I will praise Him in the good times.

I had so much fun this weekend! The only downside to it was that I left Brian at home and missed him tons.

I went to Seattle to see my little sister! We are 7.5 years apart so now that I am good and old she is a Freshman in college. Well... she did take two years off after high school. (That makes me even older) She just started at the University of Washington. So I decided to go out and check out how she is doing. She recently left all her friends and family, moved to Seattle with her crazy attack cat, got a little studio apartment, and started school.

So I got on the road Thursday and stopped to see my old college roomie Chalaina. We went out for Thai food and wandered the maze of IKEA. (That store scares me a little).

Friday I went used clothing shopping with my dear friend Elder Mayer (Ella Mae). WE got some good deals and also went and watched my sister in action at the coffee shop she works at. I have to say that Elder Mayer is the quirkiest friend I have and she spent the day entertaining me with crazy stories about her roomates and made up animals. LAter we all went to UW campus vespers put on by an Adventist church that a bunch of my friends are a part of.

AFter vespers Shantel (my sis) and I had a craving for slurpees and we went in seach of a Burger King. They have the best tasting slurpees. We then found out that THERE ARE barely any metropolitan Burger Kings. I guess Sushi is a little more popular than fast food. AFter driving around searching for non-existent Burger Kings and two hours later finally arrived at a real Burger King where we were told that their Slurpee machine was broken. So we went to Dick's and had burgers and floats.

The next morning we went to church, got invited to lunch, and spent 3 hours in a corn maze lost. Got to hang out with my friends Jesse, Novently, and Ruby and others. Had an awesome time reconnecting.

The next morning we went to Rite-Aid and got all the free rebate stuff, clipped coupons from the Sunday paper and went to Portage Bay Cafe for some great organic breakfast.

Then alas... my time was up and I had to hightail it home to get ready for my first day of work. But I arrive home reassured that my sister is healthy, happy, studying hard, and adjusting. She also has quite the cute little set-up in her little apartment. I am so proud of her. Right now she is majoring in Chemistry which was my major. We will see if she likes it as much as I did.

So... my first day of work orientation went awesome. Checked out my desk, computer oriented, and just about every 3 person I saw told me how excited they were that I was working there. I felt so welcomed and wanted. I haven't seen any patients yet so now I can't wait to just get in their and start so that I don't have to wonder what that real first day will be like. I am excited.

A planting we will go!

So I know I just posted yesterday but I am so excited!
Even though I left the house for only a three brief moments today so many great things happened!

First one: I left the house to get Brian a new iphone. We have both been waiting for our plans to finish so we can get rid of our stupid window's mobile based Treo's. Oh my Treo... it doesn't recognize my memory card, I once lost all my contacts into an unknown memory land, and it does not have easily downloadable ringtones. I will soon be selling it on Ebay if anyone wants to buy it! Brian is currently clipping ringtones for his new iphone off itunes. Wow... so much more user friendly. I, alas, must wait until February to upgrade mine.

Second one: I left the house to go acknowledge reciept of my new approved OREGON board license as a practicing PA-C. (I've heard horror stories of being held up by the Oregon BME in particular so no small feat.) While I was at work I learned that my day off is going to be Wednesday. Which is exactly the day I wanted. And I got a new nametag and a box of business cards with my name printed on them. Sunshine John PA-C here I come.

Third one: I went to our church board meeting because they were going to approve a steering committee to approach the conference for the new church plant. Our pastor proposed the six people that were praying at our house about it last night: Our friends Matt and Judy, our uncle and aunt, and Brian and I. And our names were passed without question as the new steering committee for the church plant. It just feels good to be justified in the eyes of the church board and not seen as some upstart offshoot group. For the past week my heart has been screaming PRAY PRAY PRAY. So we will continue to pray pray pray about God's leading.

So awesome day. I actually spent most of it at home cleaning. But those are the awesome highlights.

I was blind but now I see!

So I haven't blogged in a few days because...

