TBT

It seems that at least half my Facebook friends do TBT (Throwback Thursday) most every week.  I find it fun and interesting to see what everyone posts, but never considered getting in on the whole thing until today...  Mom's doing it, too.

I don't know whether I'll actually do this regularly or not, but here's today's TBT:



This is from June 2008, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C..  Mom and I went by ourselves so we wouldn't feel rushed onward by Dad and Chaela.  ;)

This, of course, is the Japanese Footbridge by Claude Monet, one of my favorite artists at the time.

I figured this was an appropriate photo to share today because I'm just about done prepping and studying for a DSST: Art of the Western World.  :)

Happy Thursday!

Hospital Update

On Wednesday I was sent to the ER - I got to go home yesterday evening, but here's what happened as according to our Facebook status updates:

Feb. 19 (evening)

Me: 

Enjoying some spontaneous mother-daughter time today!  (And by that I mean, "I am so very thankful for a wonderful mom who will not only drive me to the ER but will also hang out there with me and make me laugh and distract me.")

Mom: 

Dani's morphine is really wearing off & she's in some serious pain.  Of course everythig gets funnier in the hospital & laughing makes the pain worse.  Unfortunately Danielle just said in a whimper, "I need more...phine" which just made us laugh harder!

(In fact, I made myself laugh so hard that I cried, which made me laugh harder than ever!)

Me: 

CT scans came out clear, but they're going to keep me overnight to run some more tests and try to figure out what's up.

Me: 

Sleepover = woohoo!

...at the hospital = ooh.

There's a first time for everything, right?

[ texting while on morphine brings out the punny side of me!  At least, at the time I thought so...  

Chaela: What else can I bring you?  Pajamas?

Me:  Nah, I'm covered.]

Me: 

You know Mom and I have been cooped up for too long when she starts squirting saline at me and I threaten to tell the nurse on her...

Feb. 20 (morning)

Me: 

No real update yet from here at Memorial Hospital, except that I'm *this* close to posting a photo of the lion drawing I've been finishing up here (yay for free time!) that Mom really wants me to show you....

Feb. 20 (afternoon)

Mom:

Hospital room with a view:

Mom:

Tomorrow Dani will have scopes so the GI doc can see what's going on inside.  Meanwhile, Danielle hasn't had anything to eat or drink since yesterday about 3:30 when we got here, but she's going to be allowed a few liquid diet items this afternoon.  It's the little things, like food & water... Please pray for Dani & for wisdom for her GI doc.  Thank you so much.

P.S.  Dani still has a lot of abdominal pain, especially when docs press on her or she moves wrong, takes a deep breath, or laughs.  This is now a No Deep Breaths & No Laughing zone.

Mom:

(in response to the ever helpful suggested diagnoses from friends commenting on her status)

Last night the ER doc said it's pancreatitis; this morning another doc said he doesn't think so.  Not sure...

Feb. 20 (evening)

Mom:

Flowers and balloons and meds, oh my!

(Michaela brought me the flowers with the bear, and the white/yellow/teal balloon; my friend Gabriella's family sent the flowers and balloon I'm holding in the upper left picture; and my high school British lit. teacher and her son/my good friend, Jonathon, came to visit me for a bit and they brought along a book for me.  How blessed I felt by all this and so many people around the country and across the world who let me knwo they were praying for me!)

Feb. 20 (night)

Me:

I got it!  A typewriter.  That's what my IV sounds like.  A really, really quiet typewriter.

Feb. 21 (morning)

Dad:

Danielle is currently sedated for the Dr to do her work.  Please pray the procedure goes well and the Dr figures out what is going on.

(I had gotten to FaceTime Dad about two hours before being taken down to have the scopes done.  It was great to talk and pray with him face-to-face!)

Feb. 21 (noonish)

Me:

Hey everyone!  I'm done with the final procedures/tests (I believe) and am just waiting for the doctor to come let us know what's up.  

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement and concern through these last few crazy days!  Mom or I will update again once we've heard from the doctor.


Feb. 21 (afternoon)
Me:
Heading home!

