Celebration!

Jordan and I spent Sunday evening at a baby shower for my friend Christa. She's 34 weeks and having a little girl, Madison. It was Jordan's first baby shower. Between the Corona, Jello shots, and tons of food, I think he really enjoyed it. We decided that it was the best way to celebrate babies, with lots of alcohol. After a Jello shot and mixed drink I remembered I'm not supposed to drink alcohol. We'll see if I start throwing up blood.

The proud Mommy



The chocolate candy she made for the guests. Jordan and I both thought it was done professional.



The Madison cake, plus a baby cake in the stroller thing.



Jordan wearing his baby shower bling.




We're excited for Mat and Christa. She got a lot of cute baby things. Mainly clothes. Can't wait to meet the little princess!

Respect

Dr. Joel Hunter said it great in this interview the basics of what Christians are called to do. I like that he went to the Democratic convention even though he's a pro-life Republican. He's a great man and a great teacher.

Here is the interview:



And this is the prayer:

The Humor

House hunting really shouldn't be humorous. It's a serious ordeal. Lots of number crunching, haggling, and pretty cut throat. Over the last 3 years of house hunting though, Jordan and I have come across some of the most ridiculous/hilarious/scariest/creepiest houses ever. Sometimes you just want to ask the owner "What were you thinking?!" I'm sure they had great intentions, but what went wrong!?

One of my favorites. The lost fireplace mantel. Now most would put a fireplace under that mantel, or even more practical, a mantel above a fireplace, but hey, to each his own!



"Now honey, you have the worst morning breath ever. We must have a vanity that keeps you back 12 ft."



Goal: Try not to slip head first into tiled crater in the middle of the room.



Listing agents description: "Cozy and warm, this house feels much more like a home than just some walls and a roof!" To my untrained eye, this looks like the house Hansel and Gretel were lured into. Cozy... creepy... so similar!

It's Friday!

It's a three day weekend! Oh, but who am I kidding. I have 3 to 7 days between work every week! Ya, be jealous.

Today was not a good day for the house buying agenda. The bank is still trying to get top value. They are comparing it to homes in the neighborhood that are move in ready. This house is not. The appliances aren't even installed. The patio is propped up. The bathroom is a handy man special gone wrong. Of course, it's all "cosmetic", but I certainly could not live with a bathroom looking like this.




So we will wait. And the weaker of the two will fold first. Or, someone with more money and less brains will swoop in and steal our little gem.

Good news! I worked last night! I had minimal pain through the night. Unfortunately I got a headache and I can't take Ibuprofen anymore. I'm stuck taking Tylenol and it does nothing for me. I'm one of those people that will have a headache for days until I take something for it. Tylenol barely helps, but I'm way too scared of bleeding ulcers to take Ibuprofen.

And my current event for the week:
Sarah Palin for republican VP. Well that's interesting.

A female: trying to sway the feminists, are we?

Her experience: is comparable with the democratic presidential candidate, so please, pot, don't call the kettle black.

The 5 kids (youngest with down syndrome, and when questioned about her options she answered "We understand that every innocent life has wonderful potential,"): Track, 19; Bristol 17; Willow 14; Piper, 7, and baby Trig, can I vote for her just cause those names ROCK!?

She favors: drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Go for it! We need what it's got, so lets set up some protection laws and start drilling conservatively!

A Little Bit of Controversy

(title sang as Elvis' "Little Bit of Conversation")

Jordan read an article a while ago that threw the idea out there that God is not all knowing. It's not a popular idea to the mainstream Christian folk, we learned quickly from our Bible study partners. Today while reading wikipedia (normal people spend their free time doing that, right?) I came across an actual name for the belief, Open Theism.

When you hear "God is not all knowing" first thing you want to say is "Yes he is! He's God!" But that brings up so many questions in my mind. If God is all knowing, doesn't that mean he already knows who is going to go to heaven and who isn't? Doesn't that take away free will? Does that means we were sat down on this earth to be little robots? We have no choice in being saved or not? God deliberately sends people to hell? There was no hope for them, God put them on this planet knowing their eternal life would be in hell. That's the part that really gets to me. But if you throw free-will into the mix, it makes more sense!

What I like about Christianity is that it's a choice to have a relationship with Christ. You can either spend time with Him or you can choose not to and take your own life into your hands. He isn't the big bad god in the sky who forces us into church and on our knees each week. It makes it so much more personal that God allows me to come to him and spend time with him.

Now if God is all knowing, that means our future is planned out by Him. We don't have a whole lot of say-so in how the end turns out. What about that whole Adam and Eve thing? God said don't eat the fruit, but he made it available to them and gave them a choice. The whole scenario appears that God didn't know what they were going to choose. And if He did know they would eat the fruit, why would He want all of humanity around to cause him grief for the rest of time?

