Archive for July, 2011

Out of the frying pan, into the fire

1
9 months ago
by Isaiah in

Where do I even start?

Two months ago, I felt God telling me I need to spend more time with my daughter. I wasn’t sure how I would make that happen, I just knew that one night per week wasn’t cutting it. Not to mention the fact that when she gets older and starts after-school programs I probably wouldn’t be able to attend.

The thought of that broke my heart.

My little girl is too important to me to not be a bigger part of her life.

Something had to give.
Something had to change.
I had to change.

I knew Andrea would never move to the OC so that left me with only one choice: move back to Riverside.

So as of today, I accepted the position of Production Associate at Sandals Church.

It’s been something that’s been on my heart and on my mind for the better part of two months now and it’s something that I have to do.

It’s definitely a bitter-sweet feeling and a decision I didn’t make lightly.

I will miss seeing all my friends I’ve made over the past year in Orange County, but I’m also very excited to see what the future holds for me.

It’s been an absolute pleasure being able to work with and for Mike, Todd, Mark and everyone else at Coast. Coast Hills has been blessed with some of the most caring, talented and friendly people I have ever known and I will truly miss seeing them every day.

So even though exsaded (excited/sad), this will be a very good thing for me and for my daughter.

 

Going forward, I’m going to need to find a new place to live and/or a roommate in Riverside. If you can please keep that in your prayers for me, I would very much appreciate it.

 

Well, that’s about it for now. I’ll keep you all updated as things progress.

-i

Dumb Teeth

0
9 months ago
by Isaiah in ,

I don’t know why they’re called ‘Wisdom Teeth.’ I think they’re kinda dumb. Not doing anything for the past three days has been really quite boring and given me plenty of time to think about things. One of the things that’s been on my mind for quite some time is my relationship with Emma.

As most of you know, I get to see my daughter two days a week. Mondays and Tuesdays are my days with her. I hate it when I don’t get to see her. Last week was VBS at my church. This week I had my dumb teeth extracted. That’s two weeks I’ll never get back with her. It honestly hurts me and breaks my heart. Especially right now when she’s growing up so fast I want to be a bigger part of her life.

I’m just glad that next week everything will be back to normal and I’ll be able to see my beautiful little girl’s face again.

-i

Under the knife

0
9 months ago
by Isaiah in

Okay, I may not have gone “under the knife” but I did have some minor surgery today. After nearly six years of putting it off, I finally got my four wisdom teeth extracted. It’s nothing special or uncommon, but it’s still no fun.

My appointment was for 7:45 this morning (HUGE thanks to @mikesessler for coming through for me today) and I’m actually happy it was that early. That way I didn’t spend all day thinking about it and I didn’t have to starve myself. I just didn’t eat after midnight and I was good to go.

I was pretty nervous going in for it and got tense when they had to put the I.V. in. I think it was within two or three minutes after getting stuck that I really started feeling tired. Almost like a felt drunk. Thought I have no idea what being drunk feels like…. ;-)

The next thing I remember was the nurse waking me up and helping me walk to another chair where she gave me some post-op paperwork. It was really quite an experience and I must have been an interesting sight! My mouth and tongue were numb. I couldn’t hardly talk. I must have looked like David after the Dentist.

Once I got home and made it to my room I crashed on the bed. I think I slept for an hour or two (not really sure, I was still a little fuzzy). I know I got hungry and needed to change out the gauze. Luckily I had stopped bleeding so I no longer need the strips of gauze. But the pain killers were starting to wear off so I took another and went and got me some Jello.

Thank you to everyone who suggested different food items! Jello is amazing as well as the Ensure. I’m hopping to be able to do mashed taters and soup tomorrow. I’m having a hard time opening my jaw more than a half-inch so spoonfuls of food is out of the question right now.

Overall I’m feeling pretty good and I want to thank everyone for you prayers. Everything went well and I’m hoping to make a quick recovery. In the meantime though, I’m SUPER bored at home so if anyone has Xbox Live my gamertag is bigfranco03. I need the distraction!

 

-i

 

If anyone stumbles upon this and is about to have their wisdom teeth pulled, here’s what’s worked for me so far…
This is just a list of stuff I’ve compiled based on other people’s and my own experience.

