An update on our story.

Hello friends,
Mark and I were asked to write about our journey of starting a family and since some of you only know bits and pieces of our story I thought you might like to read more about how the last few years have played out for us. The worship leader from our church, Kyle Campos, who many of you know, has a blog and his latest series is called "God in our worst times" where he has asked some people to share about how God has brought them through difficult times in their lives. You can click on God in Our Worst Times: “Our baby is Faith” to read our post and click on http://feeds.feedburner.com/OurRisingSound to subscribe to the blog so that you can continue to be notified of new posts.
Feel free to check it out if you would like to :)
love,
Kendra

Our Friend Alyssa on MTV

So a long story short our friend was on MTV, Made. Well apparently she has a big fan base all over the world. Check out the link here to read others but I had to post this one. (Sorry if I offend any of my french friends with this, wait do I have any french friends?)


"Hello! sorry my english is bad beacause i am french!
I see theese video on made! and, and I have a lot have fun! wouhahaha hoho ect..
also because it resembles me, delay, always funny, second degree a lot!
on top of that I also am in the artistic world professionel, I am drummer, and music professor! but my pass time favorie is humour! And outside her, it really corresponds to all that I like at a woman! physically I had the blow of lightning, and its mentality, is identical to mine, they would say my ame sister! I would really like to meet it! but the language, the country separates us, then I have moin of chance that any American of etre happy with her! Snif!
So i'm a men so tired"

Thank you Dennis from France.

I love Jelly....

So, here is the story. On a recent trip to Oahu to visit Jr and Kate, I did as much face time with the ocean as I could. From the first day I got there to the day I was leaving I made sure to get into the water at least once. The water there is warm and a beautiful shade of clear that lets you see the bottom and everything in between. The first day I went swimming went off with no problems, I had a good time boogie boarding with my pops. The second time, well the second time was the first time getting stung by what I like to call "PMoW". aka Portuguese Man-o-War. The first time I got stung on the foot, I liken it to getting stung by a bee kinda but also getting whipped with a small willow branch at the same time. Questions like "do I pee on it" or "how long is it going to sting" were going thru my head, but on a scale of pain this was about a 6 maybe 7. The second time I got stung was around my wrist, (there are pics below the wrist on is out of focus but you get the point), now I am used to getting my arms beaten and whipped, we would play a game at work where we get a bit of wire and whip each other with it. Sometimes we would even make shapes, a heart or even the company logo and "brand" it on our arms with welts. So this wrist thing was uncomfortable but familiar. Now I can't remember if I got hit again before the last day, must be all the toxins in my system, but I will skip to the last day. So I am out there and I can see them floating on the surface of the water sailing along with the wind, so I would push them away with the boogie board and continue my swim. After about 10 min of not seeing any all hell broke loose, I must have insulted one of their mothers or something because they came at me with such force, knocked me off the board and held me under water till I couldn't breath. I struggled to get to the surface, clawing at the water hoping someone would see my flailing, then just as I was about to yield to their grip, they let go and all was calm and I stumbled to the beach. I know, sounds crazy right? Well even though it didn't go down like that it still felt like that. See, I was out there and it seemed like the made a ninja attack on me, it might have been one or could have been 12, but the stingers were doing a number on my sides. As I got out of the water I was pulling the long (3ft) tentacles off of my body. They were wrapped around my arm and hand and up and down my sides, you could even see the little blue stingers on my skin. I went back to the house and had a swim with the Finner, got all packed up and headed to the Ward for some last minute shopping. As we were down there I was feeling worser and worser, like I went on a binge the night before and I had all those toxins in my system. The flight home was good, I was kinda uncomfortable the whole time but as the hours past so did the hangover. I did have welts for a few days after, I was able to show the guys at work, who got a kick out of it. Anyone that knows me and the things I have gone thru (if you dont know what I have gone thru should I do a post about them?) can have a good laugh at this one, I know my family in Oahu did.

I represent myself good....

Really it WAS funnier the first take.

