Sorry It's Been So Long

Wow. It was a rough weekend at work. We were very busy. I'm rested up and will try not to go so long without a post again.

On the home front, Henry started his first day of 5th grade yesterday. I spent the evening signing tons of papers. I also plan on calling Steph today to see how the moving went this weekend. Steph and Randy moved into their 1st house.

As for church. We could certainly use all the prayer that you could send up for us. It looks like this is really hard for everyone and I'll definitely post more about it once everything settles down and becomes clearer.

Part 5: A Wise Woman Builds Her House

For Part 1 click here
For Part 2 click here
For Part 3 click here
For Part 4 click here

"A wise woman builds her house." This is what Hannah told me I was doing by staying home. I really did focus on my family that year when I was home with them. Jason had been worried that Stephi was growing up too quickly. She was 15 and had been hanging out with a boy that Jason really didn't like, and I was finally starting to see things that way my hubby did.

I started making Steph and Paul go to youth group at the church. At first they weren't very keen on it, but after a while they enjoyed it. They became invoved in the teen small groups at our church and Stephi even sang for the teen worship service. That year Steph and Paul really blossomed into a couple of nice, clean cut kids. And I felt good that I was finally giving them the kind of parental guidance that they deserved.

I really felt God working in our lives. Jason and I found a great small group also. There was even a gal in our group that used to practice Wicca like I did. I really connected with her and we felt that God had put us together for a reason. He showed us that we didn't have to be ashamed of who we used to be because now we were His.

So, we grew together as a family that year and we were all baptized as well (except Henry because he was too young.) I started volunteering with the kids youth group and even read through the Bible for the first time.

But my time at home with my family didn't last forever. Eventually Jason stopped selling Xray equipment because the market dried up and he was forced to return to hospital work. This meant that I had to return to work too. I was surprised to see the Christian nurses that I used to work with at the skilled nursing facility(SNF) at my church one Sunday. I didn't know that they went to my church! They were so happy to learn that I had changed my ways and told me that they had been praying for me. I told them that I had been off work for about a year, but that I was looking to return and they said there was a night position open at the SNF.

So the next day I applied and 2 weeks later I was working there. Just 2 nights a week. It was perfect. I'd probably still be there if Jason hadn't have been offered the job with ARAMCO in Saudi Arabia.

Nothing to say?

I just finished my 1st full time week. I worked 3 in a row of 12 hour shifts for the 1st time since 1996. I am so achy! I feel old.

So today is my big house-keeping/laundry day. We'll see how many times I can go up and down the stairs before a collapse in exhaustion.

No photo finish this week.

The lap top is still not working and all of my photos are trapped in in. Well, not all of them. I do have some in the computer upstairs and stored in the camera, thank God. I'll get the camera out next week and take some more.

We had a real monsoon last night, finally. It has been threatening for over a week now, but until last night there has only been clouds and wind. When I left church last night it was really storming. The rain was coming down hard! Thankfully someone was kind enough to drive me to my car in the parking lot. It was a slow drive home on the freeway. Down to 35 miles per hour at times, but thankfully I made it home safely.

So this morning I am making my rounds to the blogs I read and then I have to shower and go to bed because I work tonight. I was supposed to work on Wednesday night, but I was cancelled (one of the wonderful and terrible things about working as a nurse). I work Fri, Sat, and Sun night this week and hopefully that will remain as my set schedule for some time. Up until now I had been working only 2 nights a week, but now I will be working 3 due to the economy and all. There are bills to be paid! And now I will be saving for a new laptop as well.

Thinking About Going Back to Bed

I always feel like this on Monday mornings. After working Friday and Saturday night and sleeping half of Sunday, it seems that I have difficulty turning around and being a 'day person' for the rest of the week. I suppose that it will be even more difficult when I go full-time in a few weeks. The reason I am up right now is that we took the dog to the vet to get fixed this morning. Yeah, I'm tired... going back to bed for an hour or so.

Breakfast for Dinner

You know, when I was growing up it was a treat to get breakfast at dinner time.  I never got up early enough as a kid to actually eat breakfast in the mornings (except for the rare summer spent at grandma's house... who would dream of missing HER biscuits and gravy?)  This morning when I got off work a few of my co-workers and I went to the Waffle House a few miles from the hospital.  So it was actually breakfast time... but it was dinner for us because we were all going home afterwards to sleep.  It was fun.  And I never get to do it because I usually have to come straight home to make sure Henry isn't alone since Jason takes so much weekend call at the hospital.  I did forget one thing, however.  The dog had been in his kennel for over 12 hours while I was working, and the extra 2 hours I spent eating and chatting with friends was evidently just too long for him to hold it... soooo.... I spent another half an hour cleaning the dog and his kennel.  Now he is safely in the backyard with his food and water dish.  I'll let him join me for a nap later before it gets too hot outside.  Tonight I'll have to call the neighbor to let him out around 10pm to do his business.  Usually Jason is home to take care of this.  I guess this is the price I pay for that moment of silence I enjoyed yesterday.

My first blog entry.

How's that for a title?  It seems that everyone is blogging, so I thought, "Why not me?"  Surely I have at least as much to say as the next person.  

Tomorrow Jason and Henry fly to Texas to visit Grandma Linda and Grandpa Jerry.  Henry is looking forward to getting a BB gun and shooting whatever Grandma Linda lets him.  Jason comes back on Monday and Henry will be staying until June 29th.  There will be tons of cousins to play with.  He should have a blast and perhaps my house will stay clean.

Paul will be done with his training in Great Lakes, IL sometime in August.  Right now he's not sure where he will go next.  We're hoping for San Diego, but it may be Virginia or even Mississippi.  We really miss him though.  He's been gone since last October and we missed seeing him on his 19th birthday.

Steph and Randy are currently looking for a house to make an offer on.  They really want to stay in the Westgate area because those home are most likely to increase in value in the near future.  Of course, that is assuming that our economy EVER recovers.  

And finally an update on me.  I have been working only 2 nights a week since I started at Banner Estrella almost 2 years ago.  However, the week of July 6th I will be working 3 nights a week.  I am pretty excited about this because I will finally have paid time off!  Plus, with the price of gas and food going up, we can really use the increased income.  Jason and I forget how blessed we are sometimes.  At least we work in health care which tends to be very recession proof.