Changes in the works!!!!

I started Nursing school with the intention to work but with the realization that I may not be able to do both. Most of the students in the program are not working. Well, I have had some changes at work which have made it very difficult to maintain work and school. I don't want to drop work all together but I realize something has to give in my life. My social life long ago was given up so all that is left is school and work. This schedule has me running so much that I am exhausted. When I have the time to study, I am so tired, I feel ineffective sometimes.

Well, Monday, was my eye opener. I was leaving work after having been up and out the door since 7am for school and then straight to work. Our floor is very busy at the hospital and keeps you going all night but on this night a few emergencies made it even more crazy. At Midnight when I was driving home, I nearly got in a very serious accident on the freeway because I was drifting. When I went home I resolved that I would need to find a way to meet my financial needs, and school requirements but that I had to find a way to not run myself into the ground.

Now today, I have found out that our summer school schedule is going to be a bit crazy. They are having to cram a 15 week semester into 10 weeks so it is going to mean even more time than the 30hours I am putting in. To make a long story short please pray as I speak to my boss, and my hospital to see what I can do to change things. There aren't any openings in the float pool which I was hoping for as it would allow me to work one to ones. But there are maybe some other long shot ideas I am hoping might pan out.

Miss everyone of you!

One of those days!

I was reading a friends blog and came across a quote from my old pastor.

"Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace."

Wow, what an amazing thought. No matter where we are His Grace is sufficient for us! Grace is God's unmerited favor that we receive because of His mercy for us.

Nursing school has been a test of who I am as a person and I must be honest there are many things I have seen in myself I did not like. But through it I have seen more and more of God and His incredible power, provision, mercy and Grace. Today in Church we studied a simple passage in 1 Tim 3:16.

Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great:
He appeared in a body,
was vindicated by the Spirit,
was seen by angels,
was preached among the nations,
was believed on in the world,
was taken up in glory.

There are days when you wonder if Jesus is the truth and the way. You evaluate your beliefs but then I read this passage from the Bible and have no doubts. I look back in my life and see there is no doubt. I look at history and know there is no doubt. Outside of Jesus our faith is a mystery. Why do we as christians believe what we believe it is because Jesus came as a baby, lived a sinless life, was rejected and put to death in order to serve as punishment for our sins and then he was vindicated when He rose from the dead.

Each day I am learning that when I depend on Him for my strength, I find peace, grace and exactly what I need to make it the next step. In Nursing school I find so many days I am overwhelmed and don't know how I can make it one more step but then I am reminded of what He does for us and find the strength to make it another step, another day, another test.

Today, I made the decision to rely on Him and He turns around and provides for me in a way I could never have fathomed or wished for. I am so undeserving and He is so deserving and yet each day He provides for my every need! Amen

Psalm 121

Overwhelming!

The reality of 7 weeks left of school and 4 huge exams ahead of me including one that is cummulative and worth 40% of my grade is overwhelming. I am exhausted and ready for a day when I don't have to think :-). I know I can and will make it but it doesn't change the reality that the next 7 weeks are going to be like a mad dash.

For those of you praying for me and who have been asking for my upcoming test schedule here it is:
March 30th: Test 3
April 20th: Test 4
May 11th: Test 5
May 15th: Final (Worth 40%)

Thank you to all of you who have sent me encouragement and notes of prayer. It is a huge encouragement.

Not only is school going to be busy but they have changed my schedule at work. Some new policy has come up that prevents them from scheduling me for a 16 hour shift on my weekend on. Originally I worked from 3-11:30pm on Mondays and Saturday 6:30am-11:00pm on my 1st week and on my second week I worked Monday 3-11:30 and Friday 3:30-11:30. On the days I work I go directly from school to work and can't study nor do I get a break. Well, now they are schedueling me 2 days one week and the other week I will have to work 3 days. It doesn't seem like much but now instead of working a double on that saturday I have to add another day which is like working a double and I lose another day of studying (the last thing I need when passing or not passing is a stone throw away). I have already been adding a shift one day a week to my schedule as a one-to-one (Babysitting a patient) due to finances but I can study for much of the 8 hours so I don't lose any time. I am going to see if I can switch departments and work for the float pool where maybe I can work one to ones as my regular shifts which would help a ton but that is going to be a long shot. It would help my schedule tremendously so would love your prayer on that.

I am not one to sit around and be lazy but I can't tell you how good it sounds to have a day where I don't have to do Anything, especially think.

Happy St. Patricks day!!!!

May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.
~Irish Blessing

On Tuesday, St Patricks day, my sister n law and I took the kids into NYC for the St Patricks day parade.

"On the streets of New York since 1762, the oldest, biggest & best in the world"

We took a subway in and walked to a spot near central park and enjoyed a few hours of the parade. The parade started at 11am and was not over when we were leaving around 5:30pm. They say that more than 2 million people were there and it felt like it. People decked in all forms of green and St Patricks day paraphernalia. It was a beautiful 50 degree day and good times with the family as well as a welcomed break for the monotony of school and work.

Enjoy some pictures and blessing on this St. Patricks day to you!

If you click on this link you can see the photos. Hoping I can embed it in here but in the mean time enjoy.
Picasa Web Albums - SaraJane - St Patrick's day parade

Spring Break...a much needed break!

We finally arrived at spring break this week which is a welcomed break. For me it is a chance to work more and to try and study hard for the next exam. And it finally feels as though NJ is coming out of Winter. This has been a below average winter with snow nearly every week. This week we finally hit the 50's and Wednesday was sunny and warm. I was able to walk around in a long sleeve shirt, capris and no jacket. Oh what a lovely day.

