Headin' for the Islands!

I will be taking a short leave of absence from the blogging world - Aaron and I are headed for the Cayman Islands for a week!! Whoo hoo! It's actually not a "vacation" per se, but we definitely plan on enjoying as much of it as we can. The actual purpose of our trip is to hold a revival for a church over there. Mark and Kristin F. are going too and the four of us are responsible for all the music (specials, song leading, piano, etc.) and Jack H. is going to do the preaching. We have a great team and are all very excited about this incredible opportunity. Since we have to leave campus in about 6 short hours from now, I better get some much needed sleep! This is the picture we had someone snap to send to the people there.

I had this picture saved as "Herring and Foster" - I told Aaron it sounded like a line of clothing. He said it sounded more like a mattress company. I'm not sure which one is worse! :-)

Homearama!

Wow! What an incredible way to spend an evening - touring 10 homes featured in this year's Homearama - all valued at over $1 million! It was staggering - almost overwhelming - to see all this fancy stuff. I am definitely a country girl and definitely prefer the simple life; but, it was really neat to see how people decorated these homes and get a glimpse of life on the "other side of the tracks"! :-) Really, it is cool to see and to get ideas of colors, layout, and arrangements. (I thought of you, Martha C.) We had a great time with Mark and Kristin. Here are a few of my favorites.

Absolutely beautiful! I love the piano and the way the curtains hang.

This massive aquarium was. . . in the bathroom! Yes - right above a jacuzzi! I guess it would give you something to watch while you were relaxing! :-)

I thought this was such a neat idea! These mailboxes were next to the garage door and had each family member's name on the front. Very cute!
There were so many adorable kids' rooms! Really neat themes and colors.

I got kind of carried away taking so many pictures, but if you'd like to see more, click below. Enjoy!

Homearama

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the best dads ever:
Larry Englund and Darrel Herring!

Happy Birthday to Drew!

Happy 11th Birthday to my nephew, Andrew Englund! It's so hard to believe he is already 11 years old!

Drew is such a "little Jeff" - especially with this grin. :-)

I was going through some old pictures and thought this one was so cute! They are both Drew (Drew Englund with Drew Rehfeldt, a cousin) and both had on overalls. This was taken in 2000 at Kendall's graduation from Police Cadets.

Almost out of the woods...

It is so good to be home! The hospital is a wonderful place to be when you are sick, and very sick I was. My ulcerative colitis flared up again, which landed me in the hospital for a 4-day hospital stay. I am slowing regaining strength and gaining an appetite,which are wonderful things. I am tired of chicken broth, beef broth, mac and cheese, potato soup and other bland things. However, I am so grateful that I could eat even those things. I can't wait to be back to "normal" (whatever that is) and be able to read, study, work, do laundry, and clean house again. I have seen more doctors and PAs in the last week (I think I counted 17 total). They were all so nice and have given me a list of prescriptions a mile long that should get me going again.

One thing I really didn't care for while being hospitalized is the comments they made before drawing my blood. These 5 statements below were really told to me while I was in the hospital. I do not understand why they say things. For all you medical people out there, please remember to be a little more sensitive to your patients – especially things they have no control over, like the size of their veins!

Five things you should NEVER tell a patient before drawing blood:

1. “Your veins are SO small!” Thank you – I asked for small veins you do realize.
2. After much patting and tapping around on both of my arms, “I’ll give it a try, but I sure don’t know about this.” Now those are encouraging words!
3. “Girl, you have got to get re-hydrated so we can find your veins!” That IS one reason I am in this hospital bed – I didn’t choose to be dehydrated!
4. “I can’t seem to find any veins at all. I hate to do this to you, but I’m going to have to stick you right where they just took your IV out.” Great – go right ahead. Stick me wherever you want. At this point – it doesn’t matter.
5. “You know what, for some reason your blood just stopped. I am so sorry, but I’m going to have to try sticking you in a new place.” Just great – thank you for telling me that my blood has stopped flowing. That really makes me feel better. Is death on the horizon since no blood is flowing?

Despite the "vein issues" and bruised arms, I did have really nice people that took care of me and lots of friends/family that came to see me and/or sent flowers. Most of all, thanks to everyone for praying for me. That meant the most. The flowers and cards make my mantel at home a cheery place to look.