It’s been 8 days since we lost power across Louisville and our office is still in the dark.  I’m here today just watching for packages and working.  Since I have my Verizon wireless card, I’m the only one in the office who can have internet access here.  It’s a fun time!  It’s actually really spooking because I’m here all by myself and there’s no lights or anything to give me background noise.  After working in the loft for the last 4 years and dealing with all of the noise that brings, it’s hard to work in quiet.  I need some background noise, but if I play music on my computer, my battery will drain faster and I can only work for as long as I have power. 

I had a pretty relaxing weekend.  Woke up with a migraine yesterday morning, but I took my meds, went back to sleep and was okay in the afternoon.  I did watch my Colts play and was very sad to see them get beat.  I really want to go to a game at Lucas Oil, so if any of you have some connections for a poor missionary, please let me know!

Finally, we’re launching a new way to raise funds for Emerald Hills tomorrow.  It uses special gift cards for Kroger and Emerald Hills gets 4% of the money put on the gift card.  So, you just put $100 on your gift card, then pay for your groceries, prescriptions or gas with the gift card and we get money!  It’s a great way to donate money without changing what you do!  It works at all Kroger affiliates…King Soopers, JayC, Fry’s, Dillon’s, etc.  There are 9 or 10 different stores that it works at, so check out your local grocery store to see if there’s one that you can make a difference through.  If you are interested, let me know and I’ll put your card in the mail! 

Have a great day!  Only 1 hour, 11 minutes left on my battery, so I better go work faster!

So yesterday Louisville was hit with a very strong wind storm.  As a result, 301,000 people are without power in the metro area…about 75% of the population.  Thankfully, I have never lost power.  So, my house has been set up as a interim shelter.  My best friend spent the night last night, another friend was here till midnight last night, and yet a third friend is here now.  My frig is going to become full of other people’s things soon, but that’s okay.  That’s what I’m here for.  So, please be praying for everyone affected.  They’re saying it will be 10-14 days before power is restored to everyone. It’s going to be a long week for a lot of people. 

Emily came over last night and helped me tape off for the stripes at the top of my bedroom walls.  We used special “frog tape” (the green stripe) to mark where the white area will be in between the stripes.  The 1″ blue tape was used as a marker to know where the bottom skinny stripe will be.  We went back and put another stripe of the frog tape under the blue, then pulled the blue off.  That strategy took much less time than using my laser level to tape one inch below the top stripe of tape.  So, the blue is now gone, and there are two stripes of green.  If it matched better, I’d be seriously tempted to leave it up there!  It looks great!  Left to do: Paint the Kelly’s Island stripes on the wall, paint my photo screen white, then paint it Kelly’s Island minus the stripes, paint my dresser and reload the room!  It’s getting there!

Seven years ago, I was getting ready in my dorm room.  The Today show was on and I was brushing my teeth almost ready to go to Chapel.  I stayed in my room to see the breaking news report after the first plane flew into the Trade Center and was late to chapel.  I don’t remember who spoke, but I can tell you almost the exact seat I was in.  Dave Wheeler got up at the end of the service to tell us about the second plane at the World Trade Center and the plane at the Pentagon.  After Chapel, I went back to our dorm mom’s apartment with my RA (whose dad worked at the Pentagon) and several other girls and watched it unfold.  My discussion group for Tommy Smith’s worldview class met that afternoon at Carole and Lee’s trailer in Old Orchard and we talked only about the day. 

Life changed after 9/11.  I have the front page of the Knoxville News-Sentinel for those next 6 months in a box under my guest bed.  I have no idea why I kept them, but they’re there.  I have no idea what I’ll do with them, but that’s okay.  I felt like I needed to preserve that piece of our history.  I know that I’ll never forget that day, where I was when I first heard, or the way I felt.  May we all remember those who died that day and never forget the ways that God worked to save thousands more lives. 

 I am so excited that the temperatures finally feel like fall!  Yay!  It’s only 72 outside right now and I was able to turn off my air con last night.  Which was also good because I painted my bedroom.  I was mostly a slacker this weekend and took advantage of the quiet to lay on the couch and get some much needed rest time.  I watched entirely too many chick flicks to count, surfed the internet, and had a refreshing weekend.  I did spray paint my two bedside tables and a wall shelf on Saturday.  The wind was not working too much in my favor as I ended up with paint in my hair and all along my left leg.  It was a very funny looking tan line let me tell you!  The tables look great and match my bed really well.  So, I decided that I am going to paint my dresser a dark brown color to match instead of white with stripes.  I think it will ground the room more.  So, I need to go back to Home Depot and pick out some swatches before buying.  Lissa came over last night and we painted the Frost color on the walls.  It turned out great!  The room looks so open and airy and clean.  I still need to measure and tape for the stripes, paint my dresser, and prime, paint and stripe my photo screen.  It’s getting there.  I can’t wait to have it all pulled together! 

