ABCs

I stole this from a friend’s blog because it looked fun.  And speaking of friends, Bethany and Nathan’s wedding is tomorrow, Landon & Megan’s next weekend, and Micah & Allison’s the next!  Congrats to all you lovebirds. :D

A is for age: 27

B is for breakfast today: grilled chicken and green beans

C is for currently craving: Maggie Moo’s Mint ice cream (really because I had some a couple days ago because they were giving it away for FREE at work – best job ever – and it was truly delightful)

D is for dinner tonight: rehearsal dinner – for Bethany’s wedding! :D

E is for favorite type of exercise: dancing, vacuuming, dancing while vacuuming ;)

F is for an irrational fear: sharks?  No, that’s not irrational. :P  Sometimes I still fall back into being too concerned about what people think of something.  And do not fear those who kill the body (or make it feel bad with judgmental looks, etc) but cannot kill the soul.  But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell – Mt. 10:28.  "It makes no difference whom we please if we displease the Lord. Neither does it matter whom we displease as long as we please the Lord."
Unknown

G is for gross food: liver…any organs, really

H is for hometown: Nashvegas, baby!

I is for something important:

J is for current favorite jam: I’ve been sitting at the computer trying to think of the name of the song that has been stuck inside my head (and coming out through humming) for the last week, but to no avail.  You know the one, da da dah da de dah da… :P

K is for kids: kids are cute

L is for current location: are you from Tennessee?  Because you’re the only ten I see…

M is for the most recent way you spent money: a haircut

N is for something you need: wisdom

O is for occupation: nurse

P is for pet peeve: laziness when you’re supposed to be working.  For everything there is a time :P

Q is for a quote: "How little people know who think that holiness is dull...when one meets the real thing, it's irresistible."
C.S. Lewis

R is for random fact about you: My head has been cone-shaped, flattened, and round in my lifetime

S is for favorite healthy snack: Peanut butter and celery :)

T is for favorite treat: Whatever I’m craving – ice cream, icee, fudge, cookies, string cheese, really whatever I’m in the mood for ;)

U is for something that makes you unique: didn’t we cover this in random fact? :P

V is for favorite vegetable: green beans

W is for today’s workout: …I bent over to paint my toenails for the wedding…

X is for X-rays you’ve had: dental only…other than my collarbones as a baby, have never broken any bones

Y is for yesterday’s highlight: my international patient telling me that I will be a treasure to my future husband because I am so nice and Christian-like and I smell good.  Ha ha ha!  I don’t actually know if there is a husband in my future, but that made me smile 

Z is for your time zone: central

You’re craving some mint ice cream after seeing that picture, aren’t you?! :)

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.