Merry Christmas!!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!! So even though i have to work today and tomorrow :( i am soooo excited for Christmas!!! This is my favorite time of the year and i can not wait to be done with work and be with family for the next week. We have a busy week ahead of us but i cant wait for it to all start. We had the traditional Swedish Smorgasbord this past Saturday night with Jonas' parents and my parents. For those of you who do not know, Jonas' dad's family is from Sweden and the always have the Swedish dinner that consists of some weird but good food. Not only do we have tons of food but Jonas' dad breaks out the famous "todden" song. It's a tradition to sing Swedish songs at the table and drink schnapps or Aquavit...so Joe, Jonas, and my dad sing the songs throughout dinner and its always funny to see not only my mom's face but my dad's after he has tasted the Aquavit shot. :)It always gets me in the mood for Christmas and starts off the Christmas week right.

Growing up Christmas morning was of course my favorite because it usually consisted of me and my brother and sister jumping on each other to wake the other ones up, and then going and waking up my parents. Then we would run, shove and push each other to be the front of the line in the hallway that led to the playroom where Santa had left all of our gifts on display. Then after Santa, we have a huge breakfast and then get our stockings.

Now that we are all grown up and getting older the dynamics have changed quite a but. We are all married and there are now twins in the family!!! So this Christmas will be a little different. Brian and Roch and the twins will be with us, but Matt has to work at the hospital through Christmas so Ash is coming up for a couple of days and then going back on Christmas day to be with Matt. Jonas has already witnessed a traditional "Ray" Christmas because every year we can see both families since they are here in Nashville with us. But we are celebrating out "Santa" on Christmas eve morning this year due to my sister having to go back to bham to be with Matt, and we are going over to Jonas' parents house on Christmas morning at 11 for a brunch with his family. Even though things are different Christmas is all the more special and interesting with new families added into the mix!

So to all who may be stuck at work and are bored like me! I wish you a Merry Christmas this year with your families and i hope you have a wonderful week remembering our sweet Savior who came this week to save us!

Merry Christmas!

Count it all Joy...

Yesterday at work I was challenged by something. I walked into a patients room just before the nurse was walking out and i walked in on the nurse talking with the patient about religion and her beliefs. I walked in just as it was ending so i am not sure what the content or the reason for the conversation was, but i did hear the patient say "Well i used to be a christian and believe in all that religious crap and then i never found any joy in the celebrations or the fellowship, so now i just call myself an agnostic and don't have any part in it." So they finished their conversation and the patient was pleasant and nice and i stayed in the room with her for awhile helping her and we never discussed any religion or anything but as i walked back to my office i just realised that you never know who you will encounter, who is watching you, or who is affected by you and your choices/lifestyle. Because here was a woman who says she was a christian but due to the lack of joy and bad relationships she had through Christianity she decided to change. It breaks my heart that due to being a christian or being surrounded by Christianity she found NO joy and changed her heart/mind and turned to a practice that as far as i understand it to be one that doesn't necessarily say there isn't a God, but one that says it's impossible to prove or disprove. I feel like joy should be the essence of being a christian because that is what God called us to do, LOVE others and to have joy in Him. I probably do the crappiest job out of anyone remembering my blessings and being joyful in all things. No matter what you believe, whether you are a christian or not, i pray that we would ALWAYS be joyful in life and in our blessings because you never know who is influenced by you and the decisions you make.

-Blessings-

Rockin Around the Christmas Tree...

Break out your christmas best, your cameras, and scrubs? Last night we went and saw the INCREDIBLE, and seems to get better every year, Opryland Christmas lights with some of our favorite people.



Us girls got loads of pictures



and even the boys got a few of their own :) And of course the men were happy when we realised we could walk around and drink our wine/beer while looking at the lights.


And after 50 pictures, walking around for hours and, wine we started getting pictures like this...


Merry Christmas everyone!

-Blessings-

Give Thanks

Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was wonderful! Blessed with full bellys, tighter pants, family, and relaxation! Ours was great with both of our families. We had 2 huge meals, played games, watched a lot of TV, and of course played with the twins. Here are some videos from this weekend. Turkey trot is a Ray family classic :)



-Blessings-

Em

One Year Later...

Jesse and Levi turned 1 yesterday and we could not be more thankful for God's faithfulness! Wanted everyone to see some pictures from their birthday dinner and see how big they are getting. They had fun looking at their cake and of course playing with the wrapping paper...who needs gifts right? They got lots of cute clothes and toys from friends and family. I will post a video as soon as i get it. Thank you all for thinking of them yesterday and for all your support throughout this past year!


Loving their GIANT cupcake that somewhat looks like a big mountain instead of cupcake

Jesse would rather eat his hands! He loves his birthday hat!


Paparazzi and BeBe with the birthday boys!


Jesse and his birthday moose from Rhetta and Judy!


Me and Jesse posing for Paparazzi


We love our nephews! If only we could have babies this good.


"Are we suppossed to blow this out? You do it brother, i dont want to..."


"I'll do it, gimme!"


