Jeremy's Trip to the Hospital

So last weekend we had some excitement in the Hermann household. After church on Sunday we went to the Christensen's to watch the NFL playoff games. We had a great time with them, but Jeremy was pretty disappointed that the Packers lost. Toward the end of the game he started complaining that his shoulder hurt and his back hurt. I didn't think much of it because we had pretty much sat on the couch all afternoon and evening, so I figured he just had some sore muscles or something. We were getting ready to leave and he was still acting like he was in a lot of pain. He didn't want to make a big deal out of it so we got our stuff in the car and headed home. On the way home his pain was getting more intense and he was saying his chest hurt, it was hard to breathe and his left arm was going numb. I called my parents to see if they could direct me to a closer hospital, but while I was on the phone with them Jeremy said, "We need to get somewhere fast!" That is not what you want to hear from your husband, especially when you think he could be having a heart attack. So I got off the phone with my parents and called 911, while still driving. We pulled off the freeway and into a hotel parking lot. Police and an ambulance met us there within a few minutes. The ambulance ladies were SO NICE and they were able to at least let us know that it didn't look like it was related to his heart. We took the ambulance to the hospital and spent a few hours in the ER, where they determined his left lung had partially collapsed. Evidently this can just spontaneously happen, and it's more common in tall, thin males. They admitted him so they could keep an eye on him overnight. He wanted me to stay with him all night, but they wouldn't let me since he had a roommate. So I left at 3:30AM and went home to sleep for a few hours before going back to the hospital in the morning. When I got there Jeremy seemed more like he was in a hotel than a hospital. He thought the food was great, his nurse was very nice, and he had his own DVD player so he had me bring a season of Seinfeld for him to watch. They did more x-rays in the morning and said he didn't look any worse, and since he was feeling pretty good they discharged him monday afternoon. He's still experiencing some discomfort, but he's on the road to recovery. He'll have x-rays every few days until it looks like it has healed itself. If he's not all healed in a few weeks he'll have to go back to the lung specialist and possibly have surgery. We're praying that doesn't happen. The surgery isn't a real big deal, but we'd like to avoid it if possible. So...that was our exciting weekend. Hopefully this coming weekend is less eventful. We figure all the bills from last weekend will probably blow through our deductible, so this would be a great year to have a baby! We'll keep you posted if there is any news on that front. :)

Date Night

So last week as we were looking forward to the weekend and contemplating what we would do on Friday night, Jeremy gave me two options - we could hang out with some friends that live close by, or we could have a date night. I love our friends, but I had to pick date night. At times we have talked about having a regular, weekly date night, but it never seems to happen. He said he would plan the date for Friday and it would be a surprise. Can I tell you how excited I was? Very excited! I told my cube-mate at work that my honey was planning a surprise date for us. And when we left the house that night for the date, I felt like we had gone back in time to before we were married. I think that is so cool! That we could be married for over two years and I can still feel that way about going on a date with him. So we went to dinner at Macaroni Grill in Edina (yummy!) and then he wanted us to go ice skating at Centennial Lakes. He had even taken our skates to get sharpened that morning, and he bought us blade guards because we didn't have any. He bought me pink sparkly ones! Well we went to Centennial Lakes, but the warming house wasn't open for the season yet, plus it was so cold that night, so we walked on the ice with our shoes for a few minutes and then we went home and watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. It was a great night and I love my honey!

So I haven't posted in a month. I feel like I've been really busy, but I'm trying to think what we've been doing. Jeremy was very busy with school for the last few weeks of the quarter. He had several papers to write, which meant I didn't get much computer time. We also visited his family in Manitowoc, WI over Thanksgiving. We had a great, long visit and got to see almost everyone. That was our Thanksgiving and Christmas celebration with them since we are staying in MN for Christmas this year. Work has been keeping us both busy, as well as Christmas parties, bible study, Christmas shopping, baking, writing Christmas cards, and watching football. Yes, I am actually beginning to get into football. I'm not a fanatic by any stretch of the word, but I'm getting into it. I ask Jeremy lots of questions, and occasionally he gets a tad annoyed with me, but mostly he's very patient and will answer the same question 10 games in a row without complaining. :) This Saturday is the big "Elgard family Christmas celebration." It will be an all-day affair with waffles for brunch and a soup buffet for dinner. We're supposed to get snow that day too. It should be fun!

Treasuring God in Our Traditions

Another book review - Treasuring God in Our Traditions, by Noel Piper. I highly recommend it. Noel talks about everyday traditions (such as family devotions) and special traditions (such as things we do for birthdays, Christmas, etc.). It's very easy, enjoyable reading, but at the same time it is filled with great ideas of things to do with your children to teach them about God. It made me really excited to have children someday. My mom also picked it up one day, read it all morning, and then told me she wished she had read it when we were little.

The Heavenly Man

So I finished the book The Heavenly Man shortly before our trip to Philadelphia, and I thought for sure I had posted something about it, but I just looked and it's not there so I must have imagined that.

Well I read the book because I wanted to learn more about China. The Heavenly Man is about a man who became a christian in China during a time of great persecution. It's his story of bold faith and incredible trust in God in the midst of intense physical persecution. He was imprisoned multiple times, beaten to near death many times, seperated from his family, and still for the most part was filled with joy and peace and continued to spread the good news of Christ.

I felt the book was a little slow to suck me in, but I kept reading it and pretty soon I couldn't put it down. The things that encouraged me the most were the stories of incredible protection and provision that he told. God cared for him in amazing ways, like once allowing him to literally walk right out of a prison, past several guards, and evidently not be seen by them. We serve an amazing God!