Blessed Times

Well, yes, I do know it has been a long time.  Would you expect any less at this point?  Around these Holiday times I think everyone gets a little too busy.  I am officially now on break, so that takes a lot of stress off of me right away.  

Jacob and I are doing great actually.  Jacob continues to work hard, and I continue to try and stay healthy.  I have to admit it is a lot easier to stay healthy when you are in 60 degree weather.  Atlantans had a bit of a cold spell (well like almost 2 weeks of 30 degree weather), and now we are back up in the 60's.  

Jacob and I thought hard about what we would do for the holidays.  It of course is a hard decision when you have to take a 14 hour trip home to MI into account.  The doctor HIGHLY recommended encouraging family down this way, because it was last year when we went home to the snow and cold that my body had the complete and utter break down.  But Jacob and I knew that it is a bit unreasonable to ask our family members to drive the 14 hours this way.  But after really thinking and praying on what to do, we decided that as a Christmas gift to myself I would take care of myself, and be healthy by staying down here.  I have to tell you, not worrying about traveling, about packing, about driving, about getting everywhere on time...this has been the best holiday break I have had in a long time.  Not to mention this is our first Christmas in our new Purple house :)  

I finished Christmas shopping yesterday, I know amazing right?!   But everyone is done.  We will be going over to our good friends Jeff and Sara's for Christmas Eve, spending the night, and then celebrating Christmas with them.  Their house if very cat and dog friendly so the whole family will be able to join.   We love hanging with them so it will always be a good time.  

Dad and Mom L are thinking about coming down the 29th - 2nd.  It would be a nice treat if this could happen!  

I have been taking my time at home to do some organizing.  We are also getting the girls (the dogs) all decked out in their Christmas gear.  Lola already had some clothes from last year, and then we got Lucie a beautiful sweater, and probably something else.  Our girls love to be dressed up.  I even bought them a dresser to keep their clothes, and if we go over by it, they go nuts, jumping, and hoping that we are going to get them dressed.  We only dress them on holidays, and I never thought I would be one of those people, and now I love it!

Well that about wraps it up for the babblings of Amanda.  I do hope to post at least once more before I go back to school.  

We wish everyone a fantastic Christmas, and a great start to the new year!

In REMISSION with a tattoo!!

NO MORE MEDICAL BRACELET!  That is right people!  As of 12:15 today I am in remission.  My counts were at a whooping 210,000, which is super high!  Oh my gosh I am so excited!  

Then came what I have wanted to do for so SO long.  I got my swirly sun tattoo!!  It was amazing!  It is very low down so pretty much no one will ever see it.  It is the size of a quarter, and it is bright orange!  Oh my goodness it is amazing!  I am completely in love with it.  I have waited so SO long.  I got the idea for this design when I was 14 and waited and waited.  And now at 25, after going through so much I finally have my baby tattoo!  Take a look at the link below, to get a look at some other photos, and then say goodbye to the tattoo, because it is lower than my pant waist line so no one will ever see it :)  

I can't say how SUPER excited I am.  I went through all those stupid meds, and chemo and it was all for something!  Thank you so much for all of you prayers, and thoughts!  I am possibly as happy as I was on my wedding day...not quite but awful close :)

To see all of the remission photos please click HERE!

Well a Fall Update

Hello everyone!  Once again time has just slipped away.  Since the last time we have had Halloween, and my Dad and Gary have come down to visit!  The link at the end of this report will help you get to the pictures.  I am having trouble uploading more than one picture to this blog.  I will see if this is just a one time problem, or I might have to switch blog spots.  No worries I will keep everyone up to date if that happens!

Life has been of course been busy but good.  Jacob and I are finally done decorating the house.  We finally hung pictures (well after Halloween).  We are happy with the way the house is turning out.  It is finally becoming a home.  We are very happy with it!

I can not believe it is almost Thanksgiving!  Where has the year gone?  I have my remission doc meeting on Tuesday Nov. 25th at 11:30.  I took a half day so when the doc says I am in remission I am going out to get my tattoo!  I am so excited!  I am POSITIVE I am in remission, I feel so fantastic, and healthy.  I will make sure to update everyone on that day.  Or around it at least, and with pictures of my tattoo :)  I just can't wait!  I am so excited!

