Lack of an Update

I haven't posted in quite a while, but I really just don't have anything that exciting happening in my life these days. Here's a little bit of what's been going on lately:

Drew and I went to our alma mater's Homecoming on Halloween day. It was exciting for several reasons- my cousin Lauren was a Homecoming queen candidate (she won!!), Hank and I were driving her in the parade (and he had a Tiger costume to wear to support the good ole ECU Tigers), and it was our school's centennial. We had a really good time and a lot of my family came in to support Lauren, and I was glad they all got to see that school that I loved so much. We also got to catch up with friends, which is always a good time.

Thanksgiving was a blur of activity. We celebrated with my immediate family Wednesday night and then got up Thursday and drove 3 long hours to Alva to see Drew's family. I did get to meet the newest additions to the Brunsteter clan, Stella (~5 months) and Conrad (~2 months). We came home late Thursday to get up and go Christmas shopping Friday. We shopped, napped and then went to my cousin's house for game night. We play this game called Settlers of Catan, and we are all obsessed with it. We usually play into the wee hours of the morning because we just can't stop. Then Saturday we ate lunch with our cousins and went and saw Blind Side, which was awesome, I highly recomend it if you haven't seen it yet. Saturday evening we drove to Braggs to have Tree Trimming with the Carner family. And Sunday was a much needed day of rest.

It looks like Christmas is going to be just as busy. But I love this time of year, and I love spending time with family, so all the hustle and bustle is well worth it.

Man vs. Pig

Well, it happened, the dreaded, the unthinkable- I got (duh, duh, duh....) swine flu.

First, let's clear up a few myths here. Anyone who has the flu right now has swine flu. The regular ole run of the mill seasonal flu has not yet reared its head. Also, due to the fact that the symptoms of the swine flu are much more mild than the seasonal flu, health care professionals aren't even treating for it unless you are under 5, over 65, or pregnant past your first trimester. The big stink about it is that it is new, period. It's not worse than the regular flu, it's not going to kill off half of the population, it's just the flu. The problem is that since it's new, no one has any immunity to it so it is spreading quite readily. But, if I can survive it, trust me, so can you.

Here's an overview of my battle with the pig:

Saturday was my birthday so I was spending a fun filled day with my family. We (we being my mom, dad, sister, me and Drew) went to Incredible Pizza for lunch and played games. Then Drew and I did some running around until 6:30pm when we went and saw "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" in 3D. That was pretty cool. Then we ate dinner at Cheesecake Factory. A little before the movie, my throat starting hurting a little, but I thought it was just allergies (which have been terrible this year). It got a little worse as the night went on, but nothing to terrible. When we got home from dinner, Drew gave me my present (a pink .38 revolver!) but I was so tired I basically went right to bed.

At 12:45pm on Sunday, Drew finally woke me up. I couldn't believe it, I never sleep that late. And I was still tired! So I basically just laid around on the couch the rest of the day. Around 5pm, I started feeling warm so I took my temperature- 100.0. Not to high, but still not normal. So I called in to work for Monday fearing it might be more than just allergies.

Monday was pretty much the same thing. I was completely exhausted. My joints were achey, my throat still kind of hurt, I had a headache, but most of all I was sooo tired. And my temperature all day Monday was only like 99.2-99.6. It never got back up to, or even over 100. So I called my boss again and she said I needed to go get a flu test. Drew and I went to Urgent Care and my temp was 99.1 and my flu test was negative. But the doctor said I definately had the flu, those tests are only accurate 10-50% of the time. Who knew? So he treated my for bronchitis, said lots of rest and fluids for the flu, and sent me on my way.

So now it is day 5, I'm still home from work, but I am finally feeling better. I know have a nasty sounding cough, but that's the bronchitits talking. The flu wasn't that bad. The most prominent symptom was that I was completely exhausted all of the time. Like today, even though I'm feeling better, I slept till almost 11am (which I never do) and I got up and tried to do some things around the house to get my energy back up, but I will probably take a nap in a little while to tell you the truth. It just sucked all the energy out of me that dern flu.

But the moral of the story is- I survived. It's really not that bad. My temp has been gone for 24 hours so I might try to go to work tomorrow even.

So in this episode of man vs. pig, man won :)

Proud Parent

I'm taking this opportunity, like many others, to brag on how incredibly smart my child is. Unlike many others, however, my child is a 2 year old Yorkie named Hank.

First, a little background information- we adopted Hank when he was a 12 week old furball. We planned on crating him at night, and we knew he would cry for his momma at first, but we did not except just how powerful those cries would be! After a sleepless first night- for all of us- we came up with the idea to put his crate on the landing of our garage stairs so his crying would be muffled. It worked! Eventually, when it started getting colder, we decided to bring his crate inside. He was not happy about that move and he started crying again at night. I had an idea that maybe he liked the pitch dark of the garage and didn't like to have any light like what he was getting in the house so we put a dark blue blanket over his crate. It worked and the rest is history. He sleeps every night in his crate with his blanket over him. Even on the weekends, he will sleep in as late as we do as long as he has his blanket.

