In college I took a World Religion class, and it was fascinating. My professor for this course was even more fascinating. He was about 5 foot 4 inches tall, had a mop of white hair on top of his head, and his beard was full and white as well. You could only see these beady little eyes peering at you through his rectangle glasses.
One of the things I remember most about his class was something he said on the first day. He said that God (Allah, Buddah, god, or the gods, etc) doesn't care about the small stuff (edited for a "G" rating). When we pray about insignificant things, it is a waste of time for us and them. The specific example he used was finding a parking spot. He was referring to the crazy drama that occurs on college campuses across America (specifically commuter schools). You really only know what this is like if you've been a commuter student.
Anywho, this statement from the professor stuck with me for 2 reasons. First--that particular morning I was reeeeeally behind schedule and it was all snowy/icy outside. As I pulled into the parking lot I prayed for God to give me a close parking spot to avoid being late and/or freezing to death before getting to the door. Just as I finished praying, someone started backing out of a parking spot worthy of being reserved for the college chancellor. For whatever reason God decided to allow me to get to class on time, and not die from hypothermia (even though it was my fault for being late).
The 2nd reason it stuck with me is because since that day, it has been proven over and over to me that God does care about the small stuff. I often think about how insignificant I am while I'm outside staring into the horizon. I exist as only one person in this vastness of the universe. And yet, God loves me and cares about everything in my life. He wants me to talk to him about everything from parking spots to cancer. Because for Him nothing is a surprise, He just wants us to open up to Him and share it with Him.
Whew, so believe it or not this is all just background story for what I really wanted to write about. I just wanted to share how awesome God has been to Robbie and I. (Well, if I did that it would take a while!) I'm just talking about something that was relatively tiny, and yet so huge to us.
Robbie's jeep license plates expired in August. He went to get it inspected for safety and emissions to renew the plates, and the report came back very pricey. Since the check engine light is on (it has been on for 2 years, and we know why it's on--it's not a big deal) the inspector said that we needed a new catalytic converter and to repair the fuel line. Oh, and new wiper blades. His quote was $700 for everything. Soooooooooooo, we can't afford to pay $700 to anyone right now. We were trying to figure out how to buy generic parts and pay someone to install them for a cheaper price.
On the way home from church on Sunday, Robbie noticed that the check engine light was off. What????????? That light hasn't turned off for 2 years!! For real?????
Robbie went and had the jeep re-inspected today and the inspector passed the jeep with flying colors. Only costing us $60 for the inspections. ("Only" being relative to $700)
Can I get an "Amen"?
God does care about the small stuff. Or in this case, small to the rest of the world, but huge to us.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
It's a good thing needles don't bother me
I went back to the doc again today to get the specifics on my gestational diabetes. Not fun. My numbers weren't too crazy, but enough to require some action. I'm actually feeling overwhelmed right now about all the things I'm going to have to keep track of, but I'm sure this will go away as the routine sets in. Thankfully (well, hopefully) the diabetes should go away once the baby is born. Here is my daily routine starting tomorrow:
This is my snazzy new glucometer. I wish I could've at least picked the color (they come in pink!). I have to check my blood sugar 4 times a day: before breakfast, 1 hour after breakfast, 1 hour after lunch, and 1 hour after dinner. I have to record all my readings in a log. Not sure yet how I'm gonna pull this off at work.
And here is my new "diet". I hesitate to call it a diet, because I'm not really changing a whole lot of the food content. It's just a matter of the time of day and amount. I of course have to write all of this down too. It's not like I can cheat and not write something down because the glucometer never lies. Dang it!!
Categories of food (such as milk, meat, starch, etc) are all defined by my new snazzy "Choose Your Foods" book by the American Diabetes Association.
Breakfast, 6:30 am
1 Milk
1 Starch
1 Meat
1 Fat
Morning snack, 9 am
1 Starch
1 Meat
Lunch, 12 pm
1 Milk
1 Fruit
1-2 Vegetables
2 Starches
2-3 ounces Meat
1-2 Fats
Afternoon snack, 3:30 pm
1 Fruit
1 Starch
Dinner, 7 pm
1 Milk
2-3 Vegetables
2 Starches
3-4 ounces Meat
1-2 fats
1 Free food (pick from list given)
Evening snack, 10:30 pm
1 Milk
1 Starch
1 Meat
Can you see how this could be slightly overwhelming?? I never have meals planned out, so to be this specific everyday is going to be crazy. But I can do it! And again, hopefully this will only be for the next 2 1/2 months until Maverick gets here.
