The Legacy

So I'm sitting on a couch in a luxury vacation house just north of Branson. It's located on a 850 acre ranch that some friends of my family own. The house is called the Legacy. Normally it's rented out to groups or families on vacation. It's got a fully equipped kitchen, pool table, foos ball, a bunch of bedrooms, a 6-person hot tub, a big screen TV, and it's in the country. Check it out here, and here. Anyway, our friends called us and said they didn't have anyone coming to stay in it this weekend, and told us we could come down and use it for free if we wanted to. Right after orchestra ended on Friday evening, my family and Owen drove down here. We stayed up and played pool for hours.

Then Saturday evening, we went to the Symphony concert. They played Handel's Water Music Suite No. 2 and Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Some of the most famous pieces of music ever written, Handel's Messiah exempted. They had a 200 voice choir singing with them. The choir was composed of several different area colleges, and they were amazing.

After the concert we picked Grace up from C of O. She spent Saturday night here at the Legacy with us. In fact, as I write this, she's sitting across the room from me reading something...hi Grace! *waves*

We'll go back home sometime this afternoon. Mom and Dad will come back down here for a couple more days to celebrate their 20-something anniversary.

So I'm in this homeschooled High School Choir. We have a competition coming up this next Friday. One of the songs we are singing is a rather upbeat Gospel song called He Never Failed M Yet. There is 3 solos in it. We were told to be ready to try out for 2 of the solos this last Friday. I tried out for the first one with several others and royally bombed it. So I asked if I could try out for the 2nd one too. Our choir director said yes, and so I tried out for that one too....turns out no one else was going to try out for the 2nd one, and so I got the part by default. :P

Appointment

Okay...I'm on pain pills, so if I make any mistakes, blame it on that.

I've had what felt like a very severe earache for the last 4 or 5 days. I had pain from my ear all the way down the jaw line to the chin. It was making my teeth hurt, and was really giving me a lot of problems, plus I was killing my liver by taking 12-16 ibufrofen a day, instead of the recommended 6/day. They weren't even taking the edge off the pain. I even took a Hydrocodone, and that didn't help either. Last night, my first molar on the lower right jaw started hurting a lot. Today, I went into to see the dentist, and found out that my tooth has an infection, and I have to have a root canal. Not fun. So right now I'm taking penecillin, for the infection, and Tramadol for the pain. Actually, the tramadol doesn't help the pain, it just makes me not care about it. So tomorrow at 2:15, I have a root canal scheduled. I can't wait for this to stop hurting. I cried so hard today. And I can't eat solid foods, cause I can't even begin to chew. blah...prayer would be most welcome. I'll post again after my operation.

laters..

To move or not to move...alas, the deed already is done.

Yesterday my friends, the S-'s, started to move into their new house that they are building. So I went out there to help them move. Of course, I made sure to arrive just in time to eat lunch. When lunch was done, we went out to their old house to get a load of furniture and clothing. We took a 20 ft. flat bed trailer, a 10 ft. enclosed trailer, a heavy duty truck, 2 suburbans, a Geo Metro, and a minivan. We filled every single spot available in those vehicles and trailers. After spending a couple or 3 hours there, we finally finished loading stuff up, and took off for their new house. It was completely dark by the time we got there, and I failed to mention earlier that the temperature never got about 25 (F) the entire day...so when the sun dropped below the horizon, the temperature hovered around 17-18 degrees, plus any time the wind blew at all, the windchill was around 0 degrees. Back to the completely dark...With no lights to help us see the uneven terrain, we finally got all the vehicles unloaded. I had on so many articles of clothing, I must have looked like an eskimo. But...I was warm. By the time we had finished unloading, I had broken a sweat, and was rapidly shedding layers of clothing. That's the nice thing about layering....and one good reason to do so...you can take off, or put on whatever you need to in order to stay comfortable.
We ate dinner, and then set around chatting for a while. I played a song that I composed on the piano that we had brought over...it's going to be titled "The Love Birds." I hope to be able to flesh it out a little more, write a string accompaniment part, plus 2 vocal parts, and then record it as a wedding gift for two friends of mine (Rachel and Colin) whom I hold in the deepest respect and admiration for the way that they have conducted their relationship. I don't know if I will be able to complete the song in time for their wedding, but I really hope to be able to. We'll see what happens...anyway, I played the song on the piano...and went upstairs and talked some more. It was getting kind of late by this point, so I started my van, so it would warm up before I left, since I didn't want to freeze driving home. Everybody else left just before I did, because I went downstairs and made myself a cup of coffee, so I wouldn't fall asleep. Then, so as not to stress my relationship, and not over-use the S-'s hospitality, I left. Now, as I write this on the day after, my arms are sore...I wish I could have totaled the amount of weight that my arms carried yesterday. The amount probably wouldn't be as great as I would expect or hope it to be, but I'm sure it would still be quite a lot.

