Ho's Surgery

Today we spent the entire day at the hospital. I had no idea that it took all day and neither did Hogan. We both underestimated the intensity of surgery. Yesterday, we both were thinking I might just have to take a 1/2 sick day at work since he was scheduled to be at the hospital at 9:45am. Well that quickly turned into a full day off after 3 hours in pre-op, 1 hour in surgery, 1 hour in recovery, and time in between all those transitions. We finally got to leave around 4pm. I wasn't the one who had surgery but man am I exhausted from it all too!

Hogan's shoulder started really hurting him a few months back. He went and got it checked out, had an MRI, and the decision for surgery was made by the doctor. We have no idea where he actually hurt it but we joke about just blaming flag football since that is where 2 other guys on his team got seriously hurt this season. 

I'm thinking he'll probably sit out flag football next year ;)   

Well the timing of his surgery was great because his best friend Chris (who is one of the 2 guys mentioned above) was also having ACL surgery today at the same hospital by the same doctor about 45 minutes after Hogan. Chris and his wife Carrie were actually in pre-op right by us so we had pretty good time (and it was humorous to the nurses as well). 

Pic of Hogan in pre-op. 

(I'm not sure why my pics are so small...oh well) 

He loved the "footies" they give you. 

No meds yet. Just an IV. But all smiles still. 

Hogan and Chris posing in their gowns. 

The surgery went great, Praise the Lord.  From talking with the doctor, he removed bone spurs in Hogan's collarbone that were digging into his muscle. Because there is no way to really stitch muscle, the doctor is hoping the muscle heals/scars on its own. That also means Hogan will have to take it a little easier than anticipated for the next 3-4 weeks. 

His first night of recovery is going well. As I write this, he's sleeping soundly on the couch. I think the biggest challenge we'll face will be Hogan letting me help him. He doesn't want to burden me at all and thinks he will be fine in no time. I sure do hope that's the case, but I'm definitely prepared and willing to help my hubby. 

We are so thankful for the prayers of our friends and family. 

Love y'all. 

SERVE

Serving isn't always the easiest thing to do; it's definitely not the most convenient; but it's so much fun when you take the step to do it, not to mention that it obviously blesses others and yourself. We are so blessed to be part of a church that loves serving our community. In addition to the everyday serving and the monthly serve projects, our church holds an annual SERVE day where pretty much the entire church gets involved in an area and serves the socks off the people in Birmingham and the surrounding communities. That day was this past Saturday.

This year when I read the different projects going on, my heart was immediately drawn to one in particular. There is a neighborhood in Woodlawn that sits on one side of the Birmingham airport. It's called the La Quemada neighborhood. It's also the neighborhood where I have been numerous times to drop off some of my soccer kids. I not only wanted to see my soccer guys but bless them, their families, and their neighborhood. So that's where we went. We also asked Lakim if he wanted to come serve with us and without hesitation he said yes (which is so amazing). So Hogan, Lakim, and I headed over to LaQuemada early Saturday morning.

There were so many people that came out to serve. Almost overwhelming. In a good way. We split up into teams and each team took a street to go down. We picked up trash, prayed, met the neighbors, and invited everyone over to the central part of the neighborhood for food, drinks, free give-aways, and fellowship. There were SO many people that came out to fellowship with us. I saw a ton of my soccer guys which put a huge smile on my face. Later on, Hogan and I served hot dogs and chicken to hundreds of people coming through the line and with each hot dog handed out, I couldn't not smile.

I couldn't not smile at what God is doing. At his love there. At his light there. At the transformation that I know is taking place in hearts and in that neighborhood, whether you physically see it or not yet.

It was an incredible day.

A Trip to the Desert

Last weekend, I finally made it out to Tucson, Arizona to visit my best friends from college. Leigh and I were very proud of ourselves for doing it. So many times I talk about wanting to go visit a friend but I never really look into it. So to actually pick a date, book the tickets, and go was a huge step!

So Leigh and I ventured out west to re-unite the "crew" which is yes, what we call ourselves.

