Compassion

This is Shabani Amani Shabani. He has AIDS. He lives in Tanzania (home to Mount Kilimanjaro). His birthday is December 31, 2004.

Casey and I have adopted him through Compassion International.

We wanted to adopt all of the kids. No joke. We absolutely did. Some of them have been waiting nearly a year for sponsorship. This breaks my heart into pieces.

But for now, we'll just start with one. And Shabani just "spoke" to us. What a precious little soul. I want to give him the biggest hug. And make him cookies and lemonade to have after soccer games with his friends.  They told us he likes soccer, playing with cars, and hide-and-seek. How cute!

We think his name sounds a little like Chobani. We like that.One of his chores for his family is to tote water.

When Compassion sent us the info packet on Shabani, they also sent a bookmark with his picture and a list of 31 things to pray for for him--one for each day of the month. I love that. His darling little picture is hanging on our fridge.

1 John 5:14
"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us."

My terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day...

Did I get that right? You remember that book from when you were little, right? Now I want to go search the internet real quick. I'll be right back...

Okay, I'm here. This book:

Don't actually click to look inside. That was part of the image that I copied.

Anyhow, I feel like that's how my day was today. Unfortunately, it seems like I have these days once a month.

Since March just started, here's to hoping that this is my one time for March.

I have a corneal abrasion AGAIN (Casey didn't know exactly what he was getting into when he vowed "in sickness and in health" huh?). I know the exact symptoms now and can diagnose myself. I'm not even kidding. Extreme sensitivity to light, teary, red, pain (like sandpaper-slash-shards-of-glass-in-your-eye pain), blurred vision, sensitivity to focusing.

It's these terrible Acuvue Oasis contacts. Ever since I was prescribed them last December, I've had this happen every couple months. Thankfully I have some antibiotic drops leftover from last time I'm using. The last two times have been the worst. I'm done with these contacts after this. Eye appointment scheduled. Some trash tossing will happen. I refused to go before since I still have some unopened pairs. Contacts are so expensive. But I guess I'd rather dish on some new contacts than lose my eyeball. Sigh. This is me giving in. I've been wearing contacts since I was 14 and have never had the problems I've had in the last year with these Acuvue Oasis.  Consider this your warning: Do not let them suck you in.

I actually curled up under my desk, with my jacket as a pillow, to close my eyes and just be. Darkness and closed eyes is relief. Driving is killer on my eyes. When it's light out, the sun is brutal. When it's dark out, other cars' headlights coming at me or in my rear view mirror are blinding. I literally cannot keep my eyes open, they automatically start to close because of the pain it causes.

Aside from that, I dripped coffee on my white tank top. Yes, the tiny, little bit peeking out from under my purple sweater. Shout stick, where are you? And I dropped a tomato on my freshly washed and ironed pants. Portable tide pen?

That's not even the worst of it. Lately, (because of our super long days at work) I've been waking up earlier than the birds to come to work to run or bike then shower then I'm already at work sans traffic. So I have to pack my little bag for work. Well, today, today I forgot a bra. One of the most important necessities in a girl's wardrobe if she has any God given extras is a bra. It's funny (not funny-ha-ha, but funny-ironic) because last night I was packing my bag, and I told Casey that I better go iron my pants so I don't forget to add them to my bag. I said it would be the most terrible thing to not have any pants. WRONG. A bra is probably the most terrible thing to forget. Especially since I don't exactly have a set of A's on me. I totally ate my words. What's funnier is that last night when I took it off, I said to myself, "Do not forget to put this in your bag...that's why you're taking it off right now because if you don't, you'll put it right back in your drawer at bedtime." I should've just packed a different one when I was getting all my things ready for work today, but no, I apparently had to have that one. The one that is still sitting in my drawer at home right now.

I've forgotten socks before. A sports bra. Underwear. A camisole to go under a shirt (thankfully, not a completely sheer one). But never a bra. Honestly, I'm kinda surprised, I guess.

I was devastated. I wore my jacket all over until I could go out and buy one. Remember how painful driving is? Yeah, I basically drove to Carolina Mall with my eyes closed.

Who knew Kannapolis would have a Victoria's Secret though? Thank you! I've been meaning to get another from VS anyhow...not exactly in this month's budget.  Oh well, I guess it is now! Thank you for VS-bra-fitting-consultant for helping me find the perfect one months and months ago. I marched right in and said exactly what I want. Style. Size. Color. They had one left. One. Again, thank you, God.

On the bright side, I feel like a million bucks. Except for my eye, of course. There is nothing like a new bra!

Thank you, God, for the last dark nude Dream Angels Demi Lace bra in a 30-something-something-something. Thank you, God, for prompting me to bring my jacket to work today. Thank you, God, for no scheduled meetings today (one of the only days all week). Thank you, God, for Victoria's Secret. Thank you, God, for extra money this month to allow me to purchase this. Thank you, God, for watching over my car as I drove blindly to the mall.

Oh, and thank you, thank you for leftover Cipro Eye Drops that have not expired. Yay.

Thank you, God, for the not so fabulous days, to remind me to be thankful for the good days.

Despite all the troubles today, thank you, God, for being God and for knowing exactly what I can handle.

