A New Chapter

Well goodness. I haven't neglected my blog on purpose... we have been seriously busy. The last three weeks flew by! When I went to look when the last time I blogged was... I was in shock! It felt like yesterday that we were at Crabtree Falls with the Wendlands!

I am now writing this as an official college graduate. I officially have received a Bachelors in Science of Nursing (BSN). This all is still surreal to me. I really do not think that I am processing the reality of what is occurring.

The last few weeks were filled with mostly packing, friends, and family. Jordan and I got our whole apartment boxed up and ready for the move! We spent a lot of times with friends including grilling out by the pool, working out, hanging out, getting coffee, and just chatting.

Let me recall and retrace our graduation weekend then I'll move forward again.

The Frye's and Nola arrived in Lynchburg the Thursday before we graduated. We were able to do a late lunch and dinner with them along with some needed shopping in Lynchburg. ;)

My parents arrived Friday morning at the airport. We picked them up and headed to lunch. Jordan and I then had to go campus to check in for graduation which we did as our parents walked around the campus and visited the bookstore. Later Friday evening, we got ready for the Baccalaureate service that was to be held in our basketball area on campus.

Luis Palau, an incredible Evangelist, spoke at our baccalaureate service. His message was for us to dream big dreams, pray big prayers, and to obey God's commands. It was a wonderful message and service. People call Louis the Billy Graham of South America. He was absolutely divine and I think we were all encouraged.

After hearing from Mr. Palau, we all went out to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant in town called Mi Patron. Of course, it was delicious and we were able to be seated pretty much right away. Then we picked my Grandma Anne up from the airport on our way home.

Rise and Shine it was early for all of us on Saturday morning, May 12. Jordan and I had to be at our soccer stadium at 6:30 am to be able to get all of us graduates through the metal detectors (because of who our commencement speaker was). We hung out at the stadium until it was time for us all to proceed unto the football field for the graduate procession at 8:45. The actual commencement was not to start until 10:00 am but it took that long for all of us to get down there. We were able to see our parents on our walk across the field, which I thought was exciting.

Our chancellor, Jerry Falwell Jr., delivered an excellent speech. Truett Cathy the founder of Chick-fil-a received an award. Then Mitt Romney delivered an excellent commencement address. We were all super impressed. I think he did a spectacular job with his speech. He actually addressed the fact that he was speaking to a bunch of college graduates and was not focused on his political campaign. It is a neat thing to think that the possible next President of the United States spoke at my graduation!

We then went back to the apartment to pack everyone up for our beach week. Jordan and I went our separate ways to our different graduation ceremonies for our majors which began at 3:00 and 3:30. Mine was short and sweet. They delivered awards and certificates and called all of our names as we walked across the stage. It was wonderful to be able to see my professors again. The very ones who touched my life over the past four years. Of course there were hugs and smiles to all of my fellow nursing students. We will always have a bond because we survived together!

Jordan and I are so grateful to have spent the last four years of our live in Lynchburg, Virginia. We will always call Liberty University, home. We are apart of the Liberty family and couldn't be more blessed by the time we've spent here. We had the best of times and made the best of friends! God knew Liberty is where we needed to be. He knew that we would flourish here. He knew that we would make memories and friends that will last a lifetime. I would not change a single thing about our journey at Liberty. We are so grateful to our families for allowing us the opportunity to attend college here. I will miss seeing the Blue Ridge Mountains in the skyline. I will miss the rolling hills and the plentiful trees. I will miss the LU monogram directing me towards school everyday. This place will always be sacred in our hearts.  We are excited to bring our Christian educations out into our fields of work and to be a light among the dark. We love you LU!

Our family then whisked away on the four hour journey to Virginia Beach. We arrived late that night to our rental house. We found the closest restaurant for dinner and jumped in right before closing. We ordered pizzas and garlic knots. The garlic knots were the best ones I have ever had.... and trust me, I've had  a lot!

