LindsayStowers's Xanga

Friday, May 18, 2007

Fri, 18 May 2007 16:40:14 GMT

Yesterday I saw a little girl, about 6 years old, wearing a pair of amazing Jelly shoes just like these...

For a moment I was actually jealous of that child and her shoes. Sad, I know.

ITALY!!!

Sat, 10 Mar 2007 12:40:24 GMT

We're leaving today to go to Italy!!!!!! :o) We're so excited! It has been almost three years since we've been there and we can't wait to go back.

Most exciting, this trip, is to lead 14 UCF students - most of whom have never been on a missions trip - with us. These students are taking huge steps of faith to go and I know God is going to grow them. In fact, He's already started to do so just with the support raising process. There are tons of examples, but one is a girl named Rachel.

Rachel is a freshman and hasn't ever been on a mission trip before. She is terrified but feels like God is calling her to go so she said she would. Raising support was so hard for her. Most of her family isn't Christian so she didn't have very many people to turn to. Anyway, a few weeks ago we encouraged her, as scary as it is, to make phone calls to the people she sent letters to because she hadn't gotten even half of what she needed to go on the trip yet! We invited her over to our house, along with a few other students, and they all made phone calls together. She was shaking the whole time, but did a great job and trusted God for the results. Well, last Thursday all the students had to pay for the trip in full in order to leave with us tomorrow. Rachel still hadn't seen any money come in from the people she had called. In the end, she had to write a personal check to cover the cost of the trip in the amount of $550 - money she doesn't have as an 18 year old! We told her we'd hold the check until after we got home in case any more support came in. Well, yesterday she calls us so excited! She got a check in the mail for $500 from one of the people she had called that night at our house - one of the least likely to give! She was totally not expecting anything like that. She stepped out in faith and saw God meet her...and it has totally changed her view of her walk with the Lord! I have no doubt that that $50 will be here when she gets home, as well.

When we go to Italy and share Christ with Italian students in Salerno, I know our American students will be scared. It is always scary to sit down with a stranger and bring up spiritual things, then share Christ with them! However, I also know that God will meet them and show Himself. He will reveal that He is in control of our lives and of the Italians lives. He will show all of us His glory and, hopefully, prayerfully, bring Italians to Christ!!!

I know this trip will be fun - Italy is beautiful, the food is good, etc. But what will be most awe inspiring will be to see God move in the lives of students on our trip, Italians and in our lives! I can't wait!

Some prayer requests:
*Pray for the students coming with us on the trip: CW, Chelsea, Jon, Kelle, Lindsey, Nelly, Sal, Sarah, Ross, Tiffany, Krista, Rachel, Katy, and Rachael - there is a wide variety of needs there. We have a girl who has only been a Christian for four months, people who have never shared their faith before, a girl with a torn ACL (pray that she'd be healed), mature Christian students, etc. Pray for all of them!
* Pray that we would all be safe, healthy, and that no one would get anything stolen from them during the trip.
* Pray that our lives would be changed and that Italians would see Christ for who He is and come to know Him personally.
* Pray that Ross and I will get a good vision for ministry in Italy, as it looks now, and that God would continue to impress on our hearts where He wants us in the future.

See you when we get home! :o)

Crazy Hotness

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 20:52:03 GMT

Well, yesterday the weather was beautiful and I sat outside for about two hours....just two....and met with a couple girls. Afterwards I went about my day, coming home a little while later. When I finally looked in the mirror...

....I was SUNBURNED!

That's right, my checks and nose were red as little tomatoes! Craziness! This after hearing that just two days ago in Michigan the schools were closed because the windchill was negative 22 degrees! Hahahahahahaha!!! Here's a taste of the weather here...

AccuWeather

In other news, despite the beautiful weather, I have a cold. Go figure.

Pretty Dead On, I'd Say!

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 13:20:07 GMT

These Blog-Things always seem to know me! Haha...

Your Candy Heart Says "Get Real"

You're a bit of a cynic when it comes to love.

You don't lose your head, and hardly anyone penetrates your heart.

Your ideal Valentine's Day date: is all about the person you're seeing (with no mentions of v-day!)

Your flirting style: honest and even slightly sarcastic

What turns you off: romantic expectations and "greeting card" holidays

Why you're hot: you don't just play hard to get - you are hard to get

What Does Your Candy Heart Say?

