Photo Tag

My dear friend Cara has tagged me with a photo tag request. However, since I am BW's house I had to bend the rules just slightly to use a photo that actually meant something to me! Luckily it worked out pretty well

One of my favorites of BW and I. This was 2007 in San Diego (wow! I can't believe it was so long ago when we were there!!!). Our dear friend Bucky had come down to San Diego from WA to visit and we were all out in PB. Obviously it was a college football Saturday as you can tell by my loyal support for my OSU Buckeyes =) We had a great night... I do cherish all the friends we have made along this journey that my life became part of when I started dating BW. There have been so many wonderful people met and friendships built. I wish we could plan a "reunion" and get everyone together again!

So here are the rules:

Go to your 4th folder where you store your photos. Select your 4th picture (no exceptions)! Post the picture with an explanation and link it back to your tagger. Tag someone else (or 4 other people) to do the same!!

Since my list of blogger friends is not so long, I am just going to Tag Teresa. I have known Teresa for more years than I want to count out because it really doesn't seem like it should be that many! But we worked together in Columbus in the NICU... what fun memories I have of nights spent working with her! Miss you girlie!!

Busy Busy

I have not taken the time to write for awhile, and thought I would quickly leave a note about what has been going on.....

The Christmas holiday went well. I was able to head to Ohio for the weekend before and enjoy time with the family. We had lots of fun -- despite my hating the bitterly cold weather and being all too ready to head south again! Then I worked the acutal holiday here at my new job. And even though it was not my first year working the holiday(s) it was much harder this time than ever before. I thought I was okay... until I was on my way into work Christmas night and realized that everyone I knew and cared about was somewhere else, with other loved ones and I was alone. And it was not that I was even going to work with people I had close friendships with like previous holidays, it was a new job with new people. But, the night went well. BW came home that Sunday and we were able to spend some time together and had our Christmas on New Year's Eve morning. New Year's Eve we spent at the home of one of the guy's he flies with and his wife along with many others from the squadron. It was so much fun. The guys are great, and more importantly the wives' are all fantastic too! (friends for very important upcoming months...)

The weekend after New Year's was spent moving, moving and moving. Everything is in the new place, and is slowly being unpacked and put away. It is sooo good to feel "at home" and not have to live out of that same suitcase I have been for the past month!!! How exciting it was to unpack all the clothes I was so tired of in NC but now am so happy to see again =) Layla is not sure about the new place and has had some barking/panic attacks the past two nights I have been working... she needs to get over that real quick!

BW has started some intense flight training and so is now very stressed and busy. Hopefully he will become more comfortable with what he is doing, I know he will do great but he is still a little unsure... We were able to celebrate his birthday with a sushi dinner at one of our favorite places in Bluffton. It was oh! so good.... we love our sushi!!!

This weekend is a party for a couple of the guys who are leaving the squadron and I am already looking forward to the food... is that bad?? Eating is one of my favorite things, ya know! Hoping for a great weekend... BW and I are both making the most of the time we have together since it is limited.

I will try and get some pictures from all of this non-sense that has been going on posted on here... I do have some really cute ones of my nephew, the cutest little boy ever!!! =)

The Place is Mine (at least for 6 months...)

I signed the lease for the apartment I found last night!!! eekk.... Haven't done that in over 5yrs, small panic attacks but I am sure it will be fine. I am really excited to get moved in and actually feel somewhat settled and not living out of a suitcase! However, I am working the next 4 nights and so moving won't be until next weekend... but, at least I have the keys and so as soon as I (we) get the time it can be done.

Now, I just need some furniture.... minor details! =) More pictures will come when I get it all set up, which hopefully will be within the week!

Just missing Mom

From Nov 3 until into February the fact that mom is gone is much harder than the other months of the year -- not to say I don't have my hard days during those months too! It just seems Nov, Dec, Jan are the three toughest... her birthday, my birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, the day she went home to be with Jesus... all days that remind me how much I miss her. Not to mention lately with the new job and looking for (and finding!) the new place, all things I would have been talking to her about everyday... As I prepare to head up to Ohio for Christmas with my family I am very excited, but it is bittersweet because I miss this
As I was just reading through one of my friend's blog I was sent to a different friend of her's blog (it's a crazy connection, but its worth it) on which she had a post a little while back in memory of someone with a poem that really touched me and made me think of mom.

God saw you getting tired,

And a cure was not to be.

So he put his arms around you,

And whispered “Come to me”.

With tearful eyes we watched you,

And saw you pass away.

Although we loved you dearly,

We could not make you stay.

A golden heart stopped beating,

Hard working hands to rest.

God broke our hearts to prove to us,

He only takes the best.