This is my snazzy new glucometer. I wish I could've at least picked the color (they come in pink!). I have to check my blood sugar 4 times a day: before breakfast, 1 hour after breakfast, 1 hour after lunch, and 1 hour after dinner. I have to record all my readings in a log. Not sure yet how I'm gonna pull this off at work.
And here is my new "diet". I hesitate to call it a diet, because I'm not really changing a whole lot of the food content. It's just a matter of the time of day and amount. I of course have to write all of this down too. It's not like I can cheat and not write something down because the glucometer never lies. Dang it!!
Categories of food (such as milk, meat, starch, etc) are all defined by my new snazzy "Choose Your Foods" book by the American Diabetes Association.
Breakfast, 6:30 am
1 Milk
1 Starch
1 Meat
1 Fat
Morning snack, 9 am
1 Starch
1 Meat
Lunch, 12 pm
1 Milk
1 Fruit
1-2 Vegetables
2 Starches
2-3 ounces Meat
1-2 Fats
Afternoon snack, 3:30 pm
1 Fruit
1 Starch
Dinner, 7 pm
1 Milk
2-3 Vegetables
2 Starches
3-4 ounces Meat
1-2 fats
1 Free food (pick from list given)
Evening snack, 10:30 pm
1 Milk
1 Starch
1 Meat
Can you see how this could be slightly overwhelming?? I never have meals planned out, so to be this specific everyday is going to be crazy. But I can do it! And again, hopefully this will only be for the next 2 1/2 months until Maverick gets here.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
In the meantime, no sugar!
This week I was given some pretty suprising news: I have Gestational Diabetes. This was sooooooo shocking and out of the blue for me. I have had none of the tell-tale signs: irregular increase in weight gain, unusual thirst, increased urination, and fatigue. The last 2 symptoms crack me up because those are nearly impossible to distinguish as anything other than normal for preggos.
This news was also very shocking for me because I'm not a super sugar eater. Of course I love ice cream and cookies as much as the next person, but I would say that my daily intake of sugar is right on average with everyone else. Feeling completely guilty for Maverick, I asked the nurse if my diet could have brought this on. She said that GD can develop in healthy women when there is a strong family history of diabetes. Ah hah, that must be the culprit. Adult onset diabetes is very strong in my family.
I meet with a dietician next week to get a more personalized diet plan going for the rest of my pregnancy. But the funny thing is--I'm not going to have to change much according to the GD diet plans I've read about online. Even before I was pregnant, I only eat whole grain pastas/breads, fresh veggies/fruit, and lots of lean meat.
You know how everyone has the "staple" dinner at their house? The when-in-doubt-and-in-a-hurry-never-fail trusty dish? Ours is a pasta recipe that I made up a couple years ago that will be perfect for my GD diet. It is: organic whole wheat pasta, extra virgin olive oil, basil, parmesean cheese, cooked chicken breast, and whatever vegetable that might be lying around (usually red peppers and onions). Yummmmmmmmmm! Of course this famous pasta has a bazillion versions because its based on whatever meat and veggies are in the house.
Anywho, I've decided to completely cut out sugar. I realize that sugar is natural in some foods, but I'm talking about the usual culprits such as soda, desserts, and the sort. The hardest part is the no soda. I've been doing the caffiene free soda during the pregnancy. But to cut it out completely????!!! Maverick may never know what sort of sacrifice this is for me. :)
This news was also very shocking for me because I'm not a super sugar eater. Of course I love ice cream and cookies as much as the next person, but I would say that my daily intake of sugar is right on average with everyone else. Feeling completely guilty for Maverick, I asked the nurse if my diet could have brought this on. She said that GD can develop in healthy women when there is a strong family history of diabetes. Ah hah, that must be the culprit. Adult onset diabetes is very strong in my family.
I meet with a dietician next week to get a more personalized diet plan going for the rest of my pregnancy. But the funny thing is--I'm not going to have to change much according to the GD diet plans I've read about online. Even before I was pregnant, I only eat whole grain pastas/breads, fresh veggies/fruit, and lots of lean meat.
You know how everyone has the "staple" dinner at their house? The when-in-doubt-and-in-a-hurry-never-fail trusty dish? Ours is a pasta recipe that I made up a couple years ago that will be perfect for my GD diet. It is: organic whole wheat pasta, extra virgin olive oil, basil, parmesean cheese, cooked chicken breast, and whatever vegetable that might be lying around (usually red peppers and onions). Yummmmmmmmmm! Of course this famous pasta has a bazillion versions because its based on whatever meat and veggies are in the house.