So now to the part about how smart he is :) Usually, we let Hank lay in bed with us for about 30 minutes each night before we put him up. Some nights, like weekends, we'll let him stay for as long as he wants. I say as long as he wants because he will come tell you when he is ready for bed. A few examples:

Drew got the idea that if we just left our door open a little bit, that Hank would put himself to bed when he was ready. So we tried it, and we thought it was going to work because when Hank got tired, he came up to our heads and snuggled for a little while, then he jumped down and went to his room. But a few minutes later, there he was with his little head poking up over the side of our bed (he doesn't jump up on it). So I picked him up, and a minute later we went through the whole scenario again. Finally, after the third time I had put him back on the bed and he had jumped down again, I realized the problem. He kept going to his crate every time, but he wanted his door shut and his blanket pulled down like normal. As soon as I did that for him, he went right to sleep.

Another night, Drew and I had been out for most of the evening, and Hank had been in his crate the whole time. So we were going to let him stay up for a while, even if we fell asleep. We laid down about 3am and Hank laid with us. About 4am, I felt a wet little nose sniffing my ear. When I tried to ignore it, he gave a light little lick on my ear. When I still tried to ignore it, he climbed up on my chest and started licking all over my face. I sat up and he jumped down and ran to the door. He was telling me he was ready for bed.

So not only is he probably the cutest dog ever, but he is definately one of the smartest! :)

Funnies

A List of Funny Thoughts and Questions:

1. Why do banks charge a fee for insufficient funds when they know I don't have any money?
2. Why is it people say they "slept like a baby" when a baby wakes up every two hours?
3. How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of murdered?
4. If you have sex with a prostitute against her will, is it rape or shoplifting?
5. Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?
6. Why do doctors leave the room while you take off your clothes? Aren't they going to see you naked anyway?
7. If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a song about it?
8. If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can't he fix a hole in a boat?
9. If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to order all that stuff from Acme, why doesn't he just buy dinner?
10. Why does a dog get aggravated when you blow in his face, but then put his head out the window of a moving car?
11. Why do people believe there are 4 billion stars but have to check if the paint is really wet?
12. Why is it that no matter what the color of bubble bath is, the bubbles are always white?
13. Is there ever a day when mattresses aren't on sale?
14. Why do people keep running over a string on the carpet with a vacuum, pick it up, examine it, then put it back on the floor to give the vacuum one last chance?
*I so do that!*
15. Why do we try to keep the house as warm in the winter as it was in the summer when we complained about the heat?

Just some silly little things. Hoped they brightened your day!

And The Surprise Is...

I got a new tattoo! I knew I wanted to get an owl on my foot, and I have been looking at designs for about three months. I wanted an owl because it is my sorority's mascot, but it is against our rules to get any official Chi Omega insignia tattoos. So I found this perfect little owl and I had it done in Chi Omega colors- red and yellow. It hurt like you wouldn't believe, but I absolutely love it and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

This is a close up of my little beauty. This was two hours after it was done, and it is very swollen and kinda bleeding still. There isn't really red around the eyes and on the belly, that's just my blood :)

This is where I got it. It's a little higher than I had originally thought I wanted it, but the tattoo artist said it would heal better if it were closer to my ankle rather than my toes. Looking at this pic, I should've had my toes done before the tat cause now I can't soak my foot for 30 days!

New Couch!

When Drew and I got married, we were very fortunate in that we didn't have to buy any furniture for our home. (With the exception of a set of end tables for our living room, which we bought from my cousin for $75) We either had everything all ready, or had it given to us. In about March of this year, we decided we were ready for a new couch. We started looking around for several weekends, and we finally picked out a cream colored sectional at Mathis Brothers. We were all ready to make this big first purchase, and they told us that couch was on backorder for like 12 weeks! We decided not to order it since it was such a long wait (which turned out to be a blessing because we needed that money later) Now that we have our finances a little more in order, we decided to look at couches again. We found one at the first store we went to, and bought our new couch!

This is just a stock photo, but it is our couch. I wasn't for sure I would be happy with a sectional, but it was our compromise. But once we got it home and all set up, I love it! We also got the ottoman, which is a little big for our living room, but we figure we will have the couch longer than we will have the house, so we are gonna keep it.

In other news, I got a ticket about 2 weeks ago for running a red light in Sapulpa. Actually, the light turned red while I was going through it, but whatev. I almost choked when I saw the fine- $244! The cop advised me to go to court, so I did this morning. The judge dismissed the ticket because of my stellar driving record and I only had to pay a $30 court fee. What a relief!

Much more fun news- Drew and I are going to Vegas next week! We fly out Tuesday morning with Drew's mom, her husband, his two sons and Drew's little brother (who turns 21 this Saturday- Uh Oh!) and fly home next Saturday. I'm looking forward to a good time and will hopefully have fun pics when I get back.

Lastly, big changes are happening tonight, but I want it to be a surprise. I'll try to take a pic and post tomorrow!

Study, Study, Study

I haven't updated in a while because my life is currently consumed with studying for the dreaded MCAT. I researched study programs and decided on ExamKrackers. It is a 10-week at home study course that is lecture style instead of just taking tons of practice tests. I study everyday of the week (well, actually I get most Sunday's off) for 2-3 hours, depeding on the material that night. It is very structured, which I like because it keeps me on track. I have not missed a day yet, and I am finishing up week 3.

