Thoughts & Ramblings

There's a lot of "stuff" floating around in my head so I thought instead of a bunch of random posts I'd just have one big jumble of stuff tonight. I mean, the blog is called Mel's Thoughts & Ramblings right?

Unsettling

Last night I went to take a shower and before jumping in for some reason decided to check out my transplant scar in the mirror. Upon doing so I noticed two giant bruises lower abdomen on the opposite side of my kidney. Totally freaked me out. Emailed the doctor today and there's nothing to worry about. I just bruise easier because of one of my medications. So it could have been something as innocuous as Andrew bumping his feet into me when he crawled into our bed.

Heavy Heart

My heart is heavy for my friend Christal. Like many teachers in California she was given a pink slip for next year. Usually with the pink slips they end up rescinding the majority and tend to lay off teachers with less experience or no tenure. However, only one teacher at her school has received that letter. Please be praying for her and the other teachers in the days and weeks to come.

CrossFit

My brother-in-law and his ex-wife are co-owners of a CrossFit gym in the area. I've been interested in trying it out for a couple years but because of the lupus and kidney failure that was setting in, it just obviously wasn't something I was physically capable of. This past Tuesday I started training with Ronnie and loved it. We did a bunch of different exercises like box squats and different weight lifting things. I think it's going to be good. The thing that I like the most, but that also scares me is I can't quit. Having the accountability is a huge thing and it totally hit me when I was on the rower. I was thinking "oh my gosh, I don't know if I can keep doing this!" but then I realize Ronnie is sitting right next to me and I can't just stop like if I were by myself at the gym. Dang! So I'm sure with continuing this there are bound to be changes in my body.

Food

Which leads to changes in food! Hi, My name is Melissa and it's been 12 days since my last caramel mocha. Yeah, if you know me you know I heart my caramel mochas - iced or hot I don't care, just want the tasty goodness. Well the calories in those things are outrageous so I quit cold turkey. Just cutting that from my daily routine saves a ton of calories. I've also stopped fast food and cut my caloric intake down to 1500 calories. The CrosFitters really push the Paleo Diet (here's a blog Ronnie recommended). It makes a lot of sense, but I still have some questions about it.

Fresh Ground Peanut Butter

Okay, this one is really random but A and I were at Safeway one day and I noticed they have these big nut grinders. So I decided what the heck? So we ground some honey roasted peanuts to make our own peanut butter. Literally...it's just peanuts - nothing else added and it's SOOO good.

Volleyball

I forgot how much I truly love playing volleyball. It's been ages, but I've been playing regularly at a church drop in game on Tuesday nights and I adore it. Such a great workout and such a great time doing it. 3 hours of playing go by like a couple minutes, it's fantastic. I signed up for a beginner/intermediate beach volleyball class this summer. Super stoked for that. And we signed A up for 3-5 year old beach volleyball! How stinkin' cute is that going to be?

Poems About Groundhogs

So we went to an all school meeting for the charter school A will be starting next year. I mean really, this meeting was made out like if we didn't go we'd be kicked out of the school. Um, hello? You're charter but you're still public so chill and the meeting was so not all that. So in the meeting they had a well spoken 4th grader get up and talk about how she took poetry as her elective this past quarter. After she explains they they were to watch a little piece of ground and then write a poem about it she proceeds to read her poem which I've condensed. "Little fluffy groundhog, I see you at the entrance of your home, do you see me? At the entrance poking your head out. Snap, crushing of back, taking of life. Death." The parents reaction to it was priceless.

Random Links

This blog post moved me this past week.

Um, how does Pete Wilson know what's going on in my life?

Retouched

Found this while checking out Google's new "play" feature (it's similar if not identical to stumbleupon). We wonder why women have such horrible body images and why men expect women to look a certain way..... Ridiculous. Article courtesy of The Daily Mail.

Britney Spears bravely agrees to release un-airbrushed images of herself next to the digitally-altered versions.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 9:23 PM on 14th April 2010

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Celebrities, and the industry around them, are often accused of producing images that affect young people's body image. Which is why it's so refreshing to see one of the world's most famous pop stars allowing all of their imperfections to be highlighted. Britney Spears has allowed the pre-airbrushed images from a shoot she took part in for fashion firm Candie's to be used ALONGSIDE the digitally-altered ones, so people can see the difference.

