not a cross

It makes me sad that this even exists.

granny

God really knows what he is doing.  That is an understatement, of course.  Last week, I went to Whiting, IN to visit my granny.  As I have mentioned, she is really sick, and the prognosis is not great.  (Warning: cheesy Gayle is about to come out).  However, as with rainstorms, there are rainbows, and there are blessings that have come from my visit.  I will share those in an upcoming post.  For now, I will just share some pictures with you.

This is granny’s house.  I was running back and forth from the tri-pod trying not to slip and fall!

Then we went to the house where my dad' grew up.  My grammy T passed away about 5 years ago, so no one we know own it anymore, but we were able to get some great pictures together outside.

That’s all for now, much more from the trip later on.  It was just so awesome to spend time with Richard, my Aunt Rita, and have the time to really enjoy a town that has so many memories.  Plus, the gorgeous snow didn’t hurt!

leavin’ on a jet plane

Tomorrow, I leave for Chicago to see my Gramma.  I posted a few weeks ago that she was really sick—and she still is.  I decided on Monday that it was high time for me to go up and see her.  It was that gut feeling, ya know?

I was blessed by a friend of mine when she heard that I was trying to go up there and was struggling to find an affordable flight at such short notice, and she gave me almost 50,000 Delta miles that were set to expire on January 1st.  I was just blown away by her generosity, and almost cried when, without hesitation, she said she wanted to do that for me.  And to boot, I am flying first class on the way there!  Sweet!  Thank you, Jeana!!!

I get in a 8:00 PM on Monday, and my flight back to Dallas is on Friday morning.  I have three full days there, and am apprehensive and excited at the same time.  I have been told I’m in for a rude awakening when I see Gramma—she looks very sick, and might not even know who I am—but deep down, even if she doesn’t understand, I know she’ll feel it in her heart that I am there with her.

I also get to see family that I have not seen in 11 years!  My Aunt Rita lives up there, and I haven’t seen her since 1999 when she came to Texas to see my mom.  I also have not seen my Uncle Marty, Aunt Carmel, and cousins Misty and Marty since March of 2000!

And then there are my neighbors from the house we lived in before we moved to Texas in 1985.  I have not seen Carrie and Mary since I was 3, 25 years ago!!!!  We reunited on Facebook a couple years ago, and I am having lunch with them on Wednesday, along with their mom, Gail, who still lives in the same house they lived in 25 years ago!  Carrie and Mary are older than me, but we played together all of the time before we moved!!!

It will be a really quick trip, but I am very blessed that I am able to go!

digital Christmas story

oh christmas tree!

Growing up, we ALWAYS had a real Christmas tree.  In fact, I didn’t even know what it was like to put up an artificial tree until I helped Janet a few years ago.  (Kinda prickly!)  I think they look great, but my heart just LOVES real trees.

Until I have to take them down.  Two years ago, my tree was up until February because I couldn’t get it out of the house and cut it up by myself.  Four years ago, it was up until March, until I convinced a maintenance guy at my apartment complex to carry it to the dumpster for me.  Don’t judge me!

So, this year, I was on the prowl for a pre-lit tree, but for a good price.  I found nothing I could afford ($500 for a tree?  Are you kidding me?!?!?!), so I gave up and figured I would just wait until the clearance sales after the holidays.

Thursday, I got the Lowe’s weekly ad via email, and there was a tree on SALE!  Perfect price!  I KNEW they would go fast, and knew I needed to get to the store ASAP.  However, I had an NTCA luncheon, and also had plans right after work, so I could not get there!

To the rescue:  Matt (as usual).  He went to TWO different stores during his lunch break and got the VERY LAST ONE!  Go Matt!!!

Today, he helped me move furniture and put it together (and hurt his back, ouch).

The tree looks great, though.  I spent the afternoon putting out my decorations, and am so excited!  I didn’t decorate last year because I was just not in the mood after Vickie passed away, so it makes me happy to see decorations out, even if they are small changes.

It also makes me happy because this is the first year I am using some decorations my dad gave to me last year that belonged to my family prior to losing my mom 10 1/2 years ago.  I love what I found!  I didn’t even know I had some of this stuff!

I am not sure if my mom made the snowman, but I do know she made the Santa and the angel.  Does anyone else remember when ragdolls were popular?  I forgot about them, but now that I think about it, my mom made one for me and I LOVED it.  I wonder what happened to it…

This Angel tree topper (that will NOT stay on top of the tree, dangit) is VERY special to me.  I got it for my dad for our first Christmas without my mom.  I bought it because my mom was a glowing person, and this angel’s wings are fiberoptic and change colors, which is TOTALLY mom’s personality.  Vibrant!

(I put this out and said to Matt, “That is my mom.”  <long pause>  “I know that’s not REALLY my mom!!! )  :)

Finally, my tree!!!  I had so much fun decorating.  I found ornaments I didn’t even know I had!  Those are not presents underneath, but reusable gift boxes, that I plan to start collecting, cause they look so cute!

