Unfortunately Fortunate

This post goes out to Paige...

I heard the an old story today, which goes like this...

A man in the village found himself in possession of a new horse.
And all the villagers said, "How fortunate."
While riding the horse, the man's son fell & broke his leg.
And all the villagers said, "How unfortunate."
While the son was still recovering, the army came to the village
and took all the young men off to war, except the man's son.
And all the villagers said, "How fortunate."

Sometimes, all it takes is a little more info for bad news to transform itself into good news.

When I heard the recent report regarding the cancerous cells in her CSF, I didn't like God again. Sometimes I just don't get his ways. But then one day I was in the course of my usual routine and God met me in a unique way, as seems to be his MO. I was doing calf raises while standing on the edge of our hearth (this being the only step in our flat Floridian house). For balance I was gripping the bricks with my fingertips and for sanity I was distracting myself from the burning sensation in my legs by reading a piece of caligraphy Melissa created for me. As I read excerpts from Shakespeare's Henry V's St Crispin's Day speech, a phrase struck me: "rainy marching in the painful field." Now I've always been inspired by the honor and glory contained in that speech, by the victory, by the end result, but this day I found myself focusing on the events preceding the glory, honor & victory. If I want the glory (which if it be a sin to covet honor, I am the most offending soul alive), then the battle comes first and the rainy marching in the painful field precedes even the battle. Suddenly I found myself content to trudge (think a knight's tale) in the mud & rain & cold of life. I still don't understand the problem of pain, but I can trudge.

Finally, another slow night

Since my last post, I've worked a number of nights but my kids actually kept me busy all night long. How dare they rob y'all of news about us! Just kidding. I love my kids and taking good care of them makes me HAPPY! I have taken five patients the last few nights I've worked. That has been a new and exciting endeavor. I've done really well and my preceptor has expressed positive feedback to me. I'm very ready to be on my own (while still enjoying the safety net of a preceptor). I'm learning a lot (like, did you know IV Ig can be used as a treatment for multiple unexplained miscarraiges) (neither did I).

I've got this pt tonight who is sometimes oriented. When he's disoriented it's really sad. One time he told me he dreampt that we told him he was going to die... I assured him it was only a bad dream and that we are doing everything we can to help him. He looked at me with big, sad, scared eyes and asked, "Is this real?" It's really sad (but a tad bit funny too), I reassured him that I was real and that I was telling the truth. He's sleeping now (thanks to 1.5 mg of Ativan).

Friday and Saturday were great days for Jeff & I! On Friday we hung out at my parent's house with Jen, Vaughn, Zarah, Vontoria, Chance, Raliegh, Bill, Angel, Coral, Steele, Cody, Ronnie, Nia, Grandma & Aunt Judy! What a mob! Then we spent Saturday at the beach with the same mob, minus the old folks.

Now Frank is visiting us & we are enjoying his company. However, we are also dog sitting for my parents and I don't think Frank is especially enjoying Kirby's company. If only our kids could get along. Sigh. Kirby is sort of obnoxious. He loves to jump on anyone and snuggle with everyone. But he likes to go running with me & I like the company. We're exercise buddies.

We might go skydiving! wooohooo! after all we do live a mere 45 minutes from SkyDiveCity. It's all Rachel's fault. She used her big, puppy dog eyes and I just couldn't say no!

Waiting For Dawn

I'm at work. It's 4:30 in the morning and I'm just waiting for the sun to show up. When the sky lightens so does my brain. I wake up and no longer struggle to stay awake. But only until I start driving home... then I fight to stay awake again. Y'all can pray for my safety on my commute. Last week I actually pulled over and shut my eyes for a few minutes because I was fighting too hard. Now it's 4:33 and writing this post has not eaten up nearly the time I was hoping it would.

Yesterday was our 1 year aniversary! Being married to Jeff has been bliss. He takes such good care of me. We spent the day hanging out with Frank, Roy, Zachary (Roy's friend who looks/acts like Ashton Kutcher in that 70's show) and Lisa. It was a great way to celebrate. We spent our Wedding day surrounded by friends and spent our first anniversary the same way! perfect. I know we're nuts. But we're crazy together!

Frank, Roy & Zachary came down for the long Memorial Day weekend... And by the blessing of God I happened to have Friday, Saturday & Sunday nights off. So we partyed as hard as we could. Saturday we spent the day at Busch Gardens, riding rides, eating food, checking out animals and flowers. Sunday we went to church then had an after church lunch/picnic of Grilled Pork Chops, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, & the Best Brussel Sprouts EVER!!! (roy even liked them). Then Sunday night we began brainstorming about potential plans for Monday & decided to go see Pirates of the Caribbean (whatever the subtitle is for the third film) right then. So we didn't really get Monday planned until 2 in the morning, but we had fun at the movie. Monday we went to Fort De Soto State Park beach. Where I (in my staunch anti-sunscreen manner) got a slight sunburn ( I didn't shade myself consistently enough).

The water was a delicious temp in the Gulf & I wanted to go swimming so badly... But I knew I had to work tonight and I couldn't afford to risk a reaction and end up wasted before work. I struggled a little bit with feeling jealous of the rest of the world. I just wanted to go swimming without dealing with the suffering. But I had a good time hanging out at the beach anyway. Shay Dawg and I had a great visit...

