Thanksgiving Highlights

Thanksgiving was pretty fun this year. I usually don't get too excited about the holiday because I'm a picky eater and I don't like a lot of the traditional Thanksgiving foods (especially the big one, turkey). But, I do love potatoes and corn and the rolls that my mom and I only make for Thanksgiving, so I manage to find enough food to feel pretty full by the end of the day.

This year was very different from any other year because the only guests were my cousins- the Uphuses- and my grandpa. The Uphuses have never celebrated Thanksgiving with us before because they usually travel to their dad's side of the family for the holiday. And we normally have Gram and Grandfather over, but this year they were celebrating in Puerto Rico with Jen.

It was still a very fun day, even though the guest list was different. Here are some of the highlights from the day:

*Jello competition (Tracie brought "Green Jello" which has applesauce and Sprite, Tyler brought "Ice Cream Jello," and my mom made "Lemon Cloud" which is also made from jello. We never did vote on the winner, though.)

*Grandpa creating his own addition to the jello competition by spilling an entire cup of Orange Soda on top of the Lemon Cloud (thankfully we had all gotten a piece already!)

*Playing the "Thankful Game" that I'm pretty sure my dad created on the spot (we had to say one thing we're thankful for in 2 words or less, and go around the circle as fast as we could. My favorite: Tyler was thankful for indoor plumbing.)

*Jen and several people with her calling every phone and cell phone in the house at the exact same time

*Playing Hucka Bucka (an Uphus tradition that they taught us)

*Skyping with Jen, Gram, and Grandfather

*Skyping with Dana and Carl

*And eating a yummy cocoa cream pie with oreo crust that I made from scratch!!

All in all, it turned out to be a very fun day, and I'm already looking forward to next Thanksgiving!

No Swine Flu For Me!

I finally got the H1N1 vaccine yesterday from my school's health center. My nursing program is requiring us to get it, and I finally had a chance between classes yesterday. I was surprised that it really didn't make my arm that sore! (And Jen- if you're reading this- it was only one injection, not two, so don't worry!)

This is the third vaccination I've gotten in the past month and a half, so I'm feeling pretty invincible. I dare any germs to try and make me sick now!

1 Down, 6 to Go

I am currently in the middle of reading 6 different books. That's right, 6! And I'm not talking about textbooks or anything required for school. They're all books that I'm choosing to read in my free time. How in the world did I end up reading 6 at once?!?! I honestly have no idea...

I even have a special bookmark for each one. And as you can tell, I'm not very far into any of them, even the ones that I started months ago.

Here's a little summary of them for you. I'll go in the order that I started reading them in.

Book #1: Isle of Fire by Wayne Thomas Batson

I bought this book solely because I liked the cover. Isn't it beautiful? I was walking by the fiction aisle in my school bookstore one day when this cover jumped out at me. I LOVE anything pirate-y, and this is exactly that! After reading the back of the cover, I realized that this was the 2nd book in a series, so naturally I had to read the 1st book first. I bought this one and immediately bought Isle of Swords from Barnes & Noble when I got home.

I enjoyed the first book quite a bit, but I'm not liking this one as much. I think it's mainly because the author is focusing more on different characters than the ones from the 1st book. But, if you're in the mood for a pirate adventure story, you can give this series a try.

Book #2: Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell

I had heard from several people that this was a good book, so I started reading it as part of my morning devotionals. I'm really enjoying it.

Book #3: By the Light of My Kerosene Lamp by Ivah Heneise

This little book is a collection of letters that Ivah wrote while living in Haiti as a missionary, starting in 1947. She and her husband moved there as newlyweds and started a small Christian college. They had 4 children and raised them there.

Now, one of their daughters is a nursing professor at my school, and the other one still lives in their house in Haiti. I met the daughter in Haiti when I went on my missions trip this summer. She read us an exerpt from the book, and I knew I had to read the rest once I got home. It was difficult to find a copy since it's out of print, but I was able to order one online.

I absolutely LOVE this book! The letters are so well-written and touching. I definitely recommend that you read it if you can find a copy.

