the "Martin" family

Since the beginning of 2012, each week could easily be described as "crazy."

I started my Spring semester of my Junior year!  Woopwoop!  My stubbornness might come to bite me in the butt this semester.  I'm determined to finish school in a prompt manner and come out debt free.  This means taking around 18 credit hours each semester.  Up till now, I thought, "No big deal."  Ha...this time around I might be regretting this life choice.  But, it's all good.  I have some really quality professors this time which makes a world of difference.

Also, I'm back at work!  Oh my goodness, praise GOD!  I flippin' love my job and all my little kiddos so much.  Makes me happy.

Things with dad have been a whirlwind these past few weeks.  To catch up:
- Did another CT scan and found out the cancer has spread to his liver & bones. 
- The bump on his stomach that we thought was a torn muscle is a tumor
- There is a tumor pressing against his heart
- He is still on oxygen
- Had more fluid removed from his lungs (less than two weeks after the last operation) and there was more fluid than before.
- My parents will be heading down to Texas for a few weeks to get treatment from a guy down there. 

So, all this news is for sure not "good" news.  I think that's pretty obvious.  And yes, it really stinks.  But at the same time, I firmly believe God holds us when everything is spinning out of control.  He picks us up when we've fallen to our knees.  He provides in the nick of time.  And he speaks tenderly when the worries of the world are screaming.  But most of all, He is a God of healing.  He is a God of miracles.  

Blake flew in town the weekend we found this out.  Along with my uncle.  It was great having them here.  It's always so nice to have family close.

This past weekend all my aunts, uncles and some cousins from my dad's side came in town.  Talk about a family reunion!  The last time I saw them I was like 7 years old.  So, I basically met them all for the first time.  Haha, it was odd to introduce myself to someone that I'm blood related to...but the awkwardness quickly disappeared.  We went from strangers to family in just one weekend.  There was laughing, joking, story telling, picture showing, tears shed, food eaten and pictures taken.  They are all awesome and I can officially claim them as mine :)

I'm working my way through reading the Bible in a year and I couldn't be loving it more.  Check out CCV's program to read it in a year.  It's so easy to keep up with and it's awesome.

I STARTED A PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG!  Oh my goodness, so pumped about it!!  Go follow it to keep up my some of my pictures!

Anyways, I guess that's a summary of what's happenin'.  Please keep my parents in your prayers as they travel and get treatment.  We are praying in faith that this will be a turn around point for dad.  And pray for my sanity this semester ;)

P.S. God blessed me with money from a house sitting job this weekend.  So, looks like I'm ditching school and work for a few days to venture off to the Lone Star State with the parents!  I wanted to help them with travel and get them settled.  Anyone have any tips, advice, or know anything/anyone in Houston?!?

This perfectly describes school:

-the lightrail

-people

-and lots of cigarettes

Got to watch these beautiful babies.  Love them so much!

Some "Martin" family

looking back to go forward

Happy 2012!

Can you believe it's a new year...already?  As always, it seems like just yesterday I was sitting down praying and thinking about goals and aspirations for the new year.  Yet, here we are again.

Some major points of 2011 include:

-Chaperone for missions trip in South Dakota & Costa Rica

-Summer Youth Intern at church

-One brother married, and another engaged

-Dad diagnosed with cancer for the second time

-Month of July living in Arizona

-Long weekend with my sis-in-law, Ky, in Seattle & Spokane, WA

-Got back into running

-Mourned the death of Tom & Steph.

-Road tripped across Colorado with my girl, Irene

-Bought a new camera/got more into photography

-Over half way done with college 

Every year has it's ups and downs.  It's challenges and it's victories.

Looking back on 2011 I am reminded of the awesome places God allowed me to go and how he used me.  Mmm makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.  However, I am also reminded of the long, trying nights.  If I'm being honest with myself, and you, 2011 was by far one of the hardest years I can remember.  There were many trying times.  Lots of late, stressful nights.  And way too many tears shed.

But I can't complain. 

I got the chance to live another year.  I grew in ways I can't even begin to explain.  I realized things about myself that I never knew before.  I came to a point in my life that I felt like everything was spinning out of control, but God held it together for me. In 2011 I arrived at my breaking point multiple times.  But looking back I can see God was faithful in getting me through it all. And now that is something to be thankful for.

