Exhaustion

I got home this morning from a long week of work. it has been unusually long. For awhile we were overstaffed and getting cancelled a lot. Now we have 3 nurses off for various reasons and our patient census has been higher so we've been getting all our scheduled hours plus opportunity to pick up more. Well last week I worked (7p-7a shifts) mon, tues, thurs (picked up extra), sat, sun and mon. I also had to go in thurs morning for this 3 hour "education day". So from monday to monday I had worked five 12hr shift (60 hrs) + 3 hrs education= 63 hrs in 7 days. the prob was that my days off were like every other so I never got good rest. Going into work last night I felt prob the worst I ever have- exhaustion wise. I felt like my body was going to shut down. Luckily I got some caffeine in me and was good over night- even this morning I am actually more awake than normal- prob bc my body is on opposite cycle mode.
I dont even mind nightshift sometimes but it really messes with me emotionally. Sometimes I just feel really depressed bc its like I have no energy during the day to do anything and often times i dont get to see anyone. But I expect to be where I am for at least another year or 2. And prob only bc my nightshift buddies. I wouldnt be able to do it w.o my nightshift family- we have to depend on eachother for a lot bc we dont have the resources that they do during the day.
So yes we are all moved into the new house- almost 3 months we've been here. And I LOVE it. I already feel like we've lived here longer than our first place- and we (well, I) were there for 10 months. We are having an open house sat sept 25 at 2pm if youd like to come we will have food so contact me and i can get you directions.

I'm going to be an aunt!! My brother's wife is prego with a baby boy (Grayson Thomas) due mid-december. They will be living in Mason with my parents from beg of nov through beg of feb. I am so excited to have a nephew and experience my parents as grandparents! We all decided my parents will be called CoCo (like cocoa- means grandma) and Baboo (grandpa).. that is what children in kenya call their grandparents and we think its cute.

ill try not to wait so long to update next time but lately i just havent been on the computer much. It goes along with not having energy for AnYthing sometimes.

quote "I just totally laughed at someone who can't feel things"

what's new?

We have the keys to the new house! Its finally becoming reality. We actually got in there on sunday and began cleaning and its amazing how distusting people can live- they had a cat and there was hair EVERYwhere!! Even in the fridge, feezer and oven! Thats been the worst part. Luckily my mom and dad have been there to help- i dont know what we would have done without them. Its amazing what we have gotten accomplished in just 3 days. I think we've finally gotten the kitchen clean, my dad has painted 3 rooms, the basement floor, and multiple ceilings and Travis' dad is coming from out of town to clean the carpets and hardwood floors today (he owns his own carpet cleaning business in Jackson, OH). So the main things I still have to attack are the windows (they need to be de-haired) and bathrooms. Im sure it will be more than that but those are my main to-dos. Its finally beginning to feel like our home. The great thing is that we don't move our things in until saturday so we have this week to clean, paint and desanitize! I really have been feeling OCD cleaning everything... there is just something about other people's grime and nasty that I just cant handle... or believe that they were ok to live in it!! Today I'll prob be finishing up packing and cleaning our place to move out- since the floors at the house will be out of commission. Its weird to think this is my last day here by myself. There are some things about our townhouse I will miss- like my 2nd story back porch with our rocking chairs that is so private- and the fact that if anything goes wrong we just call the owners :) But i really am excited to have a house of our own. its a lot to learn but Travis is all about learning all he can! This is the first time he has ever painted so its a lot of firsts and new experiences for him.. how you go through 26 years without ever having to paint is beyond me- i think i had a brush in my hand at age 10... its been fun though watching the inside of the house transform. I have been taking pics- ill have to post when I have "after" pics to contrast the "before"s.

I need to get busy. Cant wait to have a party at our new HOUSE!!

In the midst of frustrations...

Memorial Day quote:

my mom says to my gma "Why are you wearing a 4th of July shirt on Memorial day?"
my gmas response: "because I couldn't find a shirt with dead people on it"

breathe

I feel emotionally exhausted. It didnt really hit me until I was sitting at dinner tonight with some of my fav non-dramatic people... and I felt this peace.. and realized it was bc life the last few months has just been mentally/emotionally draining. And its not me directly or my marriage- that part is great-- its family mostly.. and sometimes dramatic friends- none that read this (i dont think). Its hard to not get involved when its your own family- and its even worse when the same situation continues on and on-- when you just want to scream ENOUGH! God please end this situation already! But I guess he has his timing and it is somehow perfect to his plan.

