Holidays

This was a great holiday season! Luke and I were blessed to spend Halloween, THanksgiving, Christmas and New Years together this year! The first of many I am sure :)

On Halloween we went with my family to the Texas Tech game but we also carve jackolanterns together. This was the first time Luke had ever carved pumpkins before! we had a good time! Here are some pictures from that night! :)

AND the final product!!

Thanksgiving ws fun. We had it at Skye & Kips house, Luke was here for THanksgiving. Mom and Dad were in Denton at my mom's sisters house so it was just us and a few friends. Food was good, Company was great, good time was had by all!

The friday after thanksgiving, Brian and I drove to Denton where Mom and Dad were and met the Maberry clan for the weekend. ON saturday we went to the new Cowboy Stadium to watch Texas Tech vs Baylor. It was a great time! And boy, What a stadium!

Goin' Band! My favorite part of the games! :) They never disappoint!

Christmas was awesome, Luke and I enjoyed each other and spending it together! Christmas eve we went to a Candlelight CHristmas Eve service at Midcities Church, then we drove and looked at Christmas lights, when we got back to the apartment I heated up some apple cider, and Ashley came over and we played the Wii....Christmas morning Luke and I got up, opened each others gifts then got dressed and went to Mom and Dad's. What a great weekend!

Santa definately came!

Yes, he kicked our butts on Wii bowling...I declare a rematch!

New Years weekend, I drove to Waco on New YEars Eve and we forced ourselves to stay awake to watch the ball drop! then crashed! :)

On Friday we just hung out all day, Went to a movie (Avatar) and enjoyed each others company. Onn Saturday we drove up to Denton and had Christmas with Mom's side of the family. Another great long weekend!

Im always a little sad when the holidays are over, but it was a great couple of months and Luke and I got to enjoy our first holiday season together. He has become part of the family and everyone just loves him. We are excited for all the holidays to come...next up? Valentines day! :)

I expect lots of gushy, cliche Valentines Day crap! :) and he should expect the same! :P

Anyway Welcome 2010! :)

2010

Its a new year and new beginning. What will this year hold for me? I dont know, I could have never predicted what happened in 2009. But I am looking forward to it!
A few things I do know are happening this year, my best friend is bringing two beautiful little miracles into this world in the next month! I know that the love of my life will be moving and we will be able to see one another every day and no more pain and heartache on sundays. No more teary morning phone calls :) I know that my youngest nephew turns 10 and my oldest turns 20 his year. Hard to believe...I will be 27 years old. Luke and I will have been dating a year on May 24. My parents will have their 45 wedding anniversary! Wow, isn't that incredible? THey're amazing, and such role models for me to have grown up with, what a wonderful model marraige, two people who love each other unconditionally and have stuck by one another through bad times and good, sickness and financial troubles. And 45 years later they're still in love, they're still best friends, and what wonderful parents they have been. I am so proud to be their daughter.
Im looking forward to 2010. I think this is going to be a great year filled with blessings and wonderful things. Life can be hard, but it is also beautiful and wonderful.
I have been blessed with an amazing and supportive family, the best friends I could have ever imagined, and God lead me to a wonderful man who loves me unconditionally. EVery day I thank God for these people, if everyone was so lucky to have these types of people in their lives the world would be a much happier place.
God has great things in store for me, I know, Im trying to listen and hear what he is telling me and see the road he is leading me down. I feel at peace with where I am headed these days. It took me a little while to get here, but I am here. God is good, patience is key, he's always talking to you and trying to show you....


Ps 27:14, "Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD."

PRK

I have always had bad eyesight, I got my first glasses right befor emy 8th birthday and never looked back. Im not even sure I remember not ever having to have some kind of corrective eye lense. I got my first pair of contacts at age 12 and REALLY never looked back...Well they have progressively gotten worse and worse since then. This year at my annual eye appointment my Dr. suggested we go have a consultation for laser eye surgery. Well we've been through this and I was terribly disappointed when the surgeon informed me that my eyes were too far gone, that she wouldnt consider me as a patient and that I should wait 5-10 years down the road when a transplant option may be available. I was heart broken, so we decided to go to another laser center in Lubbock. Lo and behold they decided to take me on as a candidate for PRK (Photorefractive keratectomy) the most invasive form of laser corrective eye surgery and I decided to do it. THe fear was that in the next 10 years contacts would no longer be an option for me and my glasses were SO THICK, oh my gosh. I had to wear them for like 3 months befor the surgery I cried when I came home from the Dr with my new, ridiculously thick glasses. I did learn to like them though, I think I photographed well in them lol and from the front they werent nearly as thick, or at least didnt look that way. Everyone was great and encouraging and supportive so that helped.
So here I am in glasses, for the first time since I was 12...



So On Friday, November 6, 2009, my life was changed. Mom and I drove early that morning to Lubbock and got to the laser surgery, i got right in, filled out all the required paperwork, and got prepped for surgery. When the surgeon came in to meet me, they had already taken my glasses from me, so I couldnt make out his face at ALL, i had no idea what my surgeon looked like. They were all very kind and encouraging. They lead me into the laser room and I layed down in the chair, the nurses/aids were everywhere, it was a very well oiled machine- everyone had their place and their job- the surgeon walked me through what was going to happend and when and what to expect, so my eyes are numbed at this point but they numbed them even more and begame the surgery, left eye first. Laser was on that eye for 80 seconds. That is probably the oddest sensation I've ever had in my life. then the right eye, 84 seconds on that eye. After they cleaned off my eyes, buffed them and what not I sat up and I could see the surgeons face! Seriously I went in there seeing a glob of colors...and 164 seconds of a laser I could SEE faces! INcredible. So after 45 min-an hour "recovery" time (mom could not believe I could see things like the time on the clock on the wall) We went to the hotel and laid around all day, I was supposed to sleep but i was so keyed up and anxious I didnt get much sleeping done. So I watched TV :) we spent the night in Lubbock, got up went to a follow up Saturday morning then headed back to Midland.
This was my awesomely cool eye gear after surgery.


I was out of work a week, and few days after that week 1/2 days and what not. My eye sight has improved incredibly, BUT im still not at 20/20- two months later I am still healing and every day is different, I have good days and bad. my eyes switch one minute my left eye is clear the next it is not...but My Dr says that is normal and will fade over time. Im hoping in the next 2-3 months I will be able to get a glasses presciption and see things crisp again. It was a great decision, even with the problems I have been having, its better than relying on contacts and glasses to see anything. I dont have to worry now about getting up in the middle of thenight and walking into a wall, and if I do walk into a wall its not my eyes fault :)