Happy Birthday to me!!

Hooray for birthdays!!!

Today I turn or turned 28! :-)
And since I love my birthday I think I should blog about it! Today I really feel blessed to have been on earth for 28 years! How cool is that? And if we were being technical it would actually be 29 since you have a whole 12 months before you're a year old. But I just think its cool. I really also love how far technology has come and that over 40 people have wished me a happy birthday today on Facebook. Pretty fun!! (clearly its the little things that get me excited, hehe!

I am looking forward to this next year, not any particular reasons just that I feel like God is going to let it be a great year! He is so good and faithful and I'm excited to see where 28 takes(besides 29 of course).

So far today has been quite fun, I went with my mom and we had coffee with 2 of our really great friends. :-) And I had coffee of a super cute birthday mug!

Then we headed off to work where we did our snow plow billing(which isn't my most favorite thing to do). But we got it done and while at work we got a delivery of some very tasty cookies and that started my gluten-filled day! So after work we went to Taco Bell to have a favorite bean and cheese burrito which I can't usually eat because of the flour tortilla, it was so tasty!! We then headed to TJMaxx and I didnt really find anything but oh well, it's always fun to look! Then we went to my favorite Dutch bakery and got a chocolate cake!! I'm soooo looking forward to eating it once I do my evening chores and after we eat some super tasty pizza! I'm still deciding where to get that from!

Hooray 28, So nice to meet you!!

Oh and I got some delightful truffles from Jared :-)

Can I please go back to Honduras??

Ugh! I'm sitting here almost exactly 2 weeks after getting home from Honduras in the middle of another snowstorm with seriously frigid temps and so much snow. I am one who seriously hates the snow and I'm so ready to be done! I'm over it!!

So I think that means I need to move or at least go on a vacation :) maybe I'll have to tell Jared.

So Honduras...

It was amazing, beautiful, warm!, and just so great! God is always present on those trips but it just felt very refreshing this time. It was so nice to get away from the stress of the hospital, the unhappiness, the mandates, etc etc. and go to the clinic where the Hondurans are so grateful and happy! They always have a smile on their face and seriously even right after having surgery they are still thanking us and saying God bless you! It's so humbling!! And such a blessing! We also had the opportunity to go with a surgeon, his PA and the PAs husband. What amazing people! Dr. Schultz is one of the nicest guys around and Maryann his physicians assistant is just amazing! 

Maryann and Steve, her husband, are fostering and caring for an amazingly beautiful Honduran girl who has now been living with them in the USA for a little over a year and half because she has some very significant health issues, like 2 different bags on her side one for pee, one for poo. But despite those things, Sulmy is one of the happiest little girls I've ever met. She just takes everything in stride and always has a smile, a hug, or an encouraging word when you see her. She was in Honduras to see her family while we were there. The original hope was to have Sulmy come to the states get surgery, hopefully have no need for any bags and go back and live with her family in Honduras. Unfortunately the surgeries didn't work out as planned, they still helped her immensely and instead of just constantly draining various body fluids as when she lived in Honduras she is so much more healthy. But as I said she was able to visit her family in their tiny village while we were in Honduras and got to show Greg, Maryann and Steve her old home, where there is no running water, a dirt floor, and everyone sleeps(dad, mom, Sulmy previously, and her 2 sisters) in the same bed! I know that in a lot of other countries they sleep in the same bed but it just seems so strange! 

But hearing Maryann and Steve tell their story about Sulmy was so cool! God has just been such a provider in the whole situation including lots of paperwork, surgeries etc. there are so many stories of his provision and it was such a good reminder to me that I need to live minute to minute not always looking ahead days, weeks, months. 

I think we did around 60 surgeries for the whole week! Greg is a vascular surgeon so he did some cool vein type cases and I was so thankful that Maryann was there to work with Greg as I don't know how to do vascular stuff. So that meant that I was able to work with Mark doing orthopedics, the only time I really enjoy those cases :-). 

While in Honduras I brought my kindle and downloaded Heaven is for real. Side note, if you haven't read it you definitely need too!!! Wow, it's so good!! It's about a 4 year old who goes to heaven and throughout the course of a year or two tells his parents what he saw. I just loved it and God really spoke to me through it. It's so cool to think about and know that I'm going to heaven but to be reminded that it's going to be so amazing and incredible was definitely encouraging! It also made me realize that I want others to experience that too! Especially my Dad as I don't know if he is even a Christian. So that is something I am praying for everyday! I know that God can change hearts so I pray that my Dad would go to church and ultimately accept Christ.

Well currently I think that is all :-) Honduras was muy bueno!! 

Off to Honduras

And we're off! 

I am currently on a plane en route to one of my most favorite places! As I sit here and think about that, the small town of gracias could even feel a little like home. It's just gorgeous and the people are amazing, just so friendly and generally happy. I wish I felt that more Americans were like that. So Honduras, hats off to you!

I already have a headache, could be due to the fact that I had to get up at 2:30 in the morning, if that's not terrible I don't know what is, gag! But we did stay at the Hilton that is connected to the airport and that was seriously one of the best decisions ever! Not being awake for 24 hours plus is amazing! I would definitely do that again :-) 

And since we were in Chicago, we definitely had to eat some deep dish pizza and man do I LOVE it!! I could probably eat there at least once a week and not be bothered at all. 

