Update

I. Am. Bushed.
Graduation went very well, I got lots of cards, shook many hands, and talked myself hoarse. I am so tired! Josh and another boy “decorated” all the graduates cars. I’m going to bed early- we have church tomorrow, visit a family at the hospital and Grandma, and then Dad has to take Josh back to college. Then Monday- Oh never mind- I’ll tell you later. I’m going to bed.

Important events

Graduation graduation graduation! I am sure you are all tired of this topic by now. My apologies, but it’s all I can think about right now. One more day and it will be over. The rest of the family went out this morning- I am grateful that I am able to have some time alone today for calm reflection and thought before tomorrow, when we will be so busy. Josh is home for the weekend; and it’s going to be very hot tomorrow- 95 or so.

Psalm 121:1-2 (ESV)
I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
[2] My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

I am thankful for my parents, who decided to home school originally because we lived in Japan when Josh and I were school age and they didn’t want us to go to a Japanese school, but by the time we moved back to the states, they were convinced home schooling was the way to go.

I am thankful for my sister, Jen, who is always supportive and a very good friend. We enjoy talking about everything under the sun; she’s the only one able to get me totally silly, make me so nervous that I tremble, and push me to the verge of tears when I see her dance(I’m not a emotional person so that is unusual).

I’m thankful for my four younger rowdy, noisy, dirty, silly brothers who test my patience and teach me new things and remind me of old lessons every day. They also help me with my sense of humor and teach me how to deal with tense babysitting situations involving lots of blood.

I am thankful for our 1000 book high school history course, all of both our libraries poetry books, my watercolor pencils, our big dusty old house, our business, the reply letters we have received from the soldiers we write, the many opportunities we have had to learn wonderful and marvelous things, and all the blessings God has given us.


Besides celebrating my graduation and Memorial day this weekend, I am also celebrating my first blog anniversary TODAY! Has it really been a whole year?!?!?!?!
Here’s how I got started:
Jen: Em, you need a blog. I’ll set it up for you.
Em: I’m kind of busy…..
Jen: Here’s your password, and here’s how to post. Have fun.
Em: Oh.

We've come a long way, baby. 

Wisdom teeth are out!

We left home at 6:45am to get to the dentists’ office by eight. We didn’t have to wait long in the reception area before a nurse called me back to the room of doom. They had me get in the chair, took my blood pressure, covered me with a blanket and stuck three monitors on my chest. Then they put the much dreaded IV needle into my arm. It wasn’t NEAR as scary and painful as I thought it would be- the nurse was very friendly and gentle. Then after the Doctor came into the room, the nurse put something in my IV needle and I just dropped off to sleep. Apparently, what the Doctor did was slit the gums on my top teeth and pull the wisdom teeth out, then slit the gums of the bottom wisdom teeth, then cut those teeth in half because only half of the tooth could come out at a time due to the jawbone and the shape of my other teeth. Then he sewed me up. I woke up about 45 minutes after being put to sleep and the nurse helped me into a wheelchair. It was very hard to focus on anything and my mouth was full of gauze. My legs were like wet noodles. I wasn’t all there. In the car on the way home Mom had me put ice packs, magnets and pain relief oil on my face. When we got home I had to change the gauze twice, then Mom made me go to bed. I slept for two hours then got up and drank four cups of grape juice and some guacamole- I was hungry! Now the numbness has worn off and I can feel my face again. My jaw is very sore. It hurts to open my mouth and chew, and my jaw aches but not too bad. I still feel weak and wobbly. My face is a little swollen but not bad.
And that is my exciting story.

Greetings to my ardent followers!

I am having my wisdom teeth out this Thursday. I will be glad to get it over with so this cloud of doom will not be hanging over my head any longer. The only good reason for having my wisdom teeth out(besides medical reasons) is that I will have something interesting to post about, at least, interesting for my male readers because I know all guys like disgusting stories. I tried to figure out a way to live blog the procedure from the dentist’s office, but gave up on that because I don’t see how I can when they are going to put me to sleep.

Other interesting news: I am going to vote tonight for the first time. We are voting for Governor, Senator, state Senator, and some other position which I have forgotten. I am not really worried about who is going to be our next governor, because all of the candidates are decent, conservative men. It would be nice to get Senator Ben Nelson out of office but I am not sure that will happen.
So, if you have the time, pray for me on Thursday and for the voters of Nebraska today.

