Slowly but Surely...

Good News! The Louisiana State Licensing Board sent a letter the other day stating they received my application and payment and the review board will be considering my application at the August 8th board meeting.
On the baby front....Jordan is at 25 natural deliveries. The deliveries have been incredibly slow the past few days so we are hoping it will pick up over the next few days so that he can meet his requirement. Yesterday there was not one delivery so Jordan was able to stick around the house and run some errands with me. He was even around to pick on me while I studied.
On the bicycling front...Jordan and I went to the bicycle shop around the corner and purchased new pedals for my bike. If you remember from an earlier blog my pedal popped off when I was trying to cross traffic on my journey from the library. I am looking forward to making another trip on my bicycle soon.

Homesick for Houston

I have to confess that last week I found myself feeling homesick, but the question was, "for where?" I didn't understand the yearning that I had for another home other than where we currently live. I mean ...was I missing Fort Worth and the friends that we have there or was I missing Houston and my parents. Both. To help with my homesickness we decided to head to Houston in an effort to cure the sickness.
I think with all the change in the recent months and the time that I have been spending at home taking care of the house and studying for my upcoming test I longed for home where things are always the same. And i love that about it. I also was missing the chance to visit with my parents and kick back with them. i just love hanging out with them, no matter where it is, but most of all at their home. They have been so wonderful to help us pack in Fort Worth for the move and ran us to and from the airport for our vacation and then opened as a halfway point hotel and restaurant on our journey to Louisiana, and to top it all off they made a trip to our new house the first weekend we arrived. All the while they have been supporting us, both of my parents have been dealing with various medical issues. I guess I just needed to see them and love on them. Praise the Lord my mom is on the upside of her issue, but we are still praying for my Dad and the treatment of his recent findings during a blood test. I pray that the Lord will guide the doctors as they explore options with my Dad's parathyroid and blood test and find a treatment.
Going home was great and getting to just hang out with my parents was a good cure to homesickness. I do have to admit that all of my homesickness is not resolved as i still yearn for the chance to hang out with of our friends from Fort Worth and know what is going on with them. Sometimes email and blogs just aren't enough. I especially miss having spontaneous dinners at our house where all of our friends show up and it feels like home. As Jordan and I are still settling into the town and slowly meeting friends it makes me really miss everyone and wish that i could call you all up and have you over for dinner or see you all on Sunday morning at Sunday school.

Go BR Capitals...

This weekend I took Jordan on a surprise date to see the Baton Rouge Capitals. It was really great to enjoy the last game of the season where the Capitals faced off with the Mississippi Brea. Jordan only had to leave the game one time to deliver a baby, but he made it back for the last 30 minutes of the game. Even tough our new team did not walk away with a win it was a great date and we are looking forward to being Capitals fans next summer. GO CAPITALS!!!!!!

The Capitals finished the season with 7 wins, 8 losses, and 1 tied game.....

oh! the Capitals are the red and black team...how appropriate is that since we already have plenty of red and black attire with our TTU gear.

On Saturday we joined the residents at the movies for a viewing of Hancock starring Will Smith and then 3 games of laser tag. Jordan and I played on opposite teams and stayed neck and neck throughout all three games. Get this Jordan's name during the game was "meatloaf"....the names are assigned to you so I can't give him credit for choosing such a goofy name. I can't say much since my name during my first two games was "thunder" and for the second and last game i was given the name "Thor". We had a great time getting to know more of the residents outside of the office and on the playing field.

Oh! on a side note Jordan has turned into a regular mechanic lately. His engine light has been on in his car for the past 2 months and he finally found some time to get under the hood and resolve the problem. As most of you know his car has been making a really loud fan noise for the past two years...those days are no more. His car now rides so quiet, it's like a brand new car. Jordan also replaced the EGR gasket and drove around for a few days to find that there was no change in the engine light. It was back to the auto part store to try something else. This time Jordan decided to try the EGR sensor which proved to be relatively simple to find and replace. This is where is gets good. Last night after a great time with the residents playing laser tag we were headed home and all of the sudden Jordan got really excited because the engine light went off. YEAH!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD WALKER!!!!!!

Seriously.....who is in my shower?????

