Follow up

Regarding the previous post:

Mamo (my dad's mom) is back home after her stroke & rehab stay. I think she still has some weakness but is basically back to her old ornery self and making people laugh. Her son's have decided that its still appropriate for her and my gpa to live in their home as they were. My parents went with my gpa while they were visiting just to check out assisted living places in case they would have to make a move in the future. But for now they are doing well where they are.

Pa (my mom's dad) is still in the hospital. When he went in and they found the blood clots they also found he had pneumonia. I went to see him sunday and he was doing well but still fighting pain. Thought he would go home monday but I guess after some xrays decided to put a chest tube back in bc not all the fluid in the lung from the pneumonia was gone yet. Not sure how much longer he will be there.

Travis is over his sickness and after over 2 weeks mine is finally coming to a close. I had a terrible chest cold and cough... which migrated into a headcold about a wk ago. Cough & "cold voice" pretty much gone but still have a bit of a stuffy nose.

Thank you for all the prayers over these things.

In other news: my cousin's grandma has been battling breast cancer for years nows which traveled to her lungs and kidneys. She lost the fight on Tuesday. But now she's in a much better place than we are so really she has won. She was a great woman.

Prayers could also be used for this family. Her husband's name is Roy.

Prayers please!

There has been different illnesses going on:

My dad's mom (mamo/ or Hazel) was taken to hospital monday I think and was practically parazlyzed on her Rt side with slurred speech. They said it looked like she could have had a mild stroke. A couple days later, my parents are now visiting with her and my gpa in colorado and they say she is doing a lot better. she can walk and do many things on her own now.. no slurred speech, with just some minor weakness still on that side. She is in rehab until next tues. The issue now is.. does she go home after this and her and my gpa continue to live independently as before? My gpa has severe neuropathy in his feet. It is debateable among his sons if he should even be driving still bc his sensation on the soles of his feet is basically none existent anymore. Plan B is to find them a nice assisted living place... but do they stay in CO or move back here? They currently live near my uncle but he is out of town a lot for his job and his wife has multiple sclerosis and is sick in bed much of the time... meaning she wouldnt be able to take care of them if they needed it. They have 2 daughters close to my age but are living on campus a couple hours away. My mom says they would like to keep them where they are in their house in CO, but she is researching assisted living places in OH and CO in case it comes down to it. The other issue is they dont have much money to go into a place like that. Please pray that my gma would heal completely and that they would all have peace about where my g-parents should continue living for now.

So as my parents were making plans for this trip to CO my mom got a call i think tues taht her dad (pa, or Tom) was taken to the hospital bc he was in pain and couldnt breathe. They found 2 blood clots, a large one in L lung and smaller one in R lung. --rewind-- a couple of wks ago my gpa was hunting up in a tree stand and he fell, leg got trapped in strap and he broke his leg. Well he got it checked out and is now wearing a brace. They had planned to go to FL bc he was scheduled to speak at some churches (he is a Pastor) and he is stubborn and wont ever say he cant do something so he decided to charge on with the 12-13 hr car ride to FL. My mom drove him and my gma (she wanted to see my sis). Long story made shorter... the car ride and not moving around is most likely what caused the clots.. bc they had just gotten home a few days before he was sent to hospital. Yesterday update was he was in a lot of pain and couldnt breathe very well. Please pray that he would be healed and encouraged by the people that come to see him (he had 28 visitors yesterday!.. but in too much pain to really talk with them).

And to top it all off.. (on a much more minor note)... Travis and I are sick... he has the whole head cold/sinus-y thing going on and mine is throat hurting/junk in my lungs that i cant cough up. I hope I'm not getting bronchitis or something. Luckily we dont have fevers or anything. Hopefully I'll be able to work tonight and not feel completely terrible.

If you made it through this you should go eat some icecream or something to cheer you up bc that was depressing.

