Out with 2009.....in with 2010....

Highlights of 2009

By the month:
-Ringing in the 2009 with a pajama party in January.
-Jonathon hit 500 flight hours in February.
-Spring Break trip to Venice Beach, Florida with lots of friends in March
-Jonathon completed his first Marathon in April
-Kristen and Chris renewed their wedding vows in May
-I was in Africa for June/July
-Extra time off in August. (It was so nice this year.)
-Callie and I went to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in September
-Jonathon and I went to Chicago for his 30th Birthday in October.
-We painted and began the big remodeling project (that still isn't finished) in November.
-Jonathon and I ran the Kiawah Island Marathon (my first) in December

Overall:
-My nephew Connor has been so much fun to get to know this year. He turned one this week!
-Celebrating 30th birthdays this year was like a theme. Several of my friends turned the big 3-0 and they all celebrated in different ways. It was a ton of fun. :)
-First full calendar year being married to Jonathon.....it's so much fun and we are just beginning!

Happy 2010....

Proud of my Hubby....

I was going to wait until after we painted the living room to post pictures but I'm so proud of Jonathon that I just have to go ahead and post. Below you will be see before and after pics from two different views. We are still going to paint the living room a little bit darker but I think it looks great already. I'm so proud of my hubby for learning how to do the flooring...it was way cheaper to put it in ourselves!!

Thanks, Jonathon!!!

Before...After...
Before....

After...

Christmas Weekend

Christmas Eve

-Jonathon and I worked on the house all morning. He was working on the flooring and I was working on my endless laundry pile. This is pretty sad to say but I don't think I had done laundry for real in about six weeks.

-I went out shopping for a couple last minute items then it was off to Kristen's for the DeVore Family Christmas. Highlights included a visit from Santa and the best tasting food ever.



Christmas Day

-We received a phone call around 8:00a.m. that Jonathon's mom was super sick and we've had to cancel our family dinner.

-Jonathon and I decided to stay in our pjs all day long. We baked the pie we were going to take to the dinner and had some for lunch and dinner. Jonathon eventually started working on our flooring and I got back to work on folding and organizing all of that laundry.

Saturday
-I woke up feeling like I was starting to get sick. My throat and ears were burning but I took some meds and we headed down to visit my family in Bowling Green. KY. We spent the afternoon visiting. It's always so nice just to relax and have fun talking.

-I slept all the way home and went to bed as soon as I got home.

Sunday
-I woke up this morning with a hacking cough and no voice. I had to call in to say that I wasn't going to make it to Sunday School. It's kind of hard to teach without a voice. Then I headed to the Urgent Care center and camped out there all morning. I headed home with some antibiotics and took a long nap.

-Jonathon and I went to his parent's house tonight for Christmas dinner and to exchange gifts. We are so blessed to have them live close to us. They were very generous and we got the best gifts. The food was also super delicious. It was such a nice time. We had to cut it short because Jonathon started sneezing a bunch. I think whatever I have has been passed to him and his allergies are also in play. ICK!

The past four days have been crazy but fun. Now we are snuggled up on the couch watching tv and playing on our laptops. He has to go back to work tomorrow, but I'll be sleeping in.....

New Year's Resolution....

I will not over commit myself.....I will not over commit myself.....I will not over commit myself....

Can you guess what the theme of 2010 is going to be for me? I've decided that if I don't have a happy heart to do something I'm going to learn how to say no. Mark my words!!!

Pictures

Here are some pictures we got this week from the big race.....

The starting line.....

In the middle of the race...

The big finishes...

We Did It!!!

Jonathon and I finished our marathon this morning! It was soooo not as hard as I thought it would be BUT it sooooooo wasn't easy! I'm pretty sore right now and expect to be for a couple days but it was worth it. Here's some highlights:

