and the craziness has begun...

well, at least this semester should be interesting. while i only have one class that will be difficult, the other two are time consuming. however, i do think i will enjoy them. the first week of school is always busy with preparing, setting a schedule, and such so i've felt a little overwhelmed this week. add on an opening week program and more time at emlers means i've been kind of out of my mind this week. it doesn't help that i got a couple new books that i would rather read than my school crap. hopefully this weekend will be a time for me to catch up on some stuff and get things settled down.

on a postive note, i found out that if i get the internship at cooper ventures it will count toward school credit. since i would much rather get paid than sit in a classroom i am excited.

happy friday!

christmas

i only have a couple of pictures from christmas because my camera batteries died.

braxton checking to see if anyone will stop him from getting the presents:

brock getting his stocking:
i got a blender!!!! i am super excited!!!! and it came with a food processor:
i also got a book. love it!
this is not a christmas present, but i got a new phone because my razr broke. knowing that i have a bad habit of dropping things, dad walked into the phone store and told the guy, "i need your most indestructible phone" to which the salesman replied, "well, it isn't that razr she has in her hand." duh. the one thing i did NOT want was another flip phone (refer to previous the "i drop everything" comment), which severly limited my choices. but, i really like what i got. it is orange and a is slide phone so it shouldn't break. thanks daddy!
i wish i had pictures from new year's eve, because megan and i looked ggoooodd, but i don't.



in other news, p.a. work officially starts back tomorrow (i've been on call the last few days, but that doesn't really count as work) and school along with emler's work begins on monday. i'm definitley not ready. also, i still have bronchitis. i've had two shots and am on my second round of antibiotics. pray that it goes away- i would like to be able to breathe again. for those of you that think i am always sick, it comes with being a triplet and having under developed lungs (blame megan for stealing all my nutrients).

finally, a buttload of mexico pictures

i will separate these into days to make it easier to follow. this is only a few, but you should be able to get the picture.

SUNDAY:
this is how our trip started, with a flat tire. actually, we had just got pulled over by a cop about three minutes before, so this was the second incident.

MONDAY:
in order to do the cement for the third floor ceiling, we had to move all the "ingredients" to the roof of the second floor. so, the boys carried 80 lb. bags of cement up a wobbly ladder.
we bucketed up the rocks and sand. i stood on the scaffold all day- not the sturdiest of structures when you are constantly bending over and reaching up.
mom was part of the bucket brigade
this picture is out of order. as the boys were putting bags of cement on the roof, they accidentally broke one open dumping cement down my back so mom cleaned me off before my skin burned they mixed the cement on the second story and bucketed it up to the third

WEDNESDAY:
there are no pictures from tuesday because all that was involved was lots of vomit. those who weren't sick put a roof on a house for a member of the church. on wednesday, we gave gifts to the church staff, handed out hygiene packets, and took christmas to a state run orphanage in the city.

isaiah:

priscilla
pablito
hermenia and natan-- the three above are also her kids. i've known them since poncho and hermenia only had isaias. hermenia and poncho were told they could never have kids and now they have four. it is an amazing story of the grace of God. hermenia has definitely been given the gift of preaching.
on our way to hand out hygiene packets we got our second flat tire of the trip, but bob and poncho got it taken care of.
a mexican family showing off their beans, hygiene packet, and toys for the kids.
the garbage man
a mom and her six kids that we gave stuff to casey, cody, and ethan found a pet while they waited for the tire to be fixed. eventually the donkey followed them wherever they went.
the older kids at the children's home singing for us

the younger kids singing for us
opening presents
pinata time!
let the hording begin
mexican santa

priscilla in her dress for church
bob preaching, poncho translating
two of my most favorite people in the world-- pita and leah
okay, so this isn't mexico, but it just may be the greatest picture ever:


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

i'm back...

pictures from mexico will come soon, i promise. i have 200 so i need to sort through them first. in the meantime, i'll give you a quick run down. this trip was definitely original. we had two flat tires (never before have we had a single flat). we took a stomach virus with us and due to close quarters and germ sharing 20 out of the 48 people had projectile vomitting (we've only had two people ever get sick before and it was very short lived). despite those last two points, the trip was good. we were able to put the third floor roof on the church, a roof on a church members house, pass out hygiene packets, and take christmas presents to a state run orphanage. we got back last night. i have bronchitis and an uri and mom has pneumonia. i'll post pics when i get some time and feel a little beter.

have we changed much?

my aunt eunice sent my dad a couple of pics of meg and me as little girls. i laughed out loud so i thought i'd share:

THEN:
NOW:
THEN:
NOW:

boy, we sure are ggoooodd lookin'!

note to self: december is the wrong time to swimsuit shop...

...or is it? the swimsuit on the left is obviously my old swimsuit. it cost me $40 and a month ago used to be dark purple and black. currently it is super stretchy and see-through. so, i went swimsuit shopping today. the one on the right is what i got. bad news: academy only had one suit like it (the rest were grandma suits and cost $50). good news: it was on sale for $19.88 but rang up at $1.88!!!! no that is not a typo, i just got a speedo swimsuit for under $2.

i put christmas lights on my balcony a couple weeks ago, but forgot to post a picture. now my neighbors below me have lights so it looks cooler (but it is raining so i'm not taking a picture).

we leave for mexico on sunday and i'm ssuuppeerr excited. pray that the trip goes well. the group of kids we are taking isn't the best. i will be sure to take tons of pictures. and, while you are praying, pray for me. i think i am applying for a summer internship with cooper ventures. cooper ventures is the business portion of the cooper clinic and specializes in wellness consulting and fitness management. and while it would be amazing, i'm sure it is hightly competitive.

so proud of myself

here is my report card for this semester:

THE AMERICAN HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

A

STRATEGIC MGMT OF HLTHCARE ORG

A


INFORMATION TECH & MIS FUND

A

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING

A


Cumulative through Spring 2008
4.000


also, i was very domestic yesterday. since it was mom's birthday i went home and cooked dinner for her and dad. i did homemade french onion soup and lasagna. random combination, i know, but i wanted to try my new soup recipe and mom wanted lasagna. and, since today is coach wood's birthday, i baked him an apple pie last night.

i don't know why i own a camera since i don't use it. i took it to the p.a. christmas party on tuesday but left it in my purse. i also took it home yesterday, but once again, it stayed in my purse.