Break in Nashville and Last Clinical Rotation!

Last weekend I had a five day Memorial Day break. It was much needed. We had not had a single day off of our clinicals since January. I have really enjoyed my clinicals, my CIs, and my patients. But a girl needs a break every now and again! :)

I went to Nashville in the Wednesday night after work. I left around 4:30 and headed east. Unfortunately, there were storms in AR and TN and they basically followed me to Nashville. It was crazy. Dane, Dad, and Beth were calling me with updates telling me to stop and then telling me to push through the storm. Ha. I was also listening to the radio the entire time and especially around Memphis the meterologists were very concerned about a possible tornado. There was no tornado that night and I was very thankful to make it safely to Nashville around 11:00pm. (When I got in my car my GPS eta was 9:30).

Beth and I went to Vandy to do a little homework on Thursday and I was able to meet several of the people in her program. It was great to put some faces with names. Thursday night we headed to a music venue 3rd and Lindsley to listen to a music duo that was recently on The Voice. The group's name was Elenowen and they are very talented. The great thing about the venue was that there are tables for 250. That means that we got to eat AND watch a show. Talk about a great night. The food was good too and fairly priced.

Friday started with Ross's canine therapist. Ross is receiving rehab for his hip surgery and he is doing well. This guy was great. He is a PT but he also completed a certification through UT Knoxville for animal rehab. Ross is doing well and progressing appropriately. The therapist showed Beth how to do weight shifts, single limb stance, stair training, scar massage... you name it.

For lunch we went to Cheesecake Factory. Good grief that place is awesome. It was my 2nd time to eat there. This time we had the cookie dough cheesecake. Talk about speaking my love language...

Friday night we just relaxed at home and watch a little Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. We kinda realized that maybe our lunch feast was a bit excessive at that point.

Saturday morning we packed up and headed to Plumerville. We accidently stopped at Krispy Kreme on the way out. While picking her donut up from the box Beth noted that "Jamie Oliver would not be pleased." ..oops.

We made it back to Plumerville around 6pm, just in time to go to the local diner with Dane. And then, of course, we watched 48 hours.

Sunday morning we went to PUMC. We took some pictures outside of church. We only have 3 more Sundays at PUMC. We are really going to miss the people there and the friendships we have made.

After church we headed to CC for a little family gathering at Mom and Dad's. Julie, Sam, and Pop came over for some of dad's BBQ steaks and burgers. It was wonderful to see my familiy. Of course, we missed our dear Gran. Afterwards Dane said that he felt like the room was just empty without her sweet personality.

Monday (Memorial Day) we went to the cemetary with Julie to plant a rose bush in a giant pot beside Gran's grave. That was really hard. The bush looked beautiful. It was very sweet to me that Gran taught Mom and Julie so much about gardening and then there they were helping make the cemetary look pretty. But really.. we just miss her and would rather not plant a rose bush in memory of her. I know she is in heaven and it is much different there, much better.

Monday afternoon we celebrated the day with Dane's parents. They smoked BBQ and ribs. The food was wonderful and it was good to see them. I was really missing them. It had been far too long since I had spent any time with them.

Tuesday was a huge day for me. I started my LAST CLINICAL ROTATION. :) ...and even better.. it's at Arkansas Children's Hospital. :) How awesome is that? I have two CIs and they both taught some in our coursework at UCA. They are exceptional therapists and I have already learned a great deal. I am very excited about this last rotation.

Friday (yesterday) I came home to visit with the family because Beth is still here from Nashville. And I think that finally catches me up... Tomorrow Dane and I are headed to Annual Conference in Hot Springs.

Hiking Pinnacle and Haley's Law School Graduation

Last Sunday was a very exciting day. I hiked Pinnacle Mountain in Little Rock with my good friends Callie and Andrea. I became good friends with Callie in 6th grade and Andrea moved to Cave City in 8th grade. These girls are very special to me. We have many good memories together. We had a great time climbing to the top.


Yesterday I went to Fayetteville to celebrate the graduation of one of my dear college friends Haley Heath. Haley graduated from law school 2nd in her class! We went through college together and then stayed very close throughout our graduate programs. I am proud of her. I was glad to celebrate her accomplishment with her family.


Wednesday is my last day at my Sherwood clinical. I have a wonderful clinical instructor and some great patients. I will really miss each of them.

I am excited about having a 5 day weekend starting this Thursday. I am headed to Nash to visit my sister! Looking forward to a very fun few days off.

2011 Mother's Day in Nashville

Last weekend I went with my parents to Nashville to celebrate Mother's Day. The major flooding in east Arkansas made for some pretty intense traffic. I left my clinical in Sherwood at 5pm and met my parents in Bald Knob at 6. I left my car in Bald Knob and we headed to Nashville. We arrived at Beth's apartment around 11:30. Mom made some homemade chocolate chip cookies and we snacked and napped on the way.

