who says all mergers turn out bad...

Mark it down, on the seven month and five day mark I was awarded my first performance based salary increase at my job.

It's crazy to think that with the merger there were a lot of people anxious about their future with the company. With all of the rumors, there were a couple of times when I felt anxious. My department made the team and with the reorganization that followed there was a budget increase. Needless to say, I was definitely shocked when my boss came to me today and told me that he got approval from HR to use part of the budget increase to increase my salary because of my hard work and contributions to the team. Oh yeah buddy!

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." James 1:17

Life is good

Free pizza day at work
+
Free wing stop tonight with other godly singles care group leaders
=
A very happy Lew


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Laura just took her last final and did very well
+
Laura will soon have an interview at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the pediatrics department
=
A very happy Laura

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I used to like reading the Dilbert comic strip and found some amusement from it. Now I LOVE reading the dilbert comic strip and am greatly amused by it as I wonder how the author knows my co-workers.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Speaking of comic strips, there a new biography on Charles Schultz that sounds very interesting.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you haven't bought the new Shane & Shane CD, buy it now. Without a doubt one of the best CD's that I have heard in a long while. There are so many songs that are just amazing, one of my favorites is "Vision of You"

Come meet us, King Jesus.
Oh wind of change blow through this temple.
Sweet spirit of God, come and mend our hearts.
For all we have are songs. Unless you come.

Awaken what's inside of me.
Tune my heart to all You are in me.
Even though you're here, God come.
May the vision of You be the death of me.
and even though You've given everything.
Jesus come!

Come free us, King Jesus.
Its the only way that freedom is given.
From you and you alone in the work You've already done.
All we have are songs, unless You come.

Awaken what's inside of me.
Tune my heart to all You are in me.
Even though you're here, God come.
May the vision of You be the death of me.
and even though You've given everything.
Jesus come!

Here we are, Lord, in this place.
Crying out for Your embrace.
To hear Your voice more than songs.

Awaken what's inside of me.
Tune my heart to all You are in me.
Even though you're here, God come.
May the vision of You be the death of me.
and even though You've given everything.
Jesus come!

Another great song on that CD is Psalm 62. So honest and filled with truth.

He's the only one strong enough to lean my heaviness against.
The weight of all my sin falling on a rock.
Leaning on a fortress.
Oh the wall of God.
He won't move.

On God I rest my salvation.
My fortress shall not be shaken.
My mighty rock and my glorious.
I lay my head upon His chest.

Oh I am calling out.
Oh my soul, oh my stubborn soul.
Won't you wait on Him.
Wait in the guilt. Even in your fear.
Oh your God is here to lean on.
He won't move.

He has spoken. Hear his voice:
"I have come for the broken."
So all ye weary come and rest.

On God I rest my salvation.
My fortress shall not be shaken.
My mighty rock and my glorious.
I lay my head upon His chest.

Why am I telling you all of these lyrics? Just go out and buy the CD now!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Definitely more to tell, but why talk about life when you can live it!

Back from the beach!

We made it back and had a great weekend with my brother and sister-in-law and her family. The weather was so nice! We had an interesting turn of events, however, in terms of that pesky tooth that I thought I had done away with. It started Friday night when I began to have excruciating pain (worst than before) in the area where the tooth was extracted and the pain was going into my jaw. I was very anxious because the pain shouldn't have been that severe. I tried to tough it out into Saturday, but the pain was getting so severe that even the Vicodin mixed with the 800mg of ibuprofen wasn't working at all. Interesting enough the only thing that brought some relief was drinking cold water and swishing back to the area where the tooth was. Anyways I called my friend who is a Dentist and she at first thought it was something called dry socket where the clot comes dislodged after a tooth extraction, but after consulting with another dentist they believed I had an infection that somehow worked it's way into my bone causing the severe pain. Yikes. It was pretty bad. I was so anxious, this is one of those times that nurse logic works against you as you contemplate all the "what ifs"; I was thinking that it was something really bad because I had never had such severe pain. God was so good to me during this time, even in the midst of it He gave me much grace and peace and continuously reminded me of His promise to sustain me and help me. Anyways, my dentist friend saved me a trip to the ER in OC and called me in a really strong dose of antibiotics and then gave me a double dose of Vicodin mainly to help me to sleep because I had gotten little sleep in 2 days. Well God is so good and suddenly Sunday night when I was the most weary and the pain was getting so severe all of the sudden it stopped. God answered our prayers and the pain was gone. Although I am still really sore I am full of faith that God is working through this trial. And all in all we were still able to enjoy our trip. We had a great day Monday and overall it was a nice relaxing trip and we got to spend a lot of time together. If you guys could keep praying for me as my doctor isn't sure if there could be a bigger problem behind this. Because of my syndrome they think the pain could possibly be Neuralgia ( a nerve problem) which would make sense because I have 12 nerves on the right side instead of the normal 5. If you could pray that the pain doesn't return and the that it was just an infection which has been dealt with by the antibiotics. Also I am in the process of finding a maxillofacial surgeon who specializes in my syndrome (hemifacial hyperplasia) which is rare and hard to come by, so please pray God would provide the right person and that they will be on our insurance plan!

Soon to come, pictures from our trip ;)