This is our second to last break before the program is over in August. We will have a 5 day break between semesters and other than that it is going to be a mad dash to the end. This semester we have 7 more weeks left of school and 4 more exams left. The fifth exam will be on Monday and our final will be on that Thursday. Talk about cramming. It is only going to be by the grace of God I make it through this semester. It seems like the exams could have been a little more planned out.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!"

Finally a post at last :-)

Ok so I officially fall into the slacker catergory when it comes to blogging. I keep having stories that I think...I need to blog this...but then time is so short in my life that actually blogging it keeps getting put on the back burner.

Well, I told you I passed my last exam a few weeks back. Since then we had our exam review. The class average was a whopping 76%. Now by most college standards that is low...but for us that might just be our highest class average for the entire year apart from maybe the first exam. This semester is divided into 3 with each instructor teaching 5 weeks. This is different from last semester in the sense that the head instructor taught all of it. The first 5 weeks were a bit rough as we had a teacher who was new and not very experienced. She read from the book to us and didn't give handouts or visuals. Many of us felt we had to teach the material to ourselves and it was one of the tougher sections of material we covered...cardiac. The class average was a 63...not too good. The same instructor taught one more week of the next exam material and then we got our second instructor. This was my clinical instructor and I absolutely love her. She had our material to us weeks early, she actually dialogues and did an excellent job teaching...I thought. Well our class average went up to a 76. The material we struggled on as a whole in the class was the material from the first week that the other instructor taught. Well this next exam on the 30th is all taught by my favorite instructor and though it is tough material, I think as a whole our class will do well on it.

The interesting thing was that when when the head instructor came in for test review she did not seem happy. Not happy about what you might ask...well our higher test average from what we could tell. She didn't want to discuss anything, and even made some rude comments. Well, we will get her for the last 2 exams before the final. Many of us sense that this exam on April 30th is our last chance to get any cushion under us before she takes over. Kind of a sad thought to me as it seems that instructors should be looking for us to succeed and it seems different in nursing. Though my woes are not nearly as bad as my sister n laws class. They had been doing fairly well till the last exam when 72 of 80 students failed the exam. What is it about nursing school?

So now I am on spring break and I have spent the week studying and working in order to somehow get a good exam on my next exam on March 30th. The material is neurological, Strokes, Spinal injuries etc so it is interesting but it is tough material. It seems that no matter how much time I put in...it is not enough. But this week has been refreshing. I have been able to work a bit more, and I have had some good productive study days. I still feel behind but have another week to get ready so praying all goes well.

"I surrender my life into the hands of God, knowing He has predestined for me His best. I will count the cost and by God's grace I will pay the price to become the best that I am capable of becoming. I will hold to my course and by the power of the Holy Spirit, I will finish strong."

Dr. Joe Aldrich, A man who passed away a few weeks ago, but lived a life that touched many. May each of us live that motto and find the peace that passes all understanding in Christ Jesus!

Long awaited update!

So it has been a while since I blogged and a lot has happened. A trip to Atlantic City, snow storm, my dog passed her doggy day care test, and I took yet another test. Some where in there I went to school, worked and studied an insane amount. Not much time for a life or a breather.

A few weeks ago our class went to Atlantic City, NJ for a nursing conference. I enjoyed going out with the girls from my class and we had a let your hair down kind of 2 or 3 days.

My friends Laurie and Maria from Nursing school in Atlantic City!

Me posing in our hotel during the conference!


Last weekend we were slammed with yet another snow storm. It was projected to bring around a foot of snow but we only got 9 or 10 inches. The storm came in on Sunday night and lasted through the day on Monday successfully postponing our test till Wed. This didn't work out to be much more study time due to class and my work schedule but it was nice to have a few extra hours.

Wednesday I woke up and took Faith for her first day of doggy day care. Yes they have those. It is relatively inexpensive as much as it would to have a dog walker come and walk your dog for 30min but she gets to stay at the facility for 8-12 hours playing with lots of other dogs. I intend to use this just once a week or once every few weeks when life is really crazy and my roommate and I can't get home to let her out. Well, since we moved to NJ she has been more shy and we had to work through a bout of fear aggression. So needless to say I was not so sure how she would do. When I dropped her off they took her back to an area to introduce her to other dogs. Each dog that comes has to pass a test in order to stay. If they have any problems they get the boot. Well, when they couldn't get a collar off that was a little snug I went back to help. When I saw her she was cowering in a corner and freaked out. Talk about break your heart. I took her out of the area, and took the collar off. when I went to put her back she fought like crazy. They said to leave her for a few hours and they would see how she did.

After my exam I called to see how she was doing and they said that she spent the first part of the morning too scared to do anything. But that after morning break she came out and was much better. Though when I picked her up they said she never really came out of her shell though she was very well behaved. I guess it will take a little getting used to. As we left they gave us a certificate saying she passed and was welcome back anytime. Pheww! I was a little nervous. I have worked so hard to have a well behaved dog which she is much of the time. She just needs to get over this weird fear thing that started last March when we moved. Unfortunately she may always be a fearful dog now but at least with work she is able to adapt.

Wednesday I went in for the exam. I felt pretty good about it when I left but they are so hard to judge. No matter how much I study though or how I adapt my study style and test taking I just can't get out of the hole. Though I will say I did pass and I am not disappointed with my score it would just be nice to reap the rewards of my time. I am exhausted and spent. I have nothing left in me to give following a test but now it is onto the next one. The crazy thing is that we only have something like 8 more weeks left of this semester and I will be in the home stretch. The thing that keeps me motivated and moving forward despite the discouraging tests, is that one of my instructors is so encouraging and tells me over and over that I have what it takes to be a great nurse and that the tests are not a reflection of that. In there mind she says " a C is like an A in our program". So if I look at it that way then I am Acing every test right :-).

Blessings to everyone!
Love SaraJane