Crazy Busy Weekend & Week

It's already Wednesday...man this past weekend and first part of this week has been so crazy busy.  Let's see if I can remember everything that happened.  Ok...so we'll rewind to Friday.  Friday morning I felt like crap as did Charlie as we are taking some pills in preparation for our Haiti trip in January and being that it was my day off, I figured I would just stay in bed a bit longer and try to sleep the sick feeling off a bit.  So...I slept in, woke up at about 9:30, ran through the shower and ate breakfast, tore the bed apart to start cleaning the bedding, threw the dirty clothes in piles on the floor to sort the laundry and pretty much tore my house apart so I could start cleaning really good as we were going to have a couple walk through our house on Saturday morning.  Wouldn't you know it, just as I get everything torn apart, my phone rings.  It's our realtor.  There was some miscommunication and the realtor that was going to take the couple through our house was planning on the walk through this morning.  WHAT...Ah!!! Are you kidding me?  The realtor asked if it was ok for the couple to still come and walk through this morning...as in 15 minutes.  Ya what am I supposed to say-can't turn a showing down, but really my house is literally a disaster at this point.  Ok I understand I will make it work (I said...as my mind is spinning as to how I am going to get my house picked up in 15 minutes, somewhat dusted, and myself looking decent (as my hair was still wet-not even brushed out and I had no make up on).  I'm sure I was a quite a site that morning...hopefully no one ran into me ;)  So anyways I quickly rushed out the door and told myself, hey who knows this just might be the couple that is going to put an offer on our house and it will all be worth it.  Wrong...the realtor called me the next day only to advise that the couple had placed an offer on another home in town and were signing papers that morning.  Grrr!!!  Oh well what can you do.  The right couple or family will come through sometime (at least I hope so).

Charlie worked until 5 on Friday, and as soon as he got home we decided we wanted to get out of town, relax, have some time to enjoy each other's company and just enjoy the night he had off for once.  First we headed to Craig where Charlie had some trail cams hung up on a new plot of land his parents recently purchased.  The one camera got a couple shots of a nice looking deer and the other didn't get too much of anything.  We then headed to Fairview (Pouders Pond) where we took another hike.  It was gorgeous and so peaceful walking through the hiking trails.  We put a couple more trail cams up here and then headed up to Sioux Falls for the night.  I think this is probably the best way to start a date because the hubby was all happy since he got to do something he enjoyed so the rest of the night he was cool with whatever I felt like doing.

 Can you see the two small dear?

Tracks we found on our hike

Hanging one of the trail cams

Once we got into Sioux Falls we headed to the Olive Garden for supper.  It's been awhile since we have eaten there but it was so good.  And you can never pass up the never ending pasta bowls!  Just as we were leaving Olive Garden we got a call from Kansas.  She was wondering if the two of us would like to go out for dessert with her and Danny (the were also out on a date that night as Kelsie and Jamaica offered to come up and babysit the boys).  We don't get to spend as must time with them as we'd always like so we couldn't pass up their offer.  We headed over to "Cherry Berry" and had fun putting together our own ice cream creations.  After dessert we headed back to Kansas & Danny's place and enjoyed playing games the rest of the night! 

Jorja & Zoey

Last weekend I got to have a fun night/day with two of my nieces-Jorja and Zoey.  Their dad was out of town with Charlie and some other family members, and their mom had to work the night shift at the hospital.  So...they mom dropped them off on Friday night and I got to have them overnight and into the next day.  I fed Zoey a bottle and then laid her down for bed right away when they got to our house and then Jorja and I had some alone time together for another hour or so.  I asked Jorja what she would like to do and she thought it would be fun to play Jeopardy on the wii.  Oh boy I thought...if only I knew how to figure out this complicated tv/wii/converter box/dvd player connection.  There are so many cords and way too many buttons that have to be pushed in order to get something to play.  Charlie happened to be gone this weekend, and go figure I try to call him to see if he can explain to me how to hook everything up and he doesn't answer-thanks babe...no I'm j/k.  After about an hour or so I finally got it all hooked up and running.  Thank goodness Jorja was patient with me.  We had fun playing Jeopardy and only got stumped a couple times so we thought that was pretty good.  Then we headed to bed.  The next morning I woke up pretty early as I was going to take the girls with me to a volleyball game in Lincoln Nebraska for the whole day to watch my sister Jasmyn play Nebraska Wesleyan with the Dordt Team.  I thought if I got up early I may be able to get a shower in quick and possibly get may hair and makeup done before the kiddos woke up...because I have no clue how moms do that yet-get themselves ready and two kids at the same time lol :)  I got showered and hopped out and all of a sudden heard Zoey making some noise.  I went into the bedroom and found Zoey on my bed laying with her sister Jorja laughing.  It was too cute!  Well...I got the shower.  I fed the girls, got them cleaned up and quick finished myself and was out the door by 8:15 a.m. I was pretty impressed-so far we were running on time.  We had a three and a half hour drive to Lincoln and both of the girls did great.  We stopped for lunch, I took Zoey out of her car seat and was a little surprised when I picked her up.  OH NO...she had completely soaked through her entire outfit.  Yeah...bad auntie Jamie.  I felt horrible.  We stopped once on our way up to Lincoln as I rode with my family and some of us had to stop to use the restroom.  Zoey happened to be sleeping so I stayed in the car with her.  I guess maybe I should have just tried to change her when we stopped without waking her up.  Oh well...good thing "wonder mom-Ang" was thinking and packed a 2nd outfit...she must know I'm a rookie!  So we got her changed and all cleaned up and headed over to the game.  It was long day in one building watching several matches, but honestly the girls did great!  Not once were either of them fussy.  We had fun reading books, playing with some toys and eatin' snacks together and I had a few extra hands that helped me between my Dad, Mom, sisters Kasondra, Kelsie and Jamaica.  At about 5:15 we left Lincoln, grabbed a bite to eat and drove back home.  Within seconds Zoey had crashed.  She didn't nap once the whole day, but I knew she was tired because you could tell she was fighting it all day.  They did great on the way home too and we got back at about eight thirty or so and dropped them off at Grandpa and Grandma Zomermaand's for the night.  It was so much fun getting to spend some time with the girls as we don't always get to see them as often as we'd like. 

