Jamersino83's Xanga

Update on Uncle David...in Mom's words...

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:51:02 GMT

Here's an update on my uncle, the following is an e-mail Mom sent out last night.

I just heard from my "baby" brother, David, who called from Rochester, MN to wish me a happy birthday. He is there waiting to go in for surgery tomorrow morning to replace the middle joint of the finger that was mangled the worst in his tablesaw accident in April. Doctors there have a new joint replacement surgery for that middle joint, and they require patients to stay in Rochester for about 3 weeks post-surgery for the therapy and rehab, since they are the only ones in the country who do this surgery. David will be allowed to travel back to Iowa for the weekends, so he will be able to preach at his church, but will be separated from his family for a week at a time. Please pray with us that this new surgery is successful in giving him some function of that finger back again (the bone was shattered so badly that they had to remove it and put in a pin).

An answer to prayers that hadn't yet been prayed came in the form of a retired couple there in Rochester, who attend a sister church there. They have a room in their home that they use for fellow Christians who are needing a place to stay while they undergo treatment at Mayo Clinic. David is going to stay with them, and they will drive him back and forth to the hospital. This is the ministry that they have now in their retirement years. Robin (his wife) will go back to Iowa to be with their five kids after the surgery.

David's surgery is at about 8:45 or 9 am tomorrow morning. Thank you for your prayers right after his accident and thank you for your prayers now during his surgery and rehab. He is very grateful for the love he has felt from folks he doesn't even know!

Love,

Marilyn

Urgent prayer request

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:53:11 GMT

Please pray for my uncle, David Peters. He had a table saw accident yesterday afternoon (Monday), and mangled the fingers on his left hand. Praise the Lord, they got him to the hospital right away & there was a hand surgeon there, but he has a long recovery time ahead of him. Pray that his recovery will be as quick and complete as possible - he's a small-town pastor with 5 kids still at home.

Instant update: or how to inform many at once. ;-)

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 11:22:02 GMT

Howdy, y’all!

Some of you may be relieved to read this post, because it means I haven’t dropped off the edge of the earth into oblivion.

Yes, I’ve been chronically busy for quite some time now; I just haven’t wanted to expend the energy necessary to give updates on my latest happenings. Until now.

Those of you who aren’t studying Interior Design (which is most of you) might be surprised at this, but it’s actually a LOT of hard work! Not in the same way as math or science, mind you, but definitely strenuous and time-consuming. Keeping up my grades and trying to turn in work that’s satisfying both to myself AND my teachers has been challenging in a very rewarding way.

All that to say…I am:

Graduating from TCC on May 2^nd!
Officially one of TCC SE’s 20 recipients of the “Who’s Who Among Students at American Junior Colleges”! There was a luncheon yesterday at TCC Metro, each campus will have a ceremony next month.
Working on my design portfolio this summer.
Going to study for the one CLEP needed to graduate, during May (I can still be in the ceremony). I’ll have an AAS in Interior Design.
Post-graduation, I’ll be working MUCH more on driving practice.
In re: working on my portfolio, I hope to get a job with a residential designer around the end of summer/beginning of fall. I’ve got an NY State trip with the fam planned in early Sept, which is one of my considerations.
Ultimate goal: gain experience so I can confidently offer my services as a home design consultant. (Although by then, with the laws, I won’t be able to use the word “design.”)

In a nutshell, that’s where I am and where I’m going with school & career at present. God is good – it’s incredible to actually LOVE what I’m planning to do for a living! Far cry from where I was my senior year and the following 2 years when I had NO clue what I wanted to do with my life.

Hope you all enjoyed my update, it doesn’t even include all my other activities and the few dozen assorted goals and “fun things” I still want to do in the near future.

Update on Grandma

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:53:13 GMT

Jill took the initiative of posting the updated information about Grandma Mason, so I'm going to let her say it for me (with a few of my comments added at the end, of course).

"For those of you who read my sister's blog you know that my Grandma is in the hospital. I thought I would give you a bit of an update.
For anyone who hadn't heard, Sunday night my Grandma was admitted to the hospital after complaining to my Uncle Jim about side pains. He originally thought they were on the left side and worried about heart problems. It was actually on her right side and turned out to be pancreatitis. So they decided to keep her overnight.
Tuesday we got the report that there was still swelling/inflammation and they wanted to keep her at least another night. Today they did an ultrasound and found a blockage in one of the ducts of the gall bladder and were going to operate (possibly even this evening.)

