Mike & Carolyn

You know you're married to a vet...

2010-03-29T17:25:00.005-05:00

...When you go from 5 animals to 7 animals in less than 2 months.

The first addition was Bud. He is a Shih Tzu that was surrendered to Mike's clinic in January that had trauma to his eye (Sorry if the picture is a little gorry). The deal was we would get him healthy and then find him a good home. As we were getting him healthy, I found a couple that was willing to take him but I was later told that Mike had already found a home for him...OURS! So he has been with us since. He is a good dog except for his separation anxiety, but we are praying that in time that will lessen. Any suggestions or ideas to help with this, we will gladly take.

Bud before surgery

Bud after eye removal surgery

The second addition is Pepe. Pepe was Mike's dad's dog that we brought home with us after his funeral. He is 12 years old and is a little stuck in his ways, but slowly he is learning that he is part of a pack now.

Pepe

Here is a picture of the whole pack when we were in PA for the funeral.

Christmas and New Years in Florida

2010-01-15T12:45:00.010-06:00

This Christmas Mike and I decided to head south and have Christmas with my Uncle Bill and Aunt Maureen in Orlando. We hadn't seen my uncle in over 4 years and only briefly saw my aunt at Sharon's wedding in September. We got to spend 10 days and we made a vacation out of it. It was great to spend time with our family and enjoy a relaxing time together without Mike having to constantly think about the clinic.

While we were there, my uncle had a friend who got us free tickets for the Champs Bowl...Miami vs. Wisconsin. It was a very cold night for Orlando and it took us quite awhile to get into the game but once we were in, we had a great time. The majority of the fans present were Miami fans but Wisconsin came up with the win. One of the best parts of the game was the Wisconsin marching band. Mike and I were totally impressed.

We also went to the Disney Boardwalk and D0wntown Disney with my aunt and uncle. Trying on hats at Downtown Disney.

We went to the Swan and Dolphin Hotels at Disney and in the lobby of the Dolphin hotel was this huge gingerbread house.

Mike and I also went to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure for 2 days. While we were there, they still had the Macy's Day Parade. I didn't know this but after the Thanksgiving Macy's Day parade in New York, a bunch of the balloons and floats are brought down to Universal Studios and a mini parade is then done everyday. Mike and I got to see a good bit of it as we were running around the parks.

We also got to spend time with Mark and Val who joined us in Florida for New Years. After all that has happened to all four of us this year, we thought it was fitting we brought in the new year together. When Mark and Val first got there, we headed to downtown Orlando for the Citrus Bowl Parade. The commentator for the parade was Shawn Johnson, the Olympic gymnast. We were lucky enough that they stopped right where we were to do some recordings.

The Anheuser-Busch Dalmation

After the parade, we headed back to our car by taking a stroll around Lake Eola.

For New Year's Eve and New Years Day, we went to my favorite place ever...SEA WORLD!!! Mike and I had not been there since Mike proposed to me in December of 2004 and I was so excited to be celebrating New Years Eve there with three of the closest people in my life!!!! On New Year's Eve the park was busier since it was such a huge day and the park was open until 1 am. We went to all of the shows, saw the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales, Val and I went on the Kracken (a roller coaster), went to a big band concert with ice skaters and brought in the New Year with fireworks. We watched 30 minutes of fireworks and could also see the other fireworks from the other parks in the area in the background. It was unbelievable! I couldn't of asked for a better way to close out one decade and bring in a new one.

Since we had such a good time on New Year's Eve, we decided to trade our tickets back in that night and get a free pass to come back on New Years Day and see everything else we didn't get to because of the crowds. New Years was cold and damp in the morning but warmed up and was beautiful by the end. There were less people so Val and I decided to do all of the rides that we missed. Sea World has a new ride...the Manta...where you are flying as if you were a manta ray. The whole ride you are in a horizontal position. It was crazy to go flying around loops and down towards the ground head first and then at some points to be on your back staring up at the sky. Val was a little hesitant at first especially when they kept announcing there were technical difficulties...only because they were making sure it was okay to ride due to the light rain...but once we went on it, we both loved it! I love riding roller coasters with Val, before every one she freaks out, starts confessing things to me, tells me she loves me, starts praying out loud...then she screams all the way through it, feels sick at the end and then tells me that she wants to do it again. Beneath the Manta ride, they also put in a new aquarium (this is where Mike and Mark hung out while we waited in line for the ride). They had this cool tank where you could go up into the tank and get your picture taken. Of course we had to do it, even though Val underestimated how tall it was and banged her head really hard on the top.

This is one of my favorite pictures of New Year's Day, it tells so many stories. We were freezing our tailends off but we made many memories. Also, about the stuffed animals...Mark won the big Elmo and Chimchar for Val and I, while Mike played 2 games of skeeball and won a huge K-State shark. It was fun trying to fit these in our car for the drive home. : )

Here are some shots from our trip to Downtown Disney:

You can never get enough of the pirates : )

Val with two of the men in her life.

Who makes the better Jack Sparrow?

These dogs and the Lochness monster are all made out of Legos.

On our last full day together, Mike had a day to himself to relax before heading back to work while Mark, Val and I headed off to Clearwater to go to the Gulf of Mexico and Honeymoon Island. We were freezing but that made it even more memorable.

The three of us collecting shells and sand dollars on Honeymoon Island...we actually preferred this beach over Clearwater.

Halloween

2009-11-05T09:01:00.004-06:00

This was a year of firsts for us...

Since we live away from most people and are surrounded by people's beach homes, we had not even one trick or treater. So sad...

However, our other first was carving pumpkings together. Last year was the first year I ever carved pumpkins and that was with Lindsey in Kansas. But this year, Mike and I took last Saturday to watch scary movies, carve pumpkins and bake pumpkins seeds. It meant so much to me to have that time with Mike that I haven't been able to have in the past. Here are the pumpkins we carved.

My pumpkin

Mike's pumpkin

Our lovely pumpkins together

Since we didn't have trick or treaters, we just put our pumpkins out on the porch for people driving by to see. But most importantly, we had time together and had a blast doing them.

Wedding Bells

2009-11-02T17:39:00.012-06:00

So after all of the guests went back home, I then made another trip up north for my sister's wedding. Sharon and Chris got married on September 5th and I was blessed to be her matron-of-honor. Here are tons of pictures:

The bachelorette party at the Chesapeake Inn Waterfront:

Sharon with our chocolate dessert pizza...it was to die for

Val, when she thought that was the only bite she was gonna get. She shouldn't have been on the phone when the first one came. We were nice and ordered a second one though.

At the rehearsal:

Mothers of the bride and groom

My mom with her new grandson, Brandon

MacKenzie (the flower girl) and I hanging out. It's hard for a young kid to stay focused during a rehearsal.

The Wedding Day:

Mom & Sharon dressed and ready to go

Jim escorting my Aunt Maureen

Jim escorting my mom

Andy L. and I making our appearance

Dad escorting Sharon

Dad joining Sharon & Chris' hands

Aunt Jean doing a reading from the Velveteen Rabbit

Sharon singing "The Broken Road" to Chris

Lighting the unity candle

Sharon & her bridesmaids

Sharon & the groomsmen

Pastor Bill & Mr. and Mrs. Chris Fielder

The New Fiedler Family

Chris & Brandon

Chris & Sharon with the bridal party

This is a warning to the new groom...don't mess with us!!

Figard/Gray Family Pictures

Val & Pops smiling like always

Chris & Sharon riding to the reception in the Cherry's convertible

Brandon & his new great grandmom

Brandon & I...picking on each other like usual

They should have thought twice about giving people access to silverware and glass. : )

Fielders and their parents

All the family members and wedding party

Pictures with my two best friends:, my handsome husband, Mike and beautiful best friend, Val

Mike getting lucky from two girls that day...Val is the only one I'll let kiss my husband besides me. : )

Going to play catch up...here we go!

2009-11-02T16:48:00.006-06:00

Kansas

Two weeks before we left Kansas, we had a scare with Mike's old white car dying on us and we really had to consider what to do with the car. We got it fixed, however, we knew that it wasn't going to make the trip through the mountains, so we quickly sold the car and Mike picked out this Jeep to replace "Willie." Thanks to many helpful friends, we closed the deal and picked the car up less than a week before we moved. So this one's name is "Bender", after the Futurama cartoon. It has been a blessing to know that we now have two reliable cars and one with very few miles. It has been used many times already for my trips back home to DE and MD over the past few months.

North Carolina

So we've been in Ocean Isle (where Mike works)/Supply, NC (where we live) for about 4 1/2 months. We've enjoyed being back near the ocean and the dogs like it as well. During the summer they got to go for walks every week with us on the beach. Tiger loves to run along the edge of the water just as long as it isn't too deep for his little stature. Henry is somewhat afraid of the waves crashing on the beach, but if he sees another dog that he wants to be friends with (which is all of them : ) ), then he'll bolt for the water. He still hates to get his paws wet though.