The next week was spent with hanging out with our loved ones in this spectacular house on Sandbridge Beach. The house had 7 bedrooms and 7.5 bathrooms. It was three stories. It had massive porches on each level of the house with hammocks. There was a pool, volleyball court, basketball hoop, and pool table. We rocked the fun out of the place! Not to mention we were a block from the beach!

I speak for all the family when I say we had a blast. Even though we didn't have the best weather because it was cloudy and windy. We had good chill and hang out days. The boys were even able to golf a couple times. While the boys were golfing, us girls went up to the Virginia Beach boardwalk one day and to historical Williamsburg the other day.

We left Friday afternoon to head back towards Lynchburg to pack up the ginormous uHaul and head back south to the great state of Texas. We loaded the uHaul in under two and a half hours then went out to Mi Patron to celebrate. Jordan and I are so grateful to our families for their helping hands and willingness to help us move our things across the country!

Saturday morning, we were all off like the wind! The Frye's headed back towards Dallas while my mom and I took a detour to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.

Mom and I arrived in Asheville Saturday afternoon just in time to have lunch with one of my favorite people ever, Paige. We ate at the Corner Kitchen which is an adorable restaurant in an old little house in Biltmore Village. Apparently, President Obama ate there when he visited. It was delicious!

Mom and I then spent the rest of the day touring the Biltmore Mansion and Gardens. It was absolutely fabulous. The house alone is 4 acres and has 250 rooms. There is an indoor pool and three kitchens. Along with some incredible decor. 65 fireplaces to warm the thing up! There was so much detail in every aspect of the house it was crazy. George Vanderbilt waited six years for the house to be completed. If you haven't been or heard of it, you need to go and research it! It's fabulous!

We stayed the evening at the Biltmore Inn which is on the property. The room was comfortable and decadent. This morning, we started on our way to Dallas. Mom and I made it just past Knoxville and halfway to Nashville until my car started acting funny.

My engine light turned on then my car started shaking. We pulled over into a gas-station and called insurance to help us. Since it is Sunday, we are kind of out of luck. We had a wonderful tow truck driver bring us and my car to the nearest Audi dealership in Nashville, which was 70 miles away from were we were.

So the graduation adventure really has not ended.... I sit here resting in a hotel room in downtown Nashville, waiting for the Audi dealership to open up tomorrow. We are praying that my car needs only a quick fix! This is where I leave you as the next chapter in Jordan and I's life begin. We are college graduates. We are thrilled to be moving back home to the great state of Texas and look forward to the adventures that lie ahead!

Crabtree Falls

Today we hiked Crabtree Falls. Jordan and I are trying to visit the places that we haven't before we leave this place.

We had planned on hiking for about a week now. However, the weather almost screwed with our plans. We had a nasty morning... it was cold, rainy, and windy. We experienced it when we got up to go to church so we decided that it probably wouldn't be the best day to go. So we notified Max, Abigail, Libby, and Isaac.

We laid down for a nap after church at about 10:30 and when I woke up at about noon, the sun was a shining! I woke Jordan up to tell him but he still thought it wasn't a good idea to hike. Somehow, he changed his mind in a few minutes with some convincing. We let the other couples know... and the day was on!

Ike and Lib were still to join us so we were really excited. Max and Abi were to be missed though. We are hopefully going to do our next hiking adventure with them to Devil's Marbleyard. We made a quick lunch while we waited for the Wendland's to meet us at our place for our wondrous hike. We made the 45 to 60 minute drive to the largest waterfall east of the Rockies.

It was absolutely stunning. The drive was gorgeous. However, it was the typical Virginian windy roads and I actually got nauseated near the end of our journey. I made it though. It felt so good to get out of that truck!

We geared up and headed on the trail. The Wendland's had just come the previous weekend so they were wonderful friends to go again with us! We had so much fun! At first we were taking turns leading the way up but then Jordan took over the job as "nature leader" as Libby called it.

