.twenty nine.

Today marked the first day of my last year in my 20's.

The big 2-9.

The day started early. Hubs and I were up and ready to go by 7 am.

Upon getting in the truck, I was informed I had a day of choices ahead of me.

I first had to decide between Cracker Barrel and Village Inn for breakfast.

I chose Village Inn.

He ordered pancakes. I ordered French Toast.

The day could've ended right there and it would have been considered celebrated, in my book.

After breakfast, we got back in the truck and I was given my next set of choices.

Spend the day in Eureka Springs or Tulsa.

It was tough, but I chose Tulsa.

On the way there, hubs told me to open the glove box.

Two new cd's for me. I was told to choose which one to listen to.

Surprisingly, I handled the pressure of these insanely tough decisions with calmness.

Matt Redman for the ride up. Aaron Shust for the drive home.

So we got to Tulsa.

And we shopped. One big flea market and a couple of big malls.

J Crew, Anthropologie, Fossil.

Ooh...pretties. I'll have, like, ten of everything, K?

We had planned to eat an early dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, but after a few Facebook recommendations from friends to eat at a Mexican restaurant called Ted's, we decided to go that route.

It was da bomb.

Now we are home, and we are tired.

The expected end result after a fun-packed day.

Thankful to my Lord and Saviour from whom all blessings flow.

This was definitely a birthday to remember.

.praising God in this storm.

The past few weeks have been stressful, but they are looking up.  I'm thankful I can say that. So very thankful.

Two weeks ago, I called my mom on a Thursday morning to see if she wanted to go thrifting. My Dad answered the phone and told me he wasn't feeling too good. My mom was in the background telling me to tell him to go to the ER.  I drove over to their place and by the time I got there, Daddy had decided he'd go in.

For the past 6 hours, he had not been able to stand up without almost passing out. He was weak, dizzy and scared. His worry-wart tendencies were amplified.

I drove my parents to the hospital, and thankfully they saw him quickly. After he was given a rectal exam and it was discovered that he was bleeding, the doctor determined he might have a bleeding ulcer.

A while later, he was taken for an endoscopy. The doctor came out to my mom, brother and me in the waiting room and informed us that he had found a mass in my dad's stomach. It was hard to tell just how big the mass was or whether or not there were in fact any ulcers because there was still quite a bit of food in my dad's stomach. They determined they would put my dad on a no-food diet and try again tomorrow.

In the mean time, my dad's blood level (hemoglobin count) had dropped from a normal 13 to a 7 (or 8; I can't remember which). He was started on a string of multiple blood transfusions.

In the middle of the night, 2:30 am, to be exact, my mom called me crying and said, "Martha, your dad is acting really strange and I don't know what's going on. There are a bunch of people in here. You might want to come down here to the hospital."

I got so scared, jumped out of bed and threw on some clothes. Just as I was about to leave, my mom called again and said not to worry, that he was better. He had sat up too quickly and almost passed out. His heart rate had gotten extremely high and his blood pressure had dropped at the same time. She assured me he was was ok, but I still drove to my brother's house to spend the rest of the night. My brother only lives about 5 minutes from the hospital, and my house is more like 25 minutes away. I wanted to be close in case my mom had to call again. I didn't get much sleep after that, but thankfully she never called again.

The next day, my dad had his second endoscopy. This one took about twice as long as the first one did. The doctor told us afterwards that the mass was about the size of a golf ball and firm as could be. It had a very small ulcerated area on it, which had been the source of my dad's blood loss. The doctor cauterized that spot to stop the bleeding then tried to lasso the mass in half to remove it. This is when he found out just how firm the thing was and that it was not going to budge for him. So the doctor settled for some biopsies. He reassured us that the appearance of the mass was very smooth, which led him to believe it was benign. Still, there was a lot of old blood in my dad's stomach which means he had been slowly losing blood for who knows how long.

My dad was in the hospital until Sunday morning. He had a total of five transfusions up to that point.

The next Wednesday, I went with my parents for the follow-up doctor appointment to get the biopsy results. My dad was still super light-headed and weak and couldn't walk down the hall without needing to sit down. They drew blood again to check his levels and we got the confirmed news from the doctor that the tumor was in fact benign, but he still wanted it removed for further testing.

The next day, my parents got a call that my dad's blood count had dropped again and that he needed to come in for two more units of blood.  He was in the hospital for another 24 hours or so then released.

