An Aunt... to 3 beautiful blessings!

In just a few short weeks, my precious nephew Keller (or Bean, as he's more commonly known) will turn 3 years old.... Keller is an amazing child. And super sweet and special, especially to me. He's the first child that's ever called me "Aunt" anything... And the way he says (or screams, when he's excited) "Aunt Kawa" when he sees me melts my heart every time. God blessed my cousin Amanda and her husband Nic with an amazing gift for sure... I can't believe he's going to be THREE!! Those three years have gone by so quickly! For instance in a few weeks, on July 18 three years ago I was doing this....

Meeting my new little nephew, Keller Allan Dane Nichols!

This past Tuesday, Amanda and Nic were blessed with not one, but TWO precious bundles of joy! Tucker Landon Rette and Iris Esther Klare were born at 9:11 and 9:12pm June 21st! 

Wednesday night I was able to go and see them for the first time! 

Meeting little man Tucker! 

And of course, here is Miss Iris (below) 

Testing out the car seat... 

God gave our family two new blessings! I can't tell you how excited and thankful I am that they are finally here and HEALTHY! Tucker and Iris are sooo tiny! But they are healthy and eating like champs! (They're going home sometime Tuesday hopefully!) I've spent the past 8 months telling Amanda how excited I was about the twins, and I loved them from the day I found out that she was pregnant again....And that was back when we thought there was only ONE baby! 

It just amazes me how much I love those two precious little babies! I can't get enough of them! 

I was actually stuck in Lumberton because of summer school when they made their grand appearance into this world... not that I would have been at the hospital, but I could have seen them sooner! haha. But Amanda put a picture up on Facebook of both babies that was taken right after they were born... and I sat here and cried! Turning 25 has made me an emotional basket case. And yes, I'm blaming my birthday and in some way my mother for birthing me 25 years ago. (Just kidding Mama...kind of).

Okay. I'll stop going on and on about the newest editions to the family. But come on, those are precious babies!


....I'm not proud or anything.... Promise! :)

The TWINS are HERE!!!!!!!!

This is ONE HAPPY AUNT!!!!!!!!!!

Iris, 5lbs 13 oz, 19 inches long and
Tucker, 5lbs 4oz, 18 inches long!

Amanda's in recovery in the room at the hospital and the twins are in the NICU but doing fine.... she'll be able to go see them in a few more hours!

And I am counting down the hours and minutes until I get back to Wilmington and can get my hands on these precious little babies!!!!!!!

Pictures to come!!!

Don't worry, I haven't been taken prisoner...

For those that were worried... I'm alive and well. And I just have two words to sum up why I haven't been blogging recently....

Summer. School.

The end....
Just kidding! I'm not letting you people get off that easy!
Okay, so for updates:
I love my job! FIFI is doing great! And the ladies I work with are awesome! I'm not working that many hours, because of school, and there's two full time employees that get most of the hours.... and I'm only part time, so that's okay. It's very tempting to be downtown right across the street from one of my favorite places ever though. Port City Java has been a part of my life ever since my cousin Jane starting working at one when she was like 17 or something. (She's now 28, so, you do the math... a long time). And there's just something about that Mocha Shake of theirs (personally, I think it's crack, why else would it be that good?) that draws me over there...

BUT... this summer I am trying my hardest to eat better and work out. Which, hasn't really amounted to anything yet... I figure once summer school is over I can go 100% full out in this attempt. Because between work and school I don't really have the time. Yeah, yeah yeah, I know, I could make the time. However, I'm living in Lumberton half the week and in Wilmington the other half, so it's hard to transport my Wii back and forth each time I go somewhere different. So, we'll see. Maybe I just need some motivation... Perhaps I should put on my bikini that I wore last summer in Los Angeles and that might help. :)

School is going great! It's very time consuming and hard, but I'm liking both of my classes. I have one that's completely online and one that's face to face (on campus). There's a ton of reading and work. Mainly because 16 or 17 weeks of material is nicely crammed into 6 weeks (or 5 in the case of one of my classes). I haven't done summer school since I decided to go back to Cape Fear Community College before moving to Cali. So I had forgotten how much faster paced the classes were. And UNCP has 2 day a week classes for 4 hour periods. CFCC did classes M-F for 2 hours. So that was a big change as well. I'm used to the 4 hour classes... all of the elementary education classes are 4 credit hours. At least I didn't have to get used to that.

That's about it really. I've got a crazy out of control tomato plant growing at my mom's, named Wilson. (Don't judge me). Wilson currently has 4 (or 5?) little tomatoes growing! And I personally can't wait to cut into one and make a tomato sammich. (That's a sandwich to those who don't speak southern).
I'm also growing cilantro and basil. The cilantro was touch and go there for a while... but he's turned the corner and is growing very nicely now. The basil is out of control, just like Wilson. Mom cut it back a little. It was getting a little out of hand.

