End of the Year / Christmas Letter

To our loved ones,

           

      We cannot believe that it has been over a year since we said, “I do.”  This past year has been full of amazing times, unexpected obstacles and lots of wonderful memories.  Now that life has started to settle into a semi- normal routine we decided to start the tradition of a Christmas/ End of the Year letter. 

   

     We have heard so much about what to expect in the first year of marriage and I must say that no matter how many preparations you take, or how much advice you’re given you will still run into things that completely throw you off!  I am really blessed to have a husband as wonderful as Josh.  He is the cleanest, most organized man I’ve ever met.  I thought, in the beginning, that I’d be the one nagging to him about putting the toilet seat down.  I quickly learned that this was not the case when he approached me soon after our wedding and asked very sweetly, “Honey?  Do you think that you could remember to put the toilet LID down when you’re finished?”  I was shocked… Now it’s become a habit for me and no matter where I go I have to put the lid down on the toilet.  He is incredibly helpful around the house, always helping with dishes, laundry and everyday cleaning.  I honestly cannot believe how blessed I am to have gotten such a wonderful husband. 

            

     Early in the year we made the decision to change churches and started attending Travis Avenue Baptist Church here in Fort Worth.  God has been so amazing and has provided so many opportunities for us in the church.  I quickly became a member of the praise and worship team for the early service and am loving being able to sing praises to our Lord and share the gifts that He has given me.  Recently I was approached about becoming the Pre-K choir director and I said yes without hesitation.  These little 4-5 year olds are so amazing and I am beyond proud of how wonderful they are doing.  Our first concert will be December 5^th and we are all looking forward to it!  Josh has been playing on the church’s softball team for a few years now and I really enjoy going to every game and cheering the team on.  They even took first place in the spring league this year!  I can’t help but yell out, “That’s my husband!” every time he hits one over the fence.  I’m definitely proud of him.

I’ve had a few health struggles this year.  A surgery in April and lots of doctor visits, but I think that finally, after much trial and error and testing we have gotten things taken care of.   God has been so wonderful and we really appreciate all of the prayers from each and every one of you.  We’re praying that my health continues to improve and that we’re done with doctor and hospital visits for a while. 

Earlier this year our whole family was blessed as my brother and sister-in-law moved to Texas from North Carolina.  They found out that they were expecting their first child and our whole family’s excitement was through the roof.  On October 25^th, Matthew Ross Koch was brought into this world.  He weighed in at 6lbs 14oz and was 19 inches long.  He has beautiful blue eyes just like his daddy and he has Melanie’s nose and mouth.  I am thoroughly enjoying being an Aunt and could not love little Matty any more than I do.

Josh's sister also had a big year this year!  She was married this past summer and the wedding was beautiful.  She and Kenneth are now in the process of building a home here in Fort Worth and are really enjoying their marriage.  We love having them so close by!

Josh and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary by traveling to Destin, Florida for a week.  The weather was incredible and we even got to catch up with some friends that we hadn’t seen in over a year.  Unfortunately we were only able to swim in the ocean one day as there were jelly fish, man o war, and high tide every other day we were there.  I had my first jelly fish experience and was stung twice in one day!  We really enjoyed our time together and looking back over the past year. 

With as many wonderful things that God has given to us this year we have also had to experience some of the most difficult moments in our life together as well.  Late this summer Josh’s Papa went to Heaven to be with our Lord.  He had been ill for over a year and God was finally calling him home.  Papa was one of the strongest, most genuine, loving men I had ever had the pleasure of knowing.  Josh was especially close to him and everyone misses him deeply.  We are confident in knowing that he is up in Heaven looking over each and every one of us and were blessed to have had him in our lives.  Not a day goes by that we don’t think about him.

  

 

We are really looking forward to all of the things that God has in store for us this next year.  I can already tell you that there will be many exciting new changes in our lives (no, not babies just yet :) ) and we look forward to sharing them all with each of you.

           

           We pray that this past year has shown you many blessings and that your Holiday season is full of family, friends and lots of love and laughter.  Thank you for your continued prayers and support for Josh and me.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  God is good, all of the time.