-The starting gun is always such a rush for me. My adrenaline really pumps me up! Jonathon gave me a kiss good-bye and we were off!
-This race was AMAZINGLY organized and all about the runners. There were water/Gatorade/orange slice/banana stations every 2 miles! It really made it easy to stay hydrated and you would be amazed at how hungry you are during the race. I made a point to take water....then an orange slice...then Gatorade....then a banana....in that order at the stations....not all a once. That's the order I took them-one item per station. I think it made a huge difference for me. Let me tell you that those were the most wonderful tasting orange slices I've ever had in my life!
-Passing the Mini marathon/full marathon point was a rush. I really didn't get to run more than 13 or so during my trainings so the words "every step is a step farther than you've ever ran before" kept ringing in my ear. Travis Dunn told me that during my first mini-marathon and it really helped me reach the end.
-Seeing Jonathon around mile 18 and half. He was on the loop on the way back and it gave me a jump of more adrenaline.
-Around mile 25 someone walking back with a mini-marathon tag on said, "I don't know how you all do this. I think you are amazing." I started crying.
-Right after the mile 26 marker Jonathon was waiting on the outside of the runner gates wrapped in his foil blanket. After finishing his own, he jogged along the outside to help me finish. I love him so much! (More tears)
-The marathon here treats each marathon finisher to a Carb buffet at the end of the race. I thought I may be sick or something but no....all I wanted to do was eat....pasta salad, cornbread muffins, brownies, more oranges, more bananas. It was the most delicious meal ever!!

There were some negatives.....
-I started forming some blisters around mile 8 or 9. Eventually you just get numb to them but MAN do they hurt now!
-Around mile 12 there was a medical team working on someone on a stretcher. As I passed I saw that it was a man around my age and he had turned blue. This was my first bought of crying. I cried on and off for a mile and prayed very hard for him and his family. He didn't look like he was breathing but the team was hard at work on him.
-Around mile 19 and half I had to start walking for the first time. I was so disappointed because I had given myself the goal to run solidly until mile 20. I just couldn't help it. My legs felt like hard stilts. Luckily if realized that if I ran on the grass surrounding the road it cushioned my joints. I was able to do this off and on for the rest of the race. All-in-all I probably walked about two miles of the 26.2....but there's no shame in it!!!
-I'm super sore in my feet and legs. I never really got out of breathe but my legs are on fire. It's going to a long week anytime I see stairs.

There you have it. It was a wonderful experience. I know I will do it again in the future!!!

Okay, Okay.....

...I'll update my blog.....(Rachel yelled at me!!)

I haven't been updating because I just didn't have much to say. I've been BUSY....that's about it. Let's see.......Since October 28.......

Halloween-Jonathon and I stayed home and passed out candy....we had about twenty trick-or-treaters and I was pretty disappointed.

Cheer seasons at both schools are in full effect and I'm running in two directions at all times after my school day ends.

We still haven't finished our painting. It's time for the living room and we're both too scared/lazy to get going on it. I don't want to mess it up! After the paint comes new laminate flooring....Maybe we'll get it finished over the next month....I'll post pictures when it's all complete.

I ran Fast Freddie's Five Miler on Thanksgiving Day. I LOVE this race every year for two reasons: 1. I can eat guilt free later that day. 2. I always get to see old friends and people I haven't seen in a long time.

We had three Thanksgiving dinners. They were all very yummy and full of family fun!

Marathon-Jonathon and I are a week away from our big goal. Don't ask how the training has come along. I REALLY dropped the ball on things these last few weeks. I know the race won't kill me but it's sure not going to be the most pleasant experience. My goal is to finish before they close the finish line.....We'll see what happens.

Okay, that will have to do for now.... Happy December!

A Post from Maddie

Me and kk had fun today gas weta i had for dennr? tann nodl casroll now it time for bed good nite

A Post from Callie

I'm handing out with KK til Thuresday. Ya we came home and did all cone of stff.Do you want to know what I had for dinner?So I had thuiencasaroll.Oh Connor carie all the time.and that's all of my stoy. The End

Help!

My blog is not updating my blog list on the right. Does anyone know why this happens? I just thought all my blogger friends had taken the week off. I've missed out on so much!!!

What We've Been Up To....

We've been working....

We've been running...

We've been painting and changing things in our house....

There's some events I need to catch you up on but I don't have the time right now. Soon, I will post pics from our Chicago trip, a Halloween party, and my step-mom's 60th birthday lunch....I have to get back to work now...

Norman got his handbike....

For those of you who followed the trip to Malawi this summer, you may remember a story about our friend, named Norman. He lost the use of his legs with Polio as a kid. We would see him every day sitting outside of a store in town where he sat each day making money as a beggar. Some beggars were pushy and rude, but Norman would smile the most humble smile each and every time.