Anywho, I've decided to completely cut out sugar. I realize that sugar is natural in some foods, but I'm talking about the usual culprits such as soda, desserts, and the sort. The hardest part is the no soda. I've been doing the caffiene free soda during the pregnancy. But to cut it out completely????!!! Maverick may never know what sort of sacrifice this is for me. :)
Monday, September 7, 2009
"Pretty Girl" the Husky
Robbie and I were driving home Saturday night on a pretty busy road, when Robbie spotted a stray dog. We are such dog lovers, and whenever we see a lost or stray dog we stop and make sure the dog is okay and try to get it to it's owners. So when we saw this dog it terrified us to see that this dog was in great danger of being hit by a car. She was walking with a limp, and she was quite dazed--so we're pretty sure she had already been hit.
We finally got this dog to our Jeep and out of the street by walking along side her and "guiding" her. Otherwise, she kept trying to go back out into the road. Upon closer inspection we noticed that she had no collar, was soaking wet, her fur was greatly neglected, and she was very disoriented. We didn't see anyone around out looking for her. So we took her home until we could take her to the Humane Society in the morning.
We started calling her "Pretty Girl" because she is beautiful, and so mild mannered. Once we were home we checked for more signs of trauma and watched closely to make sure she didn't go into shock. Thankfully she made it through the night, and even ate a few bits of food.
"Pretty Girl" has either been lost for a while, or was abandoned by her owners (if there is a better one, we'd hoped for the latter). You could tell by the shape of her coat (matted, chunks of hair coming out). Her eyes had a lot of drainage, and her teeth were quite yellow. And the way she walked with a limp indicates she was either injured or was suffering from hip displaysia.
We took her to the same Humane Society where we rescued our Siberian Husky, Belle. The first question they asked was the same we struggled with all night: "Do you want to keep her if the owners aren't found?" (she was microchipped, but no info came up in the computer) It was very, very, very, difficult to say no. She is an awesome dog. And we would have loved to rehabilitate her just like we did with Belle. But the timing isn't right.
From experience with Belle we know what it takes to rehab an abandoned dog, even when they are so sweet and mild. They need to be socialized and house trained. It took a few months to get Belle up to par, and with the new baby coming in just a few months that would be too much for everyone, including Belle.
So while we sat in the parking lot after taking her in, the thoughts that comforted us was the hope that someone else like Robbie and I would have the opportunity to give her a good home. "Pretty Girl" can be the awesome rescue story for someone else like Belle was for us.
We finally got this dog to our Jeep and out of the street by walking along side her and "guiding" her. Otherwise, she kept trying to go back out into the road. Upon closer inspection we noticed that she had no collar, was soaking wet, her fur was greatly neglected, and she was very disoriented. We didn't see anyone around out looking for her. So we took her home until we could take her to the Humane Society in the morning.
We started calling her "Pretty Girl" because she is beautiful, and so mild mannered. Once we were home we checked for more signs of trauma and watched closely to make sure she didn't go into shock. Thankfully she made it through the night, and even ate a few bits of food.
"Pretty Girl" has either been lost for a while, or was abandoned by her owners (if there is a better one, we'd hoped for the latter). You could tell by the shape of her coat (matted, chunks of hair coming out). Her eyes had a lot of drainage, and her teeth were quite yellow. And the way she walked with a limp indicates she was either injured or was suffering from hip displaysia.
We took her to the same Humane Society where we rescued our Siberian Husky, Belle. The first question they asked was the same we struggled with all night: "Do you want to keep her if the owners aren't found?" (she was microchipped, but no info came up in the computer) It was very, very, very, difficult to say no. She is an awesome dog. And we would have loved to rehabilitate her just like we did with Belle. But the timing isn't right.
From experience with Belle we know what it takes to rehab an abandoned dog, even when they are so sweet and mild. They need to be socialized and house trained. It took a few months to get Belle up to par, and with the new baby coming in just a few months that would be too much for everyone, including Belle.
So while we sat in the parking lot after taking her in, the thoughts that comforted us was the hope that someone else like Robbie and I would have the opportunity to give her a good home. "Pretty Girl" can be the awesome rescue story for someone else like Belle was for us.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
The Big Dig
The great excavation has begun!!
