Totally Bizarre Dream.....

Our family had a crazy hockey weekend in San Jose and I had to work tonight, so Jeff was kind enough to let me take a nap. Our room was clean, warm, cozy and smelled quite nice thanks to the cinnamon-scented pine cones Jeff brought home recently. We had a great, exhausting weekend and I was looking forward to a couple of hours of rest.

My dream started off innocently enough. I was at work (nurse at the vet school) when I realized I had a lot of old syringes in my pocket. I went looking for a sharps container to dispose of them in and went outside into a woodsy, forested area that was along a hillside. I found a sharps container and off the path noticed an old radio that was on but no one was paying attention to it. The news on the radio sounded very urgent, like we were under attack or there was a war about to start, so I started walking towards it.

As I walked to the radio to listen to what was going on, I looked up and saw a huge, strange looking plane. I looked to the direction where the plane had come from and saw that a large bomb-looking device attached to a parachute was floating down to the water below. I watched the thing drop, absolutely terrified, not knowing what would happen when it hit the water. Would there be an explosion? Was I close enough to just be disintegrated? Turns out there was a huge explosion when the bomb hit the water and I saw it come towards me but I wasn't directly affected. However, I knew that I had to grab my kids and head up the mountain we were on. For some reason, I knew that everyone would be running down the hill but we needed to go up, even though it meant we might get trampled going against the flow.

Flashing forward to the next scene in which can only happen in a dream, I was hiking up with mountain with both Jaden and Colten. Both boys were heroically carrying their personal belongings and trudging up the mountain as fast as they could, never stopping to complain. But as I looked at the boys and myself, I saw that we were changing. Our features were elongating and there were twigs growing out of my face.

Finally, Colten stopped, put down all his stuff and, and looking very dejected said "Mommy, I tuh-wing into a twee" and he was right. We were turning into trees and all three of us were terrified. I grabbed Colten and placed him in a nice, clear area that I thought would be appropriate for him to spend eternity as a tree. I then made Jaden put his stuff down. I got on my knees and wrapped my arms around the both of them as tightly as I could and said "If we're going to spend our eternity as trees, then this is how I want to be, holding onto the both of you". And the three of us were wrapped around each other as we started to root ourselves into the ground and turn into trees.

I woke up from this dream absolutely terrified. The dream was so realistic, right down to Colten's speech and the scared looks on my kids' faces. I had no idea where Jeff was or what I could do to save us. I never have these end of the world dreams but this really terrified me. I started thinking about our eternity, being in Heaven, being with those I love, and wishing I had Joseph around to tell me what this dream meant! When I woke up, I ran and hugged both of my boys as hard as I could and then told my dream to Jeff, which made me cry. It makes me cry just typing it out. It may mean nothing, but I can't shake the feeling that there was some sort of eternal message.

I read my Bible every morning. I make an effort to consult God's will in every decision I make. I spend my day in constant prayer. I listen to praise music at every opportunity. I try and teach my children about the love and grace of God as well as to be thankful for all we have blessed with as well as to pray for others. I don't fear eternity for myself (not in an arrogant sort of way, but knowing that if I obey the Word of God, he has promised eternal life), but I am terrified of spending it without those I love. I have a list of people I pray for every single night, family members and friends who have not accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. I pray that God will give me the wisdom, the words, the courage and the guidance to lead them to Christ. I fear saying the wrong thing that will drive them from Christianity but I know that we are called to create disciples.

Nobody reads these posts, I know that, but I wanted to document this dream and ponder it's significance, if there is any at all. Am I certain of my eternal salvation? What about my children? Where was Jeff? Why was I so scared? Why, did at no point in this dream, did I stop to pray? Where was everyone else? Can I spend eternity wrapped around my children? Are cinnamon-scented pine cones to blame for dreams of turning into trees???

The Last Few Months

Somehow, I allowed life to get really hectic the last few months. September and October are kind of a blur, and here it is almost Thanksgiving and I feel like I finally have some time to wind down, catch up, and remember what our family has accomplished.

