30 pounds in 30 days. whoa.

Hmmm... Where to start? End of school? Surgery? Or Christmas? I feel like all of these things have been pretty major lately. Let's start with school. Oh my goodness, how stressed out was I? I had to get everything finished and turned in early for my surgery. The great news is that this is the first semester that my cumulative GPA is above a 3.0, meaning this is my first semester to be out of academic probation. I always thought I was a pretty good student, but grad school has shown me otherwise. I can't believe it, but I only have one more semester. I've already had to start reading for January which is a total bummer, but what else do I have to do... oh yeah, watch 90210 reruns on Soapnet!!- my parent's cable is awesome.

My Christmas was pretty great. Both of my brothers, their wives, and my niece were here for the big day. Christmas is a lot more fun when you have a little one around. Kaelan (my niece) was so excited about everything. She's so funny. We all basically spent five days sitting around and watching her. It was great.

Even though it has only been a couple of weeks, I already feel like my surgery has drastically changed my life. I feel like my body is finally being put back together (with the exception of soreness in my abdomen.) I had my blood tested again this week and everything is almost back to normal. Due to the trauma of getting my gallbladder out, my white count shot up really high. A high white blood count can be an indicator of cancer or other bad things, so it's a little scary to hear that your white count is twice as high as it should be. It's almost back to normal, so that's good. It's funny how much the surgery has changed my appetite. I am never hungry, in fact I always feel full. I have to force myself to eat, which is a nice problem to have. Although sitting through Christmas dinner with only a fourth of a cup of puree chicken wasn't the greatest experience, I made it though. I'm just glad the holidays only come around once a year. Again, let me just say thank you to all of you out there who have been praying for me and supporting me through this. This whole experience has honestly been as easy as it could have possibly been, and I know that has a lot to do with the support I've received. So, once again, thank you so much.

I have so much to blog about, but I'm just not in the mood. So, I'll leave you with this exciting news:
Since December 1st, I've lost 23 pounds!! Whoo-Hoo!!

still recovering... still doing good. :)

I just got home from the hospital a couple of hours ago. I had to stay an extra night because my white blood cell count was high, which means I could have had an infection. It came down though so I am fine. I'm actually feeling pretty good. My stomach is obviously sore. The bypass surgery only took about 30 minutes, but it took them a really long time to get my gall bladder out. Aparently it was very diseased. The first night was pretty rough, but yesterday and today have been relatively easy. I don't really know what else to say. So, I'll write more later. Thank you so much for all of the prayers. I could tell a difference!

Okay, so I don't really hate Jared Cramer, but he was sitting by me in the computer lab this morning and he wouldn't quit bothering me, so I showed him by hating him on my blog.

Anyways, tomorrow is the big day. I can't believe it, well actually I can, I've been waiting for this for quite a while. Originally, I was scheduled to get to the hospital at 6:30 in the morning, but I've been bumped. So, now I am scheduled to go in at noon. Which means it will be a long day of waiting around. If you think about it, I'd appreciate a prayer or two. I should be getting home from the hospital on Wednesday evening. I'll blog with an update when I can!

I HATE Jared Cramer.

Tonight I took a little break from my work and went to the movies with some friends. We went to see Stranger Than Fiction. I must say, it was so good. I'm rarely that impressed with movies, but this one was really good. It kind of reminded me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, another favorite of mine. I must warn you though, there is one locker room scene where you see several old man butts, so if you're going to the movies with your family during the holidays, it might be a little awkward to be sitting by your dad during that scene. Other than that, it's great!

Four Days
Field Ed Work
Church History Final

Six Days
Sermon Project
Church History Final
Field Ed Work
and a sinus infection to get over. :(

This one is pretty funny.

8 days
Preaching Project
Williams Book
Church History Final
Field Ed Work

Just got back from Lubbock, again. I had all of my pre-op stuff done yesterday. I need to have my gallbladder taken out. So what am I, 75 years old? They will take it out during my surgery. The end of semester stress has definitely hit. So much to do...so little time.
10 Days
Catechesis Paper
Preaching Project
Williams Book
Church History Final
Field Ed Work