Updates on Sara's life

2010-08-09T17:01:00.002-04:00

Well, I was right. I was in labor. I plan to sit down and fully document the birth process, but now is not the time. My baby is screaming in my arms and it is hard to type. After 35.5 hours of labor and then a c-section, Lana Elizabeth was born on July 26th at 11:55 am. She was 7 lbs 7 oz and 19.5 in long. She's absolutely beautiful.

2010-07-25T03:10:00.002-04:00

I am making this public, but not "facebook" public, since only a few people read this. I wanted something documented, just incase...I don't want to jump the gun, but today might be the day. It's 3:11 am and I've been up since about 12:30 having contractions. They are coming about every 20 minutes. I'm having a lot of back pain with them, which is so not fun. Each contraction I just try to think "this is one step closer to meeting my son or daughter". I tried to sleep between them, but couldn't so I'm up tying up loose ends, like getting the final stuff packed in my hospital bag. Crazy! I'm letting Ryan sleep right now so both of us won't be exhausted, but after that last contraction, I think I want him up now. I really think today is the day...

2010-07-11T19:42:00.002-04:00

37 weeks pregnant. I can't believe it. Only 3 more to go. I have had 3 showers. One at Ryan's work, one at my work, and one at church. As we were going to the church shower on Friday, I told Ryan how nontraditional my showers have been, which has been cool. I've had my showers at a school, a zoo, and a mall. We have slowly but surely been getting the nursery together. Now that we had our last shower we can do our last (ha ha ha...) load of laundry and get everything organized. Ryan has been a life saver. There is so much I want to do, but don't have the energy to do it. I have been sitting in the lay-z-boy writing thank you notes while he pulls stuff out and I tell him where to put it. Work is getting harder, but I'm going to try to stick it out until baby comes. The weather in the 90's the past month hasn't really helped. I am just so anxious to meet our baby. I can't wait to see what he/she looks like, how he/she acts...just how everything is going to run. I can't wait!!!! Well, I can, because I really want baby to come on my due date so mom and Josh can be here. That's really important to me, but I'm also preparing myself for the fact that it just might not happen that way.

Things I will miss when I'm not pregnant anymore:
-Feeling the baby move
-Having friends rub and talk to my belly (they can still do that but it'll be weird)
-Having a miracle grow inside of me
-Going to bed as early as I want
-general attention that pregnant women get
-having an excuse to not lift heavy stuff at work :)
-the extra kitty snuggles I'm getting. Obi likes to lay against my belly and purr and baby will kick
-realizing everyday how blessed I am to have Ryan as a husband who lets me come home from work and put my feet up while he cooks dinner and takes care of most chores

Things I won't miss:
-round ligament pain
-going pee ALL the time, especially almost hourly at night
-having a hard time getting out of bed
-difficulty bending down especially when doing things like putting on socks and feeding seals
-swollen ankles
-re-occurance of arthritis pain in my hands

2010-05-09T18:51:00.002-04:00

Happy Mother's Day!

First off...to my mom...I love you! Thank you for being a wonderful mother. Today I was thinking of the fact that your mom never got to see you be a mom, and that makes me sad. I am so happy that you get to see me be a mom. I hope I make you proud. Thank you for always letting me know that I am loved. One week in Bible study the leader asked how many of us had parents that told us they loved us and showed us affection. Only 3 out of about 11 of us raised our hands...me, Ryan, and Kelly. That's sad for the others who didn't have parents that hugged them, snuggled with them, tucked them in at night, and said "I love you" regularly. Mom, thank you for being that parent so I could proudly raise my hand.

I had a wonderful first Mother's Day. I had to work, but I was able to get an ultrasound at work and see my baby today. When I got home Ryan had the baby furniture set up, bought me flowers, and made me apple crisp. It was perfect.

I am still loving being pregnant, but am starting to feel a lot more pregnant. It's harder to get up from sitting or laying, it's hard to put socks on, it's hard to bend over. I told Ryan the other day, "If I didn't have to wear socks, underwear, or pants, life would be easier right now." I don't think that would go over very well. My little turkey is very active in my belly, and it is just a miracle. I love feeling him/her move, and love when others get to experience it too. I am feeling much more then just kicks now...baby is just generally movin' and a shakin'.

So, to all the mothers out there...Happy Mother's Day!!!!

2010-04-01T06:12:00.003-04:00

So I have the craziest roommate ever, Kelly. She's insane. That's all I have to say.

Actually, she's great. She found out I had a blog and noticed I didn't write about her. Sorry, Kel. It wasn't on purpose. I just didn't notice. :) She's been living here since October and will be leaving us the end of this month to go off and get married. Ryan and I are very glad that we were able to help them out in the meantime, and plus we get to have a roomie for awhile. Kelly has been great. She's my best friend and I wouldn't have wanted anyone else to live with us. Thanks, Kel, for being a good roomie!

2010-03-26T17:09:00.002-04:00

I am 21 weeks pregnant now. We had the 20 week ultrasound last week and everything looked perfect. The 4D image is crazy cool. We could actually see our baby's profile. He/She had the most perfect little face. We could have found out the sex at this ultrasound, but we aren't finding out.

A few weeks ago I started to feel the baby kick, which is the coolest thing ever. Finally last night Ryan was able to feel it too, which made me so happy that he could finally be able to take part in it. I didn't think this was possible this early, but when I was leaning back on the couch earlier, the baby kicked and I actually saw my belly jump. That's a strong little baby in there. :)

I'm loving the 2nd trimester. I feel so much better. I love the way I look. If only it could stay like that...

2010-03-26T08:14:00.004-04:00

This may take awhile. I have a lot to catch up on. :)
No, I didn't get left in Abu Dhabi and that's the reason why I haven't written about my trip yet. Laziness and being busy is my excuse. I've been so busy, that when I have free time, I don't feel like writing on this.

The trip to Abu Dhabi was amazing. Everyone asks how it was and my response is, "It's a whole different world over there." The culture, the architecture, the driving, the bathrooms...it's all so different then what I'm used to. I am so blessed to have been able to experience it.

Mom and I met up in Minneapolis. We had a long layover so Ryan's mom, sister, and my niece Violet picked us up at the airport. We went out to breakfast, visited my other niece Hailey at daycare, and went to Rachel's to relax for a bit. It was great to see them, even if it was for a short while. Mom and I board the plane in Minneapolis heading to Amsterdam and who is sitting across the aisle from us...2 young kids. Just what we didn't want. Not much sleeping was done there. In Amsterdam it was around 3 am our time and we were just so tired but had a few hour layover. As soon as I stepped foot on that plane I was out cold.

We arrived in Abu Dhabi in the evening. Just stepping off the plane and going through customs you could see how different it was over there. Women were in their abayas and shaylas. Men had on thier dishdashes and head scarfs. Josh let us see some of the city on the drive to his apartment. We had some yummy tabbouleh and hummus, met Josh's girlfriend, Nicole, and headed to bed. I had a dream that night about the Muslim call to prayer. I woke up in the morning and Josh said, "did you hear the call to prayer this morning?" I must have heard it while I was sleeping. A few times a day all the mosques (and there are a lot of them) do a call to prayer, where a man "sings" to signify it's time to pray. They are quite beautiful but also strange when you are driving down the road and hear it. Only once did we actually see people praying in pubic. There were some workers outside who stopped their work to pray.

We saw SO much when we were there. On the first day we drove around and saw the souks, the dhows, Emirate's Palace, the Arabian Gulf, and Abu Dhabi in general. We ate at a lovely outdoor restaurant. We ate outside a lot which I absolutely loved. Had my first of many mint lemonades of that trip.

We also went into the Emirate's Palace, which is a super expensive hotel. It's strange how any Joe Shmoe can walk on into these places. While there they had an art exhibit up so we saw that. Jackson Pollack was the only artist there that I had heard of, but there was pretty cool stuff. We had tea (well, everyone except for me) and a swanky bar at the palace. It was beautiful outside with all these water fountains everywhere. After a week in the UAE, you notice that EVERYONE has water fountains. They never got old though.

The next day we took a trip to the desert, Al Ain, to visit Josh's old boss. On the way we pulled off of the freeway to see some sand dunes and we got to see 2 camels. :) We went up a mountain, Jebel Haffit. We drove through a nice park, which Josh calls the "green Muzzabuzza" which isn't it's name, but is much more fun to say. I loved how the culture is so family oriented. There were people everywhere, hanging out in the park. Very cool to see. We headed back to Al Ain and ate at an outdoor restaurant. I had to use some Arabic to ask for the bathrooms. Then we went to the town center where they had a cool fountain show.

The next day we visited the Grand Mosque. Wow, that place was impressive. Mom and I had to wear abayas and shaylas, which was a strange experience. Everything was ornate marble and super huge carpets. It's hard to even describe what this place was like. When we were leaving we got free pastries from the women handing out the abayas and shaylas because we caught them taking bites so they were very kind to offer us some yummy treats. :)

We headed up to Sharjah and Dubai the next day. Josh lived in Sharjah the first year he was over there. It was a lot different than I imagined it. We visited his friend's, Asma, boutique and got some scarves. She also had some yummy pastries for us. We ate some Thai food outside at Al Qasba, this cute area along a river lined with restaurants. I'd be there every night if I lived there. We then headed to Dubai. We stopped at the beach to get pictures of the Burj Al Arab, which is the big hotel shaped like a sailboat. Then we drove out to the palm islands to "see" the Atlantis Hotel. Little did we know Josh booked us a room as a surprise. We started pulling up the driveway and I was thinking we were going to get in trouble for driving up there and he said, "This is where we are staying tonight." Mom and I couldn't believe it! We had a gorgeous room overlooking the Arabian Gulf. We walked around the hotel, saw the aquarium there, and had a wonderful meal at the poolside restaurant. We attempted to use the spa, which was not our version of a pool and hot tub at a hotel. This had separate mens and womens, which we should've figured. You walk into a lockerroom, there were steam rooms, saunas, a broken hot tub (that's all mom and I wanted to do), and a relaxation room. Very swanky but unfortunately since I am preggo my only option was to put my feet in a hot tub but since it was broken that wasn't an option. Josh did enjoy his though. Mom spent the rest of her evening taking a nice bath while Josh and I headed to the imperial lounge for some juice and tea. We had a yummy breakfast at that same lounge the next morning. Tried some crazy new fruits. Then we headed to the beach and tried to soak up as much sun before we had to check out. That was my favorite part, but I'm such a beach bum. Then we went to the Dubai Mall, saw the aquarium there (which not much later made the news for springing a leak), then went up into the tallest building, the Burj Khalifa (which later made the news for closing the observation deck for electrical problems). Very impressive. As developed as Dubai is, you could still see so much desert around. I can only imagine what that place will look like in 10 years. We then ate at Fridays on the balcony outside, overlooking the Dubai Fountain and saw 2 of the fountain shows. Probably was my 2nd favorite thing about the trip. Then we headed back to Abu Dhabi after a busy 2 days in Dubai. The next day we went BACK to Dubai to go to the Global Village, which is this huge shopping area with vendors from different countries. I got a henna tattoo and some cool marble goblets.

