The Reagan Family

Christianity

2008-06-22T21:14:00.000-07:00

This is the best description I have heard about how we should live as Christians from The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne:

"Once, there was a small group of kids who decided to go to a park in the middle of the city, and dance and play, laugh and twirl. As they played in the park, they thought that maybe another child would pass by and see them. Maybe that child would think it looked fun and even decide to join them. Then maybe another one would. Then maybe a businessman would hear them from his skyscraper. Maybe he would look out the window. Maybe he would see them playing and lay down his papers and come down. Maybe they could teach him to dance. Then maybe another businessman would walk by, a nostalgic man, and he would take off his tie and toss aside his briefcase and dance and play. Maybe the whole city would join the dance. maybe even the would. Maybe...Regardless, they decided to enjoy the dance."

Another quote by George Bernard Shaw states: "God created us in his image, and we decided to return the favor."

These are just some thoughts from this wonderful book that I am reading. I thought I would share them. I greatly encourage you to read this book if you have any concern with nominal Christianity.

Indoor Climbing

2008-06-22T18:23:00.001-07:00

28

2008-06-12T06:57:00.000-07:00

I am reading a new book that is awesome. 28 Stories of AIDS in Africa tells the personal story of 28 different people and how they are associated with AIDS. The book gives real life accounts of personal struggles to survive in a developing country and how poverty and conflict has greatly increased this struggle to survive. I would encourage anyone to read it or at least look at the website on it. It will really change the way you look at the AIDS population in Africa and their dire need for help.

Great Weekend Fun

2008-05-27T08:14:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. It started on Friday night when Don and I were able to go Chick-fil-A in San Marcos as we visited the new school campus. Any weekend that starts with a trip to Chick-fil-a is a good one.

We then on Saturday morning were able to meet with an old high school friend that Don knows for brunch. Short little trip to Panera to start the morning out. This is where we learned of a new vitamin drink called Mona Vie. We're not quite sold on it, but we were able to get a free bottle.

Later Saturday, we were able to get to see some old friends of mine from Pensacola. We had dinner with 6 wonderful people and then sat around and played games. Another care free night to sit back and enjoy.

Sunday were able to go to church to hear an enlightening sermon by Pastor Barry on being a "Son of Abraham." I have learned so much through his expository preaching style over the past few months. He brings so much insight to stories I've read and heard 100 times. It shows how little we truly know about God and what an awesome being He truly is!

Sunday afternoon we were off to a cookout with some friends from church. With quite the hodge podge of people gathered, it proved to be a success.

We were then able to kick back on Monday with some Liz, Jeremy and Karen for some catch up time. Nothing extravagant... just a little world view debate on health care and global warming. Just another run of the mill conversation (ha ha) that I absolutely loved. Then finally off to bed to prepare for another week of playing with kids in the ER. Hope everyone else had a great Memorial Day weekend. Continue to remember the troops!!!

Just a quick note...

2008-05-21T08:44:00.000-07:00

Things are going pretty well for Don and I. Don is getting further into his second semester of PT school. He is really enjoying the "intricate" details of dissection (cadaver dissection) and wound care. Such an interesting person he is. :)

I've gotten back to work after being ill for so long. I feel great and healthy now. I never thought I would be so happy to be back at work. I have also been truly blessed. I was able to be a "patient" for one of Don's classes for PT school. A nationally known PT from the San Diego area came to talk about knee problems. She needed a patient, and I went. She has agreed to treat my knee problem for me and do it at no cost to me. That is amazing because she rarely even treats patients anymore. It was an awesome experience.

We have alot planned for this weekend. We are having dinner with friends on Saturday and Sunday. Probably a beach trip in there somewhere. I can't pass up a good sunset over the pacific.

I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend.

Things are looking up...

2008-05-07T09:54:00.001-07:00

This has been quite the interesting past two weeks. I must say that God is good and God is faithful. This whole ordeal started April 23 when I got sick with a virus. Unfortunately, it was a virus that looked alot like I might have meningitis. I finally got sent to urgent care by my doctor who sent me to the ER on Sunday, April 25. While there, they worked me up for viral meningitis by doing a spinal tap. That test came back negative, which was fantastic! Although, I did get a spinal headache after having the tap. I threw up and could not lift my head off a pillow for 9 straight days, all the while missing work. I have been to the ER 3 times in 9 days. I have taken so many different pain medications that I was drooling out the side of my mouth but still had a headache. Finally, yesterday, an anesthesiologist worked me in for a blood patch in his outpatient clinic. I am a little sore after the procedure, but praise God my headache is gone. I am still a little afraid to move because I'm afraid my headache will come back. I am so grateful for my husband and his care that he provided. I was truly there for me when I needed it most. I could not have gotten through it without him. I am also very grateful for a good friend of mine who drove me to the doctor and brought food, even though I couldn't eat. I am also grateful to my parents who are taking time out of their busy schedule to come and help me get my house and life back in order. What an ordeal something like a headache can make. I have, hopefully, my last MD appointment today for a while. I plan to stay healthy. I think that will be my goal for May. I hope everyone is doing great and sorry my blogs have been so lame lately, but unfortunately I have not been up to par...