Brave move: Britney Spears has allowed airbrushed images from her shoot to be released along with the original raw photos which show all her imperfections

The 29-year-old singer made the extraordinary move in order to highlight the pressure exerted on women to look perfect. In the first shot, she is seen facing the camera with her arms behind her back. Imperfections that can be clearly seen in the un-airbrushed shot include blemishes on her calf, her larger thighs and, if you look really closely, you can see her feet have dry skin on them. The airbrushed pictures, however, tell a different story with a slimmed-down waist and flawless, skinny legs.

Meanwhile, in the second picture, she is seen from the back - in the un-airbrushed shot she has areas of cellulite on the back of her thighs, a tattoo on her lower back (sometimes called a 'tramp stamp') is clearly visible and her backside is a little out of shape. However, in the altered photo all of these imperfections have been wiped out - and she appears to have a pert rear, unrealistically smooth skin, slimmer legs and the tattoo has vanished.

Shaping up: The pop star's whole body has been trimmed down with the use of a computer, even down to removing a tattoo on her back

A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: 'Britney is proud of her body - imperfections and all.'

Of the experience, the singer told press: 'I had so much fun shooting the Candies for Kohl's campaign. My favorite set-up was against the gigantic wall of pink cotton candy.' And she added: 'I got to wear the cutest clothes and they are perfect for summer!'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1265676/Britney-Spears-releases-airbrushed-images-digitally-altered-versions.html#ixzz0lHJewheK

Cheat Post

I'm going to cheat for this post and share something that I posted on another website. Plan B is all about the road we didn't think we'd be taking for our lives, and the good that can come out of it. If you know me, you probably know my story so I apologize for sharing again...but it's who I am.

My Plan B

April 2nd, 2010 at 12:56 PM

My plan A definitely didn't include being diagnosed with an auto-immune disease (Lupus) in my early 20's. I was 23 and told I have a disease that no one knows what causes it, there is no cure, and it can and more than likely will get worse and claim one or more organs. They were some dark times of not understanding and seeking something "more". My then boyfriend (now my husband) stayed by my side and gently suggested checking out churches. He was raised with a Christian background, I was raised Catholic but didn't have a relationship with Jesus by any means. The words the pastor said that first Sunday seemed to be taken right out of our very conversation from the night before. The Holy Spirit was definitely moving in me and I accepted Christ. Physically it was tough but we were still working on maybe a plan A-. We adopted a beautiful baby boy and things were going very well. Fast forward 10 years and we knew my kidneys were starting to fail so my nephrologist started putting into motion the things I'd need to do to get on the UNOS waiting list to receive a transplant. December 14, 2008 was the day that plan b came screeching into place. My husband awoke to me, his bride, having grand mal seizures. The Lupus had taken my kidneys and I was in complete kidney failure at 31 years old. I was rushed to the local ER where I suffered 2 more seizures. I was started on dialysis 3 days later and began a regime of hemo-dialysis that was 3 days a week, 3 hours a day. It was tough being a mom, wife, employee and still driving 45 minutes each way to go to my exhausting dialysis treatments, but God blessed me with those as I was able to share my faith with many of the dialysis patients who had no hope left. 4 friends and family members stepped forward saying they wanted to be tested to donate a kidney to me. Such an amazing blessing since the wait list in California is at least 7 years long (please register to be an organ donor WHEREVER you live, it's the ultimate gift). One of the people that stepped up was a good friend of my husband and I who saw it as his duty as a Christ follower to give part of himself to save another's life. We ended up being as close of a match as if we are blood related (brings a whole new meaning to brothers/sisters in Christ) and Dan donated his kidney to me on July 17, 2009. I've always "understood" Christ gift on a superficial level, but it was last Good Friday when I was still on dialysis and Dan was going through testing to be a donor that it fully hit home - There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends John: 15: 13. Wow. That passage was displayed on the screens at our Good Friday service and tears streamed down my face as I thanked Jesus for his ultimate sacrifice and for blessing me with an amazing friend who was willing to put himself on the line as a Christ follower. I thank God for my plan B now. It was a rough road, but it made me who I am today as a Christ follower, wife, mother, friend, co-worker. I am passionate about organ donation and volunteer for an organization and through registering people to donate I am also able to share my testimony and hopefully save people's souls in addition to their lives. Just remember there is hope. God is a God of hope and faithfulness and if He brought you to this place, He will bring you through it. Blessings.

Hey I have a blog!

And it's been one month exactly since I last posted. Sadness. More updates to come.

Donate Life California

This is a post started in April......