My Boss

As some of you know my boss Rick had an accident at work a month ago. For those of you that don't the story goes a little something like this. He was working at a job we were called to to replace some pipe and feeder wire (big stuff) to some panels at a warehouse which was broken into and copper was stolen. There were three pipes that were cut on the inside of the building and they were taken down and the copper was stolen. As he and Ponch were checking out the job they noticed 5 others that had been cut into as well. Three were cut all the way and another was cut halfway. That one still had live wires inside so during that inspection they found a disconnection switch that was stuck in the on position. Now normally when you cut into a pipe that has live wires you blow up your saw and the breaker trips, but either they were lucky and hadn't cut a hot wire, or there was something wrong with the disconnect. As Rick was trying to shut the switch off something went wrong. Ponch was on top of the panel, (it is a big panel on the outside of the building that feeds other small panels inside the building), and he said he heard a loud boom sounding like a shotgun. When Ponch jumped off he saw Rick stumbling away, the panel is enclosed in a chain linked cage with the door on the right and Rick was in the left hand corner. After the explosions had stopped for a second Ponch waived Rick over to the gate and the made it out as the panel started blowing again. When a panel or a wire fails it melts instantly and explodes sending the molten metal and flames out. The initial blast, (I will post pics of the panel later, you will see it's a blast) was the one that got Rick. It burnt off the front of his shirt, just the back and his collar remained, and Ponch said he was alert, talking and breathing fine. His chest and arms were burnt real bad, his face was browned and his ears were burnt bad as well. From here I will go to the hospital part.

The report from the hospital was he had third degree burns over 44% of his body, he was sedated and had a breathing tube. They feared that his lungs were burnt and susceptible to infection, and he was going to have to have multiple grafting surgeries to repair his burnt skin. I went to see him after two weeks. As much as I had heard, as much as I understand about what happens when a panel blows, all of that didn't prepare me for what I saw. Now it was real, my boss who I respect as a leader, motivator, and who just happens to be real funny, is wrecked in a hospital bed. I talked to him, told him about work and how I was keeping an eye on things while he was there. Here is another bit for ya, I have been there for two months now, maybe three, all the others: Dan, Jeff, Ponch, Alex, have been with each other for maybe 10 years. They have worked in other companies together, and then with VF since its birth. So I am the new guy in an established company of guys. I say that to make the point that I have a connection to Rick not only as my boss, but I also see the relationship that he has with the other guys, and the brotherhood that is the electrical trade. Just not union. While I was talking to him he would look at me, or my way. He would move his head when I would ask him questions, and when we prayed for him I looked and he had his eyes closed for a bit of the prayer. I don't know how much he will remember, if he saw me, or if the motions I saw were just him moving around in time with the ever moving outside world, but for me, I saw him there. I saw him trapped inside the sedation, the fiery man that is Rick trying to get up, trying to speak, trying to move his heavily bandaged arms. I told him that I cant wait for him to get back to work, to lead and motivate the guys like he had last month. As much as we bicker about it when he does, I know now that we need it more then ever. That since of normalcy, comfort, the "all is right with the world" feeling. Boss's lead and motivate, employees bicker and follow.

The news as of today is good. His artificial skin graft didn't take (pig skin is what I heard) so he will have to have another in a few days. They say he will be coming off the breathing tube in the next couple days, which means his lungs are clear and strong. And that he might be up and about in a wheel chair by the end of next week. I was at the job site where it happened today, I saw the panel, the cage, the destruction on the inside. I had to take it all in, just look at it, imagine. I found two buttons from his shirt at the left side of the cage. The same place he stood when he got back on his feet. It was surreal, sad, and frustrating. There were bits and pieces of metal, carbon, even flesh. I don't say it to be crass or sick, it is the reality of what I took in.

The day after it happened I was working in an old panel at a beautiful old church. I was standing next to it when a relay wire shorted and blew. Sparks, or molten copper shot out and it made a loud bang, a flash and it was done. But it shook me. I have been doing this for 8 years now, with various elements of danger and routine, and this has shaken me. Shaken to the core. I was talking to Kendra about it later that night, questioning if I still want to do it, still have the passion for it. I do. I have never been reckless in it, I hate getting a shock from touching a metal door knob after walking across the carpet, let alone 120 or 277. I have been careful, but this shook me. Knowing that turning off a breaker could result in third degree burns brought any level of invincibility crashing down. I bet we all question routine when something pulls the rug from under us. Do we get back on the bull after watching the last guy get gored.

Thanks to all who have prayed for him, for those that kept him in their thoughts. He is doing better. He still has a long road ahead of him but I think the dark night has passed. I will keep you up to date on his condition, and hope to be able to speak to him soon. I am sorry this came out disjointed, thoughts and emotions seem to come and go but I felt the urge to write it. Love you all.

Going going ........

Oh well, on to the next challenge. Hey I know, since we are all in the voting spirit. You decide 2008.1, what should I do next?

Pics now up!

Go to the link and check out the oahu pics! Stories to come and also the jelly-fish sting pics as well. Mom can you send me that email I asked about?

