GOOD BYE EGG!

This is a story of a young lady getting rid of the old and branching out with the new...

Once upon a time in the summer of 2009 a girl named Berkley discovered that her speedometer and odometer no longer worked in her old 1999 Mercury Tracer (aka the EGG). She tried her hardest to keep up with the flow of traffic but somehow always got passed on 2 lane city streets. Then one day when Berkley was being visited by her parents; they stumbled along a wonderful place called Williamson Honda in south Lincoln. It was a beautiful site, so many new shiny cars and so many hungry salesmen hunting for their next victim. They stepped out onto the lot and Berkley immediately fell in love with the lovely Honda Civic...It was a spectacular car with an unbelievable deal attached to it. They looked around and test drove the civic of their choice and it was a done deal.

The next thing Berkley knew her EGG was being traded in for all $600.00 it was worth, (personally she thinks it was worth about $5.00 :) but their the professionals right!) and she was driving away in a brand new Honda Civic!!! Although this new car came with many new responsibilities she knew she had made a wise decision.

The moral of this small tale is that Berkley realized how important her safety was and having a car that vibrated, sputtered and ran at zero miles an hr all the time was not safe. Now she has a new car with airbags, working speedometer and odometer, power locks, cruise control, and great gas milage.

THE END!!

FIRST WEEKEND...CHECK

This weekend was my first one to work. It was actually a great experience, on Saturday they closed our floor due to low census so we transferred our 3 patients and just took care of them on a different floor. Then Sunday we worked on the ortho floor, which was OK because I had the cutest old guys to take care of. I learned a ton because I was actually able to slow the pace down a little bit and absorb all that I needed to get done. I got off of work on time too which was a big change as well. Saturday night I went and took care of my cousin Ryan and his fiance Angie's dog Aisley...she was the most adorable chocolate lab EVER!!! she just wanted someone to love on her, so I was good at that. We played with her softball and then we splashed around in her kiddie pool as well. SO MUCH FUN!!

My parents came by on Friday and we went to look at cars....HOLY COW I'm in love, hopefully this will be my last week with my egg..boo hoo NOOOTTTTT!! I'm just excited to put my first pay check and sign on bonus to use, I haven't bought any groceries since my parents stocked me up a WHOLE MONTH AGO!! I can't believe it's already been a month, it seems a lot longer then that.

Last Thursday was super fun too, my friend Tesia from nursing school just moved out to Grand Island, NE a little over an hour away came to visit me. She was already decked out in Nebraska Cornhusker wear, Easiest convert ever. We had so much fun tooling around Lincoln and shopping at Target (aka the best place on earth). I can't wait for her and her fiance to experience the awesomeness that is Nebraska Football...GOOOOO BIIIIGGGGGG REEEEEDDDDD!

WHAT A WEEK!!

Holy cow...this week was an emotional roller coaster. The first 2 days of work were horrible by my standard I guess. I felt like I had absolutely no clue what was going on and I felt like I was so slow at everything. On Monday we didn't get off the floor until 9:30pm. I just felt like a failure to be completely honest. I was even more bummed because I was suppose to go to my first night of bible study with new girls from the Berean church. Well since I worked late I wasn't able to go :( I spent Wednesday and Thursday contemplating on what I need to do during my work day that will enable me to be more successful and efficient. I went into Friday knowing I had plans at the end of the day and with a new found confidence about my nursing abilities. I know what needs to be done and on Friday I was able to redeem myself and I felt a lot more competent in my skills.

God really helped me through this week, just showing me again and again that he wouldn't have clearly opened all of these doors just to shut me down with my first job. I know I'm still a novice and will need a few months to feel comfortable being on my own.

NOW FOR THE GREAT PART OF THE WEEK!!!

JULY 4th WEEKEND WAS SOOOOOO FUN!

I drove to York NE after work on Friday and went to my Uncle Zach and Aunt Lori's house. They have 3 boys Wyatt, Jarrett, and Grant and they are sooo much fun hang out with. My thumb is sore from playing bass on Guitar Hero World Tour. I only played bass for about 3 songs then I took my natural position as the lead singer of our band! On Saturday I went with my cousins to a cabin on a lake and blew up a few fish with fireworks. That's one thing I have missed while living in Iowa, Fireworks were illegal, NOT ANY MORE!!! they are so LEGAL in NE. We had fun blowing things up. I left the cabin with my other cousin Blair and we went to Larry the Cable guy at Memorial Stadium with her brother Drake, and My uncle JB. It was a night full of redneck, Larry look a likes, truly an experience I will never forget. I was privileged to have a primo view of a huge mans butt crack and it believe you me it was like the grand canyon!

