Updates

I am very sorry that I have not done any updates lately. Things have been a little hectic. Oh well here are some of the updates.

1) We finally got benefits. I am in the process of doing the paperwork and getting them all set up.

2) With our benefits, we went with Aetna, because of the "NATIONWIDE" coverage, then found out that there is no OB/GYN on the Aetna network within 35 miles of my house. This sucks. Although, I did find out that I can do a special form that allows us to see an OB/GYN here in town. I just have to get it approved. Not too hard, but it takes a little longer to get seen. It kinda sucks. Oh, well!!

3) I am going to be "VOLUNTEERING" at Faith's daycare from 12:30-3:30 everyday to help pay for her daycare. They needed the help and so did we. It is a win win situation.

4) There is NO sign of a let up of the hiring freeze at WSU. The Gov. of Washington released the hiring freeze on the state back in December, but Pres. Floyd is not even considering lifting it anythime soon, so as of right now, my job is looking pretty dim. So I am going to be looking for another job and seeing what happens.

5) The economic situation has taken it's toll on EVERYONE and we are no exception to that!!

6) Garratt is looking into taking 3 classes over the summer.

7) We are planning our trip to California in May/June. We will have to be back by Sunday, June 7th, because Garratt's classes would start on June 8th. So we are planning on Driving down Wed. May 24th and Thurs. May 25th and leaving on Saturday June 6th. This is the plan at this point. We hope to spend time with as many people as possible, we shall see.

That is about it for now. I will try to be better about posting updates more often and posting pictures more often, especially on Faith's sight.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ALL OF YOU!!!

A Must See- Fireproof!

Last night Garratt and I got a babysitter for Faith, went out for dinner alone (what a concept) and then went to a movie night at our church.

The movie: FIREPROOF.

The movie was done by: The producers and creators of the movie "Facing the Giants"

The Background of the movie: At work, inside burning buildings, Capt. Caleb Holt lives by the old firefighters adage: Never leave your partner behind. At home, in the cooling embers of his marriage, he lives by his own rules.
Growing up, Catherine Holt always dreamed of marrying a loving, brave firefighter...just like her daddy. Now, after seven years of marriage, Catherine wonders when she stopped being "good enough" for her husband.
Regular arguments over jobs, finances, housework, and outside interests have readied them both to move on to something with more sparks.
As the couple prepares to enter divorce proceedings, Caleb's father challenges his son to commit to a 40-day experiment: "The Love Dare." Wondering if it's even worth the effort, Caleb agrees-for his father's sake more than for his marriage. When Caleb discovers the book's daily challenges are tied into his parents' new found faith, his already limited interest is further dampened.
While trying to stay true to his promise, Caleb becomes frustrated time and again. He finally asks his father, "How am I supposed to show love to somebody who constantly rejects me?"
When his father explains that this is the love Christ shows to us, Caleb makes a life-changing commitment to love God. And with God's help he begins to understand what it means to truly love his wife.
But is it too late to fireproof his marriage? His job is to rescue others. Now Caleb Holt is ready to face his toughest job ever...rescuing his wife's heart.

My Review: A great movie. Garratt and I both loved it. It is really a movie for all but I would ENCOURAGE ANY COUPLES to watch it. It really gives you an understanding as to what True Love should be and how to respect and love your spouse. Garratt and I already decided that this is a movie we want to own. We also want to read the "LOVE DARE" (watch the movie for more information on that) and I want to read the book about the movie, I just like reading books that have movies with them it sometimes gives you another perspective. This is a great movie for couples who are struggling in their marriage, who are going through a tough time or even those who have fallen into the "routine" of life and have let their marriage fall to the back burner. Garratt and I have been through and continue to go through a lot lately and the one thing that we have is communication, but I think that this movie was still an inspiration to us not to forget to remind the other half how we feel about them and do something nice for them, no matter how small. I will say this again...I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!!! It is very real and very well done.

Happy Birthday Garratt

Today is my wonderful husbands birthday. I will be nice and not tell you how old He is, lets just say He is 8 years older than me...HA HA HA! So today Garratt got to stay home with a sick child while I went to work, then He got to relax and have lunch, followed by getting ready for and going to work. Oh the life of a responsible adult. He told me the other night that He can hardly remember what a "ChildLike" birthday is anymore, I guess I will have to change that one of these birthdays. For now I will remind Him that He is a MAJOR part of our lived. He takes great care of Me. He is loving, caring, patient and understanding. He does the laundry the dishes and takes out the trash and recycles. In those little things He is my HERO. He is also great Father. He is a Daddy Jungle Gym, a human trampoline, and a cuddler when needed. He is Faith's Hero time and time again because He just takes the time to play with her, watch TV with her, dance to music with her and tuck her into bed at night. He is the first thing she looks for and calls to when we get home from daycare everyday and He is the last one she wants to see before bed. So on this special day, His Birthday we want to remind Him and tell everyone else how wonderful He is and how much WE LOVE Him and wish Him a SUPER WONDERFUL FANTASTICAL BIRTHDAY!!!