I tell you Jordan really misses the exciting moments in the morning. There have been two times in my life that I have had an unwanted visitor in the shower with me. One was back when Jordan and I first moved into seminary housing and Jordan had already left for school when i got up to get showered and head off to school myself. I stumbled into the bathroom leaving my glasses behind on the bedside table. Pulled the shower curtain back slightly stuck my hand in and turned the shower and while the water was warming brushed my teeth. When the water was ready I stepped in and began getting my head wet.....when to my surprise something was moving on the ceiling overhead, but remember i couldn't see what it was because I am blind without contacts or glasses. I hollered for Jordan.....remember he is already gone, so it is up to me. I hurried out of the shower (no time for a towel) to get my glasses. i ran back to the shower to find out what unwelcome guest joined me that morning. No kidding, it was a ROACH that measured about 2 and 1 half inches long and could fly....in my shower. I hurriedly grabbed Jordan's slipper and with my adrenaline rushing beat the sucker to a mere squish on the wall. All the while the shower was still running. thankfully the shower caught the ROACH in his flight pattern of my shower. That was our first and last experience with a roach in seminary housing. i called often to have the place sprayed and i sprayed the entry ways and any little crack or crevice that i thought looked like a welcome mat for them.
Unwanted guest #2...
This morning I did the same put my hand in the shower to turn it on and get the water to the perfect temperature. This time I had my contacts in already so i put eye drops in and got ready for a great morning shower. EEK! when i pulled the curtain back and proceeded to step into the tub a pesky, disgusting, annoying, creepy, gecko was frantically running around the drain of our tub. I jumped out of the tub and reached for the nearest object that i thought would kill him. A SHAMPOO BOTTLE!!! I am sure at this point the little critter was thinking, "oh no not the shampoo bottle, hehehe". It may not sound scary or life threatening, but neither did the slipper to the roach in my shower years ago and look what happened to him. Notice this time I did not holler for Jordan as my first line of protection, because he had already startled me in my sleep this morning by sneaking around to my side of the bed to tell me he was going to the hospital to deliver a baby. He waits until he is right in my face to start talking and it gets me every time.
Back to the critter in the shower. That little guy started scrambling when he saw me coming over the edge of the tub, but before he knew it the shampoo bottle was slamming down in the tub like a bomb. I might have missed him a few times at the beginning, but remember i just woke up and i was still a little sluggish. I finally got a piece of him, but he was not quitter. he continued to scramble around when finally i knocked him out for just a few seconds to send him packing down the drain. The bad thing about that is for the duration of my shower i kept peaking back at the drain to make sure he wasn't an Olympic swimmer in gecko world. apparently not, because i haven't seen him again this morning. thank goodness!

I understand that some of you may find it appalling that i would kill one of these critters, but i just don't buy any of that information you have tried to feed me about them being helpful or good to keep other bugs away. why can't they be like normal green lizards who just startle me when i reach in to prune my plants? i think it is be beady red eyes and their super fast movement and not to mention that they have that super camouflage color that is just creepy.

Just in case you don't remember what they look like or you are fortunate to have not seen one lurking around your house outside or in. I don't like them at all.

The Eco Friendly way to go...

