Well, I guess I’ll start from May 31^st. I went back to the Glennox Baker MRI center this day to have my MRI taken. I was expecting it to be pretty lengthy (but it was super short J) because the one I had in August there was really lengthy. Last summer, they had had to take extra special scans of the cerebrospinal fluid flow around the cyst. But, I later found out (in September) that there wasn’t any CSF flow around it/my brain wasn’t very happy/this thing was really big, so that’s why I really needed the surgery. I’ve been giving this whole year a lot of thought. I usually do that around my birthday. It’s been a crazy, crazy year. I knew that it would be about one year ago. I can just remember being very anxious and not really knowing WHAT to expect. I never could have imagined that it would have ended up like this. But I’ve grown an awful, awful lot this year. I can’t get over how much stuff I’ve done and been able to do despite all of my health junk. It’s been unbelievable!!

 

Well, that day I also saw my neurosurgeon and PA. Peggy, (the PA) is super nice and did the basic neuro exam and then talked to me about how I’ve been doing. But the first thing she said to me when she walked into the room was “the scans look good”! That was pretty cool to hear. She is the first P.A. I ever met and is one of the main reasons I want to be one. I also know a bunch of other P.A.’s at Duke (this really funny Indian guy). Right before my op last year, he and I were joking about UNC/Duke basketball. That was kind of cool/crazy. Dr. Fuchs came in after Peggy and the first thing he said to me was “You were one of eleven to finish your C.N.A. class?” (I had told that to Peggy) and I think he was pretty amazed considering what I’ve been through.

 

He also showed me my MRI scans and I was just amazed. The cyst is all gone (there is only a very small little something from it’s remains. It was apparently filled with blood this time which is why the operation was such a big mess and so dangerous! My surgeon told my family that he was glad that he did it though (the night of the 21^st) because if he hadn’t done it, I could have just had a random stroke one day ……and that would have been a nightmare! Overall, I’m just amazed that I’m doing so well considering what shape I was in last winter. For awhile, I had really bad flashbacks from ICU and stuff (like last winter) but those went away (thank goodness) a few months ago. God is so, so good. He just keeps saving my life….

 

Yeah, because I was also in a really bad car accident in June!!! I was coming back from summer school and had to pull over, but then I didn’t realize that the ground had a slight slope. So I went right into the woods and my car was pretty much destroyed!! The windows were all smashed and my engine was smoking. My car was sideways and a bunch of tree braches smashed my rear window. That was good though because that was where I got out/escaped. I couldn’t open any of my doors. Well, I didn’t try at least! But guess what? I was so, so chill about it! I simply got all of the stuff out of my car, got out of the woods and went to the side of the highway. A really nice older man drove me to Exxon. I usually would be so careful before getting into a stranger’s car, but I trusted this person because he said he’s seen an awful lot of crashes in that same exact spot. Weird?(He lives in that area.) Well, he took me to the gas station and I called up my mom. She was surprised and called up towing company to get the thing out of the woods. Well, after calling her I called the police and told them what happened. They didn’t give me a ticket or anything (thank goodness) because I think I just had some bad, bad luck! Well, my mom eventually showed up to the scene of the crash and we just talked to all of the officials. After that we went home!

 

Since then, my Dad and brother have been looking at cars. They found a 2002 BMW!! Insurance gave us a decent bit of money because my PT cruiser was in really good shape and had low mileage! That was good! My brother will be driving the new car most of the time, but I’ll probably get to drive it when I’m at home/maybe bring it to Chapel Hill for parts of next year!

 

Summer school was a bust!!! My academic accommodations were not set up right. My verbal recall is really bad because of my brain injury and the school was supposed to provide me with lecture notes! (from the professor or another student.) Well that NEVER HAPPENED. The disability office gave me a lecture recording pen and special notebook, but I still missed a lot of the lecture material. Also, I didn’t even have this device before my first exam…so I missed even more of the lecture material. Over all, I was extremely disappointed with the school L. I had to withdraw…which was icky. I immediately went to the advisors/talked to the pre-health advisors and told him what was up. He said he’d look into PA schools and what to do in my unusual circumstances! Well,  I’m not too worried, because I’ll be able to explain my crazy academic stuff in my essay. I really hope that the school gets my academic accommodations set right, because I just don’t want another crazy semester.

