Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband! June 7, 2009 will be our sixth year anniversary. I can't believe it has been that long already. It seems like the time has flown by. I am so thankful to be married to such a wonderful man who has stuck by my side during this long journey. He has made more sacrifices during the past years then could fit on this page and his servant's heart and Christ-like attitude has never wavered. Brian has been such an example of Christ's joy and constantly offers encouragement to me when things seem to take a turn for the worse. He is one of the most hardworking people I know. At his busiest, he was having to balance a full-time teaching job, part-time job at the grocery store, 2 to 3 college classes and a sick wife. I can never thank him enough for all that he has done for our family and praise the Lord continually for such a blessing that I have in my partner for life. I love you with my whole heart Brian! I am looking forward to many years to come and hopefully some day, Lord willing, having children of our own to complete our family. I have included two pictures of the hundreds we have from our wedding day. What an incredible day that was celebrating our marriage with all of our friends and family. Thank you for the memories that will last a life time!

Brian has had a couple of praises in the last couple of weeks. One evening he was checking his school e-mail account and he received an e-mail titled "Congratulations". Immediately, that peaked his curiosity. He opened up the e-mail and found out that he had been selected to receive a good-sized scholarship for the fall awarded to him by the Dean of the Accounting department based on his academic performance. What a surprise and blessing that was as he never even applied! God has continued to provide for us in ways that we would have never expected. Praise be to Him!! Another praise pertains to the request that Brian made at his grocery store where he currently works part-time to job shadow their accountant to gain internship experience. When he inquired to his supervisor about the possibility of doing that, she said they could do one better and offered him an actual position to be the back-up bookkeeper. He will start training in a couple of weeks. How awesome is that! God continues to amaze me!

My health continues to be up and down. It's been a rough couple of weeks as I seem to just be reacting to so many things lately, the dizziness has increased a bit more and body aches seem to come and go more frequently. I praise the Lord for the good days he does give me and thank him for how he sustains me during the tough times. I think in a previous blog, I had mentioned that we were requesting me to move down to part-time work hours for my health. Well, in a series of recent events pertaining to my primary and secondary insurance and coordination of benefits, we have realized that it would be more cost effective for me to not work. My secondary insurance right now is wonderful if it's your primary and the only way to make it your primary is for me to be unemployed. That is the policy rule w/ Brian's health insurance contract. We also realized that as I am going through treatment, it is important to keep my stress level as low as we can get it and the job I currently work would definitely not fall into that category. However, at the same time, I was extremely anxious to give up a job not knowing if I could get another home-based position (they are very hard to come by) in this economy when I was ready to go back to work around January. When I gave my two weeks today, my supervisor wanted me to stay so bad that she is going to check to see if they can put my position on hold until January to give me seven months off and then I would rejoin the program. What a relief that would be to know that I have a job waiting for me!! If you guys could pray that the details would be approved, we would appreciate it. That would definitely take some pressure off of having to find work and also having to learn a new job.

We have begun to finalize everything for our trip to see Dr. Jemsek in SC. We found a wonderful bed and breakfast in Irving, Texas that is known for being a good place to stay for people that have chemical sensitivities. We will be staying there on our way too and from as we will be making this trip in two LONG driving days. Trying to break up into 3 days would be easier as far as not having to sit so long in the car, however it becomes too much a hassle w/ trying to find a hotel that won't make me sick because of all the chemicals they spray in the rooms. We are still trying to find a place in Atlanta, GA that will be safe for me. Brian has made lots and lots of phone calls to SO many hotels this week to see who will be willing to work w/ us and our restrictions. We think we found one, but it's always a faith walk as we have to book it ahead of time and many times we don't know if it will work until I walk in the door. Please pray that God would give us wisdom at which hotel to reserve. We have a praise w/ what to do w/ our puppy Toby. I was having such a hard time thinking our one-year-old puppy would have to stay in a cage the entire time while we were on our trip. I received a recommendation from a friend I used to know in Tucson about a girl who does a lot of dog sitting and she agreed to watch Toby! Yay!! I am such a dork, I know. I just couldn't stand the thought of leaving him a cage all day for 8 days. Toby would go insane w/ all of his energy. :0) It just seems all the details of the trip are falling into place. God certainly does want us to go and I am excited to finally be able to start treatment and work on getting well!

Well, I have once again managed to write a REALLY long blog. I am just going to give up trying to make them shorter because face it, I like to talk. Well, anyone who knows me, would know that. LOL I hope this update finds all of you doing well and enjoying the summer months. You are all in our thoughts and prayers!!! Blessings!