Virgin Sangria

I love a good fruity drink. However, I would rather have it minus the alcohol in most cases. I would rather have a delicious juice combo (and its a lot cheaper!). We went to Jamaica for our honeymoon  in April and I wish I had gotten every single non-alcoholic drink recipe they had. I think I drank my weight in "Fruit Loops" throughout the week. 

Last year, we threw a Fiesta wedding shower for my cousin and his bride to be! When thinking about drinks, Sangria had to be included. It also needed to be non-alcoholic. My aunt Sandra tried a few different combos until she hit the jackpot so you can give her all the credit for this recipe! It was a hit at the shower and I have been taking

it to parties ever since! It always gets rave reviews and I am always emailing someone the recipe afterwards. It is the PERFECT summer drink! Hope you enjoy!

Summer Sangria (non-alcoholic)

6 cups Apple Juice

4 cups Grape Juice  

4 cups Cranberry Juice

1 cup Orange Juice

3 cups of sprite

2 sliced orange, 

3 sliced limes

*you can add any other fruit you want for decor but the limes and oranges are a must!

**don't try to save a step and get cran-grape juice. You need the tartness of the actual cranberry juice.

 

Mix all together. Let sit in fridge for at least 2 hours before serving, with fruit already mixed in.  

Can add fresh fruit just before serving, if you want it to look a little bit fresher.

This makes a little over a gallon so be careful if you are trying to mix it in a 1 gallon pitcher. I spill it every time because for some reason I just know it will all fit this time. 

It doesn't. 

I would use 2 different gallon pitchers and just pour them back and forth to mix the juices evenly. Then you can split the fruit slices between the 2.

You can half the recipe but trust me, it will go fast so make plenty for a party! 

That's it! Easy peasy! Let me know how you like it!

Engagement Pictures

After 2 trips to Auburn, a little bit of rain, and some waiting, we FINALLY got our pictures done and back! I cannot stop looking at them. Our photographer, Madelyn, is a girl I used to lead in Switch way back in the day! She is so sweet and insanely talented. Joshua made me laugh pretty much the entire time so excuse some of the pictures with my nose scrunched and my entire mouth wide open.

The countdown is on to Mrs. Oliver! Hurry up March 29th!

Wedding Planning Bliss

You always hear horror stories of wedding planning. Whether it is blowing budgets out of the water, your venue double booking, invitations being completely wrong, or your hair stylist standing you up. There is always that little bit of worry of what you're getting yourself into when it comes to planning your wedding. I am only a few months in so far but every single thing is going perfectly! I can't even believe how easy and fun it has been so far! Ive already booked a venue that was he first and only one we looked at and we are both IN LOVE. There is so much included in the base price its even better of a deal than I even thought. I got my dress at the very first shop we went to. I had the everyone cries moment and I don't think I have ever felt prettier. I got my veil the same day and I put it on at my house almost every single day! Haha! I have found a photographer that I am obsessed with her pictures and she is well within my budget. I found a videographer and got a family discount so I can completely afford that too. My random roomie turned bridesmaid Lauren Huff is going to design our invitations, RSVPs, etc so I know I will LOVE them and everyone else will too! I have points from a credit card I got a while back so we have both of our round trip flights for free wherever we decide to honeymoon. I am not one of those people who has to have every single detail that I have always dreamed of but I do have a vision in my head. Every thing that I have found from my dress to the venue has exceeded my vision so much I could cry. It literally has been going to smoothly I feel like a disaster is just around the corner. My dad always says "You have not because you ask not." so I am making that my motto and people, let me tell you, IT IS WORKING! Do not be afraid to ask people for discounts or tell them you love what they do but they are just plain out of your budget. You will be surprised how incredibly helpful people really are. If you are rude about it, you will not get far at all. You do not have to spend $20,000 to have the wedding that you've been dreaming of. I am determined to be proof of that. I am going to look at bridesmaid dresses today with my MOH Melissa so hopefully we can decide on something! I did compromise though and we are having the ceremony outside so pray for clear blue skies on March 29, 2014!