When you wish upon a star...

2008-04-22T13:09:00.000-07:00

Well, I figured I should blog just a quick little note since it has been so long. We just got back about an hour ago from Disneyland Resort in Anaheim. We took a short trip up for an extended weekend. I'll have pictures soon to show our Mickey experience...

Ramdomness

2008-03-27T04:25:00.000-07:00

Well, things have been going just about the same. Spring is really starting to come around and the weather is beautiful.

Easter Sunday was absolutely gorgeous. We missed our close family and friends, but were able to celebrate with our adopted family here in Cali. Church was extremely full for all services on Easter. Pastor Barry gave an amazing sermon concerning salvation. He always seems to shed new light on already fascinating Biblical accounts. After church we were able to spend some time at the pool and then head over to our friend Karen's house for dinner with church family. Dinner was followed by the longest board game of all time. We ended the game early because it took forever, so we never had a winner :( We were able to talk with our family on the other coast, though. That was nice to catch up and hear that everyone is doing well.

The past couple of weeks, Don has been very busy with school. Only a few more days until he goes on "Summer Break".(only 2 weeks in April) I've been working and I took a class two weeks ago called Emergency Nurse Pediatric Course. It was a long two days of lecturing; but at the end, it all paid off. I passed and am fully certified for four more years. Thank goodness, I'm not sure that I could sit for another 16 hours!!!

My newest endeavor is preparing to apply for NP school. After much thought and prayer, I am actually getting closer to applying. I really do have the application and the thought process for a personal statement. It is definitely scary, but exciting. I'm not sure how things will work out for both of us to be in school at the same time, but I figure we'll get through with a few bumps and bruises and be better for it. Not much else is going on.

I am really excited about Don's two weeks off so we can catch up on a few things that we have been wanting to do... like the San Diego Wild Animal Park, Mexico, surfing, and so much more....

Just a few of my favorite kiddos!!

2008-03-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

This is Landon, Rheagan and Addyson - my nieces and nephew.

11 MORE DAYS!!!

2008-03-06T09:01:00.000-08:00

Only 11 more days until St. Patty's Day. Don't forget to wear your green and kiss someone who's Irish...oh wait, that's me!!! Have the Irish charm and let your green be seen!!!

Beautiful Creation

2008-03-03T06:53:00.001-08:00

Last Thursday, we were able to go spend the day on Del Mar Beach in San Diego. It was a beautiful sunny day. We were able to walk around with very few people there and enjoy the beauty that God has created. Dogs were running around on the beach enjoying the cool water. Surfers were out for the semi good waves. People were walking and running along the ocean shoreline. We took a picnic basket and blanket for some "fun in the sun." What a beautiful place we live. Here is a slideshow of our trip...

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Busy Weeks

2008-02-22T04:15:00.000-08:00

So, we are back to blogging. Things have been pretty crazy around here. After over a month of being sick, I think I am finally getting better. I have had every possible virus and bacteria there is. SD is treat us well. We are still having a pretty wet rainy season. School is going well for Don. He has been very busy with classes and tests. We did take a very short break to head east to Albany, NY for a wedding. The best man from our wedding got married Feb. 16th. The weather was slightly unpredictable. It did snow and it was a whopping 19 degrees on the day of the wedding. That is very cold when you are not planning on skiing or playing in the snow. The wedding was very nice. We had a good time spending time with friends and family. We made our whirlwind trip back to SD on Sunday. We had a 6 hour flight from Newark. We both got back just in time to go to work and school on Monday. What a blast huh!!!? At work, SD has been dealing with a measles epidemic, which has caused quite the uproar of patients at the hospital. I just want to say a word to any parents of babies, please have your children immunized. If they are autistic, it will be because they are autistic, not because of mercury in vaccinations. Just a little soap box of mine. These diseases have been long gone for a reason. We have truly been able to be blessed by our pastor at CBC. We are doing a study on Joseph right now called the Truth Project. The stories are very enlightening. Things are pretty much getting back to normal. We are hoping that Spring is around the corner for the rainy season to end. Not much else going on. Just thought I would write since a little birdie left a comment requesting more blogs. Hope you're doing great Jeremiah!