God has brought joy into life though too-- more times than one but one in specific is I will be an AUNT this year!! Brett and Trishia are having a baby-due in December!

I just need to try to focus on the positive things and not so much the negatives.
Thanks for reading.

The Accident

The wkend of my dad's accident was a crazy few days. Many have heard this already but for those who have not, or at least not been updated, here we go> so my sister came in town thurs night and friday we hung out (2 wks ago) and were supposed to meet my mom and dad for lunch. My dad was out working, trying to finish up some things before meeting us. My mom was on her way home and called us and said she just got a call from her mom saying my dad was in an accident with a mower and he was taken to university hospital. We had no other information and my mom was hysterical thinking of the worst possible scenerio and praying that God would not take him yet. What had happened was he ended up going over to my grandpa's brother's house to mow- which was weird to all of us bc he doesnt usually mow his house and didnt tell any of us that he was going- he was mowing over a hill and he noticed it was wet and tried to turn around but it was too late and he went straight- which ended up going off a 5-6 ft ledge. He ended up on the gravel ground with the mower on top of him. Almost just as terrible as that was the fact nobody was home.. so he lay pinned under this 800 lb mower for an hr and a half yelling "help" and trying to keep himself awake. His phone was in his sock but he could not reach it. He said he could hear my mom calling him (her ringer is her singing "I love you, I love you, I loooove you") which is heart breaking to imagine that scene. The house next to the one he was at, which was in full view, is a house my parents lived in many years ago-- I think they moved from there when I was 1 or 2 yrs old. He said after awhile he started imagining us as kids playing there and memories from the past to keep his mind off of it and awake. He said it was almost like seeing his life pass before him. It is very hard to imagine him being stuck there with no one around and laying with a mower in top of him. It is terrifying. He fractured 2 ribs on his left side, partially punctured left lung, fractured his right clavicle and some places in his left foot. It was terrible going to see him at university. Only 2 ppl were allowed in at a time. They had him on a stretcher that was too small for him and he was laying there trying to breathe. They had him on that stretcher in the ER for something like 6 hours. 2 of the hours I know we were waiting on his room to be cleaned! I mean seriously I would have gone up to clean it. Wasnt doing us any good to wait around. Anyway... it was terrible. My sis and I wentback together for awhile with him and were coaching him how to catch his breath. Bc of his punctured lung he didnt have full lung capacity and especially anytime he got upset or laughed he couldnt catch his breath. And with us back there he would start to think of how stupid it was that he even went to mow there and he would apologize and start to get upset.. we would try to keep his mind off of it but when we tried we usually would make him laugh which would have the same efffect on his breathing. And God knows we are all appreciative of ppl who care and want to come and make sure he is ok... but seriously when he is in the ER and cant breathe.. its not completely necessary to have visitors that you really havent seen for years. Not like he is in the position to carry on a conversation. We've had ppl say like "I wish we would have known about the accident sooner... we would have come to the hospital". Its really nice and all but he really needed the time to recooperate, ya know? So anyway.. its been about 2 weeks and he is doing much better... still cant walk on that foot for long (nor should he be trying to but he is getting cabin fever). Its hard for him to not be working bc this is the busiest time of the year. My sister's husband daniel has been working for the census job in Georgia the last few weeks and luckily he wasnt too attached and was able to come back up and take over the business for awhile until my dad gets back to norm. He is the only one that knows everything my dad knows about the business bc he's worked with him the last few years.
So now we are trying to keep him in the house and from getting out to work just yet. My mom has some pics of the mower and the rock wall he came off of- she may post on facebook soon if you care to see.

Last wkend (the wkend after the accident) Travis and I went to hocking hills to camp and just ahve a wkend away. I wil post that later. Promise!

Thank you for all who have been praying for my dad. It could have been soo much worse than it was. God definitely sent angels to protect him that day.

Follow up

Regarding the previous post:

Mamo (my dad's mom) is back home after her stroke & rehab stay. I think she still has some weakness but is basically back to her old ornery self and making people laugh. Her son's have decided that its still appropriate for her and my gpa to live in their home as they were. My parents went with my gpa while they were visiting just to check out assisted living places in case they would have to make a move in the future. But for now they are doing well where they are.

