Random thinkings

Well, hello there!  Good to see everyone again!

: )

So, it has been awhile, but I have been incredibly busy.  Right after I finished summer school I took a little trip to Kansas to visit my cousin, Courtney.  It was fabulous, of course!  Growing up I never really appreciated hanging out with my cousins...I never knew how cool they were until I got older.  And now, I miss them, and I wish almost on a daily basis they didn't live so far away.  Here's a couple of pics from my little road trip to relax my brain before the fall semester:

Pretty much right after I got back I started the fall semester, as well as my new job at Cowboy's Stadium.  In my previous post I mentioned having to buy khaki shorts, well that's because I was promoted to tour guide at the Stadium!  I was asked at the beginning of the summer, but with summer school I wasn't able to work as much as they were wanting.  When my schedule returned to "normal," I started training and within a month I was doing tours on my own!  I loved my job before, but now I REALLY love my job!  I get to meet new people everyday, I'm the center of attention, and I work at Cowboy's Stadium for crying out loud!  I can't begin to explain how thankful I am to go to a job I love. After spending 3 years in a job I absolutely detested, it is such a relief to go work someplace were I don't hate myself for working there.

AND THEN!!!  The Rangers went to the World Series for the second time in a row!!!  I was so excited for them last year, and I was even more excited for them this year.  I got the chance to attend Game 2 of the ALCS (yes, that was the game where Cruz hit the first ever walk-off Grand Slam in the 11th inning), and then one night I was sitting at home watching Game 4 of the World Series.  Either my mom or dad mentioned the tickets for Game 5 were a lot cheaper than any of the other games.  So, I started looking on StubHub, and we found 3 tickets for Game 5 of the World Series within our price range.  Dad had to work the next day, so it was perfect for Kaleb, mom, and I to go...and we did!!!  I couldn't believe I was there, and they pulled out a fantastic win to go up 3 games-2!!!  Unfortunately, they let Game 6 slip through their hands, literally, and ended up loosing the World Series in Game 7.  Ask any Ranger fan, and they'll tell you they're still not over that lose.  However, I still smile at the fact I went to a World Series game!!!

There were a couple of other things thrown in this fall semester, as well.  I made a quick trip in September to visit Liesl down in Austin and got to go to the Baylor/TCU game with her and her family.  I also went back up to OBU for a weekend for my 5 year reunion!  The fact I've been gone for 5 years is pretty scary 'cause it definitely does NOT feel like I've been gone that long, but it was A LOT of fun!  It was really good to be back on campus, as well as hanging out with a handful people I have really missed over the years.

So those are the things that have been happening as of late, and now onto the random stuff I've been thinking about!  I've figured out doing 3 semesters worth of work between June and December without any real break is why my brain feels as if it has melted.  I have started to think about the most random things ever, so here's just a little taste of what's been going on in my head lately.  You have been warned!!!

First, as I was walking across UTA's campus the other day I wondered for a good 20 minutes as to why they don't have hitching posts anymore for people's horses.  Not that anyone really rides a horse to school anymore, but we are in Texas and there are several people in this area that own horses despite the fact it is a city.  There is just about every other form of transportation on UTA's campus.  There are bike riders, walkers, skateboarders, scooter riders, motorcycle riders, car drivers...everything!  And they all have some place to park or lock up their ride...we even have an outlet for an electric car!  But no hitching posts!  Not a single one on campus, so if somebody did want to ride their horse to school they wouldn't be able to because there are no hitching posts!  I have a mind to ride a horse to class one day just to prove my point!

Second, I'm fairly sure, and my mother would agree with me on this one, that Santa Claus is a vampire.  Just look at the facts...he only comes out at night, he can travel extremely fast all over the world, he's pale, he likes the color red, and I'm fairly certain that's why he works with reindeer.  Santa Claus is probably a vegetarian vampire just like the Cullen's, and he lives off of reindeer blood.  Although he does have a lot of elves around him, so that could probably supplement his food if need be.  Just think about it, though.  A lot of people believe Santa Claus is real, but a lot of people also believe vampires are real.  I think Santa Claus kills two birds, so to speak, with one stone by fulfilling two legends of old.

I did warn you.  : )

Ok, so that's enough of my randomness as of late.  More to come, I promise!

I had no idea

I knew America was getting fatter.  I knew America's kids, especially, were becoming incredibly obese.