The rest of the trip was spent running to little places here and there. We went to the Shangra La hotel and had drinks. Again, it's crazy to me that you don't have to be a customer and you can just wander the grounds and sit in their lounge and order stuff. We were trying to figure out a hotel in the US comparable to some of these hotels. I don't think we ever came up with one. We headed to Yas Island to get my friend a souvenir for the Formula One track that's there and there were actually cars running, which was cool to see.

I'm sure I left stuff out, but that's a pretty comprehensive list of what we did. It was a wonderful experience and I'm so grateful that I had the opportunity to go. Although I missed Ryan, it was nice having me, mom, and Josh together, since that doesn't happen very often. There, I did it. Done.

2010-01-25T20:47:00.001-05:00

One more day until mom and I leave for Abu Dhabi to visit Josh. I can't wait!!!!

2010-01-20T19:05:00.002-05:00

I guess since it's on facebook, it's official...I'M PREGNANT! I had my 12 week appointment today and everything looks just perfect. Praise God!

2010-01-03T16:13:00.002-05:00

Resolution for 2010...write on this blog more. I'm sure I'll find lots to write about this year.

Holidays were good. Ryan's sister, her husband, and thier 2 children came to visit over Thanksgiving. It had been over a year since I saw my niece, Hailey, and I hadn't met my new niece, Violet, yet, so it was wonderful hanging out with them. My highlight was when Hailey read me "Go Dog Go", which she basically learned in a few days. I also enjoyed playing in the leaves with Ryan and Hailey. They visited me at the zoo, I took them to Pilot Mountain, we had a Thanksgiving feast, then Matt got appendicitis. :( Who else wants to come and visit???

I had to work on Christmas. Katy and I had a wonderful Christmas lunch at McDonalds when we got off of work at noon. Then I had a lazy day/evening with Ryan, opening presents, watching Christmas movies, and just relaxing.

For New Years we headed to Lynchburg, Virginia to WinterFest, which is a 2 day concert with a bunch of Christian bands. We saw KJ-52, Decyfer Down, Thousand Foot Krutch, Switchfoot, Fee, Fireflight, Barlow Girl, MercyMe, and Skillet. It was a wonderful concert. On the 2nd day we were in the 5th row so that was exciting!

In less then a month mom and I are heading to Abu Dhabi to visit Josh. We can't wait!!!

2009-10-19T16:07:00.002-04:00

I'm sitting here trying to absorb some heat from the sun. It's been a cold start to the fall, but this week it's supposed to warm up some. It's been a nice 2 weeks. Dad has been visiting. Two weekends ago we headed to Hanging Rock State Park to go camping. However, they were booked for the weekend (in October, really?) so we went to Pilot Mountain State Park instead. We set up camp and relaxed on Thursday evening. On Friday dad, the dogs and I hiked up the mountain from the campground and then back down. It was about 4 miles total. Needless to say I was pretty sore the next day. Ryan joined us that evening. On Saturday we did some smaller hikes around Pilot Mountain with the dogs. I love a tired dog. On Sunday the weather turned colder. Dad, Ryan and I hiked the trail that went on the bottom of all of the rock climbing cliffs. Dad was scouting out the area so he could climb. We watched some climbers, which was fun. I don't think I actually want to climb again, but I like watching. Ryan, Leia and I headed back home that afternoon, dad stayed an extra day. When he got back in town we went to REI for the first time and I got a new day pack, so now I want to camp camp camp. Too bad its cold cold cold and I'm a wuss. He also made us some WONDERFUL Tuscan soup that was just like my favorite soup from Olive Garden. We think he just drove to Olive Garden, bought the soup, threw it in a pot, and claimed that he made it. Dad headed to the coast for a few days and is now back at our house. Dad and I had a nice lunch today and then went to Seagrove to look at some local pottery. I love when family comes and visits. It's also strange in a way, being an adult and having your parents come to your home. In a way it seems backwards. But I like it.

We have a busy fall filled with bonfires, gatherings with friends, meetings, etc. I complain about the cold, but I do enjoy snuggling in front of our fireplace, the smell of leaves, drinking hot cider, fall decorations, and eating yummy feasts.

2009-08-14T22:00:00.002-04:00

Mom said I should probably delete this blog since I never write on it. Pish posh!

I'm actually home in Hancock right now. I've had a great time so far. Josh was here as well, except he flew back to Abu Dhabi today. :( The first evening here Josh and I went to a folk festival in Lake Linden. There was some great music there. It's strange how the music scene in the U.P. is so good, yet it's the U.P. so there isn't much for these talented people to do. GET OUT OF HERE! I got some yummy Mackinaw Island Fudge ice cream that evening and experienced GeoCaching for the first time. Josh got me hooked. For those of you that don' t know what it is (I didn't until a few days ago) there is a website that gives you GPS coordinates to find these GeoCaches that people place all over the world. You use the coordinates to find the container which has a log that you sign to show you've been there. Some people leave little trinkets. It's pretty cool. On my second day here mom, Josh and I headed up to Copper Harbor, where we did more GeoCaching. I was officially signed up so I could participate. :) We ate at the Harbor Haus and went to Brockway Mt. and other touristy spots. The 3 of us couldn't figure out a time where just the 3 of us have taken that trip. We always went up there when people would come and visit, but we didn't know if just the 3 of us ever went up there. Good family bonding. ;) Josh and I went camping at the Huron River with dad as well. Again, it was something that the 3 of us haven't done for over 10 years. I hadn't been there for 8 years. But it was as if I had never left. We had wonderful weather and a nice relaxing time. I've eaten a lot of good food and have taken a lot of pictures. For some reason it just felt like a strange trip. I think I just have been much more appreciative of the beauty up here. Living up here, I recognized how pretty it was, but now I appreciate it much more. And always when I'm home I think of past memories...hanging out at Hancock Camp grounds, cruising around, shows at the Suburban Exchange, etc. Just staying in my old room brings back a bunch of crazy memories. It is fun to reminisce. I am here for 1 1/2 more days. I hope to take more in.

2009-06-29T11:36:00.003-04:00

I like my days off. I wish I could chose to go into work when I wanted and not have to follow a schedule. Wouldn't that be nice? I just finished a Starbucks caramel frappacino and am about to head upstairs to tackle re-arranging our "office". Our friends Dawn and Lance just moved into an apartment from a house, so they were selling a bunch of stuff. We bought their treadmill...their VERY big, VERY heavy treadmill. Ryan figured out how to get it apart into 3 pieces so we actually get it upstairs (or so we hope). We had no room for it, so we had to move a bunch of furniture around to make space for it. We did some of it last night, but now I have to finish.

I've been pretty busy with church stuff. I am on a "committee" to help make a year-long church calendar with time slots for Bible studies, outreach events, Baptism services, etc. We've been meeting to finish that. I'm also working with the new online database we got and it's my job to input all the people of the church. Needless to say, that's been keeping me busy.

One more month until I get to see mom and Josh!!! We are heading to Ohio for the Angel family reunion. I can't wait!

I understand that this is a completely random post, but I figured I should get something on my page. Well, time to head upstairs and organize!

2009-06-19T08:27:00.003-04:00

Last Saturday Ryan and I were able to go to Carowinds (amusement park). There were a bunch of Christian bans playing, so that was our motivation to go. We got up early and hit the road. We realized we forgot sunscreen so had to take an "adventure" to find a Walmart so we could buy some. Stupid GPS doesn't have Walmarts/Targets listed. Not helpful. We got into the park and the first crazy, upside down, feet dangling roller coaster we saw, we got in line for it. The line was long of course, but it probably only took 30 min to get through. It was really fun, but when it ended, Ryan and I looked at each other and both said, "I don't feel so good." Luckily the nausea/dizziness wore off before we got sick. Then we got in line for a rapids ride, the one where 6 people sit in the big inner tube boat and you go through the rapids. We were in line for over an hour. LAME! Don't stand in line for that ride EVER. By this time we had to go back to the car and get our change of clothes, money, camera, etc and head to the concerts. The bands that played were Remedy Drive (never heard of them), Fireflight, Brandon Heath, Hawk Nelson, Third Day and TobyMac. I was very excited to see Fireflight because they are one of my new favorite bands and haven't seen them yet. I really enjoyed them. I was one of the few people standing and singing the whole time. :) I bought one of their t-shirts and their first cd, which I didn't know existed. Brandon Heath was very good, and relaxing at the same time. If only it was Cornerstone and I could have put a blanket down and listened to him with my eyes closed...ahhhh...perfection. Hawk Nelson was surprisingly good. I think I need current cd of theirs. I have one from years ago, but their style has changes some. Third Day was awesome as always. TobyMac was fun and entertaining as always. It's funny that I enjoy TobyMac so much now, considering how I disliked DC Talk so much. We hit a horrible storm on the way home, but made it home safely. It was so nice to spend time with Ryan. We've both been so busy, it feels like we don't see each other much.

I have 4 days off this weekend. Last night we went to my co-worker, Bert's, for dinner and some Rock Band. We were going to swim in his pool, but the water was a bit too chilly. How did I ever jump in Lake Superior growing up? Today I have NO PLANS and love it! I'll do stuff around the house, but I don't have any obligations to go anywhere. It's a good feeling. Tomorrow we have a scavenger hunt at church, where teams drive around the city taking pics of stuff. I'm excited. It should be fun. And I think we have a couple on our team that we just met, so it'll be fun getting to know them. Sunday we have church and that's it. Nice, relaxing weekend. Love it!

2009-05-31T16:17:00.003-04:00

We are on the last day of the month for my "May weight loss challenge". As of 2 days ago I had lost 7 lbs. As of this morning I had lost 6 lbs. Then we decided to do the final weigh in tomorrow morning. I was hoping for a day off, but I guess I have to work out today. :) I am very proud of myself. Usually when I try to set my mind on working out, I do it for about 2 weeks and stop. I was very good this month. I watched what I ate, mostly cut pop out and worked out a lot. I had one glass of pop at my Tastefully Simple Party and one in the middle of the month, and my stomach was NOT happy with me for that one. I have lost at least a 1/2 inch from all the areas I took measurements. Even if I'm not the winner, I'm proud of myself.