Crazy Week

2008-01-23T00:01:00.000-08:00

Things here have been pretty hectic for the past couple of days. I've been home ALOT. Today was the first day I got out of the house, and it was wonderful. I started getting sick on Wednesday of last week. I figured I just had a cold because I do work with sick kids all the time. I figured I had just caught a bug from one of them. I continued to get worse. I finally went to the doctor on Friday a couple of hours before I was supposed to work a 12 hour shift. The doctor told me I may be getting an ear infection, but it wasn't one yet. My rapid strep test came back negative, so I went on to work. I worked two nights in a row feeling miserable. My ears hurt so bad and I couldn't swallow anything. I was in so much pain. Before I went home on Sunday morning, I asked one of our docs to look in my ears again. I now had a full fledged ear infection in both ears. That is very odd because most people only get them in 1 ear. When I got home on Sunday morning, I checked my messages just to have one from my doctor. I called back to learn that my culture had grown out strep G which is very odd also because people usually get strep B. Needless to say, I went on antibiotics on Sunday. Don also was sick with some sort of cold bug. We decided to change Magoo's dog food just in time for him to get sick also. It is a happy house of nothing but eating soup and sleeping. Don was able to stay home for the holiday on Monday and I called in sick finally. We sat in the house and slept. I've never been so sick of being sick. It was a yucky week. But never fear, things are definitely on the rise. Don feels well and I am getting better. Magoo is slowly starting to take to his food (digestive wise). The sun has came back out in "Sunny California" and things are getting better!!! I am so happy to get to go outside and eat solid food. It's the little things in life that can make you happy...

One Marvelous Year

2008-01-13T21:22:00.001-08:00

Today was our 1 year wedding anniversary. It is hard to believe that it has already been a year. It has truly been a fun year. We have been able to do so many things together and make so many new memories. We have been able to learn MANY new and exciting things about being married and about each other. For our anniversary, we were able to spend some time in downtown San Diego. We stayed at a hotel The US Grant on the 11th floor in a penthouse suite. It was a beautiful old European style hotel. We were able to walk down to the harbor and take a dinner boat cruise on the Lord Hornblower and see the skyline of the city from the water in the dark. It was beautiful. We cruised from Coronado to the tip of Point Loma. What a beautiful city to see. We then spent some more time walking on Saturday afternoon. We went to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe San Diego and went shopping at Horton Plaza on Broadway Street. We had a mini vacation just 30 minutes from our house. Another exciting thing that happened for us today was finally finding a church home. We joined Community Bible Church. I am so exciting to see where the Lord is going to lead at this church. A good start to another year of marriage.

God's giant hand in a vast universe

2008-01-08T09:36:00.000-08:00

This has been an interesting year for us. We have had some MAJOR life changes going on. In all of it, though, we have been able to see the hand of God leading. This is amazing because if you think how large and vast the universe is and how minute my life is in comparison; God still leads. He is still concerned with me and where I am and what I am doing. God has blessed in so many ways. He has opened up every door for us and made the transition an ordinary daily task. We had amazing friends in Durham that helped orchestrate the moving process and were received by some more friends, many we had never met, in San Diego to complete the task. That is definitely a God thing. I couldn't imagine going through life making decisions without know that I have the hand of God leading through a future that is open to anything.

2008-01-02T16:17:00.001-08:00

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Lions and Tigers and Bears - OH MY!!!

2008-01-02T04:13:00.000-08:00

Well, we finally made our way to the world famous San Diego Zoo. We had a blast. The animals were particularly entertaining today. They were also very cooperative for the camera. These are just a few of my favorite little guys that I met today...

Auld Lang Syne

2008-01-01T03:39:00.000-08:00

2008...already...wow! Lots of things have happened this year. Most of you already know all those things, so I won't go through them all. It has been an amazing year. There was a question posed at the bottom of the FoxNews broadcast of the New York City's New Year's bash in Time Square. The question asked, "Do you think that your 2008 will be better than your 2007?" At first I thought negatively about this question. How could anyone ever say "no?" I thought that was so pathetic that people may actually think that 2008 will be worse from the very beginning. Then someone who was at our party brought up the point that maybe their 2007 was just so good, they can't even begin to think that 2008 could be even better. What an amazing thought. Our 2007 was great, but I know that God will bless just as much in 2008. This is the glory of putting your faith and hope in Jesus Christ. Everyone makes some sort of New Year's Resolution. I never make the typical ones because I think their dumb and they're never kept. But this year, I think that I will determine one resolution to hold fast. I think that I need to think more positively in the since that 2007 was a great year, but God is going to bless in 2008 as well. He will bless us if we glorify him. What a way to ring in the new year. Not just thanking God for 2007, but thanking and glorifying Him for 2008 as well. On that note, Happy New Year!!!

