Relationships

A few weeks ago one of my friends from church approached me about being an accountability partner. At first, I really wasn't sure. I didn't even know what that meant. Honestly, I had some pretty negative thoughts about it because of how it was used in my youth group growing up but I knew there was more to it than that. We both prayed about it and I felt like it would be a blessing. It would be something new and different so I was excited. We have been meeting once a week at my house for the past 3 or 4 weeks right after she gets off work. It has been really wonderful, a huge blessing. We pray, talk about our lives and read the bible. Right now we are going through Matthew and I love it. Things that I don't pick up on when reading, she does and vice a versa. There is just something about having one on one time with someone who isn't your spouse. God has shown himself to us and it has been very powerful.

I think it's amazing all the different relationships God shows and gives us. I think especially now that I am older, I have a greater appreciation for those that are in my life. One huge blessing that I received from college and Aggies For Christ in particular is that I learned people are just people. We all want someone to talk to, someone to validate what we believe. That the guy with the funny looking nose and the girl with perfect hair ultimately want the same things in life. When I truly believed this, I found talking to people to be much easier. But I also think an important aspect to that is making yourself uncomfortable. When my friend asked me about being an accountability partner I knew I was going to have to let some of my walls come down. I couldn't put up the "I'm fine, we're fine, everything's fine" facade.

I found this to be true with my small group as well. There are 2 other couples in our group and we meet every week. They also live really close to us and drop by whenever so that if Clint and I have been arguing and they walk up to the door, they know somethings up (and this has happened). They do it on purpose though because we all agreed we wanted to live in community as much as possible. This means it's uncomfortable. We have seen each other super happy and excited and we have seen each other at our worst. But through it all, God has shown himself to us. We are growing and changing. We love each other and through that love, God has blessed us. We all go to different churches as well so one person's beliefs and values tend to be different from others but we all have the most important thing in common so I guess it all works out in the end.

I don't write this to be all (in the words of Cat from 10 Things I Hate About You) "Look at me, Look at me". I still have so much to learn, so much to do, so much to understand. I am messed up and wrong on so many levels. I know I have a huge mountain to climb, but it's good to know that the people around you have their own mountain to climb.

No Pics...Boo

Ok, I feel like a big loser because a lot has been going on lately but do I have any pictures of any of it??? Nope. Not a one. This is exactly why I've never entertained the idea of getting some super nice camera. I wouldn't use it. Ever. Oh well, hopefully my writing is full of entertainment and inspiration so people will keep reading it. Oh so where to begin??


My birthday/ anniversary were last week. We had a great time! We went to a local restaurant here called Ellerbe's. It was originally a gas station but they redid everything inside and it now it's modern and really beautiful inside. The food is amazing. The chef goes to the farmer's markets and also connects with local farmers to buy a lot of the food there. She changes the menu according to what is in season. Also, the wine selection is very unique because it is from mostly local wineries. One of "my mom's" gave us a gift card for Ellerbe's so we got to splurge a little more. On Friday night, we went to Dallas and stayed at the Hyatt that is right beside Reunion Tower. It was so pretty. We stayed up on the 16th floor and had a big window to out to all of downtown Dallas. I would definitely recommend staying there if you are visiting Dallas. Saturday we went to Cafe Brazil (YUMMY!!) and then went to the Dallas Farmer's Market. It was really big and nice but the only thing to me was that it wasn't all local. So we tried to be careful and only buy from the locals.


Back in October of last year, I made a few goals. I have pretty much reposted them here with updates of how I am doing on them.


1. Take a knitting class......Check! I just knitted my first scarf!

2. Go camping (like tent, sleeping bag, etc. kind of camping).....Check! We did this over spring break!!

3. Blog at least once a month.....Check...well, kind of I think I missed on month.

4. Pay off a student loan....Check...Actually we are dangerously close to having all my student loans paid off! Whoop!!

5. Train for a half marathon...ok, not so much...I can come with excuses but fact is I didn't do it. :( Oh well, I am still exercising so that's the most important thing.

6. Have my wedding pictures made into an album... In progress! I am currently working on one.

7. Volunteer at the Humane Society...Nope. I need to volunteer for something. I just haven't yet.

8. Get re-certified in CPR....Decided not to do this one. I know how to do CPR. And the class really isn't that helpful. especially when you remember how to do it.