Other good news is that our good (read FANTASTIC) friends Jeff and Sara have found their dream house!  We went and toured it about a week ago and love it.  They are hoping to close the first week in December!  We are so happy and excited for them!

I hope all is good with everyone!  Pray for remission - even though I can already feel it!

Click here to see some photos!

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2275098&l=64e40&id=12126284

60 Miles in 3 Days

I have survived! My mom and I walked all 60 miles! I can not put into words what the walk was like. Emotional, amazing, draining, humbling, exciting, rough, tremendous, I mean seriously words can not express it.

Day one: Was miserable beyond belief. I am not even sure how warm it got...I am thinking only in the 40's. It rained the entire, yes ENTIRE time. We got to opening ceremonies around 6:30 a.m, and then started walking around 8:30 a.m. We walked in the cold, rain, sleet, fog...it was just miserable. But everyone had such great attitudes, and walking was fun, unless you had to keep your head down to stay out of the rain. We were lucky enough to sleep inside that night (not in the tents we were suppose to).

Day two: We started out about 5:30 a.m. We just walked and walked and walked. I got the first blister about mile 35 and mom got one soon after. The difference is that mom's was under a toe nail so when we got back to camp she had to go to the medic tent. We camped outside and the camp was fun, and beautiful weather!

Day three: Was fantastic! We were up again about 5:30 a.m. and walking into Atlanta. The weather was great, and the walking was mostly on sidewalks. I got blisters on top of blisters, and my legs just became tired. But I made it through all 60 miles. We met up with Jacob for closing ceremonies. It was good to soak my feet.

I am feeling great, and actually felt pretty good the day after. After awhile you just become so tired that your muscles go numb. I loved the entire experience. I want you all to be able to see as many photos as I could add. Please click on the links below to view parts of the amazing journey!

Here is Day 1 and Day 2
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2269335&l=d6beb&id=12126284

Here is Day 2 and Day 3
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2269342&l=dfc49&id=12126284

Thanks to all who rocked my world in many different ways!

A rousing recap!!!

Okay it has been a while and not completely my fault.  My life is just a bit out of control.  Between regular school commitments, tutoring, wife commitments, Church and small group I have not had more than 1 hour of down time in almost 3 weeks.  I know, I know...don't wear your body out, slow down...enjoy life.  Well I happen to be really enjoying life so far :)

Umm...trying to think what has happened.  I took my fifth grade class (read field trip) up to the top of Stone Mountain.  They were so well behaved, and the trip was amazing.  A great landform lesson, and we tied it into the Civil War - yes for double dipping to teach!!

For our fall festival I volunteered to be in the dunk tank for 20 minutes.  Needless to say I really didn't think my fifth graders would have as great of aim as they did.  HAHA!  I ended up soaked!

 

I had a birthday!  The kids totally spoiled me, and I got a fantastic cake (one of my students grandparents own a local bakery) and the kids all made cards.  Then they all wrote one thing they LOVE about Mrs. Larkin on a sticky note, and placed it on this decorated poster.   It was so sweet, to read some of their comments!  That meant a lot to me!  Jacob ordered in Chinese for me, and then I went to sleep early!  The best kind of birthday you can have.

And now I am exactly 5 days away from the Breast Cancer 3-Day.  I am really getting nervous.  I know I will be able to do the first 20 miles no problem, it is the other 40 I am nervous about.  I want to thank everyone who helped me financially, and with their thoughts to get to the place that I am now.  I will be sure to update this after the walk.  My mom is coming down ATL Thursday night, and then will leave Monday afternoon.  I can't wait to hang out with her!!

Well seriously I think that is the big stuff that went on.  The next two weeks is parent-teacher conference, and with no union down here that means we stay after school until 5pm at least for two weeks straight.  I am not really looking forward to that...oh well!  Hope all is well!

I was accepted!!

Well another thing that might throw a few of you for a loop, but I was accepted into Central Michigan University (CMU) graduate school!! I just found out last night. Now let me give some details!