Jill (team member and my step-sister) would noticed him most often and she had a tug in her heart about helping him out. We found out about a place that would make a hand bike for him as well as fit him for knee and elbow pads for when he is walking around...using his hands to scoot his body along the road. Our team gathered together and took him to the office.

The bike was supposed to be made by the time our team left, but it wasn't. We left knowing that one of the pastors was going to follow up for us. Since our return we found out that the doctors at the office acted like they didn't even know what the pastor was talking about when he went back to claim the bike. Long story short.....after a long battle of breaking through the shady ways of the system....Norman got his hand bike.....

Video

Here's a link to a Malawi Video. It has many more pictures from the trip than I posted this summer.


http://animoto.com/play/PIPfvkecI08GhZrEBMljfw?autostart=true#

Updates

Jonathon- His "busy season" ended last week and he is now going to be home all the time. Yay!! There will be a couple weeks through the fall and winter that he has to go out out of town but for the most part he will be home. I LOVE having him home!

We went to Chicago last weekend to celebrate his 30th birthday. Well, we originally booked the hotel because we planned on running the Chicago Marathon but we didn't get registered for the race in time. We couldn't get a refund for the hotel so we decided to just make it a fun weekend and celebrate his birthday instead. It was a lot of fun. I'll have to post some pics...they are on Jonathon's camera and my computer doesn't read the card. Stay tuned...

By the way, I'm so glad Jonathon is finally 30. Now he has to stop teasing me about being in my thirties! ;)

School-Busy, stressful, still rewarding...

Family-Kristen has been dealing with sickness all around. First, two of the kids had the flu. Then, two of them got a stomach virus and Kristen caught it too. At last check, everyone was healthy again except for some seasonal runny noses.

Marathon- I have to confess that after eight solid weeks of training, I've only run 5 miles total in the past two weeks. I'm back on it as of today though. I've been battling a cold over the past two weeks but I feel back to normal now. No excuses-EIGHT WEEKS TO GO!

Friend Time- Jen and I hung out last night. Jonathon had Guard and Ryan was hunting so we watched a movie and ate Pizza King. Of course our conversations centered around school and teaching. You can't have two teachers in a room and expect conversations not to be centered on school. At least the guys weren't around to be tortured! I had a great time catching up!!

Umm....How about no one.....

I was watching the news this morning getting ready for work and the station was interviewing Kentucky fans about what they thought about the former coach, Gillespie, being arrested for a DUI. In one of the interviews, the fan said, "Well, everyone should be able to do what they want to do, but when you are a coach you need to be held to a higher standard."

Umm....excuse me, but what happened to the thought that NO ONE should be allowed to drink and drive???

Proud Wifey...

Jonathon and I were hanging out before he left this afternoon and he "mentioned" that he hit 1000 hours this week. He was counting up with so much attention on every minute to reach the 500 mark that I could hardly believe he hit the big 1000 and forgot to tell. I'm so proud of him!!

The more he flies, the better he gets and the more valuable he is considered to be as a skilled helicopter pilot. I love that he loves his job and takes so much pride in getting better at it each day. He's pretty humble and you will never catch him bringing it up, but he is really good at what he does.

Congrats, babe! I love you...

The Flu...

Kristen called me on my lunch today to let me know that Connor and Madison both have the Flu. Influenza A or the Swine....supposedly it's all the same....they don't know but they have "it" nonetheless. Please pray for the kiddos.

I was hugging and kissing all over that baby this weekend so who wants to place a bet on when I start feeling symptoms? My immune system stinks....

Happy Birthday, Callie!

You could say that this was Callie's birthday weekend. I'll be telling this story in reverse because my pictures loaded in the wrong order and I'm too lazy to fix it. :)

Callie and I went to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Derby Dinner tonight for her birthday. We had a seat right beside the stage. I had seen this musical in college but this version was the best. Callie even said it was her favorite afterwards. She loves musicals.

On Saturday, Callie had a little party at the bowling alley. It was fun hanging out with them. Here's a picture of Aunt KK and Connor. Poor baby...he hasn't been feeling well all weekend....

Kristen and I even shot a pic with our Aunt Jessie.....

Bowling shoes...

Seriously...Callie was soooo excited to take a picture....

Maddie and Callie had very different approaches to getting the ball down the lane...