On the way to the game

Jorja and Jamaica had fun playing together all day

 

My little sister Jamaica

Jorja

Zoey

Kasondra

Myself

Tired after a long day :)

Sinus Update...

I am happy to share that I went back to see Dr. Korver yesterday (my ENT doctor who performed my sinus surgery back in January) and for the first time I actually received some good news.  After several visits following surgery due to constant sinus infections, headaches, feeling miserable, and medication after medication, they took a culture last visit and found a medication that has worked and cleared up or at least slowed the polyp growth in my sinus cavities.  Apparently there are several antibiotics that work for “most” people, but my body wanted to resistant just about every one, except for the very last one that I was put on.  It was pretty funny because Dr. Korver asked if I noticed anything different while I was on the pills-like being hungry and wanting to eat all the time…the feeling of just wanting to go-go-go and being really alert.  Charlie just laughed and said…oh man…that explains things now…she was hungry like all the time.  We helped my sister and brother-in-law move into a new home two weeks ago too and boy did they pick the right time to move because those pills made me just want to clean, organize and sort like crazy.  It would explain the nights of not being able to go to sleep until for sure after midnight too-my body just was not ready to shut down.

Anyways, every visit Dr. Korver would put a scope into my sinus cavities to see how things were looking and time after time things did not look any better…there was polyp growth, infection and scabbing…except for yesterday.  Dr. Korver usually has Charlie look into the scope to see how things look as well and he said for the first time things actually looked pretty good.  So, the good thing is that we believe we may have found a medication that seems to clear up the infections, but the problem is that they do not want to keep me on this medication as there are several side affects that could greatly affect me.  The other problem is that my body is obviously still reacting to something as I continue to fight all of these sinus infections when not on medication.  So we have decided that it would be best for me to re-visit the allergist (Dr. Tumpkin out of Sioux City) to be re-tested and see if there may be additional allergens my body is reacting to that I might not be receiving injections for. 

This past year has been quite the road for me medically, but yesterday’s news was very exciting.  I am hopeful that we will soon get to the very bottom of this and I will feel like a “new person”.  I look forward to not as many doctor visits or trips to the pharmacy in the near future (although I have gotten to know them all so well).  Yes, Charlie has to laugh at me when I go to the pharmacy too because about every pharmacist and pharmacy tech. there knows me by name.  Oh well ;)

Anyways I know there are several of you that ask often how I am doing and tell me that you are thinking of me and praying for me so I just thought I’d give you an update as to how things are going.  I hope you all have a great rest of the week!

~Jamie~      

GUESS WHAT???

We have some exciting news....

...drum roll please...

We Are GOING TO BE AN AUNT & UNCLE AGAIN....

Yep, that's right

"Thing 5"...will be arriving around the end of March!

Kansas & Danny shared their exciting news with our family when we got together this past Tuesday at Pumpkinland.  Yes, we have know since Tuesday and have had to keep our lips sealed for 4 whole days which is way too long when you're excited and just want to share the news with everyone lol ;)  Anyways, we are very excited and cannot wait for the arrival of our new little niece or nephew in March.  Congratulations Kansas, Danny, Coyer & Kedren!

So...now that I can finally share my news, I will share the rest of the pictures from our fun night out at Pumpkinland as a family:

The "Dordt Volleyball Fans" Team

Team "Post It"

The team that won "Best Dressed" AND the "Maze Race"

Team "Thing 1...2...3...4...5"

Our team...Mr. Plug In & Mrs. Outlet

Team Grandpa & Grandma Kiel

Yes they know how to have a good time & are very comfortable in their skin ;)

Check out Jeff's hair...he shaved his head just for the night-priceless

 Checking out the animals on the farm

 Kedren loved the little baby kittens

 Coyer having fun feeding the goats

 Finding feathers

 Picking out pumpkins

 Sisters...we know how to have a good time :)

 Feelin' the love

~OUR FAMILY~

Another Restless Night...