Thank you for your prayers!

new things

Let me start off by saying WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! We dont close until end of april but pretty much everything else is in order. Its been a whirlwind adventure and for awhile we didnt thnk it would work out bc of some issues... but we have gotten everything sorted out and its such a great deal. The owner is a Dr. and he is moving for a new job, starting july 1. Its amazing bc our lease is up june 30... how perfect! And since we are closing end of april they will be paying us 2months of rent. And we of course will be getting back the tax credit!! Its really amazing how everything has worked out so perfect. Our realtor is a friend of the family and been in the business for like over 20years and said this has been the best deal she has probably ever seen or been apart of! Here is the house, its in deerpark: http://www.sibcycline.com/viewlisting.asp?mls=1207166&b=CIN&p=RESI&s=SFRD&m=1&sender=SearchResults&a=3704-Lansdowne-Ave-Deer-Park-OH-45236
Very cute. Deer park wasnt our first choice, or really a place we were even remotely thinking about. but Travis is a researching freak and has been looking up houses like its his job and found this place. We are excited to get into it, hard to almost own a house but have to wait 3-4 months to move in.

In other news I may be reluctantly starting on my bachelors degree here soon. I'm not a big fan of school, but many of the hospitals are going to bachelor degrees only (I have an associates) and I have to have it in at least 9 or 10 years to keep working at christ hospital. ANd yes that is a long time from now but I would like to get it over with before kids come along and other craziness of life. Bc i have a feeling at this current point in mylife, it is the slowest life will get for me. SO it will probably be in fall i am assuming... i havent actually looked into it all that much yet. I'm nervous about how it could conflict with nightshift schedule but i guess it will work out somehow.

Ok so girls night soon? Carol thnaks for organizing. I desperately need some time. I never see anyone anymore except for work ppl and church ppl on sundays.
i miss everyone.

snow and new houses!

Remember snow days?
I would wake up and look out my window, scream with joy, and go turn on the news as it read "Mason City Schools Closed". It didnt happen often, as I tend to think they valued learning over new driver's lives. But I dont get that anymore. I dont have snow days bc I work for a hospital. Good thing I have 4-wheel drive- I do have work tonight at 7p-7a and tomrrow as well.

News: we have kinda been looking at houses lately. We have been somewhat talked into this bc of the tax credit. But at the same time, we can be/are in the position that we could buy a house. Over the past couple of months we have been able to pay off a couple of our larger purchases that were our debt. So now all we have is our tv, Travis's car and his school loans. Its like we of course really dont want to rush into anything, but then again $8,000 tax credit in our pocket next year would be wonderful. So we are finding out how much we are approved for and talking with a family friend realtor. We have found one house that we really like. Its in pleasant ridge, only a couple of streets from where we are living now (closer to the highway, the street is right off ridge rd). Its 3 bdrm, 1.5 bath, nice closet space and large bdrms. Basement is small and short (unfortunate for travis) but we kinda expect that with an older house. Has a nice backyard, fenced in, with a deck and a shed for storage. We really like it but feel its a little overpriced for the area. Its one of the highest priced houses on the street. The couple has done a lot to the house but still overpriced, especially if you look at how much they paid for the house just 7 years ago. (like $60,000 less!) If it happens, we would probably be trying to make the move in may/june. June is when our lease is up, but if we have to we would just pay the extra month after we left or somehting. The owner's wife is prego and tahts why they want to move.. so unless someone comes in with a better offer (we havent made an offer yet) and wants to move quicker, I think we have a good chance if this is what God wants us to do. So I'll keep yall updated on this.

I would totally go sled riding today but Travis has my 4wheel drive car, I wouldnt know where to go and have no one to go with! I'm such a loser sometimes.

at least the snow is pretty to look at and I am inside a warm house. Lazy day! Which these days a lot of my life consists of :)
love you

Time

growing up is a strange thing.

