Parting is such sorrow

I've recently lost several people who are very important to me. I'm not sure what the expression "parting is such sweet sorrow" is supposed to mean because there hasn't been anything sweet about parting with people that I love and adore.

My sister Kristin and her family left on Tuesday for Ridgecrest, California, where Kristin's husband Scott found a job that he's very excited about. When Kristin moved here this past summer I was sure that Scott would find a job in St. Louis, or at the very least somewhere in the Midwest so that we could be relatively close to each other. This isn't how things have turned out at all! On one hand I'm so excited that Scott has found a job since he's been looking for over a year, however, on the other hand I'm so sad for myself because I'll have to say goodbye to Kristin and her family. Kristin is one of the best people I know! It She's kind and thoughtful, talented in so many ways and just plain wonderful all around. I'm also going to miss her kids. She has four boys ages six and under and they are so much fun. I've loved getting to know them better. They crack me up and I love seeing their creativity. They've taught us all things about super heroes, video games, Star Wars, playing the Wii, etc.

I also had to say goodbye to my dear friend Nathan earlier this month. I met Nate 2 1/2 years ago when he moved to St. Louis to go to orthodontic school at St. Louis University. We've been friends from the start and have shared so many fun times with each other. I don't know if/when I'll be able to see him again since he's taken a job in Tucson, Arizona. I wish all of the best for him and his new life in Tucson!

I'm thankful that the Lord sees fit to bless us all with wonderful friends and family members that enrich us and fill our lives with joy!

Kindred spirits

This is a picture of me and my friend Kate:We met for the first time earlier this summer and saw each other on two separate occasions, just for a few minutes each time. Kate is originally from St. Louis, however, she lives in Draper, Utah, where she teaches school.

Kate later "friended" me on Facebook, and then we started following each other's blogs and have gotten to know each other better by reading past posts we've each made on our blogs. We've also become e-mail "penpals" and have been e-mailing each other a few times a week for the past several months. We've got a lot in common and we both enjoy each other's friendship.

Kate came home for Christmas last weekend and she came over to visit me at my house yesterday. It was great to be able to see her and spend some actual face-to-face time together for a change!

Thanksgiving #2

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. Since all of my family was away celebrating the holiday in other places, my mom, my youngest sister Chandra and I decided to have a low-key Thanksgiving with two of our friends. First, we have invited our friend Nathan. He's currently going to school in St. Louis and doesn't have any family close by, so he has spent the past two Thanksgivings with us.

Second, we invited our friend Larry. I first got acquainted with Larry in 2004 after I was well enough to come home to live after my accident. Larry worked for the company that supplied all of my medical equipment like my wheelchair, bed, etc. I've known Larry ever since and he's just a phone call away when I need my wheelchair adjusted, my bed look at or anything like that. When we invited Larry over for dinner he offered to fry a turkey and we eagerly agreed because we'd never had fried turkey before.

We had a great time eating and talking and I'm so glad that we had friends join us yesterday or our Thanksgiving would've felt a bit lonely. Here are some pictures of Larry frying our turkey:

Here are some other pictures from the day.
Classic Heather -- cold and covered with a blanket!:

Nate spent the night so that we could have a movie night. It was hard for us to settle on a movie, but we finally decided to watch Australia. At two hours and 45 minutes, it's a rather long movie, but it's one that I like, even though a lot of people think it's boring!

I feel so lucky to have been able to have two Thanksgivings this year. Celebrating holidays with family and friends is the best!

Celebrating my 7th!

This past Friday I had a get together with some of my friends and family to celebrate the seventh anniversary of my accident. It's really important to me to celebrate my "second birthday" because I'm so grateful to be alive! I probably should have died in my car accident since the trauma was so severe, but the Lord had a different plan for me and I survived!

My sister Kristin made two different kinds of cheesecake -- a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake and a dark chocolate raspberry cheesecake so we could have a side-by-side comparison. Both of them were so amazing, but I think I preferred the dark chocolate raspberry. Here's a picture of Kristin doctoring up the cheesecakes and a picture of the cheesecakes side-by-side:

It was so fun visiting with my friends and I had a great time. Here are some pictures of my get-together:

One last hurrah of summer

I love having get-togethers with my friends and family, and this past Saturday we had a barbecue in the park. The weather was beautiful (although I thought it was a little chilly in the shade) and we were able to find a perfect spot to have our barbecue. Six of my friends came, in addition to my sister Kristin's family, my sister Laura's family, our family friend Paul and my mom and me.

Here are a few pictures:

Cardinals game: check!

This past weekend I was able to check another thing off of my "Things to Do in 2010” list when I went to a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. The reason this made my 2010 list was because I haven't been to a baseball game is almost seven years, and I've never been to the new Busch Stadium that was rebuilt a few years ago. I'm not a huge baseball fan, but I really enjoy watching games at the stadium because the atmosphere is so infectiously exciting. We played the San Francisco Giants and won the game 5 -- 1.

Hillarie, Javier, Annie, Chandra me:
Baseball ticket: $28.25
Parking: $15
Nachos: $8
Chocolate brownie ice cream: $5
The whole experience: priceless!

Barbecue in the Park

I had a barbecue in the park with some family and friends this past weekend. It was a great day and the weather wasn't nearly as hot and humid as it's been lately. We were at Cliff Cave Park, which is a great park to be at if you are planning on having a barbecue or picnic. There's a huge pavilion with picnic tables and electricity. There weren't very many people at the park, so we were able to do our thing without having to worry about other people getting in our way. Here are some pictures:

What a great day! I love being outside, eating good food and spending time with family and friends!