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Sean and I had a great time today! My old boss, Rick, got married up in the Bay area today and we were so honored to have been invited! The wedding was at a gorgeous historical house that happened to be right next to the Google Headquarters. It was inside a fancy golf course/park area and was just absolutely stunning. The house was built in the mid 1800s. It reminded me a lot of my parents' old house in Wagoner. Absolutely gorgeous. We had a good time meeting new people and it was great to see Rick and Jeannie start their new life together. We spent the night across the bridge in Newark and had a wonderful time. Sometimes, its nice to just get away. AND it was really nice that I could breathe a lot easier out of the Valley!

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My mom's dear friend Alice stitched me this beautiful book mark with Whitney's name on it. It is so perfect! I love the ladybugs and music notes and balloons.... so fitting for our little girl!! Thank you so much, Alice, for this treasure! I can't wait to frame it!

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The weather has been incredibly gorgeous lately... unseasonable cool! Today, Sean and I sat outside after work for a little bit. It was so nice! The kitties love being outside, and I've gotten much more laid back about them being outside now. For the most part, they're good about coming in when we want them to. My poor kitty, Seal, though... he has outdoor allergies! You can tell how goopy his eyes are in this picture. But he's still a beautiful kitty. Later tonight, we had our Financial Peace University class. It was great! The total collective debt of our class is over $3,000,000! That's just crazy! I can't wait to whittle down our own personal debt and start budgeting.

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Hmph. *Folds arms in front of chest and pouts* Its 10:13... bedtime, and I have yet to take a picture. I've been kinda in a funk lately and not really intereseted in this little project of mine. But, I had to give myself a little pep-talk... I'm already 1/3 of the way through this 365 project and really do want to see it through.... so.... must.... push.... through..... the boredom. I am trying to get better, promise!

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I was soooooo excited to get this in the mail today.... Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond's cook book! My dear friend, Leah sent it to me. And get this-- its autographed!! This cookbook is amazing. Both Sean and I have read it from cover to cover in one sitting. I laughed and drooled the whole way through. Sean just kept wishing he was Marlboro Man and had a wife that cooked! I love everything about PW... mostly I love it/her because her beautiful photos remind me of home (Oklahoma). There is nothing more beautiful, comforting or homey to me than a big, green, Oklahoma pasture full of cows. Gorgeous. I can't wait to start cooking from this! (Though I'll have to modify nearly every recipe in some way to fit my dairy-free allergy. boo.) Oh, and please excuse the crazed look in my eyes and "glow" in my skin... we went to the gym today and took this picture right after we got home. Running didn't work so well for me... I had an asthma attack after just 2 minutes! Crazy. I hate living where we do-- I've never had allergies or asthma before we moved here. Not being able to breathe is really scary! I have a doctor's appointment later this week to try to remedy my breathing problems!

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Mmmmm... M&Ms... .yummmy! Today was a great day... really laid back. I just spent a lot of time with my hunny around the house.... it was nice! This evening we went to Junior High Bible Study at Megan & Jimmy's house. It was fun just hanging out with the kids and our friends. This is a pretty laid back week at work... but the next week is going to be crazy! So I"m glad to have a week where things are a little slower paced before another crazy week!

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Can you believe it... no picture for today! Yikes! It has been a doozy of a day. I got up early to go to a health fair in Reedley. I had to be there early so I left before 7 am. When I got there, the guy in charge told me that I didn't really need to be there until 11. Uh.... great. So I just went home and got some more cleaning done around the house. When I went back out to my car to go back to Reedley, it wouldn't start. Grrr... I left my lights on! I didn't even remember turning the lights on!! Oh, well... I got a lot of stuff done at home. Sean got home from Mexico later this afternoon, and I am soooooo glad he's back home. I hate it when he's gone. Especially lately... I've found myself so much more dependent on him that I used to be. We had dinner at Panda Express and he told me all about his trip. Sounds like it was a good one! Sorry no pic today, folks. But missing for the first time in 114 isn't too bad!!

