Merry Christmas!

It is almost the end of the day after Christmas. My living room has still not recovered but I think that I have basically all of my gifts in their right places. Tomorrow I will probably take down all of the decorations so that the guinea pigs can return to their home. I think that they miss listening to us talk. I remember Honey would get really depressed every Christmas when he would be cooped up in my room all day with no noise like the radio, television, computer or our voices. So since I'm taking the decorations down tomorrow, I lit all of my candles and sat down there all evening watching episodes of The Office Season 4. Oh, it was great!

I got so many things for Christmas. There were a great number of surprises and sweet gifts! Ashley got me a thermos!!! I never finish my tea in the morning...but now it doesn't matter 'cause I can take it to work with me. Daryl got me a shower curtain with new hooks. It looks so great and now we want to paint the bathroom. I hope it happens. Aunt Laura and boys got me an apron and it is so cute. I need to bake something just to try it out. Daddy and Mommy got me so many things! Including Taylor Swift's new cd (a blog will be coming about that...), the fifth Harry Potter movie, a glitter superball and HOLIDAY TEA! Grammie and Bapa got me gift cards (Movie theater, Michael's, Ulta) and The Office! Grace drew me a picture of us from when we were sixteen. It is incredible. I love it.
I got other things too. But that is a really long paragraph and I'm beginning to think I'm utterly spoiled. Which I am.

I think my list of presents is so long because I didn't get any birthday presents this year. I wanted to sponsor a child through Covenant Mercies. My wonderful family and friends helped me and I got one dollar more than I needed! This ministry helps children (usually orphans) by meeting their medical, educational and spiritual needs. The girl I am sponsoring is thirteen years old (with a birthday in February!) and lost her father when she was ten but still lives with her mother. She lives in Uganda. She needs prayer for strength, health and the grace to deal with the death of her father.

Praise God during this time of year. The incarnation of Christ and His victory in the resurrection saved us all from the eternity we deserve. I am constantly amazed by the beauty and love of our Savior.

Christmas Happenings

Dad and I went to the Christmas program at Covenant Life tonight. We got there about a half an hour late because we did not anticipate the traffic that was congested around Tyson's Corner. Oh well. We all know how the story of Christmas begins, right? The program was wonderful, really it was. I went to Thomas Road's Christmas program last year while I was still at Liberty. It had a ton of lights...and all I remember thinking was that the cost of those lights could have gone to something more important. Though I do know a lot of people enjoy that show, I just wasn't one of them. Covenant Life's program had such a clear Gospel message without out a lot of fluff and special stuff. It ended with the Hallelujah chorus and all of us stood. Joshua Harris explained that when the King of England first heard the song, he stood because he knew it was a song for the King of Kings. It has been a tradition to stand ever since.

In other news, the blood was finally extracted! The nurse I got was so amazingly fast. And very lighthearted as well. I (ok, maybe it was Mom) made sure I was well hydrated and my body did not go into shock and none of my veins collapsed. What a relief!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. In my household, we open gifts on Christmas Eve night and then open gifts from Grammie and Bapa on Christmas morning at their house. I will be baking cookies for most of the afternoon after I get off work. I am very excited about Christmas this year. Last year was so emotionally charged that I don't really remember very much of Christmas. Well, this year will be different! ...I guess I probably shouldn't count my chickens before they are hatched.

Current and Future Joys

Erin and Luke and Thomas were here today! Also Tara got here this morning too and brought her dog Carter. Erin and Luke brought their dog Sadie. Carter and Sadie had a great time wrestling with each other and we had a great time watching them. Grammie made awesome food and there were uplifting and fun conversations. I feel a lot better today. I was exhausted all day yesterday after the blood taking.

I started thinking about Heaven today when I was in my car. Some stuff has come up that has had me a little....well....I don't know if upset is right word. But I've been a bit out of sorts. So I popped in Come Weary Saints and started listening to it. Mom had us do the first track "Hide Away in the Love of Jesus" for Jason when he was leaving and it has always been encouraging to me. So there's this one part that talks about ten thousand joys awaiting us and it always brings tears to my eyes because I know that we were made for those joys and to rejoice in Him for all eternity.

So I love being with my family. But the joy that they bring me does not compare even a smidgen with the joy I will have being with my Lord.

Take My Blood and Let It Be

So today I willingly let someone take the blood out of me. Ashley and Daryl (and several other people) have been teasing me profusely about the number of times I urinate each day. I worried my dad when we were returning from Covenant Life (which is well over an hour away) and I had to go twice. My dad is a diabetic who told me the next day he wanted me to get a blood test to see if I had type 2 diabetes. Apparently, frequent urination is a symptom.

Overall, I have been a very healthy person with no serious injuries (besides a broken foot, which i didn't even know was broken until three weeks later) or illnesses. I have never been to the hospital, not even to be born! So getting blood taken was a pretty serious thing for me. I called the doctor, set up an appointment and took off the morning from work. I had to fast for twelve hours which was not a big deal at all.

So this morning, I headed off to my doctor's appointment. It took me a little while to find it because there was miscommunication between Dad and myself and it was raining and I left my glasses at home. It was not a good combination. I finally got there! I filled out a bunch of paperwork and forgot how old my parents were. And I have no idea what my father's social security number is.

I finally got in the doctor's office and he talked to me about random things (well not random) and then the nurse came in. She was nice and had warm hands, which was great because I was freezing. When she stuck me, I didn't really feel it (used to shots because of my knee) but then it started taking the blood and I think my body went into shock or something! Because I started sweating a ton and was very dizzy. It was ten times worse than when I get in the shower and I feel like I'm going to faint.

I fasted...which meant I didn't eat...and I also didn't drink anything. I didn't know that I was supposed to be well hydrated. So she couldn't get enough blood and I have to go to the lab on Tuesday. I hope Mom goes with me, because I didn't feel so great driving after all of that.