And you know the best thing about going to Honduras, besides getting to relax a little, do surgery, and serve God, I am missing some seriously frigid temperatures! Not that I couldn't handle that with my new pink carhartts but since I won't have too I'm feeling quite happy :-) 

Maybe just maybe I'll write a few times while in Honduras, just because it could be fun! Prayers would be appreciated if you think about it! Blessings! 

2014?!? What?

A very happy new year!!!!

It is so hard for me to believe that it's a new year already! How crazy is that? I was journaling the other night about things that happened in 2013 and there were a few big things, like selling my very first home, which was sad and exciting both at the same time. Buying a beautiful and quite large new home, which I am in love with! We were able to have thanksgiving at our house which was so much fun and Christmas dinner as well! 

I went to Peru and that was one of my most favorite trips that I have been on. I would love to go back! It's also strange because at first I did not want to go to Peru at all, but I know that God wanted me to go and so I did!! And I am so glad that I did as I was on an amazing team and got to spend time with one of my most dear friends from Texas, Shiane.

 I have some pretty sweet farm animals that I love, and love going out to take care of them everyday. They really bring me joy.

And what's really a bit weird to me as it's now 2014, is that this year in May it'll be 10 years since I was in high school! How in the world did it go that fast? It just seems crazy to me! Oh my word!! And since I graduated with a whopping 11 people in my class, I think I will be going to the reunion. But I'm still kind of in disbelief that it's been 10 years. 

Oh, and Jared and I celebrated one year of marriage! Which makes me so happy! God knew what he was doing when he brought us together, yes there might be days where I wonder what I was thinking as Jared can sometimes be quite hard to take but I love him anyway, and here's to many more anniversaries :-) 

I am praying now 4 days into 2014, that God will continue to draw me closer to him and that I would serve him better this year. I pray that I would be more Christ-like in my actions, words(especially), and in my overall life that others on the outside would see Christ in me. I'm excited to see where I will be next year at this time! I think there could be some fun surprises along the way! :-) 

Christmas gatherings and the like

We had a most wonderful Christmas season. I always feel so darn blessed after it's over and I once again felt that way. 

So now I'll give you a rundown on how things went and what I received because I got some pretty exciting things! 

Christmas Eve was open house style at my mommas! It was really fun! We had our gift exchange with my mom, drew and Catie and my grandma. I got some money which is always a plus :) I got some new shirts, we got replacement brush heads for our sonicare toothbrushes. And while I know that might not seem exciting, that's one of those things I don't want to buy for myself. I got a really fun orange phone case and some super cute sock monkey pjs(kind of a tradition from my mom). After we left there, we went home and Jared got to open his presents from me. I think I did a pretty good job as he was excited about the tool things I got it! I felt excited about that! 

Onto Christmas Day! Merry Christmas! We woke up leisurely and headed over to my dads where we had the traditional cinnamon rolls and coffee. Then we chatted for a bit, decided that we didn't want to wait for Andrew and Catie and opened our gift from my Dad and Becky(his wife), we got new shampoo and conditioner which is an every year gift that I absolutely love! I got a cute sweater from banana republic and some money. So that was definitely a nice time. Andrew and Catie did finally arrive and we watched them open gifts and chatted with them but then it was back to our house for Christmas dinner. Cheesy potatoes were already in the crockpot before we left and I made mashed potatoes when we got home, my mom brought ham and it was a super tasty meal! We gave the twins their presents that day and they were super excited to have new socks and new purses from their island trip on Friday! So Christmas Day was very relaxing! No stress needed or wanted!

The day after Christmas was with the Wendzel side, not everyone as Jason and Corie were waiting until the following Thursday to come to Michigan. I always much prefer when everyone is there but since some people can't wait we got to do Christmas twice. Which ended up being fun! I got some amazing presents from Dave and Dawn, which included pink carhartt overalls and a pink carhartt coat to match and those have already been wonderful with the frigid temps! I got an amazing new lens for my camera! It's sooo nice!!! I'm excited that I currently have it with me to Honduras:-) I got new sheets which are always fabulous! 

Later on on the 26th, I had oh so much trying to get the twins all their last minute items for Panama and the San Blas islands. *that is being said with lots of sarcasm, as by the time we were done I was ready to either kill them or put them on a plane right then!*

The twins got on their Merry little way, and will return in a few days. I'm a little bummed that I won't be there to pick them up as I am so excited to hear how much fun they had, and hopefully to see pictures! They were pretty much staying on the beach in a grass hut for 10 days so I'm guessing it was pretty amazing ;-)

I only worked 2 days over the holidays which was amazing!! I could easily get used to that schedule, hehe. 

So the last Christmas happened on the 2nd, which was very fun! But I always enjoy seeing Corie and Jason and their three adorable girls. I guess being an aunt is pretty fun ;-) So we had some more presents, I got a Marshall's gift card  which I love and am so excited to use, a super cute scarf that I'm looking forward to wearing once I'm back home in the cold weather. And I got the hunger games on blu-Ray and even catching fire when it comes out too, yay!! I got a couple gift cards one to Ulta so now I can get some new good makeup! And a Qdoba giftcard which is quite nice as well! 

And my one last present that I used Christmas money for is an amazon kindle which I am LOVING! It's so nice and already proving to be great on my trip! I just ordered a fun purple giraffe case for it. So hopefully that'll be waiting for me when I return! 

I just feel so blessed and that I received way more than I needed but am so grateful that I was able to use all the stuff that I got! Thank you Jesus for being the ultimate and best Christmas gift ever! Happy birthday Jesus!