Thankful

I know it has been over a month since my last post and I don't really have an excuse as to why I haven't been blogging.  :-(  

I had the opportunity to go home for Thanksgiving and I had a wonderful time.  I spent a couple days shadowing my mother; she currently works as a Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) and was the one who encouraged me to look at accelerated MSN-CNL programs.  Now when my instructors explain what a CNL does, I find myself reverting back to the experiences with my mom.  I am able to continually see how her actions fit into the definition of what a CNL does.  It was a tremendous opportunity and after experiencing what my mom accomplishes in a day and how she impacts patients' lives, I admire her even more. 

The rest of my Thanksgiving break was spend enjoying my family.  Being home made me realize how much I miss having my family close.  There were times before I left for school when I would be at home and feel this unsettling feeling that I wasn't where I needed to be.  Now that I have been at school for awhile, coming home makes me wish I could stay home.  I think sometimes it takes leaving home to realize how grateful you are to have people around you who love and support you no matter what.  I know that my family will continue to love on me no matter where I go, but I definitely miss having them at arms reach all the time.  Going home for Thanksgiving was a teaser and I have been melancholy since I returned to Augusta.  I would have been completely content shadowing my mom for the next 3 weeks instead of coming back here for finals. ;-)

That is right - I said FINALS!  My first semester is coming to a close and only 2 more exams to get through!  It is exciting to think that in 12 months I will be done with school and will be looking for a career job again!  I currently feel like these next 12 months can't go fast enough.  People tell me that I should enjoy that I am in school again, but it is hard to not want to focus on the end.  I am loving the learning but cannot wait to be done!

P.S. I promise my next post will have an update of my goals... so stay tuned!

Adjustments

Jon is officially in basic training and doing well.  Missing him has turned out to be harder than I expected.  The past couple weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions.  We went from being with each other one day to having no communication for 2 weeks.  The transition has been interesting and I know it has taken a toll on me.  The past couple weeks I have found myself irritable and agitated at things that would usually brush off my shoulders.  My patience has been minimal and I have had many feelings of loneliness.  I don't think I realized how much I communicated with Jon in a normal day and how much I would miss that communication when it was taken away.  I find myself getting distracted easily and when my mind wanders it seems to always end at him.  I find myself wondering what he is doing and if he is enjoying surviving training.  It sometimes seems silly that I would be struggling with not communicating with him for two weeks because we will have to make it through a lot longer than two weeks apart. 

There have been a few perks, though.  I have been writing him letters as I wait for his mailing address and last week I got my first 2 minute phone call!  It wasn't long enough but at least I got to hear from him.  Plus, since Jon is prior military he has gotten a few extra perks in basic training - he was given back his cell phone recently!  He can't call on it during training but I do get a text or two in the evenings when he has a little down time before lights out.  Even these small messages bring me so much joy - I catch myself smiling from ear to ear when I hear my phone beep and see a message from him.  That boy truly does make my heart soar - even with a text message.  

I found out this weekend that Jon may also get special privileges to leave base on Sundays in the upcoming weeks and since his basic training location was changed unexpectedly from Fort Sill, OK, to Fort Benning, GA, I may get the opportunity to go see him for the day!!!  We never thought this would happen, especially during basic training.  I am trying really hard not to get my hopes up too much but in all honesty, I AM COMPLETELY JAZZED!  All I keep thinking is there was/is someone watching over us, his basic training location was changed for a reason, and we are completely blessed to get this potential opportunity that we never, ever expected! 

Jon's visit - #2

I know I haven't posted in almost two weeks and I don't really have a good excuse - but here is a update.  Jon came to visit the first week in October and we had a fabulous time!  We tried to fill our time with as many little adventures as we could and I loved introducing him to some of the people in my class.  Before he arrived I did some research on the best BBQ restaurants in the area and it was unanimous - everyone insisted we go to Sconyer's.  Sconyer's is a restaurant authentic to Augusta and is known for their award-winning BBQ (they have even catered BBQ to the white house).  Jon and I went there on Thursday night and it was delicious - I am already planning to take my family there when they come to visit me for graduation next December!  After Sconyer's we met up with some people from class and spent time just hanging out. 