Complete Proposal Video!

I did a little bit of work in iMovie to put together our video. Now you can see Josh's slides as well as another angle of video where you can see him down on his knee! Enjoy!

Dennis Oliver

Josh's dad Dennis passed away this afternoon. 

Our hearts are heavy but we know he is with Jesus. He is perfectly healed. No leukemia. No brain infection. No nothing. Just pure, whole, healthy, and worshipping his Savior at his feet from now until forever. We will certainly miss him here and the coming months will be hard. Our lives will never be the same but they are better because he was in it. We love you Pops!

Isaiah 57:1-2

Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time. But no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come. For those who follow godly paths will rest in peace when they die.

I'm going to be an Oliver

Wednesday April 3rd was a regular ole Wednesday. I woke up late so I had to pull my hair up in a bun and didn't really put on much makeup. I put on school clothes that I didn't put much thought into and went to class. Dr. Helms said she needed to record out facilitation for facilitator training, a valid excuse. We went through a full 3 hours of facilitation learning all about Hospital Acquired Pneumonia. Just as we were about to wrap everything up, Dr. Helms said they were trying something new where they bring in someone from another team to go over a Learning Issue that another team is having issues with. In walks Joshua. My first thought was why in the world did he not tell me he was doing a presentation for my group?! He said Dr. Helms asked him to come in and give a presentation via Powerpoint. He pulled up the presentation and at this point I still have no idea what is going on. I am still thinking he is about to teach us about the BUN:SCr ratio or something completely school related.
Then he starts his presentation and I finally understand...
He talked about how we met in high school (including hilarious pictures of Joshua with long purple hair!) and how I was such a good student in food and parenting. He moved on to how we reconnected when we both came to Auburn and started having classes together (he even included exact classes in the presentation). He talked about the one semester we were lab partners and thats where we started "talking". Then he talked about our first "date"...you know, that one where he woke me up from a nap on the couch, hair messed up, jeans and a t-shirt, to go on a double date with his roommate and his girlfriend who were dressed up. I came home and told my roommates "I think I just went on a date."  He detailed every little bit of our relationship. It was so thought out and you could tell he put so much work into it! Then he started talking about the important step of asking my parent's permission. Instead of just asking my parents, he also got them to make a video giving their blessing (This is where I start to lose it). Then his parents made a video too because their permission is just as important (more crying). Then to top off all of that sweetness, he got my 2 best friends, Melissa and Stacie to make a video too!

Then he said now there's just one more person to ask...

I stood up, he took my hand, said some stuff that I don't remember because I was bawling my eyes out, and got down on one knee.
Of course I said YES! (followed by an oh my goodness! when I saw the ring).
He put the most amazing ring I have ever seen on my finger and then we got to celebrate!

Pictures DO NOT do it justice. It is way too shiny and gorgeous for me to focus on anything!
It was literally the most thoughtful, sincere, sweet, personal, romantic, most amazing proposal I could have ever dreamed of. I cannot believe I get to MARRY the sweet guy who did it all for me. I love you Joshua!

P.S. Its all on video so if you want to take the 20 minutes to watch it feel free! (it doesn't include his actual slides but I will hopefully have that soon!)

Here's how:

Click this LINK
username: hsoppharmd
password: pharmacy
Click on the link for 2012-2013 P3 on the lefthand side under Video LibraryIn that list click on the link for IP Sessions (8)Click on the first one in the list that has April 3rd date on it. You will have to fast forward to about 2:55:25 when it starts (unless you want to learn all about Hospital Aquired Pneumonia! Ha!) And it goes from there! It is about 20 minutes long!