But I had no idea it was this bad.

I was in Academy yesterday looking for khaki shorts.  I can only wear khaki "golf" shorts for work, and I only have one approved pair of shorts.  Well, technically I can wear khaki pants too, but we just reached our 70th 100+ day today so that ain't gonna happen.  I digress...

Academy will usually have a pretty good end of the season clearance section, but one of the other reasons why I wanted to go there was because they also sell school uniforms.  This means they have a large selection of khaki shorts.  And, like I figured, there were a large selection of uniform like clothes, so I go looking and hoping (they are kids clothes after all) for a pair of khaki shorts that would fit.  I was kind of thrown for a loop when I saw 20.5 on the tag.  At first I thought they were now measuring girl's clothes in inches, so I picked up the largest measurement and held it up to my waist.  When the waist on the shorts wrapped around more than 1/2 of my waist I realized 20.5 did not mean 20.5 inches.  These shorts were probably comparable to a women's size 8 or 10!  Now for women, that's a pretty average size, but for a girl...that's incredibly ridiculous!!!

I decided to not look for a girl's size that would fit me because I realized the shorts were pleated.  Seriously?!  Who wears pleated shorts???  Anway, I head to the boy's section of the uniform racks thinking those shorts will not have any pleats.  Guess what.  The ONLY sizes they had were husky sizes!  Are you kidding me?  I thought maybe it was because all the "normal" size shorts had been purchased already.  I checked the pants to confirm this theory.  Nope, I was wrong...all husky sized pants, too!  Is child obesity so bad that stores really aren't carrying normal sizes anymore?

I know I'm not a parent, yet, but seriously people...get your kids off the couch and get them outside!  Stop buying them the newest technological play thing and buy them a bike and helmet!  Put them in some sort of physical activity...baseball, basketball, dance, karate...something!  GET THEM OFF THEIR BUTTS AND OUT DOING SOMETHING!!!

Ok, I'm off my soap box.  Have a good day! : )

4.0

I spent 8 semesters at OBU, and out of those 8 I think I walked away with maybe 3 or 4 semesters with a 4.0 GPA. I'm pretty sure that might be a little generous, though, although I had a really high GPA upon graduation...

First one at UTA and TCC...first "real" semester back since I graduated from OBU 5 years ago with a total of 16 hours...and I get a 4.0! I'm pretty dang proud of myself right now!

I will say, though, this past semester wasn't much of a challenge for me. Yes, I took 16 hours, but it didn't seem like I took 16 hours. Taking 16 hours at OBU was STRESSFUL, but this was like a walk in the park, and if everything goes as planned, that is probably the most I will have to take in one semester. I know it's gonna get tough when I actually get into the nursing program, and I've heard stories about Patho and Pharm and Nursing Microbiology...but maybe it won't be as bad as I thought it would be. A lady at my church was talking to me about school this past Sunday, and she said she had heard the pre-reqs at UTA were incredibly challenging and difficult. I laughed. Out loud.

I was talking to a friend of mine the other night about school and my future. For the first time in awhile I feel as if I'm finally headed in the right direction with my life, and there's no nagging feeling bugging me. I had this nagging feeling after I graduated from OBU that I wasn't going to get out on the mission field like I had planned. I had this nagging feeling when I started grad school at DBU that I wasn't supposed to be there. I had this nagging feeling about staying at Ecolab...oh wait, my bad! That was just plain hatred for that job! : ) Regardless, I have been plagued by uncertainty since graduating from OBU. So, when I made the decision to become a nurse in a rather hastily manner, I was some what skeptical at how long this would last. Throughout the semester, though, I kept checking to see if that nagging feeling was there and it wasn't. It wasn't ever there, and even now, as much as I complain about taking 11 hours in the summer, I am really looking forward to A&P I and II and even College Algebra! To me, this is a good sign.

And even though I'm so afraid the bottom will fall out beneath me yet again, for now I'm going to take my 4.0, enjoy, and look forward to learning about the human body!!!

Oh, and thank you OBU for challenging me so much during those 4 years while I was there. I didn't realize it until now, but the quality of education is just outstanding. So, thank you, and I will be there in November!!!

