Finally

Well after 3 days of a fever non-stop, it went away!  It went away late Sunday night.  I was so excited and relieved.  I am slowly getting read of the achey body, congested nose and horrible cough but just knowing I didn't have to worry about my fever was a HUGE relief.  I prayed so much this weekend just asking God to watch over my baby and protect him/her from whatever was ailing me.  I am so very grateful for this answered prayer.  Also for such wonderful friends and family.  I really appreciate all the friends who offered to make me food, go shopping for me or even walk Bourbon.  It means a lot to me to have friends that are just willing to offer their help.  Maybe I should know that I have friends that would offer and do things like that but I am always pleasantly surprised.  I also have thanked God many times over for a wonderful sister and brother in law.  Jessica was trying to help as much as possible.  A lot of moral support with long talks to keep me company as well.  This week has been hard, I miss Josh so much.  Jon, Josh's oldest younger brother, called to check on me and and coming down this weekend to help me around the house and visit.  It feels so great to be so loved by so many!  

This coming week will be another hard week on me and Josh.  He is going into China and will have very limited internet (which means probably no talking on Skype).  Many of the places he will be will not have electricity let alone internet.  He is bring his computer just in case they happen to be near a internet cafe, which Bobby has said is a possibility.  Once he gets back to Thailand it will only be a matter of days before he gets to pack his things and head home.   In the mean time I have to look forward to a four day weekend (hopefully this weekend I will not be sick! Since I have had a cold/ flu every weekend since Josh left), Jon visiting, and Ashley, Matt and Noah visiting.  

Thank you again to all the phone calls, emails and prayers!  Now tomorrow it is back to work.  That doesn't seem that exciting but at least it is only 2 days until the 4 day weekend!

When it rains it pours

Well Josh is in Thailand and China for a month. He returns on the 27th of February. Josh has been doing a great job, before he left, of taking care of things around the house since I have been so tired (making dinner, clean, etc.). Now that he is gone I have to make my own dinner and clean up. Jessica and Mark do their share but there are many things that our Josh and my responsibility.

Since Josh has been gone it seems like all kinda of things have gone wrong. For starters, the night after he left as rat got in my closet. I think for the attic because the door to the attic is not very heavy and it doesn't fit right so one little move and it can teeter so something could fall in. Jessica and I tried catching it for about 10 mins. I was really nervous about getting bitten since I am pregnant. So I called my brother to come to help. After my bedroom was torn up and a hour and a half later they caught the young rat. So my closet and some of my room is still a mess because I don't have enough energy after work to get it straighten out.

Next, a day or two later after the rat ordeal one of the shelves in my closet (the one with all my clothes that need to ironed (of course) pulled out of the wall and fell. So now on top of my already messy closet all the clothes and the shelf are on top of the mess. I just started laughing when I saw it. I didn't know what else to do.

Now last weekend I was sick with a fever and sore throat for a day. Now today and I am sure at least tomorrow I have a fever (a little one), a horrible cough, and my whole body aches. I have been sleeping off and on all day but I have a hard time sleeping.

Work has also been stressful. I think it is just that time of year when everyone is ready for a break and nervous about FCAT. Normally any one of these things or all of them would be fine because I could cuddle up with my hubby and vent to him. Even though I get to talk to him everyday it is just not the same.

The other day when I was dead tired I came home to Bunny being outside somewhere. He gets out every once in a while. He just explores the backyard and comes backs in. I was a little bit more worried this time because Charlotte died. I didn't know if he went to go find her or go die somewhere. Well, I was getting ready for bed at 8:45 and Bunny still had not come back. We never let Bunny stay out over night because we don't want any animals to get to him. I called for him and he did not come. While I was too tired to keep looking and hoped that Bunny would be OK. Well just as I was drifting off Jessica called me. She had come home from work (I think). She was walking up and saw a little brown bunny and was wondering if it could be Bunny. It was! He had gotten in front yard. This had never happened before. So on top of being super tired, I had to go outside and help Jessica try to catch Bunny. Mark heard all the commotion and came to help. The 3 of us tried catching him for about 15 minutes. We were able to get him into the backyard. I put a grid over the hole that I think he got out. Mark went inside because we couldn't get him to come to the porch. Jessica went inside to change out of her work pants. I think Bunny must have not liked everyone else out there because a minute or two after they went in I called him and he came right too me. He hoped back to his little house area. So instead of going to bed at 8:45 ish it was more like 10pm. At least now he is eating well, before he wasn't eating much.

Chiang, our little black and white kitten, had surgery to be neutered on Wednesday. While Jessica and I parking for my appointment I got a call from the vet. Chiang has a heart murmur and they were not sure if it was safe to operate on him so they recommend a ECG. That was an extra $50 but I was hoping that it would give me some piece of mind. Right as I was being called into see my doctor I received another call. I wait until after the appointment and listened to the message. The cardiologist looked at Chiang's ECG and said he could not say for certain that he was OK for surgery. He want to get an ultrasound of Chiang's heart before he OK the surgery. The vet recommend instead of paying $150-350 for the ultrasound that we put off the surgery for a month and a half in hope that he will grow out of it. Kittens tend to grown out of heart murmurs but not always. So even though for now he is OK I am still worried about him. If his heart murmur does not go away it mean Chiang will not ever be able to have surgery and he could have a shortened life span.

