Breaking the Ice

A few nights ago at Bible study, we had an ice breaker question sort of thing. We have one every time, but I really liked this one. I like ice breaker questions in general, but this was one I thought would translate well to a blog post. Here's the question(s):

What has changed about you in the past year?
What has not changed about you in the past year?
What would you like to see change in you in the next year?

I had some answers that night but had to keep it pretty short since everyone in the room had to answer. But lucky you gets to read more of my thoughts on here. Yay.

What has changed about you in the past year?
- I live in Houston now. I lived in Denton a year ago.
- I was still in grad school a year ago and now I am finished.
- I did not want to be a special ed teacher last year, and now I can't wait to start!
- I had glasses I hated and hardly wore and now I have glasses I like and wear regularly.
- I went to The Village Church and loved it but was not involved. Now I go to HFBC and love it and am getting very involved.
- I lived with Lauren and Ashley last year. Now I live with my parents.
- I did not spend regular time in the Word and now I am doing pretty well at that.

What has not changed about you in the past year?
- I still have the same natural, untreated hair that I have always had.
- I still love kids with special needs.
- I still have a passion for missions and for women's ministry.
- I still have my sweet girl Ella!
- I weigh about the same.
- I still love wearing skirts this time of year - not only is it much cooler, but I feel pretty and feminine.
- I am still single - however, I am much more okay with it now than I was a year ago.
- I still love to travel.

What would you like to see change in you in the next year?
- An ever increasing passion for and intimacy with the Lord.
- An opportunity to go on an overseas missions trip - China maybe?
- Lose about 20 pounds (I signed up for personal training today! More on my decision to do that in another post)
- Investing time in one or two things at church/in the community.
- Develop even deeper and Godly relationships with those around.
- This may be to hopeful, but go on a date!?!? Hehe...we shall see.
- More balance in my life.
- Finishing a century bike ride (100 miles - right now my tops is about 60, I think).


Anyways, there is much more I could put on here, but I will leave you with a very applicable verse. God bless!

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. ~Hebrews 13:8~

Isn't it great that while we are changing, our sweet Jesus does not?

Today, we have a guest blogger!

Well, I figured you might enjoy hearing from someone other than me for once. So, today, we have a very special guest blogger. Get excited!

Today's very special guest blogger is....

ELLA!

Yes, it is my sweet pup (and I do realize this makes me slightly crazy). She is going to tell you about her afternoon at the Bark Park! (thanks Ash, Gibson and Riley for telling us about it!)

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Hello, friends (both furry and not). In case you haven't heard my mama talk about me incessantly, my name is Ella and I am the princess. I am very cute and just the sweetest thing you will ever meet. And perfect in every way. I am also very humble.

Anyways, on Sunday, my mama and grandpa took me to the best place ever - the Bark Park! It was like Disney World for dogs. I got to run around this great place off my leash, not listen to my mom when she wanted me to do something and meet lots of other doggie friends. I have some pictures to share with you to show about my fun afternoon.

Enjoying some swimming time. I normally don't swim, but since it was hot, I got in a few times. But I didn't dare get my head or the top of my back or tail wet.

Enjoying some time in the trees watching the other dogs, sniffing and being off the leash!

Playing with new friends in the mud! I love mud. My mom does not. Something about it getting all in my white fur. Eh.

So that was my fabulous day! I hope my mama takes me again really soon!

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Well, I hope you enjoyed that little treat. She is precious. I love her. As if you haven't heard me say that enough.

Anyways, I have a bunch of topics to write about that will be coming soon. Some of those include bikinis, Esther, the early church, my summer job, Japan pictures (probably the next post), anniversaries, singlehood and other various topics. Hope you are doing well!

God bless!

PS - Sorry the alignment of pics is off. I have a really hard time with the formatting of this thing!

What a week...