When Robbie and I first bought our house, we knew that someday we would need to replace our fence. Unfortunately that day came sooner than we thought. We're pretty sure the previous owner was taken advantage of because whoever built the fence did an awful job. The wood is rotting and warped, they used nails instead of screws, and the concrete bases (if there at all) are below ground (so the wood rots even faster). I thought I took more pictures of how awful the fence was, but I could only find these two from this past winter.
Many sections began leaning over, eventually falling.
Eventually we shared a backyard with our wonderfully understanding neighboor. He didn't even mind that Belle roamed over there in his beautiful gardens.
So this week Robbie and my dad began the Big Dig to replace the fence. Unfortunately this long holiday weekend was supposed to be a great opportunity to get a lot of work done, but alas--as I type it is pouring down rain. And its supposed to rain all weekend. Here are a few snapshots of what they've done so far.
Except for the corner posts, these are all the old posts still. It was A LOT of work to get the posts out of the ground. (I say this like I dug them out--but at least I helped keep them hydrated!) They used the Jeep to pull the posts out of the ground once they were dug out a bit...which ended up giving the Jeep a flat tire after rolling over a piece of metal.
The other obstacle that ended up being more of a hassle than planned was our jungle of weeds. The plan was to rip out everything and start fresh with our landscaping, so we just let it all go...and it overtook the yard!
This is my husband--the lumberjack. And no, that's not a tree...it's a weed. Yikes!
Right now our yard looks like a tornado disaster zone. Literally.
I am ever so thankful for all the hardwork Robbie and my dad are doing. My dad comes over to work on the fence even when Robbie has to work late. (He's gonna kill me for typing that too.) And they both work on the fence in the evening after a long day at work. They are awesome!
This wouldn't be a blog post without mention of our impending arrival of Maverick, so I'll end with that. :)
This week we were completely suprised with a HUGE blessing: over 1000 diapers! We can't even express how thankful we are for this gift. Someone sent us 7 boxes of diapers ranging in size from newborn to 30 lbs. Many blessings to the person who sent this gift!
Last but not least, an updated belly pic. My friends are always begging and pleading for more belly pics, so being the good friend I am, I will oblige. :) This was taken at 27 weeks-ish.
I can't believe that Maverick will be here in 3 months. I can't wait!!
When Robbie and I first bought our house, we knew that someday we would need to replace our fence. Unfortunately that day came sooner than we thought. We're pretty sure the previous owner was taken advantage of because whoever built the fence did an awful job. The wood is rotting and warped, they used nails instead of screws, and the concrete bases (if there at all) are below ground (so the wood rots even faster). I thought I took more pictures of how awful the fence was, but I could only find these two from this past winter.
Many sections began leaning over, eventually falling.
Eventually we shared a backyard with our wonderfully understanding neighboor. He didn't even mind that Belle roamed over there in his beautiful gardens.
So this week Robbie and my dad began the Big Dig to replace the fence. Unfortunately this long holiday weekend was supposed to be a great opportunity to get a lot of work done, but alas--as I type it is pouring down rain. And its supposed to rain all weekend. Here are a few snapshots of what they've done so far.
Except for the corner posts, these are all the old posts still. It was A LOT of work to get the posts out of the ground. (I say this like I dug them out--but at least I helped keep them hydrated!) They used the Jeep to pull the posts out of the ground once they were dug out a bit...which ended up giving the Jeep a flat tire after rolling over a piece of metal.
The other obstacle that ended up being more of a hassle than planned was our jungle of weeds. The plan was to rip out everything and start fresh with our landscaping, so we just let it all go...and it overtook the yard!
This is my husband--the lumberjack. And no, that's not a tree...it's a weed. Yikes!
Right now our yard looks like a tornado disaster zone. Literally.
I am ever so thankful for all the hardwork Robbie and my dad are doing. My dad comes over to work on the fence even when Robbie has to work late. (He's gonna kill me for typing that too.) And they both work on the fence in the evening after a long day at work. They are awesome!
This wouldn't be a blog post without mention of our impending arrival of Maverick, so I'll end with that. :)
This week we were completely suprised with a HUGE blessing: over 1000 diapers! We can't even express how thankful we are for this gift. Someone sent us 7 boxes of diapers ranging in size from newborn to 30 lbs. Many blessings to the person who sent this gift!
Last but not least, an updated belly pic. My friends are always begging and pleading for more belly pics, so being the good friend I am, I will oblige. :) This was taken at 27 weeks-ish.
I can't believe that Maverick will be here in 3 months. I can't wait!!
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