Friend-filled weekend!

This weekend my friend Renee came from Chicago - she was invited to speak at Hope College as part of a Nurses Christian Fellowship event. Let me see if I get this right: she's the national director for student ministries with the Nurses Christian Fellowship division of InterVarsity - so she fills a big role! The work she does is funded solely on the support she raises, so her "promotion" only meant more funds to raise, which she does so humbly and faithfully. She also works part-time at an inner-city clinic.

Anyway, she came to Holland a bundle of nerves as she prepared for her hour-long talk, but she wowed us all with her speaking finesse!! ;D The title of her talk was, "Nurses: Cross-Cultural Bridge Builders and Cultivators of God's Kingdom," and entailed stories of her many experiences, including the time that she has spent in villages in Kenya and Nigeria, and working with the natives in New Mexico. It was fascinating, and it made me burst with pride that MY friend was up there speaking so eloquently yet humbly about serving others and approaching them in a Christlike manner. It made me excited about my job as a nurse all over again.

*Renee just hours before her amazing speech*

Lucky for me, Renee spent the rest of the weekend with us. The weather was terrible, so we kicked around our usual haunts (Gazelle Sports, The Good Earth for lunch, The Outpost), went to a movie, and watched Gilmore Girls reruns. I'm so thankful to have a friend like Renee in my life, who is thoughtful and fun and sets such an example of servant leadership.

On Saturday night, Matt's friend Timothy (Pastor Timothy - the youth pastor at our church, AKA, "PT") had a surprise birthday party for his wife Tracy's 30th. Since he's quite the smooth operator, it was pulled off without a hitch. Funny - I have great pictures of friends and food, but where's the birthday girl? She was there. You'll have to trust me. HAHAHAHA!!


The spread



The friends

PT - Matt's "broth'a from anoth'a moth'a"

And THEN we headed off to JP's to meet the new summer camp director from Sonlight, who was holding a recruiting "event" to meet some Hope students who are interested in working at Sonlight this summer. I've been doing some slick recruitng among the nursing students to get one of them to spend the summer there - and so far am successful in finding one potential junior who may be interested for NEXT summer. :D I'm just amazed that Brett would jump on a plane and fly from Colorado to come and hang out with college students at a random coffee shop, just to meet them and give them Sonlight stickers and talk about what a cool place it is! I had a GREAT time regaling them with stories and talking the place up, and it lit my fire all over again to spend some time in the mountains riding stick horses and bandaging scratched knees. WHICH, by the way, Matt and I are planning to do for a week at the end of July. I probably won't have to bandage scratched knees (hopefully there will be a full-time nurse there to do that already), but I can wash dishes with lightning speed.

The recruiting spread

Potential Sonlight staff

Wannabee Sonlight staff!!

The weekend was fun but left us exhausted. Matt was already battling a cold, but took one for the team and came to these events with a smile anyway (but was slightly less animated than usual). I am now hosting said virus, so Matt's been kicking in (as usual) to help out around the house. This final picture is to A) brag about my husband, and B) show my mother-in-law what a great kid she raised (as if she didn't already know)!!

No, this picture was not staged!! He really is that great of a guy!

So that's a wrap from the most recent goings-on in the Gouveia household. We both have full plates right now - Matt had had some laaaate nights at work with changes they're making, and between working full-time and having six senior nursing students under my wing, I'm a bit crazy too. So that's why blog postings have been few and far between and not extremely creative lately!! We'll probably be able to power down more by Tulip Time!! Have a great week!