Here is a picture of our home that we are renting from another veterinarian that works with Mike. We have loved it and Dr. Ray and Alice have been such a blessing to us here in NC. This house has given us enough room to have many visitors come, including Mike's dad, Mike's dog, sister, 2 nieces, my best friend (Val) and a lifelong friend (Mark). It just so happened that they were all here at the same time. There were 2 children, 6 adults, 3 cats and 3 dogs..talk about a full house.

And of course, we had to make one of our guest bedrooms a K-State room.

While Mike's dad was visiting us for six weeks, we got to take him and Pepe (his dog) to the beach with us as well. Mike's dad liked to be able to put his feet in the sand and enjoy the nice cool evenings. We were glad that we could provide him with a place to vacation. We went and visited Myrtle Beach a few times, including the Aquarium (nowhere near as good as Baltimore or New England Aquariums, but it was something to see), the Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, and we all loaded up on fresh seafood often. I have to admit I have started to like different types of seafood. I guess it helps when it is fresh and cooked right.

It was nice to also have Val and Mark come and visit. It was hard in Kansas to reconnect with close friends from home, but thankfully God has blessed us with multiple chances to do so since we have been back east. Val, Mark, Mike and I were all over the place while they were here for 4 short days and we had a blast. We got to celebrate Mark's 31st birthday (or as Mark says, "His first anniversary of his 30th birthday") at Joe's Crab Shack on the boardwalk in Myrtle Beach after going go-karting all afternoon. We had a blast.

After we were done racing go-karts for hours... Mark wasn't too happy with me because I kept getting the fast cars and he would get the Sunday afternoon drive cars...HEEHEEHEE!

Eating out on the deck at Joe's Crab Shack

Val and I were feeling a little frisky with Joe, the fisherman

Val having one of her crazy moments, even the people in the background thought so. This is why I love her so much, she always finds ways to enjoy life.

I also took all of the family and friends to see Mike's clinic and as Val said, "Pretend to be a doctor." That wasn't the only time that Val was sarcastic, however. She also suffered from foot in mouth syndrome when she told Mike's boss that he didn't act or dress like he could be a doctor. Luckily, he has a good sense of humor and played along.

Mike and I working on Pepe's eye

Mike and Rebecca doing an exam on Bobbles, the canine greeter and mascot at the clinic (Bobbles got her name back from when her head was not attached to her spine and she had to have surgery at the clinic; one of the vet techs adopted her and she has remained there ever since.)

Stay tuned...there is more to come since this only covers up through the middle of August...

You touched our hearts and will never be forgotten...

2009-08-03T15:52:00.003-05:00

Mike and I found out yesterday that Danny, the dog I blogged about last, had to be put down last week. He was 13 years old and he wasn't eating, walking and his body was shutting down. Danny may have just been a dog but to us he was a whole lot more. He touched our lives and our hearts and will always be remembered as one of Mike's patients that truly reminded Mike (and myself) why he is in this profession. Mike has had to put many animals down in practice in just the past month, but none of them stand out as much as Danny. He will never be forgotten and our thoughts and prayers go out to the Frolio family as they have lost an amazing member of their family.

It's official...

2009-05-04T11:14:00.002-05:00

Mike got a position in OceanIsle Beach, North Carolina and he starts on July 6th. Needless to say we have a lot to get done before that date, but we know that God has provided this job for Mike and is preparing the way for us. It is crazy to think that these 4 years have gone by, especially with all of the memories and friends we have made here in Kansas. However, we are also excited to see where God takes us and can't wait for our friends to visit us in North Carolina as well.

Where have we been?

2009-02-26T14:15:00.007-06:00

So we left off back in January...since then Mike has completed three more rotations and has only 2 MORE LEFT!!! He is officially done in clinics on April 12th. Not much happened in January, except Mike turned another year older. February has been the bigger month for us.

The first weekend in February, Mike and I went up to Omaha, Nebraska to visit Danny (Mike's past orthopedic dog) and his family. We got to spend time with the Frolios and enjoy time around the dinner table with them. Julie & Terry are wonderful people and it was nice to share our lives with each other. I had never met them before and Mike's only experience with them was the day that Danny came to K-State's Teaching Hospital. That was not the best day for their family, but to see them now just filled my heart with joy. They are a wonderful Christian family and God has blessed us and brought us together through Danny. Here are a few pictures:

When we first got there, he was like a puppy.

After our visit

The Frolio family with their camera hog, Danny

After our visit, Mike stayed in Omaha for his externship and I made the trek home. After I got home, I then tried to replace Mike with a 6 month old rat terrier named Molly. She is my boss' puppy.

It took me awhile to remember what a puppy was like, but we had plenty of time to get used to each other. I watched her for two weeks. It helped time pass while Mike was gone. For the first week, none of my furry kids liked her. Tiger thought he had to protect me from this strange new dog. Henry was jealous for my attention. Cinder was tired of being sniffed. Hammy didn't eat for the first week. Maggie was tired of Molly trying to get into her food bowl.

By the second week, Tiger did not change. Henry finally realized he had a playmate. Cinder could care less. Hammy was eating (not like I was too concerned) again and played with Molly every night. Maggie had taught Molly not to get near her food bowl (a few good smacks with her nails did the trick) and was also playing with her.

Now I am just eagerly awaiting for Mike to get home tomorrow night. Even with 6 animals running around it was still too quiet and a piece of the family was missing.

2009-01-06T13:30:00.003-06:00

Since October time has flown by. In November, my parents flew out for a week to spend time with us as well as to be in town for my 30th birthday. It was nice to have the chance to see them since we didn't go home this year for Christmas, as well as for them to finally see where we live, what our lives are like here in Kansas and to meet all of our friends and church family. The weather was wet, cold and windy so we didn't do much outside of the house but that didn't matter. Of course, the whole time they were here Mike was studying nonstop since he took the boards one week after they left. There was a lot going on in our tiny house all at once, but we survived.

Mike took his boards on November 18th and we should be finding out the results by the beginning of February. There is some worry and anxiety as to be expected but this too shall pass.

For Thanksgiving, Mike and I joined some of our close church friends and had a feast at church. There was food galore and enough for everyone to take even more home. Since this is the last Thanksgiving in Kansas we enjoyed sharing it with our family here. Who knows where we will be next year, but we won't forget this year.

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, most of my time was put towards Christmas (obviously) and that included making a memory quilt with Lindsey and Cherry for Pastor Pat & Judy's pastor appreciation gift. It was a lot of work but it turned out awesome in the end. The church family contributed squares for us to piece together, then Lindsey, Cherry and I made the quilt. There will never be another quilt like this one. It was a blast to do it with such close friends and that alone made it special for me.

Cherry, Crawford & Marino squares

Centerpiece of the quilt (People's names are written on the fence posts as well if they were unable to provide a square)

The final product

The saddest part of this quilt was the day we gave it to the Weyrauchs'. It also happened to be Cherry's last Sunday (since she graduated), needless to say, during the presentations to everyone for Christmas bonuses there were tears. It seems as though we are all moving on and it just gets harder as that tight group of friends get smaller. I know the day will come for Mike and I as well, but we don't like to think about it. We don't know how we would of made it through the relocation from our families and into vet school if it wasn't for these friends along the way. We have a lot to be thankful for!!!

For Christmas, we did not get to go home thanks to the vet clinic schedule Mike had but we got to enjoy a relaxing day just the two of us. We don't get too much of that time these days so we took advantage of the ones we had. We relaxed all morning, watched movies, opened gifts, enjoyed Mike's spinach lasagna, and later went and played games with Kay, Lyle, Jim and June. We missed our families and talked with all of them as well. This was the first Christmas away from family for Mike and we missed not seeing the kids open their gifts. We did get to be a part of Angela and Ava's Christmas as they chose to open their one gift on Christmas Eve and it happened to be ours. We were on the phone with them when they did. So we missed Ava's first Christmas and Angela's 10th birthday, but we know that God has a journey for us to follow and this is part of it.

We also helped Cherry pack up and move the Saturday after Christmas, it was bitter sweet. We couldn't be more proud of her and all her hard work in school but we were going to miss her being around. Everyone needs to check out her blog (there's a link on our site) and check out her work. She is completely INSANE with some of her creations, but she has a true gift.

For New Year's Eve, we went and hung out at church playing games. It was a lot of fun. Mike was officially on vacation for his one week off. You could definitely tell that he was more relaxed as he was even more sarcastic (if you can imagine that). It does wonders for my heart to see him happy and enjoying life even though he is swamped with school.