 (This was the only picture we took together the entire time he was here.)

  

On Friday morning we went to Brick Pond.  There is a park in North Augusta that has beautiful walking and biking trails and a pond where 'gators' hang out.  I heard about this place a couple weeks after I moved here and have been dying to go and thought Jon would enjoy it too.  The best part about Brick Pond were the signs.  Before you enter the area they have these signs warning you not to feed the gators and that if you do they will lose their fear of people and be more likely to attack.  I would be lying if I told you that the signs didn't make me a little nervous, but we entered the area anyway.  We didn't see any gators, but we had fun being outside and exploring such a beautiful part of Augusta!  

After Brick Pond we grabbed some lunch and made our evening plans.  Since Jon arrived in Augusta he had been wanting to go to a high school football game.  Everyone knows that football is big in the south, even at the high school level, so this seemed like a perfect way to spend a Friday evening.  Plus, for those of you who don't know, Jon LOVES watching high school football - he is always going to games in his spare time back home.  After the football game we rented a couple movies and picked up some caffeine.  Jon had to be at the airport early Saturday morning and we knew our time together was running out so we made every effort to stay up as late as we could.  I didn't make it as long as I would have liked, but we able to take advantage of a little more quality time before he left.  It was sad taking him back to the airport knowing that we won't see each other until mid December, but it was so great to get a little extra time with him.  I thoroughly enjoy his company and I can't wait until we get to be together for longer durations!

A Southern Weekend

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to Athens, GA, for a UGA (University of Georgia) football game with a couple girls from school.  I was excited at the chance to get off campus, see some of the different scenery GA has to offer and just get away from school for a bit.  When we decided a group of us was going to attend, the conversation immediately turned to what everyone was going to wear.  Not having been to a southern football game or tailgating party before I was a little confused - when you tailgate at a ND Bison game you wear anything and everything you can to keep you warm and as long as you have something green or gold on, you are set.  The girls proceeded to explain to me that you have to dress up for the occasion and most girls wear dresses, mini skirts, etc. in school colors (red, black and white). 

I went to my closet and realized that the only red clothing item I own is an old high school t-shirt.  So I decided I needed to get creative.  As you know from my previous post, I am trying to be frugal and didn't really want to spend any additional money on an outfit or accessories.  I settled on a black dress I have owned for years, found some red fabric in my craft bin and began to work on accessories.  Here is what I came up with...

It is a headband with the fabric rosettes.  It was fun and easy to make and I think it jazzed up my outfit just enough to fit in.  I also tried to wrap red fabric around my flip-flops to make them look a little more festive but that idea was more of a flop - it started to unravel throughout the day and looked pretty funky by the end of our adventure.  (Ps... note how every one of the girls knows how to 'stand pretty' with one knee up and hips turned, they must teach that stance from a young age - haha. I am going to have to learn how to do that)

We started the morning of the tailgate with breakfast - fried chicken biscuits with jelly.  I have never had chicken for breakfast and was a little scared of the jelly but it was actually quite good!  For tailgating food, we did a 'low country boil' which is where you through potatoes, onion, corn, meat and seafood into a pot of boiling water with some seasoning, cook it, dump it on the table and eat! It was TASTY!  I do love the spices that are used in this part of the U.S. - everything you eat has a kick. YUM! 

Oh and here is a picture from our seats at the stadium.  The Georgia Dome is an open air stadium that seats about 70,000 people on game day, compared to the Fargo Dome holding approximately 20,000.  I thought the Fargo Dome was big until I went to the Georgia Dome.  However, I do think the Fargo Dome is louder - it must have to do with it being a closed dome and extremely proud Bison fans!

I had an absolutely FABULOUS time this weekend.  I loved tailgating in the warm weather and all of the people I have met so far.  It was a great experience and I told Jon that I think we will have to be Bison fans first and UGA fans second.  I figure this is ok since they aren't in the same division anyway.  Go Bulldogs!

Goals...