It's been a strange week this week. There are a lot of hurting people that I'm coming in contact with. I've been doing a lot of praying for other people. It's overwhelming at times, to feel the pain of other people. The strangest one for me...I have a friend who just found out her teenage daughter is pregnant. I'm not going to go into details, but it felt like a knife in my chest when I first heard it. It took my breath away. I saw the teenager today for the first time and was mad and jealous. Then mad at myself for being jealous of a 17 year old. Life just sucks sometimes, but I serve a God that cares about my emotions and helps me work through my anger and jealousy and most importantly, forgives me for that.

2009-05-08T18:40:00.002-04:00

There have been a few ladies from the church that have been working out together on Wednesdays. For the month of May we started a "May weight loss challenge". Our goal is to lose 10 lbs. The winner gets to pick where to go out to eat and the others have to treat her. I'm glad we are doing it, because it's actually motivating me to work at it. I was at a good weight during the first pregnancy, but then after the miscarriage I ate crap and loaded up on pop and gained 15 lbs back. If I lose 10 I'll be happy with my weight, since technically I'm considered overweight for my height. We are on day 8 now. I won't let myself get on the scale until the 15th, but I feel great. I've been working out everyday, haven't been drinking pop (had one at my Tastefully Simple Party and just felt guilty), not eating fast food, and cutting the bad-for-me sweets out. I'm trying to watch portions and eating small healthy things throughout the day. I also took body measurements, so if I don't lose the weight, I can at least see that I'm toning up. I started at 143.0, so I'll let you know what happens!

2009-04-24T09:06:00.002-04:00

I tend to always start these blogs out saying, "It's been forever since I wrote..." Then I think I will always do better, but that never happens. I am avoiding going to the grocery store and doing this instead. Isn't procrastination great? But I guess I'm doing something I need to do, so is it really procrastination?

Anyhoo...I guess I'll give a summery of what has been going on in my life for the past few months. It sure wasn't pretty. In January I found out I was pregnant again. Ryan and I were excited, but scared at the same time. There was constantly this sense of caution. It's really hard to explain. Looking back, were we not trusting God enough, or is that just a healthy emotional barrier that people put up when this has already happened to them? When I was about 6 weeks along I started bleeding and absolutely lost it emotionally. People kept saying that it could just be normal bleeding and everything could be alright, but I knew. We went to the doctor and had an ultrasound and everything looked normal. We saw the baby's heart beat. Ryan and I went out to celebrate afterward, but I still had a weird feeling. Then that evening I started cramping and the bleeding was worse and I knew that was it. I had gone into work the next day because I couldn't get into the doctor's until the day after that and I was a mess. At this point, the only person at work that knew was my co-worker Katy. Ryan was supposed to be at youth group that evening and I didn't want to be at home alone, so Katy was a great friend and invited me over to help keep my mind off of it. Once I got home I was in more pain, so Ryan canceled youth and came home to be with me. The next day I had an appointment. Our pastor's wife, Tish, came with us, since she is my North Carolina mom. It meant so much because she knew my mom would want to be here with us, but can't, so she would come with us. I couldn't see my own doctor. I had to see the most unsympathetic woman in the world, who confirmed that I did miscarry. I took a few days off to get my head straight. People said they could see a difference in my healing process between the last one and this one...that this one was faster. It may have been, but my hurt may have come out in different forms. At the same time I was majorly stressed and unhappy with work. I was a very bitter and cynical person. Talking to Tish, my emotions from the miscarriage could have been carried out in that fashion. I am trying to find ways to decrease my stress level at work and have been successful for the past 2 weeks or so. I was a mess two weeks ago at church. They had the baby dedication for two of my friends' babies. They had postponed it previously so the three of us could do the baby dedication together. I really didn't want to be there because all I kept thinking about was "what could have been." And to top it off, I ended up with a 24 hour stomach bug that day and was pretty sick when I got home. Good times.

The next step...I got a bunch of blood work done to make sure there isn't anything genetically wrong with me that is causing the miscarriages. Everything came out normal. Which I wasn't sure to be happy or not about. If something was abnormal, I would have at least had a reason for this happening. Instead I'm just one of those statistics that this happens to. So, when we're given the ok, we will try again. Please pray for us. We are still very scared. There is nothing more we want then to have a baby.

2009-03-02T20:36:00.002-05:00

We sang this song at church on Sunday and it really hit home with me. I'll explain later. Here's the song:

"Bring The Rain" by MercyMe

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You
Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain
So I pray

Holy, holy, holyIs the Lord God Almighty

2009-02-07T20:48:00.002-05:00

February 7th...today was supposed to be my due date. It's just been a wierd day. I haven't been overly sad, which is good. I'm just sort of "blah". I guess I'm trying not to think about it too much or think about "what could have been".

2009-01-31T09:26:00.002-05:00

Last weekend at church we had a Network seminar. Network is a program that helps you identify what your spiritual gift is, such as creative communication (worship band, drama, etc), intercession, mercy, teaching, etc. I found out that my top 3 were administration, hospitality, and helps. It wasn't that much of a surprise to have administration as my top one, since I love to organize and coordinate things. I also found that I'm a task structured person. There are 4 categories....people vs. task and structured vs unstructured. You can make 4 combos out of that. I focus mainly on the task at hand, and are very structured doing so. I also discovered that a passion of mine is getting new Christians plugged into Bible studies. When people first become Christians, they often don't get themselves plugged into Bible studies, probably because they don't know what to expect, are scared, etc. It's so important in their growth and we as a church aren't good about focusing in on those people. I also think we should be having GIGs (InterVarsity term for Groups Investigating God) for the non-Christians in our church, to have a safe and comfortable place for then to learn about who God is. For awhile I've been expressing this to leadership at church, but in a way felt guilty because I wanted it yet, was not willing to teach it. Through Network I realized teaching is not my gift so I shouldn't feel guilty for not leading it. I can take my gift of administration and help get these started and organize them. I am also going to help our assimilation pastor implement Network at our church. The goal is to get people through a 3 step process...first is a Bible study learning how to spend time with God, the second is learning about Jesus's characteristics and how to apply them to your life, and the third is Network. Once people complete Network we will be able to see what people's spiritual gifts are and be able to place them in tasks where they will flourish and be the most satisfied. I'm very excited about this because although I'm considered "leadership" at church, I often feel a disconnect since I can only be there 2 out of 4 Sundays a month. Some of the tasks I've been given can be easily done from home and I'm excited to do it.

Last night Ryan and I got to spend some time with our good friends Joylynn, Thor and Laura. Thor had a concert at a coffee shop so we went to that. Joy's such a good listener and let me vent about my job. It's been very frustrating, especially this past week. Decisions are being made about our animals that don't make any sense. I'm going to stop here since this a public blog and I don't want to get all worked up again. Ask me about it if you'd like. Today Joy is having tea party at her house. I'm super excited because she let me know she is making spring rolls. I'm going to go early and eat them all before everyone else gets there. :) I created a tea party hat yesterday. It's pretty funny. It'll be nice to hang out with the girls, even though I won't know most of them. Then tomorrow we are going to a friends house to watch the superbowl. Go Arizona! (I really don't care...I just say that because their quarterback openly talks about his faith and that's awesome).

2009-01-21T08:25:00.002-05:00

I know it's been forever since I wrote. Nobody probably checks this anymore since I'm so sporadic in writing. Below I posted this thing that is going around facebook. I normally don't do stuff like this, but it's been fun getting to know people better and allowing people to know me better. I had to write 25 things about myself...habits, goals, facts, etc. Here it is...

1. I have had a bad habit since I was little where I chew on the side of my cheek. It's gross and I make funny faces doing it.

2. I can never sleep with socks on because I have to put the edge of the sheet between my big toe and the next toe. Ryan and I have named it "my toe sheet".

3. I love living in North Carolina...my church, job, friends, house...but if I had the chance to move back to Minnesota and work with the dolphins again, I would move in a heartbeat.

4. There is nothing else I want more right now then to have a baby. I had a miscarriage this summer and it was the hardest thing Ryan and I have ever gone through.

5. I love to sleep. I always take a nap on my days off and my normal bedtime is 9:30.

6. I love games but I don't like losing. When I was little and would lose, I would take the game board and tip it upside down and spill all the pieces. And now I just won't play Canasta with Ryan because he beats me everytime.

7. I have been a Christian since 1998. I try everyday to love God by spending time with Him and following what He wants me to do. I try everyday to love people like He does. I find it much easier to love God then to love people.

8. Often time people don't like me when they first meet me. They often think I'm stuck up. I don't like hearing this. I tend to be very shy and I'm a very self-consious person, so when I first meet someone, I come across as stuck up. Usually once I warm up, people like me just fine, but I know there are those out there that don't like me even after they get to know me, but I'm ok with that.

9. I cry a lot. Especially in church. Often times I cry because I see someone else is hurting and crying. Sometimes I wonder if I've used up all my tears yet.

10. My worse fears are being in a fire, drowning, and getting into a car accident.

11. I was married when I was 19 years old, which most people think is crazy. Ryan and I prayed about it a lot and we knew it was what God wanted us to do. Eight years later we are happier then ever.

12. I wasn't your typical college student. In college I never went to a party where alcohol was served.

13. I had my belly button pierced in high school and my nose pierced in college. I had to take them out when I interned at Brookfield Zoo.

14. I am a cat person, not a dog person. I didn't want a dog, but my husband brought Leia home and she was so cute I couldn't send her back.

15. If I could have one talent, it would be to have a good singing voice. I would love to sing in a band.

16. I have a major crush on David Cook from American Idol.

17. When I'm camping I'll wash my plate and utensils in the lake with sand, but at home I freak out if someone washes my plate with the sponge and not the clean dish rag.

18. I am a neat freak. I will let the house get somewhat cluttered, and then flip out that it's a mess and usually take it out on poor Ryan. I don't know how he puts up with me.

19. I can't stand it when people think they know what they are talking about, but in reality they are just making stuff up and want to hear thier own voices and get the last word in.

20. I started going to college to be an elementary teacher. I've always loved dolphins and whales and one day my best bud, Allyn, said "why don't you work with them?" So I investigated it and here I am today. Thanks, Als!

21. I would much rather stay at home then to go out. I am completely content hanging out in my pj's, watching tv or reading a book. I hate weeks where I have stuff planned every night.

22. My dream would be to be a stay at home mom until my kids go to school and then go back to working at the zoo with marine mammals. But...1. The likelyhood of me getting my job back would be slim to none after being out of the field for so long. 2. We couldn't afford it.

23. Finanical Peace University, a course taught by Dave Ramsey completely changed our lives. We are getting out of debt and are on a good path financially. I recommend it to everyone!