As for what the next few months holds, Mike has started the job search. He will be done with clinics officially on April 12th and graduation is May 15th. There will be tons of things to do with preparing to relocate, school, work, watching the end of the NFL season (GO EAGLES!!!!!!), packing and day to day stuff. As for me, my work is ramping up again and I will soon begin training my second Research Assistant to replace me. Lots to get done and prepare for.

We don't know where we will end up, if we will both find jobs or what the future holds, but God is gracious and good! He continues to watch out for us and lead us on this journey...

Chilling with the bison and the Halvorsons

2008-10-27T10:29:00.008-05:00

A few weekends ago I went with the Halvorsons and the SOKS group from the vet school to a bison feed. We got to take a hayride out to the bison, feed them and then we came back and had a bison burger barbecue. The weather was perfect for the fall and we had a blast. Jake was slightly under the weather and didn't enjoy it as much but Skylar had a blast (once we got her to feed the bison instead of throwing the pellets at them). It was nice to spend time with friends and to get out of the house. Sad to say, Mike was unable to make it because he had to be at the hospital.

We got to visit the farm as well as the bison.

These guys were big but it was awesome to see them up so close.

Skylar on the round hay bails and Jake stylin'.

Jake being as cute as ever even though he wasn't feeling well.

Lisa, Skylar & Jake

Skylar feeding the bison, she didn't like the bison's tongue as you can tell by her face. But once she finally did it, she went through two more buckets of pellets.

Skylar and I

Baby Boy Blish Quilt

2008-10-27T10:18:00.004-05:00

To give you some idea of what I do with my time while Mike is at the hospital or studying...Here are a few pictures of my latest quilt for Andy & Kim Blish's first baby due in November.

Mouse to Tower Quilt

This is the front piece that I had to piece together and sew down. A lot of work but definitely worth it. I will definitely make this quilt again in the future.

This is the fabric used for the backing.

The dogs like to think that they helped with this one...little do they know. What they were really hoping for was that this was going to be a new blanket for them. Can't you see Tiger's little paws marking it as his?

2008-09-30T13:51:00.005-05:00

Once again, I take forever to update our blog. A sign that life is busy and time is passing quickly...

Nothing big has been happening, we're just trying to get by one day at a time. I have been busy at work as my research has picked up and I am back in the lab everyday. For those of you familiar with Manhattan, my lab that I am finally researching in is the Biosecurity Research Institute. I am the first one in their doing research in the lab so I have been a guinea pig with them trying to get all of their training and procedures in place. It has been quite an experience but it has been educating me on biosafety and biosecurity. Who knows this may be a path I choose to follow in the future (at least that is what my boss' wife tells me). I also have had a new co-worker since the middle of August that I have been training. She will be one of my replacements next summer. We'll be hiring the second one in the beginning of the new year, so I'll get to do this all over again. It just serves as a reminder that May will be here before we know it.

Mike is busy with clinics. Since I wrote last, he has completed orthopedic surgery, 6 weeks of food animal and oncology. He is currently on soft tissue surgery, which means lots of long days. Last night I went to bed at midnight because I was trying to wait up so I could see him a little bit and I gave up. I remember hearing him getting dinner sometime in the early morning and the next thing I know he wakes me up at 6:15 to tell me he is leaving to go back to school. Luckily he isn't on call for a few days and hopefully he can recuperate a little bit (not likely since he is still trying to receover from the lack of sleep from freshman year). He has had some awesome experiences with patients and their owners and we have kept in contact with a few of them with one in particular.

The first patient he bonded with was Danny back in his orthopedic surgery rotation. I became attached as well since I was going in each night to bring Mike dinner and to spend some time with him while he had to be with his patients, plus Danny was a flirt. Danny is a 13 year old yellow lab that came in lame with spinal damage and after the surgery and 2 weeks of rest and physical therapy walked out of the hospital on his own. We have kept in contact with Terry, Julie and Taylor over the past few months and have tried to arrange for a visit to see them in Nebraska, however, life keeps throwing them some hard balls. We tried to go 2 weekends ago and we were informed that their daughter, Taylor, had meningitis and ended up back in the hospital. If you could, please say a prayer for the family. Taylor has been in a lot of pain and the family is concerned and worn down. They are believers and have been asking for our prayers so I know they wouldn't mind some more from people that care about Mike and I. Mike and I are excited for the chance to go and visit them and Danny when the time is right. Danny will always have a piece of our hearts, especially as this was the first patient that Mike treated long term and made an unbelievable recovery for being an older dog.

Mike also had a long term patient during his food animal rotation and it was a goat named Wilbur. He came in with copper poisoning from eating pressure treated wood of a barn. His kidneys were failing, he had pneumonia, and all of the side effects from both. Once again, I spent a lot of time with Wilbur as well considering Mike spent a couple of hours a day with him, even on the weekends. It seemed as though Wilbur was getting better, however, after being home for a half a day he took a turn for the worst and passed away. Mike has decided that instead of liking to have a pet goat, now he wants to have a pet goat. It doesn't help either that our friends, Josh and Annie, have three pet goats that we got to see a few weekends ago at their new home. Some day you will all have to come and visit us as we start our own petting zoo, especially at the rate we are going. Mike is going to bring home every animal when he is a vet, I just know it. : )

I thought I would throw in another picture from Mike's 6 week food animal rotation, just to show you the size of animals that he worked with...and also for some amusement. He is sitting on top of Peblo, a 3,000 pound steer. Can you tell that Mike is from the city...sometimes I struggle myself these days? (I'm sure Chris Scott will be laughing when he sees this picture)

Until next time...

2008-07-01T15:13:00.003-05:00

Things have calmed down a little bit since the tornado. Mike has been busy on this radiology rotation (but not as bad as before on anesthesia, that's for sure). This is his last of the three weeks and then he moves on to orthopedic surgery. This will be another long hour, high stress rotation, but at least we will have a long weekend in between (even though I'm sure he will spend 3/4 of the time studying).

I have kept myself busy being pulled in multiple directions. Work has been rather high stress with many deadlines, dealing with incompetent and unreliable coworkers and preparing for a conference the first week of August. At church, I've taken a break from worship team for the summer but have recently started a new Beth Moore bible study. I am also still able to find the time to keep up with my exercising, quilting, cross-stitching, hanging out at softball games with the ladies, playing with the furry children and holding down the house.

Mike and I have got to spend the last two weekends doing stuff together (that's a miracle right there). Two weekends ago we went up with some others from our church to help the tornado victims in the residential areas that were hit the hardest. It was amazing to stand at the house we were working on that had comparably minor damage especially when you looked around the cul de sac and saw people standing on the only part of their house that was left, their front steps. The path of the tornado was so evident. Your heart broke to see so many who had lost so much, but the encouraging part was to look around that day. There were so many people from the community who came and sacrificed their weekend to help others who needed it the most. We got to work with some people from the vet school, our church, a local youth group and complete strangers. I do love Manhattan and the sense of community that can bond people together, that isn't something you see everyday! I am however thankful to say that I have now seen that twice: here in Kansas and also back home when my family lost our home to a fire back in March 1996. Even through the storms, God is faithful and will provide!!

Mike and I also got to spend this past Friday night with my best friend, Val. She was in Kansas City for the week with some of her students that were in a competition. We got to go to the Cheesecake Factory for an early dinner and hang out. Even though it was a brief visit, it was nice to see a face from back home.

I've also recently finished two more quilts. One was a jungle/rainforest playmat for my niece, Ava, and the other was a rag quilt for my friend's daughter, Grace. I will leave you with some pictures of them.

Ava's jungle/rainforest playmat

Grace's purple and pink flower rag quilt

It's official...we are not midwest people!!!

2008-06-13T08:29:00.005-05:00

Needlessly to say, things in Manhattan are in a bit of upheaval and chaos but thankfully we made it through the tornado safely. I can also honestly state that we are not meant to stay in the midwest...east coast, we'll be back!! Mike and I ended up packing up all 5 of the furry children and heading to the basement of the vet school, where many others also hung out with human and furry children. We are all the way down the hallway by the doors. For those of you not familiar with where we are, the vet school is off of Denison Ave., we live less than 1 mile northeast from the vet school and that street sign tells you how close we really were. I can now say I have survived a tornado and I can only pray long and hard that we are never that close again.

3 hours in the basement of the vet school

Thankfully there have been no injuries so far in Manhattan, that could only be by the grace of God. I can only imagine if spring semester was still in session and the population of Manhattan was at its max. There were many who lost their homes and businesses and our thoughts and prayers go out to them. Below are some other pictures from around Manhattan of the destruction.

This used to be the TruValue hardware store.

Another one to spoil...yeah!!!

2008-05-08T08:05:00.002-05:00

Mike and I received a phone call on Tuesday night that Jenn (Mike's sister) was in labor and at the hospital and we would have a new kid to spoil soon...yeah for us! That night Ava Marie Smith was born, weighing 6 lbs. 9 oz. and 20 inches long and she had a head of hair. We are so excited and now I get to make plans to go back home and see Ava. Angela is excited to be a big sister too. I'll post pictures once I have some.