Okay, so that was 2011.

But now it's 2012, a new year.

Some of my goals include:

-Read the Bible in a year

-Run over 8 miles

-Get paid for my photography 

-Love/bless people through their love language(s)

-Be overly generous 

I'm excited to see what God will do in this next year.  As the saying goes:

"I don't know what my future holds.  But I know who holds my future."

Dad Update:

I know many of you are wondering what on earth happened this week.  Well, let's just say this week has been anything but good and relaxing.  Dad was in severe pain with constriction in his chest, making it very hard to breathe.  When his fingers started going numb, we called 911.  The paramedics were unable to take us to the right hospital so around midnight I drove my parents to the ER.  That night they controlled the pain and ran some tests.  We ended up staying two nights in the ICU because the hospital was full.  They did a procedure where they extracted fluid that was around his lungs (around 1 and a half liters of fluid).  They sent us home with many pain meds and an oxygen tank.  Apparently his oxygen levels were/are very low so he now has to always be hooked up to oxygen.  Therefore, the newest addition to our house is a huge oxygen machine with two portable tanks.  The pain meds have helped reduce the pain greatly but he is very...ummm...well, drugged while taking them.  He is very weak and low on energy.

I think that sums it up for the most part.  It was a really hard, emotional, and stressful week for everyone.  I'm just praying things will settle down in the week to come and God will give clear guidance on what to do next.  Thanks so much for all your continued love, prayers & support! 

"The LORD sits enthroned over the flood" (Psalm 29:10).

I love the visual of God sitting above the floods of our lives.  When the storms are raging He pulls us up out of the waters and sits us with Him.

In this new year I hold onto this promise:

"I am still confident of this:

I will see the goodness of the LORD

in the land of the living.

Wait for the LORD;

be strong and take heart

and wait for the LORD."

-Psalm 27:13-14 

some pictures of the week:

the perfect Christmas.

Christmas came and went so fast!


We did so much in that week:


-Went to the Trail of Lights at Chatfield
-Did last-minute shopping
-Bought way too many Starbucks drinks
-Spent time relaxing at the house
-Cooked chicken Paprikash with home-made halushka (our Hungarian roots comin' out)
-Went to Christmas Eve service @ Denver United Church 
-Christmas morning at Sanctuary Christian with the whole family
-Ky and I got our annual Christmas morning Starbucks for everyone (12 drinks in all)
-Built an epic K'nex set with the sibs
-Played card games into the wee hours of the morning
-Took way too many pics between Em, Ky and I.
-Ice skating & hockey playing on Evergreen Lake.  One of my biggest highlights of the week. Playing 5 on 5 with all the bros.  Super proud of my two goals :)
-Two Avalanche games
-Shooting guns at our friends' ranch 
-Spending some good old family bonding time together.


This Christmas was pretty different from Christmases past.  Our family seems to be continually growing so this year seemed especially crazy.  Any activity we wanted to do required at least three cars.  I felt like a little mother hen counting heads to make sure we had everyone.  There were definitely moments when there were three different sources of music playing, people laughing, dog barking, and people yelling over each other to talk. Haha but I wouldn't have traded it for anything.  It has become a rare treat, a special blessing, to have everyone together.  


I would be lying I said it was all pure bliss.  It wasn't a "perfect" holiday.  Dad felt really bad most of the time.  Stress levels were high.  There were prayer & tear filled nights.  People got on each others' nerves.  But the fact that we could all be together for it, to cherish the good times and support each other in the hard times, is really what makes it.  That's really all that matters in the end.  There will always be something that goes wrong - like a leaking roof on Christmas - but that's just a part of life.  It keeps it interesting and, in a strange way, brings us closer together.  And that, truly, is what makes for a perfect Christmas.  


To be close to the ones you love.  

Making memories that last for years.   

most wonderful time

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Christmas is less than a week away.

Family is soon to be in town.

Gifts wrapped and under the tree.

Cleaning is coming along.

Baking will ensue in a few days.

Decorations have long been ready.

Christmas music is the tune of choice.

I love Christmas so much.

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

However, I have been reminded this year that not everyone sees Christmas as being "jolly and bright."  There are families struggling to pay the bills.  Kids go another holiday without family. Some hope to just "get through" the holiday season.  

My heart and prayers go out for these people.

