To serve

Boy, our church service really sent a clear message on Sunday. We had a great speaker who really challenged me! He discussed Jesus in all of his greatness and yet the greatest man to ever live was the most serving man to ever live. Wow. To think on the day that he knew he would be slain in such a horrendous incomprehensible death, he, Jesus Christ was washing the feet of the disciples! Wows! Now don't be lining up on my front door for a foot wash and massage cause you probably just need to leave the shoes on :)!

Anyway, it did cause some reflection. I have been in a serving profession....well for a long time. When I first went into nursing, I really felt that I could do some things to help people . I got a lot of compliments and requests from patients whon would request me by name. Well after about 13 years of nursing, most of which have been ER nursing. Let me tell you, ER nurses are especially
easy to fall victim of being jaded and condescending! I am one of those nurses. There to draw a pay check and really not much more.the emergency department client ale are not the most pleasant or understanding, whichnkeeps it difficult. The management teM always sees the bottom line and cost figures , not the end result on staff morale or patient care. So these are all reasons for my jaded outlook! Now I have seen some light sine out from somewhere! I took a prn job in day surgery along with the ER job. I. Found that the character and caring of the day surgery nurses is far different from my ER peers. I also find that my mood is much better when I am around them! Also the patients seem to be more easy going! Anyway just seeing the difference along with sundays message, I'm making baby steps.
Today I worked in the ER. Monday in the ER is ALWAYS torture!!!! Today I kept telling me in my head to serve. You are here to serve. Well maybe it wasn't me... Maybe God spoke to me through the surmon. Anyway I can't say everyday will be a walk in the park, but I'm going to put out some effort to serve!

Valentines Fun

Friday, right before going to bed, Destiny and I discussed the posibility of doing a Valentines theme for the entire day. We talked about breakfast but didn't plan much other! I went to the store and planned a whole rest of the day! What fun. I was so excited to do this! So, yesterday morning we got out fo the bed and I had no plans to get dressed. At. ALL!! I had told Destiny we only had meals planned but otherwise we could go to town later if we had time and she wanted to (we never went)!


So for breakfast, I served the girls pink buttermilk pancakes with white chocolate chips and drizzled in strawberry sauce and then with whip cream. The turned out quiet lovely and the girls loved them!! I was quiet proud of how they looked!!





Now by this time, I had planned out my lunch. I had decided that I would fix Destiny's favorite...Fettucine Alfredo is her favorite, but how could I settle on plain old fettucine!!! I made fettuccine alfredo, in purple. Also Destiny's favorite color and a great color for valentines day.





Poor Hailee of course was not liking that she was not getting her favorite color and Destiny was getting everything she likes, so I just made Hailee's afredo green, her favorite color.




Red Rice Krispie Treats for Snacks!! Yummy!! They were a big hit.






Dinner was so fun! I created heart shaped Meatloaf, pink mashed potatoes and beets! Oh yea....and I shaped cressant rolls into heart shapes! The girls ate great and was aking me what the next holiday is!! Hmmmm....St. Patties day (my favorite color

Birthday...Today??

Well, today is my birthday. I am 29 years old again! I love being 29, so why change? I did not ask for snow on my birthday though and there is a lot of snow. School was cancelled, today, so I am sitting in front of the TV today catching up on my DVR'd shows. Both of the girls are doing their own thing...also in their jammies. Although this all probably sounds wonderful to you all, but not to me.. I hate days like this. I'd rather be dressed, outside enjoying some sun!! So all of this being said, my birthday wish is for a do over...maybe in July??

Giving of yourself

I just wanted to tell everyone I know, about fund raisers that are out there for the Gomez Family. There are so many opportunities for you to help a very sweet needing family.