If you know me at all, you know my life was changed forever on July 17, 2009 when I received the gift of life from an amazing friend who donated his kidney to me. It's really hard to go through something like that and not be immensely impacted. Since then, I kept seeing people talking about training for Donate Life and being a Donate Life Ambassador. I would always think to myself it would be a great thing to get involved with, but then never would follow through.

Fast forward to earlier this week and I get a call from an amazing lady (she is passionately involved in organ donation and Hepatitis awareness) asking if I would be interested in attending a CTDN training. First I had to find out what CTDN stood for (California Transplant Donor Network) and after a little research I realized it was the training I kept meaning to get plugged into. How crazy is that? I attended the training on Saturday and was blown away by the stories people shared as to why they feel passionate about promoting awareness for organ donation.

There were two fellow kidney transplant recipients, a woman that was transplanted over 20 years ago (amazing!) and a man that was transplanted just one week before I was, also at UCSF. It was really special to talk to two people who have gone through the same surgery and especially to talk with the woman that was transplanted over two decades ago and still going strong on the graft.

Ultimately the training was to give a little more knowledge about organ donors, what can be donated, how people register, etc. CTDN goes to many festivals, health fairs, college campuses and high schools to promote awareness and encourage people to register as donors. I'm looking forward to getting plugged in!

Amazed

I'm always (and I hope I will always be) amazed at the little flourishes in life that God find the time to display for specifically for us.

Volunteering with Donate Life California as a Donate Life Ambassador has been something that's been on my heart for a while now. I'm going to deviate for a second and say as a side note, if you read my blog and you are not registered as an organ donor, you seriously need to click on that link and get that remedied. The rest of us will wait for you.......

Ok, ready? So it's been on my heart for a while but I was just lazy and kept thinking that I'd send them an email the next day. Last Thursday I finally sent them an email. A while later I got a text from a friend asking if he could give my phone number to a mutual acquaintance. This mutual acquaintance is heavily involved in Hepatitis awareness, liver transplant awareness, and organ transplantation/donation awareness in general. She wanted to let me know that she would be attending a training on the 21st and wanted to see if I was interested. I looked up the training and no joke, it was the training I've been meaning to get info on for the past month or so. She has absolutely no affiliation with the organization other than she does her own form of sharing about donation.

Isn't it amazing how God just shows up and says "hey, I know you want to do this and you are on the right track for me and my plan so get going!" It'll be such an awesome opportunity to be an Ambassador and share my story which goes hand and hand with my faith and sign others up to be organ donors! So stoked about it.

Also seriously stoked about a door that I've wedged my toe into. It's something that I can't share about but God knows what's up and I just ask that you be praying for His guidance and protection while we peek inside the proverbial door.

Be Praised!

I started this post on Wednesday, and had some time this afternoon to come back finish...enjoy!

All praises to the One

From whom it all began

The One who formed the stars

And who gave life to man

You set the world in motion

Created sky and ocean

And here I stand, beloved

And called by name.

The lyrics from this awesome worship song have been stuck on repeat in my head today. Yes, we should always give praise and thanks to the Father, and quite honestly I think that is one of my stronger suits given the trials we have gone though - please know I'm not saying I'm SuperChristian (now there's a comic book character!). Today is a day of celebration and praise. For the first time in longer than I can remember, we are not financially struggling. Yes I know, money isn't everything, but when you're piecing together money from both sets of parents to pay rent, not knowing on the 5th of the month if you'll have enough for rent and it was due 4 days ago, having your parents pay for your medical insurance, your husband works 9 days in one month, and your scrounging up change to get gas so he can even get to work one of those days, you realize just how hard it is to do things when you don't have a steady income.

This past year has broken my heart for people that struggle financially. I don't mean the people that can't afford an extra Starbucks that week, I mean the people who legitimately can't find work, can't feed their kids, the ones who can scrape just enough to stay above water and not sink but definitely not enough to ever get ahead.

God blesses us with those circumstances and regardless of how difficult, frustrating and stressful they may be, it's our duty to give him praise.

Thank you Lord for blessing me with a year full of trials and countless moments of uncertainty. Although at times I cried out wondering if you cared, your love was shown tenfold through the actions and helpfulness of those that we love. Lord, help me to be a person of generosity, don't let lessons and experiences we had be for naught. Allow us to be in a position of blessing others without expecting anything in return. Allow us to be able to surprise those that need, in your perfect timing, and allow us to never

take credit for those gifts. It always comes from you.

Be Praised!