Fire update

The fires died down last night, but early this morning picked back up. This afternoon it got really bad again and we ran home to get things. Our power was out for a while too. Thirty houses burned down yesterday, and I don't know the count today. We went across the street to the golf course that sits up higher so that we could get a better look at things. It was unbelievable. It really looked like a war zone. Flames kept popping up everywhere. They were at least 20 feet high in some areas. We all smell like smoke and you could feel your eyes burn.

The fire is still going on, and is causing lots of evacuations. The wind has been terrible, which has caused lots of problems. Right now our house is not in the path of the fire anymore. We're praying that it gets under control, and that we get rain very soon. 

An update about school is coming tomorrow sometime!

Fire Evacuations

I don't have time to post much, but the area around our house is being evacuated because of a huge fire that's out of control. My family went home to get our dog and pack up a few things before they leave our house. Please pray for the firefighters, police, and people that are being evacuated.

Earning Our Wings

Here are a few pictures of my dorm room! A lot of them are blurry because I'm so shaky, so I'm sorry about that. 

Our sink, fridge, microwave, and shelves.

My desk area

My closet and desk

My bed is on the right, Kailey's is on the left. We still need to get fabric and pictures to put on our bulletin board above our beds

I really like our room! It's been fun. Last week we had 12 girls at once in there watching the movie Tangled. It was great! 

We got back from Dry Gulch yesterday. It's an awesome camp! There are bumper cars, go-karts, a merry-go-round, pool with 4 slides, a lake with a swing into it, horse rides, and a lot of other things! It's just like a western town and we had the whole thing to ourselves. Over 600 people went. There were 100 upperclassmen and staff who went to help too. We took charter buses there and I don't know how many there were! There were a lot of buses for all of us. 

This is my friend Chelsea who is my neighbor in the dorms. It seems like we've known her for forever, even though it's only been a week. 

There's a deck at the camp where you can eat that overlooks the lake. 

It was gorgeous!

Most of the buildings had bunks in them, but the outsides looked like stores at a western town.

We did various activities while we were there, and heard speakers talking about college. We met in the town hall for all of the speakers and things. On Friday night, we all dressed up in western outfits.

One of the best things was the candlelight devotional on Friday night. We all got candles and when we walked to the town square, the upperclassmen were in a huge circle with their candles lit. We all went into the middle and started singing a couple  songs. Our candles were not lit yet. Then we started singing Light the Fire. Here are the lyrics. 

I stand to praise You,
But I fall to my knees.
My spirit is willing,
But my flesh is so weak.

Light the fire (echo)
In my soul,
(In my weary soul)
Fan the flame, (echo)
Make me whole.
(Make my spirit whole)
Lord, You know
(Oh Lord You know)
Just where I've been,
(Where I've been)
So light the fire in my heart again.

I feel Your arms around me,
As the power of Your healing begins.
You breathe new life right through me,
Like a mighty rushing wind.

So light the fire in my heart again,
Light the fire in my heart again,
Light the fire in my heart again.
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com

As we started singing that, the candle light started spreading in towards the middle of the circle. Within a couple of seconds, everyone's candle was lit. It was so bright when all the candles were lit, despite it being 10pm. We continued to sing and praise God and it was amazing. The candle light devotional is a tradition that has been there a long time. Someone went up on a lift with a video camera and filmed the candle light spreading and it is incredible! 

Before we went to the devotional, we read this verse. 

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house." Matthew 5:14-15

When we were holding our lit candles, we didn't try to hide them. It was impossible to hide the light. 

Why do we try to hide the light in us that is Christ? It should be impossible to us to be able to hide the light in our lives. 

The whole week of Earn Your Wings, we tried to figure out what it means to earn our wings. What we learned is that is not one event that gives us our wings. It's about loving each other as a community and that along the way we earn our wings. The theme this week was that we at Oklahoma Christian University are a community who are here to support each other. I think we all finally understand what earning our wings really means. 