Uncle Jonas and Levi


Jesse with his gift from Joe and Debbie! We love our red jackets!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Jesse and Levi!

So today is Jesse and Levi's big 1st birthday! We have been anxiously awaiting this day for awhile now and its finally here! i made them a GIANT cupcake cake and tonight we will make a video of them attempting to blow the candle out and smashing cake in their faces! i will post pictures and video tomorrow for everyone to enjoy! Happy Monday everyone and Happy Bday to my beautiful miracle Nephews!

Ross meets Madonna

Many of you who remember staying up to the wee hours of the morning in college attempting to do your homework and watch tv at the same time will appreciate this video and for those of you who are not old farts yet and still stay up to watch late night television will probably have already seen this. Ross the intern on Jay Leno used to be me and my friend, Bird's, favorite thing to watch in college. He didn't come on every night but when he did we knew it and stayed up to watch him because he always made us want to pee in our pants he was so histerical. Well the other night i was at my sister's house watching Jay Leno with her and he brought Ross out and told him that he had tickets for him to go to Madonna's concert and his only mission was to meet and physically touch her. So this is his video of his mission. Enjoy and happy Thursday! :)

Ross Mathews: Mission Madonna
Uploaded by hughpine89

Destin Weekend

So the long awaited wedding weekend in Destin for Megs and Ricky was this past weekend, and oh what a weekend! When our "college" friend group gets together it is nothing short of crazy! We have so much fun together and love to catch up and laugh about old times.This weekend included quotes such as:
"Don't make me go Mavericky on you..."
-Dana Herring-
"Let's just see where the night takes us..."
-HayHay-
"Say Amen....Amen"
-Presby Preacher-
"Stop making me laugh, it makes my zit hurt!"
-Bird-
"I don't understand girls"
-My hubby :)
"Hey Em, Give me your cheese!!"
-Me-
and of course...
Me: "I love buttery nipple shots!"
Bird: "That's what she said..."

Here are some pictures of my beautiful girls...




And of course it was nice to be able to hang out with my Romi and her boyfriend, Justin! Jonas had never met Justin and needless to say they hit it off and i think that Jonas was sad when Justin had to leave the reception early. :)


And what would be a beach trip without an attempt to take a cute "beach" picture...however we quasi failed on the cute part due to lack of makeup and showers :)

Happy Halloween and Wicked Weekend!

So happy halloween everyone, i hope you all have your pumpkins carved and your outfits picked out to celebrate! We have yet to carve our pumpkin and we have no outfits :( we are behind. Me and jonas have been so busy lately and it will be nice to have a weekend together! Jonas has been traveling alot lately for work and to go see his buddy, Gavin. And so after my run with Aubs to Old Time Pottery and Forever 21 to drool over clothes we cant buy tomorrow, me and Jonas are off to ATL to see my friends and see the broadway play, Wicked! I have been wanting to see it for forever and we are finally going to see it at the Fox theatre in ATL!

Stoney bones will be off to a kennel for the weekend...its his first time so he will probly be so mad at us when we get back, but we didnt want him to mess up Bird's new snazzy Atlanta apt! Hope everyone's weekend is wonderful and full of time outside in this incredible weather!!!

"My Friends..."

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/update-thursday-debate-open/742065/

Things on the brain today...

So here are just a few things that i am thinking about today...some are exciting and some are sad...but i just thought i should update my blog and spread some news while i am bored at work! Hope you all are doing well and thinking of fun things!

1) WICKED




So i get to go see Wicked with the cult(EmSparks,Bird, and Bondage)+ Jonas and Lesa Bondurant in like 2 weeks in Atlanta... i cant wait! I have been wanting to see this play for like 3 years!

2)LOST



So i know this is like 4 years late, but me and Jonas have become OBSESSED with this show. Bird and Katie got me hooked on it senior year of college and it became the reason i never got anything done senior year.:) It's a show that is way better to watch on DVD because i just cant satnd waiting on commercials and waiting a week to watch the next episode..so in the past 2 months..me and Jonas have watched all first 3 seasons and instead of waiting til December for season 4 to come out...we watch it on our computer...yes we are those people...

3)FRIENDS



This past weekend we had a wedding shower for Megan Leland, soon to be Megan Pritchard!!! We cant wait to go to Destin to get these two married and it was so good to see everyone and remember how thankful i am for them and how much i miss them!

4)NEPHEWS


This Thursday i get to babysit Jesse all day while Levi has his surgery!! Please pray for Levi and Brian and Rochelle this week as we eagerly wait for the news on Levi!

5) ALAMOS





So these are just a few pictures of what is happening in Alamos, Senora, Mexico right now. This is the community where Brian and Rochelle are from and where their ministry is based, and this past weekend a hurricane on the coast of Baja hit Mexico and completely flooded the area. It is surrounded by mountains and happened so fast that there was little time for people to even get out. Please pray for the community and for the ones who are still not found. Love you all!

-God Bless-

Finally...

