This has been the absolute most fabulous weekend. I have received 3 new pair of shoes! Ha! OK, so I set myself a goal. Work out at least 3 times a week for 3 weeks in a row and I can buy myself a new pair of shoes. I did that (yay!) so Friday night I went shoe shopping. I got myself a pair of shoes and then another pair off the clearance rack ($10!!). Today after church, (I'll tell you more about this later) we went to Kohl's (dangerous when it's only blocks from your house) and found Kris two pairs of jeans. Then we went to Famous Footwear (even more dangerous when it's blocks from your house and you have to drive by it daily and not stop to shop!) and they were having a buy one get one half off sale so Kris got two pairs of shoes (much needed!), Annika got a new pair of sandals for spring and I got another pair of shoes! Score! Other fabulous things have included lots of Annika time (ohmygodIlovehersomuchithurtsandIwanttospendallandImeanallmytimewithher!, a reasonably priced hair cut ($24!) at an Aveda salon (love you Darci, my new stylist), and dinner last night with Dusty and Kim.

So, church. The service was nice. The sermon was okay. They have a nice choir and pipe organ and building and lots of young families. We spent a long time after church chatting with the pastor and his wife. I really liked both of them. The pastor actually grew up near Stanely, ND! The church if fairly new (remodeled or new in 1998) and they have a nice "child section" in the back of church for the rowdy toddlers who don't like to sit still. Can you say Annika? Yeah. I think we'll go back to this church and check it out more. There are two pastors at this church and we'd like to hear both of them preach before we commit. Kris also found a church recommended to him by a fellow ECFE parent that's in a nearby town. We'll go there too but I'd really like a church that is in town.

OK. Big news. As some of you know, I'm on the national donor marrow list. My cousin Randy has had 3 kidney transplants due to a birth defect and they have impacted my life such that 10 years ago (how can it be that long already?!?) I signed up to be a bone marrow donor. My dad is actually on the list too. A couple months ago I received a phone call that I was a potential match for someone. At that point they were going to test the blood sample they had on file. Tonight, I received a call that I have made it to the next step. The next step is to give another blood sample. The results would come back in 6-8 weeks. I go in either Tuesday or next Monday to give that sample. There is a 5-15% chance that I make it through this next step. If I did make it through the next step, I would have to go in for another blood test around the end of May (6-8 weeks for this next test to be processed). Those test results would take another 8 weeks to come back. There is a 15% chance I would make it through that hurdle (results would be in around the end of July). If I did, I would donate my marrow in 4-6 weeks after that (September time frame). My head is spinning right now thinking of all the what-ifs. I'm excited and scared and happy (that I could potentially help) and sad (for the 38 year old woman with Hodgkins Lymphoma) and on and on and on. Oh. And Yikes.