Jenn's Blog

1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before? I signed up for classes at the community college!

2. Did you keep your New Years resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I always resolve to try and eat healthier and exercise more. And I do a little bit better every year. (That's what I posted last year and it applies to this year as well!).

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope!! Justin and Julie are going to have another one this year though, so that's cool.

4. Did anyone close to you die? No, thankfully.

5. What countries did you visit? None!

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? My body back. It's taken too long and I'm ready to be done.

7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? No significant dates this year, which is fine by me!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Signing up for classes.

9. What was your biggest failure? I didn't lose those last 10 pounds!

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? My lovely pre-Christmas root canal!

11. What was the best thing you bought? Our new washing machine, I guess, I hate that we had to buy a new one so soon, but it's a good machine.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Ben. I flooded the house in Feb. and he was SO kind about the whole thing.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? My brother-in-law (sister's ex-husband) - this one still applies.

14. Where did most of your money go? Nothing awesome! 2009 was a money pit - we had to have our van fixed, multitudes of dental work, our house was flooded, our washer broke, and I needed a super expensive root canal. When I think of all the money we could have saved....I feel a bit sick.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? We started hosting a small group in our home and really clicked with the other couples! Woot, friends!

16. What song will always remind you of 2009? ABBA songs. Ever since we saw Mamma Mia, Ben and I have been hooked.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? About the same, I'd say. There have been ups for all the downs, I think.
ii. thinner or fatter? The same.
iii. richer or poorer? Poorer - it was a hard year financially!

18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Spending time with God, blogging, and taking pictures.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Househunting! Seriously stressed us out and all for nothing, as far as I can tell.

20. How will you be spending the Winter? Lifting weights, doing schoolwork with the boys, reading, and blogging.

22. Did you fall in love in 2009? I continue to fall in love with Ben and the boys.

23. What was your favorite month of 2009? October. Ben and I celebrated our 11-year anniversary.

24. What was your favorite TV program? The Office is still our favorite, but we caught up on Heroes and that was fun, too. Also, we started watching 30 Rock and we really like it.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Nope. Not a hater, such a waste of time.

26. What was the best book you read? How We Decide, which I haven't finished yet, but am loving it! It's all about how we make decisions, which I think is fascinating!

27. What was your greatest musical discovery? There were a couple of worship songs that really stuck with me. I found out I like Chris Tomlin.

28. What did you want and get? Started lifting weights.

29. What was your favorite film of this year? Transformers 2.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? Went out to dinner. I turned 29.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Getting down to my idea weight, and building a house.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? Just getting by. Because I'm so close to being where I want to I don't want to go shopping for clothes, but a lot of the stuff I had was too big or didn't match, etc. I finally picked up a few things at the thrift store so I'm feeling better about that. - This pretty much still applies. I did lose a few pounds, which helped me fit back into a few things.

33. What kept you sane? Life Group. It's a good feeling to get to know some like-minded couples.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? None!

35. What political issue stirred you the most? The whole health care debate. What a mess.

36. Who did you miss? Chelsea was gone for a couple months and I really missed her!

37. Who was the best new person you met? I've met a lot of people in church - all the people in my Life Group are cool, the ladies in my Ladybugs group are so sweet. Ben and I reconnected with a friend we knew growing up, Shelby, she's married and has two kids our boy's ages - and they get along really well!

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009: I'm still trying to figure this one out. We felt so sure we were supposed to move. Everything seemed to be moving in that direction and then we hit a brick wall. So weird.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: "Hopes arise, we will wait upon the Lord, we will wait upon the Lord..."

Getting the stitches removed helped so, so much. Woke up on Christmas morning feeling much better and didn't have to take pain meds at all...or since!

Gabe woke up crabby. I took him out to the couch and asked him if he wanted to peek inside his stocking. That perked him right up. Then Luke came trotting out. He was pretty excited and totally believes in Santa. It helps that he received 2 items off of his list; a new-to-him DS and some Bendaroos. Both boys were thrilled with everything. I hope they are always so excited about toothbrushes and underwear!!

We spent the rest of the day just doing whatever. The boys wanted to open and play with every.single.toy. So it was a blast trying to keep up with all of the mess. We watched UP and Paul came over to visit for a bit.

Yesterday, Ben's parents came over for a while, bringing leftovers with them! I ended up napping with Gabe and when I got up I was hit by the decorating bug. When Erin and I went out last week, I had purchased a few things at the thrift stores; some fabric to recover the chair seats in my bedroom, 2 large matching vases that I filled with greenery and placed up on top of the cabinets, a picture we purchased TWO years ago that I dug out and placed on top of the cabinets, then I started pretty much redoing every room. Nothing fancy, just switching and swapping decorations around to liven things up.

