A Trip To Seattle Day 1

Yes, I am traveling again. This time my travels have taken me clear across the country to Seattle, WA; the rainy city or the snowy city as it has snowed 3 days since I have been here. In fact I woke up to a lovely dusting of snow this morning, which quickly melted and turned to a rainy drizzle.

So my purpose for coming to Seattle was to attend the WA State PA Winter Conferance and Recertification Course, as I will soon retake my boards. I came to this conferance 3 years ago and felt I could have retaken my boards again after attending the first time. This time, I have learned that I know a lot more than I thought I knew. It has been a good refresher course.

I came to Seattle a few days early before the conferance started so that I could spend some time with friends and family. Tenielle and my parents met me here last Thursday. We found a mall shortly after we arrived. My dad, bless his heart, was very patient with us as we strolled through the very large Bellevue Square. That night we met our friends Tim, Marlene, and Lee for dinner at the fabulous Blu Water Grill. The view was absolutely beautiful, the food was amazingly delicious, and the company was fabulous. We spent the evening at Tim and Marlene's and felt right at home. Marlene's house even smelled like Grandma Betty's (Marlene is Grandma Betty's daughter). The next morning we had a delcious breakfast and said our goodbye's, before heading off to Leavenworth.

History Today

"Today isn't about me, it is about the American people." President Barack Obama. Now that sounds weird, but I am sure in 4 years, it will sound normal. My feelings are mixed today. I think mostly because I live in the south, where I am surrounded by African Americans. I have thought so many times since President Obama won the election, how life in North Carolina was so different less than 50 years ago. It is hard for me to imagine segregation. The news and people here have made such a huge issue of the fact that we now have a Black president. I understand that this is history, because of the history of blacks, but I also keep going back to the fact that God doesn't look at our color. We are all the same color in His eyes.

The morning after the election, I went to the gym. This loud, obnoxious black guy came in saying how excited he was that we were going to have a black president. Annoyed by his behavior and comment, I simply said to him, "He is half White." It shut him right up! He didn't say another word about it the entire class.

So I have thought about all that has gone on in the past few months. It seems like this was all about race to many people. As I am sitting here watching reviews of today's events, (as I was working as all of this was taking place today) I am seeing very few White's, no Hispanics, no Asians, mostly all blacks giving their feelings on having a Black president. So what are the opinions of White people on having a half White, half Black president?

My feeling is this, he is God's child. I am going to support him as if he was White, and hoping and praying that he makes this country a better place to live and raise families. And I believe what he said today, "Today isn't about me, it's about the American people." I look forward to seeing what he does for the American People in the coming 4 years. Will he really turn this country around? And how is he going to do it? Will he ruin this country? Will he be true to his word? Also, remember the fact that he doesn't make all of the decisions, yes, he may have the final word, but the senate makes many of the decisions and since Democrats rule the senate, I am sure he will agree with most of their decisions.

Now for a word on the out going President Bush. I believe he did his very best. He had a lot to deal with in his presidency. The problems we are having now aren't the effects of his presidency, but from the decisions that were made in the previous presidency. Unfortunatly, President Bush is blamed for the economic down turn we are experiencing at this time. I believe that President Bush loves our country and worked hard for America and the American People.

P.S. Bob Woodruf just came on TV reporting on wounded soldiers attending a ball honoring those who serve our country. It is good to see him reporting and the miracle which took place in his life.

Cooking Club

Tonight after working 10 hours, I hosted our work's cooking club. Basically it is just a group of people from work who get together the third Monday of each month. This month's theme was Mexican. It was very fun. I made my friend Pamela's Taco Salad with Creamy French dressing. It was a hit. There were some wonderful dishes, including homemade chips, Mexican chicken soup, Mexican rice that was absolutely delicious, and of course homemade salsa. One of the nurses told the story that she sent her daughter to the store to get 3 large tomatoes for her salsa. Her daughter came back with 3 large red peppers. She sent her daughter to the super market three times to get ingredients for salsa. She also informed us that fresh coriander is also called cilantro. Did you know that; I didn't.

We had such a nice, relaxing evening of eating and chatting. It is always fun to get together outside of work and of course it is even better to be able to with other people!