24. I love to eat. I have no self-control when it comes to food.

25. I am obsessed with Beverly Hills 90210. I watched it growing up. I have the first 4 seasons on DVD. I watch the new 90210. Growing up, when we would play house or school or whatever, I was always "Kelly Taylor" and Melissa was "Brenda Walsh". I wanted to be Kelly Taylor. Now Lauren Conrad is my new Kelly Taylor.

2008-11-26T21:04:00.002-05:00

A few things I'm thankful for...
A: Air to breathe
B: Back tickles
C: Church, caramel apple cider, creativity
D:Dad
E: Energy
F: Family,Friends, food
G: Grace
H: Holy Spirit, House, Health
I: Ideas, ice cream
J: Jesus, Josh
K: Kindness, Knowledge, Kisses
L: Laughter, Love, Life
M: Mom, money, memories
N: New beginnings
O: Old friends
P: Pets
Q: Quiet
R: Ryan
S: Sleeping, sunshine, sleeping in the sunshine, smelly candles
T: Transportation
U: Unconditional love
V: Vision, vacations
W: Water
X: Xyanthopyll (causes leaves to change color in fall)
Y: You for reading this
Z: Zoos

2008-11-08T17:18:00.002-05:00

Cards, cards, and more cards...At the beginning of December we are having an employee craft and bake sale at work. My co-worker talked me into selling my hand-made cards, so I've been a busy beaver mass producing cards. I'm still at the point where I am enjoying it, which is important. I signed up with less then a month to work, so I guess I can only blame myself.

We paid off Ryan's car!!! It felt good and bad to write that check. Bad because it was a good chunk leaving our bank account, but good because we are making visual process toward being debt free. I recommend Financial Peace University to everyone. (I think people at work are getting tired of me talking about it)

2008-10-26T17:49:00.002-04:00

I am still loving the Financial Peace University class. We recently had a week about dumping debt which got me all pumped up, ready to pay of our debts (car loans and school loans). With the plan we can be debt free in 4 years (this isn't including the house). Sounds better then paying school loans for 10 more years. Our budget this month has gone well. There were a few things we forgot to budget for, such as pet supplies. Sorry, Leia, you can't eat this month. :) We were able to work it out though.

A few weeks ago we took the youth group to the Dixie Classic Fair. My friend and co-worker Kelly went with us as well. First we ate food. Then we rode a ride in the rain. Then we ate more food. Then we went to the Mandisa and Matthew West concert. Not a fan of Mandisa but she did do some fun old classic songs like "Stop in the Name of Love" and "Respect". Kelly and I had a blast. There are pictures to prove it, but I have yet to see them. Then Matthew West performed. I hadn't really heard of him before, but we decided to go up front since he was a cutie. So we grabbed the girls from youth group and headed up there. We were in the 2nd row. Kelly and I were acting like we were 12. We had a blast! Then Matthew jumped off stage and landed next to Kelly and I. She rubs his arm raw, I just touch his arm. Crazy girls. Oh wait, it wasn't just us girls. Zack and Chris did it too! After the concert Kelly and I said "This will not be the night that we remember being cold and wet. This is the night we were 12 again."

I found out my mom is coming in December to visit! I am so excited!!!! The Angel family Christmas party is the first weekend, so we'll drive up to Maryland together. I can't wait!!!

2008-09-26T19:02:00.002-04:00

At church Ryan and I are taking Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University seminar. Each week we watch a DVD with the lesson, then have a discussion with a group of about 20 people. During the week there is "homework" to do. We have only taken the class for 2 weeks now, but I have realized how blessed Ryan and I are when it comes to money. Don't know what we are doing right, but we must be doing something right. The class talks about baby step #1 is to set up an emergency fund of $1000. Ryan and I have never not had at least that amount in the bank. We have never had to live paycheck to paycheck.There are people in the class that say they don't even know how they can save $1 a month to put towards the emergency fund because every penny goes to bills. That's insane to me. But on the other hand, there is probably one thing they could find that they could do without for that month. Ryan and I have lived a lifestyle where if we want it, we get it. Now I'm not saying that is good. We want to be able to manage our finances so we have a lot saved up for retirement, emergencies, etc. I'm not saying I don't want to not spend my money on anything fun anymore. We just want to be good stewards of our money, so we will be putting ourselves on a budget each month. It'll be hard for me to get in that mindset again. We had an "allowance" in college. If I wanted McDonald's at the end of the month, but only had $1 in my allowance, yet we still had money, no McDonalds. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bragging here, but it has made me greatful.

2008-09-20T09:41:00.000-04:00

Happy birthday to Ryan! He turned the big 3-0 today. Yesterday we went to Raleigh for a Jars of Clay, Switchfoot and Third Day concert. There was another band too, but I can't remember their name. I wasn't impressed anyway. The concerts were very good. Unfortunately we missed some of Jars of Clay, because they started at 6:00 and we got there a little late because we both had to work and it was a 2 hour drive. It was cool seeing these 3 bands together, because they were all some of the first bands that I listened to when I became a Christian, so they had a huge influence on my faith. And it's cool that 10 years later, they still do. The venue was cool. It was an outdoor pavilion, some of which had a roof over it. We were at the point where the roof stopped and it was just open air behind us. There was a section where you could find a place in this huge grassy area, but we ended up getting tickets with an actual seat. It reminded me a lot of Cornerstone. Being out with the stars above you, breeze blowing, and rocking out to some awesome music. I miss Cornerstone. Maybe someday I'll be back.

As for me personally, I'm doing fine. God has really healed me and I'm very thankful for that. I still have my moments, but I'm sure that will always be there. I know God knows that my #1 desire is to have a baby. I want to be a mom so bad. It'll happen someday.

2008-07-27T00:16:00.002-04:00

So here is what is going on in my life. I was pregnant. I am no longer pregnant. Ryan and I started trying in May and we got pregnant in May. We couldn't believe how fast it happened. We were so excited. I enjoyed being pregnant. For a few weeks I did hate food, and for me that is just crazy. I felt sick in the evenings. After that went away I was feeling great. I'd get tired, but feeling great. I remember even saying to people, "When I felt sick, my body was at least giving me a sign that I am pregnant. Now that I feel good and aren't showing yet, it is kinda scary because there is no real indication that I am pregnant." Little did I know... Even though it is really hard right now, I don't want to forget that joy Ryan and I had for our first pregnancy. The night we found out we were pregnant I heard David Cook's song "time of our lives" and thought just that, that this is the time of our lives. Ryan treated me like a princess. He kissed my belly every night and said goodnight to the baby.

So this is what happened...We are currently in Minnesota visiting family. Mom and Josh came down for a few days, and dad came down as well. I got to see my 2 year old niece a ton. She is the cutest thing on this planet. We went to a Twin's game, lots of shopping, Science Museum, the zoo, etc. I even had a surprise baby shower. On Wednesday and Thursday I had some light bleeding. I called the doctor and they said I shouldn't be alarmed and many women bleed some. I should go to the hospital if the bleeding increases or if I get heavy cramping. We were going to Ryan's grandpa's house 3 hours away from the cities. We were a few minutes away from grandpa's house and I felt heavy bleeding. I checked it out and told Ryan we needed to go to the hospital. So we went to the ER because OB wouldn't see me because I was only 12 weeks. They did an exam, ultrasounds, and blood work. After 3 hours of being there, the doctor came in and told us the bad news. I have what is called a "blighted ovum". It is when the egg is fertilized and develops into an embryo, but then gets absorbed by the uterus. The gestational sac where the baby would be and the placenta still develop. However the sac is empty since the baby never really grew. They detected this on the ultrasound. The sac is about the size that it would be at 7 weeks of pregnancy. And to make matters worse, this is only the beginning of my miscarriage. I still have to get rid of that sac and placenta. Hopefully my body does it naturally so I don't need a procedure to do it. The doctor said to expect a lot of bleeding and cramping. I got some pain meds from him. I just want it to be over.

People keep asking how I'm doing. It's such a funny question. Do they really want to know how I'm doing? I just lost my first baby. I was fooled for 3 months that I was pregnant, when really I may have only been for a very short while. I kept telling Ryan "I just want to go home." Which is true. I want my kitties to snuggle. I want my own bed. I want to be able to escape if I want to. However, tonight was ok. We had the whole Monson clan here for dinner and I was able to get my mind off of it some. It's hard when I have to see people for the first time since they found out, it's hard e-mailing people, it's hard to see the baby gifts I received. I will make it though. I will be stronger because of it. I really am not looking forward to going to work again. It will be hard to see my friends there. I know they support me, but again, it's just hard to see people. I don't want to call my dad on Monday. I know what it is like to feel other people's pain, and I don't want people to feel pain because of what Ryan and I are going through. Sometimes compassion sucks. I love my family and friends to death and I know they love me. I have been so blessed with them and we will get tons of support from them. There are still other people we have to tell. I hate telling people. I know Ryan and I debated who we were going to tell we were pregnant and when. Our reasoning was to tell family, friends, and church, because if something bad did happen, we would want their support. And we do, however, when we are pregnant again, I'm not sure how we are going to go about doing it. Having to tell people that you lost your baby is one of the hardest things I had to do.

Please pray for us. God will heal us over time. I have no doubt about that.

2008-06-09T19:33:00.002-04:00

I know it has been months. I apologize to the 2 of you that may check this and who continue to find it never updated. As I have said before, I just haven't felt like writing anything. Life has had some ups and downs lately, but I will be vague and for that I apologize as well. I guess I just don't feel like putting everything out there for the world to see sometimes. As for the "ups" in my life right now, at some point, hopefully soon, I will elaborate more. So you guys will have something to look forward to. Until next time...

2008-03-22T16:00:00.002-04:00

What a beautiful day. It is in the mid-70's today and sunny. Ryan and I have been outside for a few hours doing yardwork, which I am surprisingly enjoying. It is probably because it is such a nice day, so doing anything outside would be pleasant.

2008-03-12T09:52:00.002-04:00

Leia is still doing good. Potty training is time consuming. It is discouraging hearing that a lot of puppies aren't fully trained until they are a year old. We are using a crate, which is helping a whole lot. When we got her she was 4 pounds. Now she is 6.6 lbs. She can climb up the stairs of the porch now. Our little girl is growing up so fast :)

2008-03-03T14:20:00.002-05:00

I know it was been forever. For some reason, I haven't had any desire to write on here. Let's see if I can remember some highlights.

We got a puppy. Her name is Leia. She is 6 weeks old and since she's so young, the breed is uncertain. We think she is 1/2 golden retriever, 1/2 something else. We got her on Friday, so we are still learning. She is quite the handful, but a ton of fun too.