This time 2 years ago I was broken up with my first "real" boyfriend, living at my parents house, stressing about nursing school whether i would really make it, working at a for real prt time job at childrns hospital working like 8-12 hours a wk minimum. My sis and dan were living in the basement at the time and my brother and trishia were in hyde park. 2 years later, here i am married to that same boy who i was broken up from, living in a quiet little townhouse in pleasant ridge, finally thorugh nursing school working as an RN at the Christ Hospital. Linz and dan are now in florida and brett and trishia have 6 more months living in africa.

Wow how time has changed everything.

I love my life here with Travis and i wouldnt change it for anything. But it has definitly been an adjustment living with just one other person. At my parents house, we always had someone living there. Or at least had loud people over :) but here its so quiet. And since I work at night, yes i sleep during the day but I;m also home alot by myself during the day and it is so strange. I was really lonely and down a couple of weeks ago. I let myself fall into a whole. Travis is very supportive but at the same time he has experienced lonliness far more than i when he moved to cinci like 5 years ago for a job and didnt know anyone and built a life here.I need to be productive on these days I am home but its hard to force myself out of the house sometimes. I can have very lazy tendancies.

Its so strange not having my family around. THis was the first year that I can remember not having christmas with brett and lindsay. My parents spoiled travis and I though.. they got a ping pong table! Luckily we have just enought room for it in our basement and are so excited about it... we used to play alot at my parents house.

I would love to visit Brett and Trishia in Africa before they came back in june but with this new job and it being so overstaffed (meaning I havent been working as much as I am scheduled) it leaves me with few time off hours. My sister and daniel were able to go and I think are flying back today. And my parents went a few weeks ago. THey all say it was life changing. If you get a chance go to my facebook and trishia has been taggng me in some photos... its such a different life there.

As great as this christmas season has been for so many reasons, it has also been a time of sorrow. 2 marriages close to me are falling apart.. well one did and one is in God's hands currently. I also just found out a good friend of mine just lost her baby. The last few weeks for me have been a reminder of the importance of getting on my knees for my family and friends. Even as i say it i know i dont do it like i should be. We have the most powerful weapon in our grasps and still do not use it like we should. God asks us to call on him.
I dont know how i just got into a sermon here.

Yes my update has been awhile. Just a proof of my laziness lately.

Its November?!

I've been on nightshift for 3 weeks now I think. HOnestly most of the time I dont even know what day it is. Working has been fine. STaying up isnt a problem because there are always things to do.. its when I'm off that ruins me. If I work 2 nights in a row, I pretty much sleep all day in between. But its hard knowing how to sleep when I;m off the next night. Like today.. worked last night and off tonight so I tried to only sleep like 4-5 hrs so that I'll be able to sleep tonight like a normal person. But then I work again tomrrow night so its like I guess ill just nap sometime tomororw before I go in? Still working on this schedule. BUt if I only sleep a few hrs I am like useless all day. I have no energy but am bored of doing nothing! I hear working nights for however long takes years off your life- Ihope thats not true! I dont know how long I'll be on this shift, but I know dayshift will be so different it will be hard to switch. And the pay difference is awesome! -- definitly incentive to stay for awhile.
Marriage is good. This schedule in marriage sucks. Some days I get to see travis for about an hour in the evening for dinner.. i try to prepare before he gets home... then I go off to work. and If I'm lucky I can see him in passing when I get home before he leaves if I book it out of work.. which isnt always possible. But the brightside is I currently work 3d/wk so we have 2 evenings we can spend together and i get up with him on the mornings I'm off. And the wkends have slowed down so at least we have those too.
I really cant believe its november already. Its like the days are just passing.
I miss my friends! The couple friend dates I've made lately I've slept through my alarm and missed! dang nightshift. I did get to see baby jack and the beautiful family.

Ok going to get new tires and force myself to workout-- been swimming lately.. its the only thing I can motivate myself to do that is active :)
love you.

no real news

hellooo! So in case you are interested in sseeing wedding pics this link should work. THe professional pics are finally up. :
http://www5.snapfish.com/shareephotolib/shared_view=recently_shared/p=863181255900597221/l=665806027/g=214783027/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB/first_visit=true/pns/share/p=863181255900597221/l=665806027/g=214783027/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Oh and if you do have some pics that you would like to upload to the site I have how to log into snapfish a few posts back.