With all of our love,

Josh and Nicki

Brooke Fraser Concert

Back in August I was wasting some time reading everyone's tweets on Twitter when I stumbled across one of Brooke Fraser's posts saying her tour was coming to Dallas.  For those of you who don't know who Brooke is go to iTunes and download all of her albums ASAP.  She is one of my biggest inspirations for music.  As soon as I saw that news I yelled to Josh in the other room that I was going to pre-order tickets.

This past Friday night Josh and I drove out to Dallas to see her perform.  We ended up making a whole evening out of it and had so much fun.

To avoid traffic we left around 4:00 and drove to the Galleria to do some shopping and waste some time before the concert.  I was craving Mexican food and was SO excited when we spotted a Mi Cocina inside of the mall.  The food was incredible, I could eat their chicken tortilla soup every single day.  After dinner we made the drive to the House of Blues.

This was my first visit ever to the House of Blues and it was an awesome experience.  We got there so early that we ended up being first in line outside.  It was freezing cold and I was so tired of standing but I knew that it was worth it.  Josh stood there by my side in a crowd of young women (mostly) and kept a loving smile on his face the entire time.

FINALLY, after waiting for nearly two hours we were inside and waiting for the show to start.  Her opening act was actually pretty good.  The whole crowd was a little shocked when the singer dropped a few F bombs in one of his songs, but their stage presence was awesome.  After their set the stage crew prepped everything for Brooke as we all continued to stand waiting.

The whole room erupted with excitement when her band members walked on stage and began to play, every eye was on the door as we all anxiously awaited Brooke to join them on stage.  The atmosphere was incredible.  She came onto stage and the whole room sang with her.  We were asked not to take photos or videos prior to the show, I did my best to restrain but I couldn't help but to snap a few pictures and get a short clip of her singing one of my favorite songs.

Click here for a short clip of "Better"

At the end of the night Brooke came out to sign autographs and meet her fans.  While in line Josh spotted his cousin whom he hadn't seen in nearly 5 years.  After getting to meet Brooke and having her sign my ticket and one of my guitar picks, Josh and I spent a good half hour catching up with Matt.  He's a wonderful performer and some of you may have heard of his band, The Matt Wheeler Band.  A few minutes later Kari Jobe comes running past me and plopped down on a couch with one of her friends.  Matt laughed and said, ahh that's Kari... With big eyes and my mouth wide open I looked her direction and said, Kari JOBE!?  Haha, I am such a dork. Anyway, the night was amazing and I am so thankful that we were able to go.  I really am thankful for Josh, too.  Concerts aren't really his thing, but he stood by me the entire night with a smile on his face and he even ended up having a great time! 

I cannot wait to see her live again.  Hopefully sooner than later!

Our One Year Anniversary Vacation

This past year has simply blown right on by.  It's now been over a year since Josh and I said, "I do," and in celebration of our anniversary we booked a trip to Destin, Florida.

Thursday morning we were up bright and early packing our things in the car, we dropped Charlie off with my family and Mom drove us out to the airport.  We got there around 7:45 and our flight was scheduled for take off at 8:15.  American Airlines has a policy that as long as you're checked in before the 10 minute cutoff you can board the plane.  Unfortunately we got a grumpy lady to check us in and she said there was no way we would make it to our gate in time so she changed us to a later stand by flight. 

We were crushed!  Turns out we could have made it to the plane in plenty of time, the woman who checked us in ended up getting reprimanded by her supervisor after I complained.  Long story short, Josh and I sat in the airport for another 5 hours before we could catch another flight.  We passed time by playing Angry Birds on our phones and card games on our pillows.  Finally, at 1:30 we were on our way to Florida. 

After picking up our rental car and making the one hour trip to Destin from Pensacola, it was evening time.  We checked into our amazing condo, took in the sites and sounds of the beautiful ocean view and then headed out for dinner at McGuire's Irish Pub.  Josh had the steak and I had an amazing sandwich.  With our stomachs full we headed back to our condo to get a good night's sleep. 