In my last post I mentioned that I have a few goals I would like to share with you.  I have been trying to identify things that I can do to challenge myself to improve and I figure sharing these goals on my blog will help me stay motivated and accountable.  I have a good friend who does this on a monthly basis and I loved the idea so here goes...

I picked areas of my life that I need accountability in and split my goals up accordingly.

School - This is why I am in GA, so it is a given that I need to set goals in this area of my life.
Goal 1:  Prepare for lectures.  I have been pretty good at keeping up with course content after lecture but I know it would benefit me to review the material before lecture.  Throughout my college education I have never pushed myself to prepared for upcoming lectures but I would like to make this a habit.  My goal is to skim the chapters that will be covered in lecture and lab the day before class.  I figure I should start small, so glancing through the chapters shouldn't be unmanageable.
Goal 2:  Focus on school but still maintain my sanity.  I can honestly say that I have been incredibly diligent with my study habits over the past 4 weeks.  I feel like I have done nothing but study.  This definitely caught up to me this past week in our first big exam.  I usually never get nervous for exams but I was nervous for our first one last week.  I psyched myself out and this was directly reflected on my exam score.  I made silly mistakes and got into my head too much.  This last week was incredibly frustrating but a good lesson for me.  I know that studying is important but I need to also work to maintain balance in my life so I don't let the pressure I put on myself steamroll me.  I am not sure how I will capture this one, but I am going to try to keep life in perspective and remember to take breaks and enjoy this phase of my life.

Health and Wellness - I know part of maintaining my sanity while at school is to take care of my body by eating right and exercising. 
Goal 1: Exercise at least 5 days a week.  I have been sticking to this pretty consistently through the month of September.  I have stickers that I put on my calendar on the days that I exercise in order to keep track of my progress.  This may sound silly but it is positive reinforcement for me and I get excited when I get to place a sticker on the calendar! (I sound like I am 7 years old..... but it works for me!) :)
Goal 2:  Jon and I have set up a little wager, that I initiated.  I know I am not at the healthiest weight I can be and I want to change this.  Most of you know that Jon will leave foor basic training soon and will be there for approximately 9 weeks.  Our wager is if I lose 12 pounds by his basic training graduation, then he will buy me a new outfit to wear to his graduation.  I had to talk him into this but I think it will be good motivation for me and give me something to focus on.  It will be fun to see if I can stay motivated long enought to accomplish this.

Finances - My budget is rather tight this semester so this is not only an area that I want to improve on, but one I need to improve in order to stay afloat in the next couple of months.
Goal 1:  Keep my food budget to $150 a month.  This is shaping up to be more difficult than I expected.  To date for the month of September I have spent $160.  So that means I currently have no money for food throughout this week.  Don't worry, I have enough food to get me by; however, I am more afraid that I will run out of coffee this week…eeek!
Goal 2:  Keep the rest of my spending to a minimum and be creative with what I have in order to make my money go further.  This goal is harder to define and rate whether or not I am accomplishing it, but my main focus is to be diligent about not spending money on frivolous things and only spend money on what I really need. 

Community - I want to get to know Augusta better and I want to push myself to learn more about the community around me.

Goal 1: Get involved in some sort of consistent community service opportunity.  I have been playing with the ideas in my head of trying to volunteer at the VA or finding a homeless shelter to invest my time into.  I haven't taken the initiative yet to get connected with either one of these, so vocalizing this goal will hopefully 'kick me in the butt' and get me going on this. 

Goal 2:  Get to know my classmates.  I feel like I have gotten to know a handful of students in my program but I want to push myself to really get to know them more and on a more personal level.  I know I have the tendency to fall into the routine of separating myself from others.  I am friendly but am usually very choosy about who I share personal information with.  Because of this I often feel like it is hard to make new friends.  I want to work at being more open with others and allowing them to do the same.

Goal 3: Post on my blog at least twice a week.  I feel like there are so many things I want to share with all of you but I don't do the best job of making time to sit down and blog about it.  I love staying connected with friends and family and I know I need to do a better job of being consistent about it.

So there you have it.  Hopefully I can stay accountable for these and help myself grow in the process. 