1) I've been busy having fun
2) I got LASIK... which is a bad excuse because I could see pretty much in 24 hours
3) God has been stirring me up about church
4) My cousin Gene is here from Afganisitan and we've been hanging out.
5) I've been busy selling things on Craig's List
6) I start work in a week and I have better things to do with my time than sit on the computer
7) I've been shopping a lot


So LASIK. I went in Thursday morning- I wasn't that nervous just wanted them to do it and get it over with! After sitting in the office for about 90 minutes signing paperwork and waiting to actually meet the Yale/Mayo Clinic bred surgeon who was going to sit and let the laser do most of the work I finally got to go under! 10 minutes later I was done. There was a quite a bit of pressure while they were cutting the flap in my eye. I felt like it was trying to push my eyeball to the back of my head but there was someone behind me counting down letting me know I only had to lay still for 15 more seconds. Then it was over and they were strapping on dark goggles on my face and pointing me do the door. I stumbled through it downstairs to the car since I could see but it was if someone has smeared vaseline over my goggles. I got brought home and fell asleep for 4 hours. By that night I could see clearly... well enough to drive! Now I am just stuck putting eye drops in hourly and I find my eyes get tired towards the end of the night. However, I am quite impressed that my eyes are seeing this well without complication only 3 days out!

Since then have had quite the family weekend. With a 5 generation picture Friday night and the other side of my inlaws Sabbath morning.

Tonight we just had a meeting about church planting! You know I've felt like God was stirring something up lately so we decided to take action. Our two good friends Matt and Judy and our Uncle, Aunt, and Nephew came over and we talked and prayed about starting a church. It was just awesome to finally get together after talking about it. We are going to work on meeting and praying weekly. Also going to invite some key people to join us. Pray for us. I am so excited about what God is going to do. And I think I have a lot of the excitement but other people in the group have a lot of practical wisdom and planning skills.

Tomorrow begins my last week of freedom before I start life as a practicing PA-C. I had a dream last night that it was my first day of practice. I was forgetting to chart between patients. And then for some reason I was scheduled an hour to do some sports physicals. It turned out to be a family of 6 that I ended up examining in the parking lot. (No idea why). I tried to tell the father that his ears were full of wax and he got mad at me. But the neat thing about the dream was that even though it was a chaotic and disorganized throughout I felt confident in my abilities. Very encouraging even if it is just my mind making up crazy dreams.

Housebound

So my mom has left and I am stuck doing all the projects that have been bouncing around in my head for the past 3 months (or longer). There are so many I don't think I will finish by the time I start work.
These past two days I have been touching up spots in multiple rooms of the house. I painted with 5 colors of paint today! I finally got out some primer and touched up the ceiling above our shower where the previous owners accidentally got some greet paint. I have been staring at that mistake while showering for over 4 years.
Also I have spent 4 hours patching the dead spots in my lawn. So much work. And I'm only halfway done. There has got to be an easier way.
Yesterday I even replaced the toilet seats in our two bathrooms. Pretty easy actually. The old ones were sliding back and forth and coming off. Annoying.
I put my bunk beds on Craig's List and had 3 people that wanted them in an hour. Cool. I highly recommend it if you want to sell something fast.
I've been trying to get around to posting my coffee table that I have for sale all day. Haven't been able to wedge it between painting and yard work.
Tomorrow I am getting LASIK. I am not nervous. Was a little annoyed that my paperwork specifically says I can't garden for a week. I am halfway done patching those dead spots. But I suppose eye surgery is something to take seriously. I am just excited to finally be doing it. And praying that everything goes well. Also excited to stop wearing my glasses that I have been wearing the past 3 weeks. I dislike my glasses.
My cousin came home for Afganistan today! Safe and sound for a 2 week break. We were supposed to have dinner together but he promptly fell asleep and to my knowledge hasn't woken up yet. But I'm sure we will hang out this week.
What else. My mom and I went shopping on Monday. I got a few work clothes at JCrew for 40% off since I had a coupon. I love shopping. So hard not working and knowing I have to pay off my school loans and looking at all those beautiful clothes.

This is one of the sweaters. I love that it is feminine but also makes me feel like a kid.

I also have been addicted to the impossible quiz. I'm up to question 92. I just want to beat it! I don't recommend clicking on the link unless you have time to be sucked in.

Farewell!

