God is So Good! (And a PSA...)

A friend of mine, Whitney, on the STLWed boards went through a hard time this week. Her best friend has been suffering from cystic fibrosis all of her life. She was admitted to Barnes this weekend and told that she wouldn't be leaving without a new set of lungs. You can read the whole story on Whitney's blog.

Anyway, Wednesday afternoon, her mother signed papers to get her officially put ont he donor list. She must have been a high priority on the list, and God must have really been listening to all the prayers going up to Him, because at 12:30 AM, the doctor came and told Jessie's friends and family that a set of lungs was on its way. EIGHT HOURS LATER!!! What an amazing God we have. The surgery went well; they'll wean herr off the ventilator today.

Her journey isn't over, of course... she still has the risk of rejection in addition to a lot of rehab. So please pray for Jessie, Whitney, and everyone involved in this praise-worthy occassion.

Also, remember the family of the donor in your prayers, too. After all, these lungs belonged to someone and while I know Jessie and her family are grateful, there is a family out there mourning. But they did something courageous after discovering that their loved one was gone: they donated. Are you a donor?

If not, you can be. In Missouri, you need to register to become a donor. You can that by goiong to the online registration site. In Illinois, there is also a donor registration site (according to new IL law, registering on this site is legally binding; they do not need youor spouse/parent/child's permission). For all other states, please Google "become an organ donor in..." and find out how you can become a hero, even after you're gone. And please, don't foroget to tell your family members. It is essential that they know your wishes so that they can be carried out.

Organ donation is one of those causes that I have always cared a lot about. You can save so many lives. Think about it: you're got 2 lungs, 2 kidneys, 1 heart, 1 liver, 1 small intestine, 1 large intestine, 1 pancreas, 2 eyes, and your skin. You don't need that when you're lying in a box in the ground, why not give it all to someone who vitally needs it?

Someone like Jessie...

Fun Day At the Zoo

Tasha gets a double discount every three months from build-a-Bear, so we decided to "play hookie" and go to the zoo. Jerome, Jen, and Makenzie joined us and we had a great day! Poor Jen had knee surgery two and a half weeks ago and by the end of the day she was in a lot of pain, but it was definitely a blast. Pictures? Of course!

Just a few teasers... You can see the whole lot of 'em in my Facebook album.

Anyway:

Makenzie got a Hippo. Jen named it Hillary and put it in a tutu.


In front of the Penguin House. IT was cold!


Isn't this a fabulous picture of Jerome and Makenzie?


The highlight of Kenzie's day was the insectarium. She loved that place!!

Hope you enjoyed! I sure did...

Good News!! (Cue "Wicked" Chords)

I took my PRAXIS last month. It's a big scary test I have to pass in order to student teach (according to LU standards). When I signed up for the March date, I also signed up for the APril date (saves me the $50 registration fee), knowing that if I passed in March I would get my $80 back for the April date. I walked out very confident that I did well but over the last few weeks I've been worried that maybe I didn't do as well as I thought.

But I got this in the mail today:


Woo hoo!!!

So, to celebrate, I bought this:


And some of these to celebrate with my roommate and suite mate:


What a good day.

Bummed

Michael Johns was AMAZING this week. Tasha loved his Steven Tyler scream. Syesha and Kristy should have been gone before he was. Grr... America got it wrong. Simon said it wasn't the right song, which I completely disagree with; I thought it was amazing. I didn't think he was going to win, but I thought he would last longer than this.

Not to mention that I got NO points this week in my AI pool.

Obama is the man...

I don't normally post this close together (I just posted last night), but Kristal mentioned Obama's transcript in her blog and I checked it out. One of my pastors and another woman were talking about it at David's wake a week and a half ago, and they said he was so eloquent.

Well, lemme tell ya, had he not already had my vote, he would have gotten it after I read this speech. It was a speech made in response to the comments of his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah White, and it calls on us as Americans, noot white or black or Hispanic or Asian or Native American, but people who live in and love this country, to be the catalyst for change.

If you have a few moments, read his speech. It's amazing.

And, in case you were wondering, here is the Rev. Wright's comments that caused such an uproar:


And here is the video of Obama's speech in response to that, the transcript of which I linked to above. (It's a long speech.)


Listen, whether you agree with my particular political affiation or not (I'm an independent and vote for who I think will do the best job), something has to change in this country. Can it be achieved in the four to eight years this man might be president? Probably not, but we can make significant strides forward if we would all just get over ourselves and our pity parties and ouor "holier than thou" attitudes and just love each other. Respect each other.

Spring Fever

How come I have motivation out the butt to do my smaller assignments due later in the semester but can't get motivated to write the two big papers I have due in a few weeks? Grr... Seriously, though. I have 4 of the 6 assignments finished for SS Methods and I have 2 of 4 of my reading assignments finished. But my Theology and my Fairy Tale papers? I have barely even cracked a book. I'm a slacker.

Perhaps it's because I have wedding on the brain. I went shopping with my Maids this weekend and we found 2 dresses that we all LOVE. They kept looking to me for approval and I was like, "Listen. I gave you my requirements on the color. What you all pick is upto you." but it wasn't stressful AT ALL. It was a whole lot of fun, actually. And I can't wait to do it again. :-) I also tried on a few dresses for myself and found one that I LOVE. I won't post a picture, though, because I want people to be surprised, if that's the one I pick. :-) I also met with 3 florists over the last week. I've decided that my bouquet will be white tulips with dark blue delphinium. The girls will have white tulip bouquets. Jerome's bout will be a white tulip w/ csome delphinium and the other groomsmen will be just a white tulip. The ushers and dads will wear white sweetheart roses. The moms and musician will wear a white sweetheart rose(s) with delphinium. Exciting! And we've decided on our photog: Janie Wilkens, a woman we go to church with. Things are starting to come along and I still have 11 months! Who ever said wedding planning was stressful? (Watch, I'll be FREAKING OUT 10 months from now!)

I can't wait for camp. Tasha and I are obsessively talking about it all the time. It's only 8 1/2 more weeks. Yay!