very sick and they are having a hard time figuring out what is going on. If you have a moment when you read this, please say a little prayer for Hope and her family- for continued strength and encouragement and wise doctors (and of course, HEALING). Thanks!

"I’ll try making this short. We took Hope to the pediatric endocrinologist today and after spending about 1/2 an hour examining Hope, discussing past history, blood test results, MRI, etc., she is leaning toward the feeling that there is some type of malignancy in Hope that has not been found. We went directly to the lab to have more blood drawn for more tests which include checking for all forms of Heptatitis along with re-checking some things we’ve already had tested, esp. the things that point to her thinking malignancy. We are also doing a 24 hour urinalysis over the next 2 days. I am going to have to bring Hope back to have more blood drawn in the morning because I got a call after we got home that they didn’t draw enough for a particular test. The lady said to tell Hope she’s very sorry but to a 6 year old I’m afraid that won’t go over well. I am continually trying to encourage Hope in the Lord, speaking of what He has done for her, praying for and with her, asking her questions about what she believes about God. It is surely a time of and for growth but at this very moment my heart is discouraged. I tend to get this way when I am tired, of which I am. Last night Hope was running a 103.4 temp and slept very poorly. I slept next to her in Danielle’s bed in order to make it easier to give her drinks through the night and more med’s when necssary. Her legs hurt so badly today she didn’t want to walk. We discovered another lump on her left leg today during the exam. A surprise to everyone in the room.

Ok, I said short and it isn’t. More information when it comes in…we will be scheduling an appointment asap with an oncologist, not a bone (orthopedic) one this time. She will also have an abdominal ultrasound next Monday due to stomach pain the last few months (she’s often saying her pants are too tight and pulling them away from her lower abdomen). Even through tired mind, eyes, body and heart I know God is in control and we are fully trusting in His goodness and love."

Hospitality Event #1

So one of our goals as a "household" is to have one hospitality event per month. Invite people over for a meal and get to know them better. Today was our first event. grilled for the FIRST TIME EVER! (Shish kebab (or shash-lik for you folks who speak Russian)). Besides a few over-grilled shrimp, I think it was a success!

Yum!



The Crews, Axelsons, and Bennetts- thanks for coming!