Christmas or xmas?

As I was laying in bed this morning, I was thinking about Christmas.

As a child and sometimes now when I get too lazy to actually write out the word Christmas... I write xmas. My brain started to think...what is xmas? Well CHRISTmas has Christ in it... without Christ we might as well call this holiday xmas. So xmas would mean no Christ in the mas (lol).

The other thing I've been thinking about it carols. For 20+ years I have sang carols (and enjoyed it). But I think this was the first year I realized that we could sing carols all year long because they are just like our worship music we sing all the time. They are praising the Lord and Savior we serve... they have just been reserved for this time of year.

Merry Christmas!


Happy Birthday Jesus!

YEAY for Digital!

So I finally remembered to go buy the converter box the other day. So I got home and Alex hooked it up. We went from 4 really fuzzy channels to 26... yes 2-6 amazingly clear channels. So we have a church channel and I got to watching it the other day... mostly for background music while surfing the net. Anyways, there was this really funny comedian on the channel and I just found myself laughing out loud (no one else was in the apt.)
Anyways
I think this guy is share-worthy... His name is Tim Hawkins and he has a lot of videos on Youtube.com.
Other than that I have just been staying home and resting up while Alex works. I am really starting to like this whole stay at home wife thing. But I have to go back to work in a couple of weeks (sad day).

Sorry this is kind of boring... we have a find of boring life---minus Beans...he keeps us entertained.

Time to Think

Since I had a lot of time in the hospital. I did some thinking.

In the hospital you could watch a long list of movies they had. For some reason we decided to watch Evan Almighty. It surprisingly had a really good story behind it.
There's the part that really hit me,:

GOD (Morgan Freeman):Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?

WOW out of that funny movie!
Over the past year I have been praying for 2 things consistently 1. Humility 2. Patience. While I was in the hospital, I couldn't do a lot of things by myself. I really had to learn to ask for help (one thing I struggle with) God really put me in the situation where I had to learn to be humble instead of just praying about it. I took the little things for granted. I couldn't cut my own food, take a shower, blow dry my hair. flat iron my hair, etc... from this situation I also learned to trust Alex more than ever. I have trusted him for over 5 years but the situations God puts us through, throughout our relationship grows my faith and trust in God and in Alex.


on a side note: If you have not seen me since October... you may not recongize me... since I was diagnosed with the gall bladder junk... I have lost 21 lbs. Yes it's exciting, but it's not the way I wanted to loose the weight!

Here we go again folks
I woke up on Tuesday morning and I couldn't keep any food or liquids down. I thought that I just had the flu, so I didn't go to work and just tried to eat something and keep it down. Well the same thing happened Wednesday, so my mom took me to the doctor who then called me into the ER at St. Luke's East Hospital.
So Wednesday night I am at the ER for a gall bladder attack and jandis (yellowish skin(I don't know how to spell it)). So I am admitted to the hospital and told that I would just have to wait until tomorrow to see what will happen. The reason I couldn't (and still can not) keep food down is because they believe a stone has passed through the duct and is blocking or has entered the duct. So if I haven't passed the stone, then there will have to be a separate operation than just the removal of my gall bladder.
Thursday, I had an MRI done of my gall bladder and that revealed that I have 5 stones in my gall bladder. The GI doctor was so nice and was very straight forward and very serious about getting my gall bladder out as soon as possible. So he called the general surgeon to come and speak with me about the procedure.
The surgeon walks in and he is only like 27 years old and he says, "Let's get it out today" to bad there were no operating rooms available at all yesterday. So right now I am sitting in my hospital room just chilling until they can find an opening in the operating schedule. What a wait of money. Today I am praying that I will have my gall bladder removed and go home!

Just so you all know I am doing just fine. Besides typing on this stupidly huge rubber keyboard with no mouse. But if that's my biggest complaint then.... I am GOOD

T minus 2 weeks until I am eating my salad I have been craving for the past 2 months!!!!!

Am I alone?