Me:
For those of you who are asking what's up, the doctor found a couple places to biopsy during the scopes; the results weren't back by the time we left, but we'll know when we meet up with the doctor later on next week.  They still aren't quite sure what caused my pancreas lipase levels to be high.
Thanks for your concern!


Feb. 22 (today)
Mom:
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the prayers & love poured out while Danielle was in the hospital.  We'll have the biopsy results in a week.
The docs didn't come to a conclusion as to why Dani's pancreas #s were so elevated! but the sonograms & CT scans showed things look good.  Dani's taking it easy at home and feeling much better.

The funny thing about prayer...

I like praying when I'm driving - especially on longer or more tedious drives, like the one I had the other day going to Peterson AFB.

At one point, as I was nearing the base, I prayed and asked God to please give me greater patience, as I've been struggling lately with getting irritable and impatient pretty easily, and of course I don't like this at all.

Next thing I knew, I was stuck behind a car whose driver was content to go 5 under the speed limit... all the way, the last 10 minutes to the base gate.

Thank You, Lord, for that patience practice.



"Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives, is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see."  (Corrie ten Boom)

Retrospect: 2013

I will attempt to give a *brief* rundown of the highlights by month from 2013.  Hope it was a good, happy, and very blessed year for you!


January
- I got to go with my then-boyfriend, Jon to a barn dance at our church.  So much fun!  I danced every single dance except one, when I was too out of breath to keep up.
- Joy Reber visited my family and me (see Joy's Visit).  We loved having her here, and I hope she and her husband, Josh, will get to visit us sometime soon!

February
- I decided on my official degree/major:  Liberal Studies (with a focus on elementary education).
- Dad took a group of us to the makeshift shooting range at the Bremers' farm (see Some Shots of Us Shooting).

March
- This month is FULL of birthdays in my family!  Uncle Jon, Aunt Jessilyn, Grandma Liston, Aunt Tara, Colby, Grandma Ashby, and Chris all were born in March.  :)
- Mom, Dad, Jon, and I went to see the Easter performance ("The Thorn") that a local mega church has presented every year for several years now.  They did well once again in presenting the gospel story!
- My family and I took my youngest cousin, Gavin to meet with his mom at the CoSprings airport... (see Gavin: Quick Note... )

April
- I began working for Creative Dining Services at Focus on the Family's cafeteria and Whit's End.
- My old soccer teammate and Navy Seabee friend, Caleb, came to visit!  Dad drove him, Chaela, and me to the summit of Pikes Peak (Chaela and Caleb's first time there!) where we enjoyed the high-altitude donuts and tried on goofy hats at the gift shop.  Chaela got to drive down the mountain and learned the perils of why one should put their van into a lower gear rather than riding their brakes down steep, windy roads!
- Jon was baptised (see Jon's Baptism)

May
- Dad began his yearlong deployment to Baghdad (see Dad's Deployment) on Mother's Day, thereby *just* missing Mom's and my birthdays.
- I got to attend the Air Force Ring Dance for the USAFA class of 2014, and had a wonderful time!
- I went white water rafting for the first time ever... Looking forward to going again some day!  :D
- My dear friend, Gabriella, and I flew out to Temple, Texas, where our mutual best friend picked us up... to be in her wedding!  Woohoo!  Fun fact:  we three had not been in the same place for about seven years, from when I moved from Italy --> Maryland, until that day.

June
- My lovely friend of eight(ish) years, Jacqueline Stone, married her wonderful Andrew Knight on June 1.  Gab and I were honored to be among those standing behind her as she said her vows!
- Another devastating fire came to Colorado (see "The worst fire..." and fire).

July
- Aunt Tara (Mom's younger sister who Michaela and I stayed with during our PNG missions trip) visited us for a week; we hiked and showed her around the Springs and just had an overall wonderfully fun time with her!
- My childhood friend, Ashley Coupe, got married to Cristian Lluay!  :)

August
- Jon and I broke up.
- My best friend proved herself so yet again.  <3
- Rebecca Miller and Nate Rupprecht got married - YAY!
- Mom took me out for a lovely day in Denver, where we visited the art museum (see Delightful Day in Denver).

