so it begins... again

We have had a pretty fast-paced week, as we have both officially & slightly regrettably started back to "regular" life. We both went back to school on Monday, which was bittersweet. I was excited to begin a new semester with new classes and a new schedule. However, it didn't come without its fair share of work and stress. Speaking of work, College of the Ozarks requires each student to work 15 hours a week on campus, which actually pays for our tuition! It's not a bad deal to graduate with my BSN debt-free....but it comes with a rather hectic schedule! I work in the Simulation Learning Center, which is basically the nursing lab where lots of the nursing classes take place. In fact, I have my first class in the lab this semester which is super exciting! The class is called Holistic Assessment, where we are basically learning how to do an initial head-to-toe assessment of a patient, along with taking vital signs. I'm so happy to be doing a bit of "hands on" nursing at last! Below is a picture of my class minus a few this week when we received our lab coats, stethoscopes, clipboards, forceps, etc! We were so stinking excited.

Class of 2014!!!

Anyways, I'll keep you updated on school since that will pretty much consume my life until May. My biggest concern at this point has to do with Pathophysiology, my other nursing class. It is renown as one of the toughest classes in nursing school. The first day of class was entirely overwhelming as we were expected to automatically remember everything we learned from Physiology last year. It's going to require an immense amount of studying to simply know the language my professor is speaking in class.....and so much more to actually understand the concepts. She assigned 4 chapters for this weekend that are due by Monday. These chapters are like an entire body system each!!! Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but I'm overwhelmed nonetheless. SO if you think about, I could use some prayer. For some reason, I've been having major issues getting re-motivated for this semester after a four-week break. I just do NOT want to study. But studying is all I have on my agenda for tomorrow. Yay.

However, I am determined to stay sane this semester by finding time to go to the brand new Garrison Center (our school's gym) everyday. I succeeded with it this week and honestly feel great. I'm also challenging myself with memorizing a verse of Scripture every week. It's not much. But, it's enough to keep the Word in my heart as I go about my day to day activities....driving to and from school, jogging on the treadmill, etc. I'm also working on my prayer life. I have a long way to go, but I know these things are definitely going to help me this semester.

I'm working on memorizing Philippians 2 right now. It talks about the Body of Christ uniting and getting rid of all pride and selfishness which are Satan's tools to disable the Body! Please don't hesitate to keep me accountable with this...the memorizing or the principle.

Logan continues to work extremely hard every single day. He gets frustrated at times for working hard and not seeing it pay off. But I know that he will be blessed for his hard work, even if it isn't immediately. He is "seeking" other options right now as far as work goes...but I won't say anything til it's more set-in-stone.  Please be praying for him and motivation to continue working this job, as stinky as it is, until God opens up another door for us! We sure do need it.

Probably the highlight of our week was getting to hang out with my family this afternoon/evening after Logan got off work. We celebrated Emily's 14th birthday! Mom smoked boneless ribs, which literally melt in your mouth. She also made cheesy ranch potatoes (a favorite), and maple syrup green beans. Yummm. Thanks mom for cooking and Emily for having a birthday! It was a very refreshing night to spend time with the family, celebrating a sweet & beautiful young lady.

The delicious cake my mom made :)

She got an iPod touch and was ecstatic.