Mike and I recently found out that there will be a new edition to our family within the year...not from us though. : ) My Uncle Bill and Aunt Maureen will be adopting a baby girl from China within the year. Of course, this means that I will have to give up my role as the baby of the family now, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make. We are so excited for them and I know they will be amazing parents. I am excited for her arrival and I can't wait to head down to Florida to visit. She will be my only cousin on that side of the family, and I am sure she will be spoiled by us all. What a responsibility and amazing blessing from God that we will all get to take part in!
Until next time...
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Monday, January 22, 2007
We are still here and we made it through the holidays...
Sorry it has been so long, but now it is time to get everyone updated. Yes, this will be a long one so be prepared. Here it comes...
To fill everyone in on our last blog, as we pulled in to Mike's parents driveway on that Thursday, his parents pulled in right behind us. His dad was put on new medications to help with the two blockages in one artery and given orders to take it easy. However, within a few days his whole body broke out in a rash and they took him off of all of the meds until they could determine which drug was causing it. Christmas Day his dad over did it and had a pretty rough day, because of this and with a fight with the doctors they got him on oxygen at home and since then he has been doing much better. He has a visiting nurse and physical therapist coming to the house to check on him also. He still has his good and bad days but at least he is coherent and back to his normal self.
As for my mom, she had her surgery on January 8th, once my father returned home from England for a work and witness trip. She made it through the surgery well and no other cancer cells were found...Praise the Lord! She was in the hospital for two days before they released her and is now home recovering well. She is feeling a whole lot better and my dad is taking good care of her. Her recovery period is 8-10 weeks so it will take time but she sounds great and is in good spirits. I think all she really wants is to get back to real life and being able to live prior to the past few months when she has been too weak.
Now for the update on our Christmas, even with all that was going on we did have a great vacation back home. The most important thing to us was just being with our family and friends that we can't see all the time. We got to spend the holidays with our families, visit with old friends, be there for Angela's 8th birthday (our niece), see all the new babies that have been born and visit our home church and some of the families. We had a great time hanging out with the Muzzeys on Friday night, just talking, playing with millipedes and playing cards. And then Mike had to finish up his Christmas shopping so we headed to the dreadful mall 2 days before Christmas. For any of you who really know me, you know that shopping is definitely not a passion or desire of mine, much less in crowded malls with pushy people. But we survived, got everything we needed, spent too much money, and then headed out to lunch with my Aunt Jean and Mr. Sweetman. Don Pablos...yummy! Plus, this restaurant was one of our memory places from when we first started dating
We celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve with my family. It was a little bit more hurried since there was so much going on at church, but we made it work. There were 11 of us that gathered at Jim's place for dinner and gifts, including my family, Marie, Kevin (Sharon's man), and Val. Val was supposed to leave around early evening to go be with her family, however, we kept telling her that her car wouldn't start and she wasn't going to go until later. Wouldn't you know it...her car didn't start (with a little help from Mike and my mom : ) ) Since Val isn't too familiar with what is under the hood of her car, we decided to unhook her battery to delay her exit. Of course, she came in blaming Mike right away demanding to know what he did to her car. He didn't back down until Val was so upset she started to cry, I guess Mike is a softie deep down because he told her the truth and Mike and my mom went and hooked her car back up so she could leave. But then she had been so frazzled that she left a bunch of stuff that she was suppose to take to her family's gathering at Jim's place, so she came back once again. In my opinion, she really didn't want to leave us. We then headed off to the Christmas Eve candlelight service where I met my "niece", McKenzie Cherry, for the first time since she was born in August. Then we picked up the dogs and were off to Sharon's place for snacks and dessert (yummy buttercake). We had breakfast together the following Christmas morning with my family and then packed up to head to Mike's family.
We spent Christmas Day with the Marinos. We had dinner over at his brother, Chris's house, and spent the night opening gifts and playing with the kids. After dinner, all the guys retreated to the basement to play pool while keeping their ears tuned to the radio to hear the Eagles game, which they won. It was a late night and by the time we got back to Mike's parents we all crashed, except Angela who wanted to open her Christmas gifts. Mike and I had to be up early the next morning to head to the eastern shore so we postponed Christmas gifts until later in the week.
