Tickling The Funny Bone

So as some of you know, I am taking Psychiatric Nursing through Grant MacEwan University! Hooray! It is such an awesome blessing to be there and partaking in the program. This is an update to let you know how that is going as well as to share something I came across while researching for a project for one of my classes.

I was able to keep my position on my unit (yeah, pretty much the BEST unit EVER!), and finding a balance between the two has been challenging, but so worth it. My marks are great and work is so good too! AMAZING!

Yep, thats about all for that update! Any other specifics you are curious about I am so willing to either get together and chat (everyone needs study breaks!) or just send me an email!

So recently I have been researching quite a bit for a variety of things, I wrote a paper on HIV and sex workers, I fancy I did rather well!  And researching for other various projects and assignments.

For one of my classes, we got to sign our names into groups, picking which presentation we wished to take part in.  I kind of hummed and hawed for a couple of minutes and decided I wanted to be in the "Humour in Nursing" group! I thought it was a great fit, and truly the people I am partnered with are excellent and hilarious as well!

While researching, I came across this short documentary, which not only moved me but is pushing me on and on to go further in and further up (anyone know that quote?) I am so inspired to continue this path that God has placed me on, and I am overwhelmed with joy at the prospect. 

I feel that this short doc (8mins) is well worth the time, and it is about one of the best funny men ever, Dr. Patch Adams, and his team of clowns travelling around the world healing and loving. Such amazing people.

This is really not funny, but seeing how the children and the parents react to the clowny clowns is awesome.

Please take the time to check the clip out, as well as please check out the Gesundheit Institute which does some really amazing work, providing a free hospital for all in need in Virginia, USA.

And they continue to grow and improve working globally, working to create hospitals and care centres.

Yeah . . . . . . . . . . . AWESOME!

Linked In - Human Trafficking

My friend Phil Cunningham, who was a teacher on my DTS, spoke about justice during his week there. 

He is a man who continues to stay focused on justice issues, and he is truly amazing! I closely follow his links because they are almost always things that are close to my heart and what affects me as a human being, and as a follower of Christ.

He recently posted on facebook a link to someone's blog.  I have heard of Mark Scandrette, but I haven't followed him before.  I will be now!

He tells first about the woman at the well (and trust me we have ALL been the woman at the well in one point in our lives). He tells about his recent experiences with sex trade workers and human trafficking and how they are not only related but completely interconnected.

Jesus came to the woman at the well and He comes to each and every one of us.

It is easy to forget that the women who are working the streets, or the massage parlors, or brothels are beloved to Christ, it is easy to place those women in a separate category and push them away into the margins, forgetting about them and walking away. 

So please go and read his post, it doesn't take long to read, but it is so emotional and so real and so true to my own heart.

Tales From School

So I just wanted to post a quick little funny bit that happened in school today.

We were all sitting in anatomy class, and our professor Dr. Paul is up at the front of the room speaking about the placenta and asking if it is a part of the woman or from the baby. 

So he says, "please give to me," he is east indian so pretend it with the accent, "give to me raised hands who is a mother here".  So the Moms start raising their hands and he starts counting. 

Down at the front of class there was Danielle, she is a young gorgeous single girl, and she absent mindedly raises her hand. For a moment we were all in shock! WHAT!? You have a baby?

Dr. Paul looks at her and says, "WHAT!? You have a child!?" The exact utterances of the whole class. She looks around and says, "WHAT! Oh! No! I don't, whay are we raising our hands!?"

Funny yes, but then I got into my bright little brain that I wanted to make her something funny because of her blunder.

I decided to craft a lovely card made of lined loose leaf ripped haphazardly from my binder. 

On the cover was her name all pretty and colourful.  Inside it said, Congratulations on your child!  I signed it and asked my seat mate if she would like to sign it. She did and passed it along, soon the whole class was chuckling because they were signing it and passing it.

Before I knew it, someone else had gotten credit for it, but it was hilarious when I gave it to her and her face was shocked! It was so worth it! PRICELESS!

She thanked me, and said yeah sorry I didn't mean to LIE about having a child, I just wasn't sure how everyone would take it! Being made up and all!

The End

School! The Taker of Time, The Builder of The Mind!

So as my faithful followers know I started the Psychiatric nursing program in Ponoka! Hooray!
I remember when I applied I asked God to let me go to school so I could advance myself, and because I felt that where I was sitting was not taking me anywhere else.

I know I need to find a good balance between studying and taking free time, whilst trying to not feel guilty about not studying (true story).

My first week was a little overwhelming for me, and for some other students in my class, there were endless lists of readings, and dates for tests, and projects and papers, I started to wonder if this was the right choice for me.

And then, I ran into someone who has taken this program, and she asked me how I was going to do it all, working studying going to school, and I said I don't know, I really started to feel doubtful about my ability to finish the week let alone being able to finish the whole 3 years (technically 2.5 but they call it 3).

