Philly Marathon update

So It is less than 2 weeks away I run the Philadelphia Marathon. I am really excited but at the same time apprehensive. I am not as well trained as I have in previous experiences which can make for a difficult time. I had some physical issues that kept me from running for the past 3 weeks. Last night I ran 12 and felt ok. But I never got as many long 20 mile runs as I had hoped. So this will prove to be an interesting experience and I am sure more painful than hoped. But I am looking forward to the challenge.

I am looking forward to the experience. I have a hotel room down there and some of my friends from church are coming to cheer me on. I will keep you posted.

Nursing Update

So I have finished 5 of my 8 exams. I have been pathetically consistent with straight B's. That was until test 6. I did not do well on that exam and unfortunately I have to redo it. The bad part about that is that I have to wait 60 days to retake it. This really puts a cramp in my plans of being done with the 8 exams by Thanksgiving. They won't let me schedule the Clinical exam until I have finished the 8 exams and the clinical exam is 3 to 6 months out from the time you apply. Ugg. this could place me with finishing at the same time 1000's of other NJ nurses are finishing there programs in April. Why does this matter? Well, the wait time for the NJ State board of Nursing exam I have to take goes from a 3 week wait to a 3 month wait. And also then I am jumping into the job market with all these nurses. In a country desperate for nurses...NJ is one of the few states that is not actively seeking new grads. This is due to so many hospital closures in the past few years.

I guess there is no need to worry about what tomorrow holds, and just focus on today. It is not like God has not been incredibly faithful through this entire process along the way. So tomorrow I will call and hope that I miss read the info, and if not I will take a more relaxed approach with my tests since I now have 2 months to finish.

The NY Yankees made it to the World Series and a few friends and I managed to get some tickets to go see them at the new Yankee stadium. It was an amazing opportunity and so much fun. Enjoy some pictures. And by the way the Yankees won the World Series! I am a Atlanta Braves fan but they didn't make it so I chose the home town team to cheer for. Besides Philly is in the same league as my Braves :-). Besides it was fun to pick on the Philly fans.

My friends Michelle and Manny at the world series.

Go Yankees!

Being kept safe by the sharp shooters! It's a different world in NY.

Michelle and I

The flag and our Military troops who were honored at the world series. I love this photo!

We moved

It has been a month and I am finally posting some photos of our new apartment. We moved into a 3 family home earlier in October. It is in a nice neighborhood in Bloomfield, NJ and is close to the main part of town with lots of restaurants and more hair and nail places than you can imagine. I won't be using them :-). It has all hardwood floors, is bright and airy as well as roomy. It has 2 bedrooms and a 3rd room for an office.

Our very big kitchen. Not fond of the yellow but love the space.

Looking into the kitchen from the dining room. My room is on the left.

Our front porch. We are on the second floor.

Our living room. I removed the carpet so now it is nice hard wood floors. I love the windows....Makes it so bright and airy.

Our built in China hutch in the dining room.

Our stained glass window in the dining room.

Faith on moving day...she was so stressed out and out of her mind!

Faith packed in a box when we were getting ready to move.

Land of the free because of the brave!

This summer I got the opportunity to go to a Freedom concert here in NJ with my good friend Carmen. It was intended to raise money for a scholarship fund for students whose parent was killed while serving in the U.S. Military. It was a great opportunity to celebrate and honor our troops who stand in harms way every day in order to protect our freedom.

This week has been a tough week for our military and it saddens me deeply that so many of our men and women who had survived Afghanistan or Iraq were killed when they came home by a man who said he was one of them. Please keep them in prayer and if you see one on the street shake their hand. Because we are free because of their sacrifice and so many before them.



Micheal W. Smith singing at the freedom concert!

Billy Ray Cyrus

Lt. Oliver North honoring scholarship recipients as well as wounded vetrans.