Valentine's

Every year, Valentine's Day comes at a time when we have a million things going on at school. We usually just go to dinner or something pretty simple. Our anniversary is on the 24th so we usually over-celebrate then. This year it was flip-flopped. We have finals week the entire week after our anniversary so we decided to celebrate V-Day. Josh made plans and I tried to pick out presents. He took me to the restaurant that we went to on our very first Valentine's 4 years ago, Chef Lee's. Then we went to see Safe Haven. It was so great and incredibly thoughtful (brownie points to Joshua!). My favorite part however, came before that. He was so excited about his present to me that I got excited and begged to do presents on Tuesday. I got him a couple of little things and some amazon gift cards to buy a new lens for his camera. 

I thought I had done pretty good...until he gave me my present. 

He got me one of these babies.

It is a Nikon 1 and I have been wanting one basically since I saw Ashton Kutcher advertise for it. It is insanely out of my price range (because I am a cheapskate) so I just gave up on it and was looking for something else. Imagine my surprise when I opened a gift and saw that! Not only did he get me the camera but he got me a bigger lens too (additional dollars I wouldn't have spent myself). I was so shocked and a little embarrassed! After all, I got him gift cards remember? Then I started looking for a camera bag because I am so nervous to get one little scratch on this beauty. Everything I found was either cute and $150 or it was a plain ol' boring camera bag. 

If you know me, you already know that my next thought was "I can make one myself". 

I bought this purse at Target with a gift card.

Then I bought a camera bag insert from Etsy. It looks just like this one but I got it in Teal. It fits snug inside the purse so its a cute little camera bag! I like my $20 price much more than a $150 and I got to pick my cute purse too!

Then I went a little overboard and bought this fancy neck strap because who doesn't love chevron and bows?!

I already knew Joshua was incredibly sweet and thoughtful, but this was just over the top. I am one lucky girl with an amazing man and now an amazing camera. 

DIY Hair Ties

I heard about Emi Jay hair ties which are the ones that don't crease your hair. My hair creases if I even look at a ponytail holder so I was completely intrigued. I bought some that were like 3 for $10 or something ridiculous but I thought if it worked it may be worth it. I am pretty hard on my hair ties so these 3 didn't last long. I was faced with a decision: pay an insane amount for 3 little hair ties or make my own. I decided to look to Pinterest for some options and I struck gold! I made like 50 of my own for $10 (much better deal I think!)

DIY Hair Ties

Materials:

• stretch elastic (I purchased mine here) **They have a million colors so have fun choosing!
• Each yard makes about 6 hair ties

Instructions:

• Measure elastic equivalent to wrap around the circumference of your wrist, leaving an extra inch on each side
•  Cut the elastic (a sharp scissor is best to avoid fray; cut on a slight angle)
• Hold the two ends of the elastic together and wrap them around one finger. Pull the two ends through the loop. (do not pull on the edges of the elastic or it will fray)
• Enjoy your cheap cheap hair ties!

Have fun making your own and saving some dollars!

Potato Soup

I made a batch of my favorite potato soup the other day and I said something about it on Facebook and has a ton of people ask me how to make it so here it is!

Potato Soup
Potatoes  (5 lb bag with 3-5 removed)
Potato flakes (I use 1 little pouch of whatever is cheapest)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 stick butter
2 large cans evaporated milk
1 can chicken broth
16 oz velveeta
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Bacon pieces
Shredded cheddar cheese
Green Onions

Peel potatoes and cut into small cubes (the smaller the quicker it takes to boil them). Place in a large pot, cover with water and add the seasonings (no specifics just toss some in). Boil until done but not too mushy. In a separate pot, melt butter and add flour. Whisk together over low-medium heat until smooth. Add evaporated milk and stir until it thickens (about 2-3 minutes). Slice velveeta and add a couple of slices at a time (*only do a couple at a time and make sure you keep stirring! It is easy to burn this step!). Pour some water out of the potatoes until slightly covered. Add the chicken broth. Add the other pot's mixture and stir. Add the bacon pieces and ~1 cup of cheese. Stir in the potato flakes to desired thickness. Top with cheese and green onions and enjoy!