What we've been up to...

2008-04-22T10:47:00.007-05:00

EASTER:

Not much has changed for us over the past few months. We've simply been plugging and chugging our way through life and vet school. I've been continuing to stay busy at work (with many complications along the way and many more to come), keeping the house running and still finding time for quilting, reading and just hanging out with friends. Back at Easter time, while Mike was playing paintball with the boys out at Josh's place, Lindsey and I got together to dye Easter eggs. They were awesome and we could even play with them at the end. Star Wars...Of course

GOOD VS. EVIL (THE DARK SIDE)

VISIT FROM MOM & DAD/WHITE COAT CEREMONY:

We also recently had a visit from Mike's parents, who came out for Mike's White Coat ceremony which was 2 Fridays ago. We got to spend 5 days with them and it was nice to share our lives in Kansas with some more family members. We got to celebrate Mike's transition from the classroom to the clinics at his White Coat Ceremony and also Dad Marino's 75th birthday during their visit. We had a great time and it was sad to see them go. But they will be hear again before we know it for Mike's graduation next May (May 15, 2009 @ 4 pm...to be exact) along with many more members of both of our families.

Right after he got coated, and after he fluffed his hair mocking all of the girls

Mike & Lindsey

Mike & I

Mike with his proud parents

(Mike didn't stop smiling the whole day, it was the greatest feeling to see his response to all that he has accomplished)

The family on Mike's big day

Now Mike is getting ready to take his finals next week and begin his first rotation in clinics on May 5th. There is a lot of anxiety, stress, and tension going around right now but deep down I think Mike does see a light at the end of the tunnel, especially when he brings up discussions about our lives after vet school. As for me, work is currently slow for me due to some situations and I will be hiring some more workers in the near future then hopefully things will pick up and deadlines can be met and research completed. Through all of this, however, even when it seems life is more than we can handle, Mike and I know that we are here for a reason and God has never abandoned us along the way (if anything we are the ones who have jumped ship). We also know that as much as Mike dreads going through clinics and the fear of practicing in the future that God already knows where we will be and what we will be doing. We are also looking forward to a new niece or nephew that is due at the end of May, and hopefully a visit back home to see the baby.

Hope all is well all of you and until next time...

Through the holidays...

2008-01-11T08:18:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile but I'll update you through the holidays...

In November, I got busier at work since we hired a new RA to assist me with my grant work. The studies just never seem to end and there always seems to be another experiment that has to be run due to the results of another. Stephanie has been a huge help and it is nice to have someone to talk to at the same time. Little did she know that when she was hired how busy we were going to keep her. I also stayed busy with S.O.K.S. We sponsored a CAT TOWN before the last home football game and I was in charge of planning the catering for ~300 people, set up and tear down. I was rather overwhelmed since this was something so new to me, but it came off without a bang and people seemed to enjoy it. A perk that came near the end of it was when Bev, our S.O.K.S. sponsor/Dean of Vet school's wife, offered me two free tickets to the football game that day. So I quickly found a friend (Thanks Lindsey!) and got to enjoy the last game against Missouri. It was a pretty good game until the end so we left a little early, but we did get some sun while we were there (even though it was mainly on the left side of our faces). Oh...good times! Mike stayed busy (imagine that) with school.

For Thanksgiving we enjoyed a quite day to ourselves with no stress or hurrying. We got to put our tree up and enjoy sitting by the lights that evening while watching football and movies. I can't recall the last time we had a holiday break when we could sit back and relax and not worry about school or running off to another committment. Mike even took three days of his break to NOT study even though he had an exam the following Monday (how nice of the vet school). I also finally finished the quilt for Sharon for Christmas.

Then it was time to start planning for Christmas...BUT HOLD ON...WHAT DID WE GET...Oh yeah, we got an ice storm!! That put a little damper on things considering that it was during the week of finals and even K-State closed down one day. Thank God, we only lost power for ~10 hours. We were definitely more fortunate than others. Many a day our house was a shelter for others from church for hot meals, heat, showers, a place to study, and a place to eat with light. We did get a few cool pictures out of it though, including individually frozen blades of grass. It slowed down getting things ready to come home but on the Saturday before we left, Mike and I high tailed it and got everything done with a few hours to relax before packing up the car,the dogs and hopping in the car at 4 am to make the long drive back east. We ended up putting over 3000 miles on our Jeep this trip.

Holiday Pictures of the Marinos

We were able to go home for 2 1/2 weeks this time. We did the usual running back and forth between my parents and his parents but got to enjoy plenty of time with both families. Praise the Lord...this was the first Christmas season in awhile that neither of our families had any huge health concerns. God has been good this past year to us! We got to celebrate our niece's (Angela) 9th birthday, attend my sister's winter choral concert at Redding Middle School, visit with old friends I grew up with (Congratulations Carrie on your engagement!!), relive our first date to Red Rose Inn and Longwood Gardens, visit with old coworkers and veterinarian friends and see everyone back at Newark Naz. We wished we could have seen more people but we drove ourselves ragged as it was and there just wasn't enough time, so if we didn't see you then we hope you had a wonderful holiday season! We got back to Kansas 5 days before we had to return to work and school, and we needed every moment of that time to recuperate. Traveling can take so much out of you.

Longwood Gardens with Jenn & Angela

We are both back at work and school now. I am trying to dig myself out at the same time as preparing to leave again. I will be traveling back to Atlanta at the end of the month for another training. Mike is already dreading this semester as he is taking 23 credit hours and 9 classes, as well as working again as a emergency on-call vet tech (just like he did all last year). After last semester, I think he just dreads it will be the same even though neither of us have any idea what it will truly be like. The only thing I know for sure is that God would not have put us here if it wasn't part of his plan and if he didn't think we could handle it!

Halloweener Dogs All Dressed Up

2007-10-29T11:12:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween! I just wanted to send out pictures of the pups dressed up. We decided to dress them up as two foods, not on purpose though (like Tiger isn't already a weiner dog). We just couldn't pass up either costume at the store and so we had to get both. Don't they look like they are being punished. : ) With Henry's chicken legs sticking out from his costume, it looks like he is about to take off running. While Tiger dreads looking like a lobster is squashing his little body...HEEHEEHEE. The costume was a little big for him, imagine that.

My travels

2007-10-11T14:04:00.001-05:00

Since my travels, Mike has been swamped with tests and will have his first surgery next week. He has anesthesia for the first surgery and he keeps saying he is going to put the dog to sleep. He is SUCH a drama king! He is also halfway through the fall semester, that is hard for me to imagine. But each day brings us closer to graduation, thank the Lord!

I made it through my travels to Salt Lake City and St. Louis and had a great time at both. Salt Lake City was beautiful surrounded by the mountains and I even got to go have lunch up in the mountains at a little lodge with the group at my training. It was such a beautiful day. I also saw my only glimpse of fall foliage while I was there. So sad, somedays I just miss New England. Kansas just isn't the most colorful place to be in the fall.

Salt Lake City pictures

View from my hotel window

This was the view from where we had lunch the last afternoon. Isn't that beautiful?!

My fall foliage for the year The 2002 Olympic torch

This was me saying good-bye to Salt Lake City as I flew over the Great Salt Lake.

St. Louis, MO pictures

This was the gang that I hung out with for the week. Sad to say we were not able to go up in the arch because it closed at 5 in the afternoon.

It was cool watching the sunset on the arch and I was glad I got to see it even if I couldn't go up.

This was the moon telling us our adventure was done and it was time to head home.

Since I have been home, life has had its ups and down. My family has had a lot of medical concerns and last week we lost two members, one to a heart attack and one to a car accident. I've also had more pain with my knees and will find out next Friday what is next for me to do, the brace has only bought me some relief. I've made it through physical therapy will no relief and now we'll see what the orthopedist has to say. Whatever it is I'm hoping to get it done as soon as possible in order to have some relief before Christmas when we have to make the long drive home to PA and DE;, my knees just won't allow me sitting in one place for more than a couple of hours right now and in a confined space it is even worse. But I know God is the ultimate physician and he will take care of me.

I must tell everyone how excited I have been over the bible study that I am in right now. I am doing Beth Moore's "Daniel" study and it is phenomenal. I highly recommend it to everyone!! It has been speaking multitudes to me and God is truly opening my eyes to what his Scripture has to say about the world that we live in. We are halfway through and my walk has been growing closer to him, I wasn't where I needed to be and God is using this bible study in so many ways. He is also growing our group closer together and I am only excited for what is still to come. I thank God how he provides for us and brings us into groups that can help share our burdens and pray for us! God has been blessing my prayer time and I can see reflections of it in how he has been using others around me. We don't deserve so many of the gifts that God gives us but we must always be thankful. In closing I want to share the most recent thing I've learned from this bible study and the group that I haven't fully been aware of before (besides hash browns must be frozen in order to fry them)...