Work has been good. For the first time since Sept. all of our animals are in their normal exhibits and everything is "back to normal". We had some construction going on, which threw stuff off for quite a long time.

It's pathetic, but I really can't think of anything else that has been going on. I'm sure there is, but again, I just don't feel like writing on this thing. :( I'm a bum. Time for me to get come cleaning done while the puppy is actually sleeping.

2008-01-13T18:53:00.000-05:00

We got to go to Hancock for Christmas this year. It was a bumpy start, but we had a great time. Our plane left Greensboro on Christmas Eve. We arrived in Detroit in the morning to catch our flight, however they informed us that we wouldn't be getting on that flight and that we couldn't get to Marquette until the next morning (Christmas). What? Because of the cold weather in Marquette they had to put extra fuel on the plane, therefor bumping 8 people off the flight. At least they treated us well. We got free tickets to use later, a hotel room and lots of food vouchers. There were 6 of us that wanted to rent a van together and drive up to Marquette, but it would have cost way too much. Crazy what you will do when you are desperate to get home for Christmas. I was very upset. I just wanted to be home. I fought the tears in the airport, but then as soon as we got to the hotel I broke down. We did get to see Phil and Sandy. They picked us up at the hotel and went out to lunch. I went to bed at 6:00 that night so I didn't have to think about it. We had no problems getting out the next morning. We had a delicious Christmas breakfast at the airport and headed to Marquette. Dad was there waiting for us at the airport and drove us back home. Josh and Amy were at the house waiting for us. (Gracie too). Mom was at work so we headed to the hospital to see her. When she got home we celebrated Christmas. The next day we went out to dad's to celebrate. We went snowshoeing, ate a lot of food, had hot cider, played with the doggies, etc. There is always something special about dad's. I can't explain it. Maybe Josh knows what I'm talking about. The rest of the week was good. I got to hang out a lot with Josh and Amy. We ate at my favorite restaurant and ate my favorite pizza. Josh's band, Senator Dexter, played at a bar. It was really fun seeing them play, even if it was a lot different than it used to be. There were a lot of familiar songs and they played my favorite. It was so nice to be home for Christmas. Who knows when I'll be able to again.

I got promoted at work! Since my supervisor retired this summer, my co-worker got his position, opening up a Keeper II position. I had applied and had an interview in December. I found out on Wednesday. For the most part my job is the same except more responsibility...training people, making sure tasks get done, etc.

2007-12-20T20:49:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a long time. Let's see...what happened over the past month? My birthday was Nov. 16th. I had to work on my b-day, but afterwards we went out dinner with some of my co-workers. On the 17th we went to a Casting Crowns concert. I wasn't sure how much we would like it, but we really enjoyed it. And thanks to Chris and Tish, we had great seats. Ryan's parents came that night for a week. We did some shopping, went to Duke University in Durham, played a lot of cards, baked cookies, and ate a lot. They were here over Thanksgiving. I worked so Ryan and his parents cooked. We also had friends over as well, so they helped with the cooking. We had 12 people over and it was a blast! I love having parties at our new house. We don't have place settings for 12 people, but who cares if you have to eat off paper plates on Thanksgiving! It was great to have them over. We love visitors!

The beginning of this month we went to Maryland for a weekend for the Angel Christmas party. It was so great to see everyone. This was the first year that Ryan and I got to go. And it was the first time he got to meet some of the family. We stayed at Jerri's.

We have been busy getting ready for Christmas. There has been Christmas parties, Christmas shopping, lots of cookies (almost to the point where I never want to eat a cookie again). On the 24th we are heading home to Hancock and I can't wait!

2007-11-12T21:34:00.000-05:00

This past weekend my mom came to visit. Her plane arrived on Thursday afternoon. What I like about the Greensboro airport is you can pay $ .25 per 15 min to park, then go in the airport to wait for the people to deplane. It is so much more exciting seeing them walk down the hall and greeting them in the airport, then driving around and picking them up at the curb. We went to Ryan's school, TJ Maxx, and then out to eat at McAlister's Deli. On Friday I took her to the zoo, then that evening we headed to Bat Cave, NC. We got a cabin and a campground there. We roasted hotdogs over a fire and just relaxed. The next day we went to Chimney Rock and hiked the long/strenuous trail, which isn't too bad once you get past the first 15 minutes. It was the film site of "Last of the Mohicans" so that night we rented it and got to say "we were there!" In Chimney Rock we bummed around the stores and ate some good ole' Southern cooking. Sunday we went to church and then out to eat with people from church. One night we watched "Mean Girls". Tuesday we went out to eat and hit the mall and a few stores. I took the day off on Wednesday to take her to the airport. It was sad to say goodbye, like always.

Ryan and I had a few busy days. On Friday we had youth group. We did a "video blast" night with video games for the kids to play. It was a hit and the adults had fun too! Saturday we went to my co-worker's Katy's for dinner and to play cards, and of course play with her 5 week old baby. It sure makes me have the baby itch. :) Last night we had a potluck (or covered dish as they call it in the south) with the church. It's always great to just get together since we don't do it as often as we used to when we met on Sat. nights. Ryan and I had the day off together today. We slept in, went to Saw IV, bought a lawn mower, caught up on tv shows, and baked. I love having days off together.

2007-10-31T20:58:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween! We had our first Halloween in our new house. We had all the Halloween decorations on, candles lit, and actually had more than 2 trick-or-treaters. Since we've always lived in apartments together, we never got that many kids, but tonight we got a good number. We watched Charlie Brown's and Garfield's Halloween specials and snuggled on the couch.

Tomorrow my mom comes to visit!

2007-10-28T19:00:00.000-04:00

This past week my dad came to visit. I had to work on Monday but took off an hour early to pick him up at the airport. Once I got him we went to Ryan's school so dad could see that. We then ate at a Japanese steakhouse. Lots of good food. There was a cute little boy that sat at our table that keep telling the chef, "you are a good chef and a good magician." He was really funny. On Tuesday my dad and I headed to Hanging Rock State Park in Danbury, NC. We hiked the longest and most strenuous hike at 4.2 miles. 1.2 of that being up the mountain. We got to the top to see the wonderful sight from the mountaintop and.....it was all foggy. :( At least we got some good exercise. We did see some good rocks that my dad drooled at since he wanted to climb them. We hiked down the mountain and had a nice lunch and headed home. That night Ryan grilled in the rain. We couldn't complain about the rain because we were in the worst drought in NC history. Then we watched a movie. On Wednesday I took my dad to the zoo where we had a good time. Toward the end it started pouring on us. That evening we just hung around the house and talked. On Thursday I had to head to work so Ryan took dad to the airport. We had a great time and I'm very glad he was able to come and visit. My mom is coming next weekend I am very much looking forward to that.

2007-10-20T06:05:00.000-04:00

In the chuch bulletin, the pastor's wife put in a journal entry of her son, Greg, who passed away the end of September. I have a previous post about it if you need an update. It was one of the last entries in his journal:

"...Lord please help me to stay focused on you and give me the strength to go on. With all the crap in my life it is hard to remember the 2nd coming and that someday you will bring me home. I know I need to keep my eyes on this....WOW, how Awesome to know that one day I will have no more sadness, no more crying and no more FEARS!!!!!"

Greg now has no more sadness, crying or fears. It is a blessing knowing where he is, but there is obviously still a lot of sadness. Please continue to pray for his family, friends, and church.

2007-10-04T10:02:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Ryan and I took the youth group to the Dixie Classic Fair. Barlow Girl, a Christian band made up of 3 sisters, was playing at the fair. The concert was really good. The boys in the youth group were pretty skeptical of the concert at first, but walked away impressed at how those girls can rock out. The youth went on some rides. Ryan and I just watched them get dizzy and queasy. There were "fireworks" which were pretty pathetic, but Josh B. and Amber Q. screamed for each one, like it was the best thing they have ever seen. We had a lot of strange looks shot our way, but hey, they were having fun. Then Josh B. and Ryan would randomly run up to food vendors and yell "turkey legs rock!". Good times. Please pray for Ryan and I and the youth group. We have been temporarily taking over, but have not made a commitment for the youth group because we don't know yet if that is what God wants us to do. Please pray for discernment in this situation so Ryan and I will know either way if we should commit, or just continue being the interim youth group leaders. Any advise or insight would be greatly appreciated.

2007-10-01T14:42:00.001-04:00

I had a friend pass away this past week. His name is Greg, and Ryan and I knew him from church here in NC. His dad is our pastor. He died in a fire on Wednesday night. I just got back from the funeral. I've been to a few funerals, but they've all been grandparents. In a way you "expect" those, but this is someone who is my age. How can you prepare for something like that? This was the hardest funeral that I've been to. There has been a lot of tears shed from everyone. I remember at my grandma's funeral, my dad and I were at the casket together and he said, "This is normal. Going to your parent's funeral. It's expected. What's not normal is if I lost one of you." That's one of the hardest things about this. This parents, Chris and Tish. They have been through so much in thier lives. It sometimes seems like a black cloud is following them around at all times. But I have never met people so focused on God and His direction for thier lives. Each tragedy they have dealt with while focused on Christ. And they are so open about thier lives and what they've gone through. We always joke that they are our "North Carolina parents" since we don't have family here. And when we have children they are our designated "North Carolina Grandparents". They are always sending us home with food when we go to their house. It's just hard to see them suffering through another thing. Greg was going through a rough time in his life and he cut out a lot of friends during this period, so Ryan and I haven't talked to him in awhile. In a way for me that is good, because the memories I have were of the good, funny, sober Greg. But as much as he was recently going through, there is no doubt in my mind that he is in Heaven with Christ right now. He knew Christ, and followed Him, but was just in a rough patch of his walk. Greg was passionate about the teens at our church, but once he started drinking, he had to stop leading youth group. Since that time Ryan and I have been helping with the teens. We were really concerned about them because they loved Greg a lot. The last time we met with the teens we were talking about things they wanted to do. One of those was to do something for Greg in this difficult time. They did take is death hard, and it was hard to see them hurting so much. Greg wanted the teens to see the mistakes he had made in the past and how you can overcome them, but unfortunately he slipped back into that lifestyle. Ryan was a pallbearer, which was truely an honor. When Chris had asked him he said something along the lines of, "I know you and Greg weren't really good friends yet, but I would've liked you to have been." They had a slide show at the end of the funeral with pictures of Greg. There was a picture from last Christmas with me, Ryan, Greg, and his wife, Danielle. It was the only picture in that slideshow that didn't have family in it, so again, we were honored to be apart of the "family". My head hurts from crying and my eyes are tired. On Saturday we went to Chris and Tish's house to spend some time with them. That was hard because you are always concerned about "what do I say", etc. I knew we needed to go. Tish does better surrounded by people and we know it would mean a lot if we went. So we pushed our stupid selfish reasons aside and visited them. On Sunday they had the visitation. It was a closed casket due to the fire but there were pictures all over of Greg, showing of his personality. Today was the funeral, then grave site service, and then a lunch at the church. Again, it was so hard to see the family...parents, wife, siblings. I was hurting but couldn't even image what they were going through. I am grateful for my family, my heath (physical and mental), my friends, my church, my job, my house, my food, the clothes on my back. This was a good reminder of the things I have and how it can be gone in a heartbeat so don't take it for granted. I am thankful that Greg knew Christ. His life isn't over. He's probably having a party with Jesus right now, filling up the room like he always did. You will be missed, Greg, but we will see you again someday. I'll never forget your chinchilla impression.

