12 hours later ....

12 hours after going to sleep last night, I have emerged from my den. I went to bed last night at a little after 9. I have emerged at ... a little after 9 AM! Folks, in case you lost count, that's 12 hours later! Told you all I have been tired! Of course, I did wake up 4 or 5 times -- nothing unusual for me. But I still got 12 hours of sleep. Hurray!

I haven't been up to my usual level of blogging, so I thought I would use this Saturday email to do some catching up. I have separated these in subject categories to make reading easier and allow you to skip categories that seem rather boring, stupid, or uninteresting.

BLOGGING
I really am having fun with all the cool things you can do with blogs now. Besides the poll questions, you can also have the counter, and view visitors. I have another friend who finds out what it is people "googled" to get to her blog. I was thinking of trying that some time too.

First, some pictures. I have upgraded my google map. I thought that I would be able to connect this to the blog so that I could have these photos automatically posted each morning on my blog through an RSS feed. No such luck. Instead, each morning, I can go to this page and see the last 100 visitors to my blog the night before. It's really fascinating to view where you all live since you know where I live! I also get these handy dandy pictures which show where the hits are. But, I can't put them on my blog automatically. Oh well. So here are the photos that I get to see.

BARA

I often get asked how Bara is doing, especially since he shut down his blog. We still stay in touch with Bara through email and are hoping to get to see him again soon. I am hoping that maybe he will come to visit us in Florida in December. Bara?! What do you think?! (No pressure!) Bara is still living in Boston. He recently ran the Cape Cod Marathon and shared a photo with us. Here it is!

"THE WEDDING"

Yes, the wedding is still on. My brother is wedding "Adrienne (A.D.) Nicole Broyles" on December 30th at 5:00 p.m. at the American Orchid Society in Delray Beach, Florida. Both JB and I are in the wedding. Also, our niece Grace is in the wedding! I am excited about this. Grace is too, however, despite her complete infatuation with weddings (the last time I saw her she told me how she was planning her wedding in a "meadow" with her friend An-funy), I think she is a little nervous. She has told me she may walk down the aisle with JB and/or me instead of by herself or with the ring bearer. Either way, she's going to be in the wedding too which I think is great fun.

My mother is busy planning the rehearsal dinner which is going to be a fairly low-key affair. However, it's still stressful. We are actually flying home on December 15th and then flying back on January 1st. We have also been talking about having a post-wedding "grill out" for out-of-town guests on December 31st so we will see how that works out. It should be a very busy two weeks. I am excited to see my grama Huisman and my Medema grandparents, whom I haven't seen in awhile. It will also be nice to meet all of AD's family as well.

I've decided that when you only have one sibling, it is very important that you like them and their choice in mate. In JB's family, if I don't like a sibling or a mate, well, there are 5 siblings and 4 mates or potential mates to choose from. I can just move on to the next. (Okay, so this is a joke folks.) However, I really do like AD, and I think she will be very good for Keith. People have asked me repeatedly what she is like. I only have officially "met" her one time -- last Christmas. But we went on the cruise together so I felt like I got a good and fair chance to meet her.

She is very friendly and not shy which I like. I hate prodding people to uncomfortably make conversation. No need to do that with AD. She is also a "free spirit". The only way I can explain this is to tell you that her kitchen, is painted hot pink! She is also a former college softball player so she is athletic. Everyone also asks me if she is tall. I think she is 5'8" so that is pretty tall (just short in comparison to 6'10" Keith.) Her family all lives in the Palm Beach area (about 30 minutes from our family). Her and Keith plan to reside in the 2 bedroom apartment she owns. They will rent out Keith's one bedroom apartment in Coral Springs.

WEATHER
So far this year, winter hasn't been too bad. That's the honest truth. It's been in the 20's but nothing much below that. Please don't post a comment reminding me that January and February are the worst. I know that! I'm a four year veteran now. However, my new coat is awesome!

EXERCISE
Probably, the single hardest thing about IVF treatments are all the restrictions they put me under for the two weeks that follow (and hopefully, when I find out I am pregnant next week, up until the first ultrasound at six weeks when they determine how many babies we have.) I am not supposed to do ANY exercising. I can walk, however, even that I try to take slowly and not do my normal "speed-walking" through the clinic on my errands. My weight has dropped somewhat back down where it was prior to the major bloat-stage ... but it is still hovering precariously high with no way to do any calorie burning. I know, I know. If I get pregnant, my weight will go up. That's fine. But I'd prefer for it to not go up before the babies in my womb actually weight something. There are some good things though. I am also supposed to do limited housework and NO vacuuming! JB has been very helpful but my house is still way below its standard of cleanliness.

NEXT YEAR
Another question I get a lot is "when will you know where JB is doing his residency." We should know sometime in December. They will most likely tell us that he is going to Eglin or to Scott Air Force Base in southern Illinois or that he has been given a "civilian deferment". If he gets a civilian deferment, we will most likely be staying at Mayo, however, he will have to interview at some other locations as well (can't put all your eggs in one basket.)

I think we have basically decided that if we do not stay in Rochester, we will sell our condo and not rent it. I think we have also decided that if we go to Eglin, we will not buy another house. We just don't want the added stress. The other great thing is that living on base is completely paid for! This means that our bills will only include: cable, phone, groceries, insurances, and gas for our car! How awesome is that to eliminate all payments related to living. If we rented off-base, we would get a housing allotment, however, we would probably have to buy a second car to handle the commute, and most likely, our costs would go over that allotment. So instead, we think we are going to just live on base. Anyways, I guess I can wait to discuss this until we are sure what we are doing. We will know by Christmas!

IVF
Waiting two weeks is not easy, but this journey has been so much easier than the previous two times. One semi-strange thing, is that JB will actually be working in the REI office when my results come in. I am not sure what this means. I am not sure who will then give me the message about my blood results. I am very excited to get the results. The waiting time is always a little tedious. Especially on the weekends. Those go very slowly.

JB
What is JB up to right now? Well, he finishes up his REI rotation this week and starts geriatrics next week. He will finish that up before we leave for Florida for Christmas and then take some time off for the holiday. Currently, JB is reading a lot. As I have mentioned recently (and will need to take a week of blogs to explain), both of our hearts have recently been pricked regarding mission work. We are not sure where the Lord is leading in this. We are simply ready and waiting for him to direct us. However, more and more, we believe that this mission work that we always thought would be part-time, may be full time medical missions work. We are simply waiting for the Lord to direct us. JB has been reading a lot of books on this topic, and you can be praying for both of us as we watch to see what the Lord leads us to do. We still have 3 years of residency and 4 years of payback before this would be possible so this is still a long way off!

Okay, so this is like the longest blog in the history of my blogging! That's all the news I have for you. There is no more!!! Have a great Saturday!