A loss for the world:

Rest in peace Steve Jobs. Thank you for showing the world that you can do anything that you put your mind to. Your accomplishments have shown us that greatness does not lie only in a college degree, but in the worth of a man and his work. Your advancements have helped to form the technology that makes this modern world tick.

Here’s to the crazy ones. The rebels. The troublemakers. The ones who see things differently. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. -Steve Jobs

I believe in the power of prayer.

So could you pretty please Stephanie over at "Day Three". She is a regular poster on a message board that I have frequented since I got pregnant with Ian. Last month, she lost her husband. She is now a 26 year old single Mother of a 22 month old boy and a 4 month old girl.

Though I have never met her, I think of her and her children often. I pray for them every night. But the more I read, the more I just wish there was something more I could do. So, I ask all of my readers to say a prayer for them too. She has been through what is many of our worst nightmares, and she's still picking herself up and moving on everyday.

Thanks everyone. =)

Prayers for a friend.

Please pray for our friends the Chupps (Beth, her husband Ryan, and their little guy Keegan) as they face another surgery on Monday morning. Please hop over to their blog (Karing for Keegan) and pray for a great result on Monday.

Also, wear green for Keegan on Monday!!

Please take a moment to pray for this Momma.

Please take a moment to pray for this fellow blogger Mommy and her family. She unexpectedly lost her 4 month old Princess this week.

Rest in peace sweet girl.

Things I learned today:

1. Hate Jimmy Johns subs.

2. Love Get him to the Greek.

That is all.

Guess what?!?

I had surgery.

Yep, surgery, my first (and hopefully my last) ever.

It all started on Monday night. I had pasta for lunch, and then we went out for dinner at CiCi's pizza with Tobys Mom and the kids. I had quite a bit more than I

needed to eat, so when my stomach started to hurt I thought that I most likely just had a bad case of gas from all of the greasy pizza and all of the carbs.

But I spent most of the night tossing and turning. I kept waking up laying on my side, curled up in pain.

Finally, around 5:30 in the morning, the pain became unbearable enough that I couldn't go back to sleep. I woke up and took a long hot shower. I felt better for the next hour or so, though I was still very crampy. Around 8:30 the pains started coming back heavily. My grandma came over to pick up Ian about an hour later and asked if I wanted to go to breakfast with them. I convinced myself that if I just got up, got moving, and stopped thinking about it that the pain would just go away.

In the car on the way to Bob Evans, it got a thousand times worse. I spent most of the time that we were at the restaurant sitting in the bathroom and crying hysterically, just praying that I would go ahead and just explode, since that's what it felt like was going to eventually happen. We left early, and I went home. I took a hot bath. While I was completely submerged in the water, it didn't hurt much. But as soon as I got out of the bath the pain was back.

I didn't want to go to the hospital unless I was dying because we currently don't have insurance. I had medicaid when I was pregnant with Ian, and for a couple of months

afterwards. Tobys work has just started offering medical coverage, which we were planning on buying into...next month. So, obviously, I didn't want to go to the hospital unless I had to.

But, the pain got so bad that I had to go. I sat in the emergency room waiting area, hunched over crying for about 15 minutes before they took me back. The pain was just so unbearable. It was kind of like being in labor, only it felt completely hopeless. At least when you are in labor you know that in the end there will be a good result (an adorable new baby!) and that the pain will eventually end. Plus, there is always the epidural option. However, with this, I just felt like the pain was never going to end. I was more afraid that they wouldn't be able to find anything wrong with me then the idea that they would find something I wrong. I needed the pain to end.

I got some morphine (which didn't help much) and then got a CAT scan. After a little while, they said that my appendix had to come out. The first thing I asked was "Now that you know I'm actually in pain...can I PLEASE have some more damn drugs?". They gave me more morphine.

The surgeon came in soon afterwards to discuss everything with me, and just as we were talking he got a call that they had an opening in the O.R. So, my surgery went from being the next morning, to right away. I had been too sick to eat or drink all day, so I was ready for surgery. They prepped me, and I was out. About an hour later, I was appendix free!

Me right after I got out of surgery. I know, I look good.

The nurses and doctors were great, and I actually felt pretty good the first day after the surgery. They kept me comfortable, and I was just glad to be out of the pain. However today and yesterday have been another story. I am just so stiff, sore, and bruised up, moving is hard. Ian has been staying with family, so I've missed him. Toby had to take a day and a half off work to take care of me, so he is scrambling to make up 20 more hours before Sunday. He's been taking great care of me though, and I am so thankful for him.

So, anyways, now you have the full story on me and my insides.

I'll update more later, but for now, I think I'm going to try and get more sleep.

Giving Blood.

Today, I gave blood for the first time in over two years.

Starting at age 17, I started giving blood regularly. You can give blood once ever six weeks and you can bet that every six weeks I was eagerly sitting at the blood bank. I have always enjoyed donating to charity, but never had a lot of extra money to do so with, so I gave blood. It was my way of giving back. It made me feel good, but the reality of what I was doing never truly sank in with me.

Then in December of 2008 I found out that I was pregnant with Ian, and giving blood stopped. It bummed me out, but no big thing. However, I was really excited that I would be able to give again once I gave birth. No such luck. Many of you have read my birth story and know that it was a very long, hard, painful birth, followed by a large amount of blood loss and two full stitch kits. Two days after I gave birth, I took a turn for the worse. Suddenly I was very ill, and the room felt uneven. I couldn't hold my eyes open, and I couldn't put sentences together correctly without thinking long and hard. I knew something was wrong. I called in my wonderful post-patrum nurse and told her what was going on. She decided to check my iron levels once more, even though my numbers had already gone back up, and generally once they go after birth up they stay up. Sure enough, they were dangerously low. I had to have an emergency blood transfusion which lasted through the whole night, and I received two full pints of blood. The doctors said that had I waited a couple of more hours that I could have had numerous very serious complications, even as severe as death if left untreated.

So, a blood transfusion saved my life.

At that moment, the importance of giving blood really sank in with me. Suddenly it seemed so much more important. I used to give blood because it made me feel good about myself because I was donating. Now, I give blood because it saves lives; mine included. And I am proud to say that I officially joined the one gallon club today. I have given one full gallon of blood in my lifetime. That just boggles my mind. Excuse my language, but that just seems like a shit-ton of blood. So, after my 1 year wait period since my transfusion, I gave blood.

I urge you to give blood. Did you know that if just 1% more of the population gave blood regularly that we would fill our need for blood products for the foreseeable future? You can make a big different, please give it a try.

Yeah, this made me cry.

I'm such a lame-o.

This makes me cry. Real tears. No joke.

Oh well, it be cute.

Ahhh...to live in the East.

This past week has been nothing but snow in our corner of the world.

This storm started up last week piled up around 2 feet of snow. Then we got a two day break...and now it has been coming down for two days straight. This is a blizzard I tell ya!

On the bright side Toby didn't have to work today, so he was able to spend the day and home with Ian and I. However he has spent most of the day working on schoolwork. Can't win them all.

Ian and I are running out of things to do since we've been snowed in for so long. We both look like bums. Ian has been hanging out in his pj's half of the day, and my hair looks like it's been attacked by a wind storm. We're going to make some chocolate chip cookies soon... because I eat when I'm bored. *sigh*

At least the snow made for some cute pictures of Ian and his cousin Aiden this weekend

Ian in the snow...Ian not wanting to be in the snow anymore.

Ian and Aiden in the snow.

Ian and I. <3>