Update on Mom

Mom is recovering well from Gamma Knife.  As you would expect, she is tired and has experienced some headaches and body aches.  This weekend, she went to Weston's baseball tournament in New Bern and did fairly well, although it definitely caught up with her on Monday and yesterday.  She will have scans in 5 weeks to see the results.  I'm praying for no cancer.  I'm trying to stay positive and remind myself that this could be God's way to get the doctors to take some action on the "inactive" tumors in her brain and get rid of them once and for all.  Amen? Amen!

A few weeks ago, Mom and I went to get haircuts at the mall.  We passed through JC Penny on the way and saw these CUH-RAZY hats.  We decided to try them on and I sure am glad that we did:

How cute is my mom? 


Whew!  That one is a definite for the wedding!  She will definitely get the attention she deserves wearing that!  Hahahaha

We had a great time laughing and goofing off.  The several people that walked by us were definitely not as amused... but poo on them!


I mean, how could you not giggle at that hat?

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to a wonderful man, my future husband!  I love you babe!

Engagement Pictures II

Last weekend, Parker & I had engagement pictures made by the wedding photographer, Les Atkins.  He is super nice and affordable.  He offers engagement sessions as part of the package we chose, so we took him up on the offer!  We chose to have pictures made on Parker's family farm in Roanoke Rapids - it was his grandparents farm, but it has been passed down to his mom and her siblings.  We were going to be there for a family reunion, so it worked out perfect for us to have engagement pictures made that weekend.  Here are some of my favorites from Les' facebook page:

I think you can view the rest of my favorites here.  Or look at the other 161 photos here.

Live for God

Lately I’ve been thinking about what it means to live 100% for God. The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will have salvation (Romans 10:9). But, confessing that Jesus is Lord is more than just speaking it. The word “lord” in a feudal society meant the one who provided for and protected his people. Those living under feudalism were expected to work for their lord (i.e. be in the military or manage the land), because without him, they would have nothing. The people completely depended on their lord.

In fact, even Satan has said that Jesus is Lord (Luke 4) and he fell from Heaven (Luke 10:18). To confirm this, the Bible says in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who cries out Lord, Lord, shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” So, confessing that Jesus is Lord is more than speaking – it is completely depending on and completely living for our God.

I can think of maybe 2 people that model what living 100% for God means. TWO people! And I am not one of them. It literally makes me sick to think that God’s own children are making excuses about their love for Him. I know tons of people – good people - that believe in God and follow Romans 10:9 – but they don’t live for God. They don’t eat, pray, walk, sleep, and work for God. God has told us that He’d rather us be hot or cold, but because we are lukewarm, he would rather spew us from his mouth (Revelations 3:15-16). He would rather vomit than have us live the way we live – half-hearted, only 60-70% living for Him.

The Bible says to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), praise Him from sunrise to sunset (Psalm 113:3), worship Him continually (Psalm 34:1). It says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Again, it says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as if working for the Lord, not for men” (Colossians 3:23). Make your bed for God. Study for your exam for God. Brush your teeth and praise God. Cook dinner, grocery shop, wash clothes, walk to the car as an offering to God. This isn’t a pray in the shower, pray before bed, sing praise songs in the car kind of relationship – it is a button your shirt, tie your shoe, and sneeze for God kind of relationship. Everything is about Him. Nothing is about us. It is ALL ABOUT HIM. That is how I think God wants us to be living – 100%, all the time, for Him.

I want to be like this. I want to do this. I want to be on fire for God ALL the time – every single second of every single day. Every breath that I breathe and every blink that I have – ALL THE TIME – 100%. I started by making my bed for God this morning. And now I told you, so I can’t change my mind.

Five Question Friday

Welcome to Five Question Friday!

 
1. What is the first nightmare you remember?
I don't remember this, but I've heard the story so many times that I feel like I remember it. I was a small child and had a terrible fever. My dad had been holding me all night and I had fallen asleep on his chest as he slept on the couch. Apparently, I woke up and started screaming about monkeys running down the hall coming to get me. I guess it was more of a hallucination than a nightmare, but oh well. Can anyone say flying monkeys in Wizard of Oz??

2. Even if you're not a sports fan, what's your favorite sport to play/watch?
Ooo... I love basketball, but only college - I hate the NBA. I also like watching baseball live - it’s too boring on TV. I occasionally enjoy going to college football games - but it has to be once in a blue moon, although I loved my high school football games. Oh, and CHEERLEADING - I love that!

3. If you could pull off one piece of trendy fashion, what would you want it to be (jeggings, hats, thigh high boots, etc.)?
What the heck are jeggings? I am not a "fashionable" person - my go-to outfit is jeans and a T-shirt :) But I do wish I could pull off those ankle length dresses! I'm so short that they just swallow me up and I look ridiculous in them.

4. Did you make good grades in school?
Yes, I was definitely an honors geek in high school... I've never made a C as a final grade in high school or college... I almost did in European Politics in college, but I pulled off a B- to keep my record running. Don't be impressed... I don't have much smarts, I just knew how to study and do what my teachers wanted.

