Welcome!

i have a wonderful announcement to make! my very dear friends, nate and emily miller, are now blogging! they are referred to on my side bar as "nate and m". as you know, i am a big advocate of nicknaming my friends, and so we get "m".

anyway, nate and m are officially on staff with campus crusade on new york campuses! so, my blogging click, give nate and m a shout out- we all know how those first few weeks of blogging go. can feel kinda lonely at times. :) haha! i am cracking myself up at the halarity of the blog click. i love it.

WELCOME NATE AND M! LOVE YOU GUYS!

(nate is on the left. it's the only picture i have of him on my computer!!)

Gripped...

there is so much going on in my life right now. gracious! but acutally, come to think of it, grace is playing quite a theme in the pages of my soul. by God's grace i am living day-to-day very well.

every thing in my life is just about 100 % different then my life just a few short weeks ago. normally change is extremely difficult for me. and it's been an up-and-down winding road thus far, but as of this moment, i am in awe of God's grace in my life. He's showing me so many things i can't even being to write them all.

i would like to point out that:

1. "gripped by the greatness of God"- james macdonald- is a phenominal book! whoa.

2. it's 80's here all the time and will be for a couple more months. i can not even being to describe the deep joy that overflows from my spirit when i can wear a tank top and shorts EVERY day- even after the sun goes down.

3. i am going on a retreat with about 300 other people my age in a few weeks! i am excited to hopefully make some new friends!

4. i still have a full week until i have to go back to sbux!

5. there is a baby blanket, baby toys, and a baby "sheepy" blanket at the end of my bed...this tells you what my life is right now!

6. minus working at sbux next week, i am living one of my dream jobs!

7. i am sooooooooooooooooooooooo in looooooooooooooooove with chail my heart literally hurts some times!

8. i stink at taking pictures...i am posting my best work!

9. colbie sings on jason mraz's cd and ROCKS.

10. i have finally gotten around to the new coldplay and am likin' it.

11. babies never smile for the camera.

12. i am tired and my day starts early.

chail LOVES his jungle gym thingy!

he also loves his rain forest swing!

Nice to FINALLY Meet You!

after four and a half more hours of driving, the first leg of my journey to chail was finally complete. i parked my car, jumped out, and had to tell myself NOT to run to the house. luke and philly (their dog- philadelphia teensy) greeted me at the door. i then rushed down the hallway, around the corner, and there he was. the sweetest, most beautiful, most precious baby i have ever seen in my life. sista (trisha) was feeding him, and as i looked down at his lil face, i couldn't stop the tears from pooling. she handed him over to me, and he threw up on me. it was the first time in my life that i truly did not care to be thrown up on! i have kissed him, hugged him, squeezed him, and gotten teary-eyed more times in the past day and a half then i can count. i love my lil chail...more then i can even begin to express.

Party!

berbers threw a "welcome back/going away" dinner party for me tonight. it was delicious! she cooked it all herself, and the other girls brought salads, drinks, and desserts. yum-o! we had a blast!! my friend, cynthia, was also there but she had left before we remembered to take pics. love these girlies! :)

A Little More Vaca

On the boardwalk! Guisippe's...mmm-mmm good!
PRE-tan, as you can see!

Firebowl at home on the back deck!

Johnny cakes 'n i!

Mother, father, n' i!

My dear friend, katelyn, from highschool- we went to red lobster- to die for!

Furs Reunite!

Fur 'n Husband Fur stopped by to visit me! YAY!
my whole fam has been hooked on the olympics every night! here's a shot of johnny cakes!

i've done a lot more, but keep forgetting my camera! :( another highlight of the day, my friend jamie took my mom and i out to frezno's for lunch! MMMM!!! classic NEPA eats. we had a blast!

Vacation!

some fun snapshots of my happenings...you can blame gretchen for the camera if you think i'm going nuts with pictures!

sweet, adorable baby garrett! my bf's lil son!

katie 'n i...she made me blueberry pancakes 'n coffee!

mother 'n i got our nails done...mine are the pale piggies on the right!

me 'n grammy getting our desserts for our olympic opening ceremonies party!

gram made blueberry cobbler, mom made coconut cake!

both were FABULOUS. chuck would love them. i'm getting fat.

mother 'n i watching the oplympic opening ceremonies! we're the only two that lasted til the end! wasn't it AMAZING?!

Babies Every where!

it seems as if the theme of my life is babies! yesterday, katie brought over little garrett (i'm going over there for a pancake breakfast tomorrow- pics to come!) and today amber and i went to visit her niece, marie. oh my word. what a DOLL! you can see for yourself.

mom and i have been organizing, going walking, out to lunch, laundry, chatting a mile a minute, etc. yesterday grammy, mom and i went target shopping and to the farmer's market. we had a blast! the three of us (and my dad!) are having an opening ceremonies olympic party tomorrow night, too. grammy is bringing blueberry cobbler. MMM!! i decided we all have to contribute a food from a different nation. :) last night johnny and his friends joined my friends and i watching the batman movie. i loved it!

there are moments of sadness, for sure. overall, right now it's just NICE to be on vacation. to not have any responsibilities, to sleep in, to relax...and to JUST BE. oh, and BTW, i haven't showered today, nor have i actually done my hair one time since being home!

22 Hours

I have arrived. I’m pretty sure father and I had the road trip of a lifetime. It sure felt like a lifetime! We really had a blast! Lots of talking, music, food, etc. Once the nighttime hit though, so did the roughness.

our drive began about 7:15 am, after a pancake-filled breakfast with fur. (thanks fur! you know how i love my pancakes!) we cruised out of the cities, and then MN with KTIS. at one point, i found much security in the fact that KTIS was still playing. still familiar. still my morning friends. i got teary-eyed when we drove by my beloved MOA.

(my mini guitar hero from boogz 'n swz! thanks girls- again, knowing what i love!)

we arrived in WI at around 8 or 8:15 am.

stop #1- 9:45am

stop #2- 11:25am

stop #3- 11:30 am- woops. not sure why we stopped again there...but the stop involved a very large pink elephant with glasses and a massive cow. gas was 3.79

WI also has pretty windmills!

we arrived in IL at 12:45 pm

stop #4- 2:12 pm, starbucks lunch/gas- 3.39 with ethonal- NO batteries at the gas station for me to buy so i could play my mini guitar hero! :(

we proceeded to drive down the highway when father realized he lost his wallet. we pulled over and did a quick search. he then hauled the car back onto the highway, did an illegal uturn and just about killed us flying back to the gas station. the wallet was under his seat the whole time.

back on the road again at 2:56pm

IN- 3:56pm, this is where i read all my sweet cards.

the time changed at 5:53 pm

OH- 7:08 pm

stop #5- 7:38 pm- gas 3.79

stop #6- supper at panera, starbucks then i started driving through the night...

i drove from 9pm until 5:17 am tuesday morning. i obviously stopped journaling after that last stop. and i obviously started going nutty around 1am. the only nap i took during the day was about 10 min long, therefore, was awake for 24 hours straight. i didn't know that was physically possible. never in all my life have i been awake for that long.

22 hours, 2 minutes, and 1, 190 miles later....we made it. it was most certainly the roadtrip of a lifetime!

Bummer

some times you just come across real bummers in life.
yay, my daddy is havin' another heart surgery.
he is still flyin' in to drive back with me. can't wait!!
not sure when the surgery will be yet- sooner then later.
he has to have his mitrovalve repaired. in surgery #2 they put a band around it, and it's leaking again.
thus, surgery #3 is necessary.
bummer. bummer. bummer.
sigh.