Well, in the best news yet, my mom came home on Friday afternoon! She came home with her very own oxygen tank too because her oxygen saturation levels were not quite where they wanted them (hers were reading about 85% and they want them at least at 92%). But otherwise, she is doing pretty well. We even took her out for thai food on Friday night so she could have a decent meal (although, surprisingly, the hospital food wasn't too intolerable). I actually have been gone the past 24 hours on a women's retreat for my Sunday school class, but she says she is feeling good and my mom and dad even had a couple outings yesterday with oxygen tank in tow. The next few weeks and months will involve much follow up with doctors, blood tests and what not, but things are looking good. :0)

I am exhausted from everything this week! I was supposed to go to church and lunch this morning (our evening class and service got cancelled this weekend because of Memorial Day) with some friends and am supposed to go to a volleyball/movie/cookout tomorrow with friends, but I may just stay close to home and enjoy some time with the Lord and some quietness. I've been running nonstop since last Tuesday, so I think some time out is necessary.

Anyways, hope y'all are doing well. Love you and God bless!

News that is Bueno!

Well, the doc came and talked to my mom this morning and gave her some good news! There is some level in her blood that has to be between 2.0 and 3.0 and right now it is sitting at 1.7. So, they expect it to get there tomorrow or the next day. And when that happens, she gets to go home! Yay! They also told her, that the dangerous part had passed and things are on the upside now.

A couple things to pray for though. One is that she would take good care of herself with the treatment regimen they are giving her and with other medical issues that she already had before all of this. Also, they found a nodule on her thyroid and in a while (like a few months), she will have to have it biopsied to see if it is malignant (cancerous). However, if thyroid cancer is caught early enough, it is one of the "better" ones to get because it is one of the easiest to treat. Lastly, she has to do an outpatient sleep study to see if she has sleep apnea (where she stops breathing intermittently at night). If she does in fact have it (which she probably does), she will have to wear a CPAP machine (oxygen mask) at night and she is kind of scared of it as she is claustrophobic. So just pray for those things that they would be resolved and treatments would go well.

Thanks friends! Love you all!

Regular Room!

So, right after I updated yesterday, they moved my mom to a regular room. Very good news! I moved down there with her and it is a pretty good set up they have there. It's a double room, but her roomie doesn't seem to bad. She has a TV, which is an improvement over no entertainment whatsoever in the ICU. She also can order food when she gets hungry at meal times and has a small list to choose from rather than being surprised every time. Also, I get full reception on my cell phone in her new room so I will be able to answer and make calls from there.

Thank you so much to those of you who have called, left messages, facebooked, etc. with your encouraging words and prayers. I haven't had a chance to respond to everyone, but am trying. Anyways, I'll keep you posted on the latest. Love you!

Update

Hey sweet friends! Here is just a quick update on my mom.

She is doing okay and in good spirits. She is still in ICU, but maybe today or tomorrow might be able to move to a regular room. Last night, they took her off the face mask for oxygen and put her on a nasal cannula (the tube under the nose) which means improvement because it is a little less oxygen than she needed before. They have been running various tests (blood, echocardiogram, thyroid sonogram, etc.) on her all day. Otherwise, she has just been talking to us, sleeping and whatnot. She loves her nurses. So far she has had two male nurses - Noel and Jimmy - and has been pleased with both of them.

Anyways, I must get off the computer because it is a public one. Keep on praying. Love you!

PS - I need to decide if I want to go to Kenya in July on a missions trip and need to decide by Friday. Just pray that I will be able to discern God's will in this quickly. Thanks!

The past 24 hours...

....have been difficult to say the least.

I planned on my next post being fun pictures of Japan.

But it is not so.

Today, I spent the day at the hospital.

I'm fine. My precious mama is not.

Here's the scoop: So, the past few days, she has kind of been short of breath. However, she has had a cold and cough the past few weeks and we just kinda figured that it was part of it. So, she went to our family doctor yesterday afternoon after my brother left to go work at camp. The doctor said her lungs were clear, so set up an appointment with a cardiologist and for a chest xray for this morning.