The next day we spent on the beach.  We fell asleep in the sun, played in the ocean, did some grocery shopping and enjoyed our time relaxing.  While playing in the ocean Josh met up with a not so friendly crab and got his poor pinky toe pinched. He tried to hide it but I could tell something had happened, he was afraid that if he told me I wouldn't get back in the water. :)

That night, dressed in blue to support our Rangers in their World Series game, we headed out to a shopping center and had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.  The food was incredible and I've been craving the apple crisp I had for desert ever since!  Even better, the Rangers won their first World Series game ever that night.

The next day our friends Dwayne and Kirstin drove in from Tallahassee to spend the next two days with us.  We headed out to the jetties to see if we could do some snorkeling.  Dwayne was the only one brave enough to get in the water as on our long walk to the jetties we spotted several jelly fish that had been washed up on the sands.  He was in for maybe ten minutes before he got right back out.  He had gotten stung by jelly fish on both arms and one of his legs.  OUCH! 

After that we headed to Fudpucker's for lunch.  This place was really unique, bright and colorfully painted it also had an area full of alligators, not to mention the food was wonderful.  We finally made it back to the condo and onto the beach where Dwayne showed us how to really enjoy the sand by making what they call, "sand beds."  I had a blast when I discovered that seagulls would hover over you if you had food and enjoyed some time feeding them despite Josh and Kirstin's pleas for me to restrain myself.  It was way too much fun not to do.  :)

While playing in the sand I ended up getting stung twice by stray jelly fish tentacles and decided it was best to stay in my sand bed.  After going out to dinner that night at Fisherman's Wharf we played games and enjoyed their company for the rest of the evening before finally calling it a night.

The next morning we had a wonderful breakfast at Another Broken Egg Cafe and then headed to the outlet mall to do some shopping.  We talked them into staying just a little longer for one more afternoon on the beach.  Unfortunately there were still Jelly fish and the tide was getting really rough, but we found ways to entertain ourselves.  Dwayne was dying to bury someone in the sand so I volunteered just so long as the sand didn't go past my thighs.  I had to explain to them that sand gets into way too many terrible places and I wanted to avoid that at all costs. :) So I was buried up to my thighs and left to fend for myself in getting back out. 

After they left to head back home, Josh and I got ready to go out to celebrate our anniversary.  We got all dressed up and headed to Ruth's Chris for a romantic dinner.  We had Ruth's Chris for the first time together in Hawaii on our vacation so it was very fitting that we went for our one year.  The food was phenomenal.  We ate every single bite of our steaks, mashed potatoes and even our desert! 

The next morning around 3:00 I received a phone call from my mom, they were headed to the hospital because Melanie was finally in labor and starting to push.  I could have cried I was so excited!  I had a hard time sleeping the rest of the night.  Matthew was born early morning on Monday, October 25th weighing in at 6lbs 14oz and 19 inches long.  I hated that we had to miss the birth but was just thankful for a healthy mommy and baby.

Monday and Tuesday were spent lying on the beach and doing a little more shopping at the outlet malls.  Unfortunately there were double red flags up which meant we couldn't get in the water.  We still really enjoyed lounging and relaxing on the beach.

Wednesday we were all packed up and ready to go.  We spent the morning on the beach, took a long walk and really tried to take in all of the beautiful scenery before we left.  We were shocked to see several Man o War washed up on the shore and had to be very careful of where we stepped. 

We spent the rest of the day driving to Pensacola, had lunch at an awesome sports bar and then headed to the airport super early to avoid missing our flight.  We ended up getting there so early that we caught an earlier flight home and Josh was able to get home in time to watch the Rangers play in the World Series with all of his friends.  While he did that I drove to my parent's house to finally meet my beautiful nephew. 

I teared up seeing him for the first time.  He is this tiny little bundle with the most beautiful blue eyes, a perfect nose and a beautiful mouth.  He looks a lot like his mommy.  Holding him for the first time was one of the best moments I've ever experienced in my entire life.  He's been such a wonderful addition to our family! 