With Lots of Love from His Wife, Daughter and Baby!!!

Baby Jeffery

Concern from Far Away

For those of you that follow my blog and or know me well, you are aware that my mom is very sick. Back in August was when it all got serious. She started to loose weight rapidly, she lost her appetite and could barely keep anything down. They did test after test trying to figure out what was wrong. Then in October, things got really bad. Mom landed herself in the hospital for the first time. They conducted exploritory surgery and found NOTHING. THey ran some other tests and they did some other procedures and still nothing. Over the course of the next 2 months Mom spent time back and forth in the hospital and home on bed rest. Her last stint in the hospital was just before Thanksgiving. We thought maybe things were going to start to get better, although we still had no answers to what was cauing all the problems in the first place. Then, early this month they conducted an LP test on her and she took a turn downwards. She was eating less and less until finally she was not eating at all, because she could not keep anything down. As a result last night the doctor put her back into the hospital. He was going to evaluate her and decide what to do. They decided that they would use a feeding tube to get nutrition into her. The rest of the story I am a not sure of other than the text message I got from her which basically said that at some point today she had collapsed, while still in the hospital, and so her doctor had order her to bed confinment with medication and tubes in her nose. As a daughter who has always been very very close to her mother this whole situation is very scary. I think that it is even more scary right now because I am so far away and I cannot go see her and make sure that she is as comfortable as possible. It has always been my job to make sure that Mommy was taken care of, since she took care of everyone else. Granted Dad helped but still I always thought that I had to take care of Mom and now I cannot. I know that I have to take care of my wonderful, caring, super considerate and wonderful at taking care of me Husband, my dauster who I love always despite her toddler temper and her desire to be super independent and the new baby that is growing inside of me, but I cannot help but still want to take care of Mom.

My biggest request are that everyone keep my Mom in your thoughts and prayers that the Doctors may finally be able to solve the mystery and that she will begin to feel better.

Second, pray for me. I do not know if it is because of how long this has gone on or if it is the distance and the fact that I cannot be closer to Her or if it is the hormones from my pregnancy but I am having a REALLY hard time with this situation this time. All the other times she was back and forth in the hospital I was ok. I was worried and of course wished I could be there to help but I was ok with it and I knew that everyone was there for her and they kept me informed about everything. This time I am really struggling withit. I am emotional and scared and just plain upset about the whole thing. The hardest part of course is trying to keep my cool and stay calm so I do not cause any stress on the baby.

Last, pray for my poor husband. He has to put up withthis emotional pregnant walkign disaster.

I will keep you all updated as much as I can. Thank You for your thoughts, prayers and support!!!

XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO XO

Negative What?

Ok...so the past 2 1/2 weeks since we got back to Washington after our trip to California for Christmas, we expected lots of snow, that is not what we got. We got fog, chilly temps, ice, and a little sunshine. No SNOW!!!! It has been kind of nice because the town and University were able to clear many snow drifts that were large and blocking other things, everything was able to melt down and looked a lot like it did in the fall. Then this last weekend we got hit with some snow. Very Little, but snow none the less. It didn't really bother anyone and the maintenance people were very good about being on top of the roads. They were plowing and graveling right away so there were never any issues with roads or parking lots. It was great. It has been in the low 20's most of the weekend. Nt varing too much. Then this morning, Garratt went out to brush off the car and start warming it up so we could take Faith to daycare and me to work. He left me inside with Faith finishing getting ready and he came in and announced that is was"REALLY CHILY." Now, you have to know my husband well to understand that it has to be PRETTY COLD for him to say it's cold. So we got all bundled up, loaded into the car and headed for daycare. I assumed that it was in the low teens maybe into single digits, because it was pretty chilly but didn't seem too bad to me and that is saying something, but I think that my hormones have my whole body temperature off anywho. So, on the way to daycare we pass the Bank of Whitman, which has a large sign that rotates different announcements and includes the time and temperature, as we passed it this morning it read... -9 ... yes people you read that right...negative 9 degrees...that is the coldest we have gotten, so far...OMG...that is COLD. Oddly though it is REALLY COLD...it doesn't seem like it is THAT cold. WHY?? I have no Freakin' clue. I wish I had an answer, I swear I should be a popsicle...but I am not. I guess that as it has gotten colder over time I have adjusted to it rather well, and that my blood is thickening as a result. I guess you just become acclimatted when you have to.