Almost done!!!!

One final left to go: A&P. I must get a high B on it in order to get my required B- for Bellarmine...Stressed much? Not really...yet, but that's because I haven't begun studying! YIKES! I plan to this afternoon... "plan to." We'll see. I can only get 15 out of 100 wrong on the final... I got 15 wrong out of 35 on my last EXAM! Oh Lord be with me! Maybe he is trying to tell me I won't be GOING to Bellarmine? But I'm not sure...We will find out April 27th! 
In other news, I was offered DAYS at Kosair! They don't know when I can start...*bummer* and it will either be May 9 (end of this schedule) or June 20 (end of next schedule), which is a double bummer. Now that I know I will be working days, it is harder to see myself working 12 hour nights! I DO enjoy nights though...and I was REALLY torn in my decision! I know the nurses, the PCA's, the managers, etc. and I am used to the schedule! I have no idea how days will work with my schedule next fall with me taking pre-reqs at JCC? Everyone keeps saying, "How will you do school?" I DON'T KNOW!!! But I know God is in this all the way...so I have nothing to lose by trusting Him! As always! I plan on taking Developmental Psych online and A&P II with the lab come August. It shouldn't be too hard to only have ONE class with a lab that I'm actually attending outside of my home, so I don't see how scheduling myself 3 days a week will be that difficult in the long run.
I am SO ready for summer! I can't believe I will be DONE *forever* quote on quote, April 27th! I will be a college graduate! I will have my Bachelor's in Philosophy & Bioethics! Woo hooooooooooooooooo! Can't wait to celebrate. 

Anyway... time to shower and run my dogs and go tanning and THEN, come home and open my A&P notes! I am working tonight, tomorrow AND Thursday all in a row. 3 nights in a row... eeeeeek! I can do it though. I get to sleep in Friday and Saturday AND Monday! 

OH: Also, I went with my sister *in law* Jana to her ultrasound yesterday, she is 20 weeks and 1 day according to them, and we found out: SHE IS HAVING A BABY BOY!!!!!! His name is Keats Asa Glass! How exciting is that! It was beyond amazing to see an ACTUAL ultrasound! Now I've seen her deliver her last baby girl and I got to see Keats in his mama's BELLY! I feel like one lucky little sister. Here are some photos of her adorable self: 

           *The day after she got back from Portugal with her sweet
              family!*

Going Strong

Just a quick update to say that I am still doing well. My last A&P exam is tomorrow, (last one before the final that is,) and I am beyond grateful. I am so not prepared...even though I studied more than 3 hours today... it's just too much information and I am BURNED OUT on school! But I'm still shooting for good educated guesses and for the things I DO know, to be on there... 
Anyway, one day last week I was awake for FORTY hours: FORTY. STRAIGHT. My RN manager let me know she had scheduled me wrong, and that I needed at least 8 hours to make up for it on the schedule.... SO, she gave me the options of coming back to work right after class on Wednesday (after working 7pm-7am Tuesday) and working noon to eight, or sleeping a few hours and coming in from 7pm-3am that night... I'm learning quickly that I am the type of person who would rather kill themselves to reap the benefits later, rather than doing things an easier or more laid back way. So, I went to work Tuesday night, 12 hours, went to class at 8am right after work, got done with class at noon, and booked it back to the hospital for an 8 hour shift. Everyone was freaking out that I had actually came-the charge nurse said, "I want you to sit and do nothing. Walk around if you need to, but really...just sit." I of course cannot just sit... so I just helped the nurses whenever they needed it, and sat with a sweet 7 month old baby who has what's called, "cat crying syndrome." I came home with SUCH a smile on my face, praising God for being beyond real and beyond gracious with the amount of strength and energy he provided me!
I'm learning so often, that He really is ALL of my strength and all of my patience! I am rarely tired ON the job... and I usually come home with more energy than I would prefer to after working 12 hours through the night, so Melatonin is becoming a good friend of mine. [Do you know where Melatonin is released from? I do. I learned it for this exam tomorrow: the pineal gland which is in the middle of the two brain hemispheres in the epithalamus. It is a natural hormone that is released at night to help us recognize we need sleep!] Ha. And I bet $5 it won't be on the exam tomorrow. Oh well. 

Anyway: my sweet husband is alseep on the couch while I do THIS (when I NEED to be studying) because I told him I didn't want to be away from him, even if he was asleep! I am so in love with him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He has been so supportive and kind and generous to me as we BOTH adjust to this new insane schedule of mine! 

I will say this... just so I can have proof to myself that I've said it: if I NEVER had to go back to school again.... I would be beyond happy. If I could just simply have a great job that I loved that preferably had something to do with bioethics and medical ethics... I would be so ecstatic. So I am very grateful I will have this entire summer off... and I have a couple months to decide! I am 80% sure though that I WILL be pursuing nursing--> 4 classes @ JCC next year and I will be applying to Bellarmine in September.. but we will yet again see where God leads me. He is DEFINITELY trying to lead me somewhere, as He gives me this insane amount of strength and energy to do this PCA job while trying to graduate. Which is in 27 days I believe. WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! 