Adjusting to School Life

Hello all.  I feel like I am finally getting a routine down with school.  I have a consistent schedule, study pattern, and a exercise schedule.   I am in my 4th week of classes and I feel like I have finally adjusted... or at least I hope I have!  Even though adjusting back to school life has been interesting, I can tell you that I AM LOVING MY CLASSES!  I truely do love learning, especially about the human body.  (NERD ALERT, NERD ALERT)  The best part of our classes so far has been the labs.  We are currently learning the steps of the physical assessment, have already learned about ostomies, chest tubes, wound vacs, and today was nasogastric tubes. 

The other class I am really enjoying is Pathophysiology.  I am having to do a lot of review in this class to refresh my memory on Human Anatomy concepts, since I took human anatomy during the summer of 2006, but I enjoy the review and I love being able to apply what we learn in Patho to what we see in lab.

So now that you know that I am alive and that classes are going well, I want to share some typical moments with you...

 Here is what my evenings usually look like.  Studying for upcoming assessments, quizzes or exams. 

And here is my friend, the gecko... At least I think it is a gecko because he looks like the animal selling car insurance on the commercials.  At first I didn't know what to think of this little creature when I found him next to my door but then I heard that they eat cockroaches so instantaneously I decided that we could be friends. (Even if the roaches here are bigger than this little guy).   Speaking of roaches, you all will be happy to know that my apartment has been roach free for the past 2 weeks.  I think it is largely due to the fact that my dad and Jon did such a wonderful job sealing up my doors and I spray weekly.  

I also want to share with you goals that I have set for myself while I am here, but I will get to those in my next post.  So stay tuned!

A Beautiful Sunday

I went to a small baptist church on Sunday morning with one of the girls from the nursing program and her mom.  The church is called The Hill Baptist Church and is approximately a mile from where I live.  It is a beautiful little church and the congregation was incredibly friendly and welcoming.  The sermon was on the story of Cain and Able and how no matter what you do as a Christian, it is important to have faith and to do things with a faith-centered heart. 

The sermon made me think about where I am at.  I sometimes wonder why I feel the need to go to so many different places when I have such an incredible support system at home.  Why can't I be content remaining close to family and friends? 
I think a lot of it has to do with faith.  I love my family dearly and their unconditional love and support helps give me the courage to continue to move and grow and change.  But my faith definitely pushes me to new people, new places and new experiences.  I know I came to Augusta to go to school, but I can't help but think that there are other reasons why I was pulled to this location.  I am excited to see how life plays out here. 
It isn't always easy though.  There have been many times lately when I call or Skype my family and friends, hear what they are doing and yearn to be home enjoying life with the people I love.  Sometimes I think I am crazy for leaving a perfectly enjoyable job and comfortable surroundings for a hot, bug-filled apartment, student loans, and no job (hopefully this is only temporary).  I guess you could say that I am still adjusting.  I know that God gives me what I can handle and only He knows what is in store for me.  During the moments when I wish I was home, I remember this and it tends to turn my perspective around. 

One with the Roach

When I began telling people about moving to Georgia to go to school the most common response seemed to always have something to do with the cockroaches that live in this area.  So even before I came here I was terrified of the supposed excessively large creatures.  When we finally arrived in Augusta last Tuesday, the first thing I made my parents do was pull out the bug spray and douse my new home.  Once we were sure the place was roach-free we began moving my things in.  My parents did a phenomenal job making sure my apartment was clean, livable and felt like home by the time they left on Friday.  I was and still am so grateful!

Then on Sunday morning while going to make my morning coffee, I pulled out my coffee machine and a small bug scurried up the wall to seek refuge between my kitchen cabinets and the wall.  He disappeared to quickly and we couldn't find him.  Roach 1; Netta 0.   Later on Sunday evening Jon and I were getting ready to go to bed, he was in the bathroom and I was in the hallway.  As we were talking, he would look up at the bathroom wall and then back at me.  After doing this a couple times, I ask 'Jonathan, is there a roach on the wall?!?'  He immediately said, 'No.' but then he smirked and his eyes began to dance and I knew he wasn't being truthful. I followed with, 'Jonathan you better kill that bug and get it off my wall!!!' Roach 1; Netta 0; Jon 1.