My friend Stacey is coming in 2 weeks! Which I'm VERY excited about! She lives in Atlanta... we met when I started working at Gap Kids back in 2008. (Holy crap!) She was one of the managers with me! We're the same person, essentially. And, we complete each other. It's a great bond, really. Same tastes in everything. And she is one of the only people that I can quote or sing lines from High school musical to and she'll sing back. Most people frown upon this trick, but not Stacey. She embraces it. Just as I do.

So I have that to look forward to... and right now that's about it. Summer school ends June 29. Then I'll be working more hopefully. And trying to work out more, and hopefully work on my tan.
I was so spoiled in LA. That pool at our apartment got more use from me than anyone that lived there. I spent at least 2 hours out there reading every week day. (Cameron usually had me hiking up some mountain or new trail he'd googled on the weekends). And I miss that.
I may have to get a kiddy pool to put my feet in. :)

Hope you are having a fantastic start to the summer!

Remember those mastercard commericials?

Remember? They went something like this...

New black heels: $79.00
Fabulous haircut: $49.00
Martini: $9.00
Seeing your ex at a bar while wearing your new black dress? Priceless.

Nothing like that ever happens. But... That's how I'm going to recap.


5 days of working to open the new store: Awesome paycheck tomorrow.
5 hours in a car to and from Raleigh with 3 youth: An awesome TEC meeting/Lock-in
3 days at the elementary school: Kara will be very tired after proctoring for EOG testing
Closing every night this week after proctoring: another great paycheck
Spring semester at UNCP... 3.8 GPA....: PRICELESS! :)

In other words, I did fantastic with school... and I'm actually looking forward to summer school starting because of the classes that I'm taking...
The store is OPEN!!! FIFI downtown is fabulous and I'm loving the girls I'm working with and loving the fact that I actually have a JOB!
I'm proctoring for the EOG (End Of Grade tests) this week for my wonderful 3rd graders at Wrightsboro Elementary... Not thrilled about standing around for that long of a time period... but I'll manage. (although something tells me I should be in bed at this moment and not typing this... good thing I have a late shift at work tomorrow...)

First TEC meeting for TEC #42 was this past Friday/Saturday... Lock-in style... Got to drive up to Raleigh with three of my amazing youth that I taught Sunday school to when they were in 7th grade.
Now one is a Junior in high school, the other two are sophomores. When did I get old?????
These youth for this team are so amazing. I just know that God is going to guide them in the right direction for serving.  And it makes me so, SO proud to have seen them grow into such awesome people. (And to think that perhaps my awesome skills as their Sunday school teacher had some kind of affect on them......maybe?) I'm VERY excited to be in the conference room for this TEC! Back at "home" in a way... although I had an AMAZING wheat room last go around....and the youth wheat director was perfect. (Brandon will shoot me if I don't say something...)
Conference is where I am most comfortable. :)

Anyway, I'm off to bed. :) A very early morning for Kara is coming shortly.

A Strange Feeling

Let me start by saying that on August 18th, 2010 I went to UNCP for my first classes without knowing a soul. While I was very happy that everything had worked out and I was actually IN school, I was a little lonely. I live by myself and didn't know anyone. Luckily, a few weeks later, I met Mary Watson.
Mary and I had all of our EPC (educational professional courses... aka ridiculousness) together and soon became great friends. We got lunch, did homework, complained and share stories together all the time and I finally felt like I was getting here. I even sent Cameron a text message that said "I made a friend at school today! Her name is Mary!" To which he replied, "I'm proud of you! Congratulations!"

Like a two year old. :) But I was proud of myself, because anyone that knows me, knows that I'm super comfortable with the circle of friends that I already have. I've been friends with these people for years, and they know me, my history and have been there through the good, bad and extremely bad. So adding to this circle has always been hard for me. Not to mention having to tell my story over and over, it gets old and I don't like it. BUT, Mary and I just had so much in common... despite our 5 year age difference. I just felt comfortable with her.

In January, spring semester started and I was in all new classes, 5 out of 6 were with Mary and I only had to battle one without her. I had made a few other friends within my class in the fall, so there were a few familiar faces in the crowd.

What was about to happen, would change me, and my life. Forever.
I made more friends than I had in high school. And not just the friends that you say hey to in the hallway and talk about crazy assignments and who actually had their paper done in class.
I mean that I met people that actually cared about me, and wanted to get to know me. Thanks to Literacy and Language I, Differentiated Instruction, and Math and Science I, I was able to meet people that I hope to be friends with for the rest of my life.

Kelsey, Whitney, Bridget, Lauren, Mary, Reilley, Aaron, Shruti, and Amanda have all come to be people that I consider friends. And I can't thank God enough for putting them into my life.

The fact that everyone's status on Facebook is a complaint about not seeing everybody in the curriculum lab since classes are over ... and sending messages back and forth wanting to know when we can get together again is a sign of how much fun we all had through out this semester.