First of all, a little about the tragedy. The Gomez family was headed home from spending some quality holiday time with their family. On their way home, another vehicle was headed to them head-on. Eric who was driving his family in their vehicle moved over to try to avoid the colision, but could not move any futer off on the right side of the roadway becuase of a bridge and railing. He then moved to try and avoid the colision, but was not able. The driver of the other vehicle, a Colorado Senator, hit their vehicle head on. This accident injured everyone involved to some extent, however it resulted in life threating brain injury for Brie. Now, Brie was also 30 weeks pregnant. She and Eric where expecting their first son. She has 2 precious girls. Doctors where able to save the life of Brie and Eric's baby in an emergency cesearean section, shortly before Brie passed away. The family did choose to donate Brie's organs to save other's lifes! What a wonderful person Brie was!! I am on of the very most lucky to have ever known her! I love you and miss you

dearly. As far as this email, please forward it to everyone you know, to get the news out there.



As for the fundraisers, there are several local fundraisers to meet the needs of those of you who live locally or nearby. There are also options to help this family if you live far away, but ordering lovely products online, where a portion of the sales will benefit the family.



February Fundraisers:



1. This is Tiffany McKinney, Brie's cousin. I am a representative for Silpada Jewelry and I am going to be donating 50% of all proceeds of sales in February to Curren. Also, one lucky person will win a $25 gift certificate for free jewelry just for purchasing! Visit this webpage to see the jewelry, and then contact me to order and to get your name entered for the gift certificate!

My webpage is www.mysilpada.com/tiffany.mckinney
To order, they can contact me at 806-674-7248 or by email at tiffanys_silpada@hotmail.com



2. A friend wanted to help, and she is donating all her profits on Scentsy orders if they use this website through February 14. https://lainecopeland.scentsy.us/Buy?partyId=23565970. Now I realize you may have a scentsy consultant, but it won't hurt to make a one time order to honor this family!



3. Also, we are having Blue Sky night on February 28 from 11AM-9PM. They will donate proceeds to Curren if customers mention him. An update about the Blue Sky fundraiser:
Blue Sky has extended the hours from 11am to 9pm on February 28th(same day) to accomodate the many people ready to come out and support Curren and the Gomez family.

4. Alicia Mincey is a consultant for Thirty-One gifts andx is donating 50% of her income in February to the Curren Gomez fund.
Here is the link:

http://www.mythirtyone.com/shop/catalog.aspx?eventId=E487244&from=DIRECTLINK

She says to be sure and click the link to have your order shipped directly to you.

If anyone wants to host a home or catalog party or have Alicia set up at an event in February, all of those orders will also go towards the fundraiser!

Alicia says, "I'm praying for a huge donation!!!"

Alicia Mincey, Director
Thirty-One Gifts
806.683.1510
My Personal Thirty-One Website:
www.mythirtyone.com/aliciamincey

5. This is one I don't understand much, but...I just wanted to let you know that the PBS team at Tascosa is putting up some wonderful fundraisers in the month of February for Curren and the Gomez family.
We are offering an early release lunch for a $1 towards the end of the month and all proceeds will go towards Curren and the Gomez family. We are also selling links the entire month of February for a $1 and we are going to link them around the school. All proceeds are going towards Curren and the Gomez family.
When Curren does go home, we will have a “link cutting” and whoever’s links get cut, will win gift cards to Rosa’s for dinner!
We hope to raise as much money as Tascosa can for Curren and the family!

Tiffany Hooker
A/V Productions
Cheerleading Sponser



6. Jane and Greg Ziolkowski, owners of KaleidoScoops (6010 SW 34th) are having a fundraiser for Coach Gomez and his family on Thursdays, Feb. 10th, 17th and 24th from 6-9 p.m. No coupons are required. They will be donating 15% of all their proceeds to the family from all sales these 3 nights in February. Jane and Greg are praying for a successful fundraiser for Eric and his family. See you on Thursday evenings for dessert!

7. The Hillside Christian Church prime rib dinner and silent auction will be Feb. 17th from 6:30pm to 8:00pm in the Student Building at the West location off of Soncy. If you have any items to donate to the auction, please email Chris Anderson at chris.anderson@hillsidewired.com

Surprise!!