September
- Mom, Chaela, and I visited my Liston grandparents in Utah, then brought them home to Colorado with us!
- I auditioned to be in the World of Color Honor Choir which has been a part of California's Disney Land's nightly holiday glow show.  My friend, Daniel Lamb, was a tremendous aid in recording my audition, and I do believe his help contributed toward me getting to sing in the honor choir!  (See WoCHC to understand what the choir is all about and to see the latest version of the performance.  You may also look up my audition video under the listed sopranos.)

October
- Mom, Chaela, and I got to meet up with Dad for his two week's "home" in Hawaii!  (See Kauai, Hawaii.)  We four (oh, I love that number) stayed some days in Kauai and some in Oahu, before flying home with Dad, who got to stay in Colorado for his last few days off before heading back to Iraq.
- Only two days after Dad flew out, I headed off once again myself -- this time to St. George, Utah.  (See my secondary blog (Serving in Saint George) if you'd like to read up a bit on what I did there!)  I remained for three weeks before flying back...

November
- While in Utah Mom informed me that our landlords had found buyers for the house we were living in at the time, and that she had found what would be our new house.
- The day I returned from southern Utah was the same day we three began packing to move.  Never a dull moment!
- My good friend, Sarah Rupprecht, and another friend of mine, Sam Kolkow, got engaged on Thanksgiving!  I cannot express how incredibly happy and excited I am for them!!

December
- I quit my job at Focus on the Family.
- We finished moving into our new house, thanks greatly to our friends who gave up so much of their time to help us!
- I went out to California to be present for Sarah's graduation (she's now an LVN!).  It was wonderful to witness the ceremony, and I had a blast at her graduation celebration/birthday party/engagement announcement!  (*whew*)
- I enjoyed about one week home - in which time we Sadlo ladies kept busy sorting out our new surroundings - before we drove to Utah and Mom's parents' home for Christmas, which we all enjoyed immensely with some of our extended family.
- Mom and I spent a quiet New Year's Eve at home (Chaela was at a friend's house) to end off this hectic and insanely, wondrously full year.  :)

mid-morning madness

As it so happens, creativity in the form of written thought springs itself on me every once in a while. Typically this occurs between 0200 and 0530, unfortunately. Also unfortunate is that while the thoughts I write down at these times make perfect sense to me at these moments, I rarely save the writings long enough to go back when I'm fully awake to see whether I'm actually, genuinely creative, or if it's just my poor, tired brain attempting to give me a hint that it's time to shut off the lights and slip into bed.

So I'm going to try a little experiment here. Hope you don't mind. I am going to copy down, word for silly word, what I scribbled into a notebook not half an hour ago. If this post suddenly disappears in a week or two or so, it's only because I will have realized making a copy of my written thoughts wasn't such a bright idea... :)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

What a time of stiffling - stifling - stiff-people talk.
What a time of strife and intellectual starvation and stupor.
What a place to exist, to exasperate, to extinguish little lives.
And
what a season in which to be living, working, playing, learning here.

BUT WHY SO?

How can we have fallen to days of tedious, tiresome, toilsome trouble?
How can we sting with words, shoot classmates, stab others' hearts?
How can we determine probability of life-worth, profitability of an unborn person,
decide with life-ending power their chance at life
In this world where we live and work and play and learn?

I AM NO BETTER.

Living in such shame, sorrow, scarcity of sincerity.
Working for me, for my desires, in mediocrity, from my own motivations.
Play consisting of pointless pleasures resulting in pain
and absence of peace.
Learning because I can, studying because I must, applying to life when convenient.

I AM NO BETTER THAN THIS WORLD.

No better, except for one simply, complicatedly beautiful thing:

DEATH.

Through one death a gift was created, crafted; catapulted into my life in the form of a choice.
Through that death, life beyond existing - beyond extinguishing other lives - became a possibility.
Through this lovely death chaos, confusion, and calamity are crushed.
Through joining in this death, my living-death has lifted and lead to living-life.

AND SO,

I have died to that life;
Therefore when I live out the world's life - my old form of living - I am as a ghost of my real, living self.
Productivity perishes.
Ministry diminishes.
My soul suffers.

I have died to that life;
Therefore I may only truly live within the bounds of the Life-Giver's life.
Grace grows.
My testimony is triumphant.
Death again dies.