I hope, regardless of what's going on, that you can find some joy this holiday season.  Be glad in the fact that you are simply alive and healthy.  You can walk.  You can talk.  You can see.  You can breathe.  And you can enjoy.  Above all, I hope we can all be overjoyed by the fact that God sent his son to us.  So that you can live, breathe, love, and cherish life.

love, joy & peace to you all!

 

through it all

I'm not sure where to start this post.

This past week has been completely insane. In every way.

I could tell you every little detail of it and bore you senseless...but I think I'll just hit the major things that happened:

-Parade of Lights last weekend: so magical!  I looooove getting to do that every year :)

- Had my last week of classes for the Semester!  Woo!  It was one of those weeks that I kept asking myself, "WHY am I going to this school!?"  Between professors and students, I was super frustrated.  I've found that when I'm in classes that are extremely easy and I don't seem to learn anything from them, I just end up hating the class.  It seems like the biggest waste of money & time. *sigh* one more day. one more day. one more day.  Puedo hacerlo.

-A random lady yelled at me when I was waiting for the lightrail.  She was apparently talking to me and I didn't know it so she went off on me.  Then, once upon the light rail, a guy shoved me out of the way so he could get off the train.  I ended up stumbling back and running into a lady.  Some people...I tell ya.

- This past Saturday I spent all day working on Christmas presents!  Oh man, I'm soooo excited to do our home-made Christmas gift exchange this year!

- My computer is pretty much toast.  I worked on it for two days and it's just done.  Thankfully I was able to get all my pictures off it before it totally tanked (haha I got my pictures but none of my old school papers...shows you what I think is important in life).  Suuuper lame. I'm just glad it's the end of the semester.  So, I'm on the hunt for a cheap laptop (preferably a mac).  Let me know if you or anyone you know is looking to sell theirs!  

- As some of you may know, Sunday was quite the day for the Martin household.  Because of some odd symptoms, mom took dad to an Urgent Care center on Sunday morning while everyone else went to church.  They ran a test which came back abnormal.  The lady said he had to go to the ER because he either just had or was about to have a heart attack.  So, I spent most of Sunday in the Emergency Room with my parents.  They ran many, many more tests and found out:

1. The tumors are bigger.

2. He didn't have a heart attack nor was in danger of one (thank you, JESUS!)

3. Blood work didn't look super great.

4. He has some fluid buildup on the lungs and in the ankles. 

The doctor said lots of other stuff...but that's the bottom line of what happened.

Thanks so much to ALL of you that were praying for dad and all of us doing that time.  We all really, really appreciate it.

Dad isn't feeling much better.  He is still in a LOT of pain, getting very little sleep, tore a muscle in his stomach from coughing, and still has a hard time breathing while laying down/shortness of breath.

So, please keep him in your continued prayers!  Thanks!

I guess you could say this week has been...well, rough.  Lots of curve balls and challenges that I didn't really want to get thrown my way.  But ya know, I can't really complain.  I have a God that walks with me every step of the way.  Every moment of every day.  Teaching, guiding, and loving me through it all.  And I have awesome friends and family that are always supportive. 

In regards to the picture above, I taught a little class at work about how to make a Christmas stocking!  It was really fun and they turned out real cute.  

Sometimes I find myself wanting my life to look like the one to the left - perfect, clean, organized, put together.  And I think I try my best to make it so that things are that way in my life.  However, when looking back at this week, I see my life looking more like the one to the right - disheveled, chaotic, eclectic, changing, sporadic, and messy.  It is nice to have all your ducks in a row (especially if you're slightly OCD like me) but I think there is also a time to accept the mess in your life.  Many times you can't control it.  Stuff happens.  Life happens.  Learning to be okay with the things I can't change and striving to make the best of it will surely be something that I'll continue working on.

Anyways, on a lighter note...here are some pictures from the week:

 

 Parade of Lights!

 

 Ok...think what you want...

but one of the greatest little things is when you walk into the bathroom stall and you realize you're the first one to use it since it's been cleaned.

So awesome. hahaha it's the little things in life.

 

 Catholic church on campus

  Went to the Tattered Cover and H&M downtown with Irene on my lunch break! So great!

 

Also, I got to take Christmas pictures for my lovely friends and their adorable kids!

 

This is probably my favorite picture I've taken thus far.