I really like this paragraph:

"Practically, open theism makes the case for a personal God who is open to influence through the prayers, decisions, and actions of people. Although many specific outcomes of the future are unknowable, God's foreknowledge of the future includes that which is determined as time progresses often in light of free decisions that have been made and what has been sociologically determined. So God knows everything that has been determined as well as what has not yet been determined but remains open. As such, he is able to anticipate the future, yet remains fluid to respond and react to prayer and decisions made either contrary or advantageous to His plan or presuppositions"

It just seems so much more personal than me being on a pre-planned life path that cannot change.

This belief really does not change anything for us. We won't be able to figure it out one way or another. It is not a big enough deal to cause division among brothers and sisters, God is way too big for our little minds. I'm not even saying this is what I believe. It's interesting to think about and fun to think out side of the box, especially of something we've all been taught not to question.

Frustrated

The BPO still has not been done. We were told it "wouldn't take long". This time frame is putting us way too close to the holidays. We went into this knowing shortsales are a pain in the butt. But I just want to get the friggin' BPO done. After that we'll still be waiting God knows how long until we hear back from the bank, AGAIN.

Ok, that feels better.

A Possible Answer!

Today I called a GI doctor and got an appointment for this afternoon! At first the lady was scheduling me for 2 weeks from now, but then changed it to within 2 hours of when I called. That is amazing enough and I was SO happy about it. Happy or not my anxiety has been through the roof. My chest won't stop hurting and my hands have taken on a permanent shake. It's weird that my body is showing these symptoms because mentally I'm not panicking. I was slightly nervous about the new doctor and possible outcome, but not any more than a normal person. Anyway, on to the good part.

She was a super nice doctor, Dr. Santos. After I told her where my pain was she came out with two explanations (finally! Answers!). First one could be stomach ulcers, which could be the left sided pain, and duodenal ulcers for the right sided pain. Second possibility is gastritis. Both diseases are very similar, just one has caused actual sores in the stomach. Gastritis is an inflammation of the whole stomach. Either answer I'll be happy with. They're easily treated and are not long term problems.

Downside is I have to have an EGD to confirm this. That's when they put you under anesthesia and have a camera go down your throat. When they do that they'll also do a biopsy for Celiac Disease and H. Pylori bacteria. That's scheduled for 2 weeks from now.

Until then she gave me another medication. Something called Zenegrid, it's a new medication. It's a combination medication so hopefully it'll work better than the protonix. If it doesn't help with the pain I'll try to have the EGD moved up.

For now, at least we have something to go off of.

Infanticide

Jordan manages to find the craziest news articles. I blame it on him sitting at EA with nothing better to do than surf the internet all day. But he found this article that makes my skin crawl and my hot head a little more hot.

First off, I didn't even know "Infanticide" was a real word. I googled it and my faithful friend Wikipedia confirmed the horror. "Infanticide is the practice of someone intentionally causing the death of an infant"

Second, how can any, even just slightly, moral person be ok with this? I know it's a lot easier to pretend it doesn't happen. Because, as we all know, fetuses are just bits of tissue. Kind of like an appendix.

Third, it would be awesome to have a charismatic president. He could keep us entertained for a whole 4 years. Every State of the Union Address would have us stitches and we would leave the TV feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. Or, we could have someone who believes in saving babies lives.

Democrats boggle my mind. While I lean more to the left than most white Evangelicals, I could never vote for someone who is pro-choice.

With that said, vote for Steve Brown.

No News Isn't Good News

I went back to the doctor today for a follow up. I didn't get to see the PA that I saw last week so the new girl had to start from scratch. That was frustrating enough. Then the lab cultured my urine sample but it didn't do a sensitivity. That means there's a bunch of stuff growing in my urine but we don't have a specific bacteria. Having the specific bacteria is really helpful with knowing what kind of antibiotic to treat it with.

With that said, today's urine sample did look better than last weeks. Better but not perfect. She put me on a different antibiotic for a longer period of time. They will do a culture and sensitivity again. She said I'm still dehydrated, which is really annoying. I'm a water drinker. I drink more than anyone I know. How does that add up to dehydrated?

She had no answers for the abdominal pain so she has referred me to a GI doctor. I'm not looking forward to more appointments. It wouldn't be so bad if I had some answers to go on. But having no idea why it hurts is really frustrating.