Easy Peasy! This recipe makes A LOT of the soup so you may want to half it. It reheats well so if you like leftovers this is a good recipe to eat a couple of times!

breaking point

We are officially done with our P3 fall semester! We had our finals week the week before Thanksgiving Break and then we had to come back to take our OSCEs (clinical exam) today. Towards the end of the semester, I hit a point (a dangerous point) where i didn't care what my grades were, I didn't care to study, I didn't want to do anything (see how that can be dangerous?!). I was so burnt out on everything school related that I was emotionally done come finals time. Our semester is split into 2 "Phases". Phase 1 ended mid-semester and we had finals then. I did really well in Phase I. I ended the phase with an 89.2 and no they did not round me up at all. That is a whole other story. When Phase II started, I did not do too well. I did worse on my quizzes, I did more work throughout the week, and I didn't really understand a lot of the more detailed topics. Working like a dog in Phase I to still get a B and feeling defeated because, despite studying, I was doing worse only made me even less motivated. I took my finals after barely studying and then had to work Friday night until 11pm after staying up all night Thursday night studying to take a 3-hour final. Needless to say, I was on the verge of a complete breakdown. I might have been borderline depressed (after studying I think I met the criteria). I slept for long periods and still woke up tired. I barely talked to anyone. I literally needed a break or I was going to go insane.

And then Thanksgiving break came.

The past week was exactly what I needed to be normal again. Slowly but surely I was getting back to being myself. I got to see my entire family. I got to go back to my old high school where I first met Joshua to watch my brother play basketball. I got to sit and laugh with my friends for hours. I got to go black friday shopping. I got to hang out with my parents. I didn't see anyone that I didn't want to. It. Was. Incredible. It was exactly what I need

I came back, took my OSCE, and now I am officially on Christmas Break! Hallelujah! Now I keep spending all of my money on christmas presents. This is going to be the best 6 weeks ever!

Day 9-11

Day 11: Today I am thankful for all of the veterans. At our football game yesterday they had all of the veterans stand and I got a little emotional. It is incredibly awesome what those men and women put on the line so that I can have freedom. Sometimes we forget exactly how great of a sacrifice that so many people have offered up for our country. They defend what I take for granted. I will forever be thankful for them.

Day 10: I am thankful that Alabama lost. Sorry to all of my Bama friends but I am glad someone finally knocked you off your high horse. I know Auburn is really terrible and we will more than likely still lose to Alabama this year (reason #1 that I sold my tickets) but I find a tad bit of joy for this football season in the fact that I do not have to hear any National Championship junk from some people for just a little bit. No doubt Bama is insanely good but hearing Jordan Hare Stadium erupt when they showed the final score of the Bama Texas A&M game up on the scoreboard might be just a little bit better :)

Day 9: I am thankful that Joshua records Duck Dynasty and re-watches them with me every Friday night because I do not have time to watch them on Wednesday. It is one of the funniest shows I know of. It is good, clean, family fun.

Day 8

Today I am thankful that one week from right now I will be studying for the last night until January. One more week of this semester to go!

Day 7

Today I am thankful than I am a part of an incredible company like
People Water. I think it is so awesome what they are doing and I am honored to be a campus ambassador for such a giving company.
Watch this video and then go buy some water!
Use promo code AU-RB-001 for 10% off everything!

catching up

I have been saying what I am thankful for on Facebook but I am going to do it on here too! so I will catch up now and keep up after this.

Day 1: I am thankful that I got my journal club over with today so that I can have a version of senioritis next semester!
We have to do these presentations all the time starting now that are called Journal Clubs. Basically you just have to review a study that was done. I will spare you the details but it isn't a fun thing to do. We have to only do one for one of our classes and I volunteered to do mine last week so that I do not have to do it next semester. Since that is our last semester of classes, having one less thing I have to focus on will be nice!

