aaaaachooooooo

I'm not sure if I posted earlier about my great allergy episode but here's a recap. I finally got allergy tested in hopes that allergy shots will prevent me from having sinus surgery a third time. I was really excited to see what I was really allergic to. They test you for a weak version of 36 different things, all of which I tested positive for almost immediately. Even the doctor was blown away.
Those of you who know me can rest assure I AM allergic to cats after all... on a scale of 1-10 in size and color the doctor rated me a 13 within the first 5 minutes of the 20 minute waiting period. I am also allergic to ragweed (who isn't... but did you know that mint, basil, oregano, rosemary and the like are brother, sister and cousin to the ragweed and can increase your symptoms?!) I'm allergic to every tree, grass and moss here in Kentucky along wiht roaches and animals and dust mites! CRAZY! I had so many severe allergies that they had to make two vials for my treatment instead of just one!
Well, last week I have my first go on the shots. They injected two shots into me of everything that I am allergic to. I didn't react immediately but since then I have had an allergy attack almost everyday of varying degrees! This is a major negative.
So I am on the 2-5yr recovery plan they say.
Atleast this all gives me new credibility for being deathly afraid of roaches! Can't you picture it?....

Me: AAAAHHHHH (blood curdling scream)
Drew: (from the other room) What?!
Me: A BUG... no... A ROACH!
Drew: (very matter of factly and calm) Kill it
Me: I can't, I'm ALLERGIC!!!
Drew: (plods down the hall and kills bug)....
Me: HURRAY, you are my hero and true champion!

sounds great to me!

Taking Off

The Lewisi are taking off, the race has begun, no turning back. Today Drew finally, officially started his new job in car sales. If you need to buy a gently used automobile, he is your guy! It's amazing how fast the job came up and Drew applied and got the job... yet not so amazing how many months it has taken for them to put him in the job. He has done such a great job keeping a good attitude while still at the rental office because he knew that this promotion was from God and not from him and thus that he'd get it in due time. And today was that day, HURRAY!! He got to sleep in until after 7!
I also got started with school today. I woke up bright (though it was dark) and early (before Drew actually) to get going to Systematic Theology I class with Dr. Russell Moore, VP of the school and Dean of Theology (as he introduced himself). Dr. Moore is a great man of God and I admire him a lot, and he never does anything half way. Many professors will look over the syllabus and give an overview and then what the heck, they'll let you leave early. Not Dr. Russell D. Moore, we stayed and he lectured the full three hours! But I am hear to say that it was a great way to spend three hours. I took at least 10 pages of notes and felt like I'd learned years of information in just those few hours. And tomorrow I get to do it all again with Church History bright and early followed by Greek Exegesis, which is eating my lunch already and I haven't even started!!
Yesterday I also got to sing for the first time in our church Praise Band. I have been intimidated by this group for months because of their skill and love for the Lord and it knocked my socks off to get to be a part of them this Sunday. I previously blogged about being a part of serving communion and how meaningful that was... well this blew me away even further. We did a light set of mostly redone hymns during the night service, which is the most packed service of all. It was such a blessing to hear all of these people, God's people, brothers and sisters singing their hearts out in unison to the One True God! When I finally put away my nerves and fear it gave me chill bumps all over. There were a few times where they stopped the music and sang the last verse accapella.... wow. I know churches do this all over the globe but to stand with voice and hands raises in unison with 500 other voices is just an experience I hope I never forget.
This Tuesday is also our first college community group at our house. We will be going over the sermon, which was Jesus in the garden of Gethsemene. I am pumped and humbled about this opportunity. This would definitely be something I would appreciate prayers about this week!!
We truly are feeling overwhelmed with all the blessings God in his grace has lavished on us all at once. He doesn't have to do these things but he does because he really is a loving God that delights in his children. Christ already drank the cup of wrath to the last drop and now, for those who believe, there is only more grace. Praise God. We are blessed to have spent a week with my family here in KY, to be able to work part time to go to school, for Drew's raise and how his new job will free us up in many areas of life and for all the people we have met here and connected with at our church. I didn't know if I'd ever see a body like my old Church in college station but I am blessed to say that the Lord has provided not only an awesome church but a community here as well.
PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW!

Back to School...