Pa (my mom's dad) is still in the hospital. When he went in and they found the blood clots they also found he had pneumonia. I went to see him sunday and he was doing well but still fighting pain. Thought he would go home monday but I guess after some xrays decided to put a chest tube back in bc not all the fluid in the lung from the pneumonia was gone yet. Not sure how much longer he will be there.

Travis is over his sickness and after over 2 weeks mine is finally coming to a close. I had a terrible chest cold and cough... which migrated into a headcold about a wk ago. Cough & "cold voice" pretty much gone but still have a bit of a stuffy nose.

Thank you for all the prayers over these things.

In other news: my cousin's grandma has been battling breast cancer for years nows which traveled to her lungs and kidneys. She lost the fight on Tuesday. But now she's in a much better place than we are so really she has won. She was a great woman.

Prayers could also be used for this family. Her husband's name is Roy.

Prayers please!

There has been different illnesses going on:

My dad's mom (mamo/ or Hazel) was taken to hospital monday I think and was practically parazlyzed on her Rt side with slurred speech. They said it looked like she could have had a mild stroke. A couple days later, my parents are now visiting with her and my gpa in colorado and they say she is doing a lot better. she can walk and do many things on her own now.. no slurred speech, with just some minor weakness still on that side. She is in rehab until next tues. The issue now is.. does she go home after this and her and my gpa continue to live independently as before? My gpa has severe neuropathy in his feet. It is debateable among his sons if he should even be driving still bc his sensation on the soles of his feet is basically none existent anymore. Plan B is to find them a nice assisted living place... but do they stay in CO or move back here? They currently live near my uncle but he is out of town a lot for his job and his wife has multiple sclerosis and is sick in bed much of the time... meaning she wouldnt be able to take care of them if they needed it. They have 2 daughters close to my age but are living on campus a couple hours away. My mom says they would like to keep them where they are in their house in CO, but she is researching assisted living places in OH and CO in case it comes down to it. The other issue is they dont have much money to go into a place like that. Please pray that my gma would heal completely and that they would all have peace about where my g-parents should continue living for now.

So as my parents were making plans for this trip to CO my mom got a call i think tues taht her dad (pa, or Tom) was taken to the hospital bc he was in pain and couldnt breathe. They found 2 blood clots, a large one in L lung and smaller one in R lung. --rewind-- a couple of wks ago my gpa was hunting up in a tree stand and he fell, leg got trapped in strap and he broke his leg. Well he got it checked out and is now wearing a brace. They had planned to go to FL bc he was scheduled to speak at some churches (he is a Pastor) and he is stubborn and wont ever say he cant do something so he decided to charge on with the 12-13 hr car ride to FL. My mom drove him and my gma (she wanted to see my sis). Long story made shorter... the car ride and not moving around is most likely what caused the clots.. bc they had just gotten home a few days before he was sent to hospital. Yesterday update was he was in a lot of pain and couldnt breathe very well. Please pray that he would be healed and encouraged by the people that come to see him (he had 28 visitors yesterday!.. but in too much pain to really talk with them).

And to top it all off.. (on a much more minor note)... Travis and I are sick... he has the whole head cold/sinus-y thing going on and mine is throat hurting/junk in my lungs that i cant cough up. I hope I'm not getting bronchitis or something. Luckily we dont have fevers or anything. Hopefully I'll be able to work tonight and not feel completely terrible.

If you made it through this you should go eat some icecream or something to cheer you up bc that was depressing.

Thank you for your prayers!

new things

Let me start off by saying WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! We dont close until end of april but pretty much everything else is in order. Its been a whirlwind adventure and for awhile we didnt thnk it would work out bc of some issues... but we have gotten everything sorted out and its such a great deal. The owner is a Dr. and he is moving for a new job, starting july 1. Its amazing bc our lease is up june 30... how perfect! And since we are closing end of april they will be paying us 2months of rent. And we of course will be getting back the tax credit!! Its really amazing how everything has worked out so perfect. Our realtor is a friend of the family and been in the business for like over 20years and said this has been the best deal she has probably ever seen or been apart of! Here is the house, its in deerpark: http://www.sibcycline.com/viewlisting.asp?mls=1207166&b=CIN&p=RESI&s=SFRD&m=1&sender=SearchResults&a=3704-Lansdowne-Ave-Deer-Park-OH-45236
Very cute. Deer park wasnt our first choice, or really a place we were even remotely thinking about. but Travis is a researching freak and has been looking up houses like its his job and found this place. We are excited to get into it, hard to almost own a house but have to wait 3-4 months to move in.