Twas the Night After Christmas

2007-12-26T01:42:00.000-08:00

What a great day Christmas was. After planning to spend Christmas 3000 miles from everything I've ever known for the holidays, I was a little depressed. I wasn't sure how things would go or if it would even feel like Christmas. I've learned alot this Christmas. First I learned that Christmas is not entirely about family in the first place and Christmas is about worshipping our Christ. After spending Christmas Eve in a church where I have never been in a part of a city I have never been to and with people I have never met, God opened my eyes. I saw people from all over the US in an auditorium with candles held high singing "This Little Light of Mine." Christmas is about sharing Christ with the world because God shared Him with me. I also learned that even though I wasn't doing the same things I have always done with the people I am used to, new memories can still occur. I spent one of the best Christmas's ever with my husband. Don't get me wrong, I dearly missed a Tennessee Christmas with all of my loved ones gathered in a house singing Christmas carols and eating together. But I also was able to establish a foundation for the beginning of Christmas's to come here in a new city, in a new apartment spending my first Christmas with my husband, alone. We woke up and took the precious time to read the way Luke describes Christ's birth. We were able to discuss the beauty of how Christ's love is shown in his sacrifice. Many times, we think Christ's sacrifice starts on a horrid Friday when he was crucified, but Christ's sacrifice began 33 year's before that at the time of his birth when he chose to give up his gold streets, pearly gates and jasper walls to a hay field stable surrounded by dirty animals on a lonely stary night in the back of an inn in Bethlehem. What an amazing thing to spend time worshipping and forgetting all of the hoopla of Christmas for a little while. We then, of course, opened Christmas gifts for each other and then ate a wonderful meal together as husband and wife on Christmas day. We were able to thank God for the blessings he has given to each of us. We then took advantage of our beautiful new city and went to Coronado Island and the Hotel Del for a stroll on the beach lit up by Christmas lights on the historic building. The holidays seem to bring out the best in most people. We then ended the night with a movie. At the close an interesting, but blessed day; I began to see how Christ could be worshipped when all else seems to be different from what is normal to everything I've ever done. What an amazing thought...

The Amazing Don 2

2007-12-22T18:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, the Amazing Don performed 115lb. dumbell presses for 5, and a little help for the 6th.

PS- Don loves Jessica

The Amazing Don

2007-12-16T17:41:00.001-08:00

Today, after not dumbell benching in 6 weeks, Don performed!! He lifted 110 Ibs of raw shiny new metal and rubber dumbells all the way over his chest for 6 whole times. Amazing....

Updates on life

2007-12-16T12:07:00.000-08:00

Don and I have finally gotten settled in here in San Diego. Life has been crazy hectic for the past couple of weeks. We left Durham North Carolina on November 20 for a short Thanksgiving stay in Knoxville Tennesse with the Smiddy family. We left Knoxville on November 24th to start our trek across the country. We were able to see many different states including NC, TN, AR, OK, TX, NM, AZ and CA. On the road, we saw cowboys, windmills, oil mines, cotton fields, border security, Indian reservations, tee pees, lots of desert, 7000 miles of elevation mountains, sunsets, sunrises, hotels, gas stations, greenery, and so much more of God's creation. I must say that I think that Flagstaff Arizona is one of the prettiest cities that I have ever been in. The state of New Mexico is a very "interesting" state to say the least. One of the prettiest things that I remember is the sunsets around 5:30pm driving through Arizona over the mountains and the desert. It truly looked like a painting between the skies and the land. It was amazing to see God's craftsmanship. We climbed some of the largest mountains I have driven across. What an amazing trip it truly was, even with all of the hassle that it entailed. Things since have slowed down as I have started working at Rady Children's Hospital in the Emergency Department and Don has started personal training at LA Fitness and will begin school on January 7th. We are slowly learning our way around San Diego. We were able to go and spend time yesterday running through our neighborhood on a trail called 4S Ranch Trail. It was a gorgeous trail placed in the middle of a bustling city. Our apartment is very nice and cozy. We were able to attend a Christmas party on Friday night at our apartment complex and were able to meet some new neighbors and of course, Santa. As time progresses, we plan to get out and explore the city and beauty that it beholds...