It was a busy, fun packed vacation and we had a wonderful time celebrating together.  Next year will probably be a little more low key, but we are just thankful that we were able to have such a great anniversary vacation this year.  :)

Health Update

Sorry it's taken me so long to get an update up.  Life flies right on by like normal...

I went to the GI specialist last week and she informed me that I shouldn't worry too much about the cysts on my spleen.  With the spleen you cannot develop tumors, only cysts, and typically they go away on their own.  I'll be going back in this December for another CT scan to see if there has been any change and we'll go from there.

She was, however, concerned with all of the pain and issues I have been having for the past six months.  So she set me up for the works.  And if you've ever been to a GI specialist you know what the works is.  I really don't want to explain.  But basically they'll be putting me out and scoping me from both ends.  Yep.  Lovely, huh? 

She will be looking for a number of different disorders and diseases hoping to find an answer to my chronic pains.  I'm truly hoping that this is the last procedure that I need to have done for a long time.  The appointment is set up for November 3rd and prayers are always appreciated. 

As far as my spine issues... I am supposed to start physical therapy soon.  I am also looking into seeing a chiropractor as that may help as well.  I know why I have the disorder, it's just a bummer that I'm having issues with it this early in life. 

When I was 21 months I fell out of a two story high window and snapped my left femur in half.  I was in a body cast for three months and am just lucky to be alive and able to walk and lead a normal life.  The break in my bone, however, messed up a growth plate and my right leg grew longer than my left.  It's caused hip issues in the past and is a big reason to why I hate running, but I've been able to live with it up until now.  The difference in height in my legs has set my entire spine off balance and is starting to be annoying.  Hopefully some physical therapy and possibly getting a shoe lift will help with that.

So!  Needless to say we have some good news and some pending news.  Good news, no need to worry about the cysts for now.  Pending news, who knows what's wrong with my insides... guess we'll find out come November. :) 

Thanks for all of your prayers and sweet comments, I am truly blessed to have friends and family that care so much about me.  <3

One Day at a Time

Sometimes it's difficult not to get bogged down with the stresses of life.  It seems just as soon as things start going well something new pops up. 

I've had chronic stomach and abdominal pains for about 6 months, back in April I had an exploratory surgery and nothing of significance was found.  So I've just been living with it, thinking it could all be in my head. 

Well this past week I couldn't take it anymore, so I went back into my doctor to start from scratch.  They did blood work (4 tubes worth!) and scheduled a CT Scan for the next day.  Wednesday I went in for my scan, which totally stunk.  She tried to put the IV in my left arm and it didn't work so they had to move to the right arm, I'm a huge baby when it comes to needles.  Anyway, somehow I made it through. :)

The next day I received a call from my doctor with the CT results.  It turns out that I have 4 cysts on my spleen and grade 1 spondylolisthesis in my L5-S1 vertebrae.  Spondylolisthesis is just the slipping forward of your vertebrae and can cause significant back pain, they'll probably just send me to physical therapy to fix that.  My main concern is the cysts on my spleen.

I've done a little research and haven't found much about spleenic cysts, which of course stresses me out a little more.  I've gotten in touch with a GI specialist and should be seen next week to discuss the next steps. 

When I was 19 I had a CT scan and it showed a "cyst" on my right ovary.  It grew a significant amount while I was out of town for a week so they scheduled surgery to have it removed.  During surgery they discovered that it was not a cyst but a tumor that had enveloped my entire ovary, so they had it removed.  My fear is that these "cysts" that "appear to be benign" could actually be more than that.  My history with "cysts" isn't very good.

Needless to say, this week has been eventful.  I am really focusing on giving my anxieties and worries to God.  I cannot worry about tomorrow for today brings enough troubles... I know that I am in his hands and He will continue to watch over me.  Prayers are much appreciated... And I'll definitely keep y'all updated as I get more information myself. 

Thanks for keeping up with our crazy lives, it means so much. 

Here's a few fun images of my insides... I can't figure out too much of it but it's still fun to look at. :)

This is one of the cysts on my spleen

And another...

This one shows the slipping of my vertebrae