In other news I may be reluctantly starting on my bachelors degree here soon. I'm not a big fan of school, but many of the hospitals are going to bachelor degrees only (I have an associates) and I have to have it in at least 9 or 10 years to keep working at christ hospital. ANd yes that is a long time from now but I would like to get it over with before kids come along and other craziness of life. Bc i have a feeling at this current point in mylife, it is the slowest life will get for me. SO it will probably be in fall i am assuming... i havent actually looked into it all that much yet. I'm nervous about how it could conflict with nightshift schedule but i guess it will work out somehow.

Ok so girls night soon? Carol thnaks for organizing. I desperately need some time. I never see anyone anymore except for work ppl and church ppl on sundays.
i miss everyone.

snow and new houses!

Remember snow days?
I would wake up and look out my window, scream with joy, and go turn on the news as it read "Mason City Schools Closed". It didnt happen often, as I tend to think they valued learning over new driver's lives. But I dont get that anymore. I dont have snow days bc I work for a hospital. Good thing I have 4-wheel drive- I do have work tonight at 7p-7a and tomrrow as well.

News: we have kinda been looking at houses lately. We have been somewhat talked into this bc of the tax credit. But at the same time, we can be/are in the position that we could buy a house. Over the past couple of months we have been able to pay off a couple of our larger purchases that were our debt. So now all we have is our tv, Travis's car and his school loans. Its like we of course really dont want to rush into anything, but then again $8,000 tax credit in our pocket next year would be wonderful. So we are finding out how much we are approved for and talking with a family friend realtor. We have found one house that we really like. Its in pleasant ridge, only a couple of streets from where we are living now (closer to the highway, the street is right off ridge rd). Its 3 bdrm, 1.5 bath, nice closet space and large bdrms. Basement is small and short (unfortunate for travis) but we kinda expect that with an older house. Has a nice backyard, fenced in, with a deck and a shed for storage. We really like it but feel its a little overpriced for the area. Its one of the highest priced houses on the street. The couple has done a lot to the house but still overpriced, especially if you look at how much they paid for the house just 7 years ago. (like $60,000 less!) If it happens, we would probably be trying to make the move in may/june. June is when our lease is up, but if we have to we would just pay the extra month after we left or somehting. The owner's wife is prego and tahts why they want to move.. so unless someone comes in with a better offer (we havent made an offer yet) and wants to move quicker, I think we have a good chance if this is what God wants us to do. So I'll keep yall updated on this.

I would totally go sled riding today but Travis has my 4wheel drive car, I wouldnt know where to go and have no one to go with! I'm such a loser sometimes.

at least the snow is pretty to look at and I am inside a warm house. Lazy day! Which these days a lot of my life consists of :)
love you

Time

growing up is a strange thing.

This time 2 years ago I was broken up with my first "real" boyfriend, living at my parents house, stressing about nursing school whether i would really make it, working at a for real prt time job at childrns hospital working like 8-12 hours a wk minimum. My sis and dan were living in the basement at the time and my brother and trishia were in hyde park. 2 years later, here i am married to that same boy who i was broken up from, living in a quiet little townhouse in pleasant ridge, finally thorugh nursing school working as an RN at the Christ Hospital. Linz and dan are now in florida and brett and trishia have 6 more months living in africa.

Wow how time has changed everything.

I love my life here with Travis and i wouldnt change it for anything. But it has definitly been an adjustment living with just one other person. At my parents house, we always had someone living there. Or at least had loud people over :) but here its so quiet. And since I work at night, yes i sleep during the day but I;m also home alot by myself during the day and it is so strange. I was really lonely and down a couple of weeks ago. I let myself fall into a whole. Travis is very supportive but at the same time he has experienced lonliness far more than i when he moved to cinci like 5 years ago for a job and didnt know anyone and built a life here.I need to be productive on these days I am home but its hard to force myself out of the house sometimes. I can have very lazy tendancies.

Its so strange not having my family around. THis was the first year that I can remember not having christmas with brett and lindsay. My parents spoiled travis and I though.. they got a ping pong table! Luckily we have just enought room for it in our basement and are so excited about it... we used to play alot at my parents house.