I have survived my first 2 weeks of the new job. It will be very stressful at times but also very rewarding. Tomorrow night (monday) I will be starting nightshift. During orientation i will be working mon, tues, thurs nights. Which really isnt bad at all. When Im out of orientation i should be working 3 (12hr) nights a wk and every third wkend. I'm nervous but kinda anxious to start nights. So we'll see! I'll let you iknow how it goes.

Yesterday Travis and I bought pumpkins and carved them. It was the first time Travis had ever carved a pumpkin! I loved sharing that with him. When I find my camera-comp adaptor I'll upload the pics. Then we made pumpkin roll with real pumpkin. If you've never had it you are missing out! Its SO good.

I'm excited for baby jack. I've been thinking I could take some night shifts at the Bird house once he's home since I'll alrady be acclamated to staying up all night :)

I love you.

august 29, 2009

So it has been over 4 weeks now. Wow I am such a slacker! Life has been busy and rolling on.

<<>>

I am so happy with how the wedding turned out. It said all week that it was supposed to rain on saturday and it was beautiful!! Nobody even needed the program fans to use bc it was so windy... which was a little irritating with my veil in both of our faces, and I kept replaying in my head as my grandpa was talking that the sand vases were going to knock over and all would go everywhere. I was praying against that the entire first part of the ceremony, so sorry Pa (grandpa) I dont remember anything you said. I loved the girls in their dresses and the little girls. I didnt love almost tripping down the stairs. Too long of a dress + heels + grass on stairs wasn't the best combination for me :) Luckily I had my dads arm to hold me up. I loved all the people I love getting to be there to witness it. This is where I have to say "ok mom, you were right to invite 400 people, i guess". We actually had less than 300 though I think. The older flower girl, Reagan, was told to make sure she followed me when we went out of the wedding. It was so cute bc we had to come back down to dismiss rows and I look back and theres reagan, right behind us :)
The entire reception was spent talking to people but i still didnt get around to everybody! Most of you know that I cant dance so I wasnt really sad about not getting to dance, but I did miss watching my dad do the worm and my grandma dance with some other family. The toasts were great, the cake was amazing- i only tasted what was smashed in my face. Which, by the way, went up my nose! I was like- seriously? Up the nose? Like completely up there. But I didnt have time to go blow it out bc I think we danced next or something. Its weird what people want to talk about on your wedding day. Not that I wasnt interested but its just like.. what? Like right after the cake-immediately before travis and i danced together a woman came up to me and was like.. sarah.. did you know travis's best man and I grew up together at the same church? Isnt that crazy? As shes finishing this amazing story travis is pulling my arm like... Lady we have to go dance our first dance now! It was kinda funny but so random. Did I need to know that small gem of info right then?

Highlights of the reception:
*watching my little cousins and olivia dancing like little angels!
*Travis's mom, dad, stepmom and other family in a small circle talking together! How amazing is that? They've been divorced for like 17 years and havent really spoken since. Its amazing what God can do with a little time. It was such a blessing for travis to have all that family there for him.
*At one point Olivia came up to me and I bent down and she kissed me right on the nose! Sweetest moment and I wish someone had a camera!!
*We had a bridal suit upstairs that was a little shady... there was a couch that had like hair all over it and we couldnt figure it out. Me and Linz went up there like half way through for something and we see the ugliest cat ever sitting on top of the couch. now we understand where the hair came from. so..where did the cat come from? stillll puzzled.
*I had a white dress to change into at the end of the reception to leave and of course I where those white undies the ladies bought me with blue "bride" on the butt. And what do you know? You can see it right through the dress! So I ended up having a white tank top that i used as a slip as we left :)

There were many more moments that I can talk about but lets not get more lengthy here. We should be getting disc for pics back on friday... so I'll post them when I can.
I took too long to write this, so soon I will update you on life as it is now.

