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I'm home from a week in the hospital. Acute self-limiting colitis. Not clear what the cause was. Hemoglobin count is pretty low but I didn't need a transfusion. Lost 20 pds. Very weak. Strained a muscle trying to pick up the laptop. Thanking God for amazing parents, boyfriend and boyfriend's parents.

Not funny

No coffee in eight days.
No much-anticipated shrimp dip.
No favorite salsa.
No hot and sour soup.
No joke, there's plate of chocolate frosted brownies (one of my favorites) and strawberries in front of me. Someone must have thought it was a good idea to tempt Heather by putting these untouchables at my place in the classroom. We're not talking about a brownie or two. I can count at least five when I lower my laptop cover blockade.

Health Services said they would finally test me. But the results won't be back until Monday. (that would leave me five more days of cramping, and more undisclosed details). Thankfully, they said I could take an antibiotic for saminilla (sp?) poisoning since I can only trace the problem to a certain hamburger.

I don't know what I'd do without Eric forcing me to eat. I just don't want to but it made him upset this afternoon that I had only eaten half of breakfast and hadn't made lunch. I hadn't even realized I was missing a meal. I was just proud that I drank the orange juice...

Self-control isn't easy

So I've been pretty sick since Wednesday night. Initial inquiries from parents and the internet suggested it should have taken 2 days to work itself out. As soon as I realized that it wasn't getting better in 2 days, I learned that the Health Services on campus was closed for the weekend (!?!?). Internally weighing the co-pay price at the hospital compared to that at Health Services on Monday, I decided to try to wait it out... Last night was the worst when I woke up with cramps every hour or two. The good news: I survived two full days of class including a field trip to Brooklyn last week; Eric's been an amazing help by going grocery shopping for "sick food" and making meals (he got a good laugh joining the other men at the grocery store who were obviously sent there by their wives); I managed to make it to church to teach Sunday School (I'm not contagious) and I've only got 15 hours before Health Services opens.

Weird part- I recognize that diagnosing one's self using the internet is not the best idea but we thought we could come up with some pretty good remedies. Unfortunately, one site says, "Eat bananas and carrots for potassium," while another says, "Avoid fresh fruits and vegetables." When I was told to eat toast, I ate a toasted everything bagel and then a whole wheat pita bread for two different meals. Later, I found a site that said eat white bread rather than grains...

Regardless, it's my fourth day without coffee, patiently waiting to get better while shrimp dip, salsa and Pepsi all sit at an arm's reach away in the fridge and I have to reluctantly eat chicken noodle soup, yogurt, bananas, Saltines and Gatorade. I'm not sure how long it'll be before my patience and self-control run out...

Happy Holidays!

Um... so I don't have any New Year's resolutions. While Amie's husband's idea to do a sit-up a day was a great idea last year, it fell through around January 21st, 2008...

So I'm skipping that tradition this year. Of course, I want to get healthier, learn more and drink more free trade coffee, but...

Oh, wait-- D has a good resolution regarding getting out of credit debt and saving a specific amount of money in an emergency account. That's a pretty good idea...

Christmas Countdown!

It's not too late to give a donation gift in a loved one's honor for Christmas! I probably shouldn't share these sites because my loved ones might see them and it'll blow my cover, but I'll take my chances. I've been sitting here cozy in front of my computer for less than an hour while the snowstorm continues to dump feet of snow on us as I shop online for gifts that are going to help people in huge ways. Here are some great sites that I've found that enable people to distribute wealth around the world for specific causes:

Visit WorldVision to donate money for various farm animals, tools, training and basic necessities.

Doctors Without Borders is a great cause for worldwide medical relief as far as I understand.

And of course I can't neglect to mention one of my favorite humanitarian aid programs: Watoto-- the Christian orphanage villages in Uganda where I helped build a house last August.

If for any reason you're on the fence about spending money on honorary gifts this season, please check out this Advent Conspiracy video.

May not only we have a merry Christmas, but also many others who may not have expected relief! As Eric realized this past weekend, "That's what money is for [to help people in need]!"

Justice Mission

Sometimes I'd like to ask God why he allows poverty, famine and injustice in the world when He could do something about it...but I'm afraid God might ask me the question.

~Anonymous

I have thought the exact same thing in my prayers recently! It's like as soon as the thoughts escape my mind, "Lord, please don't forget the people suffering from cholera in Zimbabwe," God responses, "Don't you forget them, Heather. What are you going to do about it?"

Have I mentioned that I am fond of the youth group I work with? Today we read a Jewish story about contentment and then watched this great video clip at www.adventconspiracy.com. They are so into missions and justice and I am glad for the opportunity to encourage them to act upon the reality that we are fortunate to have access to an endless supply of resources. Within seconds of me showing them photos of St. Pius primary school in Uganda last month, they immediately started texted their friends to collect writing utensils to ship to the school in January. They make my heart smile.

No complaints

Thanksgiving was good. Eric met my family up in NH. Dad likes him a lot. Says he's handsome, bright and good at conversation. It didn't take Dad long to notice. ;-)

Strangely worth noting, both Eric and I got bloody knuckles playing billards. Weird, right? First off, Mom now owns a pool table because it came with the house she bought to retire in. So that explains why we spend hours playing pool this past week. Then we just kept smacking our right hands into the wooden edge of the table. Eric is a great help when I can't put on a Band-aid with one hand... I'm starting to get embarassed at the number of times he's had to bandage me up in the past seven months.

That's right, we will have been dating for seven months on Wednesday. No complaints here about celebrating an anniversary every month. Unfortunately, Eric and I are now buried under work so we might need to have a belated celebration.

How's seminary you might ask? At the moment, my week's to do list includes three more papers, a presentation and a song composition as well as two part time jobs... It might be a long week, but it'll be over before I know it and then I might just be bored. So again, no complaints.