SoCal

Ahh, vacation. June 7-16th. School was turned in ahead of time so no school.  No work. No responsibilities. A dad who bought all my meals.  I was SPOILED ROTTEN! *grin*   Here are my super cute parents. :)

Here's a pic of the San Diego beach.  My friend Heather and I once talked about how it is difficult to impossible to have any sorts of worries or concerns when you're laying on the beach.  It's really pretty true.  Not that I normally have a lot of worries or concerns when I'm not at the beach, but there is something so incredibly calming about the power and vastness of the ocean and knowing God is the one who designed and controls it.

What?  Never expected to see MY name on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood! Thanks, guys, you shouldn't have...

Two of my siblings and I ventured up north for a couple days to check out L.A/Hollywood and go to Knott's Berry Farm (roller coaster park).  We found the Santa Monica pier without really even knowing that it was famous.

Here's one of the fam that's crooked, but I like it. :)

Sisters in beautiful San Diego :)  Beautiful trip, beautiful time, glad to be back.

Cow Sprinkles

Food for thought while I am on vacation in California too busy enjoying the beach to post anything new:

Cow Sprinkles

Now I am a sprinkle lover, 'tis true, but even I had to wonder why when I saw these!  On what cake would you think "Oh man - COW sprinkles, now that would be perfect!"  Maybe I'm too much of a city girl to appreciate and be aware of the wide-spread use of cow sprinkles, but somehow I don't think so...  Ha ha.  These just made me chuckle when I saw them in a store in Nashville right along with multicolored sprinkle dots (which are pretty much the best sprinkles ever, btw).  Cow sprinkles: hint of the future or somebody's strange one-time sale?  Only time will tell...

Emergency Room Visits

I was recently reminded that emergency room visits are not the norm for most people.  I know this to be true, but it's easy to forget because I go there all the time to work.  You severed your finger using a table saw?  Yeah, people do that all the time.  You think you have a kidney stone and the pain is a 12 out of 10?  We have just the thing.  Chest pain?  We know what to do - happens every day.

Based on my patient's symptoms, I grabbed an EKG machine and rolled it into the room.  As I was checking out the electrical activity of his heart, a family member behind me said, "Keepin' the same hairstyle, huh?"  I quickly cased the room, but there was no one else in there he could be talking to.

"Are you talking to me?"  I said.  "Yeah.  You wore your hair like that the last time I was in here - with my mom."  I didn't recognize the guy, so I asked him when that was.   "Oh, you were still training so it was a few years ago...must have been 2007."  Hoping she was still alive and well, I asked about his mom.  He said she's doing just fine these days (praise the Lord - that could have been awkward).

I was, indeed, in orientation in 2007, but seeing dozens of patients a day, I really only remember a few of them.  Several, however, have remembered me.  I don't think this is because I'm extra special or anything like that, but because it's out of the ordinary for them to go to the ER.  When they do, they often remember the nurse that took care of them.

"Duh!"  All you out there are saying, but I need a reminder every once and a while.  People come into the ER scared and hurting and there is so much opportunity to have an impact on their lives, whether they remember their nurse years later or not.  This guy's comment inspired me to remember that.

"And as you go, preach, saying 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'  Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons.  Freely you have received, freely give."  Matthew 10:7-8 

Happy Nurses' Week 2012

In honor of Nurses' Week, a hymn (no, not "There is Fountain Filled with Blood Drawn from Emmanuel's Veins ;)  

Rescue the Perishing
Selected words by Fanny Crosby

Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
Weep o'er the erring one, lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus the mighty to save.

Down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter,
Feelings lie buried that grace can restore;
Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness,
Chords that are broken will vibrate once more.

Rescue the perishing, duty demands it,
Strength for thy labor the Lord will provide;
Back to the narrow way patiently win them,
Tell the poor wand'rer a Savior has died.


One thing I like about this song is the holistic nature of it.  People are not just physical beings, nor just spiritual.  Trying to treat a patient with a mental illness or one that is emotionally broken with merely physical treatments is not going to work.  Telling a patient to "transcend to a happy place" in their mind when their leg has been severed also will not work.  Jesus gives us a perfect example by having compassion on people and going out to preach and heal.  God has created us in a multidimensional way and this is how health care workers should view patients.  As for "feelings [that] lie buried that grace can restore" (exceedingly abundantly!), who hasn't, at one time or another, been stirred by kindness and love?  Oh how humbling it is to see God working through humans like this!  Why does "duty demand" that we rescue the perishing?  Because we ourselves have been rescued, we should realize how desperately others need to be.  Because He first loved us can we now love Him and others.  And by His grace He gives us the strength to do so.

Rescue the perishing, my fellow health care workers and friends!
Rescue the perishing, dear believing brothers and sisters!
Rescue the perishing, as you yourself have been rescued.

A Whole New World

Hello! Please pardon my infrequent postings. I'm finding it harder to write when my stories now revolve around people who can actually use the web and read this blog! :P  I've started cross-training up on the Medical-Surgical unit in my hospital and it is a Whole New World, let me tell you! It's been interesting discovering the different mindsets between "the floor" and the emergency room. My grandma and cousin also came for a visit. Since it was a beautiful day here in sunny Nashville we took them to the zoo. Here are a few pics for your visual enjoyment...

I think flamingos look kind of fake, but I like 'em.

I believe I would enjoy riding a giraffe someday.

Anteaters are such strange animals! God certainly is creative.

This bird thought Caleb was the bomb dot com.

He looks like he's in his environment!

Look, Mr. Frodo - an oliphant!

Pretty birds. :)

And a thought to leave you with...

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” - C.S. Lewis (from The Four Loves)

Beloved, let us love one another...I John 4:7
Love your enemies...Mt. 5:44
Walk in love...Eph 5:2