I Corinthians 10:13 


No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 

Update!

And it's our puppy picture from this week!

It's crazy how much bigger Boone is! We thinks Brooks will grow like a weed this week.

They are so precious. We love them so much already.

Walmart.

One of the reasons Wal-Mart is so fun is because you often leave with at least one item that wasn't on your list.

Casey and I went on Saturday to buy the rest of the items for our puppy first aid kit. It was a successful trip.

Other miscellaneous things we got:

Jumbo size box of oatmeal packets, a super cute shirt, wine, face masks, and new loofahs.

This is the first time we've ever had separate loofahs. It's strange. To go in the shower and see two loofahs. We like sharing things. These are called gumdrop sponges. How fun!

Here are the face masks. We all did one last night. We got five cause we just could not pick while we were in Wal-Mart. Talk about intense life decision. Plus we didn't know which one Kate would be in the mood for. Now there's two extra for Casey and I to do one more!

Cool flavors, huh? I used the pineapple revitalizing one, Kate opted for the stress-relieving deep sea mask, and Casey picked the cucumber peel. I, truthfully, think I could've benefited from all of them. Layer up? Quintuple the effectiveness? Who knows. Yay for fresh faces.

Rum is Fun

These pictures are for Sal Blair, Casey Krasen, and Katie Lambeth.

They'll understand.

Before:

And after:

Hahaha. It's funny, trust me.

Book Review

Here's what happens to me when I don't have my nook.

I had to concoct a contraption to keep my paperback book open while I'm working out. It works best on the elliptical or biking because I can still put my finger on the page if I need to. Not so much while I'm running. I use my arms when I run. So I try to fashion a towel or water bottle across the pages to weigh them down so they don't fly up and make me lose my spot. I only get about 5 pages read on the treadmill. So here's the method to my madness. You'll notice my thumb in both pictures. I tried to document that the ink died (Or dyed? That's terrible--did I make it past the first grade?) all my fingers because I was sweating.

I miss my nook. Kate is borrowing it to read a couple books I have on there. Plus this Mitch Rapp series I'm reading by Vince Flynn is the bomb. I highly reccomend them. I only had 3 of them on the nook. Dad has the rest in paper back, so I didn't want to waste money by purchasing them again. Instead I borrow his. Library of Dad.

This is what I'm left with.

I'm not a complete diva though because at least I can recognize not buying something merely for convenience. It does not mean I can't enjoy my nook when I do have it, right?! 

The craziest thing is that I never used to read while I ran. The idea would have flabbergasted me. Just silly. But this series is just too good. Promise. Mitch is part spy-part BA-part hottie-part awesome-part Ironman winner-part everything. He's like a real life action figure. Besides I totally feel like I'm on the up and up with the inner workings of the CIA now. Go to your nearest amazon.com or Barnes and Noble or public library and start reading this series ASAP. You will not regret it.

Look!

I told Casey the other day after a Wal-Mart trip for groceries, "I think every time I go out, I end up buying something for the girls"...as I whipped another dog toy out of the bag. I wasn't even shopping for dog stuff. I went for groceries, and for whatever reason, found myself on the other side of the store on the dog aisle. It's a mystery to me too. My justification is that this toy is one they can play tug of war with...so they can play together! How cute. Well, I'm sure they'll play tug of war with plenty of the other toys too. But still. That was my reasoning.

Anyhow, this purchase that I'm about to show you was one-part-whim to three-parts-planned.

This (see below) is what we bought. This was also our first thought when we saw it, "That is so terrible. Who would put that on their wall?" Then the more I looked at it, the cuter I thought it was. What an adorable idea for a leash/harness holder! I want one! That's the spontaneous part. And of course, Casey was on board. The planning parts came into play when it took us (or maybe me...cause I want it all to be just right) a week to pick out which design we wanted and what color tooshies we wanted. We went simplistic, although a huge part of me wanted some funky, colorful design since it's by our back door and doesn't interfere with the rest of the house decor. Instead we went this route:

(tough to tell because the lighting was really poor at 10 pm, but the frame is cream,

the backdrop is black and cream diamonds, and the tails are obviously blue)

Let me just say, we are so pleased with our selection! How cute. The kicker? The scrabble letters at the top! "WOOF"...you want one now too, don't you?

And here it is on our wall.

And now with full paraphanelia (leash x2, harnesses, and pup name tags).

Please visit Aplomb Designs to buy one of your very own! 5 star ratings over here. She was so nice and efficient. We literally got ours in just two days. Two days, ladies and gents. Talk about customer service.

Two thumbs up for sure.

P.S. On the above mentioned trip to Wal-Mart is when I found out that they will not do puppy portraits. Who in their right mind would not want to photograph two of the most adorable puppies on this earth? I'm devastated. Does anyone know of a place who will do a puppy photo sesh?? For kinda cheap?

Scene: Kate, Casey, and I were looking at facebook.
Me: What! People get postcards made to mail out to announce that they are having a baby?? Casey, we're going to have a lot to live up to by the time we get around to that...I mean, people spend money on the dumbest stuff these days. 
Katie and Casey: (laughing)
Me: Oh, I guess I shouldn't say that considering I just finished talking about having the girls' pictures taken by a professional.