It was a 1.7 mile hike to the top of the waterfall. There were many lookout spots a long the way. I don't think I've seen something so majestic. Just thinking about the power behind a waterfall is crazy. Jordan mentioned that it never stops running, they just don't turn it on for the hikers. It is kind of a crazy thought. The scenery almost seemed fake because it was so beautiful!

It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day. It was about 68 degrees with a slight slight breeze. The afternoon was full of laughter and exploring. There were a couple slips along the way but we made it both ways! Isaac was our "nature leader" on the way back down... what a wonderful job the boys did! Libby and I were cracking up.

We saw lots of puppy friends which was rather exciting. They were tiring out and had to take breaks too! I told Jordan on the way up how wonderful it would be to have our dog do fun things like this with us.

We finished off the evening with some wonderful pizza for dinner at Ledo's. I always love every  moment that we spend with the Wendland's. They are true treasures to Jordan and I.

Finding a Home

We've been house shopping.... from a far. Well I truly, I've been house shopping.

The way it works is that I do all the searching, digging, finding, and hunting... then Jordan shoots down the houses he doesn't like. It truly is helpful. Do you know how hard it is to eliminate houses from the internet that you've never seen in person? My growing list of our saved houses will attest to the difficulty...

I have 53 houses saved in my little planned out excel spreadsheet. These 53 houses have grabbed my attention somehow. The houses that Jordan declines do not make the list. However, I still have too many.

53 house viewings seems like an impossible task to accomplish. I can say, I am thankful for the options. I've been looking at houses in our little area of the metroplex, close to my work... which hopefully will be close to Jordan's work or else we might have to start the search again! 

It's truly a task but I've been absolutely enjoying it. It's thrilling. There are some houses on my list that need a little TLC but they have great potential and great standing features. There are also some houses that seem really well rounded like even having granite counter-tops and upgraded fixtures. 

The thing is, though, that I can change anything in the house. This is what I keep in mind. Paint colors do not affect me... like they do Jordan. I can see past the ugly decor and the paint, perhaps I have some part of my mother's eye for decorating but Jordan struggles with it a bit.

I can look at a house with potential and see what I would change. There are the obvious like getting new kitchen appliances or ugly wall colors. Then there's the subtle changes that I would like to do like adding some crown molding, changing the hardware throughout the house like on the doors and around the sinks.

I've even been getting emailed updates when the prices change on my 'saved' houses on Homes. Yesterday, two of our houses decreased their price... one by 7k and another by 23k!!! I was jumping for joy. It was thrilling! I felt like I had gotten a deal even though I'm not buying!

We've been doing this little house search for probably just over a week and it's just been fun to think, dream, and play. We're not really sure what our exact plan is for when we move back home to Texas but we're having fun thinking about it all.

There are still things up in the air that need to be nailed down - particularly Jordan's job. Jordan has a lot of opportunities but he just has to decide really what he wants to do and where and how he wants to do it. I also must pass my NCLEX... nothing could really be possible until I pass this sucker.

Right now, we're in dream land. We're planning and aspiring. We've done some calculating as well... which is why I am able to look at these houses. We've been playing with figures and other options to see what our best deal is. 

The main thing is that we just need to be praying for God's direction, timing, and plan. We want to stay within His will and move faster or slower than we should... which is sometimes difficult for a planner like me. However, I have been learning to "let go and Let God" all year long... it's been wonderful!

So needless to say, this is all just big mumbo jumbo about really nothing but dreams and possibilities. We are definitely looking forward to what these summer months have to bring...

Keep your prayers a flowing,

PS: Those are a couple of the fifty-three homes on our list ;)

A Chapter Complete

My friends and family, I have now completed a massive portion of my college life: Nursing Clinicals. This weekend was a whirlwind but I did it!