Christmas

Tue, 26 Dec 2006 21:43:37 GMT

Ross and I have had a fun Christmas in Nashville. Except for 3 days where I had migraines (boooooooo!!!!) we have just had such a good time enjoying Ross' family! We've seen everyone from Nanny, to all the Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and babies, to Mom, Dad, and brothers, and sisters. We played fun family games, like Imagine Iff..., we watched good old Christmas movies like, "White Christmas," and "It's a Wonderful Life," and we had tons of fun playing dirty Santa to exchange Christmas gifts with extended family. Oh and I got some CUTE Christmas gifts...sock monkey slippers (LOVE them!), a cute Vera Bradley bag, awesome clothes, a tray for my bench, some home decor, some $$, tea, Arbonne....oh the list just goes on. It was so fun...I'm sad to leave!

This is all the cousins (and their spouse's/kids) on Ross' mom's side. Fun!

Tomorrow morning....too early....we head out to Denver to see my family and for my sister's wedding! I'm excited but nervous. I'm nervous about the cold weather (seriously, I'm from Florida now!) and I'm nervous about the snow.

The cold weather: The high on Friday, the day of my sister's wedding, is 20 degrees! Holy crap! And my sister wants us to take pictures outside....in our strapless dresses. Holy crap again.

The snow: The forecast calls for snow on Thursday and Friday. This could be bad because my sister's wedding is in the mountains on Friday and more snow, on top of the TONS that have already fallen in the area, could stop some family and friends from getting up there from out of town. If you think of it, please pray that it doesn't snow too much more before the wedding and that everyone can make it!

Hope you all had Merry Christmas'...now ON TO NEW YEARS!!!

Just Another Update

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 19:28:54 GMT

It has been a little while so I figured that it is time for another little update. Time seems to be flying by. It is hard to believe that it's almost Christmas. Especially when the temperatures hardly drop below the mid-60's! It's funny, though, how cold I now feel in the cloudy, rainy, 60 degree weather!

The past couple weeks have been pretty busy ones - Christmas shopping, sending out hundreds of Christmas cards, finishing up on campus and saying goodbye to students until next semester. We've also gotten to go to some pretty dang fun Christmas parties! It is nice to feel like we are finally getting settled somewhere after a couple of years of moving around. We're enjoying building friendships with the people in our new church.

Speaking of friendships...I'm SO excited for tomorrow! Lisa (Faubert) Decker and her husband, Jim, will be coming to visit!!!! Lisa is one of my best friends going all the way back to high school. She is seriously one of my longest-standing friends and it has been forever and ever sense I have seen her! Ross and I are busy cleaning our dirty house in preparation for going out of town and for their arrival. I'm not really sure what we'll do here. I know we should take advantage of some of the Orlando attractions....but I'm not so sure that any of us is willing to pay $50/person, at least, to get into one of the theme parks! We might just end up hanging out, playing games, and watching Christmas movies. That might be more fun anyway!

After that we're off for our visits to Nashville to see Ross' family for Christmas and to Colorado for my sister's wedding! We are so excited! I'm a little stressed out trying to figure out how to pack all the clothes we'll need along with our wedding gear AND Christmas gifts, but it will all work out. I'm excited to get to go somewhere cold for the Christmas season! We've got a great house/pet-sitter that will be here, too, for which I am thankful...what a load off my mind!

Oh - thank you so much to all of you who have been praying for and about my migraines. I haven't had one since the bad one I late wrote about, though I have had mild to moderate headaches most every day. I went to the neurologist about a week and a half ago and here's a summery of what I came away with.

Some people are just predisposed to migraines. Sometimes it's hereditary, sometimes there are other reasons.... Anyway, for those people there are things in their lives that "trigger" migraines. Those things could be lifestyle-related, stress-related, food-related, drink-related, etc, etc. The best advice that can be giving to migraine sufferers is to track your migraines and try to figure out what the common factors are when you get one. Adjust your life so that those things are cut out and you will reduce the number of migraines you have.

My neurologist didn't just leave me hanging there, though. He prescribed a medicine that I take daily to help get the migraines under control now. They won't totally eliminate them but should help reduce them significantly. When I do get them I am supposed to do the above. He also scheduled me for a MRI of my head and a MRA of my head and neck, which I am getting tomorrow morning. Finally, he gave me some advice for things I should do in general that are supposed to help reduce headaches/migraines in most people (ie: neck stretches, advice to exercise - but not lift weights - 3 - 4 times/week for the endorphins, get good and consistent amounts of sleep every day....apparently it isn't good to get dramatically different hours of sleep, like you always get 8 and then one day you get 11 or something). Anyway, that sums it up!

So...that's about it for me! Thanks again for your prayers for me. I really appreciate them and need them still as I am still hoping and praying that my migraines are reduced and I can function normally much more often.

