Happy Belated Halloween!

We went to a swing dance dressed up as Iron Chef Clemson and The Secret Ingredient- Lobster! Hope that you had a safe and happy day too!

Marriage on a Budget

Hi, friends! David and I have been working on a new website called marriageonabudget.com and we're inviting you to come take a peek! We've realized that some of our ideas for budgeting and dates are a little unusual... okay, maybe even a little weird, but we've had a lot of fun, and wanted to share some of the ideas with you! Every Monday there's a post on money, every Wed. a date idea for the weekend, and Fridays have a fun assortment of ideas for marriage, family, and fun on a budget.
Hope to see you there!

Celebrate!

A friend of mine is reading through the Bible in a year and writing great devo's for parents along the way! While the parenting part does not apply to me, I love reading her stuff and have been super blessed and challenged by her observations. Last week, she wrote about the importance of celebrating your kids at: http://mom365word.blogspot.com/2011/10/genesis-21-23.html


I know she's doing an awesome job celebrating her kiddos, and her mom always did an amazing job of celebrating things in their family. I was over at their house a lot growing up, and some of my favorite memories with them involve funfetti cake to celebrate different life events (like my Feb. birthday in July because I lived abroad that year or cheesecake for getting an A on an exam). 


Well, I read the neatest verses today. God's throwing a party, and you're invited!!! How great is that?!
So I answered, "I'm coming.
      I read in your letter what you wrote about me,
   And I'm coming to the party
      you're throwing for me."
   That's when God's Word entered my life,
      became part of my very being.  
~Psalm 40:7-8, The Message



 I love how by accepting God's invitation to Heaven through His Son Jesus it is what allows God's Word to enter into our lives and become a part of our very being. And through that, Heaven and celebration become fused into our cells. God's joy and hope and parties sink into the core of who we are and flow out of us. He is our Father who celebrates that we are His, both in this life and in the one to come. Isn't it neat that God wants to make us party people? :)  

Our Weekend Project

Here's how we spent our weekend... Putting in laminate flooring in our townhouse (and learning how to do it as we went along!). 


Here's the living room before the Lowes got to it:

Ewww... dirty carpet...
Now you see it, now you don't! The carpet's gone:

On to the vapor barrier...

And a little cleaning up in the middle:

And the finished product-- Ta-Da!

Even the sun came out to see it! And then we got $75 massages that we only paid $30 for (I <3 living social deals!!! :). 


Hope that you had a great weekend too!

InQuickER = scariER

I recently noticed an intriguing button on the side bar of my facebook page. "Need an MD360?" it reads, "Wait at home – save your place online for your visit to XYZ urgent care center."


My interest piqued (and my medical mind horrified), I clicked on the link. It seems that now in some places you can pay a $25 fee and RESERVE your place in the waiting room of a local urgent care center or ER.The system is called InQuicker. When your reserved time comes up, you will be seen within 15 minutes. 


I can see how this would appeal to patients. My future patient's sick with the flu, he knows he'd love to be seen and have someone write him for some cough medicine (and probably a work excuse), and he'd rather wait at home in bed than in a crowded ER waiting room. It's nice that this person isn't spreading their contagious disease as much, but is it really the best system? 


I can totally see the draw for moms with small kids, or people who have trouble getting around, or the elderly who need to arrange for transportation anyways.


But isn't the Emergency Room for Emergencies? And if you have an Emergency, shouldn't you be seen as soon as possible, not just when you think you might be ready to be seen?


Like a patient I know of who had an abdominal aortic aneurysm that ruptured while she was seen in the ER who had a 4 day history of constipation, abdominal pain, and back pain? I'm so glad that she didn't reserve her ER visit time for tomorrow night at 9pm!!


Or what about the young guy with cold symptoms that started in the morning, then progress to confusion, petechiae, and altered mental status by that evening? What if he just thought it was a cold and he'll check in for 7am the next day? That's a meningitis that might get missed. 


Or I could tell you about many elderly patients who just have a "little headache" or a "little pain," and end up with some very serious conditions. It's scary to think about them waiting to be seen.


It's scary to think that you could plan out your emergency. If you're planning something, wouldn't it be good to plan a visit to the family doctor? Aren't appointments what one does to see the primary care doc? ER visits shouldn't be planned out. They're for Emergencies. 


I think InQuicker is a scary solution to shorten ER wait times. I think it has the potential to result in some really bad and scary patient outcomes. There's one more thing to be afraid of this Halloween!

Falling for Fall

I've always disliked fall. Weird, I know. Sad, I know. 


Winters always seemed fun to me. There's Christmas (Jesus' birthday, my favorite holiday!) and my b-day (also fun :). There's that crisp feeling in the air, and a good night's sleep as your nose is a lil chilly peeking out of the covers but the rest of you is snuggly warm under them. There's cozy clothes and cups of tea and white hot chocolate. And there's snowboarding and ice skating and... SNOW (if you don't live in the South :).


Then there's spring... with warmth and the scent of flowers dancing in the wind. There's warmer days and more sunshine. There are budding trees and kite-flying days. There are lazy afternoons where you can sprawl out on a porch swing and read for hours. There's the bittersweet contemplation of our Savior's sacrifice and the joyous celebration of His resurrection on Easter. 


Then summer comes! When I was in school, summers were the best part of the year! It meant freedom, and playing, and hanging out at the pool. Now it comes with frappacino's and sundresses and high heeled sandals. There's berry picking and pie-baking. It's all around delicious.


Then comes fall. When I was still in school, this time of year marched in accompanied with a huge blanket of dread. There were tests and assignments and demands. The leaves fall off the trees leaving them barren and spike-y. 


But with each passing year that I've been out of school, I fall a little more for FALL. There's pumpkin spice lattes and yummy pumpkin treats. There are funny fall festivals (the Pumpkintown Festival in Pumpkintown, SC, is a classic one!) and crazy corn mazes. God paints the trees glorious colors.


What's your favorite part of fall? I'm looking for more ways to fall for fall this year!

Update on Ezai's Surgery

I just got this awesome email from the director of Ezai's orphanage (Ezai is Isaac in English). Please pray that he has a speedy recovery and no post-op complications!


Letting you know that God's timing is perfect and  Isaac just got his corrective surgery on his foot deformity this afternoon. His foot deformity limited his mobility to hopping on one foot or placing his full weight on the top of his toes. This surgery will hopefully have him be able to walk on it flat. Isaac's JOY is in our God of color and has been released from post op and resigning for now curled up at the moment on a cot in my room till the pain and slight fever goes down. He was such a trooper even through the pain. Please join the NWHCM Family as we lift up precious Isaac as he is heading into a good stretch of recovery. Thank you. .God is BIG. Our Sovereign God is holding Isaac tight. God is good! Thank you for trusting us with this precious cargo. He is LOVED!