Merry Christmas to all!

And to all a gooooooooooooood night.

Praising God for my family upping their get along percentage for the holidays.

I feel awful (still) but it's been an overall good day.

Tomorrow involves more food, more family, and a visit from Matt. I don't need anything else.

I pray you are able to celebrate this Christmas and cherish the little baby that came to save.

Sometimes, even I don't want to write.

There were some deep, introspective thoughts I had to share tonight about the power of music and how even though my mom and I spent half the car ride to Durham (3+ hours) arguing, we spent the whole ride back teasing and joking because we were singing to The Eagles and the Nashville soundtrack the entire time.

But now I'm laying in my warm and toasty bed and the house is finally silent after a whole bunch of yelling and arguing after Mom and I got home, and all I want to do is enjoy the quiet and go to sleep.

So yeah. Sometimes I don't even want to write. And that's okay.

Oh, North Carolina.

The land where nothing about the weather ever makes sense.

Especially when you live 10 minutes from the beach.

That's how you can have an iced-over car one day and be sweating the next.

It's 3 days before Christmas and 70+ degrees outside. Gotta love it.

Thankful for the beauty of air conditioning.

I slept a lot today.

Tomorrow, I have to go to Durham. But at least I should see Matt tomorrow night! And Holly and Michael get in on Tuesday.

This is why I love the holidays. PEOPLE.

I'd forgotten how awful this is.

Swallowing is a bit easier.

But my throat is very very swollen and itchy and I can't put ice packs on it because the weight of the packs hurts too bad.

And the body aches are brutal.

I wouldn't get out of bed at all if I didn't have to.

Ugh.  Here's praying for a better day tomorrow.

Yet another day.

Not totally sure where today went.

Swallowing still hurts.

My eyes hurt.

Breathing is a little bit easier, so yay for that.

I like sleep. And also Popsicles. I'm having weird dreams. Not about Popsicles, though.

My cousin had shoulder surgery. Mom finally got the infection out of her shoulder surgery wound. Christmas dinner will be interesting.

My mom had students come over to clean our garage and set up our Christmas tree. She introduced me as "That's Mallory, with her throat slit," and has been calling me Frankenstein the rest of the day. I love it.

Also, for some reason, my ears keep popping like I'm on a landing plane. It's weird.

Good night.

I am quite over today.

The first day or two after surgery are the worst. Add in the fact that I'm sick and I'm just all in all miserable.

Every muscle in my body hurts. It's so weird how surgery on your throat can make your abdominal muscles spaz every time you try to sit up. So needless to say, I haven't done much sitting up today.

Oh, and then there's the fact that my mother is mad at me because I'm upset that she didn't come home until almost 8:00, leaving me to fend for mysef several more hours than was necessary (because Chelsea is never any help), because apparently to her, going out to dinner with the boyfriend she sees all the time anyway is of higher priority than helping the daughter who just had surgery yesterday. Never mind the fact that I've been at her beck and call every second that I've been in this house in the four weeks since her surgery. And I was even doing stuff for her last night. You know, like four hours after getting out of surgery. But sure, I'm the outrageous and selfish one.

So yeah, I'm completely over today. At least I got to talk to Matt for like 45 minutes. That was awesome. And he's coming home for Christmas. I am stoked about that. :)

All good.

Going to try to sum this up as quickly as possible.

Surgery didn't start until 2:30. Not surprising, that's how the medical field works, but also not fun to wait 2.5 extra hours.

I was awake in recovery by 4:30, discharged around 6:00. Impressively quick.

Doc told Mom I'm a medical phenomenon. Not the first time I've heard that. She said she's done thousands of thyroid surgeries and has never seen one grow back at all, let alone find a perfect little right half of one like she did during my surgery.  I've yet to hear of a medical professional who has actually seen this happen before.