It's been a fun weekend celebrating. I still can't believe it's been eight years ago that she was born.

I love you, Callie! :)

Memories....

I'm feeling a little nostalgic tonight...forgive me if you're not a fan of sad posts....

I'm not the kind to wallow in any kind of sad or angry emotion. I'm really okay so nobody has to worry about me or anything. I've just had them on my mind a lot. So here are some things that I miss....

I miss talking to my momma each and every day. I used to call her and talk to her for a few minutes each day. It's like my day wasn't complete until I did.

I miss my dad's jokes, even the ones I heard a million times. I miss his laugh and the look on his face when he made other people laugh.

I miss my mom's cooking. I wish I had paid more attention to her when she cooked-One of my life's biggest regrets!

I miss my dad's realistic view of life and his no-nonsense advice. He always cut the chase and told me what I needed to hear, not what I wanted to hear.

I miss how my mom always told me what I wanted to hear and then we ate ice cream or cake or whatever we could get our hands on.

I miss laughing at the kitchen table on the weekends.

I wish mom could have met her grandbabies and I wish dad could have met Connor.

I wish they both could have met Jonathon. I never dreamed that I would find someone that my mom and dad would both have loved but he's it. Jonathon's sense of adventure with food would have won my mom's heart over. His ability to fix just about anything and wanting to "do it himself" would have earned my dad's respect. They both would have loved the way he loves me.

I don't talk about it much, but I do miss them both very much every day.

Updates!

Things have been so busy lately with the start of the new school year. I've pretty much been working, coaching, running, and working some more. The transition to business always takes about a month before I can get my time management under control. Here are some things that have been going on....

-Charlestown Football: I'm loving going to the games. It's so exciting to watch some of my former students get to play now that they are getting old enough. I also LOVE the feel of the community and the pride in Charlestown these days. It's really great to see.

-Family: I found out this week that my cousin, Kelli, is going to have a baby boy! I'm so happy to have another addition to our family. Kelli is my cousin, but I also consider her a close friend. I can't wait to meet Baby Brooks in a few months!

Labor Day Weekend: Jonathon and I didn't have much going on. We got invited two different places over the weekend and they both got cancelled. I got to hang out with Kristen's family a bunch last weekend. We played games, the girls hit me with their latest fundraiser, we had a great dinner, and I got to hold baby Connor a lot.

-Marathon training: Things are still going well. I'm so happy to report that I just finished week 5 and I'm sticking with it. I ran 10 miles on Saturday and I wasn't sure I would be able to do it. In the past I would have trained for a couple months to hit 10 miles, but the marathon training schedule is accelerated. It think it proves that it's really a mental game you play with yourself. I told myself I was not going to leave the gym until the treadmill said ten. I slowed down and took it steady. It felt great!

-Jonathon: He didn't get to come home this weekend and I'm missing him like crazy. :(

I've been so awful about taking pictures and posting things lately. I'm going to try to be better in the weekends to come as we have something going on every weekend over the next month. :)

I don't see what all the fuss is about....

I don't speak too often on political issues in my blog, but I just had to share my opinion about something. I heard all the fuss being raised over Obama's address to students on Tuesday. From what I've heard over the weekend I wasn't sure I would want to my child to listen to the message, but I just read the speech released on: http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/

...and I have to say that I think the speech is great. I don't see anything wrong with it. I'm a pretty conservative minded person, politically speaking, and I have to admit that I agree with his message. Kids MUST come ready to listen and work hard.

Now I know this is probably not the first draft and who knows what it said before it actually got published....but I would welcome this message in my classroom. I think this is an example of people being upset about who the message is coming from rather than listening to what the message is saying. There's plenty of things our president has said that I don't agree with, BUT this speech has nothing to do with politics....it's about encouraging kids to do their best and work hard.

Note: Our school has decided not to show the video so our students won't hear it at my school. I really feel that parents should read it themselves before they make a decision about whether their children should listen to it. For the matter, no one should ever trust what they hear in the media on an issue. Check it out for yourself and make your own decisions!