9. Take a dog training course with Cherry...I originally wanted to do this because I thought I might be able to take Cherry to a hospital/nursing home but she has proved to me that that is not a good idea. She is a bit tempermental.

10. Make an apron....Haha! I bought one. Oh well!

11. Maintain my current weight or lose another 2-3 pounds....Check! Yay!! I have maintained my weight and Clint and I continue to try to make healthier choices.

12. Take a multivitamin everyday....Getting better. I still don't do it like I should but I am taking it more often.

13. Finish decorating my room and the guest room...Check! I'm pretty much done. There are a few things I would like to do but they take money to do those. For me, I did it and anything else I do is just a bonus.

Whew!! So, there you go! I would say I'm doing okay. Maybe in a month or two I will set a few more goals.

Boot Party

For the end of second year, the whole class helps put on a party to celebrate taking their boards and finishing up the first half of school. This is in front of the tree in our yard before we left. There was a catered meal, wine and dancing. After wards, we had about 4 couples over to the house. We played games and just enjoyed the company.

Four of the guys battling through this thing with Clint. Brad, Daniel (the creepy guy behind Clint), Colby and Sam

The girls who help keep me sane!! Joanna, Claire, me and Stephanie. Thank God for friends like these.

July 4th

It doesn't seem like that much time has passed but Clint is officially in his third year of medical school. Whoop! I can't believe the time has gone by this fast. Last week he started his internal medicine rotation and he says he is really enjoying it. His days aren't too bad yet. He usually leaves the house around 7 and gets home anywhere between 3:30 and 6:30. Luckily, he has had a good doctor who takes time to explain things. This semester will be the hardest of his third year because he also has his surgery rotation. I think he is looking forward to all of it though. This is the part he has been waiting for. He also got some of his boards scores back and he did well. So thank God for that!! Here are a few photos of the July Fourth weekend.

We went to Concert in the Gardens which I would recommend for anyone visiting Fort Worth. It is held in the Botanical Gardens and the Fort Worth Symphony plays different music each night. They usually have themes like the Beatles or music of the '60's etc. Of course for the Fourth it was all patriotic music. Also at the end of each show they have fireworks. Our friends that we went with, he is the stage manager for the symphony so we got backstage passes for the fireworks. It was really cool.

This was the program for the night. Everyone brings lawn chairs and comes early to have a picnic before the show.

Some of our Aggie friends. (Jordan was giving me the bunny ears and unfortunately it was the best picture I had of all of us.) Thanks Jordan...(Just kidding.)


This was on Friday night before the Fourth. Blair getting her hair did by her daddy. I think she liked it.


And the newest Gaines! Leddy Grace. She basically sleeps a lot but she is a great cuddler. Love it!! She kind of had the mohawk thing going.

Summer Vacation!!

Clint finished up his boards last week so we have been very busy celebrating. The Wednesday before last we left for Athens to see all of Clint's immediate family. Some of Clint's family owns a lake house there and so we spent a long weekend visiting and catching up with them. We went jet skiing, boating, fishing and eating. The weather was great so we spent lots of time outside.

This past Friday we left for another lake house. This time we went to Breckenridge Texas (between Abilene and Fort Worth) where some of our friends parent's have a lake house. Once again we boated, jet skied, and this time instead of a bunch of kids there were a bunch of dogs. The grand total was 5 dogs. Yikes! It was an absolute blast hanging out with friends, laughing, swimming, eating and playing. I think I could do that every day.

On Thurday, June 17, Bobbi had her baby. Jaxon Lewis Keese was 8 lbs. 5 oz. and has a head full of hair. I went up to Plano Friday before we left to see mama and baby. They are both doing well. I am so happy for them and I know they will be great parents.

And besides that, I am working on finishing my goals that I had set for myself last year. (I wrote a post on it back in October of last year.) I have a few more to go. Also, I am looking into becoming a lactation consultant. I have been thinking about it for a while and I think I would really enjoy doing it but I have to look into a bit more. I love what I am doing for now but it definitely isn't something I want to do long term. It is just a matter of logistics at this point. Clint has 2 more years for sure in Fort Worth and then he starts his residency where we could be moving any number of places. Plus we want to start a family somewhere in there so it could get difficult to add something else in the mix!