On Tuesday, we headed down through DE and into Salisbury, MD so we could visit with Chris, Mindy & Luke. Sharon and Val joined us for the trip. It was really great to see the Scotts again and even better that was the day that Luke started to crawl. He is just growing up so fast! We headed out to lunch and then later visited with Chris' neighbors, the Willeys, and then had dessert at Chris' parents house. It was nice to get caught up with each other and to know that even when friends move away they really aren't that far away. Later on the way home, we made a quick stop to check out Val's new house. It is a perfect starter house for what she needs and is really cute too. I'm so happy for her and knowing how far she has come to be the woman she is today.
On Wednesday, we got together with Sharon, Val and Mark for dinner. We had a good time and once again decided to get Val. Mike told the waitress it was her 30th birthday, so they came out with a dessert and sang to her. They told her that her reaction was one of the best ones they have ever had, little did they know it was because it was nowhere near her birthday much less near her 30th birthday. It may seem as if Val is persecuted often, but it truly is out of love and what could she complain about...she got a free dessert!! Then we headed out to Chris & Keera's house to see them and their 10 month old identical twin girls which we had not seen since they were born. I even got Mike to hold Callie, and here is the proof. Wednesday was also the day that my dad and Aunt Jean headed off to England for 12 days.
On Friday, after a quick trip to the doctor for me, we headed to PA for the rest of our vacation. We opened our gifts that night with part of the family and hung out with Angela the rest of the weekend. We spent a lot of time just relaxing at the house with Mike's parents, Angela and Jenn. I spent a lot of time playing Elvis checkers and Tic-Tac-Toe, and I learned that Angela can be a cheater when she wants to...sneaky little kid! After getting the rug pulled out from under me a few times, we laid down ground rules and we were good from that point on. : )
On New Years Eve, we went out to lunch with our friend, Angela, to get caught up on life. While we were there we had the restaurant sing Happy Birthday to our niece, Angela. It has become a tradition to take her there for her birthday for the past few years now. Then we went home and watched the Eagles game and then watched the Ball drop with the family. We spent New Years Day at Jenn and Brian's house since it was Angela's 8th birthday and then on Tuesday we watched Christian and Gabriel (our other niece and nephew) until they fell asleep before heading out to visit Dr. McGrath. We always like to keep in touch with Dr. McGrath due to his support he has always given Mike towards fulfilling his dream and becoming a vet. Many stories were exchanged about their school experiences, but it is also comforting to know Mike is not the only one who has gone through this and that he will survive it.
On Wednesday, we piled back into the car and headed back to Kansas. Thank God we had good weather and we made it through the entire trip safe. The animals seemed to be worn down at the hotel halfway through our journey, so they decided they needed to relax in comfort.
Mike has since then started class and work and is already in full swing. He has already had his first test and is getting ready for the next one along with keeping up with 8 classes. He has been overwhelmed with all of our family issues but he is staying as strong as he can. I am back in the swing of work again as well as my routine here in Kansas. Plus, to prove to us it is winter we have now gotten some snow, about 4-5 inches.
However, over a week ago we got news from home that Mike's mom was taken into the emergency room with a fever of 103, low blood pressure, high heart rate, problems breathing, pneumonaie, and she was septic. She was later transferred into ICU, sedated and put on a ventilator for about 6 days. She is now out of ICU, recovering well, and I believe she should be coming home today. She will still be on an IV with antibiotic at home, but at least both his parents will be home together instead of in the hospital. Praise the Lord! We've had a few scares with the health of our parents but we know that our Heavenly Father doesn't just love us but he is the Great Physician and can heal us also! We have so much to be thankful for!!!
Thank you to all who were praying for our parents, we could feel the prayers being lifted up and know that we are blessed to have such a strong prayer group and circle of friends! We are thankful that life is getting back to some normalcy after these past few months, even though Mike was never ready to go back to school. Even the animals seem to be thankful for a routine again, it seems they are trying to get caught up on their lack of sleep through it all, as the pictures show.