As my mom was getting ready this morning (I was taking her), she was really short of breath and light headed, so much so that she couldn't really make it from her bathroom to her recliner in our living room. She decided that maybe going to the ER was a better option. So she called my dad at work to come home so we could all go together. When my dad got home, we were helping her stand up and she completely passed out and collapsed on us, not breathing or anything. So I grabbed my phone and made a frantic call to 911. Meanwhile, she came to, but just barely. The EMT arrived and put her on oxygen (which made things a little better) and checked her out and took her off to the hosptial (which is conveniently 5 minutes from our new house).

When we got there, they immediately started running tests, took a chest xray, took a CT scan and did some other stuff (it was a whirlwhind...I don't remember). After a while the results were in.

Pulmonary embolism. (it's hyperlinked to wikipedia)

So basically what that means, is tons of blood clots all throughout all regions of her lungs. Yeah...she could have died had we left it much longer. It is that serious.

So, because there were no ICU beds in the SL hospital, they transported her to the main hospital in the Med Center to the Surgical ICU there so they could watch her ever so closely.

She is there now, resting (not so comfortably because of all the stuff they have her attached to), but in good spirits given the situation. My dad and I have been with her all day besides lunch and dinner breaks and are taking turns tomorrow hanging out with her (and will continue to do so until she is discharged).

So, I guess all I am asking is to please pray. I have a lot of jumbled and mixed thoughts and feelings but am too drained to type it out. You can call if you want (it really doesn't hassle me at all), but I may not be able to answer because my phone is supposed to be off while in the ICU and I get horrible reception at the hospital. I will check my phone for any messages (text or voice) throughout the day.

So thanks sweet friends. God bless.

Things I Learned in Japan

*How to count to six:

1 = ichi

2 = knee

3 = sun

4 = see

5 = go

6 = rock

*The difference between temples and shrines. Shrines are Shinto. Temples are Buddhist. Most Japanese are both Shinto and Buddhist. All Shinto shrines are open to the public. Only a few large Buddhist temples are open to the public. There are over 700 temples and shrines in Kyoto alone.

*It is not polite to blow your nose during a meal. But it is polite to slurp your soup and noodles and you are corrected if you fail to do so.

*The most polite way to bow is at 33 degrees. If you made a mistake, 45 degrees. If you were really bad, 90 degrees. And there are certain rules about the number and type of bows you do that is complicated and only Japanese people know. So therefore, an American can just do a polite nod and Japanese people find this acceptable and know that Americans don't know about bowing.

* There are many more things I learned and wanted to share, but can't remember now. If I remember, I will share!

3rd Day in Japan!

The third and final day in Kyoto was another thrilling one. I wasn't sure what I was going to do that day because there was no accompanying persons tour scheduled and although Japan is very very safe, the language barrier can be a problem if you are lost and need help. However, at breakfast we saw my Canadian friend and Korean friend and they invited me to spend the day with them. They were planning on going on this really cool walking tour of Kyoto (apparently it has been fairly popular - like on the Discovery Channel and stuff) and it only cost 2000 yen ($20). So we took off and found our tour guide (named Johnnie Hillwalker). He's this cute little Japanese man that has been doing this same five hour walking tour for 47 years. Seriously...47 years! He moved to Kyoto right after getting married because he wanted to be a tour guide and has been doing it every since. Anyways, on the tour we walked all through town seeing different shrines and temples, different artisan parts of town and other neat things around the city. I didn't know this, but Kyoto is the handicraft center of Japan. If you have a fan from Japan (like the real hand painted ones) it came from Kyoto. A lot of pottery comes from there too. And other various crafts. And the craftsmen all living in these towns live and work in their houses and their families have been doing it for 17 generations. And all the potters live in one part of town, all the fan makers in another, all the tatami mat (the mats on the floors in their houses) makers in another and so on. It is very very cool. I even got to see and take pictures of the craftsmen making these crafts. After walking through all the crafts parts of town, we went to this really good sushi makers place and got to try a piece of inari sushi (vegetarian). Oh my I have never had such good sushi. And ours was simple - the flavored rice with tofu wrapped around it and lightly fried. Delicious! After the sushi, we went to a Japanese pastry maker's shop (one of the best in Japan) and tried a pastry and some tea (of course...nothing can be eaten without tea in Japan). We also went by the pottery painter's house and watched him paint and then outside, there was racks of pottery on sale that you could buy that they actually painted. I bought a really pretty bowl with purple flowers on it.



