The Spring I think just happened...

I finished up my grading today (everyone passed!), clicked on "submit," and then sat back and thought, 'well what do I do NOW?" I actually have a day off, during which I have nothing to do but...wow, take care of my home again. My dear husband has sparkled in the 'helping without complaining' department: he does his own laundry, he does the dishes and unloads the dishwasher, he stops at the grocery store on the way home. But I have to admit that these are activities that I really enjoy, they give me time to think and decompress, and I feel a faint sense of accomplishment when I've completed them. Call me old-fashioned, but I do enjoy managing my household. So after six months of putting my dear home on the back burner (two months of that stats class, four months of clinical instructing+full time job), I'm pleased to take it back.

And I'm pleased to download a mittful of pictures from my camera that kind of tell a bit of the story of this spring. Not that it's a tantalizing story by any stretch of the imagination. We had what felt like a longer-than-usual and colder-than-usual winter. It started storming well before Christmas and just kept going...and going...and going. Even in the past couple of weeks we've had several days with less-than-desirable temperatures and precipitation. But looking ahead, I think the winter and icky Michigan spring is starting to bid adieu and summer is ushering itself in...albeit gradually.


So here we begin with a fine Michigan activity in which Matt and I partook regularly as winter droned on and on, whilst the calendar still laughed at us from the wall announcing that spring was supposedly here. It says it's March or April, but it's still butt-cold outside. So what do you do? You sit and rot on the couch and eat trash and watch (another) movie. Matt is displaying this swimmingly.



One one unusually warm spring day I did take the opportunity to plunk Molly in the tub (the commencement of spring cleaning...wash the dog first). Anyone who knows Molly knows how sweetly compliant she is. Even if it's something she hates, she'll allow it to happen...as you can see, the look on her face (as I tried to showcase my love for Trader Joe's castille soap as the perfect dog scrub) conveys exactly what she thinks of my endeavors. *And I'm taken aback at how huge her nose looks*


Have you ever tried to define the word "ironic?" Well, here's my definition: your friend from California meets a guy from Michigan and they get engaged. Then they set the date to get married - in GRAND RAPIDS - on the very day that YOU are flying FROM Grand Rapids TO California. This is my sweet friend Ellen, my coffee and workout buddy from John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, CA (suburb in the San Fran Bay Area). Ellen and I became friends when I was a travel nurse out THERE, and then she came HERE as a travel nurse last year. She met a boy and fell in love (funny how those travel nurses work), got engaged, and voila! They're getting married this coming Saturday back here in GR (she still lives in CA, and that's where they're going to live, but more family is in this area, so here the wedding will be). On that very day Matt and I will be lifting off the tarmac and headed to San Fran. ARGHH! But I was able to go to her wedding shower here in GR a few weeks ago.


One of our favorite Saturday morning rituals has been to walkto downtown (weather permitting) and go to The Good Earth or The Windmill for breakfast (The Good Earth is your neat, kitschy little coffee/bagel place, The Windmill is your quintissential, nothing-has-changed-since-it-opened-50-years-ago, everybody-knows-your-name place that sells amazing omelets for like $2). The Good Earth usually wins because The Windmill has a looooong line. Anyway, following breakfast, every once in a while we go to my favorite cottage/antique store. It's way overpriced, but their stuff is FUN. One Saturday, we bargained to swap all of our old windows (which we had saved after having them replaced last year) for store credit, and bought this window with the verse on it (which I know I could have made myself for a lot cheaper, but oh well) and the hutch. I've been looking for a new/old bookshelf, and now I have something for our books AND a place to store our games. The window/verse thing has yet to be hung, so it's still sitting there on the floor waiting for a productive weekend.


My forsythia bush bloomed. Loved that.



Kristin's (Bezoar's) husband's family owns an annual farm, and they offer a retail side called "Annual Ambiance." Each year they hold an open house, and you can tour the greenhouses. It's unbelievable how incredible these flowers are, as you can see! I bought some baskets and pots, which I'll pick up after we're back from our trip. The last thing I need is for my beautiful flowers to croak while I'm gone.