I would love to visit Brett and Trishia in Africa before they came back in june but with this new job and it being so overstaffed (meaning I havent been working as much as I am scheduled) it leaves me with few time off hours. My sister and daniel were able to go and I think are flying back today. And my parents went a few weeks ago. THey all say it was life changing. If you get a chance go to my facebook and trishia has been taggng me in some photos... its such a different life there.

As great as this christmas season has been for so many reasons, it has also been a time of sorrow. 2 marriages close to me are falling apart.. well one did and one is in God's hands currently. I also just found out a good friend of mine just lost her baby. The last few weeks for me have been a reminder of the importance of getting on my knees for my family and friends. Even as i say it i know i dont do it like i should be. We have the most powerful weapon in our grasps and still do not use it like we should. God asks us to call on him.
I dont know how i just got into a sermon here.

Yes my update has been awhile. Just a proof of my laziness lately.

Its November?!

I've been on nightshift for 3 weeks now I think. HOnestly most of the time I dont even know what day it is. Working has been fine. STaying up isnt a problem because there are always things to do.. its when I'm off that ruins me. If I work 2 nights in a row, I pretty much sleep all day in between. But its hard knowing how to sleep when I;m off the next night. Like today.. worked last night and off tonight so I tried to only sleep like 4-5 hrs so that I'll be able to sleep tonight like a normal person. But then I work again tomrrow night so its like I guess ill just nap sometime tomororw before I go in? Still working on this schedule. BUt if I only sleep a few hrs I am like useless all day. I have no energy but am bored of doing nothing! I hear working nights for however long takes years off your life- Ihope thats not true! I dont know how long I'll be on this shift, but I know dayshift will be so different it will be hard to switch. And the pay difference is awesome! -- definitly incentive to stay for awhile.
Marriage is good. This schedule in marriage sucks. Some days I get to see travis for about an hour in the evening for dinner.. i try to prepare before he gets home... then I go off to work. and If I'm lucky I can see him in passing when I get home before he leaves if I book it out of work.. which isnt always possible. But the brightside is I currently work 3d/wk so we have 2 evenings we can spend together and i get up with him on the mornings I'm off. And the wkends have slowed down so at least we have those too.
I really cant believe its november already. Its like the days are just passing.
I miss my friends! The couple friend dates I've made lately I've slept through my alarm and missed! dang nightshift. I did get to see baby jack and the beautiful family.

Ok going to get new tires and force myself to workout-- been swimming lately.. its the only thing I can motivate myself to do that is active :)
love you.

no real news

hellooo! So in case you are interested in sseeing wedding pics this link should work. THe professional pics are finally up. :
http://www5.snapfish.com/shareephotolib/shared_view=recently_shared/p=863181255900597221/l=665806027/g=214783027/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB/first_visit=true/pns/share/p=863181255900597221/l=665806027/g=214783027/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Oh and if you do have some pics that you would like to upload to the site I have how to log into snapfish a few posts back.

I have survived my first 2 weeks of the new job. It will be very stressful at times but also very rewarding. Tomorrow night (monday) I will be starting nightshift. During orientation i will be working mon, tues, thurs nights. Which really isnt bad at all. When Im out of orientation i should be working 3 (12hr) nights a wk and every third wkend. I'm nervous but kinda anxious to start nights. So we'll see! I'll let you iknow how it goes.

Yesterday Travis and I bought pumpkins and carved them. It was the first time Travis had ever carved a pumpkin! I loved sharing that with him. When I find my camera-comp adaptor I'll upload the pics. Then we made pumpkin roll with real pumpkin. If you've never had it you are missing out! Its SO good.

I'm excited for baby jack. I've been thinking I could take some night shifts at the Bird house once he's home since I'll alrady be acclamated to staying up all night :)

I love you.

august 29, 2009

So it has been over 4 weeks now. Wow I am such a slacker! Life has been busy and rolling on.