#1 CMU has a campus down here in Atlanta, actually about 5 miles away from our purple house. I am not moving back to MI.

#2 I will have real professors, and NO online classes!

#3 The program will be for my Masters in Educational Leadership ( I also hope to get my doctorate in the same field. I hope to have my doctorate by the time I am 30!)

#4 I will start in January and graduate in Dec. 2010

#5 Classes are held every other Friday night (until 8) and Saturday 8-2. I will have some summer classes, but it depends on how the cohort wants to do summer classes. I might keep up the Friday and Saturday thing or we would go for 2 straight weeks, and get it over with ( I vote for that)

#6 A cohort is a small group of students who start the program together, take every class together, and then graduate together. For this program they only accepted 25 to be in the cohort out of some 400 applications. I am completely honored!

#7 I am a total dork and LOVE school! I am so excited for this program to begin!

As I said earlier I can't believe I was chosen. I did have some doubts as I have only been in the classroom for two years, and there were some people applying that had been in the classroom for 15+. I am super stoked and can't believe I might still be able to achieve my (unattainable as I thought) goal as having my doctorate by the age 30! WOW OH WOW! I am just so excited and had to share!

PEACE AND LOVE!!

PS I will always be a Bronco! My undergrad years meant the world to me. I will never cheer for CMU. I just wish Western would get in gear and get a campus down here! LOVE YOU BRONCOS!!

Meet Lucie!

Okay this might take a few people for a ride! We have a new puppy! Jacob and I had Saturday together and it was wonderful. We had been thinking about getting our last piece of our family puzzle for a while, but wanted to make sure we could afford it, give it attention, and all the other things little babies need. We sat and looked at our schedules, and found now is as great as any other time. We of course drove to the middle of mid-town and went to the Atlanta Human Society. Lola and Simon are both from there. We walked in and knew we would not walk out without some cuddly little baby. We found Lucie (or Lady as her first name was) in the top row kennels, and the first thing both of us thought was how much she looked like Lola. We almost could not believe it. We fell in LOVE immediately!

The rest is history. We signed the papers, passed the background checks, received our free red collar and leash, and off we went. First stop of course was PetSmart where we got the basic necessities. Then it was home to meet the siblings. We let her play in the front yard, as Lola went potty in the back. Simon and Earl jumped in the window and looked her over, and smelled her scent from far away. Then we let Lola in the house and brought her up to the screen door. She went crazy! She was whining and wagging her tail. We brought Lucie up to the screen and they all met for the first time!

They all got along right away. The cats just wanted to smell her, but Lola couldn't get enough of her. Lola was a bit jealous too! It was very cute! We let them settle in a little bit and then we headed over to our friends Jeff and Sara's. They have Lola's BFF Callie, and we all had a wonderful dinner! It was good friends, good pets, and good food! You can't go wrong!

Lucie did very well not going to the bathroom in the house yet. We are crossing our fingers, she follows Lola's cues. She did not whine when we put her in her cage for bed time. She is however coughing a bit, maybe kennel cough? We hope not but she will be into the doctors within the next few days! We are just so excited to have her. We now have two cats, two dogs, two girls, two boys...we think we are done. For a while at least!

On other news...my platelets were so HIGH! The doc thinks my body might be making my blood clotters already on its own, so we might be 6 weeks away from a remission call! I am so beyond excited I can not hold it in! What a great visit! The next time I see the doctor is the week of Thanksgiving! Seems like a long time, but I can do it!

In Breast Cancer walk news....God has completely come through! I now only have $200 to make, and I think that is very possibly in a month. If you still would like to donate please don't hesitate. I am not completely out of the sinking water, but seriously treading water!

The next week will be SUPER busy, with trying to raise a baby puppy, school, tutoring...blah blah. I also got back my GACE test scores. I of course passed! I was just happy to get the official paper! I hope everyone has a great week! It becomes October! Now that I almost can't believe!

PEACE AND LOVE!

Help ME

I am still in need of about $700 to be able to work in the Breast Cancer 3-Day. I have to make at LEAST $2,200 to walk. Please click on the link below to help the fight at Breast Cancer!

