Answered Prayer X Four

I am the youngest of three; my brother and sister are 6 and 7 years older. For whatever reason, I never wanted to be the youngest and I was always asking for another sibling. I don't know why. Many people relish their "youngest" status, but I just never felt like our family was complete. One year at Christmas (I was about 5), when Cabbage Patch Kids were the most sought-after gift, I told my mom that she could either buy me 5 Cabbage Patch Kids or have a baby for me for Christmas. I even added, "That's the deal. Take it or leave it." I ended up getting two Cabbage Patch Kids.
About that time, China began its one-child-per-family policy and orphanages in China were being overrun with baby girls. In Chinese culture, the family must pay a large dowery for the girls; consequently, families would put their girls up for adoption and try for a boy. This hurt my family deeply, as we love both baby boys and girls. To appease my desire for a baby, my mom told me to pray that God would leave a Chinese baby girl on our doorstep. So, each night when she came in to hear me say my prayers, I prayed for that Chinese baby. At the time, we didn't know anyone who was Chinese, which made this prayer all the more odd.
Years went by, and my parents didn't have another baby, nor did the stork drop one off on our doorstep. I had forgotten about my Chinese baby.
When I was 15, my sister began dating a new man, who happened to be Chinese. As their relationship became more serious, we were completely adopted into his family. We went to the Chinese parties, we ate at their family-owned restaraunts, and became bonified blonde Chinese. Well, one cousin in particular stuck out to us. She was in the 5th grade and her father had recently passed away. Her mom worked long hours, and we began to take her to her cheerleading practices, to friends' houses, etc. As the years went on, (and my sister married the man) this girl became part of my family. When her mom decided to move a half an hour away, she moved in with us. And....guess what! I got my Chinese baby!! Well, ok, so she wasn't exactly a baby, but I got the little sister that I had always wanted.
The cherry on top of the icing on top of the cake was that my sister and her husband have three kids, all girls. Not only did my prayer get answered, it was answered times four! When I feel like God isn't acting on something I am praying about, I just sit back and remember that not only does He answer- He often exceeds my expectations!
Happy Chinese New Year!

I LOVE it!

(INDIANAPOLIS) -- Smoking in passenger vehicles with children under age 13 would be against state law under legislation endorsed by an Indiana House Committee on Tuesday.
The House Judiciary Committee approved the bill 8-1 and sent it to the full, Democrat-controlled House, where its author, Democratic Rep. Charlie Brown of Gary, predicted it would pass. He said he was not sure how it would fare in the Republican-ruled Senate.
Under the bill, police could not pull over a motorist solely because someone was smoking with children in the car. The initial stop would have to be based on a suspected primary offense such as speeding.
The offense would be an infraction carrying a $25 fine for the first offense and $100 for any subsequent violations.
Brown said he understood that some people would view the legislation as government intrusion. But he said studies have proven that secondhand smoke was harmful to adults, and its effects could be worse in children whose lungs and other organs are less developed.
"We need to protect children who have no choice but to ride in cars," he said. "It doesn't matter whether windows are opened or closed, it's still a negative impact. It's best to look at prevention on the front side."
The bill also would make it illegal to smoke in mass transportation terminals such as airports or bus stations, or within 100 feet of their entrances.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Footprints

In all honesty, my words will never do this picture justice. It just resonated with me. My good friend from childhood, Sebastian, just recently visited South Africa, and this is one of his pictures. It is one of those shots that I wouldn't think of taking. Basti- there is a reason you are in marketing. Thanks for letting me use the picture.

Snow Day

My dog a few weeks ago in the snow. Looks can be deceiving though, she actually hates the snow. This morning, I opened the door, she looked at the snow covered sidewalk, looked at me, and walked away from the door! I had to force her out.

Well, today I experienced a new first in my life- waking up to a Blizzard Warning for my county. We knew that is was going to snow quite a bit today, but I guess with the high winds, my county and others north of it were put on a blizzard warning because of the blowing snow. Fortunately, I'm at the southern most part of this warning, so it doesn't look bad at all outside. Actually, it has begun to sleet. Schools are closed today, and the unexpected day off normally excites me. However, after being stuck at home sick last week, I have cabin fever. I also, foolishly didn't bring any work home, even though I have quite a bit of grading to finish. I decided that this must have been God's plan, somehow, so I've decided to do much prayer and catch up on my Bible study that I missed while being sick. For some reason, Lebanon is really on my heart for prayers. I woke up in the middle of the night and prayed for the country and I plan on spending some more time in prayer for the country today. Isn't it odd, that a country I've never visited, weighs so heavily on my heart? I have always felt an attachment to Lebanon. It's so beautiful and the people so warm. I know that an anniversary is tomorrow that has the possibility to bring violence to the area, and maybe that's why God is tugging my heart to pray. May God keep the Lebanese safe and may peace reign in the land.