Man it's another one of those restless nights alone at home.  Charlie has been working an overnight rotation this week, and although you'd think I'd be used to it by now (which I am) I still dread these nights.  The nights get so long and quiet so I usually try to keep myself pretty busy.  I manage to get a lot accomplished when I'm the only one home (like tonight...I got the lawn mowed, cookies made, checkbook balanced, school work caught up, bills pd., supper made & brought to Char in Orange City, etc. etc.), but it's just not quite as enjoyable when you're all by yourself.  Charlie gets off work at 3:00 a.m. and I think as soon as he's off we're going to head up to Sioux Falls to catch a couple hours of sleep and then begin moving my sister Kansas and her family.  They currently live on the west side of Sioux Falls, and as of tomorrow they will be living on the west side.  So...not too far to travel, but it will all take time and after a couple years of being married and two children later am sure there will be plenty to pack up and move.  I read my sisters blog tonight about tucking her boys into bed in that home for the Last time as they will be moving tomorrow and it just kind of made me tear up.  Charlie and I too are hoping to move as soon as our house in town sells and I'm sure it too will be hard for us to leave behind a place where we have created so many memories and "firsts" but just like she said...we can still cherish those memories, and also look forward to creating new ones.  I'm glad we are able to help them move tomorrow and so happy that they have finally found a place they are happy with and excited about moving too.  It will be so nice for them to have a little bigger place to raise their family. 

Tonight I also got news from my parents that they are stuck in Denver, CO.  My younger sister Jasmyn is on Dordt College's Volleyball Team and the Varsity team flew out to play in a tournament in San Diego California this weekend...yes just a little jealous ;)  But anyways, so Jazz flew out with the team on Wednesday afternoon and made it ok to Cali and my parents flew out of Sioux Falls tonight around 5:00 p.m. and were to stop in Denver and then fly from Denver to Cali.  Well...I got a text at about 8:00 p.m. that there is a power outage (or something along those lines) in San Diego and so they are not sending flights over to Cali. at the moment-possibly a 1 hour delay at that point.  I just talked to my parents about half an hour ago now though (11:00 p.m. or so), and it sounds like they are going to be staying at my Aunt & Uncle-Barb & Galen's house in Denver for the night, as their flight was canceled for the night.  Hopefully they will be able to get a flight out first thing in the morning as the tournament starts tomorrow and their time in Cali. was pretty short the way it was (as they are flying back on Sunday).

So...it's been an eventful week and I think it will continue to be an eventful weekend as well.  But...I was just sitting at home trying to kill 3 more hours until my hubby gets home.  I just can't sleep when he's not home or I lay in bed wide awake just "thinking" of so many different things...so instead I figured I'd blog :)  Well you all have a great night and a great weekend!

~Jamie~

Life Light Weekend 2011

This past weekend Charlie and I had the opportunity to spend the weekend in the Sioux Falls/Worthing, SD area taking in the Life Light Music Festival.  We headed up to Sioux Falls and met up with Kasondra and Kelsie Friday night and enjoyed some Buffalo Wild Wings before heading out to the festival to take in some of the artists that were performing that evening.  It got a little chilly that night, but we bundled up and made the most of it.  Then on Saturday, we all slept in (over at Kansas & Danny's house) and headed out to the festival later that afternoon to take in the many other artists and speakers that were performing that day.  On Sunday my sisters and I, (True Emotion) performed on the Triple Shot Cafe Stage at 1:00 p.m.  It was great to see so many family members, friends, supporters and first time listeners come out to worship with us. Not only did we share of our ministry of music, but we also shared about our upcoming mission trip to Haiti and how we feel God's calling as a family to reach out to the Hatian community this coming January.  I look forward to Life Light weekend every year as it is a weekend to get away from work, school, and the busyness of life and take time to come together as a body of believers to worship and praise our Heavenly Father. The weekend was full of amazing artists and speakers who not only shared their personal testimony and faith journey, but also their passion through music and/or speaking. I am so thankful that I had the priveledge of growing up in a Christian home my whole life where I was learned about Jesus Christ daily and where I came to a point in my life in which I made the decision to accepted Him as my personal Lord and Savior. It is my prayer that the Lord will continue to work in the hearts and lives of those who may have been at the festival and heard about Jesus Christ for the very first time or were on edge with their faith.  I pray that they may continue to seek out individuals that can help them come to know Him more on a personal level. Even though the festival may be over, I am constantly reminded that our job as Christians to be "Disciples of Christ" is never over. We need to live each day out for Him. We need to show through our actions, our words, and our daily routines that Christ is living in us and because of Him we have a reason to believe. Jesus Christ, the true and living God died for our sins and was raised again so that we may have life eternally.
I just want to encourage you today to think of those you may have come into contact with in the past year. Are you 100% sure that they know your Heavenly Father. Have you taken the time to share Him with them?

Here are a few pictures I thought I'd share with you from our weekend away:

Taking in some of the artists at the Triple Shot Cafe Friday Night

Oh my rockin' the double chin...lol...let's try again...

Ok now we just have the chipmunk cheeks going on...no more pictures for me tonight ;)

Taking in some of the Main Stage Artists on Saturday

 Our performance at the Triple Shot Cafe on Sunday afternoon