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I took a bunch of pictures out in our yard today. This week has been rainy and gray, but today was a nice sunny day. I love Springtime-- my yard is exploding with shades of green and spots of color. This is a flower on a Mexican Heather bush. I really hate the bush itself, because it looks really scraggly from afar. But upclose, its really pretty! We have a ton of work to do in our backyard-- there are weeds taller than me back there! But the front yard is looking pretty nice. I can't wait for my hydrangeas to start blooming. In fact, I am going to have to start cutting them back this fall because they have grown so tall! This afternoon, I went swimsuit shopping for our trip to Egypt! We're going to a place on the Red Sea called Sharm el Shiek... you should Google it... GORGEOSU!!!! I found a super cute black and white polkadot one-piece. Now all I need is a gauzy white cover-up and big, floppy white sun hat! I also have some more shopping to do before our trip, but I am just thrilled that I found a swimsuit so easily!

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Lunch with friends two days in a row?! Yay! This is Kirsten. We go to church together and her husband is also a pastor at our church with Sean. She is in nursing school and is doing a rotation at the hospital by my work. Around 12:30 today, she called and asked if I'd eaten lunch yet-- I hadn't! Yay! She had just gotten out of an open heart surgery (cool!) and had about an hour before she had to be back. So we ran over to Mickey D's for some lunch. It was great to see her more than just at church! Love you, Kirsten!

Tonight, I went to speak to a group of teens at Celebrate Recovery. It was a tough group of kids, but they were all so cool and a ton of fun. My heart just hurts for teens-- especially teen girls-- who are selling themselves short. They're giving their hearts away to any boy who comes along, and they all admitted that it hurt. I hope that something I said tonight makes sense and resonates with them. I just want them to know how much value, how much worth they have! And they don't deserve to be treated like trash-- they deserve to be treated with respect and love. Hope I got through to at least one of them.

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No, I didn't get called for Jury duty again! But I did have lunch today with a jury duty friend, Tina. Last year in February, I was on a jury for 6 week murder trial. I was so nervous about going downtown for jury duty that morning. I was secretly hoping I would get selected though, because I've always been interested in criminal justice. Anyways, as I was sitting in the HUGE room full of people, I found a seat next to a lady. The courthouse people told us that they didn't need all of us and that we were either free to leave or just stay and serve our one day for the year. So I decided to stay, and so did the lady next to me. Then the waiting began. besically you just sit in this room and as a case need a jury pool, they pull random names. Well I pulled out a book to read, and so did the lady next to me. I recognized the book... "A, B, C's fo Financial Freedom." It was the book our church was doing a series on at the time. So I asked if she went to our church and she did! So we began talking, but then her name got called to go up to a courtroom. I thought she was lucky that she got to leave! But then... my name got called!! And then... after 3 days of jury selection (we came in on the last day) and out of 4 different jury pools of about 30 people each, we wound up on the same jury!! She was an alternate, but we were together along with the other 12 jurors for about 6 weeks. It was an intense trial. When it came time for deliberations, she and the other alternate left us. However, two days into deliberations, two jurors got dismissed, and both alternates were called in! We really bonded during the last day of deliberations... it was a tough one. We were both in tears! But, now that I work downtown, her office is right across the street from mine! So we meet from time to time for lunch. I hadn't seen her in months so it was great to catch up! I just forgot to take a picture!

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This is Kristi, our director where I work and J. Today Kristi and I went to the state college to see a pro-life exhibit called "Justice For All." I looked up the event online before we went to see it in person and was very put off by their graphic pictures. It confronts the realities of abortion. I've always tried to approach the subject with sensitivity... you never know who may have been impacted by abortion. And flashing gory pictures is hardly showing love. So we were curious about this event. Well we went to look at it (in the rain!) and I was actually surprised... the exhibit was set up very nicely and respectfully. There were some pretty intense conversations going on, and Kristi and I just kind of stood by and listened. Yes, the pictures were shocking and I deliberately did not look at them (too hard to see after Whitney), but on a college campus, they were very clearly effective. The facilitators were not confrontational at all in the way they interacted... they simply posed questions that made people think. Later in the afternoon, Kristi and J were working on a video shoot for a promo thing at work. Kristi took us to this awesome place for shooting pictures and video downtown. That's where I snapped this picture of them. It was so neat! I definitely want to go back with some friends and have a fun photo shoot!!

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Aaaaah, Monday morning. Since I've been back at work, my schedule has been filling up like crazy. This week alone, I have something going on every single night of the week! Its nice to be so busy, but every now and then, I have this feeling of panic that I am double booking myself! These are all my calendars that I try to keep in line. And yes, every single one of them is necessary! I have several speaking engagements with HOPE team coming up and several health fairs as well. Whew! Its going to be a busy month!

