what a month!

january was craaaazy! thus the reason i've been away...

for starters, i made the decision to go back to school. i figure, there's so many things in my life that i can't control...i might as well do something about the things i can....and educating myself and putting myself in a better position career-wise is definitely a step in the right direction of no longer feeling "stuck".

also scheduled for january was my dad's heart catherterization. late in december, dad had a stress test and was diagnosed with coronary heart disease (hereditary....better start keeping my ticker in tip top shape). they told him he needed the catheterization and possibly stents and wanted to do it somewhat immediately, but because of holidays and the family vacationing etc, it ended up being put off for about 2 weeks.

we know that catheterizations and stents are very common procedures....but however common they are, it's still very scary to see someone you love have to go through any kind of heart procedure...i mean, remember....the heart is what pumps life into your body!

turns out, while they were doing the catheterization, they realized they couldn't do the stents...the blockages were too big and he needed a triple bypass...they scheduled it for the next day and we were terrified....terrified, but still trusting God. it's scary to think of all the things that could go wrong....and my mind definitely found itself dwelling on those things....afterall, this is the age my grandfather was when he died of heart complications...all of a sudden, i realized i didn't tell my dad i love him enough...which is weird...because our family practically hugs and kisses and tells each other we love each other even if we're just leaving the room....but somehow, it didn't seem like enough.

my dad seemed at peace with every thing...i guess a point comes when you realize you don't really have control over a situation anyways and you have to just give it up to God and know He's in control...i think this happened for all of us this week.

we ate and ate and ate at the hospital....after hours of waiting in the surgical waiting room, there's really nothing to do besides eat....so eat we did! we happen to be ridiculous fans of cafeteria food. i could actually go for some right now!!

the doctor finally came out and i couldn't understand a word he was saying...his accent was...chinese or korean...not really sure, but he smiled and that's all i cared about....because bad news isn't usually greeted with a smile.

while in surgery, they found a fourth blockage and so they gave him QUADRUPLE BYPASS...holy moly! that's a far stretch from catheterization! we got to see him soon after and....well, that was scary! tubes...eh...i have hospital anxiety anyways!

we are so thankful that the doctors found these blockages before he suffered a major heart attack...which they said was likely and imminent...he may not have recovered from that!

we are also so thankful for prayer...prayer is a privilege...prayer unites us with God and with other believers...prayer has power....power which is almost indefinable...

we are thankful for our family...and not just our immediate family...our a WHOLE family! we belong to a large church and our church really knows how to love....but it extends even beyond our own church....literally, hundreds of people outside of our church were praying for dad...and that's amazing...that's God!

my dad is currently on the mend and trying to take it easy. praise God for His care!

thank you to every one that prayed!

school, hospital visits, work, church and other things mixed in.....what a crazy month full of answered prayer!!!