When I graduated from high school, I vowed to myself that I would never go to school again.  'Never' lasted a whopping four years.  So I started and finished nursing school, all the while saying that I would not go back for my bachelor's degree.  And this time, it lasted a whopping six months!  So this is what I will be looking at for the rest of this year...with some excitement as well as some feelings of restriction after my newfound freedom from mandatory books and deadlines.

I've been loving these warm months though, and am determined to squeeze every last bit of summery goodness out of them.  It's not over yet, praise the Lord!  There are still lots of fresh fruits and vegetables to come out of the garden (or Central Market if you're me), vibrant flowers, lots of warm sunshine and refreshing breezes, icy cold glasses of water on those steamy days, blue skies with big puffy white clouds and much, much more.   

Isn't God amazing??

  So once again Christmas has come and gone all in a flurry for me.  The week before Christmas I had Nicole, my dear Australian friend visiting for about 6 days - we had lots of fun running around Lancaster, shopping & chatting & chatting some more.  It was fabulous to catch up again and reminisce about our days in Thailand.  Dave had the privilege of spending that same week with Jason in Nicaragua, and although I would have loved to go along, things worked out just right - God knew what he was doing with that plan!  Two guys primitively 'bach-ing' it out were definitely better off without me!!  :)  Christmas day Dave & I both had to work & I spent much of the shift with an 8 year old girl whose family only spent a short part of the day with her.  An anonymous person gifted her with a bike so we were (very carefully!) riding her bike up and down the hallways.  She was so excited!!  Only on Christmas will you find bikes in the Pediatric unit!  :)

Nicole with her new beanie!  She was freezing, since in Australia their seasons are opposite ours - it is summer there now.

 In other news, I have finally graduated from nursing school...now it's on to the real world and responsibility!  (And now I also don't have any more good excuses for lack of updates. :)) My last semester was a good one, although I was super busy.  One thing I discovered was that I actually liked crictical care! That was partly due to my amazing instructor - she was absolutely excellent and made the experience a great one!

Most of my clinical group with my instructor (in blue).

Happy new year to all you fellow xangans!  This is my personal challenge:

"Therefore I urge you brethren by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12:1-2

  It's amazing how fast 2 months goes by when I'm drowning in school!  As long as the next 2 months go this fast, I'll have graduated before I even know what happened.  Since I last updated...

1. I got a job at the hospital!  Exciting, but scary - pray for those who will be my patients.

2. Mom and I canned tomato sauce.  (And made quite a mess, I might add.) YUM!

3.  We have been flying!

What a great pilot!  There is a tiny hot air balloon in the middle picture.  It is my job to check outside frequently and make sure that there is no other air craft in our line of sight during the flight!  No worries though, this balloon was pretty far below us.

4.  Spent a weekend at the cabin with Dave's family...

Walking trails...Making s'mores...Breaking down on the way home...good times!!

5.  Jason was home to visit -  t'was wonderful, but no pics!

6.  I was able to watch an open heart surgery up close and personal.  Let me tell you, if you ever doubted that anything about the way the body works is amazing, come with me and I'll show you differently.   God is an amazing God!!

That's all for now.  Time to get back to real life which looks something like this:

        (That's my Tarzan, in case you're wondering.)

Check out this fabulous instrument.  Thanks to my even more fabulous husband, it is now sitting in my house and I can play the piano whenever my heart desires!  What a surprise one day when the UPS man delivered this beautiful gift.  To say the least, I was blown away.   I have the most amazing husband! :)