Today was full of adventure and heat...WARNING!!! This story is not for the faint hearted or weak stomach individuals.
It's not that bad, but it is pretty disgusting in some places so prepare yourself. In effort to be more Eco friendly, exercise and save on gas I decided today I would do all my errands by way of my bike. I had about four things to do on my list (library to return books, rent a movie, mail a package, and STUDY) that were all accessible within 5 miles or so I guessed. I didn't bother to look up the distance. I just figured that in the car it wasn't that far so it shouldn't be that bad on my bike providing I could avoid some of the busy streets along the way. I mapped out my route trying to avoid the busy streets, donned myself with my bicycle helmet and backpack full of books and other necessities for the trip including the package.
Off I headed to the post office first to unload the large envelope I was carrying...change of plans traffic was rather busy due to lunch hour so I decided to continue on to the library and hit up the post office on the route back since I would be traveling on the other side of the road at that time. I arrived at the post office 30 minutes after leaving the house, soaking wet and red as a beat. That's right I said soaking wet. Folks, it gets really hot here and humid. I would venture to guess the humidity was about 95% based on my sweatiness. YUK!
The library air conditioning was welcomed greatly. I settled into a solitaire booth to cool down and dig into the books for a couple of hours.
Time to go home...
You should know that every afternoon it rains here, so knowing this I decided to head home hoping to miss the shower. About half way home I realized the hope of getting home before the shower was not going to happen so I ducked into the awning at Sonic and watched the dark clouds roll in. Luckily it was 3pm otherwise known as HAPPY HOUR!!!! I scrounged up enough change in my backpack to see what i could get. A medium Dr. Pepper would suit me just fine while I waited out the storm and studied. My only worry was the magnitude of the wind that was stirring up was potential for getting wet under that small awning. The direction of the wind was in my favor so I avoided getting wet during the storm. when the rain subsided i ventured off to the movie rental place.
I left the movie rental place (Albertson's) heading to the post office. mind you it is about 5pm at this time so the traffic is picking up. When my break in the traffic happened and allowed me to cross I jumped on my bike and then it happened right there in the middle of the street......my pedal popped off in the middle of the street as i rolled through to the other side. when i reached the other side i glanced back after realizing what had happened to see my pedal lying helplessly in the middle of the street as cars whiz by. if you think i was going to go back and try to get that one you are CRAZY!!! Mind you I am halfway home so from here on it is by foot pushing along my bike. bummer. I reach the post office to find that the help desk is closed, but thankfully they have those automated machines that allow you to weigh the package and buy postage. Pretty cool!
This is wear it all gets really gross....I took my backpack off and mind you i understood that i was sweaty beyond measure, but this was true evidence of how much i was sweating. i pulled out my large envelope to find that it was soaked....yah, that's right i had sweat so much that my backpack became soaked therefore soaking the content inside.....did i mention that this package contained my application for the licensing board. Yep! that one missed the mail today. I continued home to repackage that bad boy and make sure that the contents in the package were not affected by the profuse sweating.
I didn't check the distance before I left, but after getting home I checked the mileage on mapquest and do you know it was 4.4 miles there and 4.4 miles back home. WoW!
I am a little embarrassed to tell you about this sweaty moment, but I am amazed how much one can sweat in this humid weather. You know I at least thought spending my primitive years in Humid Houston would have trained me for this sort of climate, but it doesn't even hold a candle to it.

For the protection of your eyes I have not included any pictures in this message.

The Super Baby Doctor...

O.k. so I may be a little biased, but I think, he is a great doctor. Jordan has been hard at work at the hospital since 2AM this morning delivering new babies into the world. Today is the highest record for Jordan since he started on July 1st. He has delivered a total of six babies today. This is great news as he has to complete a total of 30 natural deliveries and 10 c-sections during his three years in residency. So far, he has a total of 18 deliveries for the month and still has a month and two weeks in his obstetrics rotation. Yeah, Praise the Lord! This is the totally cool part....The OB doctor that he is working with this month allowed him to perform the entire c-section procedure today. We are so thankful for the many opportunities that the Lord is blessing Jordan with and all the learning opportunities that he getting during each delivery.
In the world of preparing for the NCE (National Counselor Examination) and getting licensed in Louisiana to be a counselor intern...I am busy daily studying for the exam which I will take on August 8th. Today I began the process of application for counselor intern approval. We are praying that all goes well and that all of my graduate classes meet the Louisiana license expectations and guidelines.

A Ghost in our house...

So, I have to preface by saying that I have never believed in ghost, but the thought of starting has entered my mind since we moved into our new place. You see each morning since we have moved in I hear this banging noise each morning between 7:30 and 8:30am. I have tried to follow the noise several times to find the source of the noise. After three weeks I still have been unable to find it. Well the later part of last week Jordan began to notice the sound as well and started looking for the source as well. Well he was determined that it was coming from the kitchen and I was determined it was coming from the stairwell that we never use. Yesterday morning Jordan was in the bathroom and the sound started so he looked across to the kitchen and saw the ghost....well not really a ghost. Jordan said there was a cardinal banging his head against the kitchen window. Yeah right!

This morning about 9:20am i heard the noise again so instead of going to the stairwell i quietly walked to the kitchen and peaked in, and sure enough there he was tapping on the window with his beak. when i entered into the kitchen a little further he paused and looked right at me and then flew away.