To fill everyone in on our last blog, as we pulled in to Mike's parents driveway on that Thursday, his parents pulled in right behind us. His dad was put on new medications to help with the two blockages in one artery and given orders to take it easy. However, within a few days his whole body broke out in a rash and they took him off of all of the meds until they could determine which drug was causing it. Christmas Day his dad over did it and had a pretty rough day, because of this and with a fight with the doctors they got him on oxygen at home and since then he has been doing much better. He has a visiting nurse and physical therapist coming to the house to check on him also. He still has his good and bad days but at least he is coherent and back to his normal self.
As for my mom, she had her surgery on January 8th, once my father returned home from England for a work and witness trip. She made it through the surgery well and no other cancer cells were found...Praise the Lord! She was in the hospital for two days before they released her and is now home recovering well. She is feeling a whole lot better and my dad is taking good care of her. Her recovery period is 8-10 weeks so it will take time but she sounds great and is in good spirits. I think all she really wants is to get back to real life and being able to live prior to the past few months when she has been too weak.
Now for the update on our Christmas, even with all that was going on we did have a great vacation back home. The most important thing to us was just being with our family and friends that we can't see all the time. We got to spend the holidays with our families, visit with old friends, be there for Angela's 8th birthday (our niece), see all the new babies that have been born and visit our home church and some of the families. We had a great time hanging out with the Muzzeys on Friday night, just talking, playing with millipedes and playing cards. And then Mike had to finish up his Christmas shopping so we headed to the dreadful mall 2 days before Christmas. For any of you who really know me, you know that shopping is definitely not a passion or desire of mine, much less in crowded malls with pushy people. But we survived, got everything we needed, spent too much money, and then headed out to lunch with my Aunt Jean and Mr. Sweetman. Don Pablos...yummy! Plus, this restaurant was one of our memory places from when we first started dating
We celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve with my family. It was a little bit more hurried since there was so much going on at church, but we made it work. There were 11 of us that gathered at Jim's place for dinner and gifts, including my family, Marie, Kevin (Sharon's man), and Val. Val was supposed to leave around early evening to go be with her family, however, we kept telling her that her car wouldn't start and she wasn't going to go until later. Wouldn't you know it...her car didn't start (with a little help from Mike and my mom : ) ) Since Val isn't too familiar with what is under the hood of her car, we decided to unhook her battery to delay her exit. Of course, she came in blaming Mike right away demanding to know what he did to her car. He didn't back down until Val was so upset she started to cry, I guess Mike is a softie deep down because he told her the truth and Mike and my mom went and hooked her car back up so she could leave. But then she had been so frazzled that she left a bunch of stuff that she was suppose to take to her family's gathering at Jim's place, so she came back once again. In my opinion, she really didn't want to leave us. We then headed off to the Christmas Eve candlelight service where I met my "niece", McKenzie Cherry, for the first time since she was born in August. Then we picked up the dogs and were off to Sharon's place for snacks and dessert (yummy buttercake). We had breakfast together the following Christmas morning with my family and then packed up to head to Mike's family.
We spent Christmas Day with the Marinos. We had dinner over at his brother, Chris's house, and spent the night opening gifts and playing with the kids. After dinner, all the guys retreated to the basement to play pool while keeping their ears tuned to the radio to hear the Eagles game, which they won. It was a late night and by the time we got back to Mike's parents we all crashed, except Angela who wanted to open her Christmas gifts. Mike and I had to be up early the next morning to head to the eastern shore so we postponed Christmas gifts until later in the week.
On Tuesday, we headed down through DE and into Salisbury, MD so we could visit with Chris, Mindy & Luke. Sharon and Val joined us for the trip. It was really great to see the Scotts again and even better that was the day that Luke started to crawl. He is just growing up so fast! We headed out to lunch and then later visited with Chris' neighbors, the Willeys, and then had dessert at Chris' parents house. It was nice to get caught up with each other and to know that even when friends move away they really aren't that far away. Later on the way home, we made a quick stop to check out Val's new house. It is a perfect starter house for what she needs and is really cute too. I'm so happy for her and knowing how far she has come to be the woman she is today.