Saturday morning we woke up and headed to the dog groomer for Ross's haircut at 10 am. Then we ran back to Beth's apartment for me to send my resume to a potential employer. Craziness. We met our cousins Kristin and Ryan and their son Rocco for lunch at a a restaurant named Fido. The food was fantastic. I had a giant breakfast sandwich that I could not eat because it was so filling. Then we went next door to an ice cream shop called Hot Cold. The ice cream was unbelievable and all I had was a few bites. Yum.

After lunch we headed to the mall for a few hours. The mall in Nashville has more stores than a person could ever even want to visit. Saturday night we went out for Mother's Day dinner at Tin Angel. It is a really nice restaurant with a very peaceful setting.

Sunday was Mother's Day. Beth and I cooked breakfast to celebrate our sweet mom (who has no doubt cooked thousands of meals for us). We had pancakes, eggs, biscuits, a fruit salad (just like Gran taught us), and bacon. It was a very nice morning. I love my mom very much. She is a wonderful mother and she is a blessing to our lives and to the lives of so many people.

We all felt the loss of our dear Gran. Yet I realized something wonderful, Gran missed her own mother for many years and she got to celebrate Mother's Day with her for the first time in a very long time. What a beautiful day in heaven.

After breakfast we decided to take Ross on a walk around the neighborhood. Here he is on the Vanderbilt campus. His haircut was very handsome.

We left Nashville around noon and headed back to Arkansas. It was great to spend the weekend with my parents and my sister. I am so thankful for my mom.

Ross had hip surgery Thursday and my parents are back with Beth helping with Ross this weekend. Poor guy. He is doing just fine though. His rehab will begin this week! :)

Easter Weekend 2011

This was our first holiday without our dear Gran. I knew it was going to be tough. I asked my parents if they might want to come to our house this year. My Dad's Birthday was Friday and I wanted to do a combined birthday/Easter celebration. Beth couldn't come home (and we couldn't go to Nashville) because she extremely busy trying to finish her second semester at Vandy. We really missed her.

My parents got to my house around 4:30 Saturday night. I cooked enchiladas, salad, corn on the cob, and rice as my Dad's special birthday dinner. We also had a Mrs. Smith's apple pie ;). Dad opened a few presents from us. Then mom and I headed to Conway to do a little shopping. We looked at plants and pots for new plants. We actually didn't buy anything. Then we headed home and watched The King's Speech with Dad and Dane. We all enjoyed the movie.

This morning we celebrated Easter sunrise at 7am with our church. Dane read from Isaiah 53 and sang spoke about the power of prophecy and God's plan for redemption. We went home and took a nap between services. Then we returned for Easter worship at 11am. We read the story of the resurrection in the book of Matthew. The sermon was a reminder of the power of the resurrection to restore us to a new life. The closing scripture was Colossions 3:1-4

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him glory.

I am so thankful for my family and my church family. I know that my Gran is rejoicing in heaven today. I am thankful for all of the Easters that I had with her. Of course, I would love to have more. But then I remember that one day I will. After our Easter service we went to Michelangelo's for the Easter brunch. It was delicious. The atmosphere was very calm and we had breakfast food and pasta food. I am so thankful that I got to celebrate Easter with my husband and my parents.

I recently made some copies of some great pictures of Gran. The one below is a picture of Gran with mom and Julie when they were very young. The last time that I visited with Gran at her home (only one week before she went into the hospital) we looked through her old photo albums and I told her how much I loved this photo. The picture says Feb 1967 on the back. I wanted to get a special frame to put it in. I found this one at the Kitchen Store. Surely we are blessed. Blessed to have such a wonderful Gran to love us and teach us about the love of Christ.

Missing Gran

There is no other way to describe the way I feel these days other than I just simply miss my Gran. She has been in heaven for 2 and a half weeks now. In some it seems like yesterday because it is so vivid in my mind and in other ways it seems like I haven't seen her in a very long time. While talking to one of my friends about Gran I used the word "exceptional" to describe her. My friend quickly said that she had recently used the exact same word.

She wasn't like other people. She was very special. She loved me for who I am and she challenged and encouraged me every way. Many people have said to me (my mom included) that I will be surprised at the things that bring me back to her throughout my life. Right now I am surprised at the holes in my life. We talked on the phone almost every day. I have about a hundred voicemails on my phone that she has left me. I miss her sweet hug. I miss her voice and her way with words.

I wanted to post because Easter is tomorrow and I have been wondering what Easter in heaven is like. Maybe every day in heaven is Easter. Some people think that people in heaven can see or have some awareness of life on earth. I really dont know what I think. But if they do, I think Gran would love to see people worshiping all over the earth. She loved Easter. Well.. she loved Jesus. We are having a sunrise service at our church and I think it will be very special for me because she loved her church's sunrise service. She always thought it was beautiful. Also, the morning that she left the earth we witnessed maybe the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen. Mom, Julie, and I stayed the night with her in her hospital room. We were very tired but when the sun came up we all noted how pretty it was. We also loved it when we could see the warm sun on Gran's face. She loved the sunshine.