On top of that Grandpa Johnny just had a mental assessment test done and was shown to be severely impaired. He is living on his own while Grandma is in the hospital. If you think of it, please keep them all in your prayers. It is hard to be so far away when they are struggling with medical issues like this.

I'll give you all an update when one is available. Thanks for the prayers!"

Uncle Jim just called to let us know Grandma got worked in for surgery starting at 10 am today, so she's in there right now. Mom and Jill just finished ordering flowers for her (online), and Mom made sure to tell Uncle Jim that. From his response, I think she'll enjoying bragging about 'em to her visitors.

***Further update!!!****

Uncle Jim just called Mom - Grandma didn't actually go in for surgery until 11:30, but she's out now. The family's waiting to see her, and it sounds like the surgery went well.

The doctor saw more that he wants to take care of later, so she'll be going in for a bigger surgery later (not sure when) - sounds like they'll have to open her up for that one.

Prayer needed!

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:14:28 GMT

Could y'all please pray for my grandparents? Apparently my grandma Mason was taken to the hospital last night for pancreatitis - all I know so far is that they needed to keep her overnight & my aunt didn't want to freak us out by calling (it was 11 PM when they reached the hosp.).

Anyway, we're essentially unable to physically help out because my grandparents live in the Des Moines area...just a bit of a commute. I so wish I could be there with them, but I can't. On top of that, according to Grandpa Mason's recent mental assessment, he's pretty much at "severely impaired." So the local family needs prayer, as they have to make sure someone's taking care of him in leiu of Grandma.

It's really, really hard to see Grandpa failing - he's always been the sharp, on-top-of-things jokester. But it's even tougher for Grandma to be incapacitated, because she's the one who takes care of others. I guess we all need prayer, because it's not going to be easy.

Artist's Obsessions: countless

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:02:28 GMT

Yet another entry to my list of beloved sites - yes, it's an art site again. :grin:

At www.dickblick.com you can order Prismas, AD Chartpak markers, porfolios........the list goes on and on. Good stuff, awesome prices, and you can create a PUBLIC wishlist for friends and family! I could sure spend a bundle on here - as it is, I only bought the minimum 19 markers/pencils I need to squeak by in my classes right now. To be continued, of course!

Ahem. If you wanted to make me jump for joy, I wouldn't mind getting some extra goodies from here. :snicker: (Oh boy, I think the fumes from that AD marker are getting to me...)

Goodnight, one and all. Don't worry too much about me.

Just for grins

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:09:29 GMT

I've been pondering some deep (and hopefully, inspiring) thoughts lately...but this post isn't about them. The following is just for grins. Can you identify with it?

If you're reading this from Facebook, click on "View original post."

Goodnight all!

A new baby!

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 17:16:32 GMT

Wonderful news!

My sister gave birth to a sweet little girl at 12:50 this afternoon (CST). Her name is Megan Elizabeth Smith, she's 7 lb. 6.3 oz. and 20 in. long. She has lots of black hair & looks a lot like her sister Katelyn did at birth. (Does this mean Jennie will have two look-alikes for daughters? )

It started snowing here soon after Megan was born, and it's still coming down fast...we were joking about nicknaming her "Snowflake".

I'm sure this Mason/Smith contingent will have lots of pictures posted before long!

Updated info

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:50:09 GMT

Okay, just a few announcements from my world/life/brain/etc.

I have a NEW profile pic at last! I finally found one I liked that I cropped people out of. Yes, I know I just ended a sentence with a preposition.
Xanga is really quite dead lately. I know it's partly my fault for not commenting on others' posts, but it's mostly because Facebook is soooo flippin' cool and popular. Haha!
I'm currently (1) trying to get As or Bs in my classes...which is proving more difficult this semester than ever before. (2) wishing I could squeeze in driving practice, so I could actually get my license. It's DEFINITELY time. (3) hoping to take a History CLEP over Christmas break (4) searching for a design internship for the spring semester. Hopefully this will be a paying job! Please pray that God will provide something awesome. (5) if all goes well, buying a laptop on Black Friday. The finances aren't certain on this, I may get help in leiu of traditional Christmas presents. Gotta get the laptop so I can get AutoCAD for the student price ($150 vs. $600, I think? WAY worth it.)

That's my life, currently, in a nutshell. Drop me a line, comment, let me know what you think or how you're doing!

Much love, Jaime

Elated!

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:38:42 GMT

Take a look at my last post:

The last link on there is an item I now own! It was delivered this morning. (Expensive, but soooo worth it.)