Right before we left yesterday, we all got our wings (a pin in the shape of wings) while they played the song I Believe I can Fly. We are now officially a part of the OC family. I can't wait to see how God uses us. 

Tomorrow is my first day of school in 3 years since I got sick. I'm starting with 1 class a day. I'm so excited. I'll post more after it tomorrow! 

college

College has been great so far. We moved in Saturday and spent the whole day running back and forth to the store to get things we forgot. We got up Sunday morning and got ready for church and met a lot of people who walked with us to church. Oklahoma Christian is right next to the church I've gone to my whole life so it's great because now I can walk to it. My dorm is literally right next to the church. It's only separated by a 2 lane little road that goes around the whole campus. It was really weird seeing all the youth group but not going to class with them. We went to the college class Sunday and it was really good.

After worship there was a free lunch for students and their families. The rest of the day we just hung out and met people. Monday and Tuesday there wasn't anything planned because people were still moving in. Last night we started Earn Your Wings which is the program that all the freshman do before they start school! We have small groups that we get to know and last night did a scavenger hunt across campus. We had worship last night all together which was great. This morning an inner city elementary school came to campus and flew kites with us. I didn't get to go because I was resting, but I heard it was a lot of fun!

Today we worked on our small group video about what it means to Earn Your Wings and then we listened to an acappella group from here sing! After that was worship, and one of my family's long time friend spoke. It was great!!

Tomorrow afternoon all of us freshman plus 100 upperclassmen and staff are heading to a camp until Saturday. The camp looks just like an old western town and I've heard it's very nice.

I'm enjoying everything and I'm sure I left things out of what all we've done so far. We go to bed late and don't get much sleep which is really wearing me out. The past couple days have been hard and I've not been able to do everything, but I'm hanging in there.

I know this update is kinda crazy and I won't be able to post until later this weekend. I guess this is how college is!

Im all moved in! I don't have my computer, but hopefully I'll get it tomorrow and i can post an update with pictures!

Less crazier week

I had this nice post all typed out and ready to post on Tuesday...then I went to the ER again. So here is the original post.

"My week has gotten a little less busy. I went to see my primary care doctor today (Tuesday) and she said that I shouldn't do physical therapy until we figure out a plan for the cyst and it feels better. So no physical therapy this week. We finally had the doctor look at a rash that I've had since I was on antibiotics for the sinus infection a while back. It's a fungal infection...how lovely! She gave me stuff for it and said it should clear up in 3 weeks. I will be glad when it's gone because it's everywhere!

Now I just have a doctors appointment for the cyst on Thursday. And of course getting everything ready to move to the dorms on Saturday! 

I'm feeling as good as to be expected for a cyst. Thankfully the medicine is helping the pain and letting me get a little done at a time. I'll update after my appointment on Thursday!"

That was what I planned to post on Tuesday. Then I was sitting on the couch on Tuesday night and the pain from the cyst got so much worse and it felt like it was rupturing. We went to the ER again and the CT scan didn't show a cyst, so that means it ruptured. I had a reaction to one of the pain medicines they gave me so they gave me IV Benedryll and that helped a lot. Once everything was under control I was sent home.

I went to the doctor yesterday (Thursday) to talk about more options in controlling the cysts. We were there a long time trying to figure out what to do. We are changing some medicines around, and the doctors really think it will help. I started the medicine last night, so it should take a few weeks to completely get in my system.

I move into the dorms tomorrow!! We've been trying to get everything ready this week, but the 2 ER trips and doctors appointments have slowed us down a little. I'll post pictures of my room and everything sometime this weekend!

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

A big week, good and bad news

This is such a big week! I move into the dorms on Saturday!!!

Good news- we got my port flushed! It's been 3 weeks since we started the process of finding someone to access my port. We wanted a nurse to do it since my mom wasn't able to access it because the port kept moving around.

Bad news- I had to go to the hospital last night, so that's how I got my port flushed. But at least I got it flushed and it worked! We're pretty sure that I have a cyst because that's what it feels like. We had lowered the medicine to control the cysts a little because it was giving me headaches. It looks like I'm going to have to go back up on the dose though. I have an appointment with the gynecologist on Thursday.