On a positive note, it has been a good test to see how Drew is going to handle me studying 24/7 during medical school. Surprisingly, Drew has handled it very well. Hank, on the other hand, is not enjoying the new arrangement. He will come push the office door open and sneak over and lick my toes. Then he will put his paws on my leg and look at me really sad until I pick him up for a little while. Then when I'm not studying, he follows me around the house even more than usual, and is always wanting to sit in my lap and cuddle with me. It breaks my heart because he feels neglected :)

So that's pretty much my life right now. Work, study, pet my dog, sleep.

Shaken

Well, my dad's hearing was last Wednesday, and he said he felt like it went really well. His attorney made a statement that there was no just cause for termination. Then Friday, at 4:30pm, my father was notified that his contract with the Broken Arrow Fire Department would be terminated effective at 5:00pm. My dad lost his job.

My family is stunned and heart broken. Not only were the accusations against my dad ridiculous- the city manager said he violated policy but listed no such policies what-so-ever whereas my dad listed the specific policies that backed up his actions- but when the city manager got fired, we were given hope that the whole ordeal was almost over. My dad had city adminstrators "secretly" calling him and giving him advice and head's up on what was happening so we thought they were all on his side. Then we get with this bomb shell.

And to make matters worse, a phone call? How completely unprofessional! It is normal for a place to call you in and tell you it's not working out and give you the option to resign, but a freaking phone call saying your fired? How ridiculous is that?

To understand how heart broken we all are, you have to know my dad. He is a genuinely good person. He loves being a fireman, and his priorities have always been #1- God, #2- his family, #3- the fire department. He loved his guys and they knew it. The support he has gotten has been amazing, but it's so hurtful that the former City Manager and current acting City Manager tried to drag his name through the mud. I am so thankful that my dad is so strong and he has enough confidence to not let this get him down. He knows he didn't do anything wrong, and he said if he had to go back, he wouldn't change the decisions he made.

I think that my family is struggling because last year, when he was up for this job, my mom prayed that if it was going to lead to something bad- if he would get hurt or if he wouldn't love it there- then we didn't even want him to get offered the position. And I think that if he would have gotten "terminated" in the beginning, when this whole ordeal started 4 weeks ago, we would have handled it better. But as time went on, our hope grew that things would work out. Then Friday my dad's world fell apart.

So I'm asking for prayer for my family. Please pray that my dad will make it through this. Please pray that God will bring strength and understanding to him and my family. Please pray that God will reveal the next step to my dad. And please pray that the thruth will be revealed, that BA's mishandling of this situation will come to light, and that my dad's good name will be redeemed.

My Father

As all of you know, yesterday was Father's Day, a time to celebrate our dad's and the love and care they have given us over the years. I felt like this year was especially important in our family because of the struggles my dad has been facing over the last 3 weeks.

My dad has been a fireman for 33 years, and a fire chief for the last 15 years. He spent the first 32 of those years with the Sapulpa Fire Department, but began his journey with Broken Arrow last July when he was hired as their Chief. While it is a much different department than Sapulpa and we were all kind of sad to see him leave, he was so excited to begin a new challenge. Like in any new job, he had his struggles finding his place in this new department, but- like we knew he would- he fell in love with the job and formed strong bonds with his firemen.

There were a couple of downfalls to this new job, though. For one, it took more of his time so it seemed like we weren't seeing him as much. And his office is in City Hall, which he doesn't like because first and foremost, he's a fireman, and he wants to be in a fire station. But those are things he could learn to live with. The kicker was his relationship with the City Manager. Things were not always great between them, they had very different leadership styles and it caused some tension. But it was something my dad assumed they could work through.

Then, May 29th, the day after my dad's birthday, he received notice that he was being put on administrative leave for poor job performance. His employment status would be determined in a hearing to be held the next Wednesday. WHAT? If you have ever met my father, you would understand what an absurd accusation this is. My dad is genuinly one of the best people that I know. Well, to make a long story short, my dad's hearing has not happened yet, he is still on administrative leave and he is scheduled to meet with the City Council and others this Wednesday to defend his actions and determine his employment status. Needless to say, it has been a very trying time for our family, especially my dad.

But there has been some positives in this situation, things that I am so grateful for. The outpouring of support for my dad has been amazing. From the minute the announcement was made, and still today, people are constantly calling him to offer support. Even though he has only been in BA not quite a year, almost the whole city is routing for him. There is a pizza place that has posted flyers on every pizza box they sale that say "We Want Our Chief Back." Even the mayor calls him to say he hopes it all works out and he stays. It has been truly amazing, and made a huge difference in getting my dad through this.

So, on this Father's Day, I was reminded of how great my dad really is. He is a Christian and he raised my family in church and set the example for us. He is so generous and does anything he can to help those in need. He has an awesome sense of humor and never takes himself to seriously. He is so strong and level headed, and he always thinks things through. He loves his family and has never done anything to make any of us question that. He is a hard worker and has set a great example on finishing what you start. More than anything, he loves us.

So here's to my dad, I wouldn't be anything without you.

I Could've Died! (Well, Maybe)

My aunt is re-doing her flower beds and called me Friday to see if Drew and I wanted the plants she was taking out. Well of course we did, it's free plants! The problem was, we needed to get them in the ground soon because she had already dug them up. Which meant Saturday was "gardening" day for Drew and I.