I had my last two 12 hour shifts for my leadership clinicals in the STICU. It was a good weekend. Learned some new things, as always! I feel like I went out strong. It was a weird feeling walking into the hospital for the last time... my friend Lauren (the other student who works with me there) and I decided to get the nurses some donuts from Sweet Stella and write a thank you card to thank them for all of their effort to teach us, encourage us, and help us through the semester.

It was seriously a wonderful experience. The nurses were just the best. They were excellent with patients and they were fabulous with Lauren and I. They wanted us to learn as much as we could and allowed for us to sort of "run the show" with our patients. We were able to direct the care that we were given and act as true RNs. Of course, they supervised our delivered care. The nurses were easy to approach if we had questions or needed help with anything. The most important thing about the semester is that we learned a ton and had fun!

I feel so blessed to be able to have this leadership clinical experience. It was simply incredible.

I got my patch from my uniform inserted into a Tervis cup! I love it!

Today, I wrapped up my last clinical total. Yesterday, in the STICU, was my last 'hospital clinical' but today I shadowed a high school nurse. I've been shadowing this nurse on mondays for about a month. It was a neat experience. It is a completely totally different type of nursing. I got to see a variety of conditions handled and treated through the means that a high school nurse is able to provide. It is so different than the hospital because she has significantly less at her disposal. It's a headache of a process for kids to be able to take medications at school. Mostly first aid is given like bandaids, splints, ice, and rest. Rest is probably the biggest treatment that is given.

These clinicals were really neat to experiences a totally different type of nursing. I really think that it would be fun to be able to substitute for a school nurse sometime in the future. Apparently, it's hard to get good school nurse substituent. I think it would be something fun to do for a change up in the schedule.

My clinical group from all of junior year; such fun!

So as I walked up the stairs to my apartment this afternoon, I was just tired and thankful. Thankful for the many experiences over the past four years of nursing school. This program has been absolutely outstanding!

I have some other updates since it has been forever since I have blogged because it's been a crazy couple weeks. I think most of them are nursing related because it's been my life for these couple weeks.

I am now certified in ACLS (advanced cardiac life support) and PALS (pediatric advanced life support). These are a huge benefit to my career. These certifications allow me to run or be the head/director of a code if a doctor is not in the room. I can reasonably read EKG rhythms strips and identify the medications and dosages necessary to treat life threatening situations in the even of a code. We went through treatment for rhythms like atrial fibrillation, asystole, ventricular fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia, torsades de pointes, supraventricular tachycardia, heart blocks, atrial flutter, and some junctional rhythms. We had to run through a code for each course and be the director of it to be able to receive this certification. We also had multiple choice tests for each.

Critical Care Certificate Program group; incredible friends!

I passed this test we have to take called the ATI RN-Predictor which means that I'll have a 98% chance of passing my NCLEX the first time I take it. Woot! Praise Jesus!

I have completed and turned in my senior thesis, which is one of the most incredible feelings in it self. This little bugger has been hanging over my head since I entered the Honors Program freshman year. I've been working on this little research paper for a year and a half. So YES it's wonderful to have it done. For those of you who don't know and are interested... my title and my subject were, "A Social Controversy: Autism Spectrum Disorder's Correlation to the Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccination."

DONE. That baby is D-O-N-E. Hallelujah!

In a completely different turn of events, the golf team boys won our division companionship. They are now Big South Champions for the second year in a row! They will find out in a couple weeks where they will play nationals this summer. Jordan wasn't on the team that went and played but I am just thrilled for the boys! They've worked so hard all year long. :)

Oh also, I've gone running with my friend Hope twice. It's been wonderful. We've done 4.5 and then 5.6 miles downtown Lynchburg along the James River. It is a beautiful course that she introduced me to! It's been super fun to have a running buddy to get a long run in once a week. We're headed down there tomorrow too! It's been delightful and a good ole kick in the butt!

I think that kinda sums up the gist of my past couple weeks. I have missed my blog!