Time to get ready to go to church!! More later...maybe. =)

Much of Him

I've not been feeling well for the last few days. My neck had been really hurting badly, and that didn't help my attitude at all. I think I was kind of depressed. I'm not exactly sure why. I think it's just Satan's attack on my life. Seems like every time I attempt to stay really close to God, I fall away even farther. Suddenly, everything becomes harder. I guess that's a good sign that I'm doing the right thing. If Satan doesn't want me to do it, and does everything in his power to hamper me, then it's probably the best thing to keep doing.
And so I plod along, trying to stay close to God, realizing that I keep trying to do it from my own power, and starting over again.

Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't trade this life for just almost anything. The only thing I might trade it for is the same essential life that I have now, just without all the stupid mistakes that I've made in the past, and I wish I could have never done. I may feel depressed every once in a while, when I again discover that I CAN'T do it on my own, and then for a while, my pride gets the best of me, before I finally turn again to my Saviour, and start afresh. That's the wonderful thing about my Saviour. No matter how many times you mess up, make mistakes, or are just plain stupid, God is still there, waiting to forgive you, and to forget your sins.
I couldn't decide whether to post the words to East to West, or Much of You...since the lyrics to East to West are scrolling to the right of this post anyway, I've decided on Much of You.

How could I stand here and watch the sun rise
Follow the mountains where they touch the sky
Ponder the vastness and the depths of the sea
And think for a moment the point of it all was to make much of me
Cause I'm just a whisper and You are the thunder and

I want to make much of You, Jesus
I want to make much of Your love
I want to live today to give You the praise
That You alone are so worthy of
I want to make much of Your mercy
I want to make much of Your cross
I give You my life
Take it and let it be used
To make much of You

And how can I kneel here
And think of the cross
The thorns and the whip and the nails and the spear
The infinite cost
To purchase my pardon
And bear all my shame
To think I have anything worth boasting in except for Your name
Cause I am a sinner
And You are the Savior

I want to make much of You, Jesus
I want to make much of Your love
I want to live today to give You the praise
That You alone are so worthy of
I want to make much of Your mercy
I want to make much of Your cross
I give You my life
Take it and let it be used

To make much of You

This is Your love, oh God
Not to make much of me
But to send Your own son
So that we could make much of You

For all eternity

I want to make much of You Jesus
I want to make much of Your love
I want to live today to give You the praise
That You alone are so worthy of
I want to make much of Your mercy
I want to make much of Your cross
I give You my life
Take it and let it be used
To make much of You

I want to make much of You
Much of You Jesus

~ Steven Curtis Chapman

Back from Christmas Break.

Okay....back from Christmas break, and onto a semi-normal school schedule. Christmas pretty much awesome, just like always. And the break was soooo good. I finally got caught up with my physics. I had been pretty behind since Grandpa died. I was able to get totally caught up 2 days before school started again this January. But as long as I'm caught up, it's all good.

I've done a couple more Medical Explorers rotations since I last posted. I know I watched at least one surgery. Actually the end of one and the beginning of another. They were both Hernia Surgeries. Not very exciting to watch, but the Surgery Team made it worth it cause they were so fun. One of the guys asked me "do you want to sew the skin up?" Yeah, I would have loved to, but imagine the law suits, not to mention not knowing how to do it, and having to get all steralized and all.

I have a Medical Explorer's Business Meeting tomorrow night, so I'll get to sign up for more rotations and stuff.

My knees have been bothering me for awhile. Yesterday I went and played frisbee with some friends, and my knees hurt sooo bad this morning. I had even iced them last night. Nothing helped. We'd been considering taking me to our doctor so we could get an MRI scheduled. The doc said that I have loose knee caps, and possibly torn cartiledge. We're scheduling an MRI so I can find out what all is wrong.

Rules For Africa:
1. Everything in Africa bites. Even the plants. If it doesn't bite, it stings.
2. If you stay still long enough, something will come eat you.
3. Never try to outrun anything in Africa. You'll lose. Even Jesse Owens would lose.
4. Know how to shoot and have your rifle sighted in. The Swahili word for hunters who don't do this translates to "Lion poop" for a reason.
5. If you kill any game within an hour of twilight, you will be walking back to camp, covered in tasty blood all the predators can smell -- alone.

Christmas...sort of.