My cousin's wife called last night to say that she's sick and can't host our family gathering this year. I'm sorry she's sick, but it's probably just as well. My siblings didn't seem to relish the idea of getting together with extended family. I told everyone to come here then and bring a snack to share. We'll play games and watch movies. My mom and sister sent their gifts up with Chelsea already which we opened last night. Hopefully people will actually show up - it's been snowing all morning.

Brandon and Erin moved on today. It was sad to see them go, but we'll get to spend time together next week. Erin and I did some thrift store shopping yesterday and had a great time. It was nice to get out for a bit.

My mouth had been hurting a lot. I was starting to feel anxious about it because the gums appeared to be healing the pain seemed worse. Very perplexing. Finally, I got up the nerve to pull my lower lip down - very painful - and noticed that one end of the stitches was poking out of my gums and stabbing me in the mouth. No wonder I felt like I couldn't move my mouth at all; I was getting stabbed each time I did it! I finally broke down and called the dentist and he told me that the stitches were self-dissolving and the pull the offending stitch out with some tweezers. I tried, but couldn't get it to budge. I also tried just snipping the end off, but my small, sharp scissors just weren't up to the task. I researched dissolving stitches on the internet, but couldn't really come up with anything so I was forced to call the dentist back. He asked if I could meet him up at the office asap. So I threw on a jacket and hopped in the car.

I don't know what I was thinking, but I should have asked him to numb me up from the get go. I don't know why I can't remember to do that. Always. No matter how "painless" they say it's going to be. Sigh. So he tried snipping the end, but couldn't get it. Ouch. I had to help him by pulling my lip out - very painful. He opened up some new scissors and tried again. Crazy painful. Then he swabbed me with topical...and them more topical. He hit my tongue so that was nice and numb...not to mention the topical that was washed down my throat, thereby numbing my throat as well. Oy. Finally I was good and numb and he was able to remove all the stitches without further pain. He also said that I'm healing up very, very well and everything looks just as it should. Good news indeed! I was there a total of 15 minutes, at the most! Hopped back in the car and headed home. We had just enough time to get dressed and dash out the door to get to church.

The Christmas program at church was nice. Only an hour long and the music and singing were beautiful! We really enjoyed ourselves. We headed straight over to Ben's parents where Karen had a nice dinner ready to go and then we opened gifts. After that we played some games, ate some dessert, talked, etc. Didn't get home until late, but we had a nice time!

So far, my gums feel so much better!! I really think I didn't react well to the stitches. Ben's dad has had the same problem and I was reading online that everyone reacts differently to the dissolving stitches. I'm so glad I was able to get those out!

Well, Santa has already been here so I guess it's time to head off to bed!

Fighting back her own tears, Mary kissed her mother's wet cheek. Then Joseph lifted her onto the donkey. Heavy as she was, he lifted her with ease, Hannah noticed, taking such consolation from it as she could. And for the first time she acknowledged what her husband had maintained: If any man could take care of Mary in her coming ordeal, that man was Joseph. "Goodbye, be careful," Joachim said gruffly. "If you can join up with a party along the route, you'd better do so, there are often robbers in the hills. And wait," he trudged beside them a few steps, "take this, you'll need it." He pressed a few dinars into JOseph's hand. "For the little one," he said. "We'll be all right," Joseph said cheerfully. "Don't worry. God will be with us." "Yes, yes, God will be with yoiu." He must let them go and he stood, one hand upraised. "God be with you and keep you, my children."

They progressed down the street, the hooves of the ass making a hollow music on the deserted cobbles. They were shadowy figures in the white mists of the morning. They were like something out of a dream. And Hannah stared after them, gnawing the fist that was pressed against her lips. "God help them," she whispered. "Oh God, help them!" "He'll help them," Joachim said. "For he is leading them on this journey, he is taking them to the City of David, which is Bethlehem." "Bethlehem, where I was born. What a pity all my people are gone from there, they might have given them shelter."

Her husband continued to gaze after the laden donkey that appeared and disappeared in the floating veils of fog. "'But thou, O Bethlehem,'" he quoted from Micah,"'...though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel...'" His voice shook even as he felt his wife's hand trembling on his arm. "'Therefore,'" he went on, "'will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth...'" He couled not continue, Hannah's fingers gripped him. "Bethlehem! She who is in travail." And as the great knowledge awoke within her, began to beat and break within her, Hannah's face likewise broke, dissolved. "My God, my God," she cried, and lifted its anguish to heaven, "wherefore have you denied me this truth so long?"