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This morning I woke up and went to Starbucks with my friend, KC. She was in our youth group at church, and is just an all around rad girl. We had a great time catching up-- its been a while since we've been out together! Thanks for a great chat today, KC!

This afternoon was also the dedication for our mobile unit, Hope In Action. It was such an awesome time. This has been a dream of so many people for years, and to actually see it come to fruition is such an amazing God-thing. We had about 50 staff, board members and family members there to pray over our new ministry. I had the ultrasound machine set up inside and we had cookie and punch... it was just a great time! When we were finishing up, we all surrounded the mobile unit and prayed over the many miles it will travel and the many lives it will save. I am so in awe that God is allowing me to be a part of this incredble, growing ministry!

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Remember those frames I was priming several Saturdays ago? Well it was finally nice enough outside for me to spray paint them. I used the famous "Heirloom White" spray paint (every famous DIY-ers fave) and did two light coats on each. This was my first attempt at spray painting something. I see all these handy ladies doing it on their blogs, and I LOVE the clean, satiny smooth finish it gives. Well... let's just say I need some practice before I tackle anything bigger like, say a side table or bed frame. But, on these frames, the imperfections are hardly noticable. And once I get some fabulous Hampton-Wilson ancestral art in them, the frames will be the last thing on anyone's mind! Which is a good thing, because even though there wasn't much wind today, there were TONS of those annoying white fuzz things that fly through the air. Of course they got stuck in my fresh paint, too! But I thin its going to turn out nice. Sean left for Mexico again today. He was there a couple weeks ago, and is going back to hopefully visit the Huichol tribe. Our church has just 'adopted' them as a people group to focus on bringing Christ to their lives. Its kind of a scary trip, because none of the plans are really certain, but God is in control! I'm excited to hear about his adventures!

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My best friend Tracy's daughter, Emily is in 2nd grade. They have a project called "Flat Stanley." There is a book about a boy who has a bulletin board fall on him and smash him to a half-inch thick. He then goes on trips to different places. So Flat Stanley came all the way from Oklahoma to California to see Sean and I for a week. We've been all over our favorite spots-- BJ's, the strawberry stand, and California Pizza Kitchen. Here is a special picture of Flat Stanley beside Whitney's memory box with some lillies. I am going to print off all our pictures with Flat Stanley and make a little scrapbook then send it back to Emi to share with her class. This was a really fun project!

On another note, as I mentioned last week, today was Whitney's due date. I wish with every fiber of my being that I was as big as a house right now, going to the hospital to deliver our healthy baby girl. But, that's just not how things happened this time. We miss her so much, but we look forward even more to the day we will hold her in our arms again. Thank-you Jesus for that hope and promise!

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This morning, as I was sitting at my desk, a co-worker brought these in for me! I felt so blessed! She wasn't even scheduled to come in today... she said she just felt led to bring me these flowers! And boy, did it ever turn out to be a day that I needed some cheering up!! The day just became so stressful... throw in some misunderstandings and a tight time schedule full of things I needed to get done, and it all added up to me as a basketcase. It was so nice to have these flowers to make me smile! So thank you, Rhonda! You are such a blessing to me!! Rhonda's act of kindness just make me remember that when I feel a nudge to do something nice for someone, I really should do it. Because even though I may not know what is going on in someone's life, God certainly does. And we are his hands and feet that can physically reach out to others in his love. And oftentimes, that is in encouraging others. :-)

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Sean and I started Financial Peace University today! We have been looking for an FPU class in our city for over a year. FINALLY, we found out there was one at our church! How convenient! My parents went through FPU a year or two ago and just really spoke highly of it. So I am so excited to get started. Both Sean and I admit that this is going to be both a challenge and a new way of living, but we are ready to take it on. The first step is to build a small emergency fund. We already have that done. So now we are on step two, which is the debt snowball... so we will be working on pinching pennies to pay down Sean's pesky student loan. I'm looking forward to being done with that darn thing! After my parents went thru FPU, they really blessed us with some of the things they learned. We are hoping to do the same. One of the big principles behind FPU is to learn to save money so that you can give it away and bless others. Being debt-free frees up a lot of money that you can have fun giving away! I'm really looking forward to that day!!!

