pictures

To see the Christmas fun we had check out my Flickr page

http://flickr.com/photos/33065412@N00

Holiday

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, or Hanukkah, Kwanza, whatever you
celebrate. I will say that trying to fit in 2 families in one day is
CRAZY and I think Jonathan and I have come up with a solution. When we
buy a house, we are going to buy one big enough where every holiday we
can just have both sides of the family over and we won't have to go
anywhere! (And yes, that includes the Lehman's and Medlin's)
I had a wonderful Christmas, celebrating with both mine and Jonathan's
family. It felt like a very fast pace two days (Christmas Eve and Day).
Sunday morning I went out to Jonathan's church, Encounter, in
Waxahachie and enjoyed a great Christmas service with him. Then we went
down to Austin St. shelter with a group to pass out hygiene bags we made
for the men and women in the shelter, and hung around just talking to
them. Some of those men have fascinating stories if you just take the
time to listen. One guy we met is from New Jersey and was making his
way to Arizona. I think he likes Texas because he came here in 1991 and
hasn't left yet! As much fun as it was, it was also a little cold and
wet...we were out in the rain without any umbrellas so you can imagine
how wet we got. All in the name of love I guess. After we left Austin
St. we ran home and changed (well, of course I had to wash my hair
again) and then went to our parents church for the candle light service.
Lastly we went to Kara (Jonathan's sister) and Tim's place for a
Christmas Eve party. We had a great time and I do believe some Bingo
was played. What kind of Christmas party would it be without Bingo!
Christmas day it started all over again...I went to his parents house
for breakfast and spent some time with them, then we headed back to my
parents to open presents and eat lunch with my family...then we headed
to Sulphur Springs to spend the evening with the rest of his family.
Crazy two days, but it was fun and I had a great time with all the
family! This is the time of year I look forward to all year long...I
just like spending time with all the family and watching my niece and
nephew open up their presents with anticipation of what might be in that
package. The joy on a childs face when they open up something they have
been wanting or asked Santa for is amazing! I think my nephew got every
Ben10 action doll there is. And of course it wouldn't be a family
gathering unless my 2 year old niece went streaking across the house
with nothing but a smile on. Oh the memories!

Joys of my job

Working in healthcare, some days you can get caught up in the fast pace
world of medicine where your days are stressed and non-stop. I remember
working in the Cardiovascular ICU and there were some days that we
didn't sit down, just going from patient to patient. When your days are
like this you never really get to enjoy your job or, in my case, enjoy
the kids I work with. Anyway, the point to my story is the other day I
was at work and in walks this boy who looks healthy and full of life.
If you didn't know his story you would think he was a healthy young man.
But I remember the day he almost met his maker. It was a while back
when I was working in the ICU and all of a sudden his heart went into a
very lethal rhythm so we ended up "coding" him (doing CPR) for about 45
minutes until we could get his heart back to a normalized rhythm. He
had heart problems all his life and as a kid had many surgeries to
repair them. After he coded, the doctors told his parents that the only
way he would walk out of this hospital is to get a new heart. Little
did they know this would mean he would have to stay in the hospital and just wait
until he got one. As he put it, "I'm just waiting here for someone else
to die." It's a sad way to look at it, but in reality that was the case.
Well, about a month later, he did receive a new heart and did
beautifully. So here he is 5 or 6 months later walking back into the
hospital after we was free to live the rest of his life. All this to
say, I guess I would take all the stressful and crazy days if it means
that I get to experience the joy of seeing someone who was on deaths
door and now full of life!

Snakes

This is why I've never had a desire to be around snakes and I will never understand why people want them as their pets.

CINCINNATI - A 13-foot boa constrictor wrapped itself around its owner’s neck and killed the man in his home, authorities said.
An acquaintance found Ted Dres, 48, inside the snake’s cage Saturday and called police, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s office said.
The snake was still strangling Dres when deputies arrived, and the officers had to work with members of an animal protection group to remove the reptile, the sheriff’s office said. Dres’ snake will be kept at an animal shelter awaiting instructions from police or Dres’ family, said Andy Mahlman, spokesman for the Cincinnati Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “People who keep these type of animals as pets should know exactly what they’re doing and what they’re capable of,” Mahlman said. He said he has seen photographs of reptile owners posing with snakes coiled around their necks. “They don’t realize they could be a few seconds away from death,” he said.

Question

So I was talking with some friends about Austin Street shelter and just
the homeless in general. I think that it's great what the group from
Encounter are doing by going down there and giving out blankets,
clothes, cookies, and in a couple of weeks hygiene kits. I have been a
couple of times and had a good time. And, if you take the time, you can
actually get to know some of the people. Anyway, someone posed this
question. If we, as in anyone, go to the shelters and give out the
stuff that people need to get by (clothes, blankets, hygiene, etc) why
would they have to work and are we in a way enabling them to just get by
and be lazy? Maybe not lazy, but are we enabling them to live their life
as they please and not have to work because they have the necessities?
What do you think? I'm not saying in anyway I agree with this comment,
it just came up in conversation and I wondered what other people
thought.

"Encounter Effect"

So, I had been going to Jonathan's church, Encounter, for a couple of
weeks and then went back to Northwest Bible where I've gone for a couple
of years. I had always liked the worship team and service at
Northwest...I have boasted about how good they were to many people.
Well, I have to say that when I went back to Northwest after being at
Encounter for a couple of weeks, I was kind of shocked. I realized how
good the worship team was at Encounter and how much I liked the music
and service. Bryan, the pastor at Encounter, termed this the "Encounter
Effect", so if any of you want to experience this effect, please visit
this church which meets in Waxahachie, I know it's a drive for some of
you, but it's well worth it! You can check out the church's website at
www.encounterthis.com and the worship band at
http://www.encounterthis.com/pages/band.html

It's Cold Outside...just some ramblings

For any of those who know me, you know that I was in absolute heaven a couple of days ago when it was snowing...Okay, so I wouldn't techincally call it snow, it was more like little white dots, but either way they were little drops of heaven. I LOVE snow and cold weather. We were walking to our cars after work on Thrusday and we were on the skybridge with glass windows and I felt like I was in a snow globe. We were completely surrounded by snow flakes and it was really cool. You should have been there! Another thing, why is it that when there is a chance for a little drop of sleet to hit the ground, even though the ground is like 90 degrees because the weather has been too warm the 2 previous weeks, the news freaks out. They stayed on the air ALL day Thursday and Friday morning. It's ridiculous. Texans make a big deal about cold weather! It's just cold. I think when the coldness sweeps into town, it affects peoples ability to drive too. It's like they turn on a stupid switch or something and forget how to drive. I'll never figure it out. I hope everyone stayed safe!