Lately, I have been feeling alone. I know that Alex doesn't feel as alone as I do. I am surrounded by a lot of loving people time but I do not feel that same as I did in college... I know, "But Bree, you're not in college anymore." True. We have all these wonderful people around us but we are not like them. A majority are married but they have kids ( and we do not)... therefore as a women, I never feel like I fit in because I can't sit around and talk about what little ____ did today and does your little ___ do the same? Now if we are talking cats/ my husband... I have a lot of stories lol...

There are not a lot of ladies here that are the same age to confide in/ I don't feel like I can really relate to anyone like I did in college.

This is just the thoughts of my heart right now.

Other than that I am really excited to go on the Roasterie tour tomorrow morning. I hope it's as fun as the Boulevard tour!

Sent him home

For those of you who are not aware, my Grandpa went to be with the Lord just 6 hours before his 78th birthday. A man who never smoked a day in his long eventful life died of stage 4 lung cancer. He fought for so long. It really touched me last Tuesday, his minister can to pray with him and he started saying the Lord's prayer. My Grandpa, with his oxygen mask, attempted to say the Lord's prayer with him. There was not a dry eye in the room. My Grandpa is with Jesus and all of his buddies and I couldn't be happier for him.

The past two days have been so tough for my family. I will never go to a funeral or visitation the same way I have the first portion of my life. I realize how hard it really is for a family to say good bye to someone who made such a huge difference in their lives.

It was amazing...
At the visitation, I was touch at how many people came out to see him. There were so many people that we had to open the doors 1/2 hour ahead of schedule and it went on for 3 hours straight. It was great to see his old friends and people we hadn't seen for years. I never knew I was going to be the strong one that night. My family, the ones I draw strength from were breaking down in front of my eyes. Don't they know where Grandpa is going? O wait they don't... It hit me, they don't know the Lord so they (as of right now) don't expect to see Grandpa again...

The funeral was more than amazing... two of my Grandpa's best friends conducted the ceremony. It was beautiful to see how much they were touched my his works, love, laughter, and humility.
All the beautiful flowers, Grandpa shocked us all on Tuesday night, when he asked for pretty red roses at his funeral. We never knew he liked red roses... well he got tons of red roses.

I caught myself watching my Grandma during the funeral. I believe she conducted herself in such a manor it was amazing. I pray that I am no longer here when Alex passes, but if I am, I know I will be the one in the front making a fool of myself waling and crying so loud no one will be able to hear a word that is said.


Another Happy note: Alex starts his internship today! YEAY! no more circuit city... praise the Lord and thank your for protection over that situation!

Story of LIfe

This past Saturday we were informed that my (Bree's) grandpa has stage 4 advanced lung cancer. It has been really hard on the family... because my grandpa doesn't wish to have the fluid that is building up in his lung drained another time nor does he want to be revived. Knowing that my grandpa has a strong relationship with the Lord, I know that he is going to heaven and know that he will not have to suffer from earthly pain any longer.
It's much easier for me to say this than my family members. While my grandpa (who has never smoked day in his life is dying right in front of us, my sister and great uncle still go outside to have a smoke break. WOW Alex and I have been praying for my family and that the passing of my grandpa would bring my family closer to Christ.
Lst night, I was touched. My grandpa's minster came in to pray with him (like he has every night) and my grandpa who wasn't speaking that much said the Lord's prayer.
Please pray that grandpa will go to be with Jesus soon, so he will not have to deal with the pain. Also that my family will get through this hard time and grow closer/ come to Jesus!

bab(y or ies)

No we are not pregnant!

The last couple of weeks the Lord has really been putting children on my heart. Now if you know me (Bree) you know that I have no desire to become pregnant nor have a new born child.

We have started researching adoption... there are limited options for us to choose from when you are in your 20's.

We even looked into domestic adoption...only to be disappointed. Every couple/ family has a profile complete with pictures of their large homes. Why would a mother to be select a couple with a small home or even an apartment over a couple with a large house with lots of fancy furniture inside?