On Wednesday, we got together with Sharon, Val and Mark for dinner. We had a good time and once again decided to get Val. Mike told the waitress it was her 30th birthday, so they came out with a dessert and sang to her. They told her that her reaction was one of the best ones they have ever had, little did they know it was because it was nowhere near her birthday much less near her 30th birthday. It may seem as if Val is persecuted often, but it truly is out of love and what could she complain about...she got a free dessert!! Then we headed out to Chris & Keera's house to see them and their 10 month old identical twin girls which we had not seen since they were born. I even got Mike to hold Callie, and here is the proof. Wednesday was also the day that my dad and Aunt Jean headed off to England for 12 days.
On Friday, after a quick trip to the doctor for me, we headed to PA for the rest of our vacation. We opened our gifts that night with part of the family and hung out with Angela the rest of the weekend. We spent a lot of time just relaxing at the house with Mike's parents, Angela and Jenn. I spent a lot of time playing Elvis checkers and Tic-Tac-Toe, and I learned that Angela can be a cheater when she wants to...sneaky little kid! After getting the rug pulled out from under me a few times, we laid down ground rules and we were good from that point on. : )
On New Years Eve, we went out to lunch with our friend, Angela, to get caught up on life. While we were there we had the restaurant sing Happy Birthday to our niece, Angela. It has become a tradition to take her there for her birthday for the past few years now. Then we went home and watched the Eagles game and then watched the Ball drop with the family. We spent New Years Day at Jenn and Brian's house since it was Angela's 8th birthday and then on Tuesday we watched Christian and Gabriel (our other niece and nephew) until they fell asleep before heading out to visit Dr. McGrath. We always like to keep in touch with Dr. McGrath due to his support he has always given Mike towards fulfilling his dream and becoming a vet. Many stories were exchanged about their school experiences, but it is also comforting to know Mike is not the only one who has gone through this and that he will survive it.
On Wednesday, we piled back into the car and headed back to Kansas. Thank God we had good weather and we made it through the entire trip safe. The animals seemed to be worn down at the hotel halfway through our journey, so they decided they needed to relax in comfort.
Mike has since then started class and work and is already in full swing. He has already had his first test and is getting ready for the next one along with keeping up with 8 classes. He has been overwhelmed with all of our family issues but he is staying as strong as he can. I am back in the swing of work again as well as my routine here in Kansas. Plus, to prove to us it is winter we have now gotten some snow, about 4-5 inches.
However, over a week ago we got news from home that Mike's mom was taken into the emergency room with a fever of 103, low blood pressure, high heart rate, problems breathing, pneumonaie, and she was septic. She was later transferred into ICU, sedated and put on a ventilator for about 6 days. She is now out of ICU, recovering well, and I believe she should be coming home today. She will still be on an IV with antibiotic at home, but at least both his parents will be home together instead of in the hospital. Praise the Lord! We've had a few scares with the health of our parents but we know that our Heavenly Father doesn't just love us but he is the Great Physician and can heal us also! We have so much to be thankful for!!!
Thank you to all who were praying for our parents, we could feel the prayers being lifted up and know that we are blessed to have such a strong prayer group and circle of friends! We are thankful that life is getting back to some normalcy after these past few months, even though Mike was never ready to go back to school. Even the animals seem to be thankful for a routine again, it seems they are trying to get caught up on their lack of sleep through it all, as the pictures show.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
A relaxful holiday may have been too much to ask for...
This is going to be a quick post. Sad to say so far the holidays do not look relaxful at all. We've had a quick change of plans to our holiday season as we will be heading home earlier for the holidays. Mike's dad is in the hospital with heart problems so we are heading home bright and early tomorrow morning, like 4 am. We have also heard that my mother's surgery has been scheduled for January 8th. During this time for both families we covet your prayers, for health and also safe traveling mercies.
Hope everyone else is having a more relaxed holiday season. Wishing you all the best from our home to yours!! God Bless and Merry Christmas!