We put in flower beds last year, but the bricks were uneven and we needed to add a lot of dirt to them. So we started Saturday by buying a trailor full of dirt. Then I drove to Tulsa to pick up the plants while Drew worked on getting the mulch out of the flower beds so that we could re-use it. When I got back to our house, my job was moving and leveling the bricks while Drew started moving the dirt. Now let me clarify something here. I don't like playing outside. I don't like getting sweaty and itchy. And I don't like dirt. So why Drew thought it was a good idea to have me help in this project is beyond me.

So picture this, I'm down on my knees moving bricks, putting dirt under them, stacking them back up, then using the level to make sure things are even. If they're not, I started over. Then there's Drew, standing in the trailor, throwing dirt, over my head, into the flower bed that I'm kneeling by. I'm immersed in a situation full of things I don't like!

Then, (here's the real drama) I'm digging along, and I see a huge black spider with red on its belly. "AAHH! DREW I THINK IT'S A BLACK WIDOW!" He, of course, doesn't believe me and takes his sweet time climbing out of the trailer to come check. He killed it then took it to the porch to look at it better. This is what we saw:

Yes, a bonified black widow in our flower beds, that may or may not have been trying to take my life (that's the drama queen in me.) Needless to say, I was pretty apprehensive about continuing my job of digging up the bricks. Drew convinced me it was a fluke thing that there was a black widow in our flower bed, and the chances of there being another one were one in a million. What do you know, about three bricks down...

Another one! One in a million chance, huh? So there's the story of how I almost died twice on Saturday. Well, kind of.

The Flea Situation

Well, here's an update on Hank's little "problem." Turns out, it's not so little. I was petting him Thursday evening, and he loves getting his belly petted. So he rolled over to indulge in that little treat, and I could see the fleas crawling all over him. I felt so bad for him, because you know that's not comfortable. And to make things worse, he is completely spoiled and basically gets all of Drew's and my attention. But when I saw how bad his fleas really were, we stuck him outside by himself until bed time, when we stuck him straight in his crate. He just cried and cried, which he hasn't done when we put him to bed since the first week we got him. It broke my heart! So Friday morning, I stuck his bed and blanket in the washing machine and left a message with our vet to call me back. Like I said before, I didn't really want to fill my house and coat my dog with chemicals, and I let the vet know that. Unfortunately for us, he said we could try all the "natural" methods we want, but the only sure fire way to get rid of the fleas, is to use a chemical area treatment on our carpets and leave the house for a few hours. He said the fleas on Hank are leaving eggs in our carpet, which are later hatching, and causing more fleas on Hank. So not matter how many times we bathe him and treat our yard, we have to do something in our home. He also said to bathe Hank everyday and vaccuum everyday (what?!?) until the problem is solved. And I hate vaccumming! But if it's what we have to do, it's what we have to do.

So Saturday, I put Hank in the backyard and vaccuummed the whole house and all the furniture Hank gets on. I also stripped all the beds and vaccuumed the mattresses. We already had plans to go to Alva on Saturday for Drew's mamaw's 80th birthday, so it was perfect timing to treat the carpets. After I got done vaccuming, I put Hank in the bath. 30 minutes later, I had a tub full of dead fleas and a very unhappy puppy dog. Once that was all said and done, Hank and I waited outside while Drew sprayed the house. My parents watched him while we were out of town. But when we picked him up last night, he was still itching. So we start the process again today. We won't spray our carpets again until next weekend, but I have to wash his bed and blanket every morning, then every evening give him a bath and vacuum. This is going to be exhausting! But, he's our baby, so he's well worth it- at least that's what I keep telling myself :)

On a much more serious note, my family is struggling with some bad news my dad received Friday (nothing to do with his health, thankfully) but I would really appreciate if our family were in your prayers in the days to come.

I hope everyone has a blessed week!

There Ain't No Bugs On Me...

Hank has fleas. I feel so bad for him, because we are trying to get rid of them, but they keep coming back. Drew put powder down in the yard, but that was before the 12 days of rain we had, so he's going to redo it this weekend. We have tried the flea medicine from the vet before- not this year, but last year- but it doesn't seem to really work because his hair is so thick. So I've been researcing "natural" ways to get of them. We used Dawn dish soap to give him a bath, which seemed to work for about 4 days. But then the fleas were back. Which make me think they are in our yard or our house. So, like I said, Drew is putting more powder down this weekend. So now I'm worried the fleas are in my house. I read that if you fill a bowl with Dawn and water, and put it under a lamp. The fleas are supposed to be attracted to heat of the lamp, which is supposed to make them jump in the water, and then the soap in the water supposedly makes it where they can't jump out, and the drown. So I set up the contraption last night in the office, where we keep Hank's crate. This morning, no fleas in the bowl. So I'm gonna try one more time in our living room, but I don't know what else to do. We don't really want to fill our house and dog with chemicals, but I don't want him to be miserable because of fleas either. Any suggestions?

