I copied Jonathan and made a few videos using animoto.com. It’s really cool, you can add photos to music and make a neat slideshow. Here are a few that I made.

Our trip to Memphis:

365 days of photos–the highlights:

Jonathan and I went to the Transiberian Orchestra concert last night along with Tim and kara and some friends. This was my 4th year to go and I still love it! I don’t think I could ever get sick of going to that show…it has become a fun tradition around Christmas time. The first half of the show is a Christmas story told with rock music and a narrator telling the story. The second half of the show is just an awesome rock concert with lights and a piro show. It’s awesome! They have two of the best pianists in the world in the group–well, at least i think so. They also have an AWESOME violinist from London, England. If you’ve never heard of them or been to a show I highly suggest recommend them. They said they might start a summer tour–not the Christmas show, obviously. Hopefully they’ll be back summer of ’08.

I don’t want to bore you guys with medical info but for those who want to know more about IST (inappropriate sinus tachycardia) which is what my Dr. said I have. So bascially this is for my family who wants to know more. IST is an uncommon type of cardiac arrhythmia, within the category of supraventricular tachycardia (SVT)–which I have. The mechanism of the arrhythmia primarily involves the Sinus Node and peri-nodal tissue and treatments are in the form of pharmacological therapy or Catheter ablation are available, although it is currently difficult to treat successfully. So basically it’s a condition in which an individual’s resting heart rate is abnormally high (greater than 100 beats per minute), their heart rate increases rapidly with minimal exertion, and their rapid heart rate is accompanied by symptoms of palpitations, fatigue, and exercise intolerance. IST is not associated with an abnormal electrical pattern on the ECG. The heart rhythm in IST appears to arise from within the sinus node, the cardiac structure that generates the normal heart rhythm. Patients with IST are hypersensitive to adrenaline, such that a little bit of adrenaline (like a little bit of exertion) causes a marked rise in heart rate. There is evidence that the sinus node itself has structureal changes. But much other evidence suggests that a more general dysautonomia is present in these patients. (This would explain why symptoms most often seem out of proportion to the increase in heart rate.) It is the notion that the sinus node itself is intrinsically abnormal that has led electrophysiologists to resort to ablation of the sinus node as a treatment for IST.

I hope that wasn’t to medical for you but it’s a synopsis of what it is.

Today we celebrated Encounter’s 2 year anniversary. Jonathan and I both did a video for the morning service, his a little more comedic than mine. He did a look at the future of encounter and I did a slide show type video of pictures from the many people’s lives that have been touched throughout the last 2 years. While the slide show was being played, Scott and Cara played the song you hear during the video live.

If you need a laugh, here you go. These are science exam answers from children…some of them are hilarious!

Q: Name the four seasons.
A: Salt, pepper, mustard, and vinegar.

Q: Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drink.
A: Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists.

Q: How is dew formed?
A: The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.

Q: How can you delay milk turning sour? (brilliant, love this!)
A: Keep it in the cow.

Q: What causes the tides in the oceans?
A: The tides are a fight between the Earth and the Moon. All water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature hates a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins in this fight.

Q: What are steroids?
A: Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs.

Q: What happens to your body as you age?
A: When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental.

Q: What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty?
A: He says good-bye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery.

Q: Name a major disease associated with cigarettes.
A: Premature death.

Q: How are the main parts of the body categorized? ( e.g., abdomen)
A: The body is consisted into three parts — the brainium, the borax and the abdominal cavity. The brainium contains the brain; the borax contains the heart and lungs, and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels A, E, I, O, and U.

Q: What is the fibula?
A: A small lie.

Q: What does “varicose” mean? (I do love this one…)
A: Nearby.

Q: Give the meaning of the term “Caesarian Section.”
A: The Caesarian Section is a district in Rome.

Q: What does the word “benign” mean?’
A: Benign is what you will be after you be eight

This was a great weekend. I took Friday off because our schedule was very very light and we had Monday off for Labor Day so I had a nice 4 day weekend! I think i slept in until 1230 or so on Friday and didn’t wake up but once or twice. It was a lazy day for me, I didn’t do much until Jonathan came home and we met my parents along with Vicki and Bob for dinner then went and got some new frisbee’s for disc golf. Saturday we slept in and then got up and ate a brunch at IHOP–haven’t been there in a while, I was craving it for some reason. After breakfast/lunch we went and played frisbee golf with phil and had a good time. I haven’t played that game for probably 5 years, I suprisingly didn’t stink as bad as I thought I would. After that I was worn out so I took a nap. That evening, well, I don’t really remember what we did–oh ya, watch Borune Identity and ate at Whataburger, then we had to get back home so Jonathan could do his Fantisy Football draft while I caught up on my TV shows that have been stuck on our DVR for forever. Sunday we went to church and then went to lunch with some friends and then just did stuff around the house. A little later we went out to Kaufman and took a trip to Hidden Acres, a camp Jonathan went to while he was growing up. Presley sure did like that trip–well other than the dock by the pond, she didn’t care too much for it…i think it scared her more than anything. Monday we slept in–again (awesome!) then we went and drove (or paddled b/c of the rain) around and looked at some houses and neighborhoods. Then we met my brother Brad and sister-in-law, Jennifer along with their two kids, Jake and Brooklynn for dinner at Chili’s. Over all it was a great weekend, relaxed, fun and ready for another one!

So over the last few months, I’ve started missing Dallas and my friends and family who all live there. Ya, I know it’s only a 45 min to an hour drive to see them, but when you drive there 5 days a week to go to work, you don’t want to make another trip to see anyone. Especially with these gas prices….and if I just stay in Dallas after work to see people, it makes for a long day. The drive to work is getting to me the most I think. I do miss my friends though….I guess it all just hit me the last few days how much I do miss it. Okay so the majority of my friends and all my family is in the Dallas area and my work is in Dallas, but I live in Waxahachie…basically I feel like I live in two different places and I don’t get to see my friends or family that often. I miss the fact that I could call up a friend or brother or my mom and say hey lets go get coffee or lunch and in 15 minutes we’d see each other. A big delima comes in to play here because Jonathan is really involved in our church, Encounter, and all his friends are in Waxahachie or surrounding areas. Now don’t get me wrong, I do like Encounter and the people and friends I’ve met through our church. Let me put it this way, Jonathan is a very social person and could make friends with a rock…me on the other hand, it takes a while, I don’t have a whole lot of friends…no I’m not a loner….I have a handful of friends that I really have strong relationships with and I would just call up and talk or visit, and I’m completely fine with it. So now we have to decide where we want to live and hopefully we’ll find out before our lease is up in March. So be praying we get some peace about the situation.

Jonathan and I got our wedding pictures back and this is one of our favorites.