She had to make a new incision. I had the same one for the other two surgeries and even though she told me she was going to use the same one, she told Mom that once she started, she just thought it would be too risky. The new incision is right at the base of my neck where it runs into my chest, so it should heal up okay.
I feel about as good as can be expected. Imagine the worst sore throat that you have ever had and then multiply that by 50. Thank God I have popsicles and soup.

My whole head and neck hurt. But I'm good. My anxiety was much lower than usual, and it was helped by the fact that Pastor Sean drove all the way to Kinston from Dunn (a good 2.5 hours) just to pray with me.
Thanks for the prayers. They are felt and appreciated. Continue to pray for pain management and healing.

The day after Texas, the day before surgery.

This morning, I didn't get up until 8:00.  Mommom got here at 8:15.  That is so very unlike me, but it's my own fault.  I stayed up half the night getting caught up on all the TV show winter finales I didn't even try to watch while I was in Texas.  Normally, though, I can get myself up on time if I know I have somewhere to be, but today it just wasn't happening.  Thankfully Mommom hadn't eaten breakfast, either, so she didn't mind stopping at all.

When you schedule surgery only 8 days in advance and for a day that's two days after you get back from a trip, you really don't have any time to waste.  Today I had to head to Kinston for my pre-op stuff.  It was typical.  A quick meeting with my doctor to go over some details, then instructions on where I needed to go over at the hospital (which is only across the street, yay).  I had to watch some stupid instructional video and then registered and went to get my bloodwork done.  Then we had to wait a while to see the anesthesiologist because for some reason there was only one there, so he was having to run back and forth between people like me and operating rooms.  Everything went off no problem, though, and we were leaving Kinston by 12:30, got lunch, and were back in Swansboro by 2:00.

I couldn't call to find out what time my surgery tomorrow is until after 3:00 because they don't finalize the schedule until late in the day, so I decided to take a nap.  I didn't plan on sleeping until 4:30, but at least I woke up and called before they left for the day.  Hooray!  For once I don't have to be up before the sun for surgery.  My surgery isn't scheduled until 12:00 noon, so we don't have to be there until 10:30, which means we don't have to leave the house until 9:00.  Mom and I are both thrilled about that.

Mom made tacos for dinner before 7:00, which was when I was no longer allowed to have anything but clear liquids, and I spent a good portion of the night working on some stuff for my grad school applications.  I also organized stuff for tomorrow, took my first of two pre-surgery showers with the nasty scrub they give you, and spent a good bit of time talking to friends.  Around 11:00, I had a big bowl of chicken broth.  Agh.

I've been working on getting caught up on the blog ever since (obviously).  I usually don't sleep much the night before a surgery, anyway, so this was as good a time as any, and I'm glad I won't get even more behind.  Now it's almost 3:30 in the morning.  My alarm is set for 7:45.  I'll probably load up my computer (because I highly doubt I'll even want to pick it up for a few days), and then lay in bed and do stuff on my phone until I get tired enough to sleep for a bit.  Writing all these blog posts did make me feel more tired than usual, so that's a good sign. :)

I'll try and get a quick post up tomorrow night (from my phone), just to let  y'all know I'm okay.  If I don't get on here, you can probably find updates on my Twitter, because that is much easier to use, especially in a drugged up state.  Thank you for your prayers!

Goodbye. For now.

Monday morning, I dragged myself out of bed at 7:30.  Not because I was tired.  Because I simply didn't want to leave.  I had a text from Alma as she took Dennis to school that she'd left breakfast for me on the table, so I got dressed and finished packing my stuff up, neither of which took long at all, and headed downstairs with my suitcase.  I was eating as Alma returned, and Alex came down right around that same time and started getting his own breakfast.  His high school doesn't start until 9:00, the lucky thing!  Alma was telling us how Dennis got up late because he overslept because he was so tired, and I couldn't help but laugh a little.  We kept joking that "because Mal was here" should be a totally valid excuse for the boys for being so dreadfully tired at school and maybe not having their work done. Don't I feel special. ;)

Alma, Alex, and I just stood around talking as Alex ate.  I had time to kill and definitely enjoyed the extra time with them.  Alex actually ended up leaving for school a few minutes late I think, but neither of them seemed to care.

