today i obeyed

today i was Baptized.

oh, where do i start?!?

i was Baptized as an infant by my wonderful parents. they always provided a Christian home. they went without, so i could go to a private school. they sacraficed so that i (and my brothers) would learn and appreciate and really HAVE a family. as opposed to a mom and dad, who were more often at work than home, and when they were home, they weren't really there. - it was never like that at our house! i am SO GRATEFUL for that. i am grateful for the upbringing and the values. my life would truly, not be recognizable if i weren't taught from very early on that i belong to Jesus.

why then be Baptized now?? didn't the first one "count?".

why now - because God commanded that after one commits to living for Jesus and accepts that He died on the cross to forgive our sins - then he/she should be Baptized. Acts 2:38 says, “"Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins." Baptism is a public act after a personal choice is made.

"what, now you are going to heavan, b/c you were Baptized?" NO! that would be like saying, that it is a new year, that january first comes B/C a ball drops in new york city. my Batism was a public showing of the fact that i know i am going to heavan.

"What makes you so sure?" "are you better than me?!?"

i am sure, b/c the Bible tells me that i can be sure. not, better. definitely not better than anyone. i am a sinner - have been since the day i was born, will be until the day i die. if you are reading this, you probably have seen first hand several several 'occassions of imperfection'!!! (some more than others!!). if you haven't seen it - stick around - i am bound to show you soon.

i know that i am a sinner. i know that nothing i do is good enough to earn my way to heavan. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23

there is a promise in Romans 10:9 - "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." You will go to heavan, that is what it is saying - when you die, you WILL go to heavan. that is it. no questioning, no wondering, no purgatory - if you admit you are a sinner - if you recognize that Jesus died to forgive your sins - if you accept His gift of forgiveness and place your faith in Him - you WILL go to heavan! no matter what you have done or wanted to do or anything else. no matter if you call yourself a Catholic, or a Lutheran, or non-denominational, or . . .

Romans 10:13 says, "For anyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." God doesn't break His promises! that is what it comes down to. if you never have prayed and admitted your sin, and accepted God's gift of foregiveness through Jesus's death, and His promise of life eternal in heavan - why not do it now? you don't need fancy words or any kind of set structure, just talk to Him, He already knows what you are thinking anyway.

That is how i know i am going to heavan. i have known for several years. i didn't get baptized until now out of pure disobedience. (see, i told you there would be more sin!) i didn't know how to tell my parents i wanted to be baptized 'again'. i didn't want people to think i was new to the faith or that i didn't know what i was talking about. i was worried that . . . oh - just pure silly excuses! that was it. i finally set them all aside - and today - i obeyed.

(ps there are more mistakes to come. please help me and pray for me when they do.)

outline of a knee story

because sometimes you just want to write in outline-form. (i am VERY diappointed that it will not align this the way i had it- so i will alter the font size per stage of the outline)

I. the night it all started
A. Thursday July 5th
1. VERY early in the morning
B. i heard nathan squeal through the monitor
1. i didn't want him to wake up richard
2. i jumped up to turn the monitor's volume down
C. i guess i was not fully awake, and my legs didn't know what they were in for
1.i landed on my right leg, twisting out of bed
2.. i felt a STRONG SHARP pain in my knee.
3. just as fast as i jumped out, i bounded back into bed
4. now richard fully awake
5. i lay there in pain unable to move my knee without increasing the already excruciating pain.

II. the next few days
A. i had richard do some PT-tests on me, so i could try to figure out what was wrong
1. both of the tests i had him do were positive for a meniscal (cartilage in the knee) tear.
***how silly!! tear cartilage getting out of bed!! ridiculous!! ***
B.i went to the doctor on friday, after i realized that it was not "just going to get better."
1. he did another test, and it pointed to a meniscal tear also.
*** ridiculous!! how stupid!! ***
2. after that i was to be non-weight bearing on crutches until we could see the extent of it and determine whether or not i would need surgery.
***surgery!! for getting out of bed!! how dumb!! ***
*** have you ever tried to be non-weight bearing with a TODDLER in the house?!? HA!***
3. i just did the best i could.

III. Conclusion
A. i had the MRI done
1. no surgery needed!!
***yeah!!***
B. i have been doing my therapy exercises and consulting with other PTs for advice and progression times.
C. it is getting much better and i can walk on it totally fine. not even a limp anymore (unless it is just painful).
D. i am really working at getting my full range of motion back - but that will take a good while.