Isaiah’s Top Tips for Wisdom Teeth Extraction:

  • Start taking the antibiotics the night before.
  • Take the prescribed pain-killers right before you go in for your appointment (I took mine while in the parking lot).
  • Buy food, drinks and ice packs ahead of time.
  • I bought two ice packs from Target. The kind that have a sleeve with velcro so I can wrap it around my neck and it stays in place. I should have picked up a third. They don’t get cold enough fast enough.

Food Selection:

  • Jello
  • Pudding
  • Ensure
  • Soup (I’m going with Ramen Noodels because there’s less stuff to have to chew/blend)
  • Gatorade
  • Ice cream
  • Popsicles
  • Stuff for smoothies (I went ahead and got the pre-packaged smoothie kits because I wanted something easy)
  • Mashed potatoes
  • Applesauce

Things to avoid:

  • Soda
  • Milk/dairy during the first six hours after surgery
  • Food you have to chew
  • Drinking anything through a straw

Things to have handy:

  • A trashcan or bucket (in case you get sick)
  • A book
  • Internet access
  • Movies / Netflix
  • Music
  • A laptop and/or iPad
  • Your cell phone
  • Friends who you can text if you need anything
  • Xbox / Playstation / Wii
That’s about all I can think of right now. If you can suggest anything else or if I missed something, post it in the comments.

I have a question…

1
10 months ago
by Isaiah in

As many of you know, my divorce isn’t final yet. Sometime in August our six-month waiting period ends. I’m not sure what the exactly timeframe is for when it will be finalized.

Here’s my situation: lately (the last two weeks or so), I’ve had a question in the back of my head that keeps popping to the surface. I keep thinking about Andrea and wondering what if she were to have second thoughts on the divorce? I’ll be honest, whenever I’m talking to her I want to be quick and to the point. I really don’t want to spend time around her or spend time talking to her. I just feel that I don’t have anything to say to her. But what if she interprets that has me not wanting her?

So anyways, back to this question in my head. I don’t know if it was just my brain playing with me or if God is still wanting me to pursue her, but I’ve been wanting to ask her if she was really certain she wanted to go through with the divorce.

Not gonna lie, the reason I put it off for so long was because 1) I’m fairly certain of her answer, 2) I really don’t want to hear her say she still wants the divorce again. It feels like an ice pick gets jabbed into my stomach every time we talk about the divorce.

So today I did it. I was too chicken to call her on the phone so I sent her an email asking the question. I don’t know why I’m so nervous to hear back from her. I’m almost positive I know what she’ll say. I guess there’s that slim chance she’s had a change of heart? I don’t know. But I’m not holding my breath for it either.

God, I hope I’m not setting myself to be hurt again…. and being stupid about this.

UPDATE

I got a response from her. It was as I expected. I guess I shouldn’t be that shocked. Still doesn’t feel good though. So guess that’s that.

IMG_20110720_092226

Bust out the dust rag!

2
10 months ago
by Isaiah in ,

Holy smokes! How in the world did I let almost two months go by without writing a single post?? I know a lot’s been going on and I’ve been super busy lately. But now it’s time to pull out the Pledge and clean up all these dust bunnies and cobwebs.

To be honest, I’ve been wanting to begin writing again. I find it kind of therapeutic and a way to release some of the thoughts in my head. So even if there’s only person reading this, I’ll still try to write more because it makes me feel better when I do. And mom, since chances are good that you would be the only one reading this, please don’t feel the need to post embarrassing stuff. Okay? Thanks!

The Jr. High band led by Trevor Kelso

Today we wrapped up SVBS & Flood Camp 2011. It was quite a bit of fun but also a ton of work. It’s amazing to think that God used me to help impact the lives of several hundred kids. One of the cool things that we did was do a Skype video call to a woman in Kenya who runs an orphanage. The kids here got to see and talk to the kids half-way across the world. Isn’t technology cool?

Throughout the week our kids raised over $7,000 to donate to the orphanage so they can build a new house for the kids over there. C’mon, how awesome is that?!

And if I’m not mistaken, we also have over 50 kids make a decision to accept Jesus this week! Amazing! It still boggles my mind how God can pull all these people into one room, and with different gifts and talents we can, together, show these kids the love of Jesus and affect their lives for the better.

We also got to have a little bit lot of fun and go crazy with the kids during the closing session. Now if only I knew how to shuffle…

-i

Go to Top