August Adventures

A lot has been happening this summer!

In June, Jen and Peter got engaged! Although I haven't actually met Peter face to face, he seems like an amazing guy and I'm so excited for him to be part of our family.

Then in July, Andrew and Heather got engaged! Not only is Andrew getting a wife, he's also getting two kids, Adalee and Alec. They make an adorable family! Now my parents are suddenly grandparents- Nana and Papa- and Jen and I are aunts. It's a big change, but a fun one!

At the end of July, Andrew's best friend since birth, Jon Shoe, got married to one of my good friends from camp, Kait. Andrew was a groomsman and I was a candlelighter. It was a lot of fun to celebrate with them!

This past weekend, my parents and I got to take care of Adalee and Alec! They stayed at our house from Friday to Sunday, and we had a ton of fun with them! They are such good kids, and so comfortable with new people, which makes it really easy for us.

We went swimming...

they watched my dad play softball...

and we took them to the beach.

It was a lot of fun watching my parents become grandparents!


A couple other random things that have happened this month:
my mom and I finished our cross-stich projects!! After six months of hard work, we are very proud of our finished products.

I also got a couple new books that I'm really excited about!

Just Cupcakes is a really fun cookbook full of cupcake recipes and ideas. I've already made angel food cupcake recipe, and it was delicious!

Cold Tangerines is a book about celebrating the little joys of life by Shauna Niequist. Shauna has spoken in APU's chapel a few times and was a delight to hear. My friend Johanna just finished reading her book and told me I'd like it, so I decided to give it a try. I've already read the first out of four sections and I'm loving it! She's a great writer!

Finally, I went to an Angels baseball game with my good friend Sarah, her family, and her Greek friend Ekaterini (Katie). We were sitting right in front of a big group of Orioles fans who were very vocal throughout the game, but it was still very entertaining. It was a really close game and went into extra innings, but the Angels had a big finish and won 9-8 in the 12th inning. Very exciting! There was even a MercyMe concert afterward, which was just as good as the game!

It has been a really great summer!

On My Own

I was really nervous going to work last night. I was finally going to be off orientation, which means that I would no longer be paired up with another nurse to make sure I didn't mess anything up. For the first time, I would be assigned my very own patients and I would have sole responsibility for everything that happened to them. Yikes!

I told myself, "This is what I've been working towards for so many years. I'll finally be the independent nurse that I've wanted to be for so long." But I was still scared!

The night ended up going really well. All of the nurses working with me were so helpful and I felt comfortable asking any of them questions. They all knew it was my first night alone, so they kept offering to help in any way.

I was only assigned 3 patients, so I didn't have a full load. They were all easy and it was going really well, but then I had to admit one more patient. She was really sweet, but she needed several blood transfusions, which takes a lot of time to set up and close monitoring to make sure there's no reaction. That made my night a lot busier, but I was glad to get the practice. Now I feel like an expert at giving blood!

All in all, the night went very smoothly and I am proud to have successfully completed my first shift on my own!

Finished!

Remember back on Superbowl Sunday when I told you about the pillow I wanted to sew? Well 4 months, 1 week, and 3 days later... I finally finished it!

I only spent about 4 days total working on it, but there was a lot of time in between when I didn't feel motivated to sew. But it's finally done, and I'm proud of the result!

Here's the front:

The back is very plain, but the fabric has a pretty flower design on it that I really like:


It turned out bigger than I expected, and I even had to buy a bigger pillow form so it would fit!

It was fun to make, but I realized that I'm not a big fan of sewing machines. I prefer sewing by hand, like my cross-stitch, because it's easier to get out and work on for a few minutes at a time. Getting out the sewing machine took a lot more effort, and I had to spend all day working on the project to make it worthwhile. I don't see many more pillows or quilts in my future, at least for a while.


P.S. I've been making more progress on my cross-stitch also. The background is coming together nicely. Just another month or two, and it should be finished as well!

Updates

Sorry I haven't been keeping up on blogging lately. I'll try to post things more often from now on. I don't have anything particularly interesting to share today, just some updates on what's been going on for me lately.

I just found out today that I have my PHN certification now! That stands for Public Health Nurse. I didn't have to do anything special to get certified, though, so it's not really a big deal. My nursing school is set up so that anyone who takes the community health class (which is mandatory for all nursing majors) will be eligible to get their PHN upon graduation. Although I don't plan on using it, I figured I should get it just because I can.

I've been house-sitting for my grandpa for the past couple of weeks. He's taking a cruise with his brother from Rome to Greece to Israel to tour the Holy Land and many of the cities from the New Testament. I think it's so cute that they're going now that they're in their 80's!