The snow-plough man:My hero

We have snow! I am not sure exactly how much we got, but it was more then we’ve had for several years now, and it was sticky too. It was a out-right blizzard yesterday. Today was bright and sunny, so we have all been out enjoying the snow. We made snow houses in the biggest drifts, and I made the most wonderful snow-woman. Jeremy kept getting stuck in drifts and even lost his boots once. He is so cute! The snow itself was not really that deep, but it was so unbelievably windy yesterday that it drifted and made very deep piles of snow in various places. One of those places was our lane; the snow was drifted about three feet deep at the bottom of our lane. We girls and Dad started to shovel the lane this morning, and we knew it would take us a very long time to shovel all of that snow. But! The snow-plough went by just then. Oh, we were so hoping he would take pity on us and plough our lane, and guess what- he did! We are forever in the debt of the snow-plough man.

This last weekend we remembered the anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war three years ago. I honor the memory of those soldiers killed in this war, and say thank you to all those laboring for a free and safe Iraq. Three years, 2000 American dead, and people are already saying we should get out. When did Americans become so spineless? We must stay the course!

Home

First let me say, I love my family, my home, and Nebraska!
Next let me say, we had a very exciting time.
Well!
Jen and I got home last night at 8:30pm after a four hour delay at the San Antonio airport. So we got the whole “airplane experience”, delays and all. Jen ordered a bloody Mary on the plane just to see what it tasted like but I am pretty sure that it wasn’t alcoholic. It still tasted terrible though. Our plane had about fifty seats and went up to 37,000 feet so we could see the ground for almost the whole way there and back. Neither of us got airsick and we each had a window both ways.

Here’s what I think about Texas:
The land is a bit ugly because of all the brush; and every Texas plant has thorns. It’s dry and hot. It must have got up to 90 at least once while we were there. And here in NE it’s 30! It was a bit of a shock coming home to such cold weather. It was very interesting to see all the wild cactus- it grows like a weed all over people’s yards, and everywhere else too. But I’m not saying it was a bad experience to see this different country; it was educational, and therefore fun, right? Everywhere we went there were lots of dirty Mexican restaurants, tons of Hispanics and heaps of Air Force men and women in uniform.

We visited:
The Alamo: Because the anniversary of the fall of the Alamo was that weekend, there were re-enactments, displays and demonstrations, and many many people.
The riverwalk: We went on a boat tour; it was just beautiful. Very pretty.
Lackland AFB: The museums there were not to good- they were small and not quite finished- but we got our pictures taken by an airplane.
Ft. Sam Houston: The Medical museum was very nice, big and informative. Some of the medical tools made us cringe though. The leech container comes to mind.
The four missions: San Juan, San Jose, Concepcion, and I forget the other one. These neat buildings are about 250 years old. Jen and I liked San Jose the best.
Institute of Texas cultures museum: Was so big and had so much info there as no way you could read it all. It was interesting to see all the other cultures that came to Texas early on before it was overrun by Hispanics!
Assembly of God church on Sunday: Grandma and Grandpa helped build it. The church service was very different from what I’m used to. That was the first time I’d ever heard anyone speak in tongues.

We probably could have gone to more places but Grandma and Grandpa got a nasty case of the 24 hour flu, and then Jen got it too. We were staying with Grandma and Grandpa in their RV at the Teen Challenge San Antonio camp- Teen Challenge is a 13 month religious program that helps drug addicts and criminals start a new life. G&G have been there all winter helping to build a women’s dormitory and a all-purpose building.

I am still trying to catch up on everything that accumulated while we were gone. Mercy! So much to do. Jen and I were so tired last night after that stressful delay (The United employees told us first that our flight left at 1:11pm, then 2:40pm, then 3:15pm, then 2:40pm, which made us panic, then finally 5pm.) we just slept like rocks. Anyway….the only souvenirs we bought were three matching “Mexican” skirts for Mom and us girls. Otherwise souvenirs were too expensive. Plastic bowie knives were $6! Jen brought the boys some hot sauce(They had some for breakfast this morning) and I gingerly broke off a piece of cactus and brought it home as well.
What happened in the news while I was gone?