Midterms in July

Somehow typing those words just seems wrong. Midterms in July? I think not. July = swimming, working, hanging out with friends, going to the beach, watching fireworks, vacations... Putting July and midterms in the same sentence is just not right. Despite what I may think, however, midterms are upon me and it's time to hit the books. I have one midterm on Monday and one on Thursday, so I'd greatly appreciate prayer for both. I had a wonderful time with the fam this weekend, although it was probably the shortest trip ever. They got in at 10:30 pm last night, and left at about 3:00 pm today. Despite the brevity, it was great to see them and I look forward to seeing them again in a few weeks. Because they ended up arriving later than planned, I had a chance to hang out with Becky and Justin for a few hours (which was wonderful as always). Becky and I made some chocolate chip cookies which turned out pretty yummy if I do say so myself.:o) Katie is now officially a resident of Los Angeles (I'm so excited!!!!), so I will hopefully have pictures of our adventures together in some of the posts to come.

All of the sisters together. Can you tell which ones just drove 6 hours???

An Abundance of Answered Prayer

This week has been a week full of answered prayers. On Wednesday I passed my med math exam! I was very excited to have passed, but a bit nervous that I can now administer medications.:o) There is a lot to remember... On Friday I had a two hour phone interview with the nurse recruiter at UCLA medical center. It turns out that two hours is a long time to be answering questions about yourself. A few of the questions were rather interesting, and I wasn't sure how well I had done at answering them, but the recruiter said I did well and to call back next Tuesday to set up an in person interview with the nurse supervisor. Hooray! I was thinking as I prepared for and during the interview that interviewing takes on such a different feel when you are viewing it from a Christian perspective. Nerves are calmed when you remember that the sovereign God of the universe already knows whether or not you will get that job, and you can trust that He will be glorified whether or not you get it. Pretty cool, huh? On my way to school yesterday I went to the hospital to get a feel for how long it would take to get there. It only took about 30 minutes, but that was at 1 o'clock in the afternoon so it will probably be a little longer. It's a HUGE campus, and I felt a little intimidated after seeing it. However, I wanted to make sure I'd be able to get there with no problem for the interview. I think I'll just leave about two hours in advance.:o) My family is coming into town today to move Katie down for school. I'm looking forward to spending some time with all of them, and I'm really excited to have Katie down here full time. I'm also hanging out with some people who are staying at my aunt and uncle's house. Between the two families they have 5 kids under the age of five, so you know it's not dull. Here are some pictures from our adventures thus far...

This is Jaken. Such a sweet little girl!

This is Gracie. I think I scare her a little...

This is Abbie. To say she isn't shy would be an understatement.:o) So much energy!

Jaken discovered my cell phone. Starting early I guess.:o)

Today I Was Shot In Both Arms

When my uncle comes home I always try to greet him with something out of the ordinary (which I guess means that it is ordinary for me...), and so today it was "Today I was shot in both arms." He has of course grown used to this routine, so he just paused and then said, "So just a typical day in North Hills then, huh?":o) I actually went to the doctor today to get two shots, so I'm a little sore in both arms. It's a bit strange going to the doctor now that I am starting to learn a little bit more about medicine. Somehow the fact that I am in nursing school tends to come up, and then I've noticed that they speak to me differently. It's actually pretty neat to understand what is going on to a certain extent. I would have to say that the injections were well performed, and I hope to be able to do them that well someday. For now, however, I prefer giving injections to the fake arms in the nursing skills lab.:o) Tomorrow morning I have a phone interview with a nurse recruiter at UCLA medical center. She told me it could take up to two hours to complete, so I'm guessing I'll probably be talking to more than one person. I would greatly appreciate your prayers . Ultimately I am trusting God that if this job is what He has in store for me then I will get it and if not then I won't, so that definitely helps eliminate nerves. I'll let you know what ends up happening, but I'm excited to see that all of the predictions of job availability are coming true already! Below is the long overdue beginning of pictures from my trip to Seattle.

Kristen and I.

Pike's Place Market.

No trip to Seattle is complete without a trip to the first Starbucks.:o)

So many fruits and vegetables!!!

Someone graciously offered to take our picture after many unsuccessful attempts to get us in with the sign...I think maybe they were just hoping to get a picture in that spot before it got dark.:o)