Day 2: I am thankful that I got the opportunity to know Summer Kempfer. She has poured so much into my life over the past 7 years. I am forever changed by that relationship. She was an incredible example of Christ's love and she is greatly missed. (see previous blog)

Day 3: I'm thankful that I have a job that lets me work enough to make some money but not too much that I lose my mind. I'm thankful that I work with really great people too.
I had to work Friday 5-11pm and Saturday and Sunday 8:30am-6:30pm. Needless to say, if I hated my job I would have had a HORRIBLE weekend. I love my job. The people I work with are awesome. I feel like it has really spoiled me and when I get out and I am a pharmacist I will have high expectations. 

Day 4: I am thankful that I got to sleep in Monday morning because I had afternoon IP (after working all weekend and staying up to do homework this was a huge blessing)

Day 5: I am thankful for coke. It is delicious and refreshing. Enough said.

Day 6: Today I am thankful that no matter who wins the election that Christ is still working all things for good.

...and I am going to write Joshua in for Sheriff :)

Summer Sunshine

When I first moved to Auburn, I was searching for a church home. When Church of the Highlands opened in February of my freshman year, I knew I had found one. The first person that I met was Summer Kempfer. She was the children's director and I got involved in the nursery. She became a friend and eventually became a spiritual mentor to me. We would meet every week and she would pour into me and pray for me. I grew so much closer to the Lord because of my relationship with her.I babysat her kiddos, spent time with their family, and knew she would be an important person in my life forever.


Last December, she was diagnosed with Stage 3 cervical cancer. Heartbreaking. It was a long, tiring battle going through chemo and all that goes along with it. But in the midst of it all, Summer never took her focus off of the Lord. She lived by the phrase "I Win!" Whether that be that she defeated cancer and got to be with her family or whether the Lord took her home and she got to be with Him forever. Either way, she wins. You can visit her CaringBridge to read more of her journey. 

Last Saturday night, Summer lost her battle with cancer. She got to go home to worship at the feet of Jesus. Tuesday, we had a service to celebrate her life. And that is exactly how it should be. She is HEALED! She is with Jesus forever! Of course we miss her here and we would rather have her with us but she wouldn't trade this life for eternity. Not for one second. At the service there was a letter that Summer wrote and this is a part of it.

"The most exciting part about having cancer is that it has given me a platform from which to speak. See, it's not about me having cancer, and honestly its not really about ME at all. Having a relationship with Jesus has changed my life. His love for me has changed my life. And it is my purpose in life to share that with others, so others can be pulled out of the darkness which saturates this world and into His marvelous light, where there is freedom and hope and love."- Summer Kempfer.

Summer Sunshine Kempfer touched my life and the lives of so many others. She will never be forgotten. She definitely leaves one heck of a legacy!

Please continue to pray for her husband, Jeremy, and their 4 kids Taylor (12), Savannah (9), Jaylen (5), and Sarah Kate (1). 

Home

I had an absolute blast in Texas. After my last post, we made a few more stops. We went to South Congress and ate at Hopdoddy's. So yummy! On Sunday, we grabbed some Torchy's Tacos and had a picnic at Town Lake. I think it's actually called Lady Bird Lake now. After we walked around for a bit we went to church. That Monday was Memorial Day so we went to the Texas State Cemetery. That was fun. After that we went to the Lyndon B. Johnson Museum. Lauren's old design company is redesigning it so we went to see the before. It was so cool. They even had an original sketch of The Lorax drawn by Dr. Seuss himself for LBJ! So neat. I enjoyed spending time with Lauren and I met so many amazing people that I won't forget for the rest of my life. Lauren almost has me convinced I need to live there. I got back to Auburn that Tuesday and worked for a couple of days and then headed to Clay to do my 2 week rotations at Princeton. I'm a week in right now and so far it's fine. It's nothing like CVS. While I don't enjoy those random terrible patients I do generally enjoy the patient interaction. There is literally NO patient interaction at the hospital. I'm not too fond of that. I love to talk to people and not just about drugs. Josh has his rotations in 2 weeks so we've been apart for a while and we will be apart some more. We are going to a conference in Utah next week so at least we will get to spend a little time together. Maybe he will come home with 5 wives! Who knows! Ha! He can't handle more than just me. I joke but I really do give him a hard time sometimes and I really am grateful that he puts up with me. Now I'm going to try to get some sleep because 6:00 comes way too early.