After the really long tour, we caught a taxi back to the hotel. My dad wanted to do some stuff so I freshened up and we headed off (on foot...so much walking in Japan). We went to the handicraft center again and got all the gifts/souvenirs we planned on. I got a really pretty miako (geisha) doll. We got my brother this really cool puzzle box that can only be opened a certain way and its like a logic puzzle. We got my mom a musical kokechi doll. Kokechi dolls are really pretty wooden painted dolls. And Audrey, I got you a couple of prints there...I'll get them to you soon. After the shopping (we got it all done in an hour...record timining!), we headed over to this part of town called the Philosopher's Walk. It's just this pretty stretch along the canal that has lots of trees (it is especially popular when cherry blossoms are blooming in March and April) and there are little restaurants and shops all along the way. It kind of reminded me of the River Walk in San Antonio but more quiet and peaceful. None of the shops or restaurants were opened because it was 5:00, so I wished we had gone earlier, but oh well. It was still peaceful. By that point, I had had my fill of walking (8 hours....ouch!) so we trekked back to the hotel. Since I hadn't eaten lunch that day, I was starving.

We decided to leave the hotel for dinnner, but stay pretty close by. So we got a list of suggested restaurants from the concierge but really just kind of looked at restaurants as we went by. We ended up at this really cute little restaurant (they are all really cute and little in Japan) and we chose it because it had english translations on the menu. This place, you also took off your shoes and sat on the floor to eat. Very authentic. In Japan, some of the restaurants have pictures or wax replicas of their food outside the restaurant so you just point to what you want (without really knowing what you are getting) and not much is in English. However, you do find some with english translations, so that way you kind of have an idea of what you will be putting in your belly. My dad and I both ordered Tempura Soba (buckwheat noodles in broth with some tempura shrimp). So yummy. I would love to eat Japanese noodles for my whole life. The bowl was huge but so good to my hungry belly. We also talked to this older couple from Denver who were on a month long tour of Asia and they were really funny. People from Colorado are always interesting. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and packed up. I am proud to say that this is maybe the best packing job I have ever done thus far. After the disastrous packing job I did for Boston, I didn't want to make that mistake again. Not only did everything fit in my suitcase that I brought, but I was able to pack all of our souvenirs (including one fairly large box) and all my clothes and shut the suitcase without struggle or having to sit on it. Nice. I was very pleased with myself :0) Then it was time to sleep. Yay!

The next morning, we ate breakfast and checked out. So sad to leave! We boarded our flight and there was the same male flight attendant we had had on the way there. He was so loud and obnoxious and gave everyone random nicknames. Ugh. It was a long flight with him being our flight attendant. But otherwise it was okay and I just read almost the entire 13 hours (this is why I don't read constantly because once I start, it is very hard for me to stop and I can swallow up hours and hours just reading). The rest of the trip was uneventful and we made it back to Houston!

Another exciting day in Japan...