Not Much of an Update

I haven't posted in a while, but I really don't have a lot to say. The only thing that has really changed in our lives is that Drew was really stressed out about a test that he had to take for work. His boss told him he had to take it in two weeks, and it is a test he normally would have spent at least a month studying for. So needless to say, he was very stressed out, and things were tense around our house for those two weeks. But, like I knew he would, he passed with flying colors. So he has now passed every major test that he needs to do his job. It was a nice confidence booster for him. He is a financial advisor, and since our economy is not at its best right now, people are not exactly rushing to invest- or buy life insurance, health insurance disability insurance, he does it all. So we have had to be careful with our finances lately, which can be a little stressful, but it's not too bad. I just continue to pray that business will pick up and he will meet new clients that can then refer him to more new clients.

As for me, I'm still on the waitlist for medical school. I have asked them to consider my application for the duel degree program, which would be an extra year, but it slows down the pace a little, and I would come out with a master's degree also. I think I should hear something about that in about two weeks or so.

So, nothing to exciting, but that's us :)

Me, Me A To Z

A: Attached or Single? Attached to my hubby of almost 2 years

B: Best Friend? It's a tie between my sister and my husband. I tell my husband just about everything, but I don't always like his advice. I also tell my sister almost everything, and she's the one I turn to when I need to vent about my husband :)

C: Cake or Pie? I think pie. Cakes okay but I don't really ever crave it or anything.

D: Day of Choice? That's a hard choice between Saturday or Sunday. Saturday I get to sleep in, but Sunday I get to go to church, and I love my church. And Sunday's are usually lazy days, which I love!

E: Essential Item? Myy dog, Hank. I couldn't live without him.

F: Favorite Color? In general, pink, but to wear, black. It's slimming :)

G: Gummy Bears or Gummy Worms? Probably Gummy Bears, but I'm not a real fan of either to tell you the truth.

H: Hometown? Glenpool, OK

I: Favorite Indulgence? A good book

J: January or July? July, especially this year because my parents are putting in a pool!

K: Kids? No thanks, not yet anyway

L: Life isn't complete without? My family, they are my rock

M: Marriage Date? June 23rd, 2007

N: Number of brothers and sisters? 1 sister and 1 brother-in-law

O: Oranges or apples? Oranges I suppose

P: Paralyzing Fears? Heights, I get nauseas when people are on tall buildings in movies even

Q: Quotes? That's what she said!

R: Reasons to smile? That this is another day, I have a job to go to and a family to come home too

S: Season of choice? Probably Fall. Not to hot, not to cold, and it's a good season to have friends over and cook out in the evenings

T: Tag 5 people?

U: Unknown fact? I talk to my dog and talk for him too. It's sad, I know.

V: Vegetable? Probably potatoes- not the best, I know. But I am branching out and I have begun to eat brocolli, asparagus, and sugar snap peas recently

W: Worst Habit? Popping my joints. Not just my fingers- my neck, my shoulders, my knees, anything that needs to pop

X: X-Ray or Ultrasound? I don't really have a preference

Y: Your favorite food? I love spaghetti!

Z: Zodiac sign? Virgo

Lead Me Lord I'll Follow

I am getting to the point where I have less and less optimism about medical school. Last night I prayed for direction. I don't know what else to do to give me that little extra push to get me accepted. It is so frustrating and the thought of having to apply again and go through another year of this makes me sick- literally, my stomach starts to cramp up. Then at about 2 o'clock this morning, I woke up with "Daystar" in my head. I haven't heard that song in forever, and to be honest, I was never really a big fan of it. But the words are perfect and I'm making it my prayer.

"Lead me Lord, I'll follow Anywhere You open up the door.
Let me know Your wisdom. Show me things I've never seen before.
Lord, I want to be Your witness. You can take what's wrong and make it right.
Daystar shine down on me Let Your love shine through me in the night."

That embodies exactly what I need and long for. I want Him to lead me in the direction I'm supposed to be going. I want to know His plan for this part of my life. If I'm not meant to be in school right now, somehow let me know so that I can have peace with it. And through it all, I want to give glory to His name. All that I have accomplished so far, and all that I will accomplish, will be through Him and I want to be a walking billboard for God's glory. So I continue to pray, hoping God will speak to me and give me a glimpse into his plan.

Great News!

This whole ordeal with my car wreck has been such an awesome reminder that God is in control. First, we took some pics of the damage to my car, so here they are.

This is my poor baby :(

A close up of where my door almost got peeled off my car!

This is a pic from the side that shows how the door was bowed out at the top. At least we got a nice little breeze while driving :)

So here's a recap- the day I got a $400 check in the mail for the wreck I was in back in December, I was in another wreck that did the damage pictured above. We tried to file with the other driver's insurance, and they told us he didn't have any. So we were devistated. My husband is a financial adviser, and lately, people aren't willing to invest- we knew we wouldn't be able to afford a car and we didn't know what we were going to do. Our answer- turn to God. Two days later, the insurance company found the other driver in their system, and the claim was filed.