Wow, I have been doing the HCG diet for 10 days. I'm going to be completely honest! This is so easy, as far as eating goes. You just don't really feel that hungry. I was a heavy Diet Dr. Pepper Drinker prior to starting HCG. I also craved sweets and chocolate. I didn't wean myself off of any of these things. As a matter of fact, I over endulged on the "fat" days. I ate an entire bag of hershey kisses in one day and drank way too many Diet Dr. Pepper's to even count! Well on the 3rd day, I started the VLCD and quit all these things at once. Believe it or not looking back, I have had no side effects from stopping Diet Dr. Pepper. Usually I do when I quit drinking soda, but I haven't this time! I think I have made this easier by drinking ice tea. Now as far as the sweets, I have had cravings a few times, but I have not cratered to any of them! Yea me!! I haven't made it easy for myself either. I have baked cookies for the girls, taken them to subway, and bought Hailee a pretzel from Sams and had to smell it. I won't say I didn't want to give in and eat a little, but I have decided that being skinny is far more important than eating the food! I have lost 8 pounds in the last 10 days!! I won't complain!!

Making Changes

After much debate within myself and loads of research, I have decided to try this HCG diet! I have worked very hard over the last year and have lost some weight and got into really great physical shape, but I still have some fat that I need to loose. I had debated on having an abdominoplasty, but decided I would give this a try first. I have had a few friends try it. Some of which have been successful, some have not. My most influencial in this was Lindsey and let me tell you she looks stunning! Drop Dead Gorgeous!! Let me also say, that I decided to make Myles follow this diet also. He has more weight than I have to lose and I thought this would help him. In light of recent events, I would love to see our family healthier and doing everything that we can do to prolong our life to the fullest! I think this starts with being healthy.
We started the Loading Days on January 15. I referred to these days as our fat days. This is two days that you eat until you are absolutely gorged on high fat foods. Prior to starting this diet, I was really looking forward to these days. I was so excited to eat all that I cared to eat of those things that we usually limit ourselves or even say "no" to. After the first day of gorging, I felt gross, dirty, fat and miserable. On day two, I woke up in a bad mood and just felt bad. I ate and ate and ate! About mid afternoon, I layed down, just because I didn't really have the energy to function. I layed there and could feel my heart beating and it felt like it was sloshing through fat, like my blood was very viscous. I wasn't sure I could finish eating high fat foods the rest of the day, but in the name of losing the weight, I continued. I was greatly looking forward to the first day of the Very Low Calorie Portion of the Diet. Today was the first day of the Very Low Calorie Portion (500 calories per day). I feel ok... I am a little dizzy and a little hungry, but I am looking forward to losing some fat. So here is a toast (with water of course) to my soon to be skinny body. I will post more of my progress as time goes on.

Breast Milk Donation for Baby Curran

I am posting this from another friends note.

We all know how heatlhy breast milk is, so Eric requested that Curran gets breast milk if possible. So the Northwest NICU has gotten a Rx for breast milk from the State Breast Milk Bank that is in Ft. Worth. All the breast milk for Curran has to go through there so it can be tested/pasteurized etc.




http://www.texasmilkbank.org/ is the website for the milk. If you want to donate there is a pretty simple process

1. A short (5mins or less) phone interview. The number is 817-810-0071. Carol or Samone can help

2. They will then send you some paperwork through the mail.

3. You will then go to a local lab for some blood work to make sure you don't have a disease :) (no cost to you)

4. They will then send you shipping boxes and labels & arrange for Fex Ex to pick the milk up. The only expensive you will have is for dry ice, but they will reimburse you for that when you send them the receipt.



The other thing is that they ask for a minimum donation of 100oz over the course of a year (but you can send in any amount each time) and you can't take Fenugreek or any other drug other then a birth control & prenatal vitamins and a couple of others. 100oz sounds like a lot, but if you are pumping just 4oz a day for 25 days, you could be done with your donation in a month. Of course, you can spread it out as needed.





You CAN donate breast milk that is currently frozen as long as it has been froezen for less then 6months.




Thank you so much for looking into this. I LOVE the way the Lord is taking care of all the simple details & cares about every need Brie's family has....even breastmilk. Let me know if you have any questions.