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Today was our first test run on the mobile unit. We took it out to one of our first locations where it will be every Tuesday. It was such a fun day! It was pretty crazy riding in such a big vehicle! I've never really ridden in a big RV or truck before so it was a lot of fun. After we got to our location, we parked and started to do several "mock" client visits. This helped us work out some procedural things and make sure that we have everything we need stocked. (At the end of the day, I had a whole 'nother page-long list for Target!) We ran through both a pregnancy test client and an ultrasound client. Here is Debby, our nurse manager with Kathleen, our sonographer trying out the exam bed. Because of the way the slideouts work, the bed had to be mounted pretty high, so they were testing it to see how close to hitting their heads they would get. We're definitely going to have to put a sign on the ceiling that says "Watch your head!"

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It was a CRAZY weather day today! This morning started off like a normal day, then it just started raining and pouring like crazy! I was at work a little later than usual, and right before I left I heard hail starting to hit the skylight above my desk. After I got headed home, I was waiting at the light right before the on-ramp to the highway, and saw that traffic was WAY backed up. So I decided to just take the city streets. That proved to be very... interesting. People in California don't know how to drive when there's a grey cloud in the sky, let alone hail pouring down from it!! At one point, the car in front of me just completely stopped. It was a city street, 45 mile per hour speed limit, green light, and the driver in this car just stopped. After I *politely* honked, she just motioned that she was on the phone. REALLY!? Seriously? I have no idea what she was doing... but eventually she got off the phone and drove on. Nuts. So as everyone around me was freaking out at the hail and lightening, I took pictures out my window. :-) A drive that is usually 15 to 20 minutes took me almost an hour. But I still love storms!

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Its been a nice, rainy day today. We pretty much stayed in bed all day and caught up on our TiVo. It was the perfect day! I wanted some steaks tonight for dinner, so Sean and I hopped into our car in the pouring rain and ran to the store to get some. Then, Sean was sweet enough to stand out in the rain and grill our steaks. Meanwhile, I was working on a delicious topping for our steak... a mushroom and onion sautee. It turned out to be delicious! This evening, we watched "The Brothers" with Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhal. It was pretty good... kinda predictable with an anti-climactic ending... but decent.

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First of all, woo-hoo for doing something for 100 days straight!! I am so surprised and proud of myself that I have kept up with it as long as I have! Yay! Next Friday, the 16th, is Whitney's due date. Sean and I wanted to come up with a way to commemmorate that day, so we are going to declare it "Aunt & Uncle Day." Afterall, Sean and I are not the only ones who are missing out on a lot in losing Whitney. Her aunts and uncles are missing out on being 'aunts and uncles' to her, too. So we wanted to recognize them and honor them. We're going to try to remember to celebrate it every year. I have been working on gifts for Whitney's aunts & uncles. I had a lot of fun making these cards, candles and pictures. Its been good to keep my mind and hands busy.

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Yay! My hubby is home! He's been in Mexico all week and it is so good to have him home. I miss him so much when he is gone. Our church as spent the past few months working with a missions consulting group called "15:16"... a team of our pastors and others involved in missions have been working with a guy from that group to develop a specific missions strategy for our church. We've adopted a couple different people groups, so this was kind of a survey trip to check out the area and seek out potential in-country contacts. Anyone who lives in America is familiar with the way that Mexico is becoming more and more dangerous, so I am so glad to have him home safely. The only crummy part is that he is going to have to go back there very soon. I just have to keep reminding myself that it is all for a good cause and God is ultimately in control.

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It was another busy day at work today! Things with the mobile unit are coming together fast and I have been working overtime to get everything organized on it. This is Sarita (or Sara, as we call her) in the picture above. She is a part of our Hope In Action mobile unit team. She's an amazing woman and has an incredible life story. She grew up in Mexico, so she is GREAT as a bilingual receptionist & client advocate. She is only 27 and is raising 5-- yes, FIVE kids. Today I spent a lot of time on the mobile unit organizing all our brochures and papers that we will need. Sara had never seen the mobile unit before, so I took her out here with me. I've got the cabinets open so you can kind of see the English brochures that we've organized.