THANKS!

http://08.the3day.org/site/TR/Walk/AtlantaEvent?px=1472822&pg=personal&fr_id=1181&et=uSo9glwHn75voScJhvZwMw..&s_tafId=5960

Let the good times roll!

Well not to much to report here. Life has been the same-oh-same-oh. School, tutor, church, tutor, back to school. Jacob schedule is work, work, drill, work. We are still not seeing too much of each other but hopefully next week will change that. I am taking some time off of tutoring, and Jacob has requested off an entire Saturday. We are hoping to spend some time together. This will be there first day we both have off together since we moved into this purple house. I am super excited! Hopefully that way I can write something a bit more interesting. Oh I get to see the doc on Wednesday, so lets all hope and pray for high number! :)

And the lawn needed mowing!

Well we have officially purchased our first lawn mower, and have even tried it out! We waited until we just could wait anymore to get the lawn done. Luckily for us with the drought going on down here we can go almost a month without doing anything with our lawn. But alas we had to finally mow. Our mower worked great, and Jacob said it was an easy push!! Two of our babies stayed watching dad from the door!


Nothing too much to report. It was a pretty busy week something we are pretty used to. Jacob and I still are lucky to have one dinner a week together. We hope everyone is having a great week!

99.8% Positive

Okay I know I already posted today but now... officially...I think...almost 99.8% positive...that I unpacked the last box. That means every box in this house has been unpacked and the contents placed in the room that it belongs. Including everything in the basement. I can't believe it! I am so stoked! It only took us 4 weeks to get there! I have put some pictures of my new creative memory station. I am sure people under-estimated how much creative memory stuff I have, and or how many scrapbooks I have already made. I am a picture/scrapbook fanatic I know, but now I have the room for my obsession! Hope you had a great day off...always remember to thank those who still had to work...like Jacob :)

The station with all my stuff on it and all organized!!

Here is what all the cupboards look like on the inside...I still have a bit of room :)

Here is the closet that I am keeping my scrapbooks in...also the cold water wash apparently :)

Thanks again for reading!

Our First Project

Okay our first project was done with not so much planning, and with both of us battling colds. But it is done, and only took us the later part of an afternoon. What you are looking at is my new creative memory station. I have shelves above (they were already there) and then Jacob and I put together the drawers and made the counter top....I can't wait to get all my stuff in there! It is not all done being painted but we wanted it kinda done so I could at least start setting stuff up. I am so proud of Jacob as he has really taken on many house projects, and this one was our biggest, and most involved. I LOVE IT!

So most of today will consist of me organizing the basement. Most of the stuff down there is mine anyways. That is really the last area in the house that has boxes to be put away. We are pretty proud of how far we come and I don't think we have had a single day off together since we moved.

Like I said Jacob and I are battling colds. Well I got it first, on Monday, and then pasted it to him, about Thursday. I am almost completely over mine, so Jacob's shouldn't last too much longer we are hoping. Needless to say neither one of us has slept too well the past week. :)

Well not much else to post. The week was a week...Oh I was thinking I would go out and rake our yard today because tropical storm Fay had knocked a whole bunch of leaves off of our trees, but today we are getting rain, and wind from Gustov, and I guess as Gustov winds down we will be getting hit from Hannah. Jacob and I love storms so we are loving this weather. I do know these storms are doing horrible things to places where Jacob and I have friends and family. We pray that they are all safe, and ask that they be given wisdom on when to leave if that is necessary. The weather we are getting here in Atlanta is only a one-hundredth of what the coast is getting, we just hope the U.S. is much more prepared than we were three years ago.

The best to all of you! Thanks for reading!!

GRR...where are the cats?

Well it has been exactly a week, and what a week it was. We had many MANY after school dealings so I pulled four 13 hour days in a row. I have to say by the time it hit Friday I couldn't get out of there any faster. Jacob and I went to Home Depot to purchase a new dryer. Ours blew up last week and it would just be cheaper to buy a new one. Our first woes of home ownership. I think the dryer was about to blow up at the apartment though...so it was only a matter of time :)

Then came the dreaded weekend. I thought moving weekend was busy....well for some reason everything fell into these two days.