Day 2 was another great day! We woke up and had the international buffet for breakfast again. Immediately after breakfast, I met the rest of the accompanying persons group in the lobby to head off for another day of seeing the sights. First, we headed to the Golden Pavillion (called Kinkaku-ji in Japanese). It is basically this beautiful Buddhist temple that is all gold and set in a very pretty garden (actually, all of Japan seems like a really pretty garden). We walked around there and took a lot of pictures. It was so crowded. Since it is one of the temples on UNESCO's World Heritage List, it is very popular for tourists to go see. Also, spring is the time for schools to take field trips to all the historical sights, so everywhere we went, there were like thousands of Japanese students of all ages running around looking at the stuff and taking pictures. One thing I find interesting is that any time a young Japanese person (like under 30 or so) takes a picture, they flash the peace sign. Can't figure out the significance of it yet but they all do it for every picture.



After that temple, we headed to another temple (that also is on the list) called the Kiyomizudera Temple. It is humongous! There are three springs right next to each other there that you drink out of. One is for health, the other for wealth and the last for wisdom. You choose one so you can receive that in your own life. So we all stood in line and did it. I drank out of the wisdom one. Why you might ask? Well, as we were walking up to the temple, our guide, Daisy, mentioned that there was a matchmaking shrine up the hill that we could visit if we wanted. Well remember how all the other people in my lovely group are chemical company executive's wives? Yeah. They all wanted me to go and were laughing about and chatting about it in their various languages. The Spanish lady was laughing and pointing at me to her friend saying, "Senorita. Senorita!" But we didn't go and I was okay with that. Well, when we got to the springs, they again asked me what I would pick so I could get a good husband since we didn't go to the shrine. So I told them I chose the wisdom one so I could pick a good husband. They liked that and then told me that when I get married, I need to bring my husband back and have him drink out of the wealth spring. Haha. These ladies crack me up!



Anyways, after that, we walked down this street with all these shops that were selling various Japanese cultural things. The Korean lady in the group treated the American lady, the Canadian lady and me to some green tea ice cream. So good! It isn't super sweet like American flavors of ice cream but rather has a gently sweet and very refreshing flavor. I think if I could find it in the States, I would probably eat it. After our ice cream stop, we loaded on the bus again and made our way back to the hotel. My dad had waited for lunch for me, so we tried the Japanese restaurant in our hotel. Pretty good. They were like set lunches so you got a mix of things. I think there was a noodle bowl, some vegetables, some sashimi (still liking the raw fish...weird!), some really good rice and some tofu with stuff on it (I didn't really like the tofu stuff...it had an odd flavor). After lunch, we walked to the Kyoto Handicraft Center, which is about five floors of different Japanese handicrafts. It is neat. I still have yet to buy anything because I wanted to see what was available, but I think my dad and I decided today (Wednesday) was our buying day. Like I said, I don't want to buy much, so what I do buy, I want it to be good.



After the Handicraft center, we walked around Kyoto in the rain for a while. We were looking for this other craft center type thing, but found it but it was all boarded up. So walking around the streets and seeing how Japanese people really live in their city was neat. We actually entered the Gion district of Kyoto, which is where you can see modern day mikos (geishas) walking around in the traditional kimonos and obis. Kyoto is kind of like this weird clash of old world Japan meeting modern city life. It is neat. You walk through the streets and see shrines and temples right next to motorcycle shops and restaurants. Very interesting juxtaposition.



We finally made it back to the hotel and cleaned up for our Gala Dinner that night. Little did we know what a treat we were in for for this dinner. AMAZING! It was a traditional Japanese dinner (very expensive...but the conference/company pays for it for its guests) with like seriously 9 courses. It started with a little plate of vegetables and tofu, some of which I liked and some of which I didn't. Then there was some kind of soup (kinda like miso, but it wasn't). Then some sashimi. There were several other dishes that I can't remember but there was the traditional shabu shabu (Japenese hot pot) course. That was cool. Basically it's a boiling pot and they put really good meat and vegetables in and you take what you want. Very good. Definitely a real treat this dinner was! After dinner, we dressed up in kimonos and stuff and took pictures. The night was so so fun! One fun thing was that we ate with no shoes on and sat in these little tiny half chairs. Kinda weird being at a fancy dinner all dressed up but in your stockings! After that, we headed back to the hotel and once again crashed from a busy day!