Wordlessley, Joachim drew her to him. "I knew, I must have known...but I dared not...after all my vanity and pride..." Far below the road emerged and as Hannah stared, the fog lifted for an instant, and the parents could see them clearly, their daughter, so small upon the burdened beast, and the tall man who led it.

"I must tell her, I must catch them and tell her before it's too late!" She broke from him and began to run, frantically calling her daughter's name. But Joachim caught his wife and restrained her, wildly though she wept. "Let me go, this much comfort at least I can give her. I believe. Oh, Mary, I too believe!"

Two From Galilee by Marjorie Holmes

So...I've had a blister on my gum for a couple of months now. I've never had problem with any of my front teeth, and the blister was there when I went to my last check-up and everything seemed fine. But I kept hearing bad stories of people with blisters on their gums so I called yesterday and they got me right in.

The dentist took an x-ray and saw a large infection. He said they would need to do a root canal. He thinks that I must have hit that tooth at some point and the tooth died and then bacteria was able to get in there and that's what has caused the infection. They had a hard time getting me numb enough because both nerve canals cross at that area. Also, the infection was making it hard to numb up. Then, as he was working on the tooth, he decided the infection wouldn't clear upon it's own and needed to be surgically cleaned out. That was traumatic for me. I was fighting back tears at points. They had to flay open my gums and scrap away the infection. I'd lost so much bone that he then needed to do a bone graft. The costs just kept mounting. He told me I'm very lucky that I got in when I did or I would have lost that tooth.

I finally got out of there after 4 hours. I'm in an immense amount of pain and can't open my mouth or talk or eat. They gave me some penicillin at the office and I have a prescription waiting for me at Walgreens.

I was prepared for the root canal. I was not prepared for the surgery and the bone graft. Or the pain I'm in. I'm trying to just focus on the positives such as modern medicine and the fact that I went in when I did and the blessing of getting this all DONE and over with!

So let this be a lesson to you; if you EVER have a blister or "gum pimple" get in to see your dentist ASAP!!

Today we joined up with some other homeschooling families to attend the Nutcracker at the Touhill. The boys and I really enjoyed it. Ben was a bit bored, but since technology was banned, I guess that's to be expected! Both boys sat through the performance without a problem. We were mesmerized by it!! I would love to make it a yearly tradition.

Three courses were open to him. The first unthinkable - public denunciation with its possibility of public infamy and even capital punishment. The second, to assert his rights as her espoused, demand that she be brought back to consummate the marriage by living with him, and assume the legal paternity of her child. But that he dared not linger over; that he had just foresworn. The third, to go quietly to the authorities and divorce her without scandal. The elders were just men, they knew and respeced everyone involved. Perhaps they would not insist that he specify adultery as his grounds. They would accept what was only too evident, desertion. He fought off the despair that threatened once more to overwhelm him. He turned over on the narrow bench, pulling the cover to his eyes.
................................................................................................

He clawed about for the ragged shawl that had fallen to the floor. A chill breeze blew through the open door though a great moon seemed to have risen. A moon whose light was so intense that he must shield his eyes. He half-roused, blinking, his blood racing. For it seemed to him that he was not alone.

"Who is it?" he demanded. "Where are you and what do you want?" HIs own voice startled him. He realized that he must be talking in his troubled sleep. And yet his fear did not abate. He was ashamed of it and yet he couldn't help it. It was like a familiar nightmare where there was great danger or great ecstasy forthcoming and he was powerless either to rise and flee or to lie in quiet expectation.

Then he heard the voice from the half-sensed presense at his feet. It's all right, Joseph, Fear not. Be calm. And as he waited, still only half-awake the voice came again: I am a messaenger sent from God. I am sent to tell you that you must not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is indeed of the Holy Spirit, as she has said.

Joseph opened his mouth but he could not speak. His elbows bit into the hard bench where he lay, half-sitting, yet powerless to rise. The light was a blinding flame. She will bear a son, the voice continued, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he wil save his people from their sins. "Don't mock me," Joseph whispered. "Whoever you are, whether from God or the devil, in God's name don't torment me further!"

But it is true, Joseph, even as she has told you. Remember the prophecy: 'Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel.' That prophecy is to be fulfilled, Joseph, son of David. So delay no longer in taking her as your wife. But know her not until she has borne this holy one.

What happened after that Joseph was never quite sure. He only knew that suddenly it was dawn, gray and misty in the shell of his house, a cock was crowing, and rough hands were shaking him. He found himself blinking into the face of his brother.