Baby Connor

Jonathon and I babysat Connor Saturday night so Kristen and Chris could have a date. The girls were at a sleepover so Kristen took the opportunity to have some free time out on the town. He did pretty well...just one little fit when Kristen left. It was a sad moment. He was crawling toward the door with a smile on his face as they left. The door shut and his brief depression set in. I took him outside to get his mind off of it and Jami brought Cooper over to distract him too. It worked! After that it was smooth sailing. He's a pretty easy baby. (Editor's note: I've never actually had him longer than four or five hours.)

I love his little face...

You can see all of his teeth in this one...I don't like it when he is sad but his little lip is adorable. Plus....look at those eye lashes. I'm super jealous!

Running Group

I was invited to run with a group of people Saturday morning. There were six of us and we are all training for something (except Alicia who just likes to workout a lot). It was so much fun! We ran a little in Indiana and through downtown Louisville up to Bardstown Road. There were tons of runners and walkers out along the way and it sure made the time go by faster when someone from the group told a funny story or made a comment. Toward the end we were all kind of spread out on our own just trying to finish but it was great. I'm planning on meeting up with them next Saturday. It's going to make getting in the longer runs for the marathon a lot easier.

Thank you for being a friend...

So this is the only picture I could find of all three of us that had already been scanned in. I'm so lazy! It's a great one of Heather and Jami....I look a little weird....back during my "brace face" period. :) It's a very unique self-pic taken at Jami's wedding. Anyway...on with my post....

On Saturday, Heather and I went for a girly morning at a spalon in Louisville to celebrate her upcoming 30th birthday. Afterwards we met up with Jami for lunch. I had a great time hanging out with these gals. I love them so much!

Throughout my adult life it seems like I've become good friends with people in threes. Jami, Heather, and I started hanging out right after I got home from college. I can't even really remember how it happened but it did. I have so many great memories with each of them....individually and together.

For those of you who don't know, we are all neighbors now too. Jami lives on the opposite corner of my street and I can back straight out of my driveway into Heather's. I love having them close to me. It's not like we hang out every night or anything, but it's great having them near me. :)

I love you, girls!! :)

Snuggies....

If you've ever wondered about the couch blanket from the Snuggie commercials are awesome....I'm about to become an expert witness. Jonathon got me a royal blue Snuggie for my birthday....great for CHS football games! Oh yes...laugh now....but if you are at the game and want me to share my "blanket with sleeves" I'll be the one laughing then. (Just kidding, I'll share.)

I say I'll be an expert because today Kristen and Chris went to lunch with us after church and guess what Kristen gave me??? A zebra print Snuggie! Now I have two. :) Apparently I've talked about how goofy, yet awesome those things are every time I see the commercial.

Thanks for my Snuggies, Kristen and Jonathon!

Need a Cat???

My friend, Lindsey, would like to give one of her cats to a good home. Her oldest cat has a ton of health problems which is making it harder and harder to care for their latest cat rescue. If there are any animal lovers out there, let me know!

This Week...

I've had a pretty busy week. It's a good warm-up to the full "back to school" week that is coming....

Monday- I was working in my classroom and in the afternoon (very out of the blue) I started feeling sick. I rushed home and went to bed. It only last for about four hours and then I was done. Kristen brought me some Sprite and I just hung out on the couch for the night. It was very weird. I think it may have been that Lean Cuisine I found in the back of the freezer to take to lunch. I have no idea how old it was.....Someone told me, "When in doubt, throw it out!" I'll do that from now on....

Tuesday- I started my day with a 4 mile run with Kathy. We haven't ran together in so long and it was nice to catch up. She is going to be my Tuesday running partner through the marathon training. I'm so excited because she pushes me.

After the run, I met up with Jami for lunch at the Chick-fil-a. We got to chat with Rachel there and support ROCK.

I met up with my mother-in-law, Denise, after lunch. She had a coveted 30% off coupon for Kohl's. No big spening from me though...I needed to find something for Jonathon to wear to a wedding in a couple weeks. I feel like I barely hang on to the fashion train with myself. It's been interesting over the past year trying to shop for him too. I hope what I picked out works!

Wedesday-I had an all-day meeting for school. Intense! Then I got to go to my hair appointment. I had it cut to just below my chin. It's been years since my hair was this short. It was a request by Jonathon and I told him I would try it again. I was ready for a change. We both like it. :) I'll have to get a picture to post.

Thursday-I had several school things to do....Seems like I was running back and forth to places all day. It was very busy!