Sweet baby Jaxon. Just one day old.

Clint and I at the lake house with friends. The picture is blurry, I know. Darn you iphone...
Okay, this picture was supposed to show our friends but Clint decided to show off the poker set... I don't know. Anyway, in this picture is Clint, Claire, Colby, Stephanie and the back of Daniel. Stephanie made a fruit pizza (yum!) to celebrate Clint and Brad's birthdays.
This is one of the dogs at the lake house. He was being crated and I thought he looked like one of those dogs on the commercials for neglected and abused animals so I took a picture. This is Duke. He is an idiot but we all love him.
This was all the food we got at Sam's for the weekend. It was out of control. But really it was the cheapest vacation ever. We were gone from Friday to Monday and we each spent about $80. Pretty crazy.

Some Thoughts on the Treatment of Animals

I have been meaning to sit down and write about Clint and I's decision to not eat meat for us and maybe for others that want to hear about it. This weekend we went and saw his family at the lake house in Athens and we got a lot of questions about it. So here is what I have compiled from Clint and I's search.

Genesis 1:26 says "Let us make men in our image...let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the cattle and over all the earth...". The Message version says something along the lines of let us make man reflecting our nature... let them be responsible for the fish...the cattle...the earth.

So what is our responsibility when it comes to nature? For me, I don't fully know the answer to that but I do know God has charged us with this task. I also think it's something that we don't address much. I also know He has said to eat animals and that He has said that they are all clean to eat.

Romans 14:1-23 speaks to how I feel so if you really want to see where I am coming from I would look there. Specifically verse 14. I don't think meat in nature is unclean but we have exploited animals in our country to the point that I don't have a clear conscience about eating it.

So let me explain why I think animals are exploited. Most of my understanding of the treatment of animals comes from "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer, the movie "Food, Inc." and interviews I have seen by the author of "Omnivores Dilemma".

I think the worst treated animal is the chicken. First of all the chicken we eat today is nothing like the chicken they ate in the 1950's. Chickens now (as in almost all chicken we eat) can't reproduce naturally. That is now done in a lab. They also can't survive outside in what should be their natural environment. And even if they could they wouldn't be able to walk around because their muscles are engineered to grow at such a rate that their bones can't support them. This is so they can harvest that meat sooner than ever before. Chickens now do not live very long at all because of engineering. And that is a good thing because their short lives are pretty miserable. Most are raised on a "farm" which is just a long building, usually with no sunlight and a very poor ventilation system so poop, urine and any other bodily fluid can be kicked up and inhaled by the chickens. Because these chickens are cramped all together disease is a real problem. This means they must be given antibiotics on a regular basis. I know one farmer that appeared on Food, Inc. got Lyme disease and she almost died because she was resistant to a lot of antibiotics because of her chickens.

Swine are also kept in cramped conditions and again disease easily spreads. For female pigs life can be pretty bad because the "farmer" keeps her pregnant or nursing piglets most of the time. I think my heart goes out to pigs more because they are more like a pet. They are very intelligent, on the lines of dogs. I would still eat a pig though...if I knew it was treated the right way in life.

According to "Eating Animals" cattle are probably treated the best, which I can see. Drive around a farm to market road and you can see how cows are treated. Open spaces, grass to eat and water to drink. Sure country life isn't easy but at least they aren't shoved together and forced to breath in each other's poop. Life is okay, until the last 90 to 130 days of life. That's when the cows are shipped off to the feed lots and eventual slaughter houses. The treatment at the feed lot is pretty bad. Here they are kept in cramped conditions, disease now becomes a problem, they are standing in their own feces and they eat corn and animal by product. The corn helps fatten the cows but it is also fairly indigestible not to mention the animal byproduct aka bits of other cows. They think this is where Mad Cow Disease comes from. It's cannibalism. Yuck, no thanks.

And I haven't even touched the slaughter houses. I don't buy grass-fed beef because: it is very expensive and I don't know how the cows were slaughtered. Half of my problem with meat is the slaughter houses. I won't go in to this part because it's pretty awful. If you want to inform yourself about it read "Eating Animals". The guy that wrote it I trust, to a degree. He did a lot of investigation on his own or with the help of people that know the industry but I think everyone is probably biased when they do this kind of work and he definitely has his opinions on it. But I also think something has to be going on or you wouldn't see video coming out every few years showing downer cows, cows so sick they can't even stand up, being shoved through slaughter. If a cow is that sick I don't want it on my plate.