American Idol (well, not really!)

My throat is healing. Food still tastes oddly different than it should and Diet Coke isn't as comforting as it usually is, but my throat is healing. I'm so tired, though. I tried to run errands, but only made it to one place. My voice sounds much better, and without realizing it today, I started to sing along to a song. It still kind of hurt, so I had to stop; but, it made me remember something that one of my students said to me this year. Before I say, I need to tell you that I do not have a singing voice. At all. I try. I sing in church, and I think God is pleased, but the only time I ever sang in a mic was at school Mass in the 5th grade and it was...well...ugly/funny. Ok, back to what one of my students said-
the scene- school Mass this year I was sitting next to the row of my girls
the song- Can't remember the exact title, but I think it's "Holy is the Lord" (there's a girls' part and a boys' part. The girls' is "You are Lord of Lord, you are King of Kings, You are mighty God, Lord of everything...") It's one of my all-time favorites.

The song ends. It was the last song of Mass. I was getting my coat...
student, I'll call her "Allie"
Alli- Miss _____, you have a really good voice!
me- Wow! You really think so, Alli? I've never gotten that compliment before!
Alli- Yeah, Miss _____, you really do!
me-smiling.. thinking...... Um Allie?
Alli- yeah
me- you're deaf in one ear! (she really is!!! she was born that way;) )
Alli- thinking... yeah, but you were on my good ear!

I laughed so hard! My only compliment ever on my voice, came from a student who is deaf in one ear!:)

Coxsackie B

Well, the title says it all- the name of the virus that I have. I thought it was strep throat, which I've only had once. However, I wasn't running a fever this time, and when I had strep, my fever was really, really high. My throat felt pretty much the same as with strep, like little men were jousting back there and their swords were piercing me each time I swallowed. I broke down Tuesday and took some Demerol that I had left over from a surgery a few years ago. I have a tiny, little pharmacy in my cabinet (Demerol, Vicadin, Phenegran, and Flexerol) The Demerol and Vicadin are both left over from having a non-cancerous tumor removed from the inside of my lip, the Phenegran, for nausea, is left over from mono three years ago, and the Flexerol I have a prescription for because I have TMJ, is a mild muscle relaxer.
Gosh, I sound like a junkie. In actuality, I have all of these left, because I'm one tough-cookie and never need all of the pain pills when I'm sick or have surgery. When I had my wisdom teeth out, I passed out a few days later from the pain and my doctor got really mad at me when he found out that I wasn't taking the pain pills. It honestly didn't hurt that bad, I thought I could handle it!
So, I knew something was wrong Tuesday, when I took two Advil for my throat and they did nothing to ease the pain. Then I took a Demerol and that helped a little, but in the middle of the night I decided to take a Vicodin. That finally helped! So, I took one more Wednesday morning and made a doctor's appt. My throat was really, really swollen by now and my doctor diagnosed me with the virus above. I'd never heard of it. She prescribed more Vicadin.
This is when the problems began. I hadn't eaten anything, because my throat hurt so bad. And the Vicadin made me start dry heaving at her office. So, I stayed there until I could drive home and then went home and ate some ice-cream and then got really nauseous and my body promptly got rid of it! Then I thought to take a Phenegran b/c that is for nausea. That stayed down for an hour, before coming back up! So, I had to call my doctor and she wanted to prescribe a.... suppository. NO WAY, JOSE! I was not going to have that. In the meantime, I tried to go to the pharmacy to fill my prescription, but starting getting sick there and had to leave before they filled it. So, I went home b/c I had 2 more pain pills left and I managed to get a graham cracker w/some peanut butter down along with a pain pill. Finally, it stayed down. Praise God! Because it was a vicious cycle- throat hurts, can't eat b/c it hurts, need pain pill, throw pain pill up b/c haven't eaten, throwing up hurts throat even more, so can't eat, and on and on.
What was the ONLY thing I could think about throughout all of this? I want my mom!:( I even called her and barely squeaked out, "Please come up." She might come up today, although now that the pain pills are staying down, I feel better. I wonder how old you have to become before you stop wanting your mom when you are sick?

Colts Rally

The team and coaches sat on a stage and gave speeches from it.

We were definately in the nose bleed section.

Aren't their jeans cute! They said they helped their mom make them.

