This past weekend!

So, this past weekend my mom, Lexi, Matthew, and I venture into the cold weather and hopped aboard a plane to good old New York City! The thursday morning started out without missing a beat, our flight was non stop from Portland to JFK, 4 and a half hours, we couldn't have been more happy. We went straight from the airport to our hotel on Long Island and hung out for the evening resting up for the big day ahead of us. (I forgot to mention, the car was a sort of small limo almost reminding one of a batmobile, it was a fun way to start our weekend). You see, Matthew had never been to NY before and we wanted him to see the city especially since it is all decorated for Christmas.

Friday morning we woke bright and early. We were up showered, clothed, hair and makeup done, we rushed down stairs and found our new found friends waiting for us in the restaurant, you see we had gone the night before and eaten dinner, now we were in a rush to get our breakfast, which turned out to be way more money that we could have possibly eaten. Together, Lexi and I, may have eaten $5 worth of food, but our bill told us differently. After we hurried through our meal we ran out to meet our taxi and climbed in headed for Farmington Station just a few miles away. Our cab driver directed us on what tickets to buy and before we knew it we were out in the biting wind and cold waiting for a train to NYC. After about 20 minutes in the cold we could hear the rumbling of the oncoming train, I, being the "mother" that I am, grabbed Matthew and told him to stand far away from the edge as I did not want to see him killed. He gave me a look of, seriously, and I ignored it and said just do it for me. So we were aboard our train into the city. Upon arriving to Penn Station we were excited to start our day. First we went to H&M (we do not have one in Portland) and then wandered along with everyone else in Manhattan through Macy's... That was well, interesting. We finally decided to give up on that store and find a Starbucks, what can we say the NW runs through our blood. Upon warming ourselves and deciding to get make our way towards Inglot our new favorite make up store... We spent a bit of time in there and went around a few other stores near Times Square...

Then our story gets a little interesting... We decided to grab the subway, which is no big deal to the normal group of people and we had done it before. We went down and looked at the map trying to decipher what these foreign symbols were trying to tell us. A nice man decided to show us what rails to take, what luck we were thinking, as the hectic travelers pushed through buying their tickets and passed along the entrance. We tried to figure out what we needed to buy and of course our "helpful friend" was right there to guide us... All of the sudden he was offering to give us tickets if we paid him in cash... It was all happening so quickly, I was looking for a name tag to see if he worked there, mom was following him through the emergency exit, and pretty soon $6 dollars later as the little scammer was scanning for cops we had three tickets in our hands and he was out of sight. After the exchange we all started thinking about how shady it all seemed. So, mom being the upright citizen that she is went right up to a cop and asked if we had done something totally illegal. He automatically said do not buy anything from anyone and took our tickets to see if we had been scammed... He came back to tell us that there is nothing on the cards. We had been played by a new york subway player... and of course all the while mom is saying she is going to go over there and give him a piece of her mind... Ummmmm, we looked at her with mouths open and eyes bulging... "NO YOU ARE NOT", "DO YOU WANT TO GET SHOT" "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?" These were all comments rushing out of our mouths sounding astonished... After the cop came and told us he was gone he directed us where to go and before we knew it we were watching the Rockettes in the Christmas Spectacular, followed by seeing the tree at Rockafeller Center, seeing the windows on 5th avenue and eating dinner before returning to the train station and settling for the night at the hotel.

Saturday was a day of excitement... It was the day of our friends' wedding. We got all dressed up and ready to go and met everyone down in the lobby. It was an amazing night filled with food and dancing and love and Jesus. It was out of a storybook somewhere I am sure. That night the snow came down and kept coming down and by the morning our flight was cancelled.