2007-09-23T21:14:00.000-04:00

Living Room 1

2007-09-23T21:12:00.000-04:00

Living Room 2

2007-09-23T21:11:00.000-04:00

Kitchen

2007-09-23T21:09:00.000-04:00

Outside before landscaping was done and before porch was on. I realized I don't have an updated photo of the front of the house.

2007-09-23T11:01:00.001-04:00

I'm still going to be posting house pictures. It's on my to do list for the weekend to download my pics on the computer, so they are still coming.

2007-09-23T10:41:00.000-04:00

Things at the house are still going great. A few weeks ago we had a house warming party with people from church. We grilled out and had a ton of awesome food and good times. Everyone kept asking which room would be the baby's room. I'm not pregnant yet, people! We will be having another party the beginning of Oct. for our co-workers. We FINALLY have internet and cable. And some of our grass started growing in because it rained for the first time in a long time last weekend. I'm afraid it's going to fry today because it is supposed to be 94 degrees. At least the yard has shade part of the day.

We went to MN last weekend for Chad and Sarah's wedding. I was sick throughout part of the vacation, but we still had a good time. I got to visit the MN Zoo and see old co-workers and animals. I also got to see their new sea otters which are still in a back holding area. I also visited the Como Zoo and got to meet the marine mammal keepers, go out for a seal/sea lion training session and see a polar bear training session. Pretty cool. We also got to see a bunch of family and friends. Of course my favorite part was seeing my niece, Hailey. She is the cutest! She's such a well behaved child. And her smile is priceless. She scrunches up her little nose. We also got to see Chad and Sarah's newly remodeled house. It looks great and now it looks like a female lives there instead of 3 guys.

Work has been a bit stressful, but it is finally getting better. I have been hesitant to write about work stuff here because there is another blog that seems to find quotes from zookeeper's blogs and post them on his with a link. That just frightens me. If you're curious, just e-mail me.

2007-09-06T22:49:00.000-04:00

Sorry it's been so long since I updated. A lot has happened since the last time I wrote. We moved out of our apartment and into our new house! We closed on Aug. 23rd and that evening Ryan and I loaded the moving van with our boxes and moved the first load over. Friday we didn't move anything to the house, just packed up the rest of the apartment. On Saturday I had to work, but Ryan had about 8 friends come and help us move the rest of the stuff. It was nice to come home from work and have everything moved in and in the correct room. It's been almost 2 weeks and the only thing left to put away are knick-knacks and then hanging pictures on the wall. We are having a house warming party on Saturday with people from church, so it'll be all done by then. It has been a lot of fun getting everything situated. A lot of work, but its OUR house, which is crazy. The cats are getting used to it. Triton still freaks out a bit when he hears different noises. We got a grill and have enjoyed it for two nights so far. On Labor Day a co-worker and her husband came over for grilling. Yummy stuff. I am now on my much needed 4 day weekend. Oh, the reason I haven't updated for so long is technically we don't have internet at our house yet, but we are able to feed off of someone else's in the neighborhood until we get our cable and internet. And for some strange reason blogger doesn't work at work. Anyway, I will be posting pictures soon.

2007-08-17T20:13:00.001-04:00

I just played volleyball for a good 2 hours in 90-95 degree heat. Some may call it crazy, however, I call it pure insanity. There was an open house/party for the opening of the new elephant barn at the zoo. Us crazy Rocky Coasters plus a crazy Sonora Deserter scarfed down a hotdog and hit the court immediately. I was only planning on staying an hour or so...two and a half hours later, I was still covered in sweat and sand on the court. I loved it!

2007-08-15T19:25:00.001-04:00

I can't wait to move out of our apartment. I was walking in the other day, looking at this gross milk jug that holds everyone's cigarettes and loose garbage, and thought, "I don't have to deal with this apartment living anymore." I don't have to hope for a close parking spot, or smell nasty cigarette smoke when I leave my apartment, or hear neighbors upstairs, etc. Don't get me wrong, this apartment has been great and has been the nicest apartment that Ryan and I have had, which we are grateful for. However, we are getting tired of the apartment life, since we've done it for 6 years. We can't wait to move into our own house, with our own parking spots, where I don't have to worry about the neighbors below when I play Dance Dance Revolution, and where I will never have to smell cigarette smoke.

2007-08-13T18:45:00.000-04:00

Ryan and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary on Saturday. 6 years! That's pretty impressive. I was thinking just how long that is. When you think of your years from first to sixth grade, or seventh to twelfth, that is a huge chunk of time. And that's how long we've been married. On our actual anniversary we headed to Fayetteville with Joy and Thor to visit Laura and Krista Griffin. We ate a lot of good food, played some games, went swimming, and had some good old catch up time. Then on Sunday after church Ryan and I had some time together, watching movies, packing, and just hanging out together. It was a low-key anniversary celebration, but it was perfect.

2007-07-31T22:37:00.000-04:00

I just got back from a very relaxing day on Lake Norman which is near Charlotte. A co-worker, Katy's, family rented a BEAUTIFUL house on the lake, and Katy invited me there for the day. I arrived around 11 and left around 9. We went out on the boat, layed on floaties in the water, ate a lot of good food, and played Bag-O (where you throw the bean bag in the hole). Katy and I were the champions!

Ryan and I watched King Kong yesterday and today. I'll have to say it's one of the most absurd movies I've ever seen. I don't know if Peter Jackson was intending it to be that way. It was a struggle to get through it. When characters do things that would kill them about 500 times, it gets a little old.

I was very excited because season 2 of Beverly Hills 90210 came out on DVD and I got it. Now, you may be thinking that 90210 is just as absurd or even more so then King Kong, but you are wrong. (I'll just keep telling myself that). It was my favorite show growing up. I was obsessed you could say so it brings back lots of good memories. And I got to meet Gabrielle Carteris (Andrea) from the show which I thought was pretty cool. Growing up I had a wall covered in 90210 posters, so to meet someone that you watched weekly and covered your walls was cool.

House is looking great! I'll post pictures once I load them on the computer. We started packing up some stuff in our apartment.

I started reading Harry Potter 7 but I'm not as far as I would like. Things keep coming up which prevent me from reading. I was hoping for a big long stretch of time to just sit and read, but that hasn't happened in a week. What can I say? I'm a busy gal.

Ryan lost his luggage when he went to MN but it came in the mail yesterday. Hooray! There was some valuable (not $, but personally) stuff in there. Nothing was missing.

2007-07-18T17:39:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I had Thurs through Sunday off. On Friday morning Ryan and I headed to the coast of North Carolina. We got to Carolina Beach around noon and laid on the beach for a few hours. It was windy which made it perfect, otherwise it would have been WAY too hot. The water felt perfect. We stopped at a few "beach stores" but didn't buy anything. Then we headed to Wilmington, NC, which is about 30 min or so from the beach we were at. I am a huge Dawson's Creek fan, so I was being a dork and wanted to see sights from the show. We saw Capeside High (actually a college) We weren't planning on going into town that afternoon, but we decided to drive through to check it out. The street next to the river was blocked off and there were vendors and stuff there so we checked that out. Apparently it was a Led Zeppelin cover band, but we didn't care about that so we walked around some more. Then we ate at Hell's Kitchen which was were Joey worked in college in Dawson's. We also saw the wall Pacey bought and painted for Joey and walked on the main boardwalk that is in the show a lot. The next morning we headed downtown again and ate at Leery's Fresh Fish (not called that anymore) and saw some more little stores and stuff that were used in the show. We took a boat over to the other side of the river and toured the USS North Carolina, a battleship used in WWII. Amazing how big it is, but I'm sure it felt super small with all those men on it. The self-guided tour brought you through a lot of the boat. It was cool to see but by the end I was really hot and tired from walking around everywhere. (wimp) Stupid me forgot my camera on this trip so I don't have pics except for on my phone. It was a cute town and I'm sure we'll be back some time because there was a lot still to see.

The progress on the house is going great. I stopped by today. I hadn't been there for about a week and a half. All of the siding is up and our shutters are up too. The sheet rock is up in the house and the ceiling was finished today. The will finish sanding the sheet rock, clean up the floor and then install our vinyl then cupboards in the kitchen. Our stone on the outside of the house should be started tomorrow. Unfortunately Ryan has the camera in MN so I couldn't take a picture today. We are trying to get pictures each time we go so we can track the progress. He'll be back next week so we'll go out then and get pictures. It looks great! I can't wait to move in!

2007-07-03T19:37:00.000-04:00

Sleepy Willie

2007-07-03T19:35:00.000-04:00

Me with my Abby girl

2007-07-03T19:34:00.000-04:00

Cute, but sassy, Vixen

2007-07-03T19:32:00.000-04:00

My pretty fox, Mystic

2007-07-03T19:27:00.000-04:00

We did it! Ryan and I bought a house! It isn't the first one we were going to get, because we had major issues with the company and we didn't want to deal with them for 4 months while our house was being built. So, this one is it! We love it! It is located between my job and Ryan's job. It is in a nice neighborhood on a caul-de-sac. There are woods behind the house. It is two story, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms. We will be able to move in the end of August or beginning of September.

Things here are good. Nothing much is going on, which is a nice break. I've been really tired lately. Not sure why. I'm usually falling asleep at like 8:00, which is pathetic. I have three days off for the 4th of July holiday. On the 4th we are going to a Greensboro Grasshopper's baseball game. They aren't the Minnesota Twins, but I'm sure we'll still have fun. Tonight we are going to see Disterbia in the $2 theatre in town. We've been watching a ton of movies because Ryan did the Blockbuster on-line for the summer. Problem is, I fall asleep through most of them. :)

2007-07-03T19:24:00.000-04:00

Our new house!

2007-07-03T19:23:00.000-04:00

2007-06-19T20:10:00.000-04:00

You will be greatly missed, Jersey Boy.

2007-06-19T20:09:00.001-04:00

You will be greatly missed, Masha Bear.

