instagram-style life update

Oh hey there, Poor Little Neglected Ol' Blog O'Mine. It's been...awhile.

Life. 'Tis a busy thing.

I'm not utterly convinced that I want to keep up restart this whole blogging deal, but for the moment, while I'm procrastinating doing other, more productive things, how about a bit of an update from where we last left off? Fortunately, despite the amount of time that has lapsed since I last posted, a good chunk of that time was insanely busy beyond words and is therefore too much of a blur to remember many details, so for once I can probably summarize the last ten-ish months without rambling on forever.

October

finished 4th semester clinicals

Started a second job, because, I mean, one job + nursing
school just isn't enough

December

Survived the semester and watched my brother graduate
from nursing school {on a freezing cold day on which we
also got locked out of Hannah's car and therefore took
this oh-so-flattering selfie as we waited in Paul's car
for AAA to show up).

Roadtripped to Tennessee and got to spend a few days
with Hannah's wonderful family.

While in Nashville, I also got to see this dear friend for
the first time in years!

Then we trekked across the state to hang out with our
family in a lovely cabin in the Smokies...AND...these
two fabulous people got engaged (in the same spot
where my parents got engaged, which also happens
to be one of my favorite places in the world).
CONGRATULATIONS, PAUL AND HANNAH!!!

On Christmas Eve, Cheyenne and I traveled to Haiti,
where we were greeted by my favorite little girl.

Christina was able to spend several weeks with me at
the maternity center, which was wonderful.

January

And then...back to Texas...
for a super cold and crazy-busy semester...

...that consisted of a lot of coffee and a lot of studying
in between class, clinicals, and jobs.

Every once in a wonderful while I had time for
a post-close Fuego run. I mean, who doesn't
love eating tacos at midnight? :)

February

One of the highlights of my spring was getting to go
to Dallas with these lovely ladies for Taylor's baptism!

March/April

My handsome nephew was born at the end of March!
CONGRATULATIONS, KEVIN AND DANIELLE!!!

Paul and I got to travel to Florida for several days
to meet Emery when he was two weeks old.

May

At the beginning of May, I interviewed for (and got!) my
#1 {local} choice of jobs :)
And then...the moment we were afraid would never come...
THE LAST DAY OF NURSING SCHOOL!!

Oh hey, we're both nurses!

Aaaand I had time to breathe again (well, a little...boards
were still to come)!

Made a quick trip to Boston to visit a friend.

 June

Spent the weekend before taking boards holed up in a hotel
room in Dallas. I did surface for church on Sunday and for
a quick but wonderful visit with Taylor & Shelby!

Grateful, grateful, grateful for all of the prayers and words
of encouragement from so many friends before NCLEX.
I am so blessed to have so many amazing and
thoughtful people in my life.

And then...then I got caught in a sudden
downpour as I went to take the biggest,
scariest exam of my life. Consequently,
I took boards dripping wet and looking
like a drowned rat. C'est la vie.

Nonetheless...48 hours later, I got this great news!
Major relief would be an understatement.
And surreal. So surreal.

Meanwhile, as soon as I took
my exam, I headed out of the country
and back to this beautiful little girl!

Christina and I stayed at the maternity center again
(thanks, Beth Johnson, for your hospitality)!
There were several births while I was there, and the
Heartline midwives were so kind as to let me catch one
of the babies (who was born in the caul)! So fun.

We got to go the beach one day...

...which Christina and I both loved :)

 July

Obligatory photos of our 4th of July outfits :)

And then...back to the States to start my new job.
(Oh. Finished up at job #2 at the beginning of June, so I was
down to just 1 job for a whole month before starting at the
hospital!)

RN badge > Grad nurse badge
:)

One day I'll quit. Really. #eightPOINTfiveyearsandcounting

August

Lina came for her annual Texas vacation!
Thanks, Taylor, for picking her up at the airport for me!

Birthday girls! (Technically, Lina's birthday is in July,
but it's tradition to have a Texas birthday party for her.
Last year it was in June, this year it was in August.
Close enough.)

party people :)

And then...it was time to send Lina back to Florida :(
But first, we went to see a performance of Les Mis in Dallas!