To many things worst Josh is really sick in Thailand. He went to the emergency room to get some medication which has not done much yet. The doctor thinks it is just a stomach flu. He is so sick he was talking to be during his day time and he fell asleep while we were talking. Without going into to much detail Josh has to run to the bathroom almost every hour even during the night. So we are both miserable right now and miss each other and are on different sides of the world.

Josh and I have always said difficult times can split us apart or pull us a lot close together. I can't wait for the closer together part. I sure miss his hugs and snuggling up next to him every night.

I am not the only one who misses Josh. Reesie, our little fluffy cat, keeps walking around crying. She normally stops if I call her but since Josh has been gone she hasn't. She has also been acting weird. Bourbon, the dog, has also been acting weird. I think he is missing his buddy too.

So like the saying goes, when it rains it pours. I just hope there are some clear skies in the near future.

BABY!

As many of you already know, I am pregnant!! I had my first ultrasound today. It was so amazing! Jessica came with me since Josh is still in Thailand until Feb. 27th. I was really glad that Jessica was able to come with me. We got to see our little one's heart beat. God sure has made an awesome creation! Both the baby and I are very healthy. The Doctor said I am size right so if I did I would be able to have a 10 pound baby! I told him that that I would be okay with having a 10 pound baby!!! I showed Josh the picture of our little one as soon as I got home on Sykpe and emailed him the pictures. He was thrilled to see the pictures! It is almost unreal to have this happening to us. It still doesn't feel like it is me who is pregnant. My next appointment is the first week on March so Josh will be able to come and hear the heartbeat.


Here is the little one!!!!

New Years/ Josh's Birthday and Youth events

Sorry about the delay in posting. I have been so busy and tired that I got behind.

New Years
We spent New Years/ Josh's birthday with some of our friends from town and from Iowa. Matt, Ashley and Noah came down to Florida for the holidays. It was great to see them again! Jimmy and Katie, Brandi and Brian, Matt and Ashley came over to our house to celebrate. Christine and her boyfriend, Bruce, also stopped in to wish Josh a Happy Birthday. We all had a great time, eating and playing games. Here are a few pictures. Most of them are from Noah's view who was helping me take some pictures.




Noah's foot


Noah looking for the cats



A picture of a picture of a picture being taken.


Happy New Year and Happy Birthday Josh!!!




Exploding Christmas Tree
As many of you know Josh and I try to help out with the youth events as much as possible. After New Years the youth were having an event called the exploding Christmas Tree. Yes, they really do explode a Christmas tree. Our Pastor Charlie and Our youth leader Brian took their dead real Christmas trees and loaded them up with fireworks, woods, and igniter fluid and let it go. It was pretty amazing. Definitely something you have to be there to see! The pictures don't do it justise. Afterwards the kids played Manhunt, the Wii and/or watched movies. I had a lot of fun. It was nice to because Brandi, the youth pastor wife and a friend of mine, and I were able to spend sometime together talking.



Ski Trip



Josh and I were youth sponsors on the Ski trip that the youth took to Boone North Carolina. We had a lot of fun. I was the only one that had going skiing before. IT was funny watching everyone try to learn to ski. I am very proud of many of the kids. They toughed it up and worked hard. They did a great job for only skiing/snow boarding 2 days in their entire lives. We only had 2 injuries. The 2 sisters both hurt their legs. One with a twist knee and one with a twisted ankle. Neither were serious.

Many of the kids including the other female sponsor, Kera had never seen snow.



Around town





SUGAR Mountain

The different slopes at Sugar Mountain


On the slopes









In the Van

And we are okay with this crazy guy driving us?







Our hotel rooms were amazing!! Or at least the girls rooms were. Me and my girls had a fire place and a jaccious bath tub in our room. It was so awesome!

The heart shaped tub in the 2nd girls room! At the indoor heated pool.


At night their was a youth conference that we went too. Vickie Beeching was the singer they had for the performances. I don't remember the name of the speaker but he was amazing. He did a great job at touching on some hard core ideas and still keeping the kids interested. I was challenged but much of what he said. It is always great when the speaker at a youth conference gets the kids and the sponsors thinking.





And this is what happens when you put together a crazy youth leader and sponsor that will follow and lack of sleep plus exhaustion from all the exercise.

Brian not playing with his food but with the to go box. I was laughing almost the whole entire meal.




A very sore and tired Kera


Umm, yes they do have whip cream on their faces. Did you know this is how you build leadership! ;o)



Sam is eating off the whip cream and cheese puffs!