TX

The stars at night are big and bright----deep in the heart of TEXAS! I'm in Austin, TX for the week visiting my random freshman roommate turned BFF Lauren Huff. The week before I came out here we went to the beach for a week with some friends. There were about 14 total at some points of the week. We went to the Hangout Music Fest. It was so so awesome. We saw Skrillex, Dawes, Umphrey's Magee, Dave Matthews Band, Jack White, Alabama Shakes, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the list goes on and on. It was so hot but it was a total blast. The people we went with made it just that much more fun. We got back to Auburn on Tuesday and I flew to Austin on Wednesday. Yesterday was Lauren's roommate Jenni's birthday so we made her a good breakfast and made her a cake. Then last night we went to the live auditions for XFactor! It was pretty fun! I can't lie...being close to Britney Spears made me feel like I was 13 all over again being obsessed with hit me baby one more time. There were some good people but there were some bad too. After that we came back and had pizza, cheese dip, and cake and ice cream with friends. Such a college meal but so fun. Today we went to Lauren and Jenni's studio to see where they work. They make me so jealous that I am not artistic whatsoever. Then we met Amy for lunch at the Salt Lick in Round Rock. Yummy in my tummy. It was so so good. I could have drank their sauce in a glass. I'm here until Tuesday and I'm sure we will be going and doing much more. I'm going to go to church with them at The Austin Stone on Sunday and Jenni is off work so we can play. I'm pretty sure Huffy is trying to convince me to move to Austin because she points out every CVS and says "you can work there!" maybe some day...

6 months of updates

Wow. This post has almost been SIX MONTHS in the making! It better be good then I guess....maybe not. We are finishing up our P2 year. We have exactly TWO WEEKS until we are done with this terrible, dreadful, super hard, crazy year. This semester has  been even more work than last semester. Before you even apply to Auburn's pharmacy school you know that P2 year is the hardest. You hear about tests every 2 weeks and that you have a ton of things all at once but you really don't fully understand what that means until you are smack dab in the middle of it and have pulled more all nighters in one semester than in all of undergrad combined (I'm at a total of 2 so far).  That being said, Josh and I are both doing really good in our classes. By really good I mean Josh got a 100 on our last DAD test which is not easy at all. I didn't make a 100 but I still haven't gotten a C which is really good for me. We have also really gotten to know some people that I would now consider great friends. Its funny how you get to know people when you're all stuck in the same room for 12+ hours a day :) Our class also won Hargreave's Day! Hargreave's Day is like a field day for pharmacy school. All of the classes compete in volleyball, kickball, wiffleball, ultimate frisbee, tug of war, and pentathalon. We take a day off of school and it is always a lot of fun. This year our class, the Blue Barracudas, won the whole thing. We get our name on the trophy and everything! Josh's dad finished up his consolidation rounds of chemo and is leukemia free! He has been back at work for a little over a month now. Since Josh shaved his head for his dad and has kept it shaved his dad has longer hair than he does now! Continue to keep him in your prayers so that this can be the last time he has to go through all of that! Praise the Lord for His incredible healing! I have had a pretty much drama free year with my roommates which for me is almost unheard of. I thank the Lord every day for keeping my sanity over the past couple of years. I did gain my Lauren Huff out of roomies though. I am going to visit her in the great state of TEXAS this summer! I haven't seen her in way too long so I am past due for a visit. I miss my Huffy. Me and Josh also get to go to Utah in June to take a class on Alcoholism and Drug Dependencies. We go to a conference for a week and get to count it as an elective next year so that will decrease our stress next spring! We are going with about 6 other people from our school and staying in a house together. I think it will be so much fun and very interesting. We are also going to the Hangout Music Fest in May. We're going with about 10 other people to the beach for a week and we get to see Dave Matthews, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Skrillex, Switchfoot, Young the Giant, and a ton of more people. It should be so much fun. How could it not be? Somewhere between all of our travels we will be working and doing out 2 week rotations. I have mine at Princeton so besides the long drive to work for free every day I am looking forward to it. They said we may even get to scrub in on some surgeries with the anaesthesiologist! I might pass out but I am sure going to try to see what I can. That would be so so cool. The thing I am really looking forward to the most is being able to go home and hug on my friends and family. Since school has been so crazy, I haven't been home all semester. I really miss my momma! Next week my littlest brother will be SIXTEEN! holy cow. where has the time gone. I miss my whole family and I cannot wait to see them.

