THE jPod


Wednesday, October 21

AN ANGEL BY MY BEDSIDE

I’ve been going through many trails and under a lot of stress these days, one of them being my surgery. I found myself turning to my heavenly father to find my strength again. There are many distractions in life and when things get overwhelming I stop and reflect… to find what is truly important again. I have always been able to turn to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to ground myself and find my footing again. I’ve been witness and apart of the many blessings and miracles within the church. The community alone is no stranger… everyone is family. The past couple of months I’ve been really turning to the church for guidance, support and comfort. I’ve even attended sacrament the last two Sundays. ☺

Early morning on the 20th as Jeb and I wait in the lobby to be shown back to my room before surgery, emotions rise to the surface and time ticks by slowly. Our pager finally goes off and we are greeted by a lovely woman with a warm smile and shown back to my room. As she looks over my information she is struck by something and asks me if I grew up in town. I answer her with a yes and tell her the high school I attended. She asks me if I know who Amber Nelson is. I felt the spirit rush over me… and smiled with a yes.

I’m certain that everyone whom attended high school with me knew Amber. She was truly an Angel sent from heaven and was one of the most pure at heart spirits I’ve ever met. At that moment all my memories of her flooded my head, filling it with joy and love. Her time with us here was short, yet she brought to us all teachings that will last a lifetime. My first memory of Amber was on the bus headed to seminary (we bused over to the Sunset building before Westview had their own). She hopped on the bus with a big smile wearing her cheer uniform and asked me my name; she knew my older brother and I instantly became “the little sister” (her little sister too). Amber held a service at the church to give her testimony of the church and many attended to give their love, support and to say goodbye (or until we meet again). My brother and I attended her service together. As we took our turn to hug her and tell her how much she meant to us… she (whom was losing her hair in her fight against cancer) looked up at my brother (whom had been losing his hair since he was 16) and said to him with a smile “I still have more hair then you”. Funny girl she was. I still carry with me the Book of Mormon handed out at Amber’s service with her testimony inside.

The woman whom brought me back to my room with a warm smile and asked me if I knew Amber was Janice, Amber’s mother. I felt I couldn’t be in better hands. Before she left my room she gave me a big squeeze filled with joy and love, then shortly returned to my room with a small bear and around his leg a hospital tag read “I heart Jayme”. Janice told me not to feed him for he was stuffed (I see where Amber’s sense of humor, warm smile and caring spirit came from).


I feel very blessed to have the most amazing, selfless, caring people in my life. I had the greatest team of people taking care of me. I felt safe and comforted at all times. My parents and Jeb stayed by my bedside. My surgeon was one of the most caring doctors I’ve met and handsome (meds talking ;) and ALL the nurses and staff were genuine and loving.

Most importantly… I had an angel by my bedside. The hospital is a big place and I don’t believe it to be a coincidence that I was to meet Amber’s mother the day of my surgery. May I always carry Amber’s spirit in my heart.

Tuesday, August 25

JUST DUCKY

I have been taking SO many pix and videos with my new iPhone (does that sound funny coming from a pro?)... I just love it!!! I guess I'll use any tool given to me to capture life's little moments. Here is my first project from the footage taken with my phone. It is not the highest of qualities, but none the less it has been very enjoyable to be able to capture the fun times had... when just being out and about.




T, Faith, Ella and I went to Dawson Creek just yesterday to feed the ducks (One of my favorite place to be, near the Hillsboro Airport... just minutes from my home). Always fun for the kids and just SO nice to be outside in sun :)

Thursday, July 16

I HEART VICTOR

I’m going to pass on through May and June… just wouldn’t know where to begin. Here I am picking up again and starting fresh.

Today was fabulous. Annette, Yvonne, Robbert and I trekked it out to Sauvie Island and had us a good ole time. Took some pix, baked in the sun, drooled over the fresh farmers markets, ate some fresh picked blue berries, and saw me some farm animals. Then headed back into town and enjoyed dinner with the family, edited my pix from today and then headed out to run with Carrie. Good day… good day.

My shopping list from Sauvie’s

Spicy Pickles!!! YUM YUM. For those of you who don’t know Jebediah and I enjoy the spicy pickles. Another bit of info, I LOVE me some pickle juice. Yup, I drink straight up vinegar. It totally grosses Jeb out too.

Walnuts for Baby Bird and yes he can crack those open in seconds.

Fresh, right up from the ground carrots… just because.

Images from blue berry pickin

If you don't mind small spaces... it looks like there are going to be plenty of my berries through the next couple of weeks, as many were still green.

Some farm animals

This is victor. I totally wanted to take him home. Another insider about me, I’d like to own a big Oak Tree someday. An Oak Tree with lots of shade, one that Victor and I could chill under or another friendly goat for that matter. (Oh, maybe one of those fainting ones, they’re cute)

We saw these guys from the road. There horns were just HUGE. Annette pulled over so I could get some pix. As we were walking up Annette said "I sure hope they don't decide to charge us", we found this to be the opposite. As we got closer I pulled up my camera to look at the image through the view finder, they stood up quickly and made a wall between us and the babies and then made there way away from us. This was all I got... not really the shots I was going for and I totally felt bad as they were laying in the shade under an Oak Tree.