So, I'm thankful that classes are over until May 25th when summer school begins...
But I'm more thankful for those people that have come into my life this semester. And I can not WAIT until I get to see them again!!! :-D

Blessed to have known you.

April 28 the world lost an amazing person.
Kim and I were in high school together. We had a class with each other when I was a junior and she was a senior.
We were not that close, but she was hysterical. And always entertaining.

Kim was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 23 years old.
She fought a hard and courageous battle and impacted so, so many people with her story.

I'm just blessed to have known her.
Kimmie  (Kim Sibbach)

"May angels lead you in, hear you me my friends,
on sleepless roads the sleepless go, may angels lead you in.
So what would you think of us now? So lucky, so strong and
so proud. I never said thank you for that. Now I'll never have
the chance. May angels lead you in... "

Forever in our hearts Kim. We love you and are better people for knowing you.

Oprah did it again...

I've blogged about Oprah before... when she interviewed Portia de Rossi about her new book that talked about her intensely painful and physically debilitating eating disorder. Portia de Rossi did wonders for me during that interview... to read more about that go here: Thank you, Oprah.

**And Mama, because I know you're reading this... just print it out and read it another time. You'll thank me for it later... (It's about daddy...)**

And Dora, I know you're reading too... the ending may get to you.  :) But, I love you both.

I had DVR'ed an episode today and had no idea what it was about until I started watching it...
Charles "peanut" Tillman, a star quarter back for the Chicago Bears and his wife had a child 3 years ago who developed a heart condition that the only way to save the babys' life was a heart transplant. 400 miles away, another mother was losing a battle with her son who had developed a condition that was unknown. This mother decided to take her son off of life support and donated his heart. Her son's heart was what saved Tillman's daughter.

For anyone that really knows me, knows that my Dad had a liver transplant in 1988, I was 2 years old. My Dad had developed liver failure and the cause was unknown at the time (and still was when he passed away). The only option for a second chance of life was a transplant. Weeks later, prayers were answered and on January 24, 1988 Dad got a new liver. January 24th is my mom's birthday, and 3 days after mine. The years after the transplant were hard and difficult and he was in and out of the hospital because of complications. But because of someone else's loss, I was able to have my father in my life for 18 more years.
Without that, I wouldn't have known him the way that I did.

That was 23 years ago. Which seems impossible. 1, I can't believe I'm 25. but also because it just doesn't seem that long ago. I remember that time period. I remember living at my grandma's while my mom an Dad were in Richmond, VA at the hospital. I remember it. People and experts say that a person can't recall memories until a certain age... but I don't care what anyone tells me. I remember walking to the park with two neighbors while my mom and dad left to go to the hospital so I wouldn't see them leave.

Because someone else lost their life, my Dad gained his again. Of all of the things I've been given in the 25 years I've been on this earth, that has been the best gift of them all. The doctors said that the new liver would maybe last 7-10 years.
Guess what? It lasted for 18.
Dad passed away on December 23, 2006, a month shy of 19 years with that liver.
Because someone had chosen to be an organ donar, my Dad was able to see me grow up into an adult and got to see me graduate from high school and start to embark on a new journey in my life. He saw me go to 3 proms and sing at school and church. He came to the TEC weekend when I was a director for the HOOT and saw me go on my first date (not thrilled about it, but still). He got to see it. He was a huge part of my life and will always be, no matter what.

While he did get to see all of that, he won't get to see everything. He won't meet the man I'll marry, he won't walk me down the alise, he won't know his grandchildren, and he won't see me graduate (finally) from college.

That angers me. It's not fair that I was 20 years old when my dad died. And it's certainly not fair that he won't get to see everything I'm going to do in my life. But I've come a long way in the almost 5 years that he's been gone. I've been able to accept the things that he was able to see, and as much as it hurts and pains me that my wedding will be different than all of my other friends, I'm okay with it. It took 5 years to get to that point... And I still don't think it's fair, but that doesn't mean that I stop living my life because of it.

I've come so far in four and a half years. I'm 25, I'm in school learning to become a teacher which is truly my passion, I have the best friends a girl could ask for, and a slightly crazy but amazing nonetheless family that oddly enough, I wouldn't trade for the world. So many people have gotten me through the past few years, with out Cameron and Keri I'd hate to know where I'd be. Even though it didn't work between Cameron and I, he showed me how to live life. I was so afraid of life when I met him, he truly came into my life at the right time. And I'm sure my Dad had something to do with that.
He led me to other friends that I still have. He got me to see that I can control my life.

And I'll never be able to thank him enough for it.

I'll never be able to thank the person that lost their life to save my Dad.. but because of him or her, I was able to know my father.

So thank you Oprah, again, for making me realize how amazing my life has been. And how amazing this world and the people in it really are.