Happy 30th, my love!

 

We were out of town over the weekend, so this post is a little late (2 days to be exact), but…

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!  

I am so happy to be a part of your life at 30 years,  

and look forward to seeing what’s to come!

Philly Marathon

Should I do it?

On my Own

Tomorrow is my first day on my own (deja vu, anyone?).

It probably seems like it should be easier since

I’ve done it once before, but I’m pretty dang nervous.

Pray for me if you think of it!

A Day on the Shore

Yesterday we celebrated Abbey’s 6th Birthday!  Her actual birthday was a week ago, but she chose to celebrate it by collecting shells on the beach.  So, Mom, Dad, Lisa, Drew, Abbey, Josh, and I all piled into the car at 6 am (yeah, it was an early morning), and headed 130 mile east to the Delaware coast.  We had a great day playing in the waves, collecting shells, eating a slightly sandy lunch, and building sand castles.  We even had an encounter with some kind of ray (not sure if it was a sting ray or manta ray or whatever other kind of ray there is out there).  When we had about 5 more minutes left in the water, Drew made the comment that he had stepped on something.  At first I thought he was trying to scare me, until about 2 seconds later when a rather large fin or wing or whatever the technical term is, came up out of the water about 1 foot in front of Drew’s face.  Drew remained rather calm, while I, along with everyone else in the immediate vicinity, made a break for the shore.  Thankfully, no one got hurt, and we got a great story out of it.  If only we’d gotten a picture to prove it…

Back from Black Lake

So sad to be back from Black Lake.

We had so much fun catching up with 

family, meeting new little family members,

spending hours on the lake, getting lost

in the Michigan woods (that was Blake), and

so much more.  I posted more pictures on

flickr…

Life is moving along quickly.  Work has been a very consuming part of my life these days.  I wanted so badly to get out of school, thinking without homework, I would be freed up a little more.  Well, I didn’t realize that I would be working 12 hour days (that are usually more like 13-14 hour days), and finding myself simply attempting to reenergize on my days off.

 

Work is one obstacle after another.  It’s very, very interesting, and NEVER boring.  I love working with the patients, but find myself running in and out of their rooms, having half conversations, due to the duties that are pulling me from every angle.  I’ve just never experienced anything like this in my life… this type and amount of responsibility.  I guess this is what it’s like to be “grown up”.

 

Last week I watched open heart surgery, which was pretty cool.  I didn’t actually get to DO anything, but got to see a whole lot.  At some points, I was worried it was a little too much for me to handle, but I stayed on my feet the whole time. What amazed me the most was how fluid the process was.  How each person involved knew exactly where to be and what to do with minimal communication.  How there was never any sense of panic from anyone, even knowing that this person’s life was currently in their hands.  How this patient’s heart could be completely stopped and manipulated, and she survived the whole thing.  Not only survived, but was better off afterward.  Day to day I find myself amazed by the knowledge of the people around me.  

 

Health care is a pretty amazing business to be in.  

 

 

News from Lancaster

I’m not so sure that anyone checks my blog anymore, since it has been well over a month since the last post.  But I will still provide a quick update, in hopes that someone out there continues to check. 

Life in Lancaster has kept us quite busy.  I started a new job; Blake is applying for jobs.  We’ve been to a preschool graduation, a couple of Barnstormers baseball games, and Mike’s softball tournament.  We’ve done some babysitting, and lots of hanging out with family.  The actual move went smoothly.  And we are enjoying our new apartment in the city.

Check out some new pictures on Flickr.  Here’s a link to Lisa’s blog to check out more photos (some may be repeats from my site)…

 

Tour of the Midwest

We’ve just returned from our week long road trip through Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan. I think we hit Indiana in there at some point, but didn’t stick around. We had a good time with family and friends. First, we stayed with Blake’s Grandpa in Ohio, and ate dinner with his many aunts, uncles, cousins, and cousins’ babies (first cousins once removed, maybe?). Then we went to Blake’s hometown in Illinois and stayed with his parents for a few days. We then headed up to Chicago to celebrate our anniversary. And finally, we stopped in MIchigan for one night, and met up with as many people as possible in the 24 hours we were there. Now we are home, and packing like mad. One week from today we will be loading the Uhaul for the big move. I just work three more shifts at AGH, then am done with my first job as an RN. Exciting things are happening in the Maurice family.  Check out some new pictures at Flickr…

A walk along the Allegheny…

On the Move

As many of you already know, Blake and I are going to be making another big move soon. We’re heading further east to Lancaster, PA. We spent last weekend wandering around the city searching for “For Rent” signs, and touring apartments we’d found online. As it normally goes, most within our price range were not even close to what we wanted, and a couple passed our livability standards (which tend to be rather high…we’re picky). I was actually pretty excited about one of them, mostly because it would provide a lot more space than what we have now, is still affordable, and all the rooms are placed appropriately (i.e. the only entrance to the bathroom is not through the bedroom). Blake is open to the apartment, but I’m definitely more excited.

I also had a job interview at Lancaster General Hospital. It was actually numerous interviews (you know how I think…the more interviews the better!). One was with HR, and then 2 were with the nurse managers on different floors. I think that the interviews went well (i.e. I didn’t freak out and make a fool of myself). I am still awaiting “the call” though.Our projected move date is mid-april after my last day at AGH (April 12th). We’ll keep everyone updated on our new information! Keep us in your prayers as we attempt to make another smooth transition to a new city! (Thankfully, we already have an advantage here, since we will be close to family).