I hope to share more of my decorations with you, because what I put out has so much sentimental value and memories surrounding it all.  Plus, I really enjoyed using my camera and tripod!

Merry Christmas, and to be continued!

the gift of Christmas

Tonight, I went to a performance at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, called “The Gift of Christmas”.  Prestonwood is a HUGE church, and they put on a spectacular production, with two acts, video montages, dancing, a kick line, kids performing, teens performing, solos, a HUMONGOUS choir, and six flying angels.  Oh, and Santa’s flying sleigh. :)

If you ever have a chance to go to this awesome event, I highly recommend it.  I had a blast, and feel renewed for this joyous Christmas season.

Praise be to God!

thank you, and you, and you, and you!

My aunt has been telling me since my mom passed away 10 years ago that I need to get BRCA tested.  Well, who, at 18 wants to do that?  Fast forward to 2007, when I moved back to my hometown, and moved closer to her—and her reminders.

The truth is, I have been avoiding having the DNA test done because I felt like the results would be a death sentence.  It took Matt literally threatening to break up with me if I didn’t make the appointment by the end of this month.

He was serious.

I went to a breast surgeon that my OB/GYN recommended to me.  I saw her PA today, and she was wonderful.  Many of my fears and misconceptions and truly misinformation was put to ease.  If I test positive, there are a LOT of things they can do to help reduce my risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

Yes, they are related.

Two weeks from now, I will find out whether I have BRCA 1 or BRCA 2, or neither.  It used to feel like it would be a HUGE life-altering thing to have the answer, but right now, I feel really at peace about it.  Either way, I will be fine.

Today really makes me reflect on the advances that have been made in cancer research and treatment, even in the 10 years since my mom has been gone.  No, I don’t think she would have survived if she had been sick today instead of 10 years ago—hers was serious, and that’s not what I’m getting it.  It makes me so very thankful for the many people who make those advances possible.  So…

To those of you who devote your lives to cancer research, thank you.

To those of you who perform thousands of  mammograms or MRIs a year on nervous women with lots of patience and compassion, thank you.

To the doctors who decide to practice in a really difficult and many times depressing field, thank you.

To their wonderful nurses and PAs, thank you.

To those of you who have walked walks, ran runs, bought t-shirts, worn pink, tied ribbons, donated a dollar (or lots of dollars), or raised awareness, thank you.

We are all in this together, and I think God for each and every one of you.

please tell me!

So, today I went up to UTD to meet with my academic advisor, as my new student instructions told me to.  I ended up registering for my first classes (yay!).  However, she told me that tuition was due on December 21 (boo).  Um, isn’t that a little early?  I don’t remember having to pay that far in advance for my undergrad…

Then I went to visit my financial advisor.  She was busy, so I met with a guy who I think was a student.  When I told him I had not filled out my FAFSA, he looked at me like I had four heads.  Um, buddy, I came in here because I AM A NEW STUDENT AND HAVE NEVER DONE FINANCIAL AID BEFORE AND APPARENTLY MY FINANCIAL ADVISOR DID NOT TELL ME THAT WAS SUPER SUPER SUPER IMPORTANT TO DO THE FAFSA WHEN I CONTACTED HER, OH, IN SEPTEMBER.

Now, I am freaking out, because the FAFSA stuff takes 2-3 weeks to get to the school, so I think I have to un-register, then re-register with normal registration.

I am sort of frustrated that my academic advisor did not tell me I was registering during EARLY ENROLLMENT, and that regular registration is not due until January 6th.  That makes more sense.

It appears I am going to have to watch my own back during this entire process.

December 21st, HAH!

(I am excited about my classes though: Financial Accounting and Managerial Accounting).

i love christmas lights!

I know we have all seen these before, but so worth watching again!!!

&amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/deck-the-halls-with-14-000-leds/204gje2t?rel=msn&amp;amp;amp;amp;fg=sharenoembed" target="_new"title="Deck the halls with 14,000 LEDs"&amp;amp;amp;gt;Video: Deck the halls with 14,000 LEDs&amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;gt;

friendship bread

Well, tomorrow is Baking Day.  My friend Heather gave me an Amish Friendship Bread starter back in May, and I have baked bread every 10 days (or 9 or 11, and once 12) since May.  The end of May.  Six months times 30 days times two loaves at a time means I have baked bread approximately 18 times, times two loaves, 36 loaves.  WOW, it sure does seem like a lot more than that.  Alright, maybe I am not so spectacular. :)

I do it for Matt.  He LOVES the bread.  As does his mom, family friends, his mom’s work friends, her coworkers, a loaf even sold in a craft bazaar, and I didn’t even know it was entered.  I am feeding the masses!  It is sort of fun—I think I am going to stop at one year and call it a day.

The funny thing about the bread is, the starter has to be smushed every day, and on day 6 I have to add one cup each of flour, sugar, and milk.  My starter has been “babysat” three times while I traveled so it would not go bad.  It is sort of fun!