So there ya have it -- most major life events since October as recalled by Instagram ;) These past several months years have been super crazy, and there have been many times when I've felt overwhelmed and/or out of control (though let's be honest -- when have I ever really been in control?). Dramatic though this will sound, there were definitely times when I didn't know how I was going to make it from one day to the next (let alone from one semester of nursing school to the next). So many doubts, so many fears, so much to do, so little time. But. God has been so faithful...not to provide necessarily what I want...but to always provide what I need. He's pretty wise like that ;) Mmm...so let this be a reminder to me when I again (probably two seconds from now) am unsure...overwhelmed...in need.

Lamentations 3:21-24

 But this I call to mind,
    and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
 they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in him.”

of the whirlwind which has been recent life

How is it the end of April and I've only managed to post once since I got back from Haiti in February??  (Perhaps more shocking, I still haven't posted all the pictures from that trip...or my family's post-Christmas vacation, for that matter.)  Things have been pretty crazy for the past 6 months or so, and I guess blogging and picture posting have kind of "fallen by the wayside"...  So to the two or three of you who might have noticed (my guess would be Dad, Faith, and maybe Everly?), sorry!

Since my trip to Haiti last fall, things have been kind of a whirlwind -- deciding to pursue nurse-midwifery, looking into different schools, filling out applications, taking entrance exams, taking a class, attending a doula workshop -- and though it's been an exciting semester in the sense that I'm looking forward to what's to come, it's also been exhausting and somewhat overwhelming as I keep finding myself trying to go in too many directions at once...while still attempting to keep up with "regularly scheduled life".  I'm constantly having to remind myself to narrow my focus...to do what I need to do today...and to be okay with putting other things off until sometime later.

At this point in the [original] post, I debated about whether or not to include the following paragraph...  Much easier to leave it unwritten altogether, to skip over the "messy parts".  Easier, but less real.  And I'm not a fan of fake.  So, in the interest of being honest though somewhat vague, suffice it to say that the Lord has really been working in my heart over the past few months, both reminding me of past hurts that I haven't fully dealt with and, especially, revealing more and more the sinfulness of my heart and the ways I am failing to bring honor to His name.  Rather than trusting in Him and allowing Him to work in me, I've been relying on my own strength and my own efforts...which is completely and entirely ridiculous and does. not. work.  My rapidly diminishing patience and the reemergence of a quick temper (last seen when I was, oh, maybe 5) are proof of this.  And can I just say, Whirlwind (see previous paragraph) + Sinful Heart + Relying on Myself = Mega Mess.  The good side of it all, though, is that this is making me all the more aware of my need for forgiveness and grace--and oh so very grateful that I serve a God who IS forgiveness and grace.  And not only that, but even though my efforts to be patient or to be slow to anger or to do whatever constantly fail, all hope is not lost.  I love this quote from one of John MacArthur's sermons:

But how wonderful that our God works in us to accomplish His own good pleasure, to effect that which He demands. That's the glory of Christian living, that God calls us to obey and then God effects that obedience in us. God calls us to holiness and then effects that holiness in us. God calls us to serve and then mobilizes that service in us by His own power and presence. Your spiritual growth and your progress toward maturity and your sanctification and your moving toward Christ's likeness demands all that you are but it also demands all that God is in you. And that is the uniqueness of Christianity, Christ in you, the hope of glory. God taking up residence in the believer. And that is how we live our Christian life.

God calls...then God effects.  Not God calls...then I try really, really hard.  And not God calls...then I sit back and wait for something to happen.  But God calls, and as I move forward, looking to Him for guidance and strength, then He effects.

So there you have it.  This is not the direction I was originally intending this post to go; the plan was to say hey, look, I'm still here, and guess what? I'm going back to Haiti really soon!  But I guess that will be a post for another time (because I am really tired and definitely need to go to bed).  In the meantime, I always appreciate your prayers!