I was awestruck, I didn't know how to rspond, this woman is a Christian (the same one in fact who warned me about going to YWAM Urban Ministries in Winnipeg) I don't know why I would be fooled into listening to her a second time. I know it was not her intent to make me doubt myself, she was just stating her concern, but I felt it, oh boy, did I ever.

By the time I got home however I started to get mad, mad at her, mad at school and mad at myself! I was indignant that I would let someone else speak that fear into me, and mad at school because I do believe that hitting the students hard is a tactic for "weeding out" potentially weak students, and mad at me for actually listening and believing that I was too small, too weak, not smart enough and all that jazz.

Fear not though my dear friends, this made me want more than anything to succeed, I wanted to be able to prove people wrong, including myself, and prove others right, including myself!

So, I have been diligently working at spending time working on studies, and spending time relaxing.

As I am going to be learning about drugs, and the risks involved, and the potential for potential harm, I felt the picture below was a great illustration.

Shocking Truths

My very good friend Jamie posted on his blog today, a series of videos. It was an experiment to see how far people will react to authority....

It made me think about how often in my lifeI have just given in because I thought someone knew better than me on a subject and ignored my heart and my thoughts.....

As Jamie says " I know I am too often guilty of taking the easy out."

But he also conitnues to say,  "Being like Christ is the path of most resistance. It is the lifestyle requires more of us than any other."

I am taking heed of these videos, and what they mean to me personally. I would really recommend everyone to take the time to view them.

Sleepy Sundays, its Time to Open Those Eyes!

I woke up late this morning, probably intentionally sabotaging myself by staying up too late, so I wouldn't have to go to church.

I've been stressed out lately. Worried about school, worried about whether or not it is the right thing, and worried about having to work as much as I will have to to stay on top of my bills and it affecting my marks.

This is not a worry post however, I will get over it all in due time.

When I woke up late, looked at the clock and saw what time it was, I lay there for a minute, rubbed my eyes and felt the cool breeze blowing into the window. Heard the neighbors talking about this and that, thought about how good coffee would be, and got out of bed.

I am feeling so overwhelmed by how blessed I am! I am so blessed to wake up today! I feel so happy that as I walked into the kitchen to wash up my breakfast dishes it started raining, hard, and the fresh smell of it hit me and made me think about the rest of the afternoon.

I spend far too much time on the computer, this is true, and in this under used time, my friend Brennie had posted on his twitter page a link to a comic. A very good one in fact, and it led me into looking at more and more of The Adventures of ASBO Jesus.  And then I found this comic. I wondered how I could let the things that are so beautiful to me slip away without being noticed.

So I wanted to issue a challenge, open your eyes and look around. Where is God revealing himself to you at this exact moment?

Humbleization - Not Letting Other's Vinegary States Affect Me

As my loyal readers know, I work in a hospital, on a brain injury rehabilitation unit, helping people who are overcoming traumatic brain injuries.

This summer, I've been working less than I would like because there is an over abundance of staff on our unit, and open beds that need to be filled still. Which means, our skills have been widely used across the entire hospital this summer (getting pulled to other units, sometimes for the first time, sometimes to units we used to work on) .

Some people have not been happy with said arrangements, I have been trying to maintain a positive attitiude, I keep telling myself that I am so blessed to have a job, a job that pays so well, and a job that teaches me new things everyday.  Sadly, I have been letting others' bad attitudes and grumpy dispositions rub off on me, and I haven't been enjoying going to work much as of late.

This past stretch of my shifts have been pretty well the same, out of 4 shifts, I was pulled twice. I finally got to work on my unit on Sunday evening, and I am going to be honest, I went with a bad attitude. I wasn't looing forward to being back on my unit, having people grabbing at me, constantly asking me to do things, and just complaining about everything...

I was helping one lady into her room to start getting ready for bed, and she was patting on her bed with her hand looking puzzled. I asked her what she was up to, and she said, "Oh, I want to turn the tv on". She had stated a minute before that she was going to brush her teeth. I asked her if I could turn the tv on while she went and did that. She got very upset with me, yelling that I was being bossy and that I needed to stop it.

Now I feel that I wasn't being bossy towards her, maybe I was, I am not sure now, I do know that I was struck just how much of a goodwill deficit I had been putting across. I walked away from her and collected my thoughts. My first reaction was a flash of anger... how dare she!? then when I sat down, I really thought about what she was saying, how I would feel if my nurse was dour towards me.

I gave her a few minutes to finish what she was doing and went to talk to her. She was still very upset with me, and I let her tell me all of her frustrations, and then I apologized to her. We talked for a little while and I told her I wasn't meaning to be bossy, and I told her I would try harder to be more responsive to her. She seemed satisfied with out talk and let me help her into bed.

I'm not sure if she has thought more about it since then, but I have.  I can't stop really. I need to remember to stay humble, to remember that I am blessed to be there at all, and that I am there for them.

I also need to remember that others are bound to come to work with the wrong disposition, others are having bad days too, and that other people have been wounded and show it outwardly. But, I, I need to be the example, I need to continue to be loving towards others and to let people be, well people.

Its amazing how God can speak you me through other people.