So now you're up-to-date and here's the most recent news. Last Wednesday, we found out the insurance company found their client 100% at fault and I would be receiving a check for the full amount of the damages. Saturday- 1 month and 1 day since the accident- I received a check in the mail for $4089. We went looking for cars for a while, but had no luck. Yesterday was my court date for the ticket I received from the accident- I plead not guilty because the ticket was for crossing a marked no passing zone which I did not do- and I won and the whole thing was dismissed. Since we had already taken the afternoon off, Drew and I decided to go looking for cars. We drove to a small car lot/body shop outside of Sapulpa to look at a Mitshubishi Montero Sport we found online. Once we drove it, we didn't like it at all, it drove really rough. I felt like I was driving through the wilderness or something. He had another car that I liked the looks of, but looked to pricey. I thought, what the heck, we're here I might as well ask. It was a 2003 Isuzu Axiom with 56,000 miles and he was asking $6,900 but would come down to $6,500. (Two things are important here- after looking at many different cars, a 2003 with that low of miles is almost unheard of. Most of them have closer or more than 100,000 miles. Secondly, we were looking for a car around the $5-6,000 range so we wouldn't have to take out a loan.) Unfortunately, the car had a flat tire so we couldn't drive it. He told us if we wanted to come back, he could have it ready in an hour and a half or so. So we went home and did some research on the car. According to the Kelly Blue Book, it was worth $6,900 in excellent condition, $6,500 in good condition, and $5,500 in fair condition. So we printed that off and took it with us to drive the car. We drove it and loved it! It was much nicer than any other car we had looked at for that price. When we got back to his place, Drew was in bargaining mode. He showed him the print off we had, and the guy said he'd come down to $5,500. Then Drew showed him my car and asked if he would give us anything for it- but we wanted to keep the tire because they are almost brand new. Since he also runs a body shop, he said he could fix it and sell it for a pretty good price, and he would give us $1,500 for it! I almost hugged him right then and there- we were hoping for around $800-$1,000 but expecting more like $500! So of course we took it- I have a new car! Even more, there was a guy there looking at the car we had driven earlier, but when he heard what we were doing, he said he would buy mine for the $1,500 and pay the guy to fix it up- so everyone won! And, we still might get $700 more from the insurance company for renting a car for the past month. I truly believe that God orchestrated every single aspect of this whole ordeal. We have not had to spend a single dime, I got a newer nicer car than I had, and we could end up as much as $1,100 on top. Here's a pic of the new car!

We absolutely love it! And on top of everything else, this whole situation has really opened up Drew and mine's communication about God. We went to church and we both prayed, but we never really talked about God in our daily lives until all this. I cannot say I have enjoyed this whole thing- most of the time it has been a real pain- but, in the end, God proved himself once again and everything has worked out for the better.

Court Date

Today is my court date to fight the ticket I got from my wreck. I'm really nervous because even though we have a lawyer, I'm not sure she is really on my side. When I was trying to talk to her the first time, I said "There is no evidence to support the ticket, and aren't you supposed to be innocent until PROVEN guilty?" She said no and just went on asking me questions. So I'm trying to be confident, because God has definately had control over this entire situatioin thus far, but my nerves are starting to creep in. Wish me luck!

Praise God!

I talked to the insurance company, and they are paying for my car! They said I should have a check for the price of the damages in 7-10 business days! And even better, the check will be in my name, so Drew and I can choose if we want to get it fixed or use the money to get another vehicle. This is such a blessing, and it comes in perfect time. Last night, Drew and I were going over our finances and it didn't seem likely that we would be able to pay for a car right now. Since Drew is a financial advisor, things are not exactly in our favor right now, with the economy and all. But we decided to give it to God, realizing it's out of our control. Then today I find out they are paying for my car, and I found a car online that we may be able to pay cash for- meaning we wouldn't have an additional payment!

God is good!

Still Waiting...

It will be a month on Friday since my wreck, and here's what I know- nothing. Last week, the other guy's insurance company asked me to take my car to a certain body shop to get an estimate, and they will decide from there if they are going to make me an offer. I don't really understand that, are they wanting to see how much it costs first before they say yes or no? That doesn't really seem right.

The first place we took my car to said it had $4600 in damages and was $50 short of being totalled. The second place said $3800 in damages and 85% totalled. The place that the insurance company wanted to use said $4000 in damages and 95% totalled. I'm not really sure what all that means, but hopefully it's a good thing?

So basically, I'm just still waiting. That's the story of my life.

One Week Later...

Well, here's an update on the car situation. I was filling out the paperwork Monday afternoon saying I was hit by an uninsured driver and the result would be the other guy's license being suspended. I called the company he said he was insured through one more time just to double check, and they found him- he has insurance! So I filed a claim and now we just wait and see. Since we both got tickets, it is possible for the insurance companies to say the wreck was 50/50 so that neither of them have to pay anything. I know our insurance company has denied his claim, and I have no idea when we will hear from his. I asked them yesterday what the time line was, and they said they haven't been able to get a hold of their client (the guy who hit me) yet, and they can't do anything until they get his statement. I told them good luck, he doesn't seem to answer or return messages. As far as my car goes, we took it to one body shop that said it was $50 short of being totaled (and that was using some "refurbished" parts) but another said it was 85% damaged and it had to be 95% damaged to consider it totaled. But they both said once they got in there, it would probably be considered totaled. So now I'm driving my dad's truck and praying that his insurance company approves the claim and they pay for my car. We'll see!

A Cursed Friday the 13th

Where to begin? 2 months ago (December 18th to be exact) I was over at Hillcrest for new employee orientation (I had to go through orientation when I transferred). I was in the parking garage and a saw a car that was trying to turn around so I stopped. The lady was backing up, obviously in a hurry because she didn't see me in my bright yellow Nissan Xterra, so I started honking. It was no use, she backed right into me. I got out of the car and she was in a panic. She asked me if she could just give me her information and go on because she was there to see her mother who had a stroke while they were eating lunch with each other. Being the trusting, naive person that I am, I agreed. To make a long story short, she didn't have a driver's license and she was excluded from their auto insurance because of it. After a long, drawn out process of arguing with their insurance company, they agreed to pay for the damage because they were missing one form to officially exclude her as a driver. Finally! We thought the stress was over.