Lest we forget

I know it's been 10 years, but has everyone really forgotten what it was like to watch hundreds of thousands of people die before our very eyes? Surely, the images of a plane deliberately being flown into the second Twin Tower while the first one burns has not left our minds? Or how about the Pentagon burning while a horrible thick, black smoke fills the air, or the few pieces of plane burning amongst a shredded field in Pennsylvania? Surely these have not left our mind's eye?

Maybe it's because some of these people were only kids when this happened, and the impact of that day...the horrific feeling of being completely exposed and vulnerable and "what now?" was beyond their understanding. I don't want to tell people you can't possibly have understood that because you were so young, but I do know I didn't understand the gravity of the events OBL orchestrated before 9/11 because they were before my "age of understanding."

I do remember that day, though, like it was yesterday. I do remembering thinking how strange it was that our nation was experiencing one of the worst days in our history and at the same time the weather was beautiful all across our land. I remember wondering what was going to happen with my dad because he was still active in the military. I remember watching so many of my friends enlist because they wanted to help protect our country...and now one of them won't be returning home because of his commitment.

And it is because of this that I am glad our world is without OBL tonight!

Yes, I am a Christian, a follower of Jesus, and I do mourn the fact that OBL never got to experience the love and grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. However, as a Christian I have to reconcile, what seems to be, two different Gods of the Bible. The Old Testament is full of God sending out His armies to destroy the ungodly. In fact, the whole book of Joshua is about God's people conquering the land He promised them, and they did this through military might...by killing and destroying the people living in that land. The New Testament is the exact opposite of this, though. Jesus teaches about turning the other cheek, loving your neighbors as yourself, and giving everyone grace and mercy. They aren't two different Gods, though. The God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament, so you have to reconcile the two. You have to because you can't pick and choose parts of the Bible...it's all or nothing.

I am not claiming to be an expert on this reconciling the two...in fact I'm far from it. What I do know is God will use His people for various reasons to accomplish His plan. If He can use someone to bring others to realize His love and mercy; if He can use someone to give an encouraging word or action to a friend, then He can certainly use His people to carry out His justice. And that's what this is. Justice being carried out. If God can punish the Israelites and cause the Earth to open and swallow some of them up, then He can surely bring death to the man who has caused so much of it around the world.

So, yes, I am a Christian, and I'm glad OBL is gone.

God bless our troops and bring them home soon!

God bless the Navy SEALs!

God bless America!

WWJD

For most Christians WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) brings back memories of those cloth bracelets that became all the rage back in the late 90s (yes, the 90s!), but despite the over use of the phrase it really is a good question...one I feel all Christians should ask themselves. I have been thinking about this off and on since the semester began, and as I was trying to take a nap yesterday I decided to get my thoughts organized and out there.

The issue of me having problems with my church is no secret. I mentioned it in an earlier blog, although I can't find it at the moment, and since then I really haven't done anything about it. I have thought about finding a different church, it was suggested I continue to serve at my church but go to a Sunday service or something like that, and then it was suggested I just suck it up and stay right where I am. However, one of the reasons I am having issues with going to a service is because I am desiring a more "real" version of the Christian faith.

Going through early American History has really made me realize a lot of things about the Americanized version of Christianity. A lot of the things taught to us as Christians are things that surfaced during the several different revivals in early American history, such as the whole drinking (BTW, that's why we serve grape juice in communion now) and dancing issues with several churches in the south. In order to get people into the churches, the preachers would change minor beliefs to draw more people into their congregation. They didn't want to be left in the dark as society changed, so they changed their beliefs to fit society. It's a little disheartening isn't it? Anyway, so this whole thing got me wanting a more "real" version of the Christian faith and wanting to attend a church like that.

From this I started to think about what a "real" version of the Christian faith would look like, and this is how I came to the WWJD question. To me the answer to that would be the real version of Christianity. This got me thinking about people...all kinds of people really. I think one of the things that really bothers me about Christianity today are the people who openly condemn those who commit "major" sins. Pastors are preaching hate and condemnation from the pulpit about certain types of people, and the people of the congregation are going along with it and spouting hate and condemnation throughout the week. Is this really what Jesus did? As far as I can tell, Jesus didn't spout hate for the political leaders of his time. He didn't preach hate against the sinners and tax collectors and prostitutes of his time. In fact, he hung out with these people! He ate dinner with them and invited himself over to their houses, which in Hebraic culture is a really big deal. He invited them to come and follow him. When faced with a sinner, he said "Your sins are forgiven. Go and sin no more." The only people he really condemned and yelled at were the religious leaders of his time, the Pharisees, who did preach hate and condemnation on those types of people. Sounds like times haven't changed much...