 

My professor from the class was really great though! I liked her and she was empathetic and supportive! That was nice.

 

I changed my schedule around a bit for next semester after all of this happened and I think it looks pretty good! I just pray that things work out this semester!!!! I think it will be better ….because I like the classes I’m taking/they’re not too crazy hard (well kind of) but I’m familiar with a lot of the material. One class is one I was taking last year and actually dropped, so I already know much of the curriculum!! I also signed up for the class I was taking this summer. So I’ll have a head start on a lot of my classes.

 

On to the GOOD STUFF!!! I went on two vacations this summer! (Yes, in between work and school!!! :D :D) They were TONS AND TONS OF FUN!!!! I got to see  my dad’s side of the family at a really cool summer resort in the mountains of Virginia. We went ziplining and just hung out. It was so good to see them. I love my cousins so, so much. (We are all about the same age, so it’s always a good time!) My grandmother also came along and brought her new puppy, which was fun. My cousin, Jacob, also came to visit us (he’s from Denmark!!) and that was great fun. He just cracks me up SO MUCH.

 

I also went to Chicago with my mom a couple weekends ago! Her parents moved into a really nice retirement community. They have a great new house. Even though it’s smaller than the old one, I think it’s a lot nicer/more modern!! They also have a new dog, (he is really funny.) I also got to see my aunt and that was fun. She is hilarious!! My mom and I also went to see one of her old high school friends in the area and that was a blast. Her friend, Debbie, is like the fifty-year old version of me!! She is a red-head (well her hair is kind of sandy now, haha) and we just had a really good time. My family and I also got to go into the city one day and I just really loved that! We saw a really good musical and also went to Millenium Park!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THAT PARK! We saw the bean and also watched a free symphony orchestra concert (which was fantastic :D :D :D :D)

 

Other than all of that, I’ve been working at Food Lion. But I don’t want to work there after this summer (I already know that I’ll be in Chapel Hill next summer though! I’ll be working at UNC Hospital!!!) But it hasn’t been all bad!!!!! I love my coworkers so much. They are great fun and I’m really going to miss them. Two of them go to State and a lot of the people went to Cary High and had my mom as a teacher! (Which is cool.)

 

August will be nice. I’ll see my neuropsychologist and she’ll help me with my academic stuff (she works at UNC hospital). I hope we get my school stuff all fixed up and ready to go!!! I’ll also turn 20 on the 8^th!!! YAY. I get my wisdom teeth out around that time too!!!!! :D haha…this should be a piece of BIRTHDAY CAKE (get it?) compared to my last surgery….. :D.

 

This was long, but now you all know what I’ve been up to!! I’ll see you all soon!! I’m almost done with our summer reading, btw!

 

BWL,

Courtney

Hey Guys!!!

Can you believe that we will all be together again in about 3 weeks? Words cannot even express how excited I am. I keep trying to talk my parents into letting me move in earlier and earlier lol.

The rest of my summer has been pretty good. I had a wonderful time with my mom in New York. We got to see so much of the city like the Plaza, Central Park, China Town, and we even got to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. I know that both my mom and I will cherish those memories we made together forever. I also went to Ocean Isle Beach with my family and lots of family friends last week. We go there every year so each time I am there with all of those great people it just feels like I’m at a second home (Well third if you count UNC). My friend Morgan went with me and I think the most fun thing we did was go kayaking in the intercoastal waterway. We didn’t really know what we were doing and kept going in a zig zag instead of a straight line and when we came back in after two and a half hours we were so tired but we had so much fun.