It's Thursday

Yesterday we learned that Freddie Mac wants a BPO (Broker Price Opinion) of our house. This is like an appraisal but less complicated. There are two appraisals, one for 180k and an older one for 200k. Those numbers plus our offer is too varying so they want a BPO. Fortunately, this takes a fraction of the time that an appraisal would take. It should be completed and in the banks hands within the week. Why did they wait so long to decide this? Banks clearly suck at everything, that's why.

TS Fay... Jordan and I didn't put a whole lot of consideration into the storm. The local news just HAD to do 24hr coverage of the stupid thing ever since it hit the Keys. Funny part is, they had it ALL WRONG. Just like always. First it was a hurricane. Then it was supposed to boomerang. Now it has just sat on us for 2 days and let record breaking rain pour down on us. We're lucky we live in the north central Florida, because the south looks like it's competing with Katrina and her flood waters. Go away Fay, Florida already has enough water on/in/around/above it.

Yesterday I found out that sweet Baby James passed away. It's always hard when a baby dies, but he was extra special. I had never gotten the chance to meet him, but I didn't need to to feel a sense of loss when I heard the news. I can't imagine what his parents have gone through, not only to have a son that was severely handicapped, but to not know when their baby was going to take his last breath. They are amazing people. Amazing. Completely. 100%. For them to go through everything they've been delt and to still hold so strong to their faith is un-be-liev-able! I encourage everyone to take a couple hours and read their blog, from birth to heaven bound. It will bring you to tears and leave you feeling... I don't even know what. You'll just have to find out on your own.

No Longer a Britney Fan

Talent is so over rated.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

This Sucks

I called the doctor today and all the test came back normal. Everything, even the ultrasound, except the urine culture. She's still waiting on that result. She said she could refer me to a gastroenterologist.

This is exactly what I didn't want to happen. If something had come back abnormal then we could at least get it treated and be done with this. As it looks right now, the pain will continue and we'll continue with doctors appointments and chasing a cause.

Kitesurfing During Fay

Watch this man fly! Looks like something out of a movie.

Ultrasound

I got my ultrasound completed today! I should hear about the results of the US and blood tomorrow. Yesterday my right side started hurting, so I'm 95% sure it's something kidney related. Plus, the US lady took a LOT of shots of my right side. Right now I'm just praying this is something that can be treated out patient.

On a lighter note, I spilled coffee on Jelly's back and she looks really funny. Someone's going to be getting a bath tonight.....

Pity Party at the Olympics

I learned a very valuable lesson or two as a kid. One being if you don't take your prize with a happy heart, then you will lose that prize. Too bad this grown (ex)-Olympian didn't learn the same lesson. He got what he deserved, nothing.

A little Personal

For the past couple of months, and I use "couple" very loosely, I've been having this nagging pain in my left abdomen. Since I'm a nurse, I clearly did not go to the doctor right away, cause we're probably some of the worst patients possible. On my own I was able to rule out appendicitis, and any gallbladder and liver disease. But over the last couple of weeks the pain has become more consistent and I got annoyed enough to finally go see what the doctor had to say.

I see a super nice physicians assistant named Kelly and she was SO informative and SO thorough. After a battery of tests she thinks I may have a kidney stone. One test showed a couple of abnormilities that doesn't fit my profile at all, such as dehydration. Anyone who knows me knows I'm always drinking water. The possibility of kidney stones is surprising since they don't tend to manifest in this way. Typically kidney disease produces pain in the side or back, not in the front of the abdomen. I'm going to have an ultrasound this week, and she's going to call me with the results of my blood work. I'm praying for definitive results from these tests and that it will be something that can be treated quickly and easily.

Prayer would be appreciated.

That's What You Get.....

Is anyone shocked or surprised that communist China would do such a thing?

I wouldn't put it past them. The government is all about saving face, so why wouldn't they just dish out some passports that were slightly altered. It definitely wouldn't be hard to do. No one can prove it otherwise. And they win a bunch of gold medals to prove they are the best country in the world. Lets ask Tibet's opinion on that.....

Finally Heard Something!

The bank approved our offer! They sent it to Freddie Mac to get final approval today. We're looking at having the acceptance letter in 2 to 3 weeks and then proceed like a normal closing from there. Hopefully we'll have this place rented out and moved into the new house by Halloween! Now that could be a fun housewarming party theme.....

Florida Living for You!

I heard on the news that the heat index today was supposed to be above 100 degrees. It's kind of hard to believe it can get so hot. Until I walked out on our patio and the thermometer read 99 in the shade. I even took a picture to prove it! Our little AC is just pumping away.

Oober Dramatic Videos

I happened to see this video on a friends blog and I laughed SO HARD! It is just FAB-u-lous! (if you get my drift ;) I love the straight guy in the background yelling "What the hell happened?"