I'm a 3rd year veterinary student at U.C. Davis now, and this year we start doing our surgeries. My first surgery was to neuter a cute little puppy named Grizzly.

(that's me in the center holding Grizzly with my awesome surgery partners, Kari & Maryam)
Grizzly was from a shelter and I have heard that he was adopted after surgery :)

My 7-year old son, Jaden, is now playing hockey!!






(Jaden holding his 1st medal for his team finishing 4th place in a tournament that only had 4 teams :D)

I have a position at school in which I attend conferences throughout the year with most of the expenses paid for. Our most recent meeting was in Newport Beach and Jeff was able to come along. Unfortunately, I had been sick as a dog so was not able to enjoy the luxurious room, the beautiful pool, or the really expensive seafood dinner we were treated to, but Jeff still took some pictures. I still was so glad that he was able to come with me.


Our beautiful room



The view from our private patio


Me in front of some of the big fancy yachts docked next to our hotel, clutching tightly to my Diet 7-up that helped ward off the nausea...

Our 4-year old, Colten, is doing so great. He has adapted to life as a hockey sibling.


Colten showing what the back of my car looks like as we travel to hockey games, filled with equipment, food, and blankets.


He has been a real trooper about getting up early (still in his jammies) as we travel...


...while Jaden chooses to catch up on his sleep :D


Sometimes Colten hides when I pull out the camera....

..but then sometimes he takes the camera out himself!!




I usually don't see these until I upload pictures, apparently I need to keep a better eye on my child!

Jeff still continues to be my hero: taking care of the boys, taking care of me, opening all the jars that I can't, helping out people in need, and just being an all around great guy. I thank the Lord every night for my husband and pray for me to be the wife that Jeff needs me to be and that God wants me to be!





So that's what we've been up to!! We've also received some really great news! Our oldest son, Drew, proposed to his wonderful girlfriend, our daughter and her husband are expecting their first child (I'm married to a GRANDPA), and a niece and nephew both announced engagements this week. We'll be celebrating my mother-in-law's 75th birthday this weekend and both the boys and I are out of school next week. Life is great!

I Am A Christian

I Am A Christian

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My Husband, the Hero...

Last night, Jeff took Jaden to hockey practice. I was home sick, so Jeff also had Colten and a neighbor boy who wanted to watch Jaden play hockey. On the way home last night, Jeff made it back to West Sacramento, pulled off the freeway, and found himself stuck behind a stalled pick-up truck. The driver was waving people past and as Jeff pulled past the driver, he rolled down his window and asked the driver if she was okay and needed help. The driver said that she had run out of gas. There was a gas station around the corner and Jeff offered to push her truck. She agreed, and Jeff pushed her old pickup truck around the corner and rolled her safely into the gas station.

Once at the gas station, Jeff saw that the driver looked uncomfortable. Jeff then asked her if she had money to pay for gas and she said no. Jeff paid to fill up her tank and started talking to her. She also had 3 kids in the truck and mentioned that her husband had just been placed back in prison. She lived in a rough neighborhood in Sacramento and was in West Sac visiting her mom. Jeff told her about our church, Trinity Presbyterian, and encouraged her to come by if she needed support, food, or help of any kind. She was very grateful and said that she had been looking for something. Jeff talked to her kids, asked them how they liked school, and they all said they loved school. The mom was so appreciative and Jeff was very touched.

Afterward, Jeff felt bad that he didn't get her contact information or offer to buy dinner for the family. I pray for this family and hope that we'll see them at Trinity soon, or that they find a church home that will support and encourage this family in need. But I am really proud of Jeff for taking the time to help her. He took the time even though he himself had 3 kids in the truck and everyone was tired and wanting to go home. I am so thankful for Jeff's generous heart and pray that this is instilled in our own boys.

Just Starting Out...

I have been very hesitant to start a blog as time is limited and I kind of thought it to be conceited to think that others would actually want to read about what we were up to. But lately I have been following the blogs of several powerful women and it just became easier to create my own blog to link to them instead of having all these bookmarked pages. I'm actually very doubtful anyone will actually read this.