So i finally got some pictures that i can at least copy and paste from the album our photographer is making for us from our wedding. Here is a little preview for you!

Happy Birthday GG!!!!

This weekend my GG turns 80!!! the big 8-0!!! i cant believe it...she doesnt look 80 does she??? She is probly the hippest, coolest granny i know, and definitly has the coolest cane...i mean she coordinates her cane with her outfits...she knows more about fasion than i do. So i want to give a big shout out to the G-ster!!! Love you GG!

"Hey bud...."

Ok so growing up i always called my brother "bud" and always said "hey bud" when i woudl see him and then it carried over to my cousins and so then i just started kind of saying it to everyone that walked by that i knew. Especially in college i said it an awful lot...dont really know why i did, but it was just easier than trying to quickly remember someone's name who obviously knew me and i couldnt remember who they were, and i just liked saying it for some odd reason. So my friends always laughed at me for saying it and some of their boyfriend always said, "Hey Eray called me bud today". So today is the last day i will say that due to the following story...

So here at Vandy we have crazys....i mean we get everyone and so today there was this crazy patient that i have had to help alot and he is in his mid 30's,single and ready to mingle,(if you know what im gettin at)and very very peculiar. So i walked by him today and said out of habit "Hey bud!" Well he apparently thought i said "Hey baby" because he told his physical therapist i had hit on him and he was going to ask me out. His therapist exaplained to him that he must be mistaken because i am married. But of course the patient was adament about it and just knew that i liked him. so not only now do i have this crazy patient following me around and talking to me at all time today but i also have the entire physical therapy staff thinking i like this guy...awesome. Well the PT came and talked to me and told me about it and so i got to clear my name finally. But then there is the patient that is like pining after me and how in the world do i tell him...dude i said BUD not BABY!!! So that is my crazy patient story for the day....i may keep you posted on this one :)

Dedication Weekend

Here are few pics from the weekend of the dedication weekend. The boys were adorable and were so good! Sorry i dont have any pics yet from the actual dedication...i will get them soon hopefully!

Jesse and Levi

Jeremiah 29:11-12

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you."

So I know that many of us have heard this verse, but read it again and focus on the promise that the LORD promises us. He promises us a future and hope. His plans are not to harm us. He also promises us that we WILL find him if we seek him with our whole heart, our entire being. I have read and read this verse so many times throughout my childhood, as well as probly memorize for some test at school...thank you Coach Bostic...But this verse has really hit home this past year. I know many of you know about my family and what all has hit us this past year starting I guess with me getting married followed by my grandmother and grandfather passing away, Jonas and I changing jobs, moving to Nashville, and Matt graduating and starting residency. However, one of the most life/spiritual changing events that happened one was the birth of my nephews, Jesse and Levi. They were born November 24th '07 and they were 3 months premature. Over the course of 3-4 months they both went through numerous surgeries, some scary and some minor, but all overwhelmingly nerve-wracking. They are now at home with Brian and Rochelle and being loved on by many and prayed for by thousands. Even through all the craziness our family was never alone. Whether it was through a friend, who was there to pray with us or give us food or the Lord himself comforting us and showing us His ever present hand in our lives. It is a weird feeling, but it has been like over the course of the past 10-12 months, we have felt the Lord's supernatural presence in our lives and we see Him move and direct us in every decision.

Jesse and Levi are probly the sweetest and happiest babies I have ever been around. (not that I am biased at all) :) And to just be able to see how God has blessed them and raised them is a testimony in and of it-self. Even after all the surgeries and craziness that surrounded their lives in the beginning, they are still peaceful and full of life.

This Sunday, Jesse and Levi are being dedicated at church and we are so excited and overtaken by joy that they are here amongst us and able to enjoy life as healthy and loved baby boys. Thank you to all who have prayed continuously for them, you will never know how much of a roll you have played in their lives!

Blessings-

I salute you...Mrs. Dr. Spann

So, I have to give a little shout out to my sis (titty...yes we call each other that)due to the nature of her dreadful day yesterday. It's not easy being a Resident's wife. Your husband works 16 hours a day then he is on call for like 36 hours and when he comes home all he can do is barely keep his eyes open for like 30 minuutes to eat a sandwich...so i saltue the residents too because i mean seriously...i know i couldnt do that. On top of not getting to see her hubby she works like a banchi(not sure if that is politically correct)and always puts other first. She is a good wife, mom to elle, and sister to me! i love you Ash!!! Have a better day today :)

Blogging...here i come!

So i have been putting off getting a blog, and everytime i think about/look at my friends blogs i am so jealous of how good you all can write and how eloquent yall are with your words and so i always start to create my own and then i dont. But now with so many of my friends moving and doing new things i want to be able to have one of these things to stay in touch. Even though we do have the infamous facebook i would like to have something new to keep everyone updated on life and what all is going down with the Fridrichsens. I mean my life is so full of interesting things (work, eat, sleep, repeat). :) So bear with me on the sad excuse for writing and tune in to the upcoming news because i am sure it will be entertaining. If not my stories my attempt to write will be!
Blessings-