I managed to get one more picture with him before he left.  And I hugged him, but we talked for a few more minutes and then he decided he had to give me one more hug.  I think they like me. ;)

Alex was heading out the door about 8:55, just as Alexis showed up to take me to the airport (yes, the same Alexis from yesterday).  I had to get out of there real quick because Alma was on the verge of tears, and if she started full on crying, I was going to full on cry, too, and I didn't want to be sad.  The visit was so amazing I wanted to keep my mind on all the positive things.

Alexis ran me by a Sonic that was on the way so I could get some more food for breakfast that wasn't outrageously expensive.  We talked the whole way to the airport.  I got to know more about her.  She is such a sweet girl!  I'm thankful that we had already traded numbers because I knew I wanted to keep in touch with her.  When we finally got to the airport, she even got out and got my bag for me, and then hugged me and told me she loved me.  Pretty instant friends, if you ask me. :)

I don't like how I look in this picture, but I love it because I'm so happy I got a picture with Alexis!

The Austin airport is a lot smaller than I realized, a lot smaller than it felt when I was trying to get out of it on Thursday, so getting to my gate took no time at all.  Add in the fact that Alexis and I got there quite a bit earlier than expected, and I had plenty of time to waste as I waited for my flight.  So I listened to music, texted many of my new friends about how happy I was to have been there and how great the visit was, and writing on The City about the same things, and then just simply reminiscing about everything that had happened in the past few days.  I kept looking down at my wrist at one of the few little gifts that Alma had given me throughout the past few days, and I was grinning like a fool.

This is an I Am Second bracelet, but not just any one.  It's Alma's.  She gave it to me.  I plan on never taking it off.  Ever.  :)  It's the perfect little memento for me to carry around as a reminder of all that these days in Texas held.  I left a piece of my heart there in Austin, and with this bracelet, I'll never forget that I'm carrying pieces of the hearts of several people there around with me, as well.

This is the caption I put with this picture on Facebook: "Chris told the congregation that I have fallen in love with the church.  And that's true.  I loved these people fiercely before I ever stepped foot on Texas soil.  Spending a few days with them only served to solidify and strengthen that love, but more importantly, it made me fall infinitely more in love with Jesus.  I left Texas with a new resolve to make God first in every part of my life, and I'm going to wear this bracelet wherever I go as a reminder of what this trip did for me."

I hate goodbyes, especially with people as far away as they are.  But I told everyone that this wouldn't be the last time they saw me in Wells Branch.  I'm certain of it.  They mean too much to me now for me to not make my way back to Texas one day.  I don't know how, and I don't know when, but I will be back.

There aren't words to accurately describe the gratitude that fills every part of my soul because of this journey I made to Texas.  There are things I learned this weekend that I am never going to forget, and people who have made a permanent mark on my heart.

We Are Family

Sunday morning was church!  Alma ran me to the rec center (where the services are held) before the first service, because her family goes to second service, but I wanted to go to both to meet as many people as possible.

I got there early (of course) and got to see the action of setting up and meet Mona, another woman whose name I recognized from The City, who also happened to be Ciara's mom.  She was so sweet and surprised me by giving me a beautiful hat and scarf that she had crocheted!  Chris made sure he found me a shirt, because Alma had been telling me since Thursday that I needed to get one.

apparently a burnt orange (the color of the University of Texas) Live for More t-shirt makes me a winner. so says Chris, anyway. ;)

I loved getting to see firsthand what a service was like after only knowing the sermons online for a year.  And of course, I ended up sitting right next to a girl, Alexis, who never posts on The City but follows everything on there and knew me from that.  The funny thing was, she showed up a few minutes late, but her boyfriend Sam knew who I was because she had told him about me.  I ended up not being able to make it through, though, because my health would just not cooperate.  Alexis came and took care of me after that service so that Alma didn't have to miss, and it was a beautiful time of getting to know her.  Sam would have been there, too, but he had to go help a friend.

