Princess Imani

Camp Imani was AWESOME! It is always a great experience, but I particularly needed it this year. This would be the first thing that I have done that wasn't in a hospital or my house since March when I had my surgery. It was so great for me to be able to feel even semi-normal again. Although compared to last year, I could easily see that I am still very weakened and cannot do the things I once could. I already sound like a grandma reminiscing about the good old days, don't I? Haha. Well, that's my life and I'll deal with it.

It is soooo fun to be an intern at Camp. Some people have begun calling me Princess Imani because I was practically being pampered the entire time. I could basically do whatever I wanted to. I was ordered to take frequent naps, rest, and not do anything too strenuous. I did mostly everything the other interns did, except for moving some things, and I did skip one day of flagpole. They took extra good care of me. I literally got asked how I was doing about 20 times a day. I appreciated it though. :) Can't wait until next summer when I will be as good as new!

Camp Imani

As many of you know, there was a big chance that I would not get to attend camp this year. In fact, I was not planning on coming, but fortuntaly I do get to go! Hooray! I went to a few of my doctors this week for some testing and they think it would be all right as long as I promise to take it easy. I promise! I have never missed even one year since the beginning of Camp Imani, and I don't wanna start now! I can't wait, it's going to be a blast! I probably will leave early, just to make sure I don't make myself sick being there, but that's ok with me. As long as I get to go even for a little while!!! Yay!

Hooray!

Hooray for the Bible Study on Tuesday Nights at 7pm! I went last night for the first time, and I must say that it was fantastic! It was very encouraging and uplifting. I really needed this, especially at this point in my life.

I am in the middle of transferring Universities right now. I will have to stay here in Houston for longer than I thought because I am not quite well enough to live on my own again. I don't mind so much, though. I think that it could be a good thing. There are way more opportunities here in Houston than there ever would have been in Searcy. Although I am very grateful for my time at Harding, I realize that it is time to move on.....not like I had a choice or anything, but still...

I am also in the middle of changing majors and making some really important life decisions. Please pray for God to guide me and to help me maintain a good and positive attitude about it all. It's confusing and a little scary because the future is so unclear, but that is where faith and trust in God come in. I know He will be there, but I am just an imperfect human who needs reminding every now and then.

On a Praise God note, my grandmother has been moved out of ICU finally!!! Yay! She is now in a room recovering! Hooray!

Medzmama

Hey Everyone!

A lot has happened since the last time I updated. Life has been good though. How can it be otherwise when God is in control.
I had been off the steroids for a month and things were going extremely well, until about last week. I started having pretty severe chest pains again. I have been in and out of doctor's offices all week long and fortunately, they determined that there is NOT fluid rebuilding around my heart! Hooray! I did not want to go through that again. However, there is indication of inflammation or something like that. At first they thought it was post-traumatic stress from being in a hospital environment and watching my grandmother undergo heart surgery. I thought so too at first, but eventually they determined that something might be wrong and needed to be addressed. What that ultimately and irritatingly means is that I am going to be back on steroids for another 3 weeks or so, or at least until they figure out what the heck is wrong.....BOOOOOOOO! It's the price I have to pay to be "healthy" I guess. Sigh. They warned me that it would take a long time to ever diagnose me, but seriosly, this is getting ridiculous!
I have a very important prayer request though! Like I said before my grandmother (my sweet little medzmama!) had an aortic aneurysm and had to have open heart surgery to put a graft in. While they were in there, they went ahead and did a bypass as well. This was a major surgery, and before she went in the doctor's informed us that she had a 1 in 12 chance of making it. Naturally, as we have done a million times before, we all hit our knees and gave it to God. The surgery was successful, but afterwards there were complications with her gallbladder. Only three days after MAJOR open heart surgery, they decided to remove her gallbladder as well. That was her second surgery. A few days after that, they noticed that she had fluid accumulating around her heart...grandmother like granddaughter. She had to have her third surgery to drain the fluids...SAME AS ME! She is currently still in ICU and now there is talk of needing a pacemaker, which will be a fourth surgery. Luckily, they have decided that the pacemaker is not that urgent and will give her poor body a chance to heal a bit. The best part is that all this has been happening in the last 2 weeks. Please keep her in your prayers. She is in a lot of pain, but she is putting her faith and trust in God.