Since we knew what was wrong, at the hospital they just did blood and urine tests and got me more comfortable. Everything looked good so I was able to go home!

There is so much to do this week! I have physical therapy twice this week, personal training once this week, 2 doctors appointments, and packing and getting everything ready for college.

My mom is making curtains for my dorm room and I can't wait to see how everything looks! I'm sure I'll post lots of pictures.

For now I'm trying to rest and do little things to get ready for college. I didn't plan on getting a cyst the week that I move into the dorms, so that's really messing up my plans but it'll all work out.

Disney World

Our trip was great! It rained almost everyday which sometimes cooled it down. I even had to buy a sweatshirt and wear it several nights! We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, which is supposed to be like African safari hotel. There are savannas with animals around the hotel and a couple of amazing restaurants. When you get to the hotel you can smell Boma which is the best hotel with African foods. A lot of the people who work at the hotel are actually from Africa which is really neat! It is our favorite hotel. 

Part of our hotel

View from our room

Hotel pool

Tigger and I

Panoramic view from our room

Epcot

Epcot

They have amazing desserts there

at the Animal Kingdom park there is a safari where you're in a real safari truck

Magic Kingdom

Epcot

Hotel lobby window

Hotel lobby

I'm so glad that we got to go! I got to do most things that I wanted to! I was in a wheelchair at the parks so that I could last longer, so that was good. There were only a couple nights that I stayed at the hotel while my family stayed out late at the parks. It was nice though, I just sat on the balcony and read. I did a lot though! 

The last several nights that we were there, there was someone very important staying down the hall from us. Our whole hall was filled with security. There were extra cameras set up with cords that ran to the room next to ours where some security people were staying. Security people were in almost every single room around us. I don't think there were any normal people around us. We never figured out who was staying there! They left the day that we did too. It was crazy though! 

We got back Thursday morning around 2 and it was back to reality. I had physical therapy yesterday and today. It was great to get away on vacation for a while!

Interesting day and vacation!

I probably won't post for a week or so since we are leaving for vacation! We are so excited!!

We are leaving in a couple of hours and it has already been an interesting day!
Through out the past 2 weeks, we have been trying to find somewhere that can access my port for me. My primary care doctor has been helping us and we've just not been able to find anywhere. They finally called this morning and told me to go to the hospital for them to access it!

I went by myself since I thought I would be in and out of there really fast. I had to check in at Admitting and think hmm does this mean I'm being admitted to outpatient? The answer is yes. They gave me bracelet and sent me to the outpatient area. When I got called back, they took me to a room in what looks like the pre-op area. People there are getting ready for endoscopy's, colonoscopies, and other procedures like that. I thought it was a little strange that I was there. The nurse that took my vitals said that people are there for outpatient procedures, infusions, and pain management.

I was put in my room and got a warm blanket and coke and was having a nice little time. I got to listen to people on Valium getting ready for their procedures, and was just making the most of being there. If you have to be there, you might as well get warm blankets, coke with crushed ice, and the opportunity to listen to people on pre surgery drugs!

Then, the lady at the check-in desk comes running back and asked if they accessed my port yet. I said no, and she began to explain that insurance won't let me be there to have my port accessed. Uh what? I'm already checked in and everything. Apparently, the people who scheduled it for me, didn't know that insurance wouldn't cover it. It would have cost at least $1500 out of pocket, plus a fine for being there. After lots of phone calls between my mom and the people who scheduled it, I just had to leave. The nurse cancelled the order and I left. I was there for a good hour before insurance decided I couldn't be there.

It was quite a morning. Now we are getting ready to leave for vacation in a couple hours! Who gets to go to the hospital and go on vacation on the same day?! That would be me! When we get back from our trip, I will have to go to a hospital that my insurance will let me go to, and go through that whole process again. I hope they'll give me warm blankets and coke with crushed ice!