This is where we are now. We are so grateful to God that my dad's tumor is benign. His blood count seems to finally be stabilized, and we are simply waiting to hear from the doctor about when my dad will be admitted again to have the mass removed.

Praying all goes well during and after that and that the Lord continues to bless us as He has been throughout this whole process. It broke my heart to see my parents suffering, but my love and admiration for them both has grown so much throughout all of this. My dad is so kind to all the nurses and keeps them laughing. He has kept a positive attitude throughout it all and my mom has stuck by his side every night he's had to stay in the hospital. I'm seeing a change in my dad; he is realizing all he has been taking for granted and wanting to live life more.

I do believe the trials we go through here on Earth bring us closer to God, allow our faith to be strengthened, and teach us to view life in a way we never would have before.

Trials ultimately give us a chance to praise God in the midst of a storm. What an amazing way to worship.

.the day i did everything.

Ok, so maybe I didn't do everything.

But I did do...a dang lot.

That would be my newly organized linen closet. Yes, it's the best it has ever looked.

I discovered I have:

+ mismatched towels

+ a lot of spare pillows (this is after getting rid of two)

+ a lot of vintage linens (yay!)

+ an odd attachment to old comforter sets that I know I'll never use again but can't get rid of.

 I also tackled the monstrosity that was my guest bedroom/craft room.

My sister is visiting in a couple of weeks, so I had to get this room freshened (and straightened) up!

I used my IKEA Ofelia Vass duvet set along with mismatched vintage linens on the bed.

And THEN, as if all that wasn't enough, I organized my closet.

Which included packing away my winter clothes...

I spent about two hours on this beast.

Left = Before
Right = After

I'm tired.

.do something you love.

Been thinking lately how blessed I am to have a job I love. Working with little kids brings a sense of fulfillment and purpose that no other career could ever give me.

And I've worked jobs that did not give me such fulfillment; in fact, they made me feel the exact opposite. Anxiety. Dread.

Yuck.

When I think back to the three most awful, dreadful days of my past working career, I immediately relive all the horror that came from being a...

Front Desk Receptionist at a Commercial Real Estate Agency.

Ew. I shiver in disgust.

If this is your position, I give you kudos, props and all sorts of virtual admiration.

I didn't cut it in the world of fast money, fake cheerfulness and high rollers.

My future was defined by the 3-day stint from Heck.

And I went running back to the chilluns just as quickly as I could.

And never looked back.

We've all had jobs we hated. Some of us aren't so lucky to escape so quickly, some not so blessed to have found their heart's desire.

I thank the Lord He led me to mine.

And I thank him for the jobs I worked that left me feeling sick and tired in the evening because they help feed my appreciation for the good stuff.

.summer bucket list.

.i hate goodbyes.

Back tracking just a week or so, I'd like to recap a few special things have happened.

Last Friday evening, hubs and I met up with his parents at a baseball game. Before the game, Bebo Norman gave a live show which was awesome, then we got to meet him. He was a genuinely nice guy. It's always fun to meet someone you've been listening to on the radio.

At the game, since Mother's Day was 2 days away, we gave my mother-in-law her gift. I took a slight risk this year and got her a Razorback necklace and a skinny-banded zebra-print wrap watch. She ended up loving both things, especially the watch, which was the item I wasn't sure if she would love or not. Score for me!

We spent the actual Mother's Day with my family. After church, we headed to my brother's house for a cookout. We had grilled chicken, potato salad and strawberry shortcake. We celebrated my mom and sister-in-law. My nephew was the star of the show once he woke up from his nap. I can't get over how happy of a baby he is. He just lights up a room. I was thankful for the family time.

After the cookout, my husband took me home and put me to work. We've lived in our house for almost 3 years and finally, on Mother's Day, tackled the eyesore that was our front flower bed.  We spent almost 5 hours outside pulling weeds, leveling dirt, adding soil, laying that tarp stuff, planting shrubs, and adding mulch. My husband did most of the hard labor, but I helped when I could. It was good quality time together. We had the radio playing while we worked, and when it was finally all finished, we gave each other high fives and felt super proud of ourselves. Here is a before and after of our flower bed:

And finally, the reason I titled this post: "I Hate Goodbyes." It was our last day of school today. :-(

I remember posting about this last year, talking about how sad I was to say goodbye to my kids. This year is no different. It's just part of being a teacher. You fall in love a little more each day, let them run you ragged, get frazzled and long for Summer break to arrive. Then the day comes and you say goodbye to each sweet child, clean an empty classroom, drive home in silence with each of their little faces in your mind, and cry because you wish you could have just one more day with them. One more day as their teacher. One more day to pour love and encouragement into their hearts and minds, to make them realize how important they are. One more day to laugh and be silly with them. One more hug. One more kiss.