Well, summer was not what we quite expected. Summer just isn't summer without summer vacation. The Lewisi are wrapping up our first summer in the real world and have decided that we don't approve. Since we aren't working to get rich or make it big in the corporate world, it is hard to understand the lifestyle there. It doesn't make any sense to us why you wouldn't give people time off in the summer and at Christmas. I have rarely met a person who didn't want atleast a little time off in the summer. However, when you are at the bottom there are no days off.
I'm actually really looking forward to the starting of school because I will get to go back to working part time and going to school. I love being a full time student but the more I work full time the more I realize that I was not created for that. I love working in the home and learning and teaching. I love working in the church and helping others all day long. It's not that I want to sleep all day (though right now that sounds nice)... I just hate working in the real world. I feel misunderstood and don't get to use my talents and gifts. The only perk has been being able to serve people (that's what you do in food service) and love on them and trust the Bible where Christ says that when we love and feed others that we are loving and feeding him. So I hope that my service to them can be as unto Christ. That's often the only thing that keeps me from grabbing Drew's ankles and begging him not to make me go to work in the morning! So school is actually a welcome relief!
Drew and I are also going back to school because we are not community group leaders for the new and upcoming college group at our church. They are finally getting some college stuff set up and we have been blessed by being asked and able to serve alongside a few others as we start this up. I'm really pumped because I know that this is an area where God has really worked through Drew in the past. Just last summer at Pine Cove he was over several college students every week and I never heard the end of all the blessings those people received at his hands/mouth/life... he was great with them and so I'm excited for him to get to be able to teach and lead again in service to the Lord. I also received the most amazing "mentorship" through a Bible study that I attended my senior year. I learned more in this one class than in all the three previous years combined. If it wasn't for this one faithful servant of the Lord, who I still stalk and admire online..hehe... I wouldn't be married to the marvelous man I am nor would I have many of the passions for Biblical womanhood that I have. She really encouraged me and my life goal is to be just like her because she shows me Christ and how Christ is glorified in a wife, mother and woman. So now I am so thrilled with the opportunity to pass on that love and mentorship to other college girls and help them to see past all the lies that they have bought into and show them the truth and love of Christ. So together we are really pumped about this group... sign ups are tomorrow and our first meeting is in a week and a half! Please pray!
So we will now be fans of Texas A&M and University of Louisville to support our group... I'm sure that will be interesting in the upcoming season! (atleast when A&M is losing we'll have one team to cheer for still)
Drew is also starting his new job next week if all turns out as expected so he'll be going through more training as he gets his feet wet in car sales.
Good thing we like to learn!

Haus.

Today is a beautiful day in Kentucky. It has been cloudy and/or screaming hot this week, which is not my favorite type of weather. In general I feel that if it is going to be hot, you should at least be able to get attractive skin cancer from it!! Today however the clouds rolled out about 1030am, just in time for a break from Greek and I realized... there was no way I could sit in a classroom all day when the weather was so perfect. Clear, sunny and 75 degrees! So at the lunch break I high-tailed it out of class with the intent to go work out... then I realized working out inside would defeat the whole point of enjoying the outdoors. So I snuck a pair of my husband’s shorts and geared up for a run outside. If you know me well, your jaw should be dropping. Most people know I HATE to run... it's pointless... that's why I bike. However, lately I have felt the urge to run and today was suitable to do so. So I moseyed on over to our nearest park, parked the car and began to dash. With Caedmon's Call, Share the Well, blasting in my ears I was good to go. All I wanted was to do one lap around this park and I didn't even know how much one lap was. I figured it was about 1/4 to 1/2 a mile and thus to not even do one lap would be pretty sad. This CD is amazing. I was full out lip singing the entire run, which did make for some funny looks, AND if no one was around for one of my favorite songs I would sing it out loud! Cooky but it kept my mind off my burning shins and thighs. I am proud to say that I made that lap and during my next power-walking lap I saw a sign that said one lap was 1.2 miles long!!! You cannot imagine my joy! I went on to run 2.5 miles and walk 2.5 miles total. You might be thinking, "well that's nothing" or something along those lines and I have just one thing (not one word) to say to you, "You are completely sick and need professional help because that is a LONGGGG WAY!" I was already getting sore before I got to my car!!! Ok ok so maybe I'm a wimp but it was sooo fun! I felt like I was jogging in Colorado because it was so bright and clear and yet cool despite the noon hour. Then I realized of course I would be running in Colorado, because every one knows every one in Colorado runs and is hyper athletic... so I'm starting to think I should move there b/c I'd fit in so well! haha, well at least I would enjoy the weather!
I'm departing to go to a women’s dinner at church. I am overcoming my fears of rejection and the feeling of middle school that often overcomes me. I am promising to laugh at my own brain farts and diarrhea of the mouth and then run home and hide behind a good book!

Return of the Y

You may have been asking yourself, "Where has the male half of the Lewisi been over the past few months?" and an appropriate answer to this question would be, "Working and biking but mainly working." My wife has already addressed the biking a few times so I will not bore you with more details, but know that the TdK and MS150 were beautiful rides, both fun and challenging.