When we were little we always celebrated Easter with lunch at Gran's after church followed by the traditional Easter egg hunt. Gran loved a Easter egg hunt. She remembered the tradition from her own childhood.

Oh how we miss her.

Blessings

I have enjoyed a very full and busy week. Monday night we went to the Hambrick house to celebrate the work that Adam is doing at Stumo. Adam and Merritt recently got a puppy - Gibson. The Hambricks cooked a delicious pasta dish for us and we enjoyed spending our Monday night with our dear friends. When I think of the blessings of my dear college years, I often think of Merritt Madison (Smith) Hambrick. She taught me so much about loving people and being a person of kindness. She taught me the value of the written note, of a hug, of having a positive outlook, and of balancing the act of being a Christian and a student.

Tuesday night Dane and I stayed home and Dane cooked us some brinner (breakfast for dinner) while I cleaned the house. Fair trade if I do say so myself!

Wednesday night was a very special night for us. Our church did not have an Ash Wednesday service so we opted to go to the service at First UMC in Russellville. We know the pastor and his wife and they are very special people. We both really enjoyed the Ash Wednesday service. I know Dane enjoys hearing the word from other pastors. The scripture passage was from the prayer of David after he had sinned against God with Bathsheba.

Psalm 51:15-17
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despite.

I was in awe at the wisdom of David. He knew that no sacrifice could equal a broken spirit. I became very aware of how seldom my spirit is broken. I am thankful for this season before Easter where I am constantly encouraged to remember my identity in Christ. Several people have shared stories with me lately that have challenged my faith, I am ever grateful for the Father's patience with my selfish heart.

Thursday I received some news that I will not be able to take my board exam (the National Physical Therapy Examination - NPTE) until September 7th almost a month after my August 12th graduation. This was initially very frightening for me. How can I possibly move to another state for Dane to attend seminary without even the hope of a license to practice until Sept 7th? (I am too easily discouraged..) However, Dane has been very encouraging to me. He quietly and patiently reminded me that many many things have happened that have helped pave a way for us to move for him to attend seminary. There is no reason to think that one month of life without an income will ruin us. I also spoke with my dear friend Haley about this and she encouraged me to look at this like a period of transition in a new state before I even have the option of working. The situation is out of my hands. Certainly, this may be a blessing in disguise. My dear Gran said the same thing. She has always encouraged me to look at the big picture. A month of my life without work will not be biggest trial of my life, certainly. I am thankful for these words of advice.

Yesterday (Friday) I left my clinical site early to do a drug screen/background check at my next clinical site in Sherwood. I was able to meet my clinical instructor who was very warm and welcoming. The site also had an area for sitting outside to eat lunch! Hooray for a little vitamin D. :)

I then stopped by to visit Susan, Chris, and sweet baby Ava! Ava is growing up so fast. She is almost 7 weeks!! Susan looked amazing. It was so great to see them. Ava is very active and keeps them on their toes. I took several pictures of her but most were blurry because she is such a wiggle worm! :) Love that precious girl!

Dane and I ate at Cracker Barrel last night. Dane pointed out that we now eat there a lot and then he said that he thinks we used to think we were too young to eat there but we have apparently changed our minds! ;)

Sister Time

This past weekend I was able to go home and visit my sister who is here from Nashville for her spring break! Have I mentioned that I do not (repeat DO NOT) like living a state apart from my sister?

Friday night I got home around 9:30 or so. Dad and Beth made it home around 10:30. We just ate some of mom's homemade chocolate chip cookies. They were delicious!! Ross was so excited to see all of us. He is such a sweetie.

Saturday morning Ross woke us up around 8 but I didn't get out of bed until later. Mom made us a lunch to take a Grans and we went over to visit with her and Pop. Gran is doing better. She still gets tired and has some pain but she really enjoyed her time with her sister and brother-in-law. She was sad when they left. I guess I will always be sad when Beth and I part ways.

We went back home around 7 after seeing Sam and Julie for a little while. Sam had been in a horse show.

Saturday morning we went to church with Mom and Dad. I got to see some people that I hadn't seen in a very long time which was nice. It was also nice to go to church with my parents. Mom made us some lasagna for lunch and we played with Ross and took a nap. Beth also started grading some papers for her classes. It was really hard to leave. I had a wonderful, restful weekend.

I drove back to Conway around 5pm Sunday night and made it home in time to watch my show - Army Wives with my sweet husband. Dane had done all of the laundry AND done the dishes and put them up. What more could I ask for?!