As I am writing this note to you he is doing it again so I went to see him again and do you know that he flew our to a branch just in front of our window and just puffed his chest and starred right at me.

The good thing is now we know the source of the mysterious noise, but now we just need to figure out what is drawing him to beat on the window.

the culprit. isn't he cute!

A Snake in our path...

Yes it is true we encountered a 4 foot snake on Saturday as we meandered around a river trail at the Tickfaw State Park. Jordan and I were riding our bikes on the trail when I spotted the snake just about 2 feet ahead of my bike tire. It was a black snake with yellow diamonds on his back and he was in striking position facing the other direction. Oops! we interrupted his lunch apparently. I think my scream and the exit off my bike startled him to retreat into the woods and up a nearby tree. After a few minutes we continued on the path, which by the way is not suitable for biking contrary to the posted signs. I was also informed by Jordan that my new bike is not made for wooded trails. I would have to agree it is made more for beach cruising and street cruising, so my conclusion is ... more trips to the beach.

This is a post river path shot

This is my new bike that Jordan said is not suitable for wooded trails...you decide

Oh! I must also warn you all that we have become country. although you might have seen it coming if you had noticed Jordan's recent purchases of boots and wranglers. We made it official with camouflage ball caps from the Bass Pro Shop. We are fitting in just fine here in the "sportsman's paradise".

Notice mine has a girly touch with a pink deer on the front and Jordan's is complete with mesh in the back.

Happy Independence Day On The Mississipi River

I hope that everyone has had a terrific Fourth of July and enjoyed time with their families and friends. Jordan was not called in today so we were able to enjoy some time together uninterrupted. we finished upholstering our dining room chairs. Yeah! Jordan grilled for us so we enjoyed a nice dinner on the patio and then headed to the downtown levee to enjoy the fireworks show over the water. It was a spectacular show. Suddenly, the street lanterns flicked off as the sky was illuminated with bright flashes of exploding fireworks like the grand finale, but it was just the beginning. The I-10 bridge over the Mississippi



Happy 4th of July!!!!!

Conjunctivitis

ooh! doesn't the title of this blurb excite you beyond measures. Well, don't be to impressed; it's just Jordan's way of saying "pink eye" and that, my friends, is what I was diagnosed with today. Yesterday I woke up with a most disgusting blood shot eye that did not go away for a day and a half so Jordan sent me to the doctor this afternoon to be diagnosed. I think this makes the second time that I have had this in 2008 so it seems that I am pretty prone to this eye problem.

On another note, I visited Jordan at his hospital today and got the grand tour of the baby department. So far Jordan has done 4 c-sections and one vaginal delivery. Today one of the doctors he worked with had him close (sew) the patient up after the delivery. I got the full demonstration when Jordan came home this evening and it seems pretty much like hand sewing a hem. I am sure it's not that simple but it certainly seemed that way as he was describing it while I was preparing our Jambalaya for dinner.

On the home front we have had a few projects going on around the house. We refinished a dining table and this weekend I am going to attempt to reupholster the dining chairs.

Here is our refinished table and the dining chairs pre -reupholstering.

The outside of our new place is also getting a face lift. The owner has decided that she would like to upgrade the deck so there is a little construction taking place. Jordan and I are most excited since we spend most of our time out there during our free moments. We love to eat dinner on the deck and I love to enjoy a fresh cup of Community Coffee in the mornings out there. We have a cat that lives in our garden who we have named smokey; she is very adventurous as she maneuvers through the jungle in our backyard and she dives over the fence into the neighbors' yards to chase birds. We also have blue jays and cardinals that frequent our backyard and the surrounding trees. Among the cat and the birds are tons of lizards that live in our backyard. When I arrived home today one of them greeted me on our back stairs.

this is the beginning of construction on our back porch.

Here is one of the many outdoor guest that we have.

This picture is a total freebie ad....this is one of the best places to eat in Louisiana. If you are ever passing through the sportsman's paradise state you should stop in for some great chicken tenders and some saucesome sauce. That's right I said, "saucesome".

RAISING CANE'S CHICKEN...I think this is one of the original locations.