***PRAISE GOD FOR NO SURGERY AND EASY RECOVERY!!***

a silly nerd story

i went to a continuing education class last weekend. it was on wheelchair ordering and positioning and seating modifications.
as i sat in my desk in that auditorium - my excitement grew. as i reached into that green folder and pulled from it a stack of powerpoint slides, i held my pen tight. i can only describe my excitement as the feeling you have overtake your whole body when you are watching a raffle ticket plucked from a basket, and you recognize that bent corner as being the ticket you dropped in. they are about to annouce you are the WINNER!! . . . THAT is how excited i was. i was about to win! almost time to take notes! oh, i couldn't wait for the lecture to ensue!!
then, as i composed myself, the speaker began - "we are not going to talk about specific wheelchair or seating pieces of equipment today. we are going to talk about basic physics and kinesiology of the human body." AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! i almost fell out of my seat i was SO excited! NOTHING gets my blood flowing like physics/kinesiology!!!!!!! oh my ! what had i done to deserve this?!? suddenly a song came to mind - think of "mary poppins" when the kids are w/ the chimmney sweep at uncle _____'s house (ernie maybe?). anyway, every time they laugh they float into the air. they sang "i love to laugh, i love to laugh! ha ha haha" barely on the edge of my chair, silently to myself, i belted out the lyrics "i love to learn, i love to learn!!"

oh what a day it was!! great learning! can't wait to do it again!!

to sleep or not to sleep

we have been struggling lately with nathan and sleeping. he has never wanted to fall asleep. somewhere around 3-4 weeks old, i think someone told him that "if he fell asleep he would miss something". he is pretty sure that all of the fun things happen after he goes to bed. once sleeping he has always been a dream (no pun intended). sleeping from 7pm to 7am, then taking a 2-4 hour morning nap and a 1.5-2 hour afternoon nap.
well lately, he has been pushing for (by that i mean screaming like a mad man in his crib) for a later bed time - refusing to sleep until well after 8:30 or 9:00, then fighting his morning nap. on a few occassions he screamed right through it. i may not be the smartest person on the block, but i could tell something had to change. with some firm words and loving discipline from mommy and daddy, nathan has realized that bedtime is bedtime. when mom and dad said so, b/c they said so. "so there."
we have a new sleep schedule worked out to adapt to his decrease in need of sleep. and bedtime means that is it. it has been a wonderful test of patience, and discipline (for all parties). and it has been great to see how God is teaching us every day through nathan.

now THAT is what i call CHOCOLATE milk!!

what else need i say???

p.s. NO - it was not really that thick! the straw just happened to stand up on a little 'nub' at the bottom of the cup. i am sure i couldn't do it again if i tried, so i had to take a picture.

ewww , that would be yucky!

conclusion to the visit w/ my parents

last saturday, we had a 30th birthday party for richard. since he is old now, we wanted to keep the excitement level down. you know how it is w/ old people and too much going on around them. so we kept it to just family. which, really, can get pretty exciting (as we all learned). anyway - it was our family, my parents, his parents, my cousin & family, and aunt carol. we had a great time.

nathan enjoyed showing his skills on his new-to-him slide.

last monday, we went to mike and chrisi's house (my cousin in killeen - 1 hr away). while we were there, nathan was playing w/ all of their grandson's toys (as usual). he has two favorites, one is a police car version of the "cozy coupe" we all grew up knowing and loving, the other is an inflatable toddler sized ball pit. nathan was at the car and wanted to get to the ball pit - so he walked over to it. yes, walked. not crawled, not - walked over hanging onto something. just plain old, walked over to it. he has not stopped practicing walking since! what a big boy!! (and a proud set of parents!)

on Tuesday we went to the Austin Children's museum. there were lots of fun things to do there.

learning how to play chess:

being a doctor (or PT):

being a construction-man:

we all had such a great time! not pictured, he got to roof a house w/ grandpa, and play on lilly pads w/ grandma. he played marbles and was on t.v. for his very own music video! (he played the fiddle, b/c the guitar was too heavy)

my parents left on thursday. it was very hard to see them go. we really enjoyed having them stay w/ us and look forward to the next time! :)

p.s. i almost forgot, nathan got his first "bug-stomping" lesson at the museum

what a wonderful summer so far!

we have been having such a blessed time enjoying family and friends! here are a few updates from the past few weeks:

Nathan's first golf trip - he even got to help drive the cart!

Nathan and "Pappy" - he is helping him plan his next hit

Swimming with Mama and Dada: (not really 2004, the batteries fell out of the camera)

We went to the AAA baseball game here in Round Rock and sat in the grass seats in the outfield. it was great - there was a playground behind us and nathan could play and move around during the game. VERY FUN!

nathan even got them to throw him one of the free t-shirts. i think he will put it in the "grow-into box" for a little while.

we went to a rodeo on friday w/ my parents visiting from WI. nathan really enjoyed watching it

this picture is blurry, but you can tell what is about to happen!

more fun to come!!