I will be ok, and even though I will miss them for a long time, next year will come and I will fall in love all over again. I've learned from being a teacher, that there's endless room in my heart for each and every child I teach. I've also learned that my teaching style is both nurturing and silly. I love to love, and I love to jump right in there with them and play, play, play. This week, I dressed crazy for Wacky Wednesday and enjoyed a bounce house with the kids. Behold, silly Miss Marfa:

.kansas city 2012.

This year marked our 6th annual trip to Kansas City with our friends Aaron and Sarah.

We started out bright and early Friday morning with breakfast at a local donut shop before hitting the road. Road trips are a blast with Aaron and Sarah. We laugh, talk, and may or may not have listened to an audio exert from 50 Shades of Gray. 

Once we arrived, we hit the mall running. Well, it was pretty hot, so we didn't run. The boys went to Dick's Sporting Goods while Sarah and I hit up Marshall's and a Vintage Market. All four of us ended up getting a little somethin-somethin, and by that point we were starving, so we headed to lunch at Granite City. After a yummy meal, we connected the GPS again and went on a flea market-finding adventure. We ended up in a super cool part of KC, full of old, tall, brick, industrial-looking buildings with floor upon floor of different flea markets inside. What these unique shops lacked in air conditioning, they made up for with character. 

We spent a few hours in amazement of what surprises lay inside of these old brick buildings, including one of those really old crank elevator shafts. 

Then we checked into our hotel, quickly changed into our game gear, and headed to Kauffman Stadium to watch the Royals play the Yankees.

Obviously, we were there to cheer for the Royals. Unfortunately, victory was New York's Friday night, but we still had so much fun. After the game, we had frozen custard from Sheridan's before turning in at the hotel for the night. Needless to say, my calorie count for this whole trip was astronomical, but that's what vacation is for!

Saturday morning, we slept in just a tad then headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, as is tradition for our KC trips.

Fast forward almost 1000 calories later, and we are at the KC Zoo.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we experienced it, but this zoo was not my fave. Number one, it was hot, so the animals were not doing a dadgum thing. Number two, everything was so spread out and the displays, in my opinion, were not so great. Either the animals were really far away or there was a huge fence, discouraging quality pictures from being made.

After the zoo, we stopped for gas in an undesirable area and were very thankful to get away with our lives.

After that excitement, we found a cool flea market-type place for the guys called The Man Cave. It was full of sports memorabilia and the such. We then headed to the Super Flea because it has good reviews online, but upon arrival, I began to question our judgment. Oddest.Place.Ever. Janky is a good word for it. Again, I was thankful to walk away with my life.

We celebrated our lives by having a delicious meal at Logan's Steakhouse then heading to game two of the Royals vs. Yankees. KC won this one. Where we were sitting, we were surrounded by cussers and thieves. Yes, thieves. The guys behind Aaron reached under his seat and stole the bat he was given free upon entering the stadium. 

We all wore custom t-shirts to this game, compliments of my Silhouette Cameo and freezer paper. Hotcakes and Syrup are our (the girls) KC alter egos. 

After the game, we went back to the hotel and hung out in the lobby for a while before turning in for our last night in KC.

This morning, we woke up, enjoyed the stellar (free) breakfast at our awesome hotel. Shout out to Embassy Suites in Overland Park! Not even exaggerating. The.best.custom.omelets. I.ate.everything.

Sarah and I slept most of the way home while the boys talked sports in the front seat.

Once we got back, we had to go straight to my in-laws' house to pick up the pug. Let me tell you, hubs and I just thought we had had a vacation. The fun we had was nothing compared to the fun our pug had at his g-parents' house! He ate hot dogs and pizza, drank ice water, and went everywhere they went, including yard sales and on multiple walks a day. He got to ride in the back of their truck and go to the park. There's no doubt in my mind he thought he had died and gone to pug heaven. I'm pretty sure he's depressed now that he's back home with us.

We need to step it up as pug parents.

Kansas City. 2012. That's a wrap.