We know that prayer works. I don't know why my family seems to constantly under attack, but I do know that no matter what we already have victory through Christ. No matter what happens, no matter how hard Satan tries to bring us down, nothing will ever change our Love for God and our committment to Him.

hello once again

Hey. How is everybody? Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have been sick and in and out of doctor offices a lot lately. I think I have found an extremely promising opportunity though. I'll let ya know more about it later. So far life has been weird. It seems like everyday I discover that there are still so many things that I can't do anymore, that I used to be able to do with ease. It is soooo frustrating. I am definitely one of life's valleys. Just as soon as I start feeling better, I crash and burn again. But I suppose they weren't kidding when they said it would take a long, long time to fully recover. This whole process has been one extremely emotional rollercoaster. I just thank God everyday for His continued blessings and for giving me such a wonderfully supportive family. I know I will get through this.

On a lighter note...YAY FOR THE WORLDCUP!!! Seriously though, I am sooooo dissapointed with the USA team. Are you kidding me? What the heck? I know we can do better guys! Tommorrow afternoon USA vs. ITALY....BRING IT!

Yay for work!

Hey everybody! I started working again. I recently got another echocardiogram and they said that everything looks good! I got the O.K. to drive my car again and to have a low stress level job. It feels sooooo incredibly good to have something to do. I am working as one of the children's ministry interns at church again for the third summer in a row...they can't get rid of me...muah hahahaha! I actually was supposed to be working at a hospital this summer, but obviously my plans drastically changed due to some stuff that happened this last semester...you know, the almost dying stuff...oh well... :)

I discovered that I am not the kind of person who can sit around aimlessly and just watch TV all day. I have to have something to do,and not just stuff to keep me busy. I need goals in life. I have to be working towards something in order not to feel like a useless, good-for-nothing person. I found myself getting really depressed and just feeling all-around bad about myself and for myself. Some of that is obviously a side-effect of the medicines, but the other part was satan getting a hold of me and causing me to lose sight of all the blessings in my life. I started getting frustrated that my whole future was up in the air now...who knows what I will major in or how long it will take me to catch up or even where I should attend next semester? I was stuck at home with a pillbox and a walker while every other 21 year old was having the time of their life. One day, I just realized what I was doing. It was easy for me to trust God when my life was in danger, but when it was nothing except my own feelings of insignificance, I didn't want to bother God with those problems. I mean, why should He care about that? Besides what right did I have to bring up that stuff after all God had already done for me? Well, as soon as I realized that this is the faulty logic I was following, I stopped feeling sorry for myself. I wasn't going to worry about a thing because I knew that God would take care of everything. Not just the "big" things, but every minute detail as well. It was so silly of me to get caught up in feeling sorry for myself, but to make myself feel better I blame it on the meds...not my own obvious immaturity...hehe.

Anyways, it helps now that I am working again. I am really excited about my job. I absolutely looooovvveee working with the kids. They really do bring so much joy to everyone around them. I have a feeling that this is going to be a great summer after all.

2 Month Anniversary

Hooray! Two months ago today I was in the hospital undergoing heart surgery. Here I am two months later doing very well! My life is finally starting to get back to normal. The last two weeks have been a tad on the rough side. That is part of the reason that I haven't posted in forever...I didn't forget about you. I feel much better now! I was feeling pretty sick most of the time because of the side effects of the medicines I am on. There are some pretty nasty withdrawal symptoms, but it won't be too much longer before I will be done with the steroids. Yay!

I went up to Harding last weekend to pack up my dorm room and bring all my stuff back home. I didn't really get to see everyone that I wanted to, but I did get to see some of my favorite people! That means you roomie! Don't be sad...we are gonna party it up over the summer when you come to see me! Good luck on finals to everyone!