Friday-First official day...meetings all day long. The highlight was going to the football game at CHS. I met up with a bunch of friends to hang out a little before the game. Jonathon was texting me throught he evening updating me with his travel updates home. He finally got home right before the game ended. Pirates win....then I headed home to my hubby. :)

Saturday- I had a birthday wake-up call this morning. Callie and Maddie called to wake me up and sing "Happy Birthday." It was very sweet. Jonathon and I went to Perrin Park to run....BTW-I had another great running week. No missed workouts!-Now we are waiting for his parents to arrive. They are having a family dinner at Huber's tonight. I've never been there to eat at the restaurant. Should be exciting.

I hope everyone else had a great week!

Update/Top Ten

I thought I would put my update in the form of a top ten list...In no certain order, here are the top ten things of the past week...

10. Getting some things done in my classroom...although it still feels like there's so much to do!
9. Getting to see my friend Jill's new baby boy, Justus Cash....cool name. :) He's a doll.
8. Starting week 1 of my marathon training schedule...with 100% success! I didn't skip a single workout.
7. Working registration night at school. I love back to school time...I'm such a nerd!
6. Having dinner with lots of family Friday night. I always have fun catching up with everyone! I especially enjoyed seeing my baby cousin, Gracie. She is so full of life.....sweet and adorable!
5. Holding my nephew, Connor. He's such a good baby and I just want to hug him all day.
4. Meeting my good friend, Carrie, for lunch on Thursday. I miss my Carrie Jo!
3. Double date movie night with Jen and Ryan.
2. I spent most of the week in London, Ky with Jonathon again. I really think I could get used to living in a hotel having other people clean up after you. :)
1. My favorite "witty Jonathon" line this weekend: "Next weekend have ice cream waiting in the freezer for me like a good wife should." He was totally kidding but we had a good giggle over this one!!! I was running late Friday so I didn't buy any ice cream for the weekend.

I'm looking forward to my last week of relaxation before the whirlwind begins with the school year.....

I'm just saying...

I have NEVER liked Rick Pitino. From the time he was at UK until now I have always said this. It wasn't the coaching (Even I can't deny that he is a very good coach.) and I could never give anyone who asked a better answer than, "I don't know. I just don't like him."

I'm just saying......

A Plug for Porter Paints...

I just had a color consultant come to my house to help me pick out paint colors. I'm not very good at picking anything out unless I can see everything together. You may remember that I was in the market to purchase new couches a couple months ago. Well we bought them but realized soon after that we must paint the walls because I apparently don't know how to match up different shades of beige. :) So anyway....

The Porter Paints deal is awesome. You pay the consultant $50 to come to your home where she can see everything in natural light. She helps you pick out your shades and then she leaves you with a $50 gift certificate to Porter Paints. So basically, you get an in-home consultation for free as long as you buy your paint there. What a deal!

I will soon be painting the living room, hallway, guest bath, and master bedroom in our home. Wish me luck!

Jonathon at Work...

I am in London, Ky this week hanging out at the hotel while Jonathon is at work each day. It's really nice to be away from any kind of work for me. I am working out in the hotel or at the local aerobics gym, watching TV, wasting time on the Internet, reading, and my favorite...taking naps!
It's awesome for me but Jonathon is busy at work each day. I got a message ten minutes before he arrived back at the base yesterday and I drove straight there to catch him landing. I've only seen him fly once before. Below you will see pictures of his approach. The last picture is what helps me sleep at night. After every single flight a team of mechanics inspects the helicopter inside and out. That mixed with knowing he is a great pilot helps me know that he is safe in the air each day.

Kiawah Island, Here We Come..

Jonathon and I are officially registered for the Kiawah Island Marathon in December. Originally we wanted to run the Chicago in October but we didn't register in time. I went on a search to find another marathon to be my first. I found the Kiawah Island Marathon.... http://www.kiawahresort.com/recreation/marathon/ I'm thinking the weather will be perfect that time of year in South Carolina.

The training calendar doesn't begin until the end of August so now I have a few weeks to get my body ready to train. For the past two years I just haven't had the motivation to get going but I am pumped and ready to go now. I spent an hour on the treadmill this morning running/walking. I'm so excited to be committed to it!