(Hanson (that's his last name), AJ and Becky (they're married), me, and Leigh)

We all met at UAB playing soccer. Becky, Leigh, and I all came in together as Freshmen on the soccer team. AJ transferred to UAB a year later to play and Hanson came a year after that to play. 

We have so many fun memories and laughs and have gone through a lot of hard times too, but that's what makes our friendships that much sweeter. We went to hang with our friends but we also wanted to see this city they live in. So here are just a few pics from our trip to the desert...

Yay! We found a big cactus to take pictures by.

Our attempt at acting like the cactus pricked us. I'm sure traffic was getting a good laugh at us.

 This hot dog place is like famous. They have stands and restaurants all over. It was our first meal out in Tucson. And it was yummy, despite what you may think from the pictures below.

I was very curious to see what the weather was like. People always use the term, "dry heat." I think people had told me that you don't sweat there. Well they're wrong. We sweated for sure. It was dry (no humidity) but the sun felt like it was an inch away from my skin. SO hot! I knew it was "the desert" out there but I guess I thought there would still be some grass. Nope, nada, none. They had a few types of trees and of course, cactuses and some palm trees, but no grass. It was very neat to see the differences but I think I'm good with my green landscaping and high humidity in Birmingham, AL :)

I did get a little homesick missing Hogan. Unfortunately because of vacation days, Hogan wasn't able to come with me. He wanted me to go though - he's amazing. With the trip, I was gone Thursday afternoon to Monday late night. And on top of that, he found out he had to go to North Carolina for a quick work trip which had him leaving Wed morning through Thursday night. So we had our longest time apart - 6 days - and I'm not gonna lie, it was hard. Maybe it's because we are still newlyweds, but whatever the case, we definitely don't plan on purposely scheduling anything that long apart in the near future.  

It was a great trip though and so good to see our friends again. It gets harder to stay in touch as you grow older and further apart (distance wise), so a trip like this felt so good to do! Hope everyone else had a great Fourth of July weekend too.



A Heart Full of Hope

My heart is so full today.

Around two years ago I started praying about volunteering to coach soccer at Woodlawn High School.

I took a leap of faith and did it.

I had a senior on my team that I saw so much potential in. I knew that God had greater plans for him than what he was living in.

By the end of his senior year, he had an opportunity to take a scholarship to Samford to study dance and theatre.

Hogan and I reached out to him over the summer to see if he was getting excited. Things had fallen through. He didn't have the ACT score to get in.

My heart hurt like no other. I knew I couldn't just sit there. I had to help.

Hogan and I started a friendship with him. A friendship outside of the soccer field.

I know so many people in the church so I reached out to others. Someone from our church blessed him with a job at a local restaurant here. He still has that job - a year later.

I learned that if he raised his ACT score, he would have his chance back to get into Samford. I signed him up for the test.

I reached out to others again. I was given an ACT review book which I gave to him to use. Our friend Chris tutored him in Math. He studied. We prayed. He took the test. And he went down in his score.

Our hearts sank. There was no way this was the end of his path. God had more.

So we signed him up again. He continued to study. We continued to pray. He took the test again.

I just received an email today from another lady in his life who is helping him in an enormous way. She actually found and is the voice getting him this full ride. Among many other things.

She told me he is in. He will start at Samford this fall. His last score was high enough to get in.

I can't stop smiling. I can't stop tearing up. I can't stop thanking Jesus.

This young man has been through so much. He's still going through it. The details aren't necessary. But God made a better way for him. He is so faithful. He is so amazing. He uses us to bless others. We are his vessels.

My heart is overwhelmed right now. It's so full of joy and excitement for this young man. It's so full of awe and gratitude towards our Jesus. It's so full of hope.

I started and finished a book on my plane ride home from Arizona yesterday. You know it's good when it goes that fast. The book was Velvet Elvis, by Rob Bell.

In the book, he states, "Ultimately our gift to the world around us is hope. Not blind hope that pretends everything is fine and refuses to acknowledge how things are. But the kind of hope that comes from staring pain and suffering right in the eyes and refusing to believe that this is all there is."

I love that. My heart is so full of that hope.