I’ve still been working a lot at the hardware store, which has been really great because I just really enjoy working there. Unfortunately there are some legal and monetary issues that the store is experiencing right now. It’s actually a really big mess that I’m not even really supposed to talk about but I would greatly appreciate prayers from you guys for my boss and the store owners.

I also wanted to tell you guys that there is a good chance I will be having some major oral surgery on the 12^th right before we all move in. It’s a surgery that I have been waiting on for years now so I am excited about it. Hopefully I will be all healed up before I move in but if not you guys can totally laugh at me if I look and/or talk funny haha.

I am SO excited about the Summer Birthday Bash tomorrow, and if you are coming I can’t wait to see you there!

Hope you all enjoy the last bit of the summer!

BWisittimetomoveinyetL,

Nicole

Soon we'll get to live together :)

It's safe to say that I'm anticipating returning to Chapel Hill. This summer has just been full of... unexpected things.

I'm sure you all got my e-mail about my parents splitting up. That's been tough, but my parents are staying mature, and I'm happy about that. They are not constantly fighting or even picking fights with each other. They're just trying to move on and support my brother and me just as much as before. The amount of love coming from both of my parents has not changed :)

I also broke my arm in late May and had a cast on through June... so employment hasn't really been happening. BUT that was a blessing in disguise. You see, I have spent many an hour at home and I've been here to support my mom. I've also gotten plenty of rest and did some volunteering at my church. Most enjoyably, I remember Vacation Bible School and working with the kids there. Working with kids has its ups and downs, which camp counselor and friend of ours Ashley Beech can attest to, but it still makes me very happy. I miss seeing kids during the school year.

So the only real thing on my radar for the rest of this summer is visiting my extended family in Chicago next week. The last time I had a long visit with them was probably five years ago. It should be great. And then, it's time to move in!

Living in community with you guys will be amazing, I just know it! I'm really anticipating living with 9 other people that I love. Despite hard classes and whatever, this will be a really fun year.

BWaugust16thcantcomesoonenoughL,
Jared

...again, better late than never! haha

Hey again guys and gals,

I just can't ever seem to remember when I'm supposed to post on this thing, but here goes it:

Since the last post, I have continued with my lovely job at the daycare at my church. The kids are getting crazier, but I'm learning to get more strict, so by the end of the day, everyone is happy! Some fun quotes from the kids at daycare (inspiration from Melissa Robinson's facebook posts about her camp kids) : "Polar bears are from Africa!!!" "You go to UNC, I never knew that!" "Why in the world are we watching a stupid Christmas movie in the middle of July?!?!?!?(in reference to a spongebob christmas special a kid brought in for movie time one day)" That's all I can think of for now, but I have truly been blessed with lessons of patience, laughter, and friendship through my summer job! :)

I also got to take a wonderful road trip to St. Petersburg, Florida for my family reunion! It wasn't the same with Aunt Sarah (my Nana's aunt, the former matriarch of the Davis family), she passed away during this past winter. Her spirit was still there though, and it was tons of fun getting to see all of my cousins and swim in the Gulf of Mexico, without getting stung by a jellyfish! (jellyfish story is a long one for another time...lol) I had a blast, and hit a new record of total time jogging while I was there!!! Yay for progress, haha! On the way down, we stopped in Savannah, GA where I got to see Forrest Gump (impersonnator) but more importantly, JOHN WESLEY's statue!!! I literally jump up and down with excitement!!! My love of the Wesley tradition is deep-rooted, I guess. Savannah was gorgeous! The 12 hour drive on the way home was a lot less entertaining!!! Overall it was a fantastic trip! Can't wait for the next reunion! :)

My family is gearing up for my church's 158th annual camp meeting! It's a whole week of services in our outdoor arbor, with a night of music and homemade ice cream on Saturday the 30th. My family has stayed in the "tents" (cinder block rooms built a very long time ago) for many years, and we cleaned it out and set it up for next week. Although I am dreading the heat, it will be a great time to catch up with all of our fellow campers, and church members that only come back for this week of revival, worship, food, and tradition. The tradition is palpable during camp meeting. I'm super excited!!!! Any and all of you are invited to any of the services if you happen to be nearby! Just shoot me and email or facebook for directions and times!!!