Okay. Back to the books. Maybe.

OH and PS: my sister in law Sarah is having a BOY: Ryvers Calloway West. He is due August 12 and this is what she looks like at 21 weeks pregnant<3 GORGEOUS!!!!!! <3

And THIS is me and my sweet MAN out celebrating my birthday: 22 this year :) So crazy for my Asa Frank!

He is Risen

 

 

Our 2nd Easter as a married couple. If my Mama hadn't sent us an "Easter Basket Box" in the mail, it would hardly feel like Easter to me!!!! I woke up early this morning and baked some sweet orange rolls for Asa and I before church--something my dad ALWAYS did on Sunday's, especially Easter. It was a great day and we had a good fellowship at church (even though we are still "church shopping" we wanted to go worship with the family.) Holiday's of course always make me feel homesick...I miss waking up knowing Sean was wide awake, already on the hunt for our baskets while our parents slept. Or sometimes he would come wake me up and say, "Ash, I found your basket!! Come look!!!" We had so much fun together. Mom and Dad would play the "hot and cold" game until we found them and squealed with delight over the (too many) goodies in our baskets! Nathan was always fun to watch hunt his basket. He would giggle and always enjoys opening things! So I miss home...but I'm glad I am married to my sweetheart to help me celebrate these special holidays (especially today, Christ rising from the grave!!!) 

Counting My Blessings

I sit here this Saturday morning, watching the sun rise, and feeling a pit in my stomach and a lump in my throat. It is all beginning to settle in. I have finished 2 long weeks of a third shift job, 12 hour shifts at that, in a children's hospital, all the while going to school 3 days a week and getting over strep throat/bronchitis/and a sinus infection with high fevers. In this very moment, I can imagine myself crawling into my Asa's lap, tears streaming down my face and just being rocked by him so gently and sweetly...[because he picked up a shift at Sunergos this morning to make up for the hours lost unpaid while he is on spring break from teaching, I cannot do this...]
I love working with patients, especially kids. [There is nothing in me that enjoys working with the babies however...so I am learning quickly that the things I thought I wanted to do, are things I really dislike doing!] Getting a blood pressure on a wailing, ballistic, teeny, tiny infant is one of the hardest things I have ever done! Getting peed on by them while trying to weigh them does not help this matter. I do love making children laugh and I love laughing with them. I love it when a four year old boy tells me his teddy bear "is not real" and that "I don't have to worry because it is just pretend" and "only for sleeping." I love it when a two year old can speak so fluently and in such an adorable tone, that all I can do is giggle and tell her over and over how cute she is, in return getting the response, "Thanks, I know." I love helping special needs children and getting attached to them. I love the kiddos who say, "Nope. No. Nope," but still hold out their arm for me to wrap the blood pressure cuff around it just the same. You see, all of these things I truly do love. Which is why I am so grateful to God that He gave me this job...to keep opening up my eyes, revealing my strengths and great weakness's...to soften my heart towards children but still hold firmly in my heart that I don't want my own for a very long time, if ever. I do not enjoy the gossip or the slander that some of my co-workers do towards each other, or the fact that I cannot yet recognize a single Christian soul who so clearly just loves Christ...but all of that just reminds me that I need to be a light and a crystal clear picture of the grace and mercy of God.
I do not get to see Asa often....and I am really starting to worry about school and finishing strong in my 16 hours of classes with good grades. I am looking forward to April 27th, when I will be done with my undergraduate degree and May 8th, when I will get to walk with my peers at graduation: I just need a lot of strength and determination to do these things. I know there is an end in site...and I know that I have my God and my Savior. Without Him, I could do nothing and I would be nothing. The past two weeks I have been incredibly humbled... more humbled than I have been since I can remember, at the strength and will power Christ has given me. There is no way on earth that I could be doing what I have been doing...without Him. I am so thankful and grateful that He is my father--and I know as long as I can continue to trust and hope in Him, He will bless me.
This morning I am encouraged by the following in Proverbs: 
The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tounge is from the Lord...Commit your works to the Lord, and your plans will be established. The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble...By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for...The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his step. Proverbs 16:1-9
There is a reason God gave me this PCA job. No matter how hard or tired I get, HE gave it to me and I am so blessed by that. I may have plans, but the Lord gets to decide. I will have steadfast love and I will forever be faithful to my God. 
I better try to go get some sleep... I only slept 2 hours yesterday and it's going on 9am, which means I've been home almost 2 hours and my dogs are NOT going to enjoy sleeping ALL day with their boring old MOM!!!!!!!