Hope everyone else is having a more relaxed holiday season. Wishing you all the best from our home to yours!! God Bless and Merry Christmas!
Friday, December 15, 2006
Tis the season...to finally relax, HOPEFULLY!
(I know I've been slacking, but Jenny, you will have to get over it.)
This past month has been a whirlwind of activity from saying goodbye to close friends, getting ready for Christmas and Mike finishing out the semester. Now that most of that has passed or will be drawing near soon I can finally say I have my husband back after surviving the hardest semester yet of vet school and soon we will get to see our families and celebrate Christmas with them.
Hammy has still been a handful. He definitely craves attention and if it can't be positive he is okay with getting disciplined and sprayed until he is soaking wet. He is in to everything from thinking the Christmas tree is a new toy to anything that I am trying to use, as you can see by these pictures. He definitely keeps us on our toes especially when he runs between our legs as we walk around, needless to say Mike and I have both been tripped multiple times..jpg)
The rest of the animals are doing really well. Cinder has been getting a break from Hammy as we have been locking him up during the days and at nights since we don't really want to clean our Christmas tree remains up off of the floor. Cinder had her 6th birthday at the end of October and Tiger will have his 6th at the end of January, the day after his daddy's birthday. It is hard to believe that they are that age especially since it seems like yestserday when they both were tiny. I know...Tiger is still tiny, however, from when we picked him out at two weeks old and even when we brought him home he could fit into just one of our hands. Here is a shot of the boys in front of the Christmas tree this year.
We did have to say, "See you later" to some of our friends this past month. We all got to help decorate the church together and even found time for a group picture. Tomorrow we will get to see Corey & Holly and after Christmas we will get to see Chris, Mindy & Luke also. Yeah for hanging out with great friends!! A definite reunion should be planned for the future.
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The Manhattan Gang at the farewell luncheon
Here are some cute pictures of Luke from the night of Christmas decorating at the church. Lindsey made the quilt for him and he enjoyed rolling around on it and playing with the little animals that fit into the barns.
The guys had another marathon paintball day back in the early part of the month before Chris left and a new member has joined the Paintball Sympathizer Club. Jon has now joined the ranks of Anthony and Chris. While the guys were shooting themselves up all the girls got together to relax without them, imagine that. We all reconvened at our house for food, a Nazarene staple at every gathering, and then for a movie. Sadly we had to say goodbye to Mindy and Luke two days following and then to Chris a week later. We were much nicer to Mindy when she left, while with Chris...not so nice, as you can see. Even Jamie lended a hand! See Chris, you left your mark from the oldest down to the youngest in the group. And for anyone who doesn't understand the first picture, the only people that were nice enough to want to take Chris in and put up with him for two days was his new set of parents, Bobby & Lindsey Crawford, hence his name change.
Mike (and Lindsey) took their last final yesterday and last night was the first time in ages that Mike just got to veg in front of the TV with all of the animals on him. Not a textbook was opened, not even pharmacology. He even got to sleep in this morning, imagine that. Of course, since he isn't in school, now he is on-call until the morning that we leave to come home. Everyone needs to pray hard that his pager doesn't go off within the next week just so he can actually feel like he is on vacation. And if anyone, such as Chris, prays for the opposite they will reap revenge later, mark my words.
Tomorrow we head into Kansas City with our young adult (we use that term loosely in our group) Sunday School class for shopping, dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and to see the lights AND TO SEE COREY & HOLLY!!!!
And in one week we will be on our way home to DE and then to PA...It'll be good to see all of you back home! Until next time...
Friday, November 24, 2006
Thanksgiving...
This week has been full of plenty to do and now I can relax for the next few days while Mike has to study. No one ever said vet school was easy, and if they did they should give it a try for a few days and see if they can handle it. Mike has also been on call this week and once again luck is not on his side, every single day he has been called in twice. Yesterday he woke up, went into surgery, went and celebrated Thanksgiving with all of us and then got called in at 12:30 am again for a surgery that lasted about 5 1/2 hours. Needless to say, he slept in this morning.