It's been quite the week.  Hope you all have a splendid week to come.

Through it all, I hope you can seek, love and know God in a deeper way regardless of what may or may not come your way.

favorite things

"If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit."

-Galatians 5:25

I've been thinking about the Holy Spirit this week.

Such an interesting topic in the Bible. 

The fact that God wanted to be with us ALL the time that he chose to give us a part of Him: His Spirit....just blows my mind.

He says He does  not give us the Spirit in small amounts, but He gives it to us abundantly.

Even in the times when we don't seem to "feel" the Spirit or "feel" like he's doing a work in our lives, he's there.

Emanuel: God with us.

So intricately attached...surrounded...encompassed by His Spirit.

Also, I just finished reading "Heaven is For Real" by Todd Burpo.

It was given to me by a dear friend and I can't recommend it enough.

It will have you thinking about heaven for weeks.

An easy read and a truly stunning depiction of how REAL heaven is.

Go check it out!

 The following pictures are some of my favorite things that God sprinkled into my life this past week:

 

"snowflake" chai from my fave coffee shop 

gorgeous sunset God painted for me while at work 

 mini Martinelli's!!  I squealed when I saw these.

I got to see so many long-lost friends. Ahh...fills my heart.

 

Snow + Christmas lights = by far one of my most favorite things 

Our family was blessed by a new, beautiful, perfect addition this week!

I love her way too much already.

 That fresh, new baby smell is one of the best smells on earth.

H

Haha so I decided to try to do a little DIY project.

It turned out pretty well!

Bought a $5 nasty sweater from Goodwill,

cut it, sewed it,

and viola! 

A new, warm winter skirt!

:)

RANDOM:

I'm sitting in a coffee shop (AKA: the perfect place to listen to random convos)

This high school boy is talking to what seems to be his shrink.

Haha I just heard this:

Boy said, "Me and my sister don't really get along."

Shrink, "What happened?"

Boy, "I was getting out of the car, she got pissed, and she punched me. IN THE FACE!!"

Shrink, "Hahahahahhahahahaha."

hahahhaha this made my day.  His face was priceless.

oh my lanta

Oh, my lanta...

--I'm on Fall break (holla!!!)

--Haircut, new glasses, & got my nails did

--Christmas lights & Christmas music are spreading through town and ME OH MY I'm so flippin' full of the Christmas spirit!! It's sufficient to say I'm freaking out.

--Kate & Prince William are having a baby!

--Random lady on campus had me answer her research questions by asking me if I'd pay to have "Sleeping PODS" on campus. I walked away laughing really hard.  I truly don't know why bizarre people feel the need to pick me out of thousands of people.  Haha seriously, why me?!?

--I was rocking out to Christmas music in rush hour traffic and got some pretty hilarious looks.

--Watched "The Never Ending Story" (one and two) at work.  Have you SEEN that junk?!  I'm convinced whoever wrote that were on mad drugs.

--So many fiestas this weekend! Love it!

--My science teacher (middle age, single, ex-Navy, fat, bald) wanted the girls in my class to hang out with him in is office.  He said we can just talk or play scrabble.  Well, if I didn't think he was a weird creep before that, that sealed the deal for me!

--Dad has been doing better this past week - less pain, less nausea.  Started a new treatment in town that radiates the blood with UV lights.  Praying that this treatment will be the miracle we're praying for!

--Preparing for Thanksgiving festivities!  Friends+Family+Food!

--Feeling so thankful for fellowship.  Being around people who can challenge, encourage and share life with you.  Granted, quality time is my love language...so I know I might think this is better than others may think.  But, I think it's one of the greatest things on earth.

oh my lanta, 

oh my lanta,

oh my lanta!

so much, so much.

hahaha I got the craziest glasses I saw. 

Nerdy? yes.

Way too hipster? yes.

But I figured I only wear them at home, so mine as well get some that made me happy! 

haha they're ridiculous.

 I feel like it's impossible to pick out a nail color. There are way too many choices!  I feel like every time I get my nails done, the monumental challenge of picking the right color is daughnting. 

haha any guy who reads this is going to think I'm certifiable.

Can I get an "amen" from my sistahs out there?!

CHRISTMAS!!!  

Oh my word...so magical :)

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Praise God for all the things He has blessed you with!