<<>>

I am so happy with how the wedding turned out. It said all week that it was supposed to rain on saturday and it was beautiful!! Nobody even needed the program fans to use bc it was so windy... which was a little irritating with my veil in both of our faces, and I kept replaying in my head as my grandpa was talking that the sand vases were going to knock over and all would go everywhere. I was praying against that the entire first part of the ceremony, so sorry Pa (grandpa) I dont remember anything you said. I loved the girls in their dresses and the little girls. I didnt love almost tripping down the stairs. Too long of a dress + heels + grass on stairs wasn't the best combination for me :) Luckily I had my dads arm to hold me up. I loved all the people I love getting to be there to witness it. This is where I have to say "ok mom, you were right to invite 400 people, i guess". We actually had less than 300 though I think. The older flower girl, Reagan, was told to make sure she followed me when we went out of the wedding. It was so cute bc we had to come back down to dismiss rows and I look back and theres reagan, right behind us :)
The entire reception was spent talking to people but i still didnt get around to everybody! Most of you know that I cant dance so I wasnt really sad about not getting to dance, but I did miss watching my dad do the worm and my grandma dance with some other family. The toasts were great, the cake was amazing- i only tasted what was smashed in my face. Which, by the way, went up my nose! I was like- seriously? Up the nose? Like completely up there. But I didnt have time to go blow it out bc I think we danced next or something. Its weird what people want to talk about on your wedding day. Not that I wasnt interested but its just like.. what? Like right after the cake-immediately before travis and i danced together a woman came up to me and was like.. sarah.. did you know travis's best man and I grew up together at the same church? Isnt that crazy? As shes finishing this amazing story travis is pulling my arm like... Lady we have to go dance our first dance now! It was kinda funny but so random. Did I need to know that small gem of info right then?

Highlights of the reception:
*watching my little cousins and olivia dancing like little angels!
*Travis's mom, dad, stepmom and other family in a small circle talking together! How amazing is that? They've been divorced for like 17 years and havent really spoken since. Its amazing what God can do with a little time. It was such a blessing for travis to have all that family there for him.
*At one point Olivia came up to me and I bent down and she kissed me right on the nose! Sweetest moment and I wish someone had a camera!!
*We had a bridal suit upstairs that was a little shady... there was a couch that had like hair all over it and we couldnt figure it out. Me and Linz went up there like half way through for something and we see the ugliest cat ever sitting on top of the couch. now we understand where the hair came from. so..where did the cat come from? stillll puzzled.
*I had a white dress to change into at the end of the reception to leave and of course I where those white undies the ladies bought me with blue "bride" on the butt. And what do you know? You can see it right through the dress! So I ended up having a white tank top that i used as a slip as we left :)

There were many more moments that I can talk about but lets not get more lengthy here. We should be getting disc for pics back on friday... so I'll post them when I can.
I took too long to write this, so soon I will update you on life as it is now.

Until then.. love and peace.

the Mrs.

I love these girls........



These little ones are my cousins daughters and they took flowers off the tables and brought them up to me at the end of the wedding. They were so sweet!

I know I should have a lot more to say but I havent had much time to just do nothing lately so I'll catch you all up later.

Love you.

2 DAYS!!

Pray for great weather!! It is an outside wedding so bring your sunglasses. The programs are fans so that should help if its hot :) We do have an inside plan B if we MUST, but I dont think we will have to use that. I'm being positive. I'm so excited! But nervous about being center of attention (not about getting married!) I cant wait to be on the beach in cancun though. It will be nice to not worry about school or tests that my life depends on or jobs or planning anything!!! It will be Travis, the beach, sunshine, and more food/desserts than one should ever eat! :)


LOVE YOU! See you soon.

snapfish!

hey so I stole a really great idea.

I'm thinking people may take pictures at the wedding. Whether it be of me or yourselves I'd like to see them. So I created a snapfish account where whoever takes any pics can upload them there (if you want to) for all to see. The cool thing too about snapfish is that you can buy pics right from the website. You could even purchase an album that they would make for you and send to you. Its a great website with a lot of good pic ideas and it is where i made the save-the-date postcards. So if you take pics at the wedding and would like to share go to http://www.snapfish.com and i created a gmail email account for this so the
email you must enter is: travisandsarahwhite@gmail.com
password: weddingphotos

Then go to upload photos. I was thinking maybe name the album something with your name in it so i know who took them. If you prefer not to thats fine too. Also, if you have a problem with me printing your photos without asking please let me know now or you may not want to participate.