This is me teaching him how to work the digital camera he was going to take on the trip. Hopefully he remembers how to use it!

My cousin Felisha and my friend Johanna have been staying with me at his house some of the nights. It's been fun hanging out with them. Felisha and I found a family of raccoons living in the attic last week. Sometimes we can hear them walking around up there. The other day it even sounded like the babies were wrestling! They're so cute! I wish I could keep one as a pet.

The adorable babies!

I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides on opening day with my friends Damaris, Becky, and Courtney. We had all seen the 1st Pirates together when it first came out back when we were freshmen in high school. We also went to the midnight showing of the 3rd one when it was released, so it was very fun to go see the newest movie with them as well.

My best friends- you gotta love them.

Oh, and the biggest update of my life right now is that I started my job as an RN a month ago!!! It's going great so far! I'm on orientation for the first 3 months, which means that I'm paired up with another nurse who helps me slowly take on more patients and more responsibilities until I'm ready to work on my own. I was on days for the first 4 weeks and I loved my preceptor. I worked my way up to taking care of 4 patients, doing all of the charting, giving all of the meds, starting IVs, calling the doctor for new orders, etc.

I've just now started on the night shift, and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. It's very different than days and a lot slower pace, but it has its benefits. There aren't any doctors or family members to deal with, no meals to serve, fewer meds to give, and the patients sleep through most of the shift (hopefully!). In fact, it's been so slow the last 2 shifts that despite taking on 5 patients for the first time (the maximum load for a med/surg nurse), I had absolutely nothing to do for at least 3 hours, and I was falling asleep while just waiting around for the sun to rise! So far it hasn't been too hard to adjust to sleeping during the day, but it might get a little more difficult as I start doing 2 shifts in a row.

Ready for my first day of work!

Well that's about it for now. I'm going to try my best to keep this up. Hopefully more interesting things will start happening!

Part I Done

I finished the main portion of my cross-stitch tonight. Now I just have the background and the outlining left, which will probably take another several months...

It's Official!!

I got a real job!!!!!

I was just offered a job as an RN on the med/surg floor at Foothill Presbyterian Hospital in Glendora!! I'll be working nights, which is supposed to be the best shift for new grads. I start training and orientation next week.

What an amazing early birthday present! Thanks God!!

A Civil War Saga

I want to tell you about one of my favorite things once again- books!

I just finished reading my favorite book in the whole world for the 4th time, a novel that takes place during the Civil War. It's called Candle in the Darkness, by Lynn Austin. I first read it when I was in high school, and I LOVED it! It instantly became my favorite book of all time, and it hasn't been beat.

The story follows the life of a Southern girl named Caroline Fletcher. Caroline lives in Richmond and her family owns slaves, but she has always seen the slaves as people rather than possessions. When the Civil War begins, Caroline believes more in the cause of the North than of her homeland, the South, and struggles to seek God's will in the whole situation. It's a beautiful story about being obedient to God and fighting for what's right, and it has some romance sprinkled in as well.

Now imagine my delight when I found out that Candle in the Darkness is actually the first book in a series of three?! I couldn't wait to read the other two! I quickly found out, though, that the main characters are completely different in each book (although they are related to Caroline's story in one way or another), so the series is not a continuation of one story, but instead three different points of view during the same historical event. The first book is from a Southerner's perspective, the second from a Northerner's perspective, and the third from a slave's perspective. What a great idea for a Civil War Saga!


Fire by Night, the second book, follows the story of two young women, Julia and Phoebe. Julia is a rich girl from Philadelphia who, against her family's wishes, becomes a nurse for the North during the war. Phoebe is tomboy farmer in West Virginia who has been raised by her three brothers. When they all go off to fight in the war, she wants to join them, so she disguises herself as a man and becomes a soldier herself.


A Light to My Path, the third and final book, is about two slaves in South Carolina who have both lost their families. One is bitter and angry at all white people, while the other is timid and fearful. They both struggle with finding dignity in the life of a slave, as well as forgiving those who have enslaved them.

All three books are fantastic, and I highly recommend each of them. Lynn Austin is an incredbile author (my favorite!) and she has created very real, complex, relatable characters that become your friends as your read their stories.

So if you enjoy Christian historical fiction romance novels, then you should definitely read the Refiner's Fire series!


P.S. Once you're done with this series, then you should read the rest of Lynn Austin's books. Between my mom and I, we own 11 of her novels, and all 9 that I've read so far are amazing! In fact, I'm going to start reading her newest one, While We're Far Apart, right now!