Two from Galilee by Marjorie Holmes

Then one day toward sundown she had gone down the path a little way into the stable cave to water the ass. She had emptied the skins into the trough and the stubby creature had bent its head to drink, when its pointed ears laid back. It shied and made an odd whimpering sound. "Hush now, what's wrong?" Mary stroked its quivering nose to gentle it, following its blank stare toward the doorway whtere a shaft of sunlight poured through.

Mary. She heard her name, and at its sound the little beast reared. "Yes, Father?" she said, though it seemed strange that he should be home from the fields so early. "Here I am. In the stall."
Mary!
Suddenly she realized that it was not her father's voice that called. She could not place it, nor the source of it, though she went to the low leaning doorway and peered out. The yard and the grove and the adjoining fields lay quivering with the falling light, peaceful and undisturbed. There was no one by the old stone cistern, no one by the vine-covered fence. Strange.

Puzzled, she turned back to the donkey. It had bent its prickly nose again to the water, but only hovered there, not drinking. Its sides were heaving. She could hear its uneasy breath. And now her own heart began to pound. She clutched its dry fur for comfort. "We must be hearing things, you and I," she said.

Then she saw that the shaft of light pouring dustily through the doorway had intensified. It had become bold, a shimmering column, and in it she dimly perceived a presence. Neither man nor angel, rather a form, a shape, a quality of such beauty that she was shaken and backed instinctively away, though her eyes could not leave that living light.

Mary. Little Mary...The voice came again, gently, musicaly. Have I frightened you? I'm sorry. Be still now, be at ease, there is nothing to fear. I am sent from God, who has always loved you, don't you remember? He has watched you grow from childhood into womanhood, and now he has a message of great importance. So listen carefully, my child, and heed.

"I am his unworthy servant," Mary whispered, though she scarcely believed her own voice. She was trembling. Could it be that her recently heightend awareness had affected her senses? Why was she speaking thus, alone with only the beast in the sun-white stall? "What...?it was difficult to form the words, "what is it that the Lord would have of me?"

There was a second of silence. Then, in clear ringing tones the answer came: Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High... "The Messiah!" Mary gasped. Involuntarily, she shrank away. "I? I am to bear the Messiah?" Even so. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. "But I am unworthy!" Mary cried. She was grasping the nibbled manger; she felt her bare feet upon the gritty earthen floor. The sweat poured down her face. "I have many faults. I have rebelled against my parents, I often envy my cousins, I have impure thoughts. How can I be the mother of this long awaited child?" God knows the secrets of his handmaiden's heart. He does not expect perfection. This child that he will send you will be human as well as holy. The Lord God wills it so, in order that man, who is human, can find his way back to God. "But I am not yet married," Mary protested. "How can this thing be when it is many months yet before I come to the bed of my husband?" With God all things are possible, the voice said. Already he has quickened the womb of your aged aunt Elizabeth, so that soon she too will bear a son. Now the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and the child that is born unto you will be the Son of God. "I will strive to be worthy," Mary whispered. It was a moment before she could go on. For one stark, appalling instant she could feel something fleeing from her, something precious. She felt a sense of incalculable loss. "Behold, I am the willing handmaiden of the Lord."

She closed her eyes, still gripping the donkey's fur, the stall. When she opened them again the little beast was quietly drinking, and though the shaft of light still slanted through the doorway, its intensity was diminished, the voice of her destiny was gone.

From Two From Galilee by Marjorie Holmes

Ben and I were guests at the Stephen Ministry Luncheon today. I had a nice time and really enjoyed the program and catching up with people. I miss that place and there's a part of me that misses working. I miss the camaraderie. I miss the great people. I miss earning a paycheck. It was nice to hold that piece of paper in my hand and know that I actually contributed something, earned something, and, yes, actually deserve to spend something! I'm really glad they keep me on and am grateful they invite us back every year.

Luke and I took a tour of the Wolf Sanctuary with some other homeschoolers. It was COLD!! Because we were with a group we were able to get in for $6 a person. I know that they do a good thing there by protecting and caring for the wolves, but aside from that I'm not sure it was worth the money. We did get to hear the wolves howling, which is actually fairly rare according to our guide. It was such a eerie and beautiful sound. It was neat to hear about the wolves, as well, but the cold was a bit distracting. Luke started to get whiny, but luckily we were able to hold it together until we got within 10 feet of the van where he slipped and fell on the ground and then demanded to know why I put the rocks on the ground....uh okay. Time to go home!!