Until then.. love and peace.

the Mrs.

I love these girls........



These little ones are my cousins daughters and they took flowers off the tables and brought them up to me at the end of the wedding. They were so sweet!

I know I should have a lot more to say but I havent had much time to just do nothing lately so I'll catch you all up later.

Love you.

2 DAYS!!

Pray for great weather!! It is an outside wedding so bring your sunglasses. The programs are fans so that should help if its hot :) We do have an inside plan B if we MUST, but I dont think we will have to use that. I'm being positive. I'm so excited! But nervous about being center of attention (not about getting married!) I cant wait to be on the beach in cancun though. It will be nice to not worry about school or tests that my life depends on or jobs or planning anything!!! It will be Travis, the beach, sunshine, and more food/desserts than one should ever eat! :)


LOVE YOU! See you soon.

snapfish!

hey so I stole a really great idea.

I'm thinking people may take pictures at the wedding. Whether it be of me or yourselves I'd like to see them. So I created a snapfish account where whoever takes any pics can upload them there (if you want to) for all to see. The cool thing too about snapfish is that you can buy pics right from the website. You could even purchase an album that they would make for you and send to you. Its a great website with a lot of good pic ideas and it is where i made the save-the-date postcards. So if you take pics at the wedding and would like to share go to http://www.snapfish.com and i created a gmail email account for this so the
email you must enter is: travisandsarahwhite@gmail.com
password: weddingphotos

Then go to upload photos. I was thinking maybe name the album something with your name in it so i know who took them. If you prefer not to thats fine too. Also, if you have a problem with me printing your photos without asking please let me know now or you may not want to participate.

Thanks so much! I have so many amazing photographer friends and I'm excited to see the pics from this very special day in my life!

taste the rainbow

I've been working with my dad and WOW was it hot this week. He always has things going wrong with mowers but fortunatly for me it was to my advantage this week because I discovered a new love. So we get to West Chester Lawn and I go in to pee and get some water and discover there is a candy machine... hmm. I grab a quater place it in the machine and slowly turn the knob as I catch the stream of colored little candies in my hand. I place one in my mouth and smile... sugar-y goodness. I heart skittles. Have not had any for probably years but now I'm craving them at the worst time ever... 2 wks before I need to look good in a dress. i agree not to touch them until the plane ride to the honeymoon :) ALong with my beloved peanut butter m&ms!

Can you believe 2 weeks?! I will be MRS. White. Pretty good and simple last name if I may say so. There are a lot of undesireable last names out there. I am getting really excited. The colors are going to be beautiful!! I was afraid i would be bored when I chose blue bc I wasnt sure what flowers I could use. But our flower guys is amazing and will be adding a lot of color and I am SO not bored with his ideas! Some of you may have been around me at teh beginning of all this planning when I did not seem as excited bc I get really overwhelmed with lists of to-do. But now we are getting down to it and I am not stressed and we dont really have much else to get done. Except currently I am trying to clean out my room(s). I emptied my room of all the furniture.. now at the new place, which is why I say room"s" bc I sleep in one... and also currenly have boxes and clothes everywhere, and all my other clothes are in another. So my goal for today is to get organized. Its hard at this pt for me bc its really too early to pack for honeymoon (some things) but I'm trying to move the rest of my stuff to the new house but still have 2 wks of days I'll need clothes here. I'll work it out.

Oh and you know what sucks? Tan lines. I work outside everyday and have some pretty rough ghetto tan lines that are not gonna fly in a strapless dress. I guess it could be worse but the bad part is a tan neck and a not-so-tan back. Also my feet are WHITE... which wont matter so much at wedding but will when I'm in a bathing suit!.. or just wearing shorts and flipflops. I am going to tanning bed but my bronzer isnt workng as well as i hoped. I wear bronzer on white spots and 35 on tan areas :) If only I was evenly as tan as my legs are from the ankle to just above the knee! The little things us spoiled americans worry about. Tan lines. Its rediculous.