So this summer I'm looking forward to enjoying our sweet little house. Last year we replaced the shingles on the roof, added new insulation, replaced the windows, the doors, and the storm doors, made minor repairs to the foundation and put glass block windows in the basement, etc etc (no, Matt and I can't take credit for these things. We hired it out). As I write this, we're having the back yard fenced and the garage will be resided (if you've seen our garage before you know why it's being resided). As you may have noticed, some improvement in the landscaping is in order. I have a great palate to work with here (including two gorgeous peony bushes!), but will have to consult with an expert on what to plant, because I'm a gardening idiot. I have to point out some of my favorite things INSIDE the house...


A "niche" built into the wall (next to the laundry chute!)...


Barn-red original doors...



And beautiful original 1940 hardware on all of our doors!!!

But I digress....

So those are some of the "highlights" of the past few months that have seemed to whip by. I'm looking forward to thoroughly enjoying the summer, as it's the first summer in eight years that I have not worked nights or evenings. I would love to figure out a little more about gardening, and finish up some projects around the house. Beyond that, I'm looking forward to fulfilling my vision to have an adventure a month (things are shaping up well for that...California in May to visit Matt's family and go to Lake Tahoe; Door County, WI with a friend in June; Sonlight Camp in Pagosa Springs, CO in July with Matt; and a conference in Phoenix in September - just made the plans for that!). I want to ride my bike or walk as many places as possible rather than driving my car, hang the laundry out to dry (on our new fence!), shop at the Farmer's Market, and volunteer at the Mission.

And now I'll hopefully have enough time that I'll be able to post pictures and update you as the time goes by, not AFTER it went by. Thanks for hanging in for this long post!

Just a quickie opinion...

I'm willing to bet that those who are huffy-hypey over this swine flu are the same ones who will show up to work, church, the grocery store, and the public library with the common cold or regular flu (influenza, not to be confused with the stomach "flu," which isn't really the "flu" at all). But now that the word "swine" and "pandemic" are strung in the same sentence, they're having a cow about it (or a pig, as it may be) and want to board their windows. If we all responded to regular influenza in this way, man! - the cold/flu season would be a LOT shorter each year, we'd have a healthier and more productive workforce, pediatric units wouldn't be filled with struggling-to-breathe infants....hmmmmm....

Dude, wash your hands wash your hands wash your hands. When in doubt, wash your hands. When you eat, wash your hands. When you shake someone's hand, wash your hands.

"Handwashing is the primary means of preventing the spread of infection." - The CDC

That's what I think about swine flu. So there.

God loves your muffin top

Oh my goodness. If you'd rather rub your face with broken glass than stand in front of a fitting-room mirror under fluorescent lights, you need to read this blog post.

A few of my favorite things

(This post was inspired by a friend's blog...it was just sweet...)

I love...


...a fresh blanket of new snow (in December, that is).


...snuggling with a good friend.



...holidays with my family.


...the desert in the spring.


...breakfast with a fabulous man.


...trashing my wedding dress (courtesy of Amy Johnson Photography).



...shopping at any Trader Joe's we can find (Walnut Creek, Napa, San Francisco, Tucson, St. Louis, Madison, Troy...).


...and Saturday mornings on the beach (guess who else loves that too??)

Take time to think about what you love today. You might find that once you start, you can't stop!

Burdened

I'm exhausted. Partly because it must be allergy season, as someone awakens me frequently with his snoring each night. Partly because I'm working two jobs. But primarily because there is a part of the world to which I've been exposed about which I really cared not to know. I know someone shouldering the weight of an abysmal addiction. It's excruciating. It has no effect on me and it has every effect on me, both at the same time. I'm sad. I'm disgusted. I'm grieved. I'm no different. I'm just as lost in my sin as the next person without the grace of Christ.

I have felt in the past short amount of time like a small child who just heard someone say a *really bad* word for the first time, and I simply can't believe people would actually say something like that. Now here I am, at the not-so-tender age of 31 (and a career in nursing doesn't exactly lend itself to a lifetime of innocence), and I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. I was at Meijer today and every. single. person. I walked by I wanted to stop and take them by the shoulders and say, "Did you KNOW that this happens? Have you SEEN it? Are YOU affected by this too, in some way? Doesn't it make you want to crumble?"