4 year anniversary

Four years ago today I moved to Charlotte. I remember it was 70 degrees. I was sad to leave Kentucky, but was ready to start a new chapter in my book. Wow, I never imagined I would stay here this long and no one else did either. I had no doubt that this is where I was suppose to be and know I now it was the right move. Don't get me wrong, I had my doubts for at least 2 years, but I am happy that things have worked out so well for me here. I have learned so much in the past 4 years, especially that I can do it by myself, although it isn't fun to do everything alone. I have bought a house, have a great job, love my ward, and especially love the weather most of the time. It will be interesting to see what the coming years have in store. I always say that I will return to the west, but not until the right time comes along, which at this point, isn't anytime soon. Sorry western folks! I am very grateful that I am able to go home often. Last year I saw my family 8 out of 12 months. That is a lot of money in plane tickets, but it is worth it. So I guess we will see what happens in the next 4 years!

Opportunities For Learning and Growth Continue

For Christmas I made a tile for my dad, a new bishop which read, "God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called." Today that quote hit right at home with me. This morning after sleeping for only 1 hour after working a night shift, I woke 21 minutes before I was suppose to meet with my bishop. It was quite a flurry as I tried to cover up my dark circles under my eyes and make myself presentable for church. I had plugged in the curlers, but didn't have time to even attempt to put them in, so I grabbed a clip and stuck my hair on the top of my head. I was lucky I didn't put on the navy hose instead of the black ones, as I wasn't quite awake when dressing. As I arrived at the church house, Counselor Eric Wheatly met me at the door of the Bishops office and accompanied the Bishop and I into his office. I asked Eric if he was there for support. He just smiled. Bishop Mattingly couldn't beat around the bush for long as Sacrament meeting was just around the corner, so he quickly got to the point asking me to be the second counselor in the Relief Society Presidency.

Because of my lack of sleep over the past 48 hours, my emotions were definitely at the surface and were pretty much uncontrollable the entire three hours of church. How embarrassing, it wasn't like I was called to be the president. It is a humbling calling as I always thought callings like these were filled by mothers and wives or at least by women with a little more experience than I currently have. I sat through church wondering if people were thinking, what does a single women know about home and family. I am sure no one was thinking that, as I had so many sweet sisters tell me I was going to be great.

My thoughts today have been on Sister Dew and all that she has done and those she has touched, including me, in Relief Society as a single sister. And so it is my hope that in the coming weeks and months, that I may touch those sisters in my ward that maybe no one else would be able to touch.

All of the songs we sang in Relief Society today were meant for me; Be Thou Humble, I Need Thee Every Hour, and Be Still My Soul. The words to these songs all touched me and helped me remember that our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ are always available to us. I am sure I will be much more reliant on them in my up coming challenges.

After only 1 year with my cub scouts, I was actually quite saddened and said to the Bishop, "I am not worried about me, I am worried about my cub scouts." The Bishop quickly assured me they would be taken care of. At first I wasn't so sure of the calling as a Den Mother and my family and friends thought it was quite comical, but the past year has been such an amazing experience. From this experience, I have learned the following:

• How to have patience with 8 and 9 year old boys.
• How to entertain them for a whole hour once a week and coming up with last minute activities when the activity planned didn't take the entire hour.
• That the blue and gold banquet doesn't always have to be decorated in blue and gold, but in Chinese dragons made by cub scouts.
• How much I love saying the Pledge of Allegiance every week and being reminded of the freedoms we have.
• How 8 and 9 year old boys can have such respect for our countries flag.
• How a very large Flag can just disappear two or three times in one year!
• How to play magic cranium, made up by my co-den mother Blayke.
• My scouts favorite books and games.
• How fun it is to have different nationalities amongst our group of cub scouts.
• How much fun it is to be creative and to see how creative boys can be with items in my recycle bin.
• How organized Halloween evening can be with cub scouts serving hot dogs and french fries to hungry witches, ghosts, and Disney characters.
• How the pinewood derby brings back so many memories and has got to be the most fun of all pack meetings.
• How fun it is to make up a story with words picked out of a hat.
• That a glow in the dark Frisbee is all it takes for boys to have fun.
• That the boys don't care how my day was, but what the treat will be in 1 hour.
• If you speak quietly, it doesn't work, but if you don't say anything and put two fingers to your forehead, eventually it will be silent.
• That I can grow to love other mother's children.
• That Heavenly Father places us where we can create lasting friendships with those we serve with; Blayke and Karen.
• That we are given callings more for us and our growth than for anyone else.
• That Heavenly Father will allow you to fulfill your callings, as He makes your work schedule work out that you have cub scout night off.
• That I am going to miss Wednesday night cub scouts.