Gotta go clean!

nclex

I took my nursing state boards on thursday. 5 hours and 265 questions later............ I PASSED!!!!
Travis found out for me on saturday and I cannot tell you how amazing it feels to not have to worry about it anymore!! I can really just focus on wedding stuff and relaxation :) for the next 3 weeks! I was sitting here with travis relishing in the fact that I can now surf the net, play games, watch movies with a clear conscience, w/o thkning I must be doing somehting! (except wedding stuff.. but not much left to do).
Praise GOd. He is so good though I still doubt that he will keep his promises sometimes he always comes through! *(this time what was in his will just happened to also be what I really wanted!)

love you.

secrets out

I have been anxiously awaiting an email saying that i can finally take the Nursing state boards. The final thing I must master before I am actually an RN. I actually recieved this notification about 3 weeks ago and scheduled my test but havent told many. And I told my mom not to either. I thought initially I didnt want to tell anyone bc what if I dont pass and I would have to tell that to everyone. But If I didnt tell... i could retake it and then let everyone know. But how stupid is that to think I may not pass! I can not think negatively here... I CANNOT AFFORD IT! So I am scheduled for my test THIS thursday, August 6 at 0800 in Dayton. Please I could so use your prayers!! I just feel like God did not bring me this far to let me fail now. If you think you may forget later please say a small prayer now......... THANK YOU! I will be able to find out the results on saturday sometime via internet or phone. I think I will prob be more nervous finding out than actually taking the test!! But in just a week from now it will be over and I will know.... but until then.... study sTuDy STUDY!!! I cant wait for the wekend. And hey... I have less than 4 weeks to be single! Its really seemed more real the last couple of days. My mom even cried this week once! And she is not a very emotionally show-ey person. I so cannot wait for vacation!!!

Africa

As many of you may know, my brother and his wife are now living in Africa.. and will be for a year (or 2 they may now be saying). Their purpose there is to start a sports camp which will also be a ministry to many kids and also adults in Kenya. (There town is called Bulbul).And they will train some native kenyans to eventually take over the ministry. They have a blog and if anyone would like to stay updated with whats going on with them it is here:

http://btralston.blogspot.com/

everything

As far as the guest book goes I've gone back and forth and have ruled out the picture signing idea and boring regular guestbook. What I've decided to do: my mom and dad bought me a photo album that has a small area to the side of each picture where guests can write memories or advice/good luck/we hate you/whatever they want to write. And as they walk in someone can take pics of each family and later we will get them developed and put it next to their words. I realize that with 400 people it will take awhile so kyoung (who will be manning the book...THANK YOU!!) and someone else can tell ppl that they can wait and write in it at reception if they'd prefer. I'm hoping this will work. Is anyone interested in taking pics as ppl walk in? You can use my digital camera. I may need a couple ppl... would make it faster and there are 2 ways ppl can walk to wedding and this way we can catch them at both sides. I can't believe there are only 7 wks!! I've gotten a lot done the last 2 wks but stil have so much to do! Its been kinda hard just bc I dont really have bridesmaid help.. 2 are out of town and the other one is 16 and life-consumed. She cant help it :) But as much as my mom and I argue about EVERYTHING, she really has been a great help. I mean A-mazing.
Oh and no sign of taking state boards as of yet. I have to recieve the "OK to test" from the ohio board of nursing and I prob wont get that until end of this month. Which means i may not get to take my test until beg-mid aug and I start my job aug 17!! Everything happening so fast.

i need idea help

I've been trying to think of a differnt guest book idea. I have been thinking of doing a pic in a large frame and having everyone sign it.. but with almost 400 people there it may be difficult to fit everyones name :)
What I really want to do is like take a pic of the guest families as they come in and make a book where they can sign their name and maybe write advice or something.. and put the pics next to it. Polaroid film is too expensive so maybe I could just have someone use my digital and ill print them out later. But that may be too much trouble! And could still get expensive with so many people and pictures!! I dont know what to do I just dont want to have a boring sign in book that will be stored away in a closet that I will never look at again.