Monday rolls around and it is the first day of classes.  In our afternoon lab we learned to take vitals.  While practicing on each other I began asking some of the girls about the roaches here. They had quite the stories to tell.  One girl proceeded to tell me about people going to bed, waking up with roaches stuck in their ears and having to go to the hospital to get the roaches removed!  I was immediately terrified and asked if that only happened to people with poor hygiene.  They said that it doesn't matter if you have good or bad hygiene, it just depends on if your home has an infestation.  By this time I am freaked out. Roach 2; Netta 0; Jon 1.

After class I took Jon to the airport (tearful goodbye), went back home and did some studying.  Before going to bed I made sure I checked every crevice of my apartment, grabbed some cotton balls, stuck them in my ears and went to bed.  I didn't sleep very well that night and woke up repeatedly thinking about cockroaches crawling on my bed.  Roach 3; Netta 0; Jon 1.

By 4:30 AM on Tuesday morning I finally decided that enough was enough.  I needed to make peace with the fact that roaches are a part of life down here and I am going to need to get use to them.  So I proceeded to remove the cotton balls from my ear, set them on the night stand and began to say some prayers.  My prayers went something like this, 'Lord, please help me to not be terrified of the roaches.  I need to make peace with this creature I will be residing with for the next 16 months.  Jesus, please help me be at peace with the roaches; help me be one with the roach.'  After repeating these thoughts I finally fell asleep until my alarm woke me up at 6:30.  I woke up with a whole new outlook on the roach business and I am happy to say that last night I slept like a baby!  Roach 3; Netta 1; Jon 1.  I am staging a comeback!

We Made It to GA!

We officially arrived at Georgia Health Sciences University in Augusta, GA!  We arrived this afternoon and have been busy moving all of my things into my one-bedroom apartment.  We spent an extra day of our trip touring Nashville, Tennessee, and I promise to upload pictures as soon as I get a chance.  I will provide more information in the near future but I am beat and am in need of some good sleep... More to come!

We May Be Crazy

By now, most of you know the story of Jon and me and what the next year will have in store for us.  But for those of you who don't, here is the scoop.  Last Friday I left Fargo, ND to move to Augusta, GA.  I was accepted into an accelerated Masters of Nursing program at Georgia Health Sciences University and will begin classes in mid August.  I will be back at school full-time for the next 16 months to complete my MSN with a focus in Clinical Nurse Leadership. 

 

 

While I am busy hitting the books, Jon will leave for training to become an officer in the active duty Army.  He will go through basic training, officer training and then job-specialty training.  We are hoping that he will finish up his training around the same time I finish my schooling - we know the military can be unpredictable so we aren't getting our hopes up too much yet.  After he has completed his training he will get a duty assignment/location and as soon as I am done with school I will join him and find a job.

 

 

We both understand that for approximately the next year and a half we will, once again, have a long-distance relationship.  We aren't very excited about this, but we are relatively familiar with the concept.  A few months after we first started dating Jon deployed to Iraq for 6 months and we survived it.  For the past couple years we have had a short-distance relationship, living 4.5 hours apart due to our careers taking us to different locations.

Do we know that the upcoming months will be tough on both of us?  Yup.

Will my heart hurt when we have to say goodbye? Yup cuz half will go with him.

Will I cry because I miss him?  Probably. Definitely.

Will he cry because he misses me?  Probably not - he controls his emotions better than I do.

Would I trade our situation for a different one?  Nope.

We know the next sixteen months will be hard but we know that loving someone means that their dreams become your dreams.  Jon's dream is returning to the military and mine is going back to school and we will continue to encourage each other no matter the distance.  We do eventually want to be done with the long distance relationship thing, get married and have babies.  But for now it seems that this is our path and we are both incredibly excited!  We may be crazy but sometimes love does that to you. 

Welcome

Hello,
   My name is Renetta and welcome to my blog. Feel free to browse around the various pages (on your right) and get aquainted with me and my adventure!