A Bite Size Post

Earlier this week I was lamenting the fact that I felt quite overwhelmed by everything I needed to accomplish, and a very wise friend (aka my sister) advised me to take things in bite sizes so it wouldn't feel so overwhelming. I have decided to apply this to my blog as well, and I'm hoping that this new system will actually make me a more successful blogger. I always try to wait until I have enough time to blog about everything I've been up to, and then I end up with ridiculously long and infrequent posts. For example, I was waiting to blog until I had pictures to post from my trip to New Mexico, but instead I'll just post them when I get them. So, in addition to rethinking how I can be more successful in life;o), I have been fairly busy with school. It turns out that taking a vacation in the middle of the quarter can lead to some stress. But, it was absolutely worth it. I flew to New Mexico to meet up with my family on their vacation, and we spent time with some family friends in New Mexico and then went to Texas to see my grandparents. Although it was a little hard to get back into the swing of things at school, I felt encouraged and blessed by my time there. I'm taking a med math exam tomorrow, which I have to pass with a 90% to be able to pass the quarter and give medications and injections. (Of course, when you think about it, would you want your nurse to have gotten less than a 90% on their med math test?:o) Also, I am in the midst of the application process for a student nurse position at UCLA medical center. I am supposed to set up a phone interview with them today. And lastly, my midterms are next week and mi familia is coming into town this weekend, so I really need to get a lot of studying done this week. I would really appreciate your prayers for all of this. I've included a few random pictures from this summer below. I'll post vacation pictures when I can. Hope you are all having a terrific Tuesday!

A friend and I went to the beach in Santa Monica. (Becky, this picture I took for you. Heal the bay!:o)

Palm trees. Enough said.

The boardwalk.

The view of the beach from the end of the boardwalk.

This one's for Kristen.

Did I Say Lazy Summer Days?

I really need to work on homework so that I can go to bed and wake up at 6 am to register for next quarter's classes, but I've really been wanting to update my blog. (I promise to post about my trip to Seattle as soon as I can!) Hard to believe that it's been so long since I last posted anything, but I haven't exactly had any free time. After returning from Seattle I jumped right into summer quarter, and between school and spending time with wonderful people I've been staying incredibly busy. Speaking of which, thanks to some canceled classes and a holiday, I'm leaving next week for a 6 day family vacation in New Mexico and Texas. We'll be visiting some wonderful friends in N.M., and then traveling to Texas to see my grandparents. I can't wait! So now you can see why I really should be doing homework right now...

My aunt snapped a picture of me on my way out the door to my first clinical yesterday. (It was way too early in the morning to pose for a picture.:o)

Lazy Summer Days

Okay. Maybe that doesn't exactly describe how my day went, but I can honestly say that every time I got this feeling I should be studying and realized I didn't need to a huge smile and possibly even a squeal or two escaped my mouth. I had a fairly large list of things to do before I fly out of LAX tomorrow, but I actually managed to accomplish it in a relatively short amount of time and then got to enjoy a relaxing evening of watching National Treasure with my aunt and uncle on their new flat screen TV.

I think the numerous relocations and trips of late have made me an efficient packer. My aunt asked me if I'd started packing as she was starting the rice maker (to which I replied no), and I had completed all packing by the time dinner was ready. So, in case you didn't catch it, I am now officially able to pack in less time than it takes to cook rice. Yes I know. Pretty incredible. Don't worry...I'll put a chapter on packing in my autobiography someday.:o)

Study, Study, Study

Since I last blogged I have completed two written finals, two practicums, made a mind map poster, flown to Sacramento for my sister's graduation, and even managed to sneak some studying in occasionally. Was it really only last Wednesday that I blogged??? I wanted to thank you guys for all of your prayers for my tests. My two practicums went really well. One was half written/half practical, and the written portion covered abbreviations used in charting. Thankfully the test only covered 40 of the possible 300 that we had to study. It was pass/fail so I know I passed that one. The second half was a demonstration of skills we've learned over the quarter. It included everything from wound care to enemas and all things in between. That one was also pass/fail, so I found out that day that I passed. The second practicum was for my assessment class, and we had to be able to examine the entire body. I was a pretty nervous, but it ended up going way better than I anticipated and I didn't miss any points. My instructor was also impressed by my accuracy taking blood pressure, and I absolutely had to give all credit in that department to my aunt who has graciously let me take her blood pressure almost every day. (Of course her doctor told her she needs to, but that's besides the point.:o) My two written exams were today, and they went pretty well. I actually did better on the one I thought I would do poorly on, so I guess what I learned is to plan for failure and then I'll be sure to exceed my expectations.:o) All joking aside, they both went just fine and I have only one more tomorrow before I'm FREEEEEEEE!!! My summer vacation starts tomorrow at 2:30pm, and ends June 16th at 8am. I definitely have big plans and a lot to squeeze in during that time. On Saturday I'll be packing and getting caught up on everything I've let slide while studying for finals. On Sunday I'm flying from LAX to Seattle to visit a dear friend/former roommate and her husband. They have graciously invited me to stay for a week, so I'll be up there until the following Saturday. I'm sure I'll have plenty of material to post from our adventures, but for now I should probably stop thinking about fun and get back to studying. Not that studying isn't fun...;o)

I know this is random, but I haven't taken any pictures lately and then I realized I never got around to posting these pics I took of my current living situation. This first pic is of the front of my Aunt and Uncle's house.

Here is a pic of part of my room.

And here is most of the rest of it...

And the last of it. Maybe I should try to get a job for Google taking 360 pictures...