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.

Happy 8th Grade Graduation!

Happy 8th Grade Graduation to my brother-in-law, Cameron! He graduated from Union Bible Academy on May 17 (yes, I'm a little behind in blogging).

This grin means, "I'll be glad when this is over." :-)

Brothers forever.

The Herring clan.

Just like his brother, Cameron is a huge Reds fan!

The waitress in Steak 'n Shake couldn't believe Cameron was graduating from the 8th grade! She thought he was much older. :-)

Camen's Birthday Party

We celebrated Camen's 1st birthday with a party at Jeff and Vicki's last Saturday. Here's a few pics of the fun!

King Camen - I think he knew he was the star of the day!

His crown was just slightly too big! :-)

Drew had to old his arms down because he kept reaching for the flaming candle! He was fascinated by it.

He first birthday cake was an ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery.

Yep! I think he liked it!! This must be what they call finger-lickin' good!
I love this picture. Why not dig in?! After all, it is HIS birthday!

Happy Brithday, Camen!

Happy 1st Birthday to my nephew, Camen!

One year ago today - Kaley, Drew, and Caleb holding their new brother for the very first time in the hospital.

One week old in this picture.

. . . and now he's 1!

Personality Test - what are you?

I am very fascinated by people's personalities, and I love learning about why people behave the way they do. In fact, the class I'm taking right now is Organizational Behavior. Our first assignment was to take this personality test and then to write a 4-page paper on what we learned about ourselves and how we interact with others. It's the most amazing thing ever. I couldn't believe what the results said. I had Aaron take it and it read him like a book! :-) When he read my results, he kept saying, "Uh, huh - that's YOU!"

When we were at Kendall and Leanna's last weekend, everyone there took it too. It was really neat to see how different we all are. So, by popular demand, I am blogging this personality test for the enjoyment of all of you. Take it and see what your family says. It really is amazing how much this 72-question test can discover about you.

Go to this link to take the test and write down your four-letter type: www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp.

After you take the test, visit this web page to learn about what you are: www.personalitypage.com. Underneath the heading "The Personality Page" you will see a row of buttons. Click on the "portrait" button, which is the 5th button over and has a picture of a man on it. Click on your 4 letter type and this will give you a summary of your personality type. Another interesting button is the one with arrows on it. This will give you possible career choices.

I am ENFJ. What are you?

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to the very best mothers -
Paula Englund and Shirley Herring.

Aaron and I are so blessed!

Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,
Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,
Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,
But only one mother the wide world over.
~George Cooper

Happy Birthday, Leanna!

Happy 24th Birthday to Leanna!
(one day late)

Hope you had a really special day!

Congrats to Leanna!

Congratulations to my sister-in-law, Leanna Englund, on earning her bachelors degree in nursing! She graduated last Saturday from Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. We had a great time and were so glad we were able to go.

Kendall and Leanna

The Englund side.

The Lambeth side.

And a party is not complete without a special cake!

Talking and eating like someone is going to take our plate away!

Camen loved his makeshift "bathtub" and didn't want to get out.
(We stayed in the dorm at Carolina Christian Academy.)

All cleaned up and ready to get dressed for church!

Good Friends + Good Food = Good Times!

We recently ate with Matt & Erika at this really incredible Japanese Restaurant. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of it (not that I could pronounce it or even spell it). But, I do remember that they had really good food! Plus, it's quite a show they put on cooking it for you right at your table! We had a great evening!

Now that is quite the flame!

This really isn't all OUR food. The table with the grill seats 9, so we sat with 5 other people. And no, the light above the table is not really on fire - it just appears to be so in this picture. :-)

Caught Matt sleeping again (just kidding)!
Actually, the chef tossed a shrimp to each person and they had to try to catch it with their mouth! I didn't get to participate since I'm allergic to shrimp, but it was hilarious to watch!

Betty Crocker Kaley!

We ate supper at Jeff and Vicki's last night and afterwards Kaley baked a cake in her Easy Bake Oven. Those little ovens are the neatest things!

Reading the directions first like all good little bakers do.

Caleb measured and added the water to the cake mix.

Drew helped too by putting the cake in the oven.

After the "L-O-N-G" 10 minutes, Kaley excitedly checks her cake.

Success!

And now...the best part - chocolate frosting!

Kaley shared her cake with everybody - insisting that we all try it. :-) And it was good!

A good day!

Today was Administrative Professional's Day - and a very good day it was! When I got to work this morning, I found these beautiful flowers on my desk from President Avery along with a box of chocolates AND a really nice card! He is so kind to me and is absolutely the best boss in the world! I really enjoy working for him and for GBS!


Also, since I occasionally assist Mr. Hooker, he gave me a really nice card and my all-time favorite pastry from Graeter's - cheese crowns! Very yummy!

I'm really glad they have this day! :-)

Absolutely Adorable!

This little boy, Braden, is absolutely adorable! I snapped this picture from the wedding I did Saturday.

Grabbin' at Straws!

Camen was so funny last night! We met Jeff, Vicki, and the children at The Cheesecake Factory and enjoyed a great time visiting with them and eating great food - especially the cheesecake (we had Key Lime, they had Chocolate Tuxedo - both of which are to die for)! Vicki put Camen up on the table after we were done and he grabbed her straw out of her drink. Then he grabbed Kaley's straw and went for Caleb and Drew's too! Finally, he was happy after getting everyone's straws! We were laughing at him and he would throw his head back and laugh right back at us. He was hilarious!


The sad part of the evening was AFTER we left - we discovered Drew had left his wallet on the table. Of course when they went back in to get it - it was gone! Yes, it had money in it. He had just so proudly told Aaron that he had saved up all his money for quite awhile. I felt so bad for him, but no way in the world to get it back. Expensive night for Drew. I hope someone feels really guilty when they spend $40 of a 10-year old's. Grrrr!