In Case You Were Wondering....

Life is always an adventure. Here's what mine has included lately.

My sister came to visit for a few days in mid-August. It is always so hard when people come visit--I want them to get a good, thorough look at my life here, but it is impossible. There is just too much to share, and when I try to cover it all, it is just annoying. But we had a good time, even though she spent part of the time helping me dust off the entire house from hardwood floor debris. Thanks, Anne!

Work has been really good. I can't tell you how much more I enjoy this job than my last one. I ADORE working with kids. I have actually had a marathon patient for the last month and a half. I took care of him every day I worked except two since the beginning of August. I think I'll do a separate post about it later along with some reflections on nursing because it meant so much to me.

My friends are incredible. We get together every Wednesday for dinner and often see each other additional times in the week. The last few weeks have consisted of a baked potato bar, gourmet peanut butter sandwiches, pizza, etc. Mix fun food in with great people and some worship and it becomes a date you hate to miss.

Speaking of dating, after a realitively short but seemingly very long hiatus, I am back together with the boy who has captured my attention. :-) Like I said, always an adventure...

In all my free time (and in some of my not free time), I've been working hard to fix up this old house. It is fun, but also very trying when you've got limited finances and even more limited time. I can't decide if it is rewarding or not. I like accomplishing things and making things beautiful, but I really don't care about appearances or material things. Yet I act as if I do. My only comfort in this endeavor is that I'm going to make this house look so much better I'll be able to sell it for a profit to help support my next move, which will hopefully be to some impoverished area much different from where I am now. I could write a whole essay about this. But I'll spare you, because it is 5am, I'm at work, and there is no telling whether or not I'm making sense.

Grad school started again a few weeks ago. I'm studying to be a family nurse practitioner if you weren't aware. Two more years to go though, so it still seems distant. I'm only taking one class, and it is the fascinating subject of Theory and Research. Not my favorite. But I will start my thesis project, which is looking like it might deal with recurrent ovarian cancer and women and couples' responses to it. I'll keep you more updated as the subject gets fleshed out.

So there you have it, folks. Work, school, relationships, renovation. I don't know why I think this is so interesting everyone should read it!