I think that is pretty much the main points. Hopefully I won't go another 6 months!

praise

I have written a blog in quite some time. This year is by far our busiest and most difficult year of the four so forgive me. I have a huge praise to share. As you all know, Josh's dad has been undergoing leukemia treatment for a little over a month. He was in the hospital for a few weeks undergoing chemo and preventing infection while his neutrophil counts were basically at zero.  He went home a couple of weeks ago to build his blood counts back up. At that point pretty much all there was to do was wait and pray. We all did both. On Thursday of last week they did a bone marrow biopsy to see if his blood was regrowing with signs of leukemia or if the inital round of chemo had done the trick. He had to wait the weekend and yesterday the results were in. His biopsy came back CLEAR OF ALL SIGNS OF LEUKEMIA! Praise the Lord! He has been so faithful and shown himself in awesome ways through this. It is still far from over but this is a huge answer to the many many prayers that have been going up. Thank you to every single one of you who have continually asked for updates and offered encouragement through this process. Our God is the ultimate healer and there is no greater peace than that. Continue to lift Dennis up in the next few months. Starting today, he will undergo 7 days of chemo followed by 3 weeks of rebuilding blood counts. He will have to go through 2-4 rounds of that and they will continualy monitor his progress. As I said before, this process is not over but to get the news that you have been praying and believing for for a while sure can make you lift a shout of praise. I will try my best to keep up with more updates. We love you all.

many thanks

THANK YOU! I have been completely overwhelmed at the amount of texts, messages, emails, calls, etc. that me and Josh have both gotten in the past week. We are so encouraged by every single one of you! We serve an awesome God who knows exactly what we need. Today at school at bible study Callie read a verse that was so incredibly applicable for anyone going through anything tough.

Psalm 94:18-19 When I thought, “My foot slips," Your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.

The cares of our hearts are many but the Lord's comfort, peace, love, and encouragement can cheer our souls. I am so thankful that we serve a God who we can put all of our hope in so that we do not have to rely on the things of this world. Kari Jobe's song You Are For Me has been such an encouragment to me so here is a special edition music monday.

Kari Jobe--You Are For Me

So faithful. So constant.
So loving and so true.
So powerful in all You do.

You fill me. You see me.
You know my every move
and You love for me to sing to You.

I know that You are for me.
I know that You are for me.
I know that You will never,
forsake me in my weaknesses

I know that You have come now,
even if to write upon my heart.
To remind me who You are.

So patient, So gracious,
So merciful and true…
So wonderful in all You do.
You know me. You see me.
You know my every move.
You love for me to sing to You

Lord, I know that You are for me.
I know that You are for me.
I know that You will never,
forsake me in my weaknesses.
I know that You have come now,
even if to write upon my heart.
To remind me who You are.