Tea

Tea has been my hot drink of choice since I was 12. My voice teacher had recommended I drink it with honey mixed in when I had a sore throat, and I really learned to love it! In my family, I am the only tea drinker, though Dad will have a cup occasionally (he religiously has at least a cup or two of strong coffee every day), and I have managed a handful of times to talk Mom into having some echinacea tea when she's sick, or a more palatable flavor for a scratchy throat. Chaela detests tea, saying it tastes too much like leaves. (Yes, she knows why.)

Outside of my family, I have met many avid tea drinkers, and have enjoyed sipping mint (my favorite!) or whatever they recommend to me while visiting. I've discovered that a warm mug and aromatic drink can spark interesting conversations, ranging from topics such as the BBC TV show, Doctor Who (I still haven't gotten to see "The Day of the Doctor"!) and the best places to travel, to a two-hour-long conversation about personal salvation testimonies and witnessing.

Most recently, I have had the enjoyment of serving tea to our new landlord and getting to listen to him talk about all the interesting people he has met and worked with (including Mother Theresa!). The other wonderful time I had over tea within the last week or so was with one of our friends who helped us with this move, Jonathon. He and I met up to chat and catch up at a tea shop not too far from home, where I got to try a chai blend I'd never tasted before while discussing C.S. Lewis, Lord of the Rings, teaching at my old homeschool group (more on that later, probably), and how God has worked in our lives. I hadn't meant to stay too long since I knew Mom would want my help at home with organizing and cleaning things, but before I knew it, the clock near told me I'd been nursing my tea-burnt tongue and talking for nearly three hours!



Maybe it's because I like tea so much, but I have always liked Eleanor Roosevelt's little saying,

"A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water."

Anyway, it seems to fit how this year has panned out pretty nicely. Well, at least I hope it fits in a good way. Since this time last year, my family and/or I have been through so much - getting to take care of Gavin, then giving him back to my aunt; church hunting yet again; Jon taking me to Iowa with him over spring break; Dad's deployment; tons of house-hunting and house-showings; a best friend's wedding and all the fun and craziness that goes with that; school complications; Jon's and my breakup; balancing school, somewhat excessive travel, and a job; giving my two weeks' notice to said job's boss in part because of travel issues; moving; volunteering and working with my aunt at her school for three weeks; and so on it goes.

This is not to say that this year hasn't had it's wonderful moments of pleasure and excitement and wonder! Please don't believe I mean that by any means! In fact, I do believe this year has held some of the most beautiful moments of my life yet. I have loved more deeply, trusted God more fully, learned bigger lessons, more firmly cemented dear friendships, grown closer to my parents and sister and two or three friends, learned more about my marvelous Papa God, and shared some of the best tea ;) with some of the most interesting people yet!

And I do thank God for both ends of this year, for both the pretty and unattractive parts. I hope I have shown my strength, and that my strength is good because of Him who IS MY STRENGTH, and that He will continue strengthening me.

Moving In

Mom, Chaela, and I are getting settled into our new house, and I am very pleased to say that it is quickly becoming our HOME. Funny, how any set of walls and windows and a roof may offer shelter and comfort to a person, but until there is a sense of familiarity and a touch of love, it remains a house only. Of course, my home is and will continue to be incomplete until Dad is present, but it is a nice, reassuring feeling to know this is the place God has us for the present.

I've gotten to greet a few neighbors already, though I haven't met anyone yet. While I do miss living in the woods, with the fresh scent of pine and plenty of open space, I did miss the opportunities that I have now to call across the street just to say hi. (In our old neighborhood I had to go for a walk just to see people face-to-face, and wold have needed a megaphone to say good morning from our garage!)

We have been wonderfully blessed by a number of friends from our TKD dojang and a friend I met while taking classes at our homeschool group in my senior year of high school. God is so good to provide help for us through them! We did have Two Guys and a Truck (or in our case, four guys and two trucks) move some of our things, but the bulk was transferred from house to house in Mom's van, Chaela's car, my CRV, and our friends' vehicles. Thankfully the two houses are only about seven miles apart!

As for my own space, I do need to do a lot of work still before it will really feel like MY space, but it's coming along. Speaking of, I ought to go take care of some things before bed. :)

At that, good night, all!