2007-06-11T05:50:00.000-04:00

My stress level right now is probably at an all time high. Yesterday our seal died. A co-worker and I found him about the same time. We only had him for a month and a half. It was amazing to see him progress in his training. Since he was a wild animal, he would first snap at us when eating. Eventually he learned how to take fish from us nice and calmly. We also trained him to target, which is basically touching a buoy on the end of a stick with his nose. He was doing so well with it. I remember one of the last times I fed him and I was thinking how cool it was to see how this wild animal is learning and beginning to form a relationship with me. You will be greatly misses, Jersey boy. We also have another pretty sick animal in my dept. along with issues with almost every animal we have. Not only is work stressful, but we are having major issues with the house we want to buy. Well, not the house itself but the company. And to top it off, this stress is causing some physical issues to me, which is causing me more stress. Will it ever end? I ask that question, but I know it will. Just please pray for me so I don't have a mental breakdown.

2007-05-27T22:29:00.001-04:00

This is the house we are looking to buy. The only difference is we wouldn't get the brick accent on the front and we would get a country porch, which extends infront of the front window.

2007-05-27T22:27:00.000-04:00

This is the floorplan of the house we are hopefully going to buy. It is in the works.

2007-05-27T15:43:00.000-04:00

Update time...two weeks ago Ryan and I headed to Michigan. We stayed with Tech friends, Phil and Sandy, for two nights. We ate good food, played boccie ball, played cards, and played a lot of Nintendo Wii. Good times. On Friday we headed to the hotel in Auburn Hills for Joy and Thor's wedding. Friday night I hung out with the girls in Joy's hotel room. I got to see a lot of dear friends from CMU that I haven't seen for a long time. Ryan hung out with Thor and saw a band. Saturday was Joy and Thor's big day. She was beautiful of course. The wedding was flawless. The reception had good food and good company. We will be heading back to Michigan in a few weeks for Allyn and Paul's wedding. :)

It is Memorial Day weekend. The weather is wonderful. High 80's. Ryan and I have been spending some time at the pool. We also saw Pirates of the Caribbean 3. I love the south...I get to go swimming in May!

2007-05-07T18:00:00.000-04:00

I know it's been a long time. Work is going great. I love my new job! I'm learning stuff everyday. I will start doing behaviors with the bears tomorrow, but have already learned to feed them, service their exhibit, etc. I just learned the routine for foxes last week. I am learning behaviors for the female sea lion as I go. I know most of them now. She's a lot of fun to work. And...we got a new harp seal last week! He was a rescue animal from New Jersey that couldn't be released in the wild. I got to work with him yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The four of us at work take turns. We work him about 3 days in a row, four sessions a day. Since he was a wild animal, everything is from scratch. Even hand feeding him took him a bit to get used to. We are training some basic behaviors, such as following us, going in the pool on command, and using a target pole. He follows us like a shadow when we are in his area. He loves his fish!

This weekend we are heading to Michigan for Joy and Thor's wedding! I am excited that I was able to rearrange my schedule so I could go. Ryan and I are driving up Thursday and will return home on Sunday. I'm also very excited because I get to see dear college friends that I haven't seen in over 2 years! Hooray for weddings!

2007-04-15T08:40:00.000-04:00

This is Willie...he's always playing.

2007-04-15T08:37:00.001-04:00

These are the sea lions I am working with.

2007-04-15T08:35:00.000-04:00

This is one of the 3 arctic foxes I am working with.

2007-04-15T08:33:00.000-04:00

These are the polar bears I am working with: Willie and Masha

2007-04-06T17:51:00.000-04:00

Great news! I got a permanent, full-time job at the zoo. I will now be a Zookeeper 1 at Rocky Coast Mammals, working with Sea Lions, Polar Bears, and Arctic Foxes. I am SO excited about it. I start there on Monday. I will be back and forth between there and Puffin for this month, since Puffin still needs my help. It's amazing how God works because a few months ago I was very upset because I couldn't even interview for the position at the Pavilion because I didn't have enough bird and reptile experience. If I could have interview, I probably had a good chance at getting the job since I was already working there. However, I couldn't even interview, meaning I couldn't even be considered for the position. Then at the beginning of March a position at Rocky Coast opened so I applied and it was offered to me on Wednesday. God is good. And it's not just that it's a permanent job, but it is a permanent job in the department of the zoo that was my first choice. I'm very excited. I know I said that already, but I am. I've been waiting a long time for a permanent position. I am proud of myself. I worked hard for this.

2007-03-26T19:19:00.000-04:00

You know when you are sleeping and you wake up and say something that makes no sense at all? It's not that you are talking in your sleep...you are awake, but just really out of it? Well, last night I apparently thought I knew what I was talking about when Ryan came to bed and I said to him "How many Puffin packages did we get? I swear I'm making sense." Then I paused a bit and thought about what I asked and added. "Nevermind. I'm not making sense." And rolled over and went back to sleep. What the crap is a Puffin package?

On Friday night Ryan, Joy, Thor and I went to the FREE Chris Daughtry concert in downtown Greensboro. It was insane. There was about 23,000 people there. It was great to see him. He's my favorite American Idol contestant. He's from here so he did a free concert. His new video "home" was filmed during the concert. It was fun except for the fact that I was standing in a tiny 1 ft by 1 ft square for about 4 hours and had a smoker right infront of us that had to light one up every 15 minutes.

2007-03-13T19:02:00.000-04:00

I love spring! Today at work we played volleyball at lunch. It was gorgeous, sunny, and hot. After work Ryan and I picked up some food and went to a nearby park and ate dinner, then took a walk around the walking/bike path. I don't know what the temp was during the day, but at 6:30 this evening, it was 76 degrees.

2007-03-11T11:45:00.000-04:00

Today is a big day. Today is the first day I get to wear capris and flip flops. :)

2007-03-09T11:00:00.000-05:00

With my new schedule at work, I end up with a 4 day weekend once a month. I lucked out and my first weekend was my 4 day. Since Ryan and I actually have a whole weekend off together, we are heading down to Charlotte today. We are going to go shopping, see the production of "Holes" at the Children's Theatre, and possibly go to Discovery Place, which is an interactive museum there. We are spending the night, so we'll come back tomorrow afternoon sometime. It'll be a nice little getaway.

2007-03-07T21:09:00.000-05:00

Peregrin Falcon

2007-03-07T06:14:00.000-05:00

These are murres.

2007-03-07T06:12:00.000-05:00

These are Puffins

2007-03-07T06:11:00.001-05:00

This is an auklet.

2007-03-05T17:33:00.000-05:00

I have started my new position at Rocky Coast Birds. I am working with a Peregrin Falcon, Horned Puffins, Parakeet Auklets and Thick-billed Murres. I completed my 4th day today and it has been going good. I'm already trained and on my own. There's not a whole lot to it. What I need to get better at is the animal observations. With approx. 80 birds in an exhibit, it'll take awhile to learn what is normal and abnormal behavior. They have colored bands to tell them apart. The birds are very personable. Some even eat right out of your hand. I'm still waiting to get pooped on.

2007-02-28T20:01:00.000-05:00

I know, I know...it's been a long time.

Yesterday was my last day working at the Pavilion. On Friday I head to the Puffin area. I was sad to leave. I like the staff and I'll miss my animals, but I am also excited to learn about a new area of the zoo. We went out to lunch for a little going-away party and I got some really nice presents from them.

I headed home Feb. 12 to help my mom after her eye surgery. There were definate highs and lows of the trip. My mom's surgery went well. Her recovery was a pain because she had to lay face down on a special chair all day. I enjoyed taking care of her that week. I think of all the times she took special care of me, like when I was sick or after oral surgery. It was good to play "mom" for once. I also went to a free Skillet concert at MTU. I've seen them at Cornerstone a few times and liked some songs but never really got into them. Then I heard some of the new stuff on the radio before the concert and then obviously at the concert, and I REALLY liked it. I bought their new c.d. and thoroughly enjoy it. I also got to see some friends that I don't get to see very often. I was able to go out to my dad's farm and go snow shoeing. Then Josh and Amy came out and we had our "Christmas" in February and had a wonderful dinner. Bad part of my trip was my grandpa on my dad's side passed away when I was up there. Unfortunately I didn't get to see him before it happened. I was very glad I was up there for the funeral though. He had a bad heart and we've been expecting it, but that still doesn't make it any easier.

Weather this week has been wonderful. Today it was 70 in the sun. I sat outside at Starbucks and read a book. Sorry for you guys in MN who are expecting a snow storm tonight. :(

2007-02-05T16:52:00.000-05:00

We had a "winter storm" last week. All the schools were closed and I chose not to drive to the zoo. I didn't want to chance the icy roads. And how people were talking about the driving that day, I'm glad I didn't go in.

We had a Superbowl party last night. A few people from church came over and we ate a lot and drank a lot of pop. All I have to say is, sorry, mom...da bears didn't pull it off. I was worried after that first play. :)

Next week I am heading home to Hancock for about 6 days. My mom is having eye surgery so I'm going home to help out and to entertain her. I'll have to go out and play in the snow one day when I'm home.

2007-01-24T19:26:00.000-05:00

It's cold. I don't like being cold. I've been cold all day. After work I stopped at a gas station to get a cappuccino to warm me up and it was gross.

2007-01-19T21:37:00.000-05:00

Things here are going well. The weather has turned winter-like. It snowed yesterday and stayed on the ground for a good part of the morning. I had to work and when I headed out to work, the roads weren't too bad, but they were pretty bad in Asheboro. A truck in front of me slid on ice, turned around 1.5 times and smacked into a gaurd rail. Luckily I was far enough behind him that I didn't get hit in the process. I was the first car to reach him, so I was going to get out and see if he needed help, but then he drove off before I could pull behind him. I guess he didn't need help. The zoo was closed because of the weather so we got out at 3 instead of 5. Work is going good. I was able to catch meerkats and a fox last week at work. We needed to trim nails and frontline the meerkats and we switched our fox grouping around. It went pretty well. It looks as if I'm moving to the puffin area of the zoo. They also have auklets and muirs (all seabirds) and then a falcon. I'm excited for a new experience, but I will miss my area that I'm in now. I'm not sure exactly when I'm moving to the different department.

Tonight Ryan and I went to his school for the drama class' final. They all had one act plays. Wow, the kids have no respect for each other. There was so much talking and moving going on during each play. Anytime someone asked them to be quiet, they would just continue to talk. If they can't even respect their peers, I know for a fact Ryan gets no respect as an authority figure. The plays were pretty bad. The kids didn't project, so you could hear a line here and there. There were 2 good ones.

Tomorrow Ryan, Joy and I are going shopping. Maybe we will find some WEDDING stuff for Joy, since her and Thor are GETTING MARRIED!