Oahu, and family

Before I get to the pics and the days posts, I wanted to share a post on my family. In this case it is about my brother, sister, and two sweet, sweet nephews. In reading JR and Kates' posts prior in going to Oahu, I got a sense that they were unhappy, and overall not having a good time on the island. After spending a week with them I realized this wasn't the case. Here is what I saw. In the weeks time I noticed how difficult it was to: work from home while, Kate manages two babies and a toddler. Let me explain that one a bit, so JR works at the end of the hall, door shut as to keep out noise and Finn. At the end of the hall there is a baby gate to keep out Jake ( Henry doesn't yet crawl). JR gets breaks from the phone and spends the time helping where he can, plug this one, change that one, chase the other. After all the kids are awake and JR is on the phones, Kate feeds, entertains, and changes the three, while also making sure Finn doesn't hurt Jake who doesn't hurt Henry who doesn't take Finns' truck or gator. This balance goes on thru out the day JR working and breaking, Kate feeding changing and feeding. I didn't see from PHX how much work it was, they live in Oahu, how could that be so bad? Then when its over they get to leave the kids and go to the beach, take a swim then later catch a movie. But who is watching the kids? They are, so in order to do those things they need to pack up three kids, (two if Scott is home) and that, if you have any kids even one is a task in itself. i could go on and on but the point is my outlook has changed on how life is in Oahu. JR, Kate, you guys are doing an amazing job. You took on a task that sounds like paradise to the rest of us, but is difficult to maintain every day. I know that now, you are great parents, great aunt and uncle to Jake, and a great brother and sister to Mandy and Scott. I know there is fun times during the grind (not food) I was a part of them. I just want you to know I have a greater respect for the task you took on, I want to thank you for making our trip more then we ever expected. I hope you are afforded a day out like Kendra and I got, a time to explore the island in a two seater drop top. But for now, thank you. Thank you for showing how it can be done, and for being human enough to show it's not all fun and games. Thank you for living in such a beautiful place, thank you too Scott and Mandy for opening up your home, surf boards, cars, pool and comfort for my family. It meant the world to us to be together like that. Ma-halo.

A sample

I have over 600 Oahu pics to go thru and edit, here is a sample.

Coming soon

Pics and a day by day (from what i remember) of our wicked sweet Oahu trip. Ma-halo for reading.

Lunch

Hmm

And all this time I have been asking for a blessing, thank you sir for setting me straight, now I will ask to be punished.

Lunch With J & J

Again Lunch with J&J

Lunch with John and Josh

Katy Perry (Hudson)

So she used to be Katy Hudson, now she is Perry. She sings a song about kissing girls and people really like it. Before they were famous.

JMM part 2

Check it out here.

Hospital visit take ? 10

So i have been bed ridden for the weekend with various symptoms. Fever, cough, sore throat, back pain, joint pain, and vomiting. After a while i could barely make it from my bed room to the living room without blacking out. I felt better after church sunday and went out to have lunch. That went well for about 20 min then i was sick in a whole new way. After returning home i decided to take a look down my throat to tell where the pain was coming from. The back of my throat was all red and swollen and I had little white spots all over. My fever came back and it was a steady climb so we went to the ER to get some antibiotics and pain pills for the back. I mistakenly told the doctor that my fever, last I checked, was at 106. He looked at me wide eyed and had a bit of a chuckle, guess i was ment to be in a coma at that temp. After a brief exam which included him sticking a swab down the back of my throat and asking me to say awwww, he determined I had strep throat. 4 out of 5 symptoms. I was really shooting for the 5th but came up short with a solid passing grade none the less. We filled the script and went home to rest. At the hospital I was given the option of getting a shot of penicillin or going home with the pills, he asked if i was allergic to pen and i told him i wasn't sure but I am allergic to a select few food items. Again a chuckle and he sent me on my way with the pills. Two hours after taking the pills i was in bed, covers off cause kendra is a furnace and touching her skin while having a fever causes mine to melt, my head, fingers, and back stated to itch. First sign of allergic reaction to pen? Hives. I go to the bathroom and turn on the light, sure enough welts and itchy spots in those places. While i was looking in the mirror i heard james asking "Do i look swollen to you?" As I returned to bed Kendra was on the phone with the ER, I think she has em on speed dial now, and they said stop the pills, take benadril and come back in the morning for a different prescription. As I am sitting in bed, chuckling to myself, I see a mosquito on my head board. Yep a freaking mosquito. Not hives, a freaking mosquito. So at that point i had a tough decision to make, risk third degree burns from exposure to Kendras' spider spooning or mosquito bites that send me into a panic thinking a am going to die due to anaphylactic shock. I took two more penicillin this morning and no mosquito bites have been found.