Fast forward to last Friday, the 13th. I had ordered Drew an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins for Valentine's Day. I went to pick it up after work, and on my way home, I was hit by a young guy pulling out of a QT parking lot. I called 911 immediately where I was transferred to the Tulsa Police Dispatcher. I sat there and let the phone ring for so long, that I hung up and called 911 again. (How sad is that? Thank God I wasn't hurt!) They finally answered and 20 minutes later, the officer arrived. As soon as he walked up, he started yelling at me because we hadn't moved our vehicles. FYI- Oklahoma now has a law that if no one is injured, you are supposed to remove your vehicles from the road. I didn't know this, and I actually thought the exact opposite, that you weren't supposed to move anything until the cops get there. So we move into the QT parking lot and each give our statements. The other guy told the officer that he had insurance, but that he didn't have it with him because he had just renewed his tag. So we both got a ticket (mine for crossing into the yellow triangle thing to get into the turn lane, his for exited the parking lot unsafely) and went on our way. Drew and I tried to call and file a claim with his insurance that evening, and they had no one on file by that name, so they said we had to have his policy number. I called him twice Friday night and twice Saturday before he called me back. When I told him what I needed, he put me on hold for 20 minutes before I finally hung up. He hasn't answered any of my called since then. So Drew and I are afraid he was lying about his insurance, and he doesn't have any. Wonderful. Literally, the day I get a check in the mail for the last wreck, I get into another with a presumably uninsured driver. The difference is, this time almost totalled my car. I'm going to get an estimate on my lunch break, then we'll see what our course of action will be.

Much less drastic, but continuing with the Friday the 13th curse- I was late for work that day because my clock reset itself to eastern pacific time and my dog ripped out his toenail and bled everywhere when I went home for lunch. Seriously, I think I might call in sick and stay in bed all day the next Friday the 13th.

Dr. Pepper Connoisseur

I love Dr. Pepper and I consider myself to be somewhat of a connoisseur. For instance, I hate Sonic's Dr. Pepper, it is never any good. But I love McDonalds Dr. Pepper, it's one of the best. I grew up drinking Dr. Pepper, but I am unsure how I found that love since no one else in my family partakes in the deliciousness. Then, my first year of college, I made the ultimate sacrifice- I gave it up (mostly because I was now on my own and it was cheaper to drink water). Without it even being the goal, I lost weight by giving up my favorite drink. I was actually the thinnest I have ever been my first year of college! But then the summer between my Junior and Senior year, I worked as a nurse aide at a hospital. Waking up at 5:30am wasn't exactly my cup of tea, and I needed a caffeine boost to get me through the day. So I rediscovered my old friend DP and have been drinking it ever since.

So now, almost 4 years later, I have begun exercising regularly because I am the heaviest I have ever been (marriage will do that to you I've heard...) I have lost a little weight, but I haven't been seeing the results I want. So I have decided to make the ultimate sacrifice once again, and give up drinking Dr. Pepper. The exception is on Friday I drive ten minutes out of my way to get a Dr. Pepper from the Glenpool Daylight Donuts. As a Dr. Pepper connoisseur, I can tell you with confidence that the Glenpool Daylight Donuts has THE BEST Dr. Pepper. So all week I have been drinking water or diet coke. Until today. I woke up early and made the drive to Glenpool to buy my Dr. Pepper. I have savored every drop and I look forward to next Friday when I get to "sin" again.

Waitlist Again

I finally got my letter from OSU yesterday, and I'm on the waitlist again. Which isn't totally a terrible thing, it's just no fun anticipating a phone call every single day for the next 7 months. But I've already started calling people and making more contacts that can hopefully write me letters or put in a call on my behalf, so maybe that will help.

As for the MCAT, who knows. I took it, and I did feel like I made some educated guesses :) It takes 30 days to get my scores back so I won't know for a while. Ideally, I will have knocked the MCAT out of the park and OSU will be beating my door down to get me in once they receive my scores. A girl can dream right?

Slowly Going Crazy...

Ah! My medical school interview was a little over two weeks ago, and I still haven't heard anything! So that probably means I am either on the waitlist again, or I'm receiving a letter of reapplication. So that means not only am I going crazy right now waiting on the letter, but I probably will be going crazy for the next 8 months if I'm put on the waitlist again. Oh the torture!

On top of that, I'm taking the MCAT tomorrow. It's like 6 straight hours of having your teeth drilled on- yes, it's that bad. I'm starting to wonder why in the world I put myself through all this...

Tag!

Here are the instructions: Go to the place where you store all of your pictures on your computer and open up the 4th folder. Open the 4th picture. Post the picture and give an explanation. Tag 4 people!