As I have gone through the above list, I am amazed at all that I have learned in 1 year. I know that the coming years will only be years for growth, service, love and unimaginable opportunities and friendships.

Breakfast with Rachel

I have this great friend that I met in Charlotte shortly after I moved here. Her name is Rachel . We actually use to work together at this incredibly horrible place. I always tell her it was worth it because I met her. She is one of those people who will be there for you no matter what; I mean she and her husband helped me move, moving stinks and most people know it and don't want to help. Anyway, we have had such a hard time finding time to meet up for lunch. In the past year I have usually only seen her in passing at the hospital as she is only at University Hospital on Fridays, which is usually where I work. So today after my night shift, we had breakfast at my favorite breakfast restaurant, which I thought was Utah based (I have only been to the one in Utah), called Mimi's Cafe'. It opened in Charlotte a few months ago. They have these amazing pumpkin muffins, which are actually only seasonal. They will go off season on Jan. 14 and not return until next fall. It was fun to sit and chat and catch up in person. She is always wanting me to get on eharmony. She is so funny and tells me that she knows that I would be able to find the one on eharmony. I keep telling her I would never be so desperate. So here is to you Miss Rachel Hepp and to our great friendship.

Car Maintenance

I admit it, I hate to sit for an hour or two to have my oil changed. I don't know why I have such a problem with this but I do. I think that it stems from having 4 brothers and a dad, who took care of those things when I was growing up. Needless to say, my need maintenance light has now been on for 2 weeks and I need to go have my oil changed today. I have been going to the same place since I moved here to Charlotte. I first took Meg there and now Betty goes there. They know me by name, which is nice. It is also nice that when they change my oil, they also rotate my tires. I could go somewhere a little closer, since I now live in Harrisburg, instead of Charlotte, but since I am a devoted customer, I will return to Hess tire and auto to have the long dreaded oil change. Today though I will take along my crochet to keep me busy and I will time it right so that I will be able to watch Oprah with special guest Suze Orman while I am waiting. I promise, someday I will find a man who either loves to do his own oil changes or who loves to hang out at the oil changing shop.

I DID IT

I am not one to make new years resolutions. But this year I made the resolution to create a blog and now I have done it. I have been saying that I was going to do this for at least two years, but never got around to it. I enjoy catching up on family and friends lives through their blogs. The funny thing about blogs is that you don't know who is looking at it. I am sure there are some who have no idea that I am looking at their blogs. You sure learn a lot about people through them though. Will you learn a lot about me through mine? Maybe a little more of my day to day activities in the ER, which is pretty much my life. I always have amazing things happen and don't write them down. So now maybe this will be a place where I can keep track of the funny things, the scary things, and the miracles that I see all around me. Because of HIPPA, I will not be revealing any names or private information, just good stories, as my brother would call them.

So here goes the first. The other day I had a person who had been cut. I was pretty sure they had hit an artery. I was able to get the bleeding to quit. I irrigated it well and was surprised that it didn't start bleeding again. But as I went to put in the first suture, it was as if a water balloon had exploded all over me. It was the artery that began bleeding again. I was grateful for my reflexes that day as I immediately shut my eyes when the blood came at me. I had a student in there and told her to hold pressure on it until I returned. I walked out of the room with my eyes closed, afraid that the blood was too close to my eyes. In fact it was in my eyelashes and eyelids. It was every where. I looked like I had been shot. One of the docs I was working with asked if I had gotten any blood inside my eyes. I was so grateful that day for my reflexes and that no blood had gotten in my eyes. After I changed, I spent another 30 minutes with the Doc trying to tie off the artery. Needless to say, we had to call the ENT specialist in because the artery was not cooperating. So there is your first story. And the end of my first blog!