John Mark McMillian

We have part one of the interview done with JMM before the concert last month. Check it out here.

Work and Pain

Ok i know i am no good at this blogging thing but here we go. As Tyson sleeps at my feet (oh which reminds me, he is getting fixed tomorrow) my elbow hurts. I spent the weekend in Vegas for some fun and a UFC fight. UFC is a fighting league where guys get paid to punch, kick, knee, choke and try to break arms legs and ankles, and I love it. But that post is coming as soon as I get a few pics of the weekend. Anywho i bring up vegas cause i think it started there, the pain that is. I think i got Hold em elbow. A condition which occurs when a player gets a blister on his or her elbow from playing to much texas hold em. So my left elbow all of A sudden started bothering me on monday and when i inspected it i noticed a large blister right where i rest it on say a kitchen table or in this case a poker table. I didn't think much of it, i mean come on its a blister am i a wuss? So i went about my work day with only slight discomfort for the next two days. Today, today is a new chapter in the pain. Im gunna get a bit graphic cause its funny for those that know me and know the strange things that have happened to me in the past, ie: various nut allergies, almost killed by surfboard, bitten by some bug and taken to hospital, extreme reactions to ant bites. Ha freaking ha. So today i wake up and my elbow hurts more and now the blister is back, or so i thought. Just off to the side of the blister i feel heat and I see a pocket of nasty. As we all know this is a classic sign of infection, but why did my blister get infected? Well we can start by how I got the blister in the first place, a poker table in Vegas, but i think its more recent then that. You see I have been working at a job here in the phx that would make pest control and health inspectors ill. The building I am working on used to be KFC, right before christmas they closed it and it has been sitting vacant ever since. Recently it was broken into and all the copper was stolen from the panels and ac units and we were brought in to re-pull wire and hook everything back up so new tenants could move in. Well apart from the nasty 1/4 inch layer of grease on everything there are an extreme amount of cockroaches, pigeons, and rats in the building. The first day i had a huge roach climb my leg and almost make in into my shorts. Since the thieves destroyed the ac units on the roof the pigeons moved into the duct work inside the building leaving piles of poo where ever there is a register for the air. I opened up one panel and the bottom of it was overflowing with dead roaches, they like the heat the panel gives off i guess. The roof was nasty, pigeon nests everywhere with all stages of egg, half embryo and baby birds cooked by the heat. Well the new ac units were installed but the guys didn't clear out the birds from the duct work and now there are a number of dead birds in the ceiling some sticking half out of the registers in their last hopeless attempt at escape. This is how i think I got the infection in my elbow. We have been installing a new main panel in a closet kinda on the outside of the building, but right where we are installing it is where the drain is for the roof gutter. A roofing company came by and cleaned the roof by washing it down so all the pigeon poo and half babies and feathers and nasty drained right down then dried at my panel room doorstep. In the installation process i have been rolling around in that fine little dirt pile trying to get a 56 inch panel into a 55 inch closet. Every day i come home a pile of filth, a few days i just wanted to burn my clothes. I was taking a shower today and felt the urge to use a wash cloth and scrub myself till i bled, you know like they did in mid-evil times, a good blood letting. It reminded me of being a kid and mom would come up with that wash cloth and it felt like a cheese grater on my face. I needed a cheese grater all over by arms and legs today. I sent out a picture the other day of a few goodies I found at the job, i called it the three main food groups of KFC. If the infection gets worse I will go get some antibiotics, as far as staying clean at the job, not so much, I don't do well in pants and long sleeves due to the heat. I have been draining my elbow all day and it seems to be getting better, but time will tell. ( I had to add that part just for gross factor).




Also Kyle wrote on this after I sent him the pic you can read his thoughts here.

Thank you China for warning us.

Dang I was going to try this one on my fall salmon fishing trip. Back to the lure drawing board.

I watched Juno

It is a beautiful movie, very funny, great acting, and nice to see young talent in movies who make you feel rather than make crude jokes and do drugs. I recommend this move.
Before I went into the movie I got a call from my mom. She was asking me what my thoughts were on adoption, if i had thought about it for Kendra and I, and if I hadn't, to pray about it. If you are reading this asking yourself why I would be talking about adoption let me splain.