Not knowing what our best option was we gathered our things ate breakfast and headed to the airport, just to find the rest of the world was waiting there as well... After a couple of hours we found out that we would not be able to get out of JFK until Christmas Day at the earliest and Saturday for sure. I researched and found one flight going out of Washington DC the next evening at 9 pm that would take us to San Francisco. We decided to buy the flight and head over the Penn Station. We could not get out that night because of delays, but we were able to get tickets for 4:40 am the next morning. At this point Lexi was not feeling well and so we hurried and found a motel across the street which looked nice from the lobby, well my friends... Looks can be SO DECEIVING... It was the Bates Motel... Old, smelly, creaky! The flights flashed on a pale green which made the eerie old bathroom buzz in the night. Mom reassured Lex that she would feel much better after a shower and so she turned the shower and as the water began to run the smell of cat pee filled the room... It got a little better after a while, but we were all very disturbed... The beds hard as rocks held us for the next couple hours as cold air blew in from somewhere that was not sealed by the window. We were all ready to get up as all four alarms went off at 4 am... We rushed up and walked out into the cold through the snow and the slush to find that our train was delayed... Not only was our train delayed, but Lexi was very sick and miserable. After about an hour and a half we boarded our train and rode to DC... Once in DC we caught up taxi the Dulles International Airport and wating until 9 pm to board our flight to San Fran. Our Virgin America flight was glorious... First class of the best kind although I could not sleep... We arrived in San Fran at midnight and rushed down to get our bags and found our way back to Delta to recheck only to find out that we had to wait until 3:45 am to do so. We put some blankets on the floor and camped out until that dreadful hour. We then stood in line and were told we needed to be at Alaska Airlines and walked over in that direction... After waiting for what seemed forever a lady came and said we do not open until 5 am... we will be back at 5:05 to help you if you want to wait over there and keep your bags in line. By the time we got our bags checked we were now waiting in a long security line... We rushed through and sat at our gate and boarded our plane which was an iceburg of sorts. After our flight home we rushed off the airplane at 9 am with a "Praise Jesus" dance!! We are now at home and clean and happy, but still have not slept since yesterday at 1 am... Tonight we will all sleep well!!! :) Love you all!!

Tonight...

So, today was a wonderful day... It started with my nieces and nephews coming over and it ended with an amazing night of praise and worship. Lex and I went to Katie's church and they had a worship service. They had music, invited people to paint or write on large pieces of paper and they showed a video that was great. The video showed how things can block our sight from Jesus and knowing that He is in control and He can handle all of my problems. As I was sitting there thinking about all of these things that take my eyes off of Jesus and knowing that He can handle any problems, three things came to mind... Pride, fear, and body image. The first is a hard pill to swallow at times and that is what makes it pride, pride comes at times to cover fear or because I feel I need to "do" more with my life. I am learning that what I do does not make me more valuable or more worthy, but I am just learning that God has me where I am at this point and it is right where I am supposed to be. As far as body image goes, it has been something that I have dealt with since I was a Junior in high school. It was never something that caused me to stop eating, I was just never happy with what my body looks like. It has driven my thoughts and actions for way too long. It is something that I have tried to get healing for over and over, but tonight I feel like I have given it truly to the feet of Jesus. I am sick of dealing with this day in and day out. It is an addiction of sorts and I am going to accept it as normal. I told my cousins' small group that those three things are what I wanted to lay at the feet of Jesus, so tonight I am walking with less baggage and my load is light because I have finally let Pride, Fear, and Body Image rest at the foot of Jesus. It is so freeing to know that He can handle all of my burdens and make my load light. I am so thankful for nights like this. God is so good! I love you all and hope you have a great night!!

Test Results...

This is a photo I took from the Tram of Downtown Portland... it was beautiful!!

So, today I went up to OHSU and I got to ride the tram for the first time... It was actually very exciting to me! I enjoyed myself! :) I had a meeting first with my doctor and everything was going great... no symptoms or anything... all great news. So we realized that it has been over a year since I had my last echocardiogram and that I needed another one to check on my valve function. This was the reason that I got to ride on the tram. I got my little pass and went out into the dreadful cold and waited to ride the tram. I made a friend on the tram who works in the opthamology department and gave me a card saying, if I ever needed their services to let him know. I told him thanks, but I try to keep it down to one department at a time, can't have too many problems. I found my way over to the Sam Jackson's Hall and up to the 2nd floor where I was walking around like a lost little puppy. A lady came around the corner and goes, are you lost and are you Amy. I said yes to both and she took me back to the echo room. I had the same guy from last year so I was excited because he is super nice and not creepy at all. We talked about his kids, the holidays, and the big cardiactric convention coming up in San Diego in June. After I got my heart looked at for a while I was sent back down the tram to the 3rd story of the building I came from to get my blood drawn. I think the lady was in a hurry or something, it being the end of the day and all, and she jammed that little needle right into my arm and it was painful... She made a nice little bruise, which I amnot super thankful about... Oh well... at least she got the blood, and hopefully I don't get her again. There is this guy who normally takes my blood who is amazing and nice and cute... Why I didn't get him... I will never know.


Tonight I got my results back from my blood and my echo. My echo is unchanged from last time, which is good news and my hormone levels were low, thus showing that I do not have to go in for another 6 months. When I go in, in 6 months we are hoping my levels are still low because I will be able to come off of my medication at that point and next year I will get another MRI to see that my tumor is gone... hopefully!! I am so happy about this and so thankful for all of the prayers and support. I truly love you all!!! Have a great night!!

From one perfect fit to another,
Ames~