I will leave you with that.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, FRIENDS!

Migraines

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 17:48:01 GMT

I wish there was some way to make someone who has never had a migraine understand how awful they are. I mean, I wish I could explain it verbally - I DO NOT wish that anyone would have to go through them.

For some reason this week has been terrible for me in terms of migraines. I had one on Thursday (Thanksgiving), one of Friday, then one this past Tuesday, and a terrible one on Wednesday.

It's the Wednesday migraine I'll talk about for just a second. Ok, I woke up fine on Wednesday morning. I went to they gym, did errands, etc. On the way home from my last errand, it started to hit me. I got back to my house, put away the cold groceries, took an Imetrex (side note: I didn't realize how many migraines I actually have until I started taking Imetrex. I took 10 this month! The recommended dosage is...um....4. Yikes!), and went to sleep. Usually this will knock the migraine out, but not Wednesday.

I woke up an hour or so later and threw up...I was just praying the medication had already made it in my system. I went back to sleep and woke up about every 30 minutes because of the pain. Finally, I threw up again. Then Ross came home. He gave me another two perscription pills I have had that were supposed to stop the migraine and the nausea. No such luck. A little while later I threw up again.

This was so much worse than the usual migraines I get. So much, in fact, that I told Ross that he needed to take me to the emergency room. So we went. I nearly made it there without throwing up...but, alas, we had to pull over in State Farm parking lot so I could throw up there, too. The ER was a nightmare! Seriously! It was packed. We were there for almost two hours before I even got to see a nurse. The nurse gave me an IV with fluid to hydrate me (since I had thrown up two more times since getting to the hospital) and some meds to stop the nausea. We literally sat in that waiting room for another 3 hours after that...until finally I decided I'd rather just go home and sleep since there was no end in sight to the waiting. So, we came home, I slept, and that was that.

Ross was so good to me the whole time. Not only did he sit there with me (while I slept most of the time) in the waiting room of the ER, but Thursday he forced me to take the day to recover. I think it made a huge difference. I didn't feel that tired, but every time I woke up on Thursday I had this overwhelming feeling of anxiousness come over me. I didn't want to eat because I was afraid I'd throw up. I didn't want to move because I was afraid the migraine would come back. So, I mostly did sleep. I woke up periodically to hear Ross on the phone with many dr's offices setting up an appointment with a neurologist for me. I'm so thankful!

Anyway, long story short, I'm feeling better today and I thank God...not only because I hate feeling that bad but because I am having the girls from my soccer Bible study over for a sleepover party tonight. But, if you think of it, please pray for me. I hate these migraines and the need after them to sleep and rest for hours or even days. I always feel depressed afterwards. Pray that I would somehow stop getting them. Pray for my dr. appointment - that they would help figure out what is causing all these migraines and what we can do about it.

I want to shout out a special thanks to some special girls who went out of their way to make me feel better yesterday. Tiffany, Chelsea, and Rachael - THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE FLOWERS! They really brightened my day which, like I said above, was pretty depressing other than that. Thank you for your love and prayers.

Ok - I'm out.

2 Years

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 16:33:47 GMT

Today is Ross' and my 2-year Anniversary. Yay for us!

That's all.

Migraines

Sat, 25 Nov 2006 16:44:17 GMT

So, last month I finally decided to fill a perscription for Imitrex, a migraine medicine. I realized today that it has just been one month this week since I got the meds and I already used 8 pills! That's a lot of migraines! Then I read the directions and they said that after four pills/month they don't know what the effect is on a person's body. Nice.

Hopefully last night will be the last one for awhile.

Jennifer's Bridal Shower

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:59:31 GMT

Welp, I'm back from Michigan/Illinois. It was so fun to see my family and go to my sister's bridal shower. I'm so thankful that I got to go. It was cold but not too bad. I guess it's all in expectations because it didn't bother me too much to be in the cold up there, but now that it's pretty chilly here in Orlando I am super annoyed! Man, maybe God's trying to teach me a lesson in contentment.

Here are a few pics from Jennifer's shower (an especially special shower because it was thrown by and for the women in our family)...

Jennifer w/ her super cute cake in her wedding colors...beautiful!

Grandma Hurst and Jennifer

Jennifer and Grandma Moore

Jennifer and ME! Lookin' so hot.

Mom, Jenn, and Me

A whole bunch o' family!

*Sigh* Fun times. I'm looking forward to December when I get to go see the Stowers' and my family for a good, long time. For now, I just hope it warms up a little here in Orlando.