The fourth folder in my pictures is "College Days", if that tells you anything. I think this is New Year's Eve at a friend's house in Ada, and we were playing some game. But there's a Christmas tree in the pic, so maybe it was before a Chi O formal. I don't remember :)

A Day in History

I am so proud to have witnessed a day in history yesterday as our country inaugurated its first black president. Whether or not you like him, support him, or voted for him, you have to realize the significance of this day. May 17th, 1954 gave us Brown vs Board of Education- a monumental Supreme Court ruling that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." December 1st, 1955 is the day documented for when Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus. A mere 55 years ago, black people were considered unequal and inferior, and yesterday a black man became president of the greatest country in the world.

As I watched President Obama take his oath and deliver his first speech as the leader of the free world, I felt my eyes start to water a little. My emotions weren't because of his words, but from the pride I felt at that moment- pride in my country for moving forward and seeing Barack Obama not as a black man, but as a potential leader for our country. And I was reminded that if the Democratic nominee had not been a black man, it would have been a women- another first for our country.

So as we move forward, making history as we go, I have more pride for my country than I ever have before. And I pray for the success of our new government, lead by President Barack Obama, because our success depends on it.

Third Time's A Charm?

Well, I had my interview last week for medical school. I wasn't very nervous, mostly anxious, and I felt like it went pretty well. But I thought I did fine the last two years also, so who knows. I should have one of three letter delivered- hopefully- by next Friday. I will either receive a letter of reapplication (their nice way of saying thanks but no thanks), a letter putting me on the waitlist (again), or a letter of acceptance- which is the only one delivered by UPS. So pray that that big brown truck shoes up at my house sometime in the next two weeks :)

In Case You Were Wondering

These are the shoes that have caused all the drama :)

Big Time Stress...

Lately, a pair of brown suede Puma's have been the center of all of my focus. Odd, I know, but here's the story. I got the brown suede Puma's from my sister for Christmas, and I was so stoked because I had been wanting them for a month. The thing is, they were a size too small. So the Saturday after Christmas, I took them back to trade them for the bigger size. Well, they are a discontinued style and FinishLine didn't have them in store anymore. So they told me to return them and they would give me a gift card that I could take home and use to order the shoes from the FinishLine website. As luck would have it, I got home and I could not order the shoes online. When I went back into the store, they had sold mine. So I was ticked. To make a long story short, I got the store manager involved, threw a fit, and my shoes were supposed to be in last week. As of Saturday, I still hadn't received a call to alert me that my shoes were in. So I called FinishLine and they told me they were there. Yay! So yesterday I went during my lunch hour to go pick up my shoes. Surprise, surprise, they weren't there. After once again calling on the store manager, he discovered that the store in Arkansas that was supposed to be sending them to Tulsa for me, never shipped them. My shoes were still sitting in the back room, waiting to be united with their new owner. He relayed my anger onto the store manager there, and they were supposed to be in the mail that day to arrive in Tulsa no later then tomorrow. Ha, we'll see.

So, needless to say, I was not very happy as I hustled back across town to be at work before my hour was up. Then I felt my phone vibrate. It was a voice message (I don't know how I missed the call) from OSU asking me to call them back. When I did, they told me there was a cancellation in their interview schedule for tomorrow, could I come? OF COURSE I CAN! This is my life, my future, and I will do whatever it takes to be there! Luckily, my boss is super understanding and let me off with only 2 days notice. Then I went last night and bought a new black suit with a royal blue shirt to go with it. Then I bought some smokin' hot blue high heels to top it all off! So tonight I have to prepare myself for the interview and hopefully tomorrow will be a success!

It is all very exciting, but stressful too. So please send your prayers my way, and I'll give you a discount someday at my practice :)

Catching Up On Christmas...

Whew, life has finally slowed down from the busy holiday season. In addition to starting a new job- which I love!- the Hayden's schedule was packed full of family festivities. The weekend before Christmas, we had dinner with my mom's family. That group consists of my grandparents, their 4 kids and spouses, 11 grandkids, and 3 great grandkids- so needless to say, we had a full house. Then Monday night, we went with my mom, dad, and sister to Muskogee. It is a long-standing family tradition to eat at El Chico's and drive through Honor Heights Park to see all the Christmas lights. A few years ago we added the Castle's inflatible tour too. We always have a lot of fun doing that. (Except Drew, who could do without the singing of Christmas carols the whole frive there and back!) I had to work a half day on Wednesday, and when I got off work we made the 3 hour drive to see Drew's dad's family in Wichita, Kansas. We ate dinner with most of his family Christmas eve and opened presents with his dad and brother Christmas morning. Then we ate lunch at another aunt's house and headed home about 5pm or so. I had to work again on Friday and we spent Friday evening opening presents with my mom and dad. We spent the evening over there eating dinner, opening presents, and watching Fred Clause (which I loved!) Saturday was spent having Christmas with my dad's equally large family (my grandparents, their 4 kids and spouses, 20 grandkids, 6 great grandkids) eating, playing dirty santa, and playing games. All of the cousins are right around the same age, so we always have a really good time (especially when the wine starts flowing!) Then on Sunday, Drew and I drove to Oklahoma City for his mom's family festivities. We played Dirty Santa at his aunt's house and spent the afternoon catching up with his family. Then we had his cousin's wedding reception at 7pm at a Brazilian restaurant downtown. We didn't get home till almost midnight, just to start another week. We had a lot of fun and got a lot of good presents, but I'm glad the business has subsided.