To me, the biblical definition of meat that comes from factory farming, and most of it is, is unclean. That is just me and I don't write this blog to tell others how they are wrong and I am right. I just want people to know where I come from. To hopefully convince others that I am not crazy. I once read that Leo Tolstoy went to a slaughter house and didn't eat meat after that. I don't know how accurate that is but it sure got me thinking. I know if I did the same thing, I wouldn't eat meat either. I am not a full out vegetarian. I consider myself a part timer. I don't eat meat at home. I just don't buy it. When we go out to eat, we will get it sometimes and when we are at other people's homes we will eat it. Also, we eat seafood and I will buy that at the store.

We try to eat organic animal products. For one thing, it makes me feel good to know that they don't give the animals hormones and excessive antibiotics. I love organic milk and yogurt. They taste so much better than the normal stuff. I don't mind spending a few extra bucks for it either. The money I don't spend on meat helps pay for the better quality fruits, vegetables and dairy products that I buy now. In general, from what I have gathered, organics products are about respecting the land, the animal and the farmer. I know this isn't always true but I would rather support that industry over the other. I am having my say by buying the products I believe in.

Eggs are another thing for me. The best is when I can get them from a friend of my mom who has chickens on her property. But otherwise I either don't buy eggs or I get the organic free range.

Another reason we cut meat is the health benefits. Saturated fat, which is found in all meat and animal products, is the biggest cause for high LDL (bad) cholesterol. It is also a major risk factor for heart disease. I just happened to get my cholesterol checked right before I started this and then again about 4 months in. Even though it was such a short amount of time my cholesterol ratio (good cholesterol versus the bad) had improved. Of course giving up meat for health reasons is only effective if done right. I make sure that we are getting enough complete proteins in our diet. Clint had a guest lecturer come one time who is a leading cardiologist in America. Based on his research he believes that people should eat meat in 5-7 meals out of the 21 they will eat in a week.

So here are some things you might try if you want to. For soups or stews, try substituting tofu for meat. It takes on the flavor of whatever you are cooking. Break it up into small chunks and you won't even know it's there. Beans are great! I love black beans. If I am making a Tex-Mex dish, many times I'll replace the meat with beans and mushrooms. Speaking of mushrooms, they provide a great bite and portabello mushrooms have a good meaty flavor to them. They hold up well in shrimp or chicken pastas. Try meat substitute products. Boca chicken patties are the bomb. They taste just like a chicken patty.

You may not believe it, but my grocery budget has actually dropped since cutting meat out and I even changed grocery stores to the more expensive place where they try to buy local fair and offer more organic products.

Goodbye for a while..

Oh my goodness! Has it really almost been 2 months since I last posted??? We have definitely stayed busy the last few months and things are about to really pick up. Clint has just started studying for the COMLEX (the licensing exam for osteopathic doctors) and the USMLE (the licensing exam for medical doctors). The COMLEX allows him to practice as a physician and the USMLE he is taking to hopefully help him get into a good residency program. Another words, very important tests that he must do good on. For the next month he will be studying pretty much all day long. Also, this means my time with the computer (he has the only computer we own) will be very limited so I probably won't be able to update the blog as much as I would like.

Re-cap of the last month and a half:

Blair turned one. She is now walking and saying hi and bye and a few other words.

Easter was spent with my family this year. We went to church and mom made lunch. Once again Blair was the entertainment. It was fun getting to be with everyone and spend time together.

Bobbi had one of her showers and mom and I attended. She got lots of stuff. I'm going to see her on Saturday so I can't wait to see Jax's room.

I joined a book club. We are reading The Help right now. I'm not very far in so I don't know yet if I like it or not. I also read Julie and Julia finally. And I didn't like it. She annoyed me. I did like when she talked about actually cooking but the rest of it just kind of irritated me.

Clint and I still aren't buying meat. When we eat out we will get it but I don't buy it from the grocery store as a rule.

Alright, Clint is booting me off the computer now. So that's it for me. See everyone in about a month!