Outside the Dome

Walking in the freezing temps to the Dome


Well, a friend and I braced the freezing temps yesterday to go the the homecoming rally for the Colts. I felt like I needed to show my support since I ditched out on watching the game. We went to a pub and I only made it through the first quarter when my allergies to smoke were just too much. When will they ban smoking in bars?? Probably never, but I have wishful thinking. I hate smoke- that's another post, though. It was eerie driving home during the game. There was noooo traffice. I mean, I saw maybe 30 cars the entire half an hour drive. It was so weird.
Ok, back to the rally. We left right after I got off from work at 3, got downtown about 4, and into the Dome about 5. The parade was origianally supposed to begin at 4, which turned into 5:50. The team go to the Dome about 6:40 or so. I said they were operating on Arabic time. The Dome was almost filled by the time we got there, and apparently people were being turned away by 4:45 or so.
My only complaints: there was no food (they could have made a killing as it was dinner time) and there was no security at the gates. For games, you nearly get patted down and all bags are checked. There was no one at the gates yesterday. I really am a post-9/11 child, because the first thing I thought was, "Ok. There are 36,000 people here and no one to check for bombs." My friend told me to stop having such morbid thoughts!
The great part was hearing Tony Dungy speak. He garnered nearly as many cheers as Peyton Manning. Whoever number 44 was, made me laugh, too. He said, "Wow! I didn't know this many people lived in Indianapolis." I need to Google him and find out where he is from. Overall, I am glad that we went.
The good news is that because of the cold temps, for the past two days we have had 2 hour delays for school! Yeah! Today we are supposed to get anywhere from 4-7 inches of snow, though. I like delays better than snow-days because we don't have to make them up on another day.

Hoopa!

Sometimes people wonder how my mom raised such a mulit-cultural family, given the fact that all of her children were little towheads. Well, one way is that she exposed us to as many cultural events as she could, given our small mid-western town. In college we began eating at a newly opened Greek restaurant in our town. That year, they decided to have a "Greek night". We went and had a blast. We could sample all of the food, break plates, and dance. Each year, they have at least one and we never miss them. The nights have grown so much and on Saturday night they had almost 400 people attending. Here are some of my pictures:
Look Mom! No hands!










Traditional Greek Dancing!

complete with napkins being thrown into the air!

What would a Greek celebration be without plate breaking? I don't know who thought of that, but it is so much fun and I'm sure glad that he/she did!

Another tradition- Ouzo. I didn't take any shots- I hate licorice. Notice the women trying to do what I call the "Arab Turkey Call". I have no idea what it is really called... but it just reminds me of turkey hunters.

It was a great night and we had a blast like usual. I really want to go to Cyprus now this summer. I think I'm actually Greek...

Class and Dignity

If I thought Thursday was a good morning in Indiana, I think today will probably top it! We are very proud of our Colts. However, I have to say that I am the most proud of Tony Dungy. He is a man of class and dignity that is unparalleled in the professional sports arena.
Why do I respect Tony Dungy? Did anyone hear his speech after the game? The trophy was first given to Jim Irsay, owner of the Colts. After the championship game two weeks ago, Jim accepted the trophy and said that even though the trophy shined and had a lot of glory, all of the glory goes back to God. I have to admit that even as he was saying glory, I braced myself. As a strong Christian, that is a term that I reserved for the Lord and when Jim finished his sentence and gave the glory back to God, I felt sheepish for having braced myself. Well, last night Jim Irsay said the same thing and then handed the trophy to Tony Dungy, who said that the Lord takes you through, but not always in a straight path and that the Lord was with them through all of this. The commentator said that this win also held special social significance (referring to the fact that he was now the first African-American SuperBowl coach). His response was so eloquent it brought tears to my eyes. He said that yes, it was important and he was proud, but he was more proud of the fact that he and Lovie Smith are strong Chrisitans and did it God's way. Need I say more? The man has class and dignity and he's our Coach!!


PS- I loved the Oprah/Letterman commercial!

A Good Morning in Indiana!

I wish every morning could begin the way today did. First, I have triplets in my class this year and out of the blue, one of them handed me a gift today. Inside was a.... Colts' jersey! I have been wanting one forever, but they are $50.00 and I just can't rationalize the spending. What a spurprise. My birthday was last week, but they just gave me this for absolutely no reason. I told them that the best gifts are the ones that you least expect!
The next wonderful thing about this morning actually began last night. I have the biggest Tyra Banks fan in my class this year. The girl wants to be "America's Next Top Model" when she's older and watches anything that has Tyra Banks. We are celebrating Catholic Schools' Week this week and we have a different theme every day. Monday was "Fanatic Day" and the kids could wear anything that represented something in which they were fans. I had everything from the green one-eyed guy from Monsters Inc. to Colts. However, my Tyra Fan, made a T-shirt that said, "I love Tyra Banks". I took her picture and began thinking...
So, last night, I emailed the picture to Tyra Banks along with a letter explaining what a great kid this girl is. Today, I got a response from Tyra... they are sending my student an autographed picture and a free gift!!! How kind is that! I didn't expect to hear back from them for a while, and they emailed me back within a few hours. If only government agencies were that quick!! I was going to wait until the picture came in to tell my student, but I only lasted 10 minutes and I pulled her out of class to tell her. She was soooooo excited! It just made my day!

So, a Colts' jersey and an autographed Tyra Banks picture- some days are just awesome!