Meet Nurse Elley

As promised, Matto took me to Build-a-Bear last Wednesday! There I found this wonderful Elephant and dressed her up in scrubs and got her some medical equipment. Notice the stethescope around her neck, the syringe in her hand and the thermometer "grasped" in her trunk. It is very handy for Nurse Elley (that is her name by the way) to have that extra appendage because nurses are always in need of some extra hands. Note her booties. She is all ready for a leaky patient!

In other news on the nursing front: Please be in prayer for me. Apparently I am not allowed to work as a Professional Student Nurse (PSN) after I am declared a Graduate Nurse (GN) by the Texas Board of Nursing (TBON). Unfortunately, as I have not been hired as a GN, but as an RN (Registered Nurse) I cannot work as a nurse in my unit until after I have passed the licensure exam. I cannot take the licensure exam until I am declared GN. All this to say, there will be a big gap between working as a PSN and working as an RN. At least one paycheck will be lost if not more. Please pray that the transition will go smoothly and that God will provide money for us to live and that we will use the money for His glory.

My husband makes me happy!!

After my pinning on Friday my husband soundlessly came up to me and gave me a big bear hug. Later he told me about what he had been thinking during the evening class representative's speech. The speaker told about how the evening students would work school in between work and vice versa without getting much sleep in between. Matt was reminded of how hard I had worked over the last two years and he told me that he was so proud of me. It makes me happy to know that my husband is proud of me.

Also, I woke up this afternoon to find white roses on my dresser. That made me happy too. He thought I might like them so he put them on my dresser. I think that is great.

Also, Matto is taking me to build-a-bear where I can build a nurse bear!! And he is going to get me a new Littman stethescope which is so great.

I am a happy wife!!

In other news....

Thursday, my mom and I went to her house so she could change before going to my niece's band concert. When we got there I heard a yowling sound. While she changed I went around the side of the house to investigate. Her cat, Charley, had fallen off the fence and somehow gotten his hind leg wedged between the slats in the fence. I reached in and held his body up and yelled for mom. She finally came out and came to help. When she touched his foot he screamed (no kidding, he really screamed) and went to town on my left hand. Ah, what a gesture of thanks. I grabbed his scruff as soon as I could, but not soon enough. I will have some cool scars for sure! As soon as we got him free from the fence he wrapped himself around my right arm so I have some fun marks there as well. We put him down (after prying his claws out of my flesh) and hurried to the bathroom to assess my wounds. Pretty. Puncture wounds and bruises. On mom's insistence we went to the nearest urgent care, but they were closed so we had to drive all the way down to Sugarland. The fang did not break off and no bones were broken and my bones are very healthy (at least in my left hand). When I told Matt about my healthy bones he said, "They better be after all that milk you drink!" I am now on doxycyclene and am supposed to keep it clean and dry. There has been some swelling, but only over the wounds so that is good. No infection. When people ask me about the scars I will tell them that I was in Vietnam!

Charley is fine. He has no limp and other than being a little skittish about going outside shows not signs of the event.

FREEEEEDOOOOOOOMM

So Wednesday I was taking practice tests for my exit exam and freaking out pretty bad because I kept scoring 60's on them. Finally, about ten minutes before the exam I finished my last practice test and scored yet another 63. At this point I had reached panic mode. I looked up from my computer and two of the Christian students from my class came up and asked if I would pray with them. Hmm...let me think...YES!!!!!!! We prayed for clear minds and calm spirits and most of all for God's glory. The next few minutes before the test I spent texting as many people as I could to ask them to pray. Let me just say to all those who prayed - thanks sooo much. All through the test I felt calm and every time I would begin to freak out I would stop and remember that God was with me and I just needed to take one question at a time. It worked and God was definitely glorified. I got a 992 which equals in normal people terms out to a 91.79%. I scored in the 88.22 percentile in the nation. Whew! When the score came up on the screen I thought it must be upside down. I did not feel that confident with my test. I guess I did okay though! So. It is done. I am finished with nursing school.

Let's try that again.

I AM FINISHED WITH NURSING SCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


My pinning was Friday. There I found out that I was one out of only 34 people who passed out of both day and evening classes. 70% of my class failed the exit exam! Woah. I guess it makes sense though because when we had our review class very few people paid attention. I sat up front for the last two classes because I had a hard time hearing the teacher through all the chatter despite the fact that she was using a microphone. Anyway.

As I said, my pinning was Friday. Later that evening we had a party at my sister's house and I burned my clinical uniforms. Holy cow! I am so glad I never caught fire while wearing those. I would have gone up in flames faster than you can say "I love my lips!" Ah, polyester, such a quality material! The burning was glorious and all I could every hope for! Now I can say for sure that I shall never wear those horrid outfits again! My mom got a pic of me burning them. Perhaps I might be able to get a copy of it when we figure out how her camera works.