Eventually we got back to Alma's house.  I was going to take a nap, but ended up hanging out with Alex and Ciara until they left for youth group with Dennis.  

See...I made Alex take a smiling picture with me, too.  I think I managed to get him to do it by reminding him that I was leaving the next day.  ;)  Just kidding!  He's as sweet as his brother, at least to me. :p  I don't think he minded my penchant for pictures.

The funniest thing about that bit of hanging out with them was that somehow Ciara started trying to draw pictures of me.  They are hilarious.  And yes, I took pictures of them.

#1 - we both agreed that she gave me a butt nose.  so that led to...

#2 - in which I have tiny puckered lips and a very pointy chin and long neck.  Apparently Ciara is a bit of a perfectionist (I can totally relate), so she went for...

#3 - where she got so tired of messing up my nose that she decided not to give me one at all.  but when I mentioned it, she added to it...

Boom.  Don't ask me why she drew it like that.  Ciara is an enigma. ;)  One final attempt before they left for youth group led to this....

#5.  The dinosaur was not planned.  It happened after she decided she didn't like the original shape of my head, and then when she drew a new line for my chin, she just suddenly went, "Oooo!  Dinosaur!"

Then, they had to leave for youth group and I slept for almost 3 hours.  I woke up just in time to eat a late dinner, and I finished right as they returned with a carton of mint chocolate chip ice cream.  I told them that I would wake up to hang out with them for the night (I needed to wake up to eat and take my medicine anyway), so Alex told me they'd bring back some ice cream, and they so sweetly brought my favorite.  Ciara and I devoured that thing as we, Alex, and Dennis sat around watching several episodes of How I Met Your Mother.  I've never seen that show before, but it's funny!

Alma and Francisco went to bed around 10:00, I think, and the four of us stayed up goofing off.  We were dancing around like idiots, and with some nudging from Ciara and me, I got to see Alex twerk.  Ha!  The self-proclaimed grumpy old grandpa actually twerked.  It was hysterical.  Dennis kept saying he couldn't do it because he doesn't have a butt like Alex.  I think the skinny jeans also helped. (You're welcome, Alex. Now the world knows you can twerk. :p)  We danced around to the Cha Cha Slide and the Cupid Shuffle until I just couldn't anymore because my asthma kicked in.  I also may or may not have rapped them the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song for them.  The details cannot be confirmed. ;)

Once we sort of got tired of music, we just started talking about all sorts of random stuff, and something Alex and Ciara mentioned made me think of these two funny videos from the comedian Jim Gaffigan on McDonald's and Hot Pockets.  So I played them for them on their laptop.

And then the computer died.  So we just sat around being weird together some more.  Including taking group selfies.  

I also went up and took a shower at one point.  Finally about 1 am, we all decided we had to get to bed.  The boys had school in the morning, but they just said they were having so much fun that they would rather hang out with me.  So who was I to complain? ;)  Before Ciara headed home, she came over and gave me a big hug (since I was leaving in the morning) and then she just sort of fell on me, so I got Alex to take a picture of it. :)

Believe it or not, those few hours of hanging out with Alex, Ciara, and Dennis, they were the highlight of the weekend.  I'm not sure why, but it was just so sweet and special.  Sitting around with them felt so natural.  And I had no idea I could have so much fun with a 19 year old, 17 year old, and 13 year old.  But if you had walked in, or observed that scene as a stranger, I don't think you would have had any idea that we'd only known each other a couple of days.  That time meant so much to me that on the spur of the moment, I asked if we could all pray together before Ciara went home.  I was so unbelievably happy that I wanted to take the time with them to thank God for the bonds that had been solidified that night.  And Ciara prayed, too, and the things that she said were so simple and beautiful.  I'm amazed I didn't cry when I went to bed that night.

As if there had been any doubt in my mind before, these guys are my family.  And I am so blessed to be able to call them that.  :)