However, I don't think Lindsey has said much about my work so if you are interested, buckle up.... I have spent the last (almost) six months working for Enterprise Rent-A-Car (ERAC), and yes, we will pick you up. It has been an up and down adventure for me, struggling through whether or not I will stick around, if the pay is worth the effort, and any number of other things that happen with the job. Through it all my High School teachers would have been proud of me though. Do you remember when they told you that when making a decision you should write out all the pros in one column and the cons in another and the side with more entries should make your decision for you? Well I have done that, dozens of times, in my head and the annoying thing is that it has always come out dead even. Fun huh? Oddly enough, through all of this I have still consistently blown away almost everyone in the city (two or three people rival my numbers) every month since I have been there. Now you might be saying, "Drew do we need to have a discussion about pride in your life?" and I would say that, "No we do not at all because I know I am not a salesman, but somehow I can sell." Basically, the Lord has been listening when Lindsey has been asking that He grant me favor at work.

At work there are multiple different departments, Fleet, Remarketing, Loss Control, Car Sales, etc. I have been eying the Car Sales department since a month or two after I started at ERAC and last month a spot finally came open. Enterprise is all about putting a ladder out there for everyone to climb so I was expecting that this job would be open only for Assistant Managers (two promotions above my current position) and higher. However, they put no restrictions on who could apply, so I asked just to make sure and submitted my formal interest in the position the next day. A couple weeks later I finally got to interview (last Tuesday) and I left feeling like the interview went pretty well. I had to wait until Friday because one of the other four candidates interviewed on Thursday so by the time I found out I was getting pretty antsy. To wrap up this story, I got the job, which is amazing. Me against four people that have more experience and way more buy in with ERAC than me plus the fact they have already been promoted, which can be hard to do in this company, and somehow I ended up on top.... “somehow” can and should be translated here into, through the Lord's amazing grace and blessing, for the sake of accuracy. So starting on the 1st of August I will now be selling cars and no longer renting them up here in Louisville, KY. I guess if you have been looking for an excuse to come visit I just found you another option, you can now buy a car from me too!

The Lord has show us his mercy and grace since we have made the move up here to Kentucky. We had been married two weeks and new basically no one and somehow have gotten plugged into a church that points to Christ in everything it does and been blessed amazingly with jobs and friends. We still miss and friends and family back home like crazy though! Oh, and with my new job I will be working an average of 10 hours less a week so maybe I will find more time to blog on this thing (but don't count on it).

Sinus Story

Well I searched and searched for an interesting picture for this blog and let's just face it... there really isn't anything that fits. I could upload the actual pictures of the inside of my nose that our dear doctor gave us but then you might never visit this blog, or me, again!! It's gross.
If you are one of those people that have to experience everything for yourself and probably thus life life the hard way I will give you a visual to get you on your way.... chunky peanutbutter.
So, Wednesday morning I had my surgery. I was farely confident and mostly relieved the day was here. I don't remember much pain from my previous surgery and it took less than an hour to complete and it was much more severe, so this surgery seemed like a breeze.
First of all, adult hospitals are not near as nice as children's hospitals and they are not as good at putting in IVs and they are LOUD! I was stuck in this little section of a crowded and busy room for hours as they preped me and waited for my doctor, who apparently was in a pretty important meeting. I decided to charge the doctor the same rates that he was charging me minute by minute... so now according to our calculations I have a large credit with this man! If only that were true. Finally he did come and did at least try to be nice to Drew and I... then I lost all consciousness.
Over two hours later I awoke with an oxygen mask on my face, cotton up my nose and an icepack over my eyes.... talk about disoriented. I couldn't talk from having a tube down my throat for hours so I simply raised my hand until I nurse came to me... it wasn't quick. Then they weren't allowed to give me a drink but I did finally convince them for a few ice chips... I think they felt bad b/c I started crying immediately when they refused me a drink. I was in some serious pain.
My face felt like some one had taken a meat malet and gone to town on my face all over. It was a weird tightening and squeezing sensation... so more morphine it was.
Finally they moved me to a little recliner chair on wheels and moved me to recovery where they informed me my husband was not there but would arrive shortly. Luckily I did remember that he had work and that a longer surgery probably meant he had to run home to put on his suit but it was still really lonely and scarey to be at this big hospital in all this pain and not know a single soul! The nurses finally brought me a drink and something to eat and then I started to throw up and was able to catch a nurse (these gals are slippery to catch!) and she gave me some more meds that kept it from coming out!
Finally my prince came and I felt much better having him there. I could barely keep my eyes open.
A friend came and took me home and I have done little else but sleep the past two days away. I just haven't been able to keep my eyes open until today... and I have only taken one nap so far! My nose is already full of junk again, which makes me so frustrated, because I am not allowed to blow my nose. I am on tons of horse pills but yet my DR gave us little direction about what to do! SO FRUSTRATING! So we are just hoping for the best until my check up next week! You'd think after surgery everything will be great but really that is just the first step in kicking this thing!!!
So... that's the story. We're still alive and kickin... but I'm doin a lot of sleeping!