We always think of the hard things we go through but how often do we think of the ones we don't. When we go through trials we think we are going alone, however, God is going to deliver us through them. But how many times have we thought of the trials that God has delivered us from that we don't have to fully experience. Our lives could be so much harder, but God has planned our lives and is directing us through what he feels we need. God is taking away all of those trials that we are delivered from and we'll never know the magnitude of what He has done for us. We need to be thankful every time we are going through something and remember that there could be more, but God loves us enough and knows what we can handle! How great is that!!

What a better note to end on then to say THAT GOD IS GOOD...ALL THE TIME...AND ALL THE TIME...GOD IS GOOD!!!!

On the road again...

2007-09-10T20:05:00.000-05:00

I am writing this blog from Salt Lake City, Utah. It is beautiful to be surrounded by mountains on all sides. It gives you a new perspective of the world when you travel to new places. I'll have to post pictures later. I'm traveling for business this week and next week again. It gets tiring but I have to remember this can only be good for my career and our future. Mike is busy working towards our future as he is preparing for his first two tests this coming Friday and Monday, while I have abandoned him to work for our present. I just can't wait until May 15, 2009 when his schooling will be done and we can move on with our lives.

Since August, I have now finished my first quilt and have started on my second plus purchasd enough fabric to last me for a few months. Here is my first patriotic rag quilt that I sent to Christian Leetch who was born early this summer.

Lindsey and I went into Topeka at the end of August and I bought enough fabric to keep me busy for many months to come, of course, I will have to think of what they will be first. But it will all come together. Lindsey and Cherry have started an addiction that is slightly out of control (it is a good thing that Mike doesn't keep track of our money = ) ). While we were in Topeka for girl's day out to get our wedding rings cleaned, shop at craft stores and Kohls, and of course to eat at Olive Garden, we discovered my dream car. I couldn't resist taking pictures to share this with all of you. You will all see why I fell in love with it!

Who doesn't need a pimped out pink PT cruiser? You can't really tell, but the inside of the car has a pink interior and seats. Believe me, we definitely spent some time checking this baby out.

The family is doing well and Maggie is getting more used to the animals. She does believe the world revolves around her however. Of course, in the bottom picture I have no idea what her face is about but I couldn't resist posting it.

Once again it is football season...we have picked our fantasty football team...bought the greenies for the dogs for the Eagles' games and we are no longer messing around. Can't you tell by Tiger's face that we are ready for football season? Heck, we are even getting new furniture tomorrow (which I am excited about) and I didn't realize until now that it is very close to Philadelphia green. What a coincidence?!?

The only way I know how to close this blog out is to say...

GO EAGLES!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-08-01T14:04:00.000-05:00

Time is passing rather quickly these days. I have a lot to get caught up on since the middle of June. Let's see... (I'll try to keep it short)

Since then I have almost finished my first quilt, made a trip back home to surprise Mike in PA, done more reading than usual (thanks to Cherry's library), taken many vacation days to spend time with Mike, and now Mike is trying to prepare to start third year. Let's just say that he is tired of school so it is going to take more to mentally prepare to go back to school.

I surprised Mike and his family on Father's Day. It was priceless to see Mike's face the first time he saw me at the restaurant. He was even speechless and for any of you who know Mike rather well, know that once he gets to know you he doesn't really shut up. I was glad to be able to spend that time with my family and then we headed off to his family's house. We had a good time hanging out with them and spending a few days with his niece, Angela. We even got to be together on our anniversary, which was nice. This definitely could not have happened without the help of some awesome friends and a lot of prayers...thanks to all of you!!!

As for the summer traveling, Mike and my brother made it back to KS with no car problems this time and we had a nice visit with him. We were able to have nice weather and the chance to go and do something every day, Jim lucked out from having to experience a KS summer.

Maggie has definitely become one of the family, even though she can be a bully. However, she had her day of pay back. Maggie lost her womanhood at the end of June and she even had to wear a plastic cone around her head afterward. None of the animals would go near her. They must have thought she was Frankinkitty. However, as soon as that thing came off, she was back to normal. Frick (Hammy) and Frack (Maggie) are back at it as you can see in the pictures.

Maggie on drugs (after surgery).

This is Maggie and her naked blubber belly at home recuperating (maybe we should have had lyposuction done while she was under anesthesia).

Frankinkitty

FRICK & FRACK PICTURES

Here are Tiger & Henry sporting their 4th of July gear. (I don't know why Tiger is sticking out his tongue but I promise he means no disrespect to Independence Day)

These were our other summer family members (Cleoutus and Marvin) who have now gone to a new home. Frick and Frack are going to miss them the most.

We have had many ups and downs this summer dealing with family health problems and have appreciated all of the prayers. It has been rather stressful especially as Mike's mom has been in and out of the hospital, but we know God is in control. My grandmother's arm has been healing well since her fall and she is not even wearing a cast anymore. My dad came out of his car accident with just minor injuries and has now purchased a new car to replace his. Mike's dad has been doing really well considering what his body has been through these past few months. Mike's mom is still dealing with issues and we are not sure if they are due to the septic shock back in January when she was on the ventilator but we just ask for continued prayers for her health. It seems that every time she goes to the doctor's that she ends up in the hospital for a few days with a new concern. It is easier to be here away from this all at times but other times you wish you could be with your family. God has been good though and Mike and I know that things do happen for a reason and that God can also heal as he desires. I have held on dearly to James 1:2-6 this summer as it seems that there has been one thing after another. We are also still trying to witness to his family especially though all of this, please remember that in your prayers too.

I'm thankful for the good and the bad even though it isn't always easy. Now we look ahead to Mike starting third year and me doing the same as always.

And yet again...

2007-06-15T09:25:00.000-05:00

I know I am a slacker, but I'm sure you will all get over it. I'll try to keep this short even though it has been two months. Since I last wrote, Mike finished his second year, PRAISE THE LORD! I won't say it was an easy year by any stretch of the imagination, however, it didn't kill him. We are thankful to have another year done and I know Mike is thankful for the break from having to think too much.

We had a few weeks together before his brother got here to just relax and go out and do stuff together. We just did day trips, saw tons of movies that we had wanted to see, and yet again...we added another one to our family. Yes, we are crazy, but I can handle furry children right now instead of the real thing. On May 29th we took extra food that we had acquired during the school year to the animal shelter and I pressured Mike to look around. Yes, this one is all my fault, he tried to resist but in the end he couldn't either. We made it through all of the puppies, dogs and thenI entered the cat room. I was drawn to her right away and then Mike was a pushover and we brought her home that afternoon. Her name is Maggie and she is ~ 9 1/2 months old. She has some beautiful markings and is so sweet and a lover. If you just walk in the room after she hasn't seen you for awhile she just starts purring. She hung out a few days in our bathroom until we could get her into the vets, but now she is fully acclimated to the rest of the family. If anything she is a big bully, especially with Henry. She has learned the hard way not to mess with Tiger and Cinder, while her and Hammy are best friends. Poor Henry, he is just misunderstood.

A few days after Maggie, Mike's brother, Jason, flew in and visited with us for about a week. Jason was going to help Mike drive back to PA for the summer. They got their video game time in as well as their movie fixes. We also went to the Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure in Salina, KS. We had a good time and the weather was beautiful. But then came the day they had to leave. I don't think the dogs had a clue what was going on, especially when Tiger ran around the entire morning looking for Mike in every nook and cranny of the house. Sad to say but Tiger will not be seeing Mike for awhile.

On the drive back to PA, Mike and Jason spent tons of money on gas and also realized something was wrong with my Jeep. Needless to say, here was the diagnosis from the mechanic...the manifold air pressure apparatus (MAP) burst somewhere in Missouri when the Check Engine light started flashing so the car could of either not had enough fuel being pushed through the engine or it could have had too much. I guess there were angels around Mike and Jason because it kept pushing gas through all the way to PA to a trusted mechanic, however, by that time the gas leaked all over, the spark plugs were all black and covered with carbon and the O2 sensor was destroyed because carbon flakes had gone through the exhaust (which would explain why my Jeep was puffing out black exhaust off and on during the trip also). If you could imagine, Samson really needed a tune up after all of that. So we are hoping that Samson is okay now and will be able to make the trip home in July, if you all can remember that in prayer. So Mike is home now even though a majority of the time he would love to be back in Kansas. He has a lot to accomplish there before he heads off to my uncle's dairy farm. So I also covet your prayers for him back home, there are a good number of issues that have arisen and Mike has his hands full.