Thanks so much! I have so many amazing photographer friends and I'm excited to see the pics from this very special day in my life!

taste the rainbow

I've been working with my dad and WOW was it hot this week. He always has things going wrong with mowers but fortunatly for me it was to my advantage this week because I discovered a new love. So we get to West Chester Lawn and I go in to pee and get some water and discover there is a candy machine... hmm. I grab a quater place it in the machine and slowly turn the knob as I catch the stream of colored little candies in my hand. I place one in my mouth and smile... sugar-y goodness. I heart skittles. Have not had any for probably years but now I'm craving them at the worst time ever... 2 wks before I need to look good in a dress. i agree not to touch them until the plane ride to the honeymoon :) ALong with my beloved peanut butter m&ms!

Can you believe 2 weeks?! I will be MRS. White. Pretty good and simple last name if I may say so. There are a lot of undesireable last names out there. I am getting really excited. The colors are going to be beautiful!! I was afraid i would be bored when I chose blue bc I wasnt sure what flowers I could use. But our flower guys is amazing and will be adding a lot of color and I am SO not bored with his ideas! Some of you may have been around me at teh beginning of all this planning when I did not seem as excited bc I get really overwhelmed with lists of to-do. But now we are getting down to it and I am not stressed and we dont really have much else to get done. Except currently I am trying to clean out my room(s). I emptied my room of all the furniture.. now at the new place, which is why I say room"s" bc I sleep in one... and also currenly have boxes and clothes everywhere, and all my other clothes are in another. So my goal for today is to get organized. Its hard at this pt for me bc its really too early to pack for honeymoon (some things) but I'm trying to move the rest of my stuff to the new house but still have 2 wks of days I'll need clothes here. I'll work it out.

Oh and you know what sucks? Tan lines. I work outside everyday and have some pretty rough ghetto tan lines that are not gonna fly in a strapless dress. I guess it could be worse but the bad part is a tan neck and a not-so-tan back. Also my feet are WHITE... which wont matter so much at wedding but will when I'm in a bathing suit!.. or just wearing shorts and flipflops. I am going to tanning bed but my bronzer isnt workng as well as i hoped. I wear bronzer on white spots and 35 on tan areas :) If only I was evenly as tan as my legs are from the ankle to just above the knee! The little things us spoiled americans worry about. Tan lines. Its rediculous.

Gotta go clean!

nclex

I took my nursing state boards on thursday. 5 hours and 265 questions later............ I PASSED!!!!
Travis found out for me on saturday and I cannot tell you how amazing it feels to not have to worry about it anymore!! I can really just focus on wedding stuff and relaxation :) for the next 3 weeks! I was sitting here with travis relishing in the fact that I can now surf the net, play games, watch movies with a clear conscience, w/o thkning I must be doing somehting! (except wedding stuff.. but not much left to do).
Praise GOd. He is so good though I still doubt that he will keep his promises sometimes he always comes through! *(this time what was in his will just happened to also be what I really wanted!)

love you.

secrets out

I have been anxiously awaiting an email saying that i can finally take the Nursing state boards. The final thing I must master before I am actually an RN. I actually recieved this notification about 3 weeks ago and scheduled my test but havent told many. And I told my mom not to either. I thought initially I didnt want to tell anyone bc what if I dont pass and I would have to tell that to everyone. But If I didnt tell... i could retake it and then let everyone know. But how stupid is that to think I may not pass! I can not think negatively here... I CANNOT AFFORD IT! So I am scheduled for my test THIS thursday, August 6 at 0800 in Dayton. Please I could so use your prayers!! I just feel like God did not bring me this far to let me fail now. If you think you may forget later please say a small prayer now......... THANK YOU! I will be able to find out the results on saturday sometime via internet or phone. I think I will prob be more nervous finding out than actually taking the test!! But in just a week from now it will be over and I will know.... but until then.... study sTuDy STUDY!!! I cant wait for the wekend. And hey... I have less than 4 weeks to be single! Its really seemed more real the last couple of days. My mom even cried this week once! And she is not a very emotionally show-ey person. I so cannot wait for vacation!!!

Africa

As many of you may know, my brother and his wife are now living in Africa.. and will be for a year (or 2 they may now be saying). Their purpose there is to start a sports camp which will also be a ministry to many kids and also adults in Kenya. (There town is called Bulbul).And they will train some native kenyans to eventually take over the ministry. They have a blog and if anyone would like to stay updated with whats going on with them it is here:

http://btralston.blogspot.com/