2007-01-06T07:01:00.000-05:00

Today the weather is sunny with a high of 75. I miss my family, but I don't miss the cold and snow.

Our New Year's Eve was uneventful. I had to work the next day so I ended up falling asleep on the couch around 10:00 and then Ryan woke me up at 11:45. I do hope 2007 is better than 2006. I realize compared to most people, our year hasn't been that bad. We have food, clothing, housing, jobs, etc. However, it just seemed like bad things kept happening, and they were all crammed into one year. I did a lot of crying, held a lot of bitterness, questioned God many time...but through it all I know He is good and things are going to work out. I am so blessed to have Ryan here with me because it would've been MUCH harder without him next to my side. I love you, Ryan.

2006-12-30T07:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Ryan's family had to put their cat, Lucy, to sleep. Their other cat, Charcoal, was put to sleep last spring. Since I lived with those cats for many months, I grew attached to them very quickly, so the news saddens me. I can't handle any more animal deaths. In 2006, 6 animals I was close to died. And being that my profession is working with animals, I obviously love them, and it's a big deal to me.

2006-12-26T06:50:00.000-05:00

"From the first time that you opened your eyes did you realize that you would be my savior? And the first breath that left your lips did you know that it would change this world forever" -Relient K

2006-12-25T12:54:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday, Jesus! Today I had to work but got out at 11:00. Ryan and I are about to open gifts now and then we are heading to our pastor and wife's house for dinner. It is not a white Christmas here...it's 45 degrees and raining. I can't complain since it was close to 70 the past few days.

And if you are wondering why you didn't get a Christmas card this year, is because we didn't send any out. I had made some and they are mostly completed, but Ryan and I just didn't feel like doing a letter and cards this year. Overall it's been a pretty crappy year, so neither of us could sound super positive in the letter. On a lighter note, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas.

Dolphin show @ Minnesota Zoo

2006-12-18T20:50:00.000-05:00


I found this random file on-line of me during a show at MN Zoo. Notice when I throw the fish and it smacks the window.

2006-12-18T19:37:00.000-05:00

There is a baboon at the zoo named Sudi. One day she discovered that a ball we use for enrichment can fit on her head. So, she wore it around for 4 days. We called it her "special helmet". A co-worker got some great video of it. Check it out... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx2jnJlpedU

Make sure you have sound.

2006-12-14T06:52:00.000-05:00

Today we are having our Christmas party at work. We are grilling out and it is supposed to be 71 degrees. It is supposed to be in the 70's all this coming week...even up to 77 on Monday!

2006-12-10T06:55:00.000-05:00

We finally decorated for Christmas. We put on a little "John Denver and the Muppets Christmas" and started the tree. We have so many ornaments and such a small tree. I love our ornaments though. Most of them have been gifts or else they were our ornaments from when we were children. They all have such a special meaning. It still doesn't really feel like the holiday season though. It's been cold enough here the past few days, but it is different without the white stuff. Although I don't miss the shoveling and cleaning the car off in the morning.

2006-12-02T15:37:00.000-05:00

You will be missed, Ayla. You taught me a lot about patience and how to think more outside the box.

2006-12-02T15:09:00.000-05:00

My birthday was the week before Thanksgiving. I turned the big 2-5...quarter of century old! I had to work on my birthday, however there was a Thanksgiving dinner for the staff on that day, so at least I got a really good lunch. That night I opened cards and presents with Ryan. I don't remember what we did on Friday. On Saturday I went to a big pottery festival with Joy and 2 of her friends. After that Joy took me out to lunch. Yummy! On Sunday Ryan and I played disc golf, which was the first time I played and sucked. Then he surprised me with a picnic at a nearby park. Then that night we got all dressed up and went out to eat at P.F.Changs. Overall it was a nice birthday weekend.

On Thanksgiving our good friends from MN, Chad and Sarah, flew in. Ryan stayed home and cooked the turkey while I drove down to Charlotte to pick them up. When we got back home we cooked the rest of the goodies. Thor, Joy's boyfriend, also joined us as well. Right before we were about to pray I look at Sarah's hand and see a gigantic ring on her left hand. Apparently I was the last to notice, but in my defense, in the car I tried checking a couple times because we knew they'd be getting engaged in the future, but she kept sitting on her hands. It was very humorous and we are VERY excited for them. We had a good meal then watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. On Friday we left for the Asheville, NC area to go camping. We stayed in a cabin in the same campground that Ryan and I stayed at when we first moved here. We got our cabin set up then went to a little shop and got some cider. We got back to the cabin and had hotdogs, brats, and smores. It was REALLY cold out so we headed inside to play some cards and go to bed. The next day we went to Chimney Rock and hiked to the top of the waterfall. It was a very nice day out. T-shirt and jeans was good enough to wear. It was probably around 70 degrees. After the hike we went in the town of Chimney Rock for some lunch. When we got back home we went to church and then out to eat with people from church. On Sunday I had to work but they came to the zoo to visit me. I was able to show them around my building and we had lunch together. My first visitors! They flew out on Tuesday. It was so great to see people from home. I do miss it, I can't lie to you.

On Monday I noticed a rash that I had and ended up going to the doctor's on Thursday and found out I had a reaction to the rabies vaccination I had to get for work. So now I'm on a few drugs and hopefully it'll go away. I also was having joint pain in my hands in the morning, which is also a side effect to the vaccine. I started the medicine yesterday and didn't have the pain this morning, so hopefully it continues to work.

I was supposed to go to Maryland this weekend for the family Christmas party, but my grandma was in the hospital due to an irregular heart beat. She is out of the hospital and seems to be doing well, but they canceled the party.

Then to top off my already sucky week...I found out today that they had to put Ayla, a dolphin from MN Zoo, to sleep yesterday. She has basically been sick since June and hasn't been able to recover fully. It'd look like she's getting better and then decline again. In the past few weeks her blood work was messed up so they did some tests. She has been fighting a lung infection and they found bone spurs on her spine. She has scoliosis, so it already makes swimming difficult for her. In the past days she stopped eating and reacting to the medicine, so the zoo had to make a very very hard decision. I can't even imagine what they are going through. I'm not even there and I bawled. That is three dolphin deaths in a year. I don't think I can handle any more crappy stuff this year. Ayla was the first dolphin that I got to feed there. She was stubborn and picky, just like me. She had the most beautiful markings on her face. She loved her frisbees and aqua disks. She was very interested in things, but would often watch from afar. It took her a long time to warm up to you. I will miss you, Bo.

2006-12-01T20:55:00.000-05:00

I know I haven't updated in a long time and I have a lot to catch up on. I'm tired now and don't want to do it, but I promise I will update in the next few days. Peace.

2006-11-15T17:59:00.000-05:00

I am making progress at work. The meerkats are now eating out of my hand. Even the little babies will come up and snatch some food from me. Yesterday I held a snake for the first time. I really don't like snakes, however I work with 4 of them, 3 ball pythons and one rock python. When the ball pythons are shedding, we soak them to help with the shed, which requires you to pick them up and put them in a tub of water. Well, I can't have someone else do it for me all the time, so I finally did it yesterday. It actually wasn't that bad...I just had to get past that first step and just do it. As for the rock python, she is 140 pounds, so I'll have to work my way up to her. Her mouth is the size of my hand.

I need to vent for a bit about bad drivers. And I know there will always be bad drivers, but it'll make me feel good for at least 10 seconds to complain about it.
1. People in NC seem to stick their nose out into the lane when they are waiting to pull onto the road. It has been to the point where Ryan or I have had to swerve to avoid clipping their front end, or quickly moving over to another lane.
2. Blinkers...it's not that hard. Use them, people.
3. Tail gaters...if I can't see your headlights because you are riding my tail, you are driving too close to my car. And yes, I will put my brakes on to let you know.
4. Left lane drivers! This drives me crazy! Ok, people. You are supposed to drive in the right lane and use the left lane to pass people. It just works better if people follow that pattern. I've noticed here (at least on my route to and from work) that the majority of the people drive in the left lane as opposed to the right. If you are going slow in the left lane and see a line of cars behind you, take a hint and scoot over and let them pass.

ok. I'm done, at least for now.

2006-11-13T19:43:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday I went down to Charlotte with Joy. She has some family down there and her immediate family came down from MI. It was a gorgeous day...we took two walks. There is a little pond near the community where her relatives live, so we walked around there. We also had two good meals. The first was a semi-Thanksgiving dinner and then we went to a pizza buffet for dinner. It was a very rainy ride home, but we made it home safely.

The meerkats at work are starting to warm up to me. One group is very interested in me, and then the other, more timid group, is starting to come up to me as well. I was given permission to start trying to hand feed them. I also got to feed a Patas monkey yesterday for the first time. They just take the food right out of your hand and eat it. They are very cute.

My cats are doing well. Triton is becoming more cuddly, which I appreciate. He still hates to be held, but on occasion he'll take a nap on my legs and he definitely likes to be pet more now then he did before. Obi is still our "snuggle-bunny". He has a horrible habit of waking me up at around 4:30 in the morning. Usually he lays on my chest and starts purring really loudly. Just let me sleep until my alarm goes off at 6:15 am. As I type this, Obi is in one of those crazy cat moods, where he is chasing a ghost or something. He's cute.

2006-11-09T15:59:00.000-05:00

I am on my first 3 day weekend. I lucked out with 4 3-day weekends in a row. I can't complain. I am just trying to relax a bit this weekend and enjoy the lovely weather. Today it is about 74 and is supposed to reach 79 tomorrow. I love the weather down here. :) On Sat. I am going to Charlotte with Joy to visit her family. I'm excited to spend some time with her.

2006-11-01T17:10:00.000-05:00

Meerkat

2006-11-01T17:08:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of a Debrazza monkey. Don't they look like old men. The two we have are named Butch and Mara.

2006-11-01T16:55:00.000-05:00

I have completed week 1 of my job and it is still going well. I'm getting the hang of it for the most part. I am now on my "weekend" today and tomorrow. I'm trying to get some cleaning and laundry done. And I have a roast in the oven. How domestic am I? It is hard to clean when I'm at home since a huge part of my job is cleaning. But, that's life. Yeterday was Halloween and we got a whopping 2 trick-or-treaters. And they only came up because Ryan ran into thier mother in the parking lot and told them I was waiting to give out some candy. We need a house in a neighborhood so we can get some kids. No more of this apartment crap with no kids. Ryan and I rented "Rest stop", a horror movie, yeterday, but it was stupid. Joey Lawerence had a part in it and was surprisingly was really good. He was very Bruce Willis-ish. He was the only positive thing I have to say about that movie.