Women of Faith

So I've been a little busy these past few days! I have been to the Rose Garden Arena 3 times in 3 days. Since it is an hour from our house I am thinking about bringing a tent and living there. The first two days were for the Women of Faith conference. Way way fun. 11,000 women praising the Lord and listening to awesome women speakers. It the biggest women's conference in the United States. My mom came up for the conference and my friends Judy and Snahal came.
The theme of the conference was Infinite Grace. It involved speakers and Christian singers. One of my favorite parts was Sandi Patty. I grew up on her music and lately her stuff has been a little too operatic for me but I loved her testimony. She just was sharing what it was like to have a public divorce after an affair. And she talked about recovering from that and picking herself up and how big God is and his grace.
There was also another part where we were singing a song and the words were basically about not regretting past mistakes and how we have learned from them and they have made us stronger. I felt inspired. I had a lot of awesome experiences in high school with youth group and going door to door colporteuring. Now that we are married I sort of feel settled and lately haven't been as excited and passionate about God. We have been talking about shaking up church and really forming some great fellowship groups but it is hard to do that when you don't feel inspired or feel that there are the right people around to do it with you.
This week particularly the theme for me has been God is not finished yet. With that Chris Tomlin song I mentioned in last blog running through my head all week... Greater things are yet to come. Greater things are still to be done in this city. I feel inspired that, even though I have experienced great things in my youth and I have become a well nested married woman, God is not finished yet. I am still racing towards Heaven and have not reached the prize yet. God can do great things. So we shall see.
I've been praying a lot about what God wants to do at this stage in my life. This week I've been praying a lot about starting a prayer group specifically aimed to pray about what God wants to do in our city and with church. I've also been talking to a few people and it seems like God is giving them the same message about starting a prayer group as well. So we shall see. I shall continue to pray and work on starting this group.

Another inspirational thing was that I got to see my good friends Andrea and Arlen this weekend. They totally inspire me as a couple that are living their dream and stepping out in faith for God. They have recently moved to San Francisco to plant a new church with another great guy Ryan. So they have moved across the country, left everything behind. Got a job and an apartment. Now they are just praying and moving forward with starting a movement. They were in town to for a church planting conference and I got to take a few hours out of the conference and go visit them in their down time. I got to finally meet their son Caison who is almost 2. The last time I saw them he was in Andrea's belly. So cute! So pray for them as well. God is going to do awesome things.

Today we went back to the Rose Garden for a preseason Blazer's game! They lost to the Utah Jazz. Greg Oden did not have his best game. Their new player Batum from France looked awesome. They also weren't playing 3 of their main starters including Brandon Roy. They are going to have a great season.

So tomorrow on to spa day and shopping! My mom is going to be here a few more days. Then Thursday I'm getting LASIK surgery.

Life of a unemployed homeowner

So yesterday I got to go to a ropes course with a bunch of middle schoolers! My friend Matt was taking his class and knew that I wanted to go. Brian has gotten to go a few times and always talks about how awesome it is. It is at the North American Youth with a Mission Headquarters
They have a 24 item ropes course that they take groups and do team building activities. My favorite was the zip line. Brian was trying to get me to go down upside down but I was quite scared at the top and went down the conventional way. It was fun watching all the middle schoolers problem solve and try to work as a team.

I replaced the doorbell today. Felt cool with my power tools. I also bought two new toilet seats. Will figure out how to replace those soon. And I pretty much did nothing else. Wow.
I have so many projects to do. But I find it easier to wake up and waste time. This morning I watched the movie Jack with Robin Williams. True it was on VHS and a need to give it back to my friend tomorrow so technically I HAD to watch it.

I have been listening to Chris Tomlin's new CD: Hello Love. It's pretty good. I was inspired yesterday morning by track 4. It's called God of this City. The chorus goes:

For greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city. There is no one like our God.

It got me excited about church. We have been talking about planting a church since we moved here. Our church here in town is big and full of wonderful people. Lately there have been so many people it has been standing room only. Our church is pretty conservative as well and we are quite a bit more liberal than it. We've been praying about whether there is a place for two churches in our community. I got in the car with Matt on the way to the ropes course and shared with him about church and planting. Awesomely he had been thinking about church and planting as well. I think God is preparing for great things yet to come.

So my mom is driving down right now as I type to come visit for a few days! We are going to the women of faith conference at the Rose Garden with and my friends Judy (Matt's wife) and Snahal this weekend. Whoo. hoo....

Rainy Monday

So feeling productive on this rainy monday. Even though it is Noon:30 and I haven't showered yet.

I am even baking for lunch. Wow. Baked potatoes and fried/steamed zucchini for lunch. Pretty impressive for a non-cooker like me.
So I went to the gym this morning and then wanted to make a smoothie for breakfast. I was at the store and had all the ingredients gathered when I realized... hmm.... we haven't had a blender since I broke ours about 2.5 years ago. I think I just like the way glass shatters from a height :). So that is probably the most exciting thing I may do today. Buy blender so that tomorrow I can have that smoothie I crave.