I want a church that follows Jesus like that. I want a church that teaches about his love and acceptance and what he did for everyone; not a church that spews hate and tears people down for things they may be struggling with. I want a church that really asks WWJD and actually does what Jesus taught.

Vision Statement

I'm pretty much done with one of the best and most rewarding school projects I've ever done. It's for my Intro to Nursing class, and it's my Nursing Portfolio project. It touches on a lot of different aspects about myself, about my future career as a nurse, and about the university. Some of the things were pretty challenging, they really made you think, and others were just simple things but still fun. It was challenging, but as I was finishing it up today I realized it was also rewarding.

One of things I had to do was create my own vision statement. I saved this one for last because I knew it wasn't going to be easy. So, today I chose to do it, and I realized it was emotionally harder than I ever expected it to be. Today, a kid I kind-of-sort-of knew from high school was buried in the DFW National Cemetery. He was 26, graduated the year after I did from Martin High, and was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan. It hits just a little too close to home when someone your age dies like that. On top of that, a dear friend and huge influence on my life while I was at Oklahoma Baptist University died on Wednesday and will be buried tomorrow. The last wisdom she gave to everyone just a couple of days before she died was to live. Just live. Live the life God has planned for you. I kept thinking of these people as I was writing my vision statement, and I'll be honest and admit to getting choked up while writing it. It just makes you evaluate your life, and it made me realize the things I cherish and how I need to get back on that path towards those things. Anyway, I wanted to share it with you. It's not the most profound thing I've ever written, but it sure is something I am dang proud of.

When my time on this earth is coming to an end I will have lived a life of no regrets. A life where my love for God was seen in everything I did. I will accomplish this by living out each and every one of these statements:

1. I will live the values of honesty, loyalty, integrity, compassion, and forgiveness throughout my life.
2. I will forgive myself when I mess up and do not live up to these values, but I will continue to live them.
3. I will love God with everything that I am.
4. I will proclaim His message everyday of my life and in everything I say and do.
5. I will unconditionally love my family and my friends.
6. I will always make time and will always be there for my family and friends.
7. I will make a real difference in someone else’s life.
8. I will treat others how I want to be treated by remembering they have real hurts and joys, too.
9. I will always have a dog in my life because they make me happy and supposedly make you live longer.
10. I will travel to Italy and Greece and partake of so, so, so, so much great food and good wine.
11. I will live some place other than the Continental United States for a period of time.
12. I will not just learn, but know how to surf.
13. I WILL live my life to fullest.

Bored

I'm so bored right now. I'm sitting in my Cellular Biology class, and I am bored. He lectures from the slides...I mean he says exactly what's on the slides, so there's no use in paying attention. So on this lovely day I will write.

Oh, and just so you know, I was right about the whole not being able to grow anything. I can't even grow something that's full of Miracle Grow! Not so miraculous to me...it's no even worth taking a picture.

Today is a "special" day in my life. A year ago I was hit by a semi! At the time it was kind of the icing on the cake for me. One of those "alright what else could go wrong because everything else has!" moments. Little did I know there would be something else just a couple of months later, but I'll get to that in a second. I really can't get into any specifics in such a public space because it's in the process of being settled. Let's just say there's a treatment I need, and I'm hoping I'll get it before the 2 year anniversary.

As for my back, which turned out to be the real icing on the cake, I got some pretty good news today! They are going to try a discogram to see if the problem is coming from the disc or from the nerve. What they do is stick a needle into both discs, inject some dye, and then I have to tell them if the pain is aggravated. They can also do a C-Scan to see if there is any damage to the disc. Unfortunately, it's a pretty painful procedure, but once we know where the pain is coming from it'll be easier to determine a plan of treatment. Another procedure they want to do is a disc decompression, but it's not with the decompression machine. They'll stick a needle into the discs and remove a part of the inside of the discs hopefully relieving the pressure on the nerve. Either way I'm gonna be in pain, but hopefully these are some major steps on the way to full recovery.

Needless to say, I'm so ready to be done with all of this. I'm tired of taking all these meds, and I'm more tired of being in pain and not being able to do anything I want to.

Well, that's the end of class! 'Til next time!