Since Mike has been gone I've held down the fort, kept making the money so Mike can spend it : ), started to sew my first quilt (thanks to Lindsey, Jenny and Cherry), and kept myself occupied. I miss Mike dearly but at the same time I know God has a purpose for Mike back home right now, otherwards he wouldn't be there. But God is good and is working on Mike and I...who can complain about that? God has also blessed us with amazing friends who have helped in ways we can never repay. We thank God for the support and love!!

So this is our life right now...

We do exist, but barely...

2007-04-23T08:23:00.000-05:00

I guess if we had a kid or something that changed our lives on a daily basis that we would have more to say, but we don't. So you will have to put up with reading about our consistently busy and somewhat boring lives. Work has ramped up for me and there has been a lot of commotion, but I'm not sinking, just going insane (some would say I was already there however). I have almost dug my way out since all of my travels even though more keeps getting piled on. I can say though that having all of that time away gave me plenty of time to think and realize that I needed to start prioritizing and putting up more boundaries in my life. I'm sure we could all say that we need to do these things, but how many of us actually do it. God and I are working on it together in time.

I did have a great time visiting with Chris, Mindy and Luke. I think Mindy covered my visit well in her blog with all that we did so I won't repeat it, you can just go and read it on their blog. However, here are some other pictures from the visit as well as one from my visit with Nettie.

Check out the stripe of hair, I think Luke should have a mohawk!

There isn't much more happening. Mike has his last regular semester exam this Wednesday and his six finals start the following Thursday. He is ready for it to be over and with the weather being nice it is extremely hard for him to want to study at all. I'm sure he will do fine he just needs to focus himself. His last day of work is next Monday so at least one less thing will be in his schedule prior to finals taking place. It has been good for him to have this job, but at the same time he was overdoing it. We have learned our lesson the hard way.

As for the rest of our lives, Mike will start vamping up his summer plans as the time draws nearer for him to leave. We have finalized dates with his brother, Jason, and Mike will be leaving to head home on June 5th. But I know I will have plenty to keep my hands busy while he is gone...more on this in a later blog.

A bunch of us young women are going to start a quilting bee this summer. I'm excited because I have no idea how to do it as of right now. I want to make a quilt for our bed as well as some Christmas gifts. We'll see how well it goes and how well I can pick it up. It'll be nice to have more girl time since Mike will be gone.

I guess that is really all I have to tell right now but I promise I'll blog again soon!

Still going...

2007-03-26T12:22:00.000-05:00

This one is for Todd...

I am currently sitting in the KCI airport heading out on my second business trip in three weeks while Mike is sitting in class. It seems as though things have been non-stop during March but after April 1st, all should begin to calm down (everything except finishing up school). I can't say that there was anything extremely different from this month and the past ones, except for a few of my business trips with a side of personal vacation.

As for Mike, he survived the crazy week of 5 exams in 7 days and recuperated during Spring Break last week. However, how many students really want to go back to school once they have been given a break. Right off the bat, Mike has a hard exam on Friday. Thank God there is only 6 more weeks left of his second year of vet school. Everyone wants to have a huge party at the end of the year to celebrate.

I know Mike will be relieved to have some freedom this summer and will need the break when he goes home for the summer. As of right now, Mike will be heading home for about 1 1/2 months over the summer, while I fend for myself in the wonderful town of Manhattan. His brother, Jason, will be flying out for a visit at the beginning of June and will help drive back to PA with Mike. Then in the middle of July, my brother, Jim, will be driving out west with Mike for a visit and then flying home a few days later. There is also a chance of others visiting this summer after Mike comes home, it will be nice to finally have visitors in our new house. Both Jim and Jason helped us move out here in the very beginning and so it is only right that they are the first to visit us in our new home. Did I mention what Mike will be doing while he is at home...he will be spending a week or two on my uncle's dairy farm to gain some experience around larger animals? Mike isn't really sure what to expect since he really hasn't spent anytime on a farm before, so it will be interesting for him. I'm excited for him to finally meet my Aunt Marie and Uncle Rick, he will have a great time with them.

I got home this past Wednesday from spending time in the Boston area. I spent the first few days with Lynnette (thank you so much, Nettie!!!). We had a great time. I must say however that it was the most treacherous travel day I have ever had in my life. Between bad weather, the beginning of spring break for the entire world, and flight attendants that acquired the name "Lucifer's wife" (I HIGHLY DO NOT RECOMMEND CONTINENTAL AIRLINES IF YOU WANT TO FLY THE FRIENDLY SKIES), I survived traveling for14 hours and made it into downtown Boston on Thursday evening. On Friday, we dared to go treking through Boston as the Noreaster approached and by the time we got home (with snow already coming down, may I add), we were ready to nestle in and stay warm while we watched the snow come down at a good pace and horizontally. We spent time talking, doing puzzles, reading, and just down right relaxing. I must say that it took me awhile to adjust to Lynnette's lifestyle in downtown Boston, but I can say I got my exercise. On Saturday, we headed out to head into Quincy to meet up with Jeff, Joy, Joshua, and Jordan. Let me tell you, Joshua is a ham. He is one of the most entertaining kids I have been around in a long time. Later that night we met up with LaDawna (my old college roommate) for dinner and a movie. I highly recommend the movie "Amazing Grace." (Val this is one we need to see together.) We had a good time just getting caught up after all of these years. On Sunday, we headed to Park Street church with my suitcase in tow, that was an experience. Even when I was there I ran into an old friend, Cindy Walchle Scott (yes Chris, another relative of yours by marriage...imagine that!). I had a blast. I will be honest, I only took a few pictures during the whole trip, and I don't have them off of my camera yet, but I will post the group picture later. On Sunday after fighting through the crowd heading to Boston's St. Patrick's Day parade, we finally made it to lunch with Reba and Iesha. I just want to say that one of the best parts of that was that I got a Frappe, I was so excited! After I said by to Nettie, I headed out only to have to dig out my rental car in order to head out to Natick, MA for business. Thanks to Reba who had a burst of energy, we had it out pretty quick and I soon said goodbye to all my friends in Boston. The business part of the trip was okay, but nothing stellar to report. By the end of it all, I was ready to go home and see Mike and the kids. Thank God for a direct flight and nice flight attendants (I flew home on a different airline). I made it home and then loved spending time with Mike for the rest of his Spring break.

We did find time to hang out with friends in his last few days, including going to a Japanese Steakhouse in Topeka with Jenny, Jaime, Bobby & Lindsey and also our normal Friday night dinner with the gang. We even found time to take in a movie...all I can say is...I almost piddled in my seat during Wild Hogs. Any movie that starts with someone getting hurt and some good laughs is a keeper. Rate it an A! Sad to say that the weekend came to a close and I ended up doing laundry and repacking while Mike studied. Doesn't that sound like fun. And now here I sit waiting for my flight to Atlanta...Ho Hum...Ho Hum...

I can say though that I am excited for my visit to see Mindy, Chris & Luke at the end of the week. I just have to survive 5 days of training at the CDC first. So this is all she wrote (for now anyway).

Still surviving...

2007-02-23T08:38:00.000-06:00

Mike and I are keeping ourselves busy and have just been trying to survive the cold. Mike is still busy with school and working less (which is a praise), and he still finds time for breaks as you can see. He is starting to think about what he wants to do over the summer, if anything. After this year he probably won't want to do anything...at least that is what I've heard from him and Lindsay.
It has also been nice to have a reprieve from the freezing cold weather, even Tiger got tired of it. I guess having a little body makes it harder to stay warm so he was resourceful and figured it out for himself. It doesn't help either when it is so cold that your water pipes freeze up and you have to call a plumber to pay them $100 to blow hot air under your house. Mike says next time I will be going out with a hair dryer to unthaw them, boy is he a dreamer. But thank goodness for Bobby and Lindsey being right down the street so at least I could shower during that time. I love winter but there comes a point when spring starts to look really nice.

Here is a close up of him just in case you can't see it well in the other picture.

Hammy and Cinder have survived the winter so far also. They have found ways to keep themselves warm by cuddling, that is of course when Hammy is not trying to bite or chase Cinder. Here's another comparative picture of how big they both are on the TV. I can't believe that Hammy is only 9 months old and that big. I pray he doesn't grow that much more. I'm sure Cinder hopes that too, since she is not fully able to sit on top of the TV.

As for me, I am keeping rather busy at work as things have finally picked up and now everything has a deadline. I'm excited about what I am doing now too. I'm excited also for my business trip coming up where I get to go back to MA. My boss told me to work in some vacation time to visit old friends and ENC, so I will get to see Jeff, Joy, Joshua and Jordan, along with Nettie, Reba, LaDawna and who knows who else. It's been ages since I have been up in MA and I can't wait. I will share more after I get back from my trip in two weeks. BOSTON OR BUST!!

