Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all! We (Andrew and I) are spending the day with my family at our oldest sister's house with the Studenny/Hardy/Finch families. Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!

It's Official

Andrew is accepted into Western Seminary's ThM program up here on the Portland campus. ThM stands for Master of Theology. He will complete his first Master's degree in just a few short weeks in which his degree is MABTS which stands for Master of Arts in Biblical Theological Studies. We are excited where God is leading us now up to Portland to complete my Master's and his Master's. No, we hope not to be students for life. Congratulations Andrew and I look forward to having you up here in Portland with me as we embark on this new journey.

Thank you, Thank you

I just want to thank my lovely body for getting H1N1! I am over it, but I just have to rest to make sure I do not want to get this sickness again! I hope I can get a cool award for this because not everyone is special enough to get this! ;)

Soup

This past week I have made two different soups. I made a Taco Soup and then today I made a Chili Soup. These both are delicious in their own rights and I am glad that my parents had the ingredients to make them.

Taco Soup with Chicken
Black Beans
Kidney Beans
Onion
Chicken
Stewed Tomatoes
Chicken Broth
After dishing add avocado, shredded cheese (I used Tillamook Colby), and tortilla chips.

Chili Soup with Steak
Black Beans
Kidney Beans
Onion
Steak (cubed)
Stewed Tomatoes
Beef Broth
Have with corn bread.

Both of these are delicious especially on an Oregon fall day. Yum, off to go enjoy my chili soup.

Removal

I forgot to remember an important date on Tuesday! The date of REMOVAL four years ago! Cheers to the gallbladder.

Imagine

Imagine if your mom tragically dies in a fire, you and your four other sisters are burned severely, and your dad does not speak English except for a few words. You deal with the grief of your mother, but also you grieve over the fact you will have numerous surgeries to fix the scars left from the fire. Well, over the years you deal with being in and out of the hospital, moving from place to place because the housing is not stable since your dad cannot work, and also being the oldest of five you have to be a grown-up to help your other four sisters. On top of that, your dad is dying from cancer, not getting treatment, knowing that he will die soon. Then one day you see him at the hospital passed away because he dies from cancer. What do you do? You have 4 sisters to take care of, you have yourself to take care of as well as trying to graduate from high school, trying to lead a "normal" life, and seeking to depend on God's direction in all that you do. Well, all you and I can do is imagine because this is the life of five girls in Sacramento right now. Yesterday, the father passed away and two of our friends David and Maxine have taken the five girls in. Maxine is a social worker, so she has been working with these girls for the last x-number of years.
Please pray for David and Maxine as they are seeking after the Lord's guidance on what God wants them to do with these five girls.
Please pray for the five girls that they will be able to grieve and be able to talk to people about what they are feeling.
Please pray that these girls will be taken into a home that is a Christian home and encourages them in their personal relationships with the Lord.
Please pray that people come to the sides of these girls as well as D&M to bring food, bring necessities, to provide transportation, or whatever is needed.
All we know is God has an amazing plan for all five of these girls. God has provided them through their life and He will not stop providing. Thank you Heavenly Father for being a guide to these girls and letting them experience your abounding love during this time and more!

November Already!

Well, Andrew and I have made it to November and we only have 13 more days until we will actually be back together for more than 24 hours. Andrew comes in on the 22nd and we have lots planned. We have a Trans Siberian Orchestra concert to attend, Thanksgiving with my family, hang out time with each other, look for a place to live, finish homework, me working a lot while he is here, and just enjoy each other more. Wow, there is no other way we could survive living apart like this except that God continues to provide and give us strength on a daily basis. I am glad that these last few months have gone quickly, but I just hope I can kick whatever that is in my system making me sick, I can kick out the door before Andrew arrives. Plenty of stuff to keep me busy between now and Andrew's arrival.

Surprise!

October 30th was a date that I had to keep open on my calendar. I did not know why and I was totally confused. My family kept telling me what are you doing Friday...do you have any plans? Half my family was in on what was going on and others told me I do not know what your brother is talking. Well, Friday came around and Katie Casebeer came up here so we could go to IKEA, so I thought. Well, I had to work until 3:30pm so Katie was going to come up here then and we were supposed to head off. Well, my dad kept telling me what I had to wait, wait, wait and I felt bad that Katie was having to wait. Well, my oldest brother came back from picking up his dog from the vet and handed me something. Well, it turns out they were Rascal Flatts tickets, I was going with Katie, and it was a surprise! Katie was in on the surprise and no we were not going to IKEA that day comes to find out. Here are the pictures to prove that we were there. We were about 14 rows up from the floor which were amazing. Rascal Flatts was great in concert and very thankful that Katie and I got to go. Thank you Josh for getting us tickets! I took more pictures...but I do not have the time.