So...I don't think I ever mentioned that I got my license. Dad's paying for the insurance, and I am doing all the filing for the business, not quite a fair trade, since filing takes a long time, but it's a job I can do at home, and at any time, so it's easier then going out to a jobsite and having to work there.

My church had their Christmas play on the 15th and the 16th. I think it went okay...I believe we had 2 people saved, so all the time and effort we put into it was well worth it.

Here's a picture of my "wife" and me. That's Molly Buesking, who played Mary. I had no idea she was making that face, or I would have burst out laughing, and not had that nice, kind, and caring smile on my face. Molly's brother, Sam, is peeking out from behind us...with his eyes closed. :)

We went to Silver Dollar City on Thursday with a bunch of friends. That was a fun time. We even saw SDC's version of Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol." It wasn't half bad. Grace will probably get mad if I don't mention something about her...so...We invited Grace L. to come with us to SDC. She, like always, is a blast to hang out with. There, I've mentioned her. :)And if that's not enough, I've even included a picture of her. :)

I went to see National Treasure: Book of Secrets tonight with the rest of the family. It was okay, but nothing as good as the first National Treasure. It had a couple of objectionable scenes. Really, though, you could tell the whole plot from the beginning of the movie, and even though there was some good action-scenes, it was almost a boring movie. Broken up a few times, or course, by Riley's hilarious interjections. That's really the whole reason I went to see the movie, was to see him and listen/watch him do his lines. All in all, I wouldn't reccommend the movie as one to see.

Christmas time is coming!! Yeah!! A time to celebrate the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Why December 25 was chosen for the day to celebrate Christ's birth, I have no idea. Especially as this day is supposedly the day of Yuletide, which is/was a pagan holiday. No matter...Whatever day was chosen is fine for me, just as long as there is a set day. I only wish that Christmas wasn't as commercialized. It seems like every corporation, big and small, is out to make Christmas a time to make more money. They don't focus on the real reason for the season. We have Santa Claus coming to visit us, instead of the baby Jesus. We get, get, get...or for the businesses...make, make, make...money. Follow the wealth, right?? Greed, wealth, power...

911 ER Surgery Pasta

Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it. - G.K. Chesterton

These are supposedly real 911 calls. I don't know if they really are or not, but they are kind of funny.

Dispatcher : 9-1-1 What is your emergency?

Caller: I heard what sounded like gunshots coming from the brown house on the corner.

Dispatcher: Do you have an address?

Caller: No, I have on a blouse and slacks, why?

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Dispatcher: 9-1-1 What is your emergency?

Caller : Someone broke into my house and took a bite out of my ham and cheese sandwich .

Dispatcher : Excuse me?

Caller : I made a ham and cheese sandwich and left it on the kitchen table and when I came back from the bathroom, someone had taken a bite out of it.

Dispatcher : Was anything else taken?

Caller : No, but this has happened to me before and I'm sick and tired of it!

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Dispatcher: 9-1-1 What is the nature of your emergency?

Caller: I'm trying to reach nine eleven but my phone doesn't have an eleven on it.
Dispatcher: This is nine eleven.

Caller: I thought you just said it was nine-one-one.

Dispatcher: Yes, ma'am nine-one-one and nine-eleven are the same thing.

Caller: Honey, I may be old, but I'm not stupid.

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Dispatcher: 9-1-1 What's the nature of your emergency?
Caller: My wife is pregnant and her contractions are only two minutes apart.

Dispatcher: Is this her first child?

Caller: No, you idiot! This is her husband!

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And the winner is..........

Dispatcher: 9-1-1

Caller: Yeah, I'm having trouble breathing. I'm all out of breath. Darn....I think I'm going to pass out.

Dispatcher: Sir, where are you calling from?

Caller: I'm at a pay phone. North and Foster.

Dispatcher: ! Sir, an ambulance is on the way. Are you an asthmatic?

Caller: No.

Dispatcher: What were you doing before you started having trouble breathing?

Caller: Running from the Police

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Okay...

I had a surgical rotation tonight. I had 2 hours of surgery, and two hours of ER. Surgery was pretty good. They had someone who had gotten his face busted up in a farm accident. They had to do a facial fracture repair. They wired the jaw shut, and then peeled the skin on the cheek bone away so they could fix the zygomatic arch (the arch of bone that extends along the front and side of the skull beneath the eye), which was kind of in pieces. It was fun to watch, and the doc and the anesthesiologist did a good job of explaining things to me.

ER was boring...they had a slow night, so it's understandable. I ended up going with the guy I was shadowing to get food for some of the other employees. So I didn't get a whole lot of gruesome stuff. Oh well...more next time.