One recent frustration I endured was that my piece of crap CCI laptop had a glich that require me to either ship it to ITS, or bring it in myself. Well, this irritating computer problem turned into a great excuse for me to visit Wesley!!! By Wesley, I mean Madicella and Karen!!!! YAY!!! I had a great night of finally being able to use my computer, and some good "Chapel Hill food" as I have dubbed B'ski's and YoPo!

I am so excited to be back for the fall!!! Can't wait to see you all and be the crazy busy Week Of Welcome fanatic that I am!!! See you all in less than a month!!! :)

BWb'ski'snewdrinkmachineisthebombL,

Emily :)

summmmeerrrrrrrr

Hey weshos!!!!!

I have had a pretty good summer so far. I started off with a trip to the beach to see my dad. It was a bit too cold to get in the water then so i'm still trying to find a time to go back before the summer ends.

I then went to DC ti see my friend Kara. She had to run a marathon in Ohio so I traveled with her and her family there for a few days. I had never been to Cleveland before so that was a lot of fun. We then hung out in DC for a few days before I headed back home.

That next week was definitely the most boring week ever. i was searching for a job and ended up having nothing to do. I did get to see one of my best friends from high school though before she left for california for the summer so that was definitely nice.

I did finally get a job and have been working at a local movie theater all summmer. It's a pretty nice job. I get to go see free movies. I usually do ticket tearing but i have also worked concessions and done ushering. I have met some very interesting people and have heard some strange things. I like it though. My coworkers are all mostly nice. Two of them actually go to UNC but i didn't know them before.

I have also been dogsitting for Jan in Chapel HIll some this summer. It's nice to have a house to myself for a few days and to get to see awesome people like Amanda, Keisha, Madicella, Caroline, and Karen. Daniela came by to swim with me one day and that was of course a blast.

One of the highlights of this summer was my friend jessica's 21st birthday party. I got to help her plan it and it was so much fun. Sara Beth came to it too so it was so nice to get to talk to her.

I have also gotten to see rachel a few times this summer and we always have a lot of fun together.

Other than that, i've been going to the pool some, hanging out with friends, and studying for the GRE which is coming up in about a week and a half. I still have a lot of studying to do before i'm ready for it.

Jessica and I are going to see Harry Potter at Midnight and I am so psyched!

I think that's about it. I miss you all so much and I can't wait to live with you all!

BWL,
Brittaney

Yay Summer! Yay Anticipation! Yay I'm finally posting something!

Wow I definitely missed a few updates. I'm just gonna go ahead and be happy I finally found this blog! Ok so my summer has been excellent so far, I'm working at this place called the Mathnasium and it is basically the nerdiest place ever. I love it! I am about to head off on a 9 hour drive to Erie, PA to go to my cousin's wedding! Erie is maybe the smallest town in PA, but still has an entire great lake named after it, cool huh? Until this week it has been a pretty busy summer so I'm looking forward to a chance to relax and enjoy the northern weather this time of year. I'm busy preparing for a half-marathon in September that my roomie tricked me into signing up for so I'm going to expect some fantastic runs with him when we all return to the Hill. Pretty much every moment I'm not busy I've been thinking about how awesome next year is going to be and I can't wait to live with all of you guys as we become closer to each other and closer to God! Kayln's sly practical joke only made me realize how much I miss you guys and I'm hoping to be able to visit all of you taking summer classes in the near future! I haven't quite finished the reading we have for next year, but during the upcoming car ride I'm expecting to be able to read the stuffing out of them. I've absolutely loved reading your respective posts and will definitely be updating again soon as I have no utilized the bookmark tool on my CPU!

BWreallyexcitedx1000L

Eric

posting

Hey guys!
you should all be receiving email notifications when someone posts on the blog now.