I'm also staying busy with life and my recent endeavor is the second edition of the church's picture directory. There are enough new people coming and new babies in the church that it is needed. Hammy has also decided that he would like to help me with this and so he was proofreading it for me. He is a very intellectual kitty when he isn't as dumb as dirt. Really all he was doing was following the mouse on the screen, but he looks smart doesn't he. Mike and I will laugh at this until the day he sticks his nails into the computer monitor.

As for our families, my mom is doing really well recuperating. The doctor did prolong her scheduled time to go back to work for another two weeks, but God willing she will be back to her old self soon. Mike's mom and dad are doing okay. I actually haven't heard from them in awhile, but in my family no news is good news. The most recent thing in our family was Sharon's little accident where she totaled her car in a bad winter storm when she was trying to avoid other cars having problems also and fishtaled and hit an ambulance on the side of the road. Thank goodness she came out of it safe and now she will be sporting a red PT cruiser. Overall, we have a lot of things to be thankful for and God has been so good to us!

Some exciting news...

2007-01-24T08:17:00.000-06:00

Mike and I recently found out that there will be a new edition to our family within the year...not from us though. : ) My Uncle Bill and Aunt Maureen will be adopting a baby girl from China within the year. Of course, this means that I will have to give up my role as the baby of the family now, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make. We are so excited for them and I know they will be amazing parents. I am excited for her arrival and I can't wait to head down to Florida to visit. She will be my only cousin on that side of the family, and I am sure she will be spoiled by us all. What a responsibility and amazing blessing from God that we will all get to take part in!
Until next time...

We are still here and we made it through the holidays...

2007-01-22T08:34:00.000-06:00

Sorry it has been so long, but now it is time to get everyone updated. Yes, this will be a long one so be prepared. Here it comes...
To fill everyone in on our last blog, as we pulled in to Mike's parents driveway on that Thursday, his parents pulled in right behind us. His dad was put on new medications to help with the two blockages in one artery and given orders to take it easy. However, within a few days his whole body broke out in a rash and they took him off of all of the meds until they could determine which drug was causing it. Christmas Day his dad over did it and had a pretty rough day, because of this and with a fight with the doctors they got him on oxygen at home and since then he has been doing much better. He has a visiting nurse and physical therapist coming to the house to check on him also. He still has his good and bad days but at least he is coherent and back to his normal self.
As for my mom, she had her surgery on January 8th, once my father returned home from England for a work and witness trip. She made it through the surgery well and no other cancer cells were found...Praise the Lord! She was in the hospital for two days before they released her and is now home recovering well. She is feeling a whole lot better and my dad is taking good care of her. Her recovery period is 8-10 weeks so it will take time but she sounds great and is in good spirits. I think all she really wants is to get back to real life and being able to live prior to the past few months when she has been too weak.
Now for the update on our Christmas, even with all that was going on we did have a great vacation back home. The most important thing to us was just being with our family and friends that we can't see all the time. We got to spend the holidays with our families, visit with old friends, be there for Angela's 8th birthday (our niece), see all the new babies that have been born and visit our home church and some of the families. We had a great time hanging out with the Muzzeys on Friday night, just talking, playing with millipedes and playing cards. And then Mike had to finish up his Christmas shopping so we headed to the dreadful mall 2 days before Christmas. For any of you who really know me, you know that shopping is definitely not a passion or desire of mine, much less in crowded malls with pushy people. But we survived, got everything we needed, spent too much money, and then headed out to lunch with my Aunt Jean and Mr. Sweetman. Don Pablos...yummy! Plus, this restaurant was one of our memory places from when we first started dating
We celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve with my family. It was a little bit more hurried since there was so much going on at church, but we made it work. There were 11 of us that gathered at Jim's place for dinner and gifts, including my family, Marie, Kevin (Sharon's man), and Val. Val was supposed to leave around early evening to go be with her family, however, we kept telling her that her car wouldn't start and she wasn't going to go until later. Wouldn't you know it...her car didn't start (with a little help from Mike and my mom : ) ) Since Val isn't too familiar with what is under the hood of her car, we decided to unhook her battery to delay her exit. Of course, she came in blaming Mike right away demanding to know what he did to her car. He didn't back down until Val was so upset she started to cry, I guess Mike is a softie deep down because he told her the truth and Mike and my mom went and hooked her car back up so she could leave. But then she had been so frazzled that she left a bunch of stuff that she was suppose to take to her family's gathering at Jim's place, so she came back once again. In my opinion, she really didn't want to leave us. We then headed off to the Christmas Eve candlelight service where I met my "niece", McKenzie Cherry, for the first time since she was born in August. Then we picked up the dogs and were off to Sharon's place for snacks and dessert (yummy buttercake). We had breakfast together the following Christmas morning with my family and then packed up to head to Mike's family.
We spent Christmas Day with the Marinos. We had dinner over at his brother, Chris's house, and spent the night opening gifts and playing with the kids. After dinner, all the guys retreated to the basement to play pool while keeping their ears tuned to the radio to hear the Eagles game, which they won. It was a late night and by the time we got back to Mike's parents we all crashed, except Angela who wanted to open her Christmas gifts. Mike and I had to be up early the next morning to head to the eastern shore so we postponed Christmas gifts until later in the week.
On Tuesday, we headed down through DE and into Salisbury, MD so we could visit with Chris, Mindy & Luke. Sharon and Val joined us for the trip. It was really great to see the Scotts again and even better that was the day that Luke started to crawl. He is just growing up so fast! We headed out to lunch and then later visited with Chris' neighbors, the Willeys, and then had dessert at Chris' parents house. It was nice to get caught up with each other and to know that even when friends move away they really aren't that far away. Later on the way home, we made a quick stop to check out Val's new house. It is a perfect starter house for what she needs and is really cute too. I'm so happy for her and knowing how far she has come to be the woman she is today.

On Wednesday, we got together with Sharon, Val and Mark for dinner. We had a good time and once again decided to get Val. Mike told the waitress it was her 30th birthday, so they came out with a dessert and sang to her. They told her that her reaction was one of the best ones they have ever had, little did they know it was because it was nowhere near her birthday much less near her 30th birthday. It may seem as if Val is persecuted often, but it truly is out of love and what could she complain about...she got a free dessert!! Then we headed out to Chris & Keera's house to see them and their 10 month old identical twin girls which we had not seen since they were born. I even got Mike to hold Callie, and here is the proof. Wednesday was also the day that my dad and Aunt Jean headed off to England for 12 days.

On Thursday, I started coming down with a sinus infection and so Mike had to head out to lunch with his old co-workers without me. He had a good time with all of them and I had a good time at home with my mom. She came up to our room and we just talked for hours like we used to. That time made me realize how awesome my parents are and have always been. I truly treasure and love them with all my heart. Later that night Sharon had my mom, grandmother, Mike, me, and the dogs over to her place for dinner since this was our last night in DE. It was nice to spend so much family time together.
On Friday, after a quick trip to the doctor for me, we headed to PA for the rest of our vacation. We opened our gifts that night with part of the family and hung out with Angela the rest of the weekend. We spent a lot of time just relaxing at the house with Mike's parents, Angela and Jenn. I spent a lot of time playing Elvis checkers and Tic-Tac-Toe, and I learned that Angela can be a cheater when she wants to...sneaky little kid! After getting the rug pulled out from under me a few times, we laid down ground rules and we were good from that point on. : )
On New Years Eve, we went out to lunch with our friend, Angela, to get caught up on life. While we were there we had the restaurant sing Happy Birthday to our niece, Angela. It has become a tradition to take her there for her birthday for the past few years now. Then we went home and watched the Eagles game and then watched the Ball drop with the family. We spent New Years Day at Jenn and Brian's house since it was Angela's 8th birthday and then on Tuesday we watched Christian and Gabriel (our other niece and nephew) until they fell asleep before heading out to visit Dr. McGrath. We always like to keep in touch with Dr. McGrath due to his support he has always given Mike towards fulfilling his dream and becoming a vet. Many stories were exchanged about their school experiences, but it is also comforting to know Mike is not the only one who has gone through this and that he will survive it.

On Wednesday, we piled back into the car and headed back to Kansas. Thank God we had good weather and we made it through the entire trip safe. The animals seemed to be worn down at the hotel halfway through our journey, so they decided they needed to relax in comfort.