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I have a confession: I love this shirt. I wear it all. the. time. In fact, in my picture from Saturday, I was wearing it under my hoodie. And I'm pretty sure I was wearing it yesterday when I was making my cards. I love it. I think it was my mom or dad's from YEARS ago. Its so old, I don't even remember where it came from. All I know is, it wasn't originally mine. We've never been to Washington, D.C. as a family... so that's how I know it wasn't mine to begin with. In this picture, I have a tank top underneath, because this shirt is so worn, its completely see-through.. But I still love it. I wear it around the house and to be a lot. It is so comfy!! You just can't buy shirts that feels as soft and comfy as this one. You can imagine my distress when I discovered an actual hole in it the other day. But luckily its not that noticable... somewhere on the mama panda's leg. Today was another super busy day at work, but it feels good to be so productive! When I came home, I cleaned out our car-- huge accomplishment! Tomorrow I am going to be working on the Mobile Unit... so hopefully I will remember to bring my camera and take a picture of all the work I've been doing on it!

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I've been surprising myself with how much I've been getting done AFTER work these days. Granted, I've only been back at work two weeks now, but I've really been trying to make the most of the daylight hours that are still left after 4 o'clock when I get home. Today, I worked on some very special cards. (More to come on those.) I got to use some new stamps that I got on sale at Joann's... I love them!! And it actually feels really good to be productive both at home AND at work. :-) Sean is gone this week on a mission trip and it has been lonely with out him! He gets home soon, though and I am so ready to see him!!!

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Nothing too exciting today, hence, the picture of my sleeping beauties. I am still getting used to my new camera (love it) and this was the "film grain" setting. I love all the texture it brings out in this photo... thier fur, the soft blanket their whiskers, etc. My kitty boys always make me so happy. They're so sweet and snuggly. (Most of the time.)

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So today is Easter. Happy Resurrection Sunday! This is my favorite day of the year... I look forward all year to singing His praises at the top of my lungs. He has overcome the grave! Sin has lost its power! Death has lost its sting! Today was a hard day, though... and to be honest, I didn't see that coming. When I got home from church and done with our Easter lunch with friends (Thanks for having us over for another holiday, Fords! You've truly become our 'adopted' family!), I logged on to Facebook and saw all of my friends with their kiddos... all dolled up for Easter. It made me miss Whitney so much. Sean said she would have had a big beautiful bow on top of her head today. I agree. I miss her so much. Tonight, I was in the kitchen fixing some dinner. Sean had just gone to the store, and when he came home, I noticed these flowers on our (work in progresss) bookshelves. I said with excitement: "Did you get me flowers?!" Sean came over and said, "Well, they're really not for you. They're for Whitney." He asked if I was upset that he didn't get me flowers, and I told him of course not! Flowers for Whitney are a million times better than flowers for me. I think we'll keep flowers over here by Whitney's box until we are able to bury her ashes by her Grandma Jill. Just to remind us of the beauty that is her life.

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My apologies upfront for the horrible picture. I really didn't get out of my pajamas today and it was wonderful. :-) Today was an excellent Saturday. After all the work we did in the yard yesterday, we gave ourselves a break today. We cleaned up around the house (a **little** bit) then just kinda did what we wanted to the rest of the day. Which for me, that meant working on my next wall art project. Remember all those frames I got a few weeks ago at the thrift stores? Well, today I primed them all. It was way too windy to spray paint their topcoats, so that will have to wait for another day. This evenin, Tommy & Shiny came over the watch the Final Four basketball game... GO DUKE!

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We had a great day today. For the time being, Sean and I both have Fridays off. Its the only day that neither one of us has to work. We started off with some Chick-Fil-A breakfast, then headed over to Lowe's. We got some grass seed to re-seed our back and front lawns, as well as some kind of tool to help us with weeding our flowerbeds. We worked in both the front and back yard for a good 4 hours today, and when we were done, it looked fantastic!!! We have tons of snails in our flowers... they're very bad for the flowers, but as Sean said when he found this little fella, "Tell me this isn't cute!" I am loving our new camera, too! It has some really great macro settings and I'm having fun experimenting with them! After we showered, we went up to church so Sean could work a little. I worked on some birth announcements I am designing for a friend. Then, we had dinner at Macaroni Grill (thanks friends for the gift card!), and we are now back home in bed, catching up on Lost! We also have some Chocolate covered strawberries waiting to be devoured for dessert. Yummy!

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Today was another great, busy day at work. I stayed until almost 6, but when I got home, Sean was back! He's been gone all week so I have been really looking forward to spending some time with him! We went to Bobby Salazar's for dinner then came home and got in bed-- at 7 o'clock! We had a lot of TiVo to catch up on! We watched two episodes of Survivor, some Community and Modern Family. It was such a great night! This pic is our feet and bunny's feet... bunny, like Whitney, is never far from us. :-)