5. What magazines do you subscribe to?
None, although I do enjoy flipping through Brides & The Knot wedding magazines... and Victoria's Secret and Ann Taylor/The Loft catalogs.


Have a good weekend!

Hang on...

...for a whirlwind of a post.  I'll go with list form...

1. I [finally] got my teaching placement!  I'll be teaching Civics & Economics at Chapel Hill High School.  That's all I know so far.  I emailed my mentor teacher, but I haven't heard from her yet, so I don't know the class schedule, whether its standard/honors, what I get to do...  I'll keep you updated.

2. My laptop died.  Well, not really.  The screen died though - as in it doesn't work at all.  So now I have the desktop computer that I had in my room at home.  The monitor is a square, so I can't see anything but the white on my blog.  After all that work... I can only see the white.  Ugh.

3. Because my laptop screen stopped working... I can't access anything on my laptop, i.e. the wedding budget, guests list, any notes from class, all my pictures, etc. I'm taking it to ITS this week when I have some time and I hope they can help me out.  Fortunately, I emailed the budget and guests list to my parents a few weeks ago, and most of the important pictures are on my blog.

4. Candice & Jacob let us borrow Grey's Anatomy seasons 1, 2, and 3.  I never watched Grey's before last season... I kind of resented it because I was an ER girl.  But, I watched it and fell in love with it.  Now I just can't get enough.

5. School is going really good.  I have less work in graduate school than I did in undergraduate school.  So far, so good.  I'm sure that is subject to change.  Clearly I have enough on my To Do List to keep me busy... hence the terrible dry spell my blog is suffering.

6. This weekend I painted the trim in the living room and dining area at the condo and it looks SO GOOD if I do say so myself.  It was stained wood, now its shiny white.  I also did a second coat on the kitchen cabinets finally, and it also looks SO GOOD.  We put in the new cabinet pulls and they look SO GOOD.  Now we just need hinges.  And white appliances.  And white outlet covers.  And a bunch of other things... but we are making progress.  Parker has a "Honey Please Do List" like a mile long this week... but I think it's a fair exchange seeing that he went to the ECU game while I stayed at home and painted :)  Sweet man of mine.

7. Mom is having Gamma Knife next Tuesday!

Seven seems like a good number to stop at...  Don't ya think?

Go E... Go EC...

Go ECU, hey!

Wow... I can't believe I just said that.  I guess that since my soon-to-be husband is a Pirate fan, I will join the clan.  But don't you worry, when UNC plays ECU, I will be decked out in my Carolina blue!  Loyalty is loyalty.

Anyways, we tailgated for the ECU vs. Tulsa game Sunday afternoon and had a blast.  The game was pretty awesome too!  In fact, ECU was #1 on ESPN Top Ten today!  WOOHOO

My "sister"-almost-in-law Candice - isn't she gorgeous?

Yay for our purple toe nails!!!

This would have been an awesome picture if that guy's fist wasn't involved

It was our new friends Casey & Ryan's first ECU game - they just got married and moved here from Tennessee!  I think they must be good luck!! :)  We met them in sunday school a few weeks ago and they are such a sweet couple!  We invited them to tailgate with us on Sunday and we had a blast hanging out with them!  Here's to more ECU wins and our new friends!

Baseball & Watermelon Festival

Our weekends have been so busy lately!  It's a good kind of busy though, so no complaints here!  Parker & I recently joined a new sunday school class at church that is geered more towards young married couples and young professionals and we love it.  We're studying the book of Isaiah and so far, I've really enjoyed it.

Weston's travel ball team has started back up also, so there is bound to be baseball tournaments out to wazzoo, and I love baseball, so thats fine by me.

Last weekend, Parker and I celebrated our dating anniversary by going to the Winterville Watermelon Festival concert to see Jason Michael Carroll and Jake Owen.  We had a great time and look forward to next year!

And football season is here!  Now if we could just get some cooler weather...

Cancer again

Sadly, my mom's routine scan from last week found that two of the tumors in her brain (that were previously inactive) have grown in size.  We are not sure how much they have grown, but her doctor has put her back on Tykerb (the preventative medicine for the brain), will continue the Herceptin (preventative treatment for the rest of the body), and she will see the neurosurgeon (who did the Gamma Knife before) to see what he suggests.

We are sad and heartbroken.  Today, as I was at the bus stop hearing the news and then later telling Parker over the phone, I fought back the tears.  I was disgusted with the people around me listening to the conversation that I was having, staring at me, and not doing anything.  It was like my world had stopped and they kept going about their day.  While I know their world shouldn't stop too (and I wouldn't want it to), I truly wished that someone would have acted like a real person and hugged me or gave an encouraging smile... or something.

Thankfully, I have amazing friends that hug me, love me, let me cry, make bad jokes, inspire me, and give me hope.

I feel much better than I did at lunch time, but I still covet your prayers, comments, and attempts to make me laugh.

Mom is doing okay.  Extremely strong as usual :)