Saturday: I was up at normal school time because Huntington (where I tutor - I am down to 4 hours a week) had a teacher meeting at 8am. YIKES! I was not too happy not to be able to sleep in. I do enjoy the teachers there, and our bosses. There are only like 6 teachers, and most of us have been there since they opened, wow almost a year ago, so it is pleasant to see them all again. I also got to talking about the Breast Cancer 3-day and Huntington is going to sponsor me, and so will a couple of the teachers individually! SWEET! I am starting to freak out, because I still have over $1,000 to earn in two month. Oh well can't worry to much about that now.

Then it was off to take this wonderful (not really so great) test called the GACE. The Georgia teacher Assessment Competency Exam. BLAH. I am nationally certified to teach, from MI the hardest state to become certified in. But they will not accept it.....hate the separation of powers in this government sometimes. Anywho this GACE test was nothing like the test I took in MI. In MI they test you on theorist, and different classroom situations. Here in GA it was all content. I think it was to my advantage. There were a couple of really weird questions, but I felt pretty confident. I also had to write answers to questions for Reading, Math, Social Studies, and Science. Again I hope I did okay. I will be mad if I don't pass because I have to pay again $60 for each section. Oh well nothing more I can do about it now. The test took 4 hours, and my mind was completely mush after it.

But alas my day was not done. I had to drive back into Buckhead to church. Now we have small groups at our church. Jacob and I were in a married couples small group. The deal with our church is that you sign up to be in a small group for 18 months, and after that you split up. Now the split is for a few different reasons, schedules change and so that group might not work out anymore, our pastor really wants people who were in a group to branch out and lead a group, so we continually have new leaders, and then of course just so you can meet new people throughout the church. Well you can join groups at this night thing called GroupLink. Well I went last night wanting to join a woman's group of various life stages. Jacob can't commit to a group because of the military never letting us know the grand plan. So he can't be in one until his 6 months of training is completed. I met up with some fantastic women, and am in a group of 8 ladies and we will meet in the area that Jacob and I live. I am very excited for this!

Sunday: I got up early and went to be greeter at my kindergarten position. Then Jacob met me at church for the 11 o'clock. Then we happen to run into some friends and we went and had lunch with Josh, Ashley, and Tarron. Lunch was Mexican, and I of course ate more chips and salsa than an average person should. Then I went and tutored a high schooler on the reading section of the SAT. And now, now....believe it or not I am home to stay for a bit. It is 5 at night and I am exhausted. I knew this weekend would not be relaxing, and just to look forward to next weekend. I mean I get three days off!

I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend, and are ready for the upcoming week. I know I am in need of a vacation already, but also know my life SHOULD slow down again starting this week!

Oh and I will leave you with this: if you can't find a cat, just look up. Simon and Earl have found a new hiding place....oh I live in a zoo!

Inside the Purple House

Here are some pictures from inside the house. Please remember we have not had ANY time to unpack for real, and where things appear now are just set there for the time being. I could not get any outside pictures because it started pouring. Which is actually the reason I came inside from doing lesson plans on the porch. :) Enjoy!

The Master bedroom....the closet is in the corner

Another view of the master...man we need some stuff on the walls Master bathroom

Living room

Another view of the living room

Again the living room

The hallway that connects the 2nd and 3rd bedroom, and extra bathroom

2nd Bedroom - Guest room

3rd bedroom - Office

2nd Bathroom so cute! Think of it on its side

The Kitchen

Our new outdoor set on our balcony

Our new grill! We use that often!

The view our our backyard...couldn't go any farther as it was raining

The stairs down the the basement and garage...turn it sideways again

The garage...Jacob is at drill so I piled all the trash on his side :)

One of the closets in the first room in the basement

The first room in the basement...soon to be my scrapbooking area

The second room downstairs, someday will be our living area...

We have two of these sized closets in the 2nd basement room...we have lots of storage

The washer and dryer are under the stairs...good use of space :)Lola is a "hot dog" Get it?! HAHAHA This is her Halloween outfit!

Hope you all enjoyed! When we get in better we will retake the pictures, but for now this will do! Have a great few days!