The world wins again.

The question is...
Where to adopt from?

Roller Coaster

October 7th 3:30pm: Found out that I have a problem with my gall bladder.

October 8th 10am: ultra sound that determined there is something seriously wrong with my gall bladder but the technician can not tell me what exactly is wrong. I am to go to my doctors asap to get hooked up with a surgeon

October 8th 10:45am: Arrive at doctors office only to find out that I have gall stones and an infection. I am told to go straight to the emergency room for emergency surgery.

October 8th 12pm: Arrive at St. Mary's emergency room with my husband and family. Prepared for surgery.

October 8th 3pm: After 3 hours of blood work, freezing, and a fun I.V. ... I am released because there is no need for an emergency surgery. I am sent home with antibiotics and told to go and see the surgeon on Monday!

October 9th 11am: Call the doctor about the happens of the day before... only to find out that the secretary at the doctors office misunderstood the doctor and I was not going to the emergency room for surgery, but rather I was going to the emergency room to get an IV of antibiotics... which I never received.

Who needs a gall bladder anyways?

Well Month 5 of marriage and we are going into surgery #2. That's right folks. We found out today that I (Bree) will most likely have to have my gall bladder taken out.
I have been in pain for the past 4 months with this stinking gall bladder. Thankfully the Lord has given me a very sweet, giving, serving, and loving husband who spoils me when I feel like crap.
So really what does your gall bladder do? Why would God give us a gall bladder if we do not need it?
Please pray for me and the situation. It is very painful to move, breathe, talk, laugh, lye down, sit down, stand, etc...

a WOW moment(s)

The Lord has been asking me to freely give to others.
Last week Alex came home and told me about a young lady at Alpha who did not have a bible. I felt God telling me to give her one of mine... So on Sunday I took one of my old bibles and gave it to her. It was not a big deal to me but wow to her it was a huge deal. What got me was watching this young lady during the meeting. She never let go of the bible, never put it down, nothing. I stood there and questioned myself. Where do I put my bible? Do I ever hold my bible like that? The situation just really touched me and caused me to think deeply into the importance of the bible.

Also for the past 3 months at work I have been talking to a lady at a different store. She has expressed to me almost daily about how she is struggling to feed her children. I have offered to buy her food, buy angelfood for her... she never wanted to take them from me because of pride. I was speaking with her last week and told her about my dinner party for college group and how I would have a lot of food left over. She finally took my offer to take some of the food. Thankfully Alpha donated food so I had a ton (literally) of food left. This also got me to thinking... What is my pride getting in the way of? I have a really hard time allowing people to pay for stuff for me (a meal, gifts, anything)... I let my pride of money get in the way. I don't want people to think that I do not have the money to pay for items. Sometimes we all need to humble ourselves and allow people to help us out.

I am in no way trying to make myself look better... I just love what the LORD is teaching me right now and wanted to share.

Mistaken Sex

We recently got a cat.We named her Bella... we recently found out that Bella is really a boy. Bella will now be known as Mr. Bean... Beans for short. I am so excited because Mr. Bean is my favorite!
I will post pictures later.


On a heavier note. Today my Grandpa was once again admitted to the ICU for bleeding. This is the 2nd time in the last 6 months he has been in the hospital for internal bleeding. Please pray for him... also he has be diagnosed with lung cancer. We do not know what stage or anything yet. We are just trying to get him through the situation right now.

UPDATE...

Well I thought a blog would be a nice item to keep! So here we go.
Since we graduated:
Got married (YEAY)
Moved with in Parents (BOOOO)
Found out that we had to put plans of moving to Chicago on hold because of a need for surgery Bree had surgery
Moved out on our own (YEAY)
Started a College group at GRACE YEAY YEAY YEAY
Here are some pictures from our Summer:

After the afternoon graduation


Alex's beloved jeep as his groom's cake at the rehearsal dinner!

The Men of the Wedding!

The Women of the wedding!

Mr. and Mrs. Raymond!