Is THIS what it's like to experience the fraction of grief we should feel when we pray for our hearts to be broken for the things that break God's heart? Does it leave us in the olive oil section of the grocery store, praying for composure? Is this why we are admonished to hide God's Word in our hearts, because at night when the thoughts and images assail your mind, that's the only thing that will barricade them?

I'm okay. Really, I am! There are just times when I'm so acutely aware that there is an enormous battle being waged for our hearts and souls, and NOT ONE of us should take lightly that we are right in the middle of it. And NOT ONE of us should be so prideful as to think that it'll never affect us, our families, our spouses, or our children.

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds ~ 2 Corinthians 10:4

The enemy may win a few battles, but God promises that He's already sealed the deal on the war. If anything, I've learned more about storming heaven's gates than I ever would have had I remained blissfully unaware. I'm just gonna keeping sharpening my weapon. (And slip Matt some Claritin. For the snoring ;D)

He is Risen Indeed!!

My world was rocked this week. Like, REALLY rocked. There are people out there walking through the blackest valley conceivable and the only thing we can do for them is fall flat on our faces and cry out to God. There are few moments in life when the thin veil clouding our perception of evil is slashed, and we have the grave opportunity to witness it. Oh, it is so easy to despair.

For I am sure that neither death nor life,
nor angels nor rulers,
nor things present nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39

Nor anything else in all creation!!! Not an economic crisis, not famine, not disease, not mental illess, not abuse, not addiction...NOTHING can stand between us and the deep, awesome, rich, full, magnificent love of Christ. There is no wounded heart that He can't heal, no life he can't put back together, no misdeed he can't reconcile.

Praise the Lord that today we have every reason NOT to despair, but to place our hope in the amazing work of Christ. He is risen! He is risen indeed!

A blogging haiku...and then some

My laptop is blank.
Fascinating things to say?
Absolutely none.

Okay, I did think of something. You know what I've noticed when I go in to see my students at the hospital? That what I wear makes all the difference in how people regard me as I walk down the hall. If I'm in my hospital-issued "blues," nobody really gives a rip about me walking by them as I mosey through the hospital. (I'm talking about the random cloud of visitors, not those with whom I work who recognize me. When THEY see me in my white lab coat, they laugh and say, "Nice white lab coat.") But if I'm walking in to the hospital wearing nice clothing, carrying a messenger bag, and wearing a white lab coat, people make eye contact and say hello. (I usually try to make eye contact and say hi to everyone, whether in my nice clothes or just running in with my Windmill Restaurant tshirt and jeans.) One lady I crossed paths with in the parking lot who was heading to her car smoking a cigarette, took one look at me and hid the cigarette behind her back, gave me a megawatt smile, and said "HI!" while practically standing at attention.

I have the impression they think I'm a doctor. I'm not anti-doctor in any way (heaven help me if I were), but what's with the "step aside, smile nicely, chin up for the DOCTOR!" thing? How 'bout smiling and making eye contact and returning the greeting of the housekeeper, the respiratory therapist, the radiology tech, or the nurse?

Doctors Day was this past Monday - most of the ones with whom I work are talented and deserve accolades for the great job they do every day. Nurses Day is next month. Nurses have a completely different role from the doctors while working alongside them. We are not simply "handmaidens to the gods" (as one doctor long ago told a nurse I used to work with), we are not just "order takers" (though sometimes it feels that way), and our job is not "just to do what the doctor says." Our roles with the docs are interwoven, complementary, and when played out appropriately, form a fabulous, respectful, patient-advocating relationship. The knowledge that we are required to have about every little body system on the micro and macro level is enormous. We're required to keep up with the latest research and know how to apply it - and anyone with access to a magazine or newspaper knows that the latest research changes practically on a daily basis. We work long hours, and miss many weekends, evenings, and holidays (so do the housekeepers, respiratory therapists, and radiology techs, I should add). My friend Renee summed it well in the talk she gave last month at Hope: nurses stand at the gates of life and the gates of death. There are awesome moments and there are terrible moments, but no matter what, we have to be ready to clock in for the next shift.

I'm proud of what I do, whether I'm in a lab coat, scrubs, or wearing one of those funny hair coverings and duck-bill masks for the operating room. With Nurses Day approaching, at the risk of sounding cheesy, remember to make eye contact and smile at everyone in scrubs (or some equivalent thereof)...not just those doctors. ;D