Also, anyone seen any cute wedding hairstyles lately :) ?? Since it will be aug and hot I will probably go with up-hair (not originally preferred).

I hate these decisions! I just want to have everythng ready. Oh and invites for parties should be out soon. And since nobody let me know about days I shouldnt have it I guess you'll just have to deal with whatever day it is :)

Chrissi I wish you could be here!!

petrified flies and new found time

It is strange when you walk out of a room and notice inkgthe dog frantically searching the floor in a spastic kind of manor, and just when you think its over you see a fly inching to spare its life when all of the sudden the dog lunges in one motion to gobble up the fly, as you hear the soft crunching of its small helpless body in the mouth of the small, but obviously ferocious yorkie.

So finally I have graduated. It is strange to think that I actually have time to do things that I want and need to do now. I will be working with my dad probably at least wed-fri each week so that gives me some days to work on wedding stuff and cleaning... since we just moved my fouton bed and my dressers out of my room it is now a mess!! I forgot how much crap was under the bed. So I have mucho cleaning and organizing to do this week. Yes we moved travis into what will be our place yesterday. It is really nice and I am excited that we decided on this place. When we get it cleaned up and put away a bit i will invite you over.

Everything is happening so fast! Just 2 months away.

love you. I'm trying to update more often :)

freedom

One more day!! I still wont be able to take my state boards for like 30-50 days-ish from now. which is kinda scary considering that takes us to mid-july/beg-august and I am supposed to begin my job aug 17.... but I cant really think about it too much bc i've done all i can up to this point and now its just a waiting game. Good thing I have planning a wedding to keep my mind busy :)
I cannot beleive that we are movning travis into our place on saturday! Pray that it will not be raining bc my dad is taking time to load some stuff on his work trailer to bring it down for us, I'd hate to not be able to do it on sat.

Anyway. Happy almost weekend. One more day!!!

oh and my sister surprised me from Florida last night to be here for graduation!! She'll be here til sunday. How great is that.

I see the light!

Four more days and counting!! (till graduation) I only have one more thing to do for school.. which is a 2 hr discussion on wed i think to help us "debrief" after the last 2 years. I also have to complete like 800 more practice questions before they let me sit for state boards. But I can actually breathe now... no more papers, tests, speeches, activities! I just finished my 6 weeks of working with a preceptor at the hospital on sunday. I am so glad to be finished, but it was a really good experience. On the last day I had a patient write me (andn some other nurses) some poems. The first time I've ever had a poem written for me i think. It was really funny but sweet. He was a very joyful person for being in the hospital with a heart issue. He let everyone know that he was saved by grace and that he knew God was looking for someone strong to give this disease to and chose him to have this disease because he knew he was strong enough to push through it and still be a great testimony for the Lord. How awesome is that? It was great to have him around.. even though he wasnt my patient. Its rare to come across someone like that on a heart unit at the hospital. Very refreshing. Oh and before I left he asked if he could pray for me so we closed his door and he did. We prayed as he sat in his hospital bed and I stood beside him holding his hand. What a sweet ending to my time there. It was odd though, as I thought about it, that he was the one in the hospital but asked to pray for ME. Its amazing to me how God shows up sometimes.

So I have almost 2 months left until I am married. How crazy is that? Travis moves into our place this saturday, which will be nice bc I am going to move some of my stuff in now, not to have to worry about so much later. I'm really excited to have our girls night there once he gets all moved in! I will let you all know a showerish/party thing date once I figure it all out. Are there any wkends like the end of june/all of july that wouldnt work for anyone? Let me know!

I love you! I will post my poems from that guy later.
Chrissi hope you are enjoynig australia! I would love to hear if youve picked up an accent yet :)