What an amazing trip we had this Thanksgiving. Every year we spend Thanksgiving with the Schroyer family. For the past couple of years, we have tried to visit some city on the East Coast and check out the sites. One year, we went to NYC. Some of the photos for this trip are located at the bottom of my blog. The next year we went to Phillie and posed in front of the Rocky statue. Hee Hee.

Well 2007 brought us to Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. Mark, my brother-in-law, and wife live close by, so it was his turn for us to descend upon his city. The weather was warm and refreshing. The sun and the ocean were relaxing. We took many walks on the beach, played football, the kids fished (smelly!), and ate, ate, and ate again. I so miss the beach and all it has to offer. We left the door to the patio open at night so we could hear the waves crashing against sand. The salt air reminded me of bike rides on the boardwalk in Sunny California. There is a freedom in being by the ocean. Just taking in the beauty, majesty and having a healthy fear of it. Christopher swam almost everyday we were there. Even his PSP took a dive in the sand only to come up ruined. Oh well, the good and bad of technology.

Being around family was fun. We always have a good time laughing, telling stories and eating great food. My sister-in-law is from Columbia and makes the best rice and pasta. My brother-in-law is from Syria. Amazing food. Hummus, stews, ribs. He even cooked a fresh lamb for us one year with rice and all the trimmings.

Christopher loves to visit his cousins - Asaad, Fatima, Amber and Khalil. They ran around chasing each other the whole time. I'm glad he gets to spend time getting to know them. He and Fatima are on opposite ends of the spectrum politically. So they had a few charged conversations. I think it just fueled Christopher's desire to be an attorney one day.

Well, enjoy the sunset from Atlantic Beach, NC. We certainly did.

Well - I'm sure many of you probably felt like I dropped off the face of the earth. One glorious night of blogging and getting every ready to go - and then - nothing for six months. Well many things have happened since July 2007. The first was I had surgery in late August which took me out of commission for a little while. But by the grace of God, I am recovered from the surgery. I still have a few issues, but I think they can be handled as long as I eat healthy foods.

After surgery came budget season at the church. The fall flew by with many late hours of working as well as 9 hours of graduate classes. Then in early December, I ended up back in the hospital on two separate occasions via the emergency room.

The ER is a place of sadness and drama. I spent most of my time in the ER praying for a baby who screamed for over an hour straight. Actually, the baby was still screaming when they moved to another section of the hospital. The second trip to the ER had me giving up my room to an elderly gentlemen they rushed in to revive. From all of the words flying by, he had been on a ladder hanging Christmas lights and found he was unable to breath. I'm not sure if they were able to revive him as they closed the door and then I was transported away for an overnight stay or two at the fabulous Lewisville Medical Center.

I ended up in the ER as a result of a severe pain in my chest causing an inability to catch my breath. On the first occasion, we had been bowling with some friends of ours. Fortunately, my friend had driven separately and was able drive me two minutes down the road to the ER. She called Jack for me and took care of Christopher. They ran a battery of tests on me only to come to no conclusion. I wasn't too impressed with their level of care and felt like all they wanted to do was give me drugs. Actually, I refused valium which caused the nurse to comment that I wasn't like their normal patients.

The doctor recommended that I visit a cardiologist for further testing of my heart. So I had a treadmill test on my 42nd birthday. That was always what I envisioned doing on my birthday. Anyway, the treadmill test came back inconclusive, so we scheduled a follow-up more stringent treadmill test. That was on December 5th.

Well on Saturday December 8th, Jack was at work and Christopher and I were hanging out home. Paying bills, reconciling the bank statement, playing games, eating pancakes. Normal Saturday stuff. All of a sudden I felt a severe pain in the middle of rib cage right at the bottom of the sternum. It was the same pain again and it radiated outward in both directions. Christopher called Jack to let him know. Jack left work immediately and headed towards home. I was trying to do biofeedback and calm myself down, but the pain wasn't going away. I think I was little worried too with the "inconclusive treadmill test" a few days earlier.

Christopher grew up all in a moment. How great and how sad. He called 911 for me, gave them all of the pertinent information, took care of the house and dog, locked everything up when they paramedics hauled me out on a stretcher, and called his dad to let him know what had happened. I was so proud of him, yet scared that he had to see me laid out on a stretcher with an inability to catch my breath. He was so caring and gentle. I just love that little boy. He spent the day with our next door neighbors. I love my neighbors.

I always dreamed of being around firemen - just not laid out in the back of an ambulance. They were great and very helpful. I wasn't sure if the pain was heart related or related to my surgery or anxiety. So I have now had nitroglycerin which they give to people who are having a heart attack. Pretty scary actually. I spent the next three days in Lewisville Medical going through a wide variety of tests. Anyone ever had a CAT scan? Weird. Your body temperature raises so you get all flushed, face turns red, and its just plain hot. Then within about 2 minutes, you feel normal again. I had isotopes running through my veins causing me to glow in the dark. Not really, but. The cardiologist I had was very informative and wanted to find the answers. We did find answers to what the pain was NOT. The pain was not in anyway related to heart issues or as a result of my surgery in August. Thank you, Jesus! Literally!

Right now, I am working to control the pain through diet. I am watching what I eat to see if anything else will set it off. I'm praying that the pain is a result of not eating healthy foods and that it can be controlled through diet. So far, it's been good.

I definitely appreciate my health and living pain free. I often wonder how people live day to day with pain. How does the pain change their world, their emotions, thoughts, actions? I know many people who do live with pain on a day to day basis. I have a different appreciation for what they go through although what I went through was no in way comparable to their situations.

Well, I'll be back in a few with more....