Happy to Be Home

It has been a wonderful week being back home. I spent most of the week catching up on appointments. If you know me well you know that I'm always going somewhere....dentist, orthodontist, chiropractor, etc. I'm a bit of a hypochondriac...but most of the time there is a real reason to go so I'm not crazy. :)

I did a really stupid thing while in Africa. I dropped my retainer in hot, boiling water and it shrank so I had to go get that fixed. My teeth are so mobile and they had already started shifting around. They are trying to salvage the old retainer so I don't have to buy a new one but I have to go back in a month to see if it worked.

I also switched dentists this week. I'm now going to my friend Lindsey's office. No, she's not the dentist. She's the hygienist and she did a great job. At first I thought I would feel weird having a friend clean my teeth....in case she thought I was super dirty or something....but it was actually comforting. I'm slightly cholosterphobic so having a friend all up in my mouth put me more at ease.

I got a new haircut this week and I love it. It doesn't look much different but she layered it a little differently...small, subtle change...but I like it.

I got to stop by Megan's in between appointments one day this week and got to see little Lincoln. He is a skinny little thing. I'm used to chubby babies in my family. :) He was just as cute as the pictures on their blog.

My church was having VBS this week and I'm usually involved somehow but this year I was out of town the whole time they were planning and putting things together so I didn't have a role. I volunteered to babysit my nephew, Connor, while Kristen took the girls each night. I loved this! He's the cutest little thing and we had so much fun each night. He's such a good baby. We visited with Jami and Cooper and went walking with Heather and Alex one night. It was fun to catch up with everyone while watching Connor.

Jonathon and I did share our date night with Jesse and BD to see a movie. We ran into the Kaelins at Qdoba so it was nice to catch up.

The rest of the week I did a whole lot of nothing.....which was really nice! Jonathon and I are headed out of town to London, KY. He's working there this summer and I don't want to be away from him for another week. I'll be hanging out at the hotel during the day while he's working then we'll get to hang out at night. I'm looking forward to it.

Doing What I'm Supposed to Do...

I have been touched and honored by comments made here on this blog as well as on my Facebook page but I have a sense of guilt about them. I want to share the experiences I had in Malawi to help others see what life is like there and because I had a wonderfully perspective altering time there. I give all praise to God for making it possible for my church to send another team there this year. I only went because I truly felt like that's what I'm supposed to do. Not everyone will get that tug on their heart but they'll get a tug to do something else. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it was easy for me to go. I don't feel a sense of sacrifice at all. It would have been hard NOT to go because it would have felt wrong. So it humbles me to receive such wonderful comments but please praise God, not me. :) Sometimes He gives us a task to do...I just said yes to it. That's all. Honor Him instead of me by saying yes to whatever it is you get the tug to do. :)

Malawi School Pics

I have tons of school pictures but it takes so much time to upload them!! Below are some highlights. You can see the conditions of the classrooms. The resources are so scarce. Usually there's just a chalkboard and some chalk. They did have more books this time but not close to having one book per student, per subject. They have had some books sent from the US and one of things we did was help organize them and make sense of them for the other school teachers. In a couple of the pictures below you'll see where we took the kids outside and let them have free reading time with some of the US books. They LOVED it!!

Medicine Clinic Pictures...

The most moving experiences in Malawi were during the medicine clinics. I have to tell you that not a single one of us was a doctor but we did have a nurse with us for the last session. We didn't give out powerful medicines...mostly mild antibiotics and cold/flu/cough stuff along with arthritis, open wounds, stomach acid issues and some eye infections as well. The patients would be sitting around when we would pull up to the building. The most we served in one day was about 500. These people wouldn't otherwise have been treated for their illnesses and it seemed good and right to be helping out with such an overwhelming task.

The times of the days were when you could visibly see a tumor or when they would complain of symptoms you knew were super serious. We would just tell them they must find a way to the hospital to seek attention. There are several government hospitals available for free but the care is not what you would expect here in the states.

If you are wondering what we are wearing....the ministry there is called Good Samaritan so they had skirt wraps and shirts made with green material with the Good Samaritan verse on it. We wore skirts and wraps most of the time while we were there. The Malawian culture is just beginning to open itself to women wearing pants. For a long time it has been promoted even by the government that pants for women was kind of scandalous. We saw a lot more women in the cities wearing pants this time than we saw two years ago. In the villages you see skirts and wraps though.