Mike has since then started class and work and is already in full swing. He has already had his first test and is getting ready for the next one along with keeping up with 8 classes. He has been overwhelmed with all of our family issues but he is staying as strong as he can. I am back in the swing of work again as well as my routine here in Kansas. Plus, to prove to us it is winter we have now gotten some snow, about 4-5 inches.
However, over a week ago we got news from home that Mike's mom was taken into the emergency room with a fever of 103, low blood pressure, high heart rate, problems breathing, pneumonaie, and she was septic. She was later transferred into ICU, sedated and put on a ventilator for about 6 days. She is now out of ICU, recovering well, and I believe she should be coming home today. She will still be on an IV with antibiotic at home, but at least both his parents will be home together instead of in the hospital. Praise the Lord! We've had a few scares with the health of our parents but we know that our Heavenly Father doesn't just love us but he is the Great Physician and can heal us also! We have so much to be thankful for!!!
Thank you to all who were praying for our parents, we could feel the prayers being lifted up and know that we are blessed to have such a strong prayer group and circle of friends! We are thankful that life is getting back to some normalcy after these past few months, even though Mike was never ready to go back to school. Even the animals seem to be thankful for a routine again, it seems they are trying to get caught up on their lack of sleep through it all, as the pictures show.

Hopefully next time will be much shorter so until then...

A relaxful holiday may have been too much to ask for...

2006-12-19T13:03:00.000-06:00

This is going to be a quick post. Sad to say so far the holidays do not look relaxful at all. We've had a quick change of plans to our holiday season as we will be heading home earlier for the holidays. Mike's dad is in the hospital with heart problems so we are heading home bright and early tomorrow morning, like 4 am. We have also heard that my mother's surgery has been scheduled for January 8th. During this time for both families we covet your prayers, for health and also safe traveling mercies.
Hope everyone else is having a more relaxed holiday season. Wishing you all the best from our home to yours!! God Bless and Merry Christmas!

Tis the season...to finally relax, HOPEFULLY!

2006-12-15T14:39:00.000-06:00

(I know I've been slacking, but Jenny, you will have to get over it.)

This past month has been a whirlwind of activity from saying goodbye to close friends, getting ready for Christmas and Mike finishing out the semester. Now that most of that has passed or will be drawing near soon I can finally say I have my husband back after surviving the hardest semester yet of vet school and soon we will get to see our families and celebrate Christmas with them.

Hammy has still been a handful. He definitely craves attention and if it can't be positive he is okay with getting disciplined and sprayed until he is soaking wet. He is in to everything from thinking the Christmas tree is a new toy to anything that I am trying to use, as you can see by these pictures. He definitely keeps us on our toes especially when he runs between our legs as we walk around, needless to say Mike and I have both been tripped multiple times.

The rest of the animals are doing really well. Cinder has been getting a break from Hammy as we have been locking him up during the days and at nights since we don't really want to clean our Christmas tree remains up off of the floor. Cinder had her 6th birthday at the end of October and Tiger will have his 6th at the end of January, the day after his daddy's birthday. It is hard to believe that they are that age especially since it seems like yestserday when they both were tiny. I know...Tiger is still tiny, however, from when we picked him out at two weeks old and even when we brought him home he could fit into just one of our hands. Here is a shot of the boys in front of the Christmas tree this year.

We did have to say, "See you later" to some of our friends this past month. We all got to help decorate the church together and even found time for a group picture. Tomorrow we will get to see Corey & Holly and after Christmas we will get to see Chris, Mindy & Luke also. Yeah for hanging out with great friends!! A definite reunion should be planned for the future.

The Manhattan Gang at the farewell luncheon

Here are some cute pictures of Luke from the night of Christmas decorating at the church. Lindsey made the quilt for him and he enjoyed rolling around on it and playing with the little animals that fit into the barns.

The guys had another marathon paintball day back in the early part of the month before Chris left and a new member has joined the Paintball Sympathizer Club. Jon has now joined the ranks of Anthony and Chris. While the guys were shooting themselves up all the girls got together to relax without them, imagine that. We all reconvened at our house for food, a Nazarene staple at every gathering, and then for a movie. Sadly we had to say goodbye to Mindy and Luke two days following and then to Chris a week later. We were much nicer to Mindy when she left, while with Chris...not so nice, as you can see. Even Jamie lended a hand! See Chris, you left your mark from the oldest down to the youngest in the group. And for anyone who doesn't understand the first picture, the only people that were nice enough to want to take Chris in and put up with him for two days was his new set of parents, Bobby & Lindsey Crawford, hence his name change.

Mike (and Lindsey) took their last final yesterday and last night was the first time in ages that Mike just got to veg in front of the TV with all of the animals on him. Not a textbook was opened, not even pharmacology. He even got to sleep in this morning, imagine that. Of course, since he isn't in school, now he is on-call until the morning that we leave to come home. Everyone needs to pray hard that his pager doesn't go off within the next week just so he can actually feel like he is on vacation. And if anyone, such as Chris, prays for the opposite they will reap revenge later, mark my words.

Tomorrow we head into Kansas City with our young adult (we use that term loosely in our group) Sunday School class for shopping, dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and to see the lights AND TO SEE COREY & HOLLY!!!!

And in one week we will be on our way home to DE and then to PA...It'll be good to see all of you back home! Until next time...

Thanksgiving...

2006-11-24T11:41:00.000-06:00

This week has been full of plenty to do and now I can relax for the next few days while Mike has to study. No one ever said vet school was easy, and if they did they should give it a try for a few days and see if they can handle it. Mike has also been on call this week and once again luck is not on his side, every single day he has been called in twice. Yesterday he woke up, went into surgery, went and celebrated Thanksgiving with all of us and then got called in at 12:30 am again for a surgery that lasted about 5 1/2 hours. Needless to say, he slept in this morning.

We got to spend Thanksgiving yesterday with the gang here in Manhattan and we had a great time. There were 17 of us, including Lindsey's family from Minnesota. We had a good time eating, playing games, watching movies, and just laughing. As you can see in this picture, some of the guys couldn't even stop laughing while they were trying to swallow. And after everyone
stuffed themselves, some had to take naps during the day to recuperate, like baby Jamie.

The gang

Josh, Chris & Mike shouldn't be allowed
to sit by each other. (Any of these guys
together means trouble!!)

Jamie's first Thanksgiving was too exhausting

I also got the Christmas decorating almost done. Mike ended up being called in every time we started to decorate so I had to do most of it on my own, except when Hammy tried to help by relocating the ornaments to the floor. I guess he thought he wanted them down on his level. But finally Hammy relaxed and enjoyed sitting by his first Christmas tree and falling asleep, and later that night he enjoyed sleeping under the tree.

So Thanksgiving Break has been busy, but it has also reminded me that I have a lot to be thankful for. God has blessed Mike and I with so much, including our families back home and our friends and family here in Kansas. He has taken care of our every need from the time we started dating, to the time we got married and to when we packed up and moved 1300 miles away from all we knew. I will admit that I cried when I heard we were going to Kansas, but now I know those tears were in vain. I couldn't of pictured not being in Kansas during this time of our lives. Between the vet school and church, God has filled our lives abundantly and has blessed us with friendships that we would of otherwise never known. What a blessing to share Thanksgiving Day with those God blessed us with!

We hope that everyone had just as wonderful a Thanksgiving Day as we did! God Bless!

2006-11-19T21:45:00.000-06:00

This is a totally new thing that I wanted to start since we have friends relocating and others all over the US. Hope this works out. This was the end of another week full of exams and studying for Mike (surprise there) while I continue to try and get all the other things done, including Christmas shopping and making preparations to head home at Christmas. We are so excited to be able to see our families and to see how much our nieces and nephew have grown. It is hard not being close to watch them grow up, but we enjoy the time we do have with them. Our little family keeps growing also. Hammy, who is only 5 1/2 months, now is bigger in size and weighs more than Tiger and is almost the size of Cinder. He is a beast! He recently went in to visit the vet to prepare for him to lose his manhood, and he weighed in at ~8 1/2 pounds. He survived the surgery and doesn't seem to hate us for it. His personality is back, and during these cold winter months his affection will come in handy with keeping me warm. He's a lover! The pictures can help you compare how much he has grown and how big he is now.

Hammy when we first brought him home (July 17, 2006)

Hammy now (November 19 th)

Here are some pictures of the rest of the clan also:

Cinder & Hammy

Henry right after we got him groomed so he wouldn't look like a Muppet.

Tiger enjoying his window seat at the new house.

And above is a picture of our new home (since June) for those who haven't seen any other pictures. It has been a blessing to have our own space and know that God has given this gift to us for our time in Kansas.

This week ahead is only a two day week of studying and school for Mike and for me at work also. Of course, when Mike isn't doing schoolwork he is on call at the hospital, so we are a bit limited on what we can do while we both have off. But either way it will be great to relax and spend time with friends, plus we will be setting up for Christmas (one of my favorite things to do). We are planning to have Thanksgiving with our "little church family" since we can't make it back east and also to enjoy the holiday with some of our friends that will be moving away soon. We will miss the Rozenbooms and Scotts, especially knowing that they are now part of our family and made our time here in Kansas all the better. It will be a sad couple of weeks ahead but we know that God has wonderful plans for them in Georgia and Iowa.

That is the latest from Kansas and the Marino clan for now...to be continued