Brian's 10 year reunion had a good turnout. He graduated with about 50 people in his class and about 20 showed up. It was fun to see people from Brian's life before I met him. Lots of smart cookies in that bunch: lawyers, phD candidates, and engineers. And only a few had children proving our generations propensity to save that for later in life.

Brian's Class Pic

Also got to watch some football with the family yesterday and took some cute pictures of my new niece.

The little family
Brian and Hannah

It's all going to burn in the end.

Today is my garage sale. I'm sitting in the garage blogging from the laptop. I woke up and it was pouring rain this morning and thought "good thing I set everything up in the garage". I peeked out the door to go put up the garage sale signs and realized people were already sitting outside in their cars 30 minutes early. Kind of a bummer that it is raining, but I figure that can be expected on the first Friday of October. I really just want to get rid of stuff. I didn't have time before this since I was busy rotating, graduating, and then studying for boards. I would say the most popular price in the sale is 25 cents. However... that can add up because I haven't sold any big items yet but have made over 150 dollars. Now if someone would just come buy my bunk bed I would have enough to finance Brian's 10 year reunion trip this weekend. Anyways it is now after lunch and the garage is pretty dead. I don't think I should expect much more due to the rain but have about an hour left until I close up shop. Boring!!

There is so much stuff that I kept. I just couldn't part with it. Or Brian couldn't part with. I don't know what to do with all of it. It is sitting in boxes in my office taking up pretty much the whole room. Ahh!!!!!! I figure if I sell the bunk beds and get wall to wall bookshelves I could maybe display all the books and DVD's and VHS tapes we have. But then we won't really have a guest room anymore. I could not get Brian to get rid of all this VHS tapes. Maybe when we are 80 they will be collectors items and we can make tons of money on them. We have two DVD's and one VHS tape of It's a Wonderful Life. We of course had to keep them all. Brian's favorite movie and all. But do you really need that many copies? Anyways- these problems are nothing compared to starving children in Bangladesh.

So leaving for the reunion in a little over an hour. Brian went to an Adventist boarding academy in the middle of nowhere, Oregon. Should be fun. I think Brian is a little nervous. I know I was nervous for my 10 year but when I got there it was a blast. I hope it will be a blast for him too. We even went to his 5 year reunion (no one was really there except for his classmate that was teaching there at the time). You see when you go to Academy they have Alumni weekend instead of individual reunions so it is a big event of all the honored classes. 10 years is nothing compared to those individuals there celebrating 50 years. I just realized while typing this that I am supposed to make something for potluck. (Yes there is an Alumni potluck). I really don't like to cook. And did I mention that I am not a good plan ahead person. Thus probably why I don't like to cook. I always have to go to the store for ingredients. Our friend Judy is coming with us. I think.... she's still deciding.

On another note- I got an email from the Oregon Board saying that I can now submit a registration request and pay them more money since I jumped through all the application hoops. I'm like.... I thought by applying they could just send me a license.... But great news that they will let me do the next step. I thought it would take a few more weeks.

The Benefits of Life

Biking!! I got to go biking with my friend Dawn today. We set out on our two purple bikes to explore the homes around the golf course. Those houses have the most perfect lawns.

I also got to go to my job and talk about benefits. So... confusing. They have an HSA and an FSA. I'm like what is the difference?? There are subtle differences but I'm like why would you want both? Unless you had a lot of medical expenses. But then even if you have both one is limited by the other. I marched over from the meeting over to Brian's office (since he is my personal home, auto, and life insurance agent.) and he called is brother in who is a life and health insurance agent and we figured everything out. I am blessed and loved.

Our women's Bible study started last night. We are meeting in a women's outreach center. She used to be a hairdresser and then was convicted to turn her salon into an outreach center. It is way cute and she holds lots of Bible studies there and makes smoothies. Since it was the first night we just got to know each other. There were some awesome testimonies and big prayer requests. One request was for a young man shot in the neck by a paintball who is the son of my friend Suzy's boss. He is paralyzed from the neck down and cannot swallow. It's been a year after the incident and they are remodeling the house so he can come home soon. Lots of prayer needed.

Watching the America's Got Talent finale- Brian and I have been a little addicted to it this summer. It's finally over!!

So gotta go... I'm signing up at www.mint.com for a breakdown on what we're spending on things each month. Gotta pay off those school loans!