Book #4: Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane

If you didn't already know, I'm going to study abroad in South Africa next semester! I chose this book off of a list of suggested readings for South Africa study abroad students. It's an autobiography of a young man who grew up in South Africa in the midst of apatheid.

I haven't gotten very far into it, but so far it's an extremely sad story. I can't believe that people really live like this still.

Book #5: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

I read this book when I was a junior in high school for a book report, and loved it. When I got Barnes & Noble gift cards for my birthday, I knew this had to be one of my purchases because I had been wanting to read it again for a while. The problem was that I was already in the middle of reading all these other books, so I figured I would set this one aside for a couple years.

Recently, I didn't want to read Kaffir Boy just before going to bed because it was too sad, and I was suddenly in the mood to read Wuthering Heights instead, so I started it (not that it's much happier). Every once in a while I get in the mood to read it (especially when it's really windy outside) and I pick it up again.

Book #6: Crazy Love by Francis Chan

I bought this a while ago because the author is one of my favorite speakers from my school's chapel sessions. I hadn't started reading it though, because again, I was already reading all of these other books. But, Francis spoke in chapel at the beginning of October, and of course I wanted to start reading his book after hearing him once again. I haven't picked it up since then, but I intend to pretty soon.

And if all this wasn't enough, I started reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy while I was baby-sitting in the spring because the little girl's dad recommended it to me.

I don't own a copy myself, though, and I stopped baby-sitting a while ago, before finishing the book. The problem is, the movie adaptation will be in theaters in two weeks, and I wanted to finish the book before I see the movie!

I was excited to find the book at the library two weeks ago, so I checked it out and added it to all the rest of these books that I'm reading. And surprisingly, I managed to finish it on Sunday!!! It was pretty sad, and the ending seemed kind of abrupt, but overall it was very good. I'm just proud that I finally finished a book! Now I just have 6 more to go.... Time to get reading!

P.S. Shane Claiborne spoke at my school this morning, and now I want to start reading his book (Irresistible Revolution), which I own, too! But I've convinced myself that I have enough to read already, so I'm not going to start on it, yet.

First Experience of Mental Patients

Thursday was a lot of fun! I loved hanging out with the adolescents at the mental hospital. They were way more normal than I expected. Sadly, most of them were in there for drug problems or for being suicidal. A few of them had admitted themselves, but most were brought in by their families.

I felt like I was back in high school again- with the cool older boys picking on the geeky younger boys, the girls talking constantly, especially while the teacher was talking- you know, all that fun stuff. I mostly talked with the boys, although they weren't too willing to tell me about all the personal stuff I was supposed to ask about.

I got to go to an arts & crafts session with them where they were split into three groups. Each group was given a word to depict through any type of art medium on a poster. My group (mostly made up of the cool older boys who didn't want to be split up) was given the word "fun." I was really saddened to hear the boys disappointment that they couldn't draw any form of drugs as their depiction of fun. I asked them if they ever did anything besides drugs, and they had a hard time coming up with an answer.

I left the hospital that afternoon with a very different perspective on mental health and the issues that contribute to it. I have been praying for all of the kids I met, and I am hoping that their time in the hopsital will be beneficial.

First Day

I started a new nursing class this week, and we had our very first day of clinical today! For whatever reason, the APU school of nursing decided to split the 5th semester of the nursing program and make us take two separate 6 unit classes this semester instead of just one. If you ask me, it's not a good idea to cram a 6 unit class into just 7 weeks! But, no one asked me.

My group survived the first class (rehabilitation nursing) and we are now beginning the second one (mental health). We had our first day of clinical today at the psychiatric hospital. It wasn't anything exciting- we just took a tour of the building, then listened to our teacher talk for a couple hours.

On Thursday, we'll actually get to start working with patients! I'm really excited, but at the same time nervous because we don't get to do the normal nursing stuff that I'm used to. We're just supposed to talk to our patients the whole day about their particular mental illness. We don't even wear scrubs! This will be a very different experience than all my other clinicals.

I'm excited that I'll get to work in the adolescent unit first, rather than with the adults. It seems like they will be a little easier to talk to.

I'll let you know how it goes on Thursday!