My enemy...my sinuses.

For the past two or three years I've had a pretty chronic sinus infection, meaning it never goes away. Between October and the end of November I was on four different rounds of antibiotics, all of which would make my infection go down for about a week and a half and then the headaches would come back. I was fed up with the headaches, being exhausted, and all the antibiotics messing with my body, so I went to see an ENT. (Ear Nose and Throat Doctor)

We have a family history of bad sinus structure, sinus infections aren't hereditary but bone structure is hereditary and that's where my problem comes from. The doctor did a CT scan on my face and said the openings of my sinuses were closed and he thought a balloon surgery would work well for my problem. So Friday I had my surgery, my mama, dad and Kyle were all there waiting for me. The nurses got me prepped, laughed at me for not knowing how to put the booties on, and got me hooked up to an IV. The doctor said my surgery would be about an hour, it ended up lasting closer to three. The balloon surgery only worked on two so they had to cut and scrape the other two. The doctor said my bone structure was very bad and definitely causing bad sinus infections and headaches.

I'm still pretty sore, and have two small black eyes from the blood settling. Most of my pain has been my throat from the breathing tube that they had in while I was out, apparently the tube scrapped up my mouth and throat pretty bad and that's been annoying. But I'm recovering well, not very swollen and you really can't even tell I had surgery. I'm thankful for all the people taking care of me, I'm so lucky! My parents have both woken up in the middle of the night to make me toast and give me my medicine. Kyle has been right next to me for like four days straight almost haha. He makes me smile and laugh, and tells me I'm beautiful even with a big cold sore on my lip and black eye haha. I'm the luckiest girl in the world, no questions asked.

Now I'm just ready to be off my pain medicine, too many episodes of Intervention have made me scared of strong medicine. I should just need it for a few more days, mostly to help my throat heal so I can eat still. I can breathe better already and haven't had a headache in 4 days which is a record! haha.

Hope your week is going well and you're enjoying this beautiful Christmas week! :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

This weekend was filled with Christmas cheer and I loved it!

Thursday night we were blessed with an amazing Christmas concert at Northwood with Shane and Shane, Phil Wickham and Bethany Dillion. I didn't know many of Bethany's songs before the concert but she did an amazing job, and she was super funny. Hands down favorite part of the show was Phil. I have seen him once before at my favorite place Common Grounds but it was before I had heard any of his songs. I was thinking it was going to be all Christmas songs, but I was mistaking and so happy that I was. I have been listening to Phil's new cd like non stop for 2 weeks and absolutely love it. I love the song Eden and especially Cielo which he sang. Here are some lyrics:
"'I'm reaching for the One who brought me out of death and into life
But I can't lift my hands high enough
Life my hands high enough
When I'm reaching for You my God
I can't lift my hands high enough
Life my hands high enough
When I'm reaching for You my God"

Friday after studying all day at an awesome coffeehouse called Roots, Kyle had come up with an awesome date for us so we made cookies. And lots of them! We made sugar cookie cut outs of angels, trees, stars, lights, snowmen, etc. We also made gingerbread men and angels, and the pretzel turtles (with rolos and pecans) And we also made Yum Bars (as named Aarika) they are absolutely delicious. Saltine crackers, carmel (homemade! that's right) and chocolate, sprinkled with pecans. We had an audience of Nick's friends for this one, and they were absolutely amazed at the process. I love baking and how it can bring people together. We have lots of these cookies to give out, we still have to package them up though. I'm so lucky that I have an awesome boyfriend who encourages my baking and bakes with me, he's amazing for so many reasons I'm so blessed.

Saturday after studying all day again at Roots (this time Kyle came along and helped and just hung out while I studied which helped), and going on a trip to the crazy mall looking for a gift that we still haven't found, we went to Kyle's staff Christmas party. This was a first for me, I was supposed to go with him last year but we had a slight scheduling problem haha. We had an awesome time, got to hang out with friends, eat some delicious food, and be entertained by the cutest little boy ever. I love how Christmas brings people together and gives us an opportunity to show our appreciation for others.

As for the next few days, I will be studying my life away pretty much. I have two finals tomorrow and one on Tuesday. I am so ready to be done!

Horders and other random things

So basically my blogspot has just become a place for me to read other people's blogs, which I absolutely love. I am the kind of person who discretely listens to random people's conversations when I'm out to dinner, and pretty much know their life story by the end of the meal. (Kyle would disagree with the discretely part but I'm sticking to my story) My freshman year of college, Kenge and I had a paper thin wall and we could hear ever word that the girl who lived next to us would say when she was on the phone. We basically knew her whole life story without ever introducing ourselves to her, we would awkwardly pass her in the hall wondering if she knew as much about us as we knew about her. I would be sitting on my super high bed, "studying" and find myself paused waiting to hear the end of Celeste's conversation about riding horses or buying a dress for formal. Oh the joys of freshman year, staying up late "studying", failing every one of my firsts tests, what were we thinking Kenge? haha. There was a point to this story...oh yes, I enjoy reading other's blogs much more than writing my own.

Lately I have started many random shows, mostly just for a week then I forget about it among the hundreds of pages I need to read for class and just life in general. One has stuck though, it's a show on A & E called Horders. Hording is a condition where people collect many random things, and won't throw stuff away. They become oddly attached to things that most of us would consider junk and toss without thinking. One of the shows was about a lady who horded food, and that one was pretty insane. There were bugs everywhere, things rotted, and she still ate most of it. I think my inner psychologist that is developing is just completely drawn to the show, not because of the disgusting factor but because I want to know what is going through those people's heads. The cases are very extreme that they feature on the show, but I'm sure most of us know someone with a much milder case. Most of the psychologists who study hording also study OCD making me think there is a connection between the two, which makes sense.

Here's an example of a house of a horder. Basically just stuff everywhere, maybe clothes, food, animals, whatever it may be.

Whatever the case, it is a crazy situation. Just makes me realize how many people in this world are so desperate for true joy that they will cling on to a mass amount of things to try and attain this state. None of these things can ever bring joy, and these stories prove it because the person just keeps buying more and more, and never sees the problem until too late. The only place that true joy can come from is our Father, who gives without ceasing and loves with no end and yet we turn to trash instead. I do it all the time by choosing to sleep in instead of waking up to spend time with my glorious Creator, or by ignoring the pressing call He has placed on my heart because of fear. It's crazy to see how much of a hold material things have on our society and how much trust we place in them.

I've been listening to Phil Wickham's new cd Heaven & Earth just over and over tonight, it has beautiful lyrics and makes me even more in awe of my Savior.

"Have you heard of the One who can calm the raging seas
Give sight to the blind, pull the lame up to their feet
With a love so strong and never let you go
oh you're not alone
You will be safe in His arms
'Cause the hands that hold the world are holding your heart
This is the promise He made
He will be with You always
When everything is falling apart
You will be safe in His arms"
-Safe, Phil Wickham

I would much rather put my trust in Him than in my junk and materials, and that's a continuous truth that I have to remind myself of. I mean the Creator of the sky and the stars holds me in His hands, how amazing is that!