In other news, I can now rub my eyes!  It’s been a full month since my LASIK surgery and I am so excited to wash my eyelids well now.  Yeah, I know, it sounds dumb, but it’s true!  I’m still a bit careful, but I should be totally in the clear.  It’s great.  I have so much more vision than I did before, even with contacts.  My peripheral vision is much improved and I notice things a lot more.  Colors are more defined as well, which is very nice.  Still seeing some major halos at night, but I’m getting used to it.  I’m just so thankful for Dr. Schmitt and the work that he did.  He’s literally changed my life and I am so excited about it! 

And, I leave you with a picture from Emerald Hills last week.  We had a guy from a church up in the Cincy area here and this is what the Prayer Center and Atrium looks like now! 

David and I at the “storefront” entrance.  There will be glass inside each of the holes in the framework and 2 sets of doors for the entryway.  It’s one of my favorite parts of the building!

David and I standing at the cul de sac at the back of the building.  It’s been awesome to see this come together!

To see the whole album from that day, go here:  http://photoserver.zenfolio.com/p222177094/.  When you’re done, just use the navigation at the top to look at pictures from August as well.  The building dedication is November 1 and then we move in.  I cannot wait to be here for Christmas! 

Here in Louisville, it’s been pretty dry lately.  As a result, the gorgeous tulip tree by our office has started dropping leaves.  These beauitful red-brown and yellow leaves are everywhere and it’s making me anxious for fall.  I LOVE October.  It’s my favorite month.  I love cool weather and sweaters and crunching in leaves.  I love high school football (gonna make it to a few games this year!), hot chocolate and bonfires.  The older I get, the more I love spring when things start to bloom, but I just love fall.  It’s still my favorite season.  I’ve always wanted to get married in October, maybe I’ll get to now. 

Speaking of the wedding, I’m doing very well.  My counselor released me last week and said I was moving well through the grieving process and healing well.  He’s helped me immensely and I am so thankful for insurance that covers that.  I also feel like I have my zest for life back.  I find myself humming around the house and belting it out when a good song comes on the radio.  It’s nice.  I feel like my old self, and I’m realizing I wasn’t like this for a long time. 

I’m redecorating my bedroom and am in the process of painting.  Over the weekend, I moved all of my furniture (including my queen size bed!) by myself.  I felt rather buff after that.    I’ve taped and done the primer coat and let me tell you, that room looks so strange with white walls!  I’m painting it white (Frost) with 2 stripes of a really pretty dark aqua/green color called Kelly’s Island.  I need to double the primer on the trim on the old orange wall, then I will be ready for the Frost coat.  I need to figure out what you put over tape to insure that the pant doesn’t bleed or feather down and I have a crisp line.  I read that clear gel acrylic works well online, but I need a trip to Home Depot to ask the paint people there.  I’ll go tonight after Julie’s birthday dinner at Q’doba.  Pictures will be coming soon.  I don’t want to put up the in progress ones until I get the final coat on. 

Have a great day everyone!  I’ve got to go do my weekly prayer update now.   

And the break is here!  YAY!  I ended my craziness on Sunday with the close of the State Fair.  Made it home as the rain was hitting and am very glad that Doc got the booth stuff back before the rain hit.  Sadly, I woke up Monday with a horrible migraine.  Went to the chiro Tuesday, but still wasn’t feeling well.  Spent yesterday recovering from the drugs and regaining my ability to think.  Today was the Day of Prayer and Fasting at Emerald Hills and I elected to stay home and pray because I can’t handle the humidity.  Whenever I walk outside it’s like hitting a brick wall.  I have to have air con right now.  The good news is that this is the first bad one I’ve had since July 7.  The bad news is that I’m still having them.  So, I have a doctor appointment on Tuesday to see what we can do. 

This weekend will be a fun one hopefully.  I’m going to try to prime and paint my bedroom, so I need to work on clearing it out and taping tonight.  I also need to move my drapery rod, so I need to fill the old holes and prep that before I can paint.  Saturday is a bonfire/cookout at my friend Palmer and Tina’s house.  Sunday, we have a church coming in for their site pick at Emerald Hills.  And on Monday, I’m headed to Cincy for shopping at Ikea and the Gap Clearance store.  I need to get some cheap shirts that I can embroider with the Team Expansion logo and Gap is the place to do that.  I might also find some more work pants since I have only a few pairs and once I can no longer wear my skirts this winter, it’s gonna be rough.  Losing weight is great…until you have to buy new clothes! 

Hope you all are doing well!