We got to spend Thanksgiving yesterday with the gang here in Manhattan and we had a great time. There were 17 of us, including Lindsey's family from Minnesota. We had a good time eating, playing games, watching movies, and just laughing. As you can see in this picture, some of the guys couldn't even stop laughing while they were trying to swallow. And after everyone
stuffed themselves, some had to take naps during the day to recuperate, like baby Jamie.
Josh, Chris & Mike shouldn't be allowed
to sit by each other. (Any of these guys
together means trouble!!)
We got to spend Thanksgiving yesterday with the gang here in Manhattan and we had a great time. There were 17 of us, including Lindsey's family from Minnesota. We had a good time eating, playing games, watching movies, and just laughing. As you can see in this picture, some of the guys couldn't even stop laughing while they were trying to swallow. And after everyone
stuffed themselves, some had to take naps during the day to recuperate, like baby Jamie.
The gang
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Josh, Chris & Mike shouldn't be allowed
to sit by each other. (Any of these guys
together means trouble!!)
Jamie's first Thanksgiving was too exhausting
I also got the Christmas decorating almost done. Mike ended up being called in every time we started to decorate so I had to do most of it on my own, except when Hammy tried to help by relocating the ornaments to the floor. I guess he thought he wanted them down on his level. But finally Hammy relaxed and enjoyed sitting by his first Christmas tree and falling asleep, and later that night he enjoyed sleeping under the tree.
So Thanksgiving Break has been busy, but it has also reminded me that I have a lot to be thankful for. God has blessed Mike and I with so much, including our families back home and our friends and family here in Kansas. He has taken care of our every need from the time we started dating, to the time we got married and to when we packed up and moved 1300 miles away from all we knew. I will admit that I cried when I heard we were going to Kansas, but now I know those tears were in vain. I couldn't of pictured not being in Kansas during this time of our lives. Between the vet school and church, God has filled our lives abundantly and has blessed us with friendships that we would of otherwise never known. What a blessing to share Thanksgiving Day with those God blessed us with!
We hope that everyone had just as wonderful a Thanksgiving Day as we did! God Bless!
Sunday, November 19, 2006
This is a totally new thing that I wanted to start since we have friends relocating and others all over the US. Hope this works out. This was the end of another week full of exams and studying for Mike (surprise there) while I continue to try and get all the other things done, including Christmas shopping and making preparations to head home at Christmas. We are so excited to be able to see our families and to see how much our nieces and nephew have grown. It is hard not being close to watch them grow up, but we enjoy the time we do have with them. Our little family keeps growing also. Hammy, who is only 5 1/2 months, now is bigger in size and weighs more than Tiger and is almost the size of Cinder. He is a beast! He recently went in to visit the vet to prepare for him to lose his manhood, and he weighed in at ~8 1/2 pounds. He survived the surgery and doesn't seem to hate us for it. His personality is back, and during these cold winter months his affection will come in handy with keeping me warm. He's a lover! The pictures can help you compare how much he has grown and how big he is now.
Hammy when we first brought him home (July 17, 2006)
Hammy now (November 19 th)
Here are some pictures of the rest of the clan also:
Cinder & Hammy
Henry right after we got him groomed so he wouldn't look like a Muppet.
Tiger enjoying his window seat at the new house.
And above is a picture of our new home (since June) for those who haven't seen any other pictures. It has been a blessing to have our own space and know that God has given this gift to us for our time in Kansas.
This week ahead is only a two day week of studying and school for Mike and for me at work also. Of course, when Mike isn't doing schoolwork he is on call at the hospital, so we are a bit limited on what we can do while we both have off. But either way it will be great to relax and spend time with friends, plus we will be setting up for Christmas (one of my favorite things to do). We are planning to have Thanksgiving with our "little church family" since we can't make it back east and also to enjoy the holiday with some of our friends that will be moving away soon. We will miss the Rozenbooms and Scotts, especially knowing that they are now part of our family and made our time here in Kansas all the better. It will be a sad couple of weeks ahead but we know that God has wonderful plans for them in Georgia and Iowa.
That is the latest from Kansas and the Marino clan for now...to be continued
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