Kendra and I have been trying to get pregnant for three or four years now. Just until the past year we just thought we weren't going about it the right way, it wasn't the right time of month, or i had been drinking to much mountain dew. Things of that nature. We decided to each get a physical from a doctor to maybe see if our parts were working up to par starting with me. I had a bad test the first time, a horrible experience that i have posted about before. Then a month later I went back in to re-test, this time i studied, and i had a miraculous change of results. With this new found vigor we started the path of getting Kendra checked out. She has a regular cycle each month but as we have found out that means nothing. She is healthy, beautiful, and in her exams they have found nothing wrong. There was another test they had to do and that involved injecting a dye into her fallopian tubes and watch the path it takes from her ovaries to her uterus. I sat in the doctors office waiting room, pretending to read magazines and watch the t.v. I wasn't aloud to go into the exam room because they were using x-ray equipment to fallow the dye down the path. I paced the hall, stopping any doctor/nurse/lab tech/ i could and asked how things were going, can i go in, when can i see my wife. As one doctor left the room Kendra was in I could see her lying on the table, with another doctor bedside, I could make out the sound of her crying as the doc explained what was happening on the screen at the end of the table. "I'm sorry but we cant let you in because of the x-rays" were word that I couldn't bear to listen to. Were they hurting her? What were the words coming out of the doctors mouth and why did i want to punch her so bad for making my wife cry? Kendra came out and we sat in waiting for a few min before they called us in to go over the results. I found out that they weren't hurting her physically, but our emotions were about to go through hell. They found that her tubes failed to make the path from point a to point b. The dye didn't enter her uterus like it is supposed to, but instead stopped. Just stopped. After some discussion we found the reason behind the blockage. When Kendra was 16 her appendix burst. She stayed home thinking it was a flu or food poisoning for a week. As things progressed and got worse she went to the hospital and was admitted before finishing the paperwork. The doctors couldn't believe she was conscious, or even alive. They put her on a major antibiotic, it was actually a form of kemo or radiation they use for cancer, to fight the infection. Since she had made it this far with the burst appendix in her they didnt want to do surgery and risk spreading the infection even more, so they left it.

The doctor told us it was the first time he had heard of a burst not being surgically repaired. Because of the severity of the infection, scar tissue formed inside her abdomen. That scar tissue has formed around her fallopian tubes pulling them away from her uterus, thus breaking the chain of life. He was even concerned about doing a surgery to repair or even explore her abdomen. He fears that even the first cut to open her up might cut into her intestines or other organs that have been moved because of the scarring. Not to mention the fact that such a surgery wouldn't even be covered by insurance because of the fact that its not a "medical or life threatening" procedure it falls under a fertility procedure. He explained that invetro was still an option because her reproductive system, all though not complete, was doing everything right. Still an option but again not covered. I know it is expensive to have children but out of the gate we would pony up 10,000 for a 95% chance. A good chance for sure, I would take those odds any day, and still might.

I know in my heart that I will have children of my own, that my daughter Faith is going to look like her beautiful mother, and I will get to feel her kick and listen to her heart beat inside K. Adoption is something that I haven't thought about all that much because I am hanging on to hope and faith that the promise I have in my heart about my children will come to pass. I know adoption isn't a "fall back plan", adoption is a wonderful life saver for the abandoned and neglected generation of today. I feel it is the place of the Church to rise up and raise these children. Do I feel its the thing for me? I see my wife pregnant, i see the doctor smile as we see our baby in the ultrasound, i feel her kick. It's a reality to me, the hope is fed by faith. Are we going to do invetro? Kendra and I have talked about it a few times but not at length. Do i feel like i am giving up for considering it? Yes. I feel like i am selling God short, selling my faith for 10,000, just to have a child. Is that from God. No.

I liked this movie a lot. It was funny, i related to a few of the characters in the story. But as it ended I realized that I was still alive, still breathing, and I realized my heart was breaking. As we walked out of the movie K asked me if i liked the movie. I was silent because forming words would have made me weep, awkward for a lobby full of teens. As we walked to the car I thought about the pain in my chest, the hope, the waiting. I broke down as i reached the car, wept like I haven't wept in a while. I remembered. "Hope deferred makes the heart grow sick." And I felt my heart breaking. The pain of this experience had been forgotten, no not forgotten it had been there all along, just managed. Our friends and family are having more children, some of them are having there second or even third since we have been trying. They tip toe around K and I not wanting to hurt us by telling us their wonderful news, I don't want them to feel that way but i understand, they have seen our struggle and have seen our emotion. I don't blame them for having more, blame isn't even a word I should use. I am happy for them, to see their families grow. The Lord tells us to be fruitful and multiply. The funny thing is K and I were never good at math. But we hang onto the promise and the word. Thank you for loving us through this. We love all of you and cant wait to one day tell you our good news. With all my heart I love you, as much as it hurts right now.