Now what? you might be asking. Well now I have to wait until after the 17th to be proclaimed GN (graduate nurse) and be allowed to take my licensure exam (NCLEX-RN). I have to get that done before June 23 because that is my first day of orientation in my unit where I have been hired as a staff nurse.

And between all that I will be cleaning my house. Apparently I have been in a fog the last few weeks because I walked out of my bedroom Thursday morning and saw that apparently there had been a Tornado in my living room. My mom came over later that morning and I asked her if it seemed messier to her than last week. She said that everything was in the exact same place it had been the week before. Wow. Talk about living in a fog. Well the fog has lifted and I am going straight to work on my nasty house on Tuesday (gotta work Sat, Sun, and Mon).

Did I mention...

NURSING SCHOOL IS OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God's little reminders...

So Monday I had my last test for my Lab class. I got a 74. Not so great. It's fine because I did so well on the other tests and assignments that I still have an "A" in the class, but it made me a bit nervous for the theory test the next day. After the test I went to the gym and did some water aerobics (which are freakin awesome by the way. I get a good workout and my joints don't feel as if they will fall off my body!). The whole time I was freaking out about Tuesday's test and some scheduling things at work and the tests for next week and, oh, while we're at it, the NCLEX-RN coming up! On my way out the door I passed the workout room and saw a woman wearing a t-shirt saying, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philipians 4:13." Who says God doesn't still speak to us?



By the way, I guess God has decided to make that my life verse. I didn't even think about it until just now. When Matt started working at the church one of the choir members gave me a little wall plaque with that verse on it. On the "Praise moves" DVD I do (Yoga, but not really, for Christians) the first verse that is focused on is the Philipians verse.



Anyway, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I get so stubborn thinking I can do anything I set my mind on that I forget to remember that I do nothing by my own strength, but by God's. I CAN finish nursing school next week through Christ who strengthens me and I CAN pass the NCLEX through Christ who strengthens me and I CAN be the best nurse possible for God's glory through Christ who strengthens me.

Good news!!

I had an interview on Monday with the managers of the unit that I currently work at as a PSN. They said they did not have the budget for nurse interns, but they liked me and wanted to hire me. They had several positions for staff nurses, but they had to get permission from the CEO to hire me as a staff nurse.

I just got the call five minutes ago saying that they want to hire me as a staff nurse!! I am going to be working at the same hospital, in the same unit, as an OB nurse!! I am too excited. The trick is that I have to pass the NCLEX-RN before I begin as a staff nurse. It is a night position (my fav). Yay!

Also in the news, the crisis pregnancy center I volunteer for is talking about paying for me to get my ultrasound certification as well as my childbirth educator certification. Please be praying for that!!

YAY!!!

I'm an Army "Ant!"

A few weeks ago I went to my nephew's graduation from basic training for the Army. Here are some pics. This is Ian (I think he is going by Zack now) in his dress uniform.

Here is Zack right after his graduation. Doesn't he look fearsome?

Here is his platoon marching by the bleachers.

Zack and Randy in dress uniform. Randy is a Staff Sargent in the Airforce. Here they are at attention.

And here they are after I said, "Beautiful, dahling, now look angry!" I don't know why they don't look angry!

Zack and his mom, (my sister) Ronelle.

Zack and his girlfriend (yes, folks, that is pink!), Kaitlin.


Randy, Ruth, Mom (looking at the "yearbook"), Zack, and Kaitlin (yeah, don't know if that's spelled right).

Me, Chelsea (Ruth's daughter), and........introducing.......Sophia!! I finally got to meet her. Such fun! She is absolutely beautiful and easy going and everything that is wonderful and good. Yay!

Beautiful Sophia!

Me and my big sister!

I had a wonderful time. Unfortunately, our camera is on the fritz so I was not able to take any pics of my own. These are all from Ronelle's camera. My brother let me do night time feedings with Sophia so that was fun (oh, yeah. I am that sick!). Okay, so I do newborn feedings in the middle of the night as a job, but they never wake me up. That is actually in the middle of the day for me (if that makes any sense). I am very proud of my brother and nephew and I am so glad I was able to go. During the graduation, I have to confess, I cried like a baby. I was so proud of Zack and so proud of all the men who were graduating and going on to serve their country that I could not hold back. Laugh if you want, but my brother said (after I proclaimed myself a dork for being so weepy), "We need more "dorks" like that." I also heard some frightening stories about my brother's time overseas. It is a good reminder to be in constant prayer.

Please, all who read this, don't forget to pray for our service men and women. They are what make and keep this country free.