I think the major part of my whirlwind might just be over.  August and November are typically our craziest months of the year and this year is no exception.  We kicked off August with the return of our summer interns, then I had LASIK, then we had a week of Launch with new missionaries last week.  Had a great time getting to know them and spend time with them.  My grandpa had shoulder sugery last Thursday and came out okay, but he’s got a long rehabilitation before he can fully use his shoulder again.  This last weekend took me to Lexington where I coordinated a friend’s wedding on Saturday.  It was beautiful and I was thrilled to be a part of their day.  We had perfect weather–just enough breeze to lift the veil for some awesome pictures, enough sunshine to give great shadows at times, and the perfect temperature that we didn’t get overheated.  I spent the night at their house in Lexington Saturday, then got to go to Southland Christian Church yesterday morning.  They had a guest speaker, Mike Breaux, and were doing a sermon series called “Life According to Jim.”  Based on the book of James, we talked yesterday about prayer.  It was a fabulous sermon and I was very much encouraged by being there.  Met the two lovely people who sat next to me and talked with them about missions as both have a desire to serve overseas.  I hung out in Lex yesterday until one of my favorite people from college came through, then got to have Starbucks with her and her husband.  They’re having a little girl in a month and had been in Cincy for the baby shower on Saturday.  So, we met up in Lex for a bit before they headed home to East TN and I came back to Louisville. 

I got in at 6:30, was in bed at 6:45 and got up this morning at 8:45.  Yep…that’s right…14 hours of sleep!  I woke up once, but was back in bed right away.  It was excellent, but I do feel like I could have slept for another 14 hours!  This week is another craziness week.  The Kentucky State Fair started last week and I’m helping out my chiropractor with his booth there all week.  So, between 6:30 and 10 every night, I’ll be hanging out there, signing people up for free back evaluations.  Should be a pretty fun week.  I love the fair and am looking forward to being there.  I’ll head over to the livestock area in time for the hog show and see if I still have it in me to call all of the winners.    I did the last time I was at a fair, which was 2 years ago! 

We also have visiting missionaries this week, our community meeting on Wednesday at the office (which includes a review of our goals for the year), plus my friend Kelly is coming down on Friday.  She does development for another organization and so we’ll hang out on Friday and talk about stuff and spend some time together.  She’s down for the missions fair at Fern Creek CC this weekend, and I’m looking forward to bouncing ideas off her and just chatting. 

So, have a fabulous week everyone!  Hope you get some rest in the midst of everything and enjoy the weather.  I think this is one of the coolest Augusts I remember!

I don’t even know where to begin writing this.  I am so jubliant!  I can see!  As soon as I got off the table, I could read the numbers on the clock.  It was amazing.  Now, I’ve kept my eyes shut for the required 6 hours and have had all of my drops–4 different kinds!–and am sitting on the couch watching the Olympics. 

The surgery went well.  I went back for prep and they put in 3 different kinds of drops, washed my eyelid with an alcohol swab, and then did one more drop.  Then, I sat in the hall for a while waiting for the drops to take effect and my turn with the laser.  The frist step was the corneal flap.  It was the most uncomfortable part of it all.  Julie B., whose husband works at Team Expansion with me, works in that office, so she held my hand and reminded me to breathe “in through my nose and out through my mouth” and to relax.  There was a lot of pressure as that was done, but I managed to just breathe through it and not move my eye.  Then, I walked over to a dark waiting room to allow those gas bubbles to come togehter and form the flap.  Headed to a different operating room for the actual laser of the cornea.  I had to focus on a green light, which became very difficult when he pulled the corneal flap back and everything went super blurry.  Focus on the green light, the laser came on and was rather loud, then the laser produced a smell like the drill at the dentist’s office.  Irrigate with sterile solution, smooth over the flap, make sure it’s in place, pull the tape off my eyelashes, remove the device keeping my eye open and I was done.  Like I said, I could read the numbers of the clock as soon as I stood up.  Went in and got my post-op instructions and drops, put on my awesome super sunglasses and I was done. 

Tonight, I have a bit of fogginess in my vision.  Some places of my visual field are brighter than others and it’s a bit annoying, but not bad.  Still a tad of discomfort in my eye, almost like there’s something in it, but it’s not bad.  Tomorrow when I wake up, I should be totally able to see.  Yay!  My post-op visit is at 8am tomorrow…not so much looking forward to that time, but that’s okay.  I just won’t shower.   

Thanks for praying everyone!  I’m so blessed to have such a great support team.  Thanks to Dr. Schmitt, Margaret, Julie, Markey, and Tami who did my surgery and care.  And a big huge thanks to my parents who are here to take care of me.  Mom cooked dinner tonight and the smell of the corn from Grandma and Grandpa’s garden is what woke me up!    It’s good to have them here for help. 

Hey friends.  I head to the doctor’s office at 1pm tomorrow for my LASIK surgery.  I’ve been doing all of my pre-op stuff and am ready for this.  I’ll update either Friday night if my vision is good enough or Saturday sometime.  Thanks for praying!