Thanks for everyone who has been praying for Drew's dad... he is recovering though still very tired. The meds he is on keeps his blood pressure super low so energy is lacking. He is also workin on his new diet and excercise plan. We're not sure how much more chicken Susan can pump into him until he starts to crow! Keep him in your prayers and their business as well!!

Lifetime Accomplishments!

Over the past week I have accomplished two lifetime achievements!! First of all, my handsome husband and I participated in the MS 150. If you have been keeping up with the hubby this is just a petty ride for him since he did 700 miles in one week for MS just a few weeks before. However, my longest ride consisted of 25 miles and maybe 3 mediocre hills. But nonetheless I jumped headlong into a 150 mile ride from Georgetown, KY to Danville, KY. It was the hardest thing I quite possibly have ever done. We took the "short route" which consisted of a little under 60 miles the first day. I am not joking you when I tell you that the first 30 of those miles did not include a single space of flat ground. It was constant uphill and downhill...somtimes multiple uphills for merely one downhill. By the first rest stop I thought I might die. But a peanut butter sandwich and some gatorade got me back on that silly bike.


(bike fix #1)

About the next mile we realized that maybe the hills were soooo hard for me because I couldn't shift into my easiest ring that would give me a whole new set of easier gears to play with on the hills. So we pulled over and the amazing bike shop Schellers had vans going up and down the course to help out bikers. The lovely gentleman fixed my bike in no time and the ride became MUCH more enjoyable after that. Many miles and even more hills later we realized that I had a leak in one of my tires....luckily we were at another rest stop (which were every 15 miles or so). So the nice Scheller man gave me a new one for free and we went merily on our way again!!


(bike fix #2)


(right before the huge hill... and look how high we already have climbed... this picture shows you some of the hills!)


Then there was a HUGE hill we had to climb for a few miles that tested my endurance for sure... and yes there was shedding of tears. Then we stopped for lunch only to find my new tire completely flat.. so the nice Scheller man gave me yet another one and did some nifty repairs to the wheel to keep that from happening again. The last 20 miles were still very hilly but thankfully they were mostly less steep and we did get in about 5 miles of flat land in farm country that was breath taking!!


(bike fix #3)

The Lord was so gracious to me because not only did he give me the body to get through this physical trial but he answered my prayers about the weather. It's a silly request but it was cool and cloudy but never dropped rain on us, which really helped me to keep going... if I had been overheated it would've been all over! Also the people at the rest stops were amazing and so encouraging. The best snack by far was a type of s'more. Two grahm crackers with crunchy peanutbutter and marshmellow cream oozing in the middle! Why hadn't I thought of this sooner... it was probably my favorite part of the whole ride!!!


(during the flat land... I was a happy camper!)

However, after the ride I was whiped out and by the time dinner and speeches were over I couldn't barely move my legs. Usually people don't get sore until a day or two after their work out.... I was practically immobile after a few hours... it even woke me up during the night I was so sore and tired. So, after much debate and a need to get back quickly Sunday to teach Sunday school we opted to celebrate my lifetime achievement and leave the second day of riding to be a goal for next year. Drew and our friend Matt rode it in half the time it took me the previous day! It was great though and I am still very proud of my small achievement. It's funny that I was ashamed for not completing the 150 miles but then I got to work on Monday and was talking about weekend stuff with my co workers and they were amazed that I did 60 miles and have gone on and on about it all week...So that has helped me really realize that I can be proud and thankful for what I did do and look forward to an even bigger challenge next year if the Lord permits me to participate again!!

Speaking of jobs... I just got a new job and tomorrow I will have been there for a week. This is a lifetime achievement in many manys ways. First of all this is the first job that I have had that I actually liked . A girl at church works there and got me the job because she is leaving to be a volunteer at an orphanage in Mexico in a month! Its this little sandwich and coffee cafe in the LGE building downtown (a few blocks from my sweet hubby). The owners are SO fun and nice and the costumers are mostly regulars who like to chat and are always friendly. It's busy but it's the best job I've had. Also, I have worked my first ever 8 hour day!!! TA DA! I have never worked 5 8hour days in a week before this week and it is tiring but yet a small accomplishment for my life!! The closest I came to this was working at a summer camp where you are working all the time and none of the time! It's been really nice to see the Lord provide this extra income that we are able to save up for next semester's seminary!
So that's life in the Lewisi right now

On a more serious note, please pray for Drew's parents. His dad had a heartattack this past weekend while we were on the ride and it has taken every one by surprise. He had bronchitis and then suddently felt odd and eventually got diagnosed as a heartattack and immediately taken into surgery. He has to lay off work for a month to recover which is difficult since they own their own business... so please pray for his health and recovery. Also this is a huge deal for Susan, his wife, because she is not store owner, wife, nurse, mom and woman! I know her emotions are so strained right now and she could use the tender mercies of the family of God right now!!
Thank you to all of you who I know really will pray!