So how was that? too boring. I feel stupid after this post.

tagged

1) I hate these things

2) When Mrs RF said that if you don't like these things, she'd still like me made my stubborn-annoyed-when-people-try-to-be-too-nice-and-in-doing-so-articulate-the-obvious bone kick in and I now HAVE to do it.

3) I love running

4) My stomach is growling

5) My favorite band is Switchfoot

6) I made pumpkin oatmeal today

7) I love old photographs, especially of family... really old, like the one I have of my grandfather at probably 1 month of age and his sister at maybe 2 years of age. I never even knew his sister. It's really cool. I have one family portrait where one Aunt ("ant") was added to the picture because she had just died on the Titanic. I didn't know they could paste people in pictures back then...

forget the tagging... i'm over it

It Is Past Midnight

Wow. I'm still up. You see tomorrow night is my first night shift. So I am attempting to acclimate my body to staying up all night long. Last night I stayed up until midnight thanks to Melissa who talked me through. Tonight after Jeff went to bed (9:30ish) I went for a run, lifted weights, did an ab workout, talked to Frank for a minute, entered my new schedule into outlook, looked for something on the library's website, im'ed with Isaac, found a new icon, read a bunch of blogs, checked emails, and now here I am writing a post.

So who's coming to visit us this summer? Remember we live in Florida on a river. We are "storing" kyaks and a boat for my parents. Lets have some fun...

I think 12:32 is late enough. Goodnight.

For those of you in Rio Linda

Jeff has mononucleosis!

Today marks week #3.

The sore throat is resolving!

He's been on the couch the whole time.

Except the 3 shifts he worked.

Brave Man!

I'm not trying to be poetic.

I'm just getting facts on the blog.

So you all know what's goin' on down here.

For some reason every time I attempt to write a post,

I get distracted.

Unless I do it like this.

I'm back to 100%

I even worked out yesterday!

I'm working MON-TUE-WED again this week,

But for once it actually means that:

I have THU-FRI-SAT-SUN OFF!

WOOHOO!!!

Love Y'all!

Thanks for your prayers, faith and comments....

Sickness Galore

I've been sick for about 2 weeks now.
Jeff's been sick since Sunday.
I'm feeling better & resting up for Monday.
Jeff''s running a fever of 103

The good news?

I only missed 2 days of work (which is my limit during the residency program)
I rescheduled my day Friday to next Friday.
This gave me Wed-Sun off.
I think I'll be ready to work Monday.

Jeff took Monday off
Then called off Tuesday
Tuesday his manager called
Said he could have the week off

The bad news?

Jeff's running a fever of 103
Jeff looks miserable (handsome as ever, just feeling miserable)
We are trying everything
Vitamin C, Prayer, Garlic, Echinacea

Antibiotics, Dr visits, rest
Warm showers, pile on the blankets
Massages, plenty of fluids, rest
Nothing is working

Would you please administer some more prayer?
I'm beginning to feel like God isn't listening to me...
And maybe tell Jeff what a great guy he is :)
THIS COULD BE YOUR LAST CHANCE!

Exhaustion, etc

Exhaustion

Two long days behind me

Two longer days before me

And my mind won’t stop

Spinning

(of course)

Relaxation

Is all I really want

Is all I feel I need

And my mind won’t stop

Spinning

Endurance

Must be what I need

Must be what I want

And my mind must stop

Spinning

Divinity

Is everything I need

Is everything I want

And my mind slows

And rests

(at last)

new job

I start a new job tomorrow. I will be working at DaSilva’s Coffee Shop www.dasilvascoffee.com . It is only about 3 miles from home, Christian owned and operated, and a great place to work. I have been training for the past two weeks but start for real tomorrow. I will be working mornings so I will have the afternoons off to work on the house or spend time with the wife when she is off work. It is so neat how God works things out perfectly. I could not have wished for a better work environment, location or hours. So if you are in the area in the morning you will have to stop by and see me.

A Dream Come True (that we never even dreamt)

At this moment Jeff & I are reclined on “our” comfortable leather furniture, watching our new 42 inch flat panel TV & knowing the river flows out back. Life is sweet.

Yesterday was my first day as a Pediatric Registered Nurse at All Children's Hospital (allkids.org). The day was full of information: campus safety strategies, legalese, customer satisfaction techniques, benefits packages, photo id picture-taking, etc. The best part unfolded as each new employee answered the question, “why did you choose to work at All Children's Hospital?” Of the 27 individuals in the room, approximately 10 stated that their child had been hospitalized at All Childrens and [I just realized that I work at All “Children's” Hospital—like Feed the Childrens by the Limozeens] the care provided was so excellent they promised themselves that if the opportunity ever came up they would work at All Children's. That says a lot about the hospital… Plus, the rest of the people talked about someone they know who works at All Children's hospital and LOVES IT….. So now I am even more excited about working there.

The big news for the weekend (think post title) is that Jeff & I will be living at the Riverhouse indefinitely!

We were expecting to find a house of our own and make the mortgage commitment. But my parents surprised us by buying another house in Florida in the event they move down & offered to rent the Riverhouse to us! Yippee!!!! So now we have the most beautiful house, filled with the most beautiful furniture (for now) and only 45 minutes from All Children's.

We are overwhelmed with joy and lovin’ Florida!!!

Now y’all need to come visit y’hear!!! We love company and we hope to receive lots of it.