Day 1 in Japan

Konichiwa my friends! Day 1 in Japan proved to be pretty exciting. In the morning, we woke up, got ready and then went to the breakfast buffet in the hotel. You have the choice of that international buffet or a Japanese set breakfast. We decided the buffet was probably a better option because the Japanese set breakfast consists of things like poached fish, miso soup and other things that might not settle so well on an American stomach so early in the morning. After breakfast, we decided to trek out and see some of the sights within walking distance of our hotel. We saw 3 temples/shrines which were all gorgeous. I really like Japanese architecture. I got a lot of pictures of the outsides of the temples/shrines but photos aren't allowed inside. Neither are your shoes.

Funny story: Trying very hard not to be obnoxious American tourists, we were following all the rules we knew and had been reading up on Japanese cultural customs before our outings. When it said no pictures, we took none despite the other tourists around us happily snapping away. Well, as we left one of the temples, we were retrieving our shoes. We started to put them back on thinking we were free and clear of the temple and it was now the appropriate time to put them back on and continue about our day. Well just as we got them on a monk/priest comes out and starts yelling, "shoes! shoes! shoes!" and wildly pointing at us and glaring at us very angrily. And the other tourists looking around to see who was causing such a commotion. Apparently, although outside the door of the temple, we were still standing on the wooden floor that is part of the temple, and also the part that shoes are not allowed on. Had we walked maybe 5 feet further to the stone steps and walkway, we would have been in the clear. But no. So we quickly got our shoes off again, ran to the stone, put them on and hurried out of there to avoid any further scene or embarrassment.

After our morning hike out in town, we returned to the hotel, where there is a garden and bird watching sanctuary so we started to hike through that. It had some beautiful views of the city! We had to cut our hike short because lunch was starting. I had to get down some lunch in about 15 minutes so I could join up with the accompanying persons tour group. Lunch was okay, nothing too exciting.

I found my group and was asked if I had to get back to little ones back in the United States. I kinda stood there thinking, "Seriously??" and then was like, "um, no, I'm with my dad...I'm a daughter!" The lady who was asking me this (she was an American) just told me that it is usually just wives that come and so she assumed that I was with my husband. The group of wives was very interesting as well. I was a total misfit! They are all these chemical company executive's wives and fare from all over the world. One was from Korea, one from Canada, two from Venezuela, one from Brazil and then the one American lady, who is from New Jersey. Well after they figured out that I was a daughter and only 24, they all decided that they should marry me off to their sons. Nice. On the tour, we went to this Movie Land thing which is kind of like a Japanese version of Universal Studios, but without the rides. We saw a ninja show and a haunted house. Interesting look into Japanese film but maybe not the most interesting part of the trip. After the movie land, we went to this area at the base of the mountains called Arishiyama. There is a famous bridge there whos e name when translated means "Moon Crossing Over Bridge". When it is sunset, I guess you can see the moon setting over this bridge. It is supposed to be very pretty and romantic. While we were there, we went to a tea house and had traditional green tea (very bitter!) and a Japanese sweet (very sweet and very interesting). The two need to go together to balance each other out. After the tea, we walked around some shops, but I have yet to purchase anything. I don't want to get a lot, so I really want to put thought into what I am getting.

After we returned to the hotel, I showered and got ready for the conference dinner. The conference dinner was pretty tasty. There were different stations with different kinds of Japanese cuisine to try. I tried tempura, kobe beef, a noodle bowl and some real sushi (I think maybe called sashimi?). So yummy! I liked that everything was just a small sample so I could try it all. I was surprised to find that I liked the raw fish sushi too! I usually do not eat fish because I can't stand the taste, but decided to take the plunge here. I am so glad I did. The fish wasn't fishy tasting at all. I liked it so much I might even get it in the States when I return now instead of my usual Philadelphia Roll. Haha... After dinner, I crashed. I was starting to fall asleep even during dinner, but so was everyone else so I think we all called it an early night. I came back, laid on my bed at 8:30 still in my dress clothes and slept there until 10 when my dad woke me up to put my pjs on.