I know mom is celebrating everyday, and will be celebrating Christmas especially, in a more wonderful way than I could ever imagine. And, it is so reassuring to know that she is in perfect health in heaven now and will never suffer again! For that I am thankful. But, I miss her and wish she was still here with me. I know He has a plan that is out of my understanding and I just have to trust Him. He loves my momma more than I do and has healed her in His own way.

I love you, Momma!

Merry Christmas

A New Place to Live

With the job offer from two weeks ago I have spent lots of time since then trying to find someplace to live in Savannah. Finding my own place to live is something that I have not had to do in over 4 years so, needless to say, this has been even more stressful. I have been looking all over downtown Savannah trying to find that perfect place. Well, yesterday I think I found it!! I went and looked at an apartment in a building where I had looked at a different place, but this one was upstairs and I loved it! The landlord seems great, the rent is just what I was hoping for, the area is fantastic and its only 5 minutes to work! With starting work tonight and then going to Ohio for Christmas, the holidays, blah blah blah it won't be until after Christmas that I can get together with him and sign a lease, etc but he is fine with that and is being totally understanding!

I am very excited!!!

I Have a JOB!!!

So, after completing my assignment at UNC last week it has been stressful to say the least not knowing what I was going to be doing next and where I would be working. As a travel nurse, the past 4yrs I have been able to work basically where ever I wanted, but this time there were NO jobs where I wanted to be -- near BW.
This week I have been staying at B's house while he is away flying and obviously the point of this week was to nail down a job.
So, I went to bed Sunday night just praying that God would open the doors I needed and close the ones that were not for me, assuming that would mean I would get a job that was open in Wilmington NC. Monday I received a call from my recruiter to inform me that the job I was counting on had been filled by a different traveler... which meant that here I am without a job and the only travel NICU positions are in Nebraska, Texas and California. None of which are really beneficial for me at this time. I had been hearing commercials on the radio recently while down here for a Career Fair at the hospital in Savannah GA that I really really wanted to work at. Monday, after getting the news from my recruiter I spent some time playing on the internet and looking at the hospital's website. I called the HR department to ask some questions and was directed to a voicemail telling me the HR department was closed due to the Career Fair... so, I decided that I should go to the Career Fair... and off I went -- mind you, not dressed professionally or prepared at all.
Long story short, I go to the Fair and interview with the NICU managers and meet the CEO of the Children's Hospital and he offers me a job!!! WHAT??!!?!? That doesn't happen!!! To say I was overwhelmed upon leaving the hospital yesterday would be putting it lightly! Today I spoke with the HR representative and they are putting things on overdrive so that everything can get done for me to start work on MONDAY! If these are not doors being opened and closed for me, then I don't know what else to look for.
So, I will be going in tomorrow morning to complete paperwork, employee health information and receive my ID badge for my new STAFF job at Memorial University Medical Center. This is a HUGE step for me... not being a traveler anymore, but being "permanent"... eek! Now, I just have to find a place to live... but, I know that if this is where God wants me, then HE will take care of that minor detail as well.
I am very excited -- and so is BW -- to be right where I (we) wanted to be. This will be great and I can't wait to see what happens!!! Thank you for all the prayers and support throughout this journey and I will keep you posted on how the new job goes!!

All Packed Up

Well, I finished my contract at UNC Thursday night and BW and I spent all day Friday and Saturday packing everything in my apartment, loading it into the cars and driving back to his house. Funny how as a travel nurse I have always been able to fit everything into my car, even when I drove a Jeep Liberty... now (4yrs later) my things fit into my 4Runner and his Tahoe. Apparently I have grown, I cannot figure out what is new! But, I blame BW =) Everything fit in my car until I we started moving "together" to the same areas, so it has be his fault!! Haha But, honestly I am soooo thankful to have had him helping me the past couple of days. It would have been awful to have had to try and get everything done on my own and it relieves so much stress for me when he is around.
So, now that my contract at UNC is over I should have new job news to share... however I don't. This is the first time, not counting when the hospital in TX cancelled all travelers during our contracts, that I have completed a contract and not had something new lined up and ready to go. It's really kinda scary... I have never known the frustration and stress of actually looking for a job and not finding what I want! I have been really blessed. But, I think that with the economy scare the way it is now many hospitals have started cutting back on travelers, which leaves me in a bind! Not to mention that I was trying to line something up the week of Thanksgiving, managers don't work holidays!!! So, I am hopeful that this week (not being a holiday) managers will be back in the office and will be able to take a look at my profile and hopefully I will have a job lined up early in the week. Thank God for BW and the fact that I can be staying at his house right now and not worrying about where I am living until I find a job!
I will keep you posted on what happens this week... I have a couple things "in the works" for jobs and am very optimistic about one, very hopeful about another and not expecting much from the third, but anything could happen! Please keep this situation in your prayers. Thanks so much!!!