On Sunday I went to church with both my uncles and cousins then me and the 3 boys were inspired by Roddick and Federer that we decided to go play tennis. Where I was then defeated by my 12 year old cousin. Oh well we had a great time. That night York had their fireworks display and then I headed home. It was a fabulous weekend, I am so thankful to have family close by.

This weekend I only work on Tues. then the weekend so I'll have lots of free time to lay out by the pool and soak up some rays!!!

Gettin' in the Groove

So first week down and I have to say it ended a ton better then it started. I took on 3 patients by myself today and 2 were discharged so I got experience with all that paperwork. I feel like I have grown a ton but I really am frustrated at how much I still have to learn, especially since there are nursing students who know more than I do. :( I know I will learn soon, and I will continue to learn more each and everyday from now until I retire but for right now I just feel like I'm screwing up wayyyyyy too much!

This week has been a great week for hanging out with family, I got to babysit my cousins and hang out and Kim and David's (cousins too). I love spending time with that family, they are so full of joy it just puts me in a great mood. I know I say this pretty much about every post but I really have loved having family around, I do however miss having a group of friends to hang out with...Please be praying for some great connections with in the Berean Church I've been going to in Lincoln. They have a tons of opportunities within the church so I just need to be really upfront and outgoing, which is really hard for me, but I'm kind of forced too, unless I want to be a lonely ole' recluse.

O NO

Yesterday was my first day on the floor. I wasn't nervous mainly because I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I quickly found myself thinking throughout the day..."what have I just gotten myself into". This comment/thought was not about becoming a nurse because I know that's what I am to be but this was about my floor that I am working on. I kept finding myself wanting to be on a cardiac floor and wanting to have more to do than repositioning patients and asking them if they were still nauseous. It was just a hard day. It was the first time I've cried throughout this whole transition process. I think I was still a little bummed from the weekend, It was really uneventful and I missed being able to hang out with my friends. I can't imagine this move to Lincoln without the love of my family because those that live in NE have been absolutely amazing at involving me in their lives and loving on me. I need to realize that God so clearly opened these particular doors for a reason and how can I be dissatisfied? I know I am on this floor for a reason and I know that I will soon become accustom to how the computer systems work and I will soon get into my groove of a nurse. My friend Keri's mom Kris who is like my second mom, and nursing mentor said this would happen and that these feelings are really very normal. She was totally right, I had no idea I would feel this scared. I think it invoked a strange homesickness for the way things used to be at Allen Hospital/college and how I was as a student. It didn't help that there were 6 nursing students on our floor yesterday that just made me think about the wonderful 4 years I spend with all of my closest friends. I know things will get better but for right now it'll just take some getting use to.

As I write this I feel really selfish because I mean this was all apart of God's plan and he knows the great and the bad that will come out of this. What I need to do is just rest in what he has in store and find contentment. So please pray for that, also just pray for confidence and realizing that I am able to be a great nurse to these patient's.

My Apartment

So I absolutely love my apt. Me and my mom painted all of these random green squares all over. In my bedroom we had the green square and then we hung different silver frames all over. LOVE IT!!

This is my Kitchen/dining room/entertainment/living room portion of my apt.

HERE IS MY BEDROOM...MY FAVORITE!

Almost Done

Only one more day of orientation and then I'll officially be performing patient care! AHH...kind of freakin out a lil bit.

I have had a great past few days. Yesterday at orientation they had play doh on the tables so I made a green butterfly with pink polka dot's and an apple tree with pink apples. I learned sooo much yesterday...NOT. Last night was fun but sad at the same time. I went and had supper with my cousin Kim and her husband David and their 3 kids and then me and Kim went to a purse party! We didn't buy anything but we had some great wine. Then the fiasco started. SO my phone died and I left it at home and while I was gone my cousin Ryan had been trying to get a hold of me and obviously I wasn't answering cuz I didn't have my phone. He ended up getting really nervous for my safety and ended up at my apartment waiting for me until I got home. I felt soooooo horrible. I def. feel loved though, Ryan along with all of my family around here have made me feel so incredibly welcome I haven't felt alone one single day out here. God is sooooo Good.

Today I went to orientation yet again and made a pipe cleaner creation for my pen and then went to my cousin Drake's baseball games here in Lincoln. AND I treated myself to my first RUNZA since I've been here in NE. For those of you who don't know what a RUNZA is...well that just too bad, cuz there super good.