So yay! That was day one of my fabulous adventures in Japan. I have been keeping busy so my updates are a little behind, but have no fear, I will get it all in. Also, I am going to wait to post all my pictures until I get back because I need to sort through them all (the count is at 163 right now!) and pick my favorites to put on here. Hope y'all are doing well. God bless!

Arrived!

Well, here I am writing to you from Japan. It is almost 8:00 a.m. here, but for my friends in Texas, it is still yesterday there and not quite 6:00 p.m. Kinda crazy how that works out. In fact, when we leave her on Thursday, we will arrive in Detroit on the same day technically before we even left (does that make sense??) Anyways, we haven't done much yet. Yesterday we took a taxi from the airport in Osaka to our hotel here in Kyoto (so cool!) We got settled in our room and decided to eat something. We went to the hotel's cafe and I got to eat some Udon noodles...yum! (pictured left...but that is a picture from the internet, not actually my picture) The only thing was that they took all my silverware from me before my meal came and I was forced to eat with the chopsticks - something I try often but still don't quite have the hang of, especially with noodles! But I did okay and enjoyed my meal.

Last night, I actually slept okay despite reversing my sleep schedule. I slept for about 2 hours, woke up, went back to sleep for 2 hours, woke up and continued this until about 5:30 this morning, which isn't too bad considering the crazy schedule change. My dad's conference stuff doesn't start until about 12:30 so I think we are going to explore a bit this morning. While my dad is conferencing this afternoon, I will be going on a tour of this Movieland thing where they have historical like buildings used for movies and TV shows and then to a park that has lots of cherry blossoms. Then tonight is the Conference Welcome Dinner, which I will be attending with my dad. Should be fun! I'll let y'all know how it all goes and maybe even post some pictures.

God bless!

And I'm Off!

In just a few short hours, my dad and I will be loading our suitcases into the Mustang, driving to the airport and jetting to Japan! I AM SO FREAKIN' EXCITED!!

My plan was to be in bed a lot earlier tonight but that didn't happen. Not because of my procrastination. Oh no. I actually finished packing (and did an excellent job if I do say so myself...I don't think I overpacked too badly this time!) early this afternoon.

Well, you see, this morning I woke up feeling a little congested and didn't think much of it because I have been in and out of feeling congested the past few weeks. So I went about my merry way visiting my school for next year (I'll tell you more about that in another very exciting post), eating lunch with sweet Ashley (my friend from Baylor, roomate in Denton and precious friend who I am very excited to have moving back to Houston!), packing and what not. Well since we will be out of the country on Mother's Day (don't mention that to my mom...she WILL cry), we celebrated tonight by taking her to this super yummy Indian restaurant called Mayuri. I knew I wasn't feeling a hundred percent, but figured I could knock it pretty quickly. Oh no. That was not the case. As dinner progressed, I started to ache all over, be dizzy and just feel plain yuck. So I said maybe we should go to Urgent Care (mind you, my mom had been asking all day if we should go to the doctor...should have listened). Unfortunately, since I waited too long, all the urgent cares were closed (they close at 9). So I got to make a really fun trip to the ER. Woohoo. I would get sick before a big trip (and sadly, this is not even just the first or second time it has happened). So after an hour there and them deciding that it was hay fever (bad allergies) and some discussion with the cute, single doctor, we again were on our merry way....to the 24 Hour Walgreens...where we waited about another hour. Also, while at the ER, they gave me this fabulous shot of steroids that actually has worked a miracle in about the last 2 hours...I feel MUCH better. PTL!

Anyways, at Ashley's suggestion, I am going to try to post every day about what I am doing in Japan. Get excited (and pray for my hay fever!). Love you!