August Update

Author: Emily

So, I must apologize for getting August’s update out on the LAST DAY of September; however, I have a good excuse this time.  I accidently stepped on my computer, broke the screen, and needed to ship it out for two weeks to be fixed.  And I just couldn’t do a blog update without pictures (absolutely unacceptable, right ;)), and I can only upload photos on my computer (versus Michael’s work or personal computer), so I just had to wait to get it back.  And finally, it’s here and I can upload and therefore update.

The month of August flew by and we were privileged to visit with both of our families.  During the first week of August, Michael headed to Cape May, NJ to spend some time with his family.  He had a blast and here are some pictures to share.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it due to work, but we’re hoping we’ll get to take another trip out there sometime next year.  Michael had so much fun catching up with his family, spending time at the beach, and eating great food.  He also had the opportunity to read “The Kite Runner” which I now believe is one of his favorite books.  

Also, I had the opportunity to fly back to Indiana last-minute on my Momma’s birthday weekend.  She had no idea and was so surprised she cried.  J  She never asks for anything for her birthday (except of course, “world peace”), but this year she requested that we all be together, so we made it happen (well, actually Diddy made it happen lol).  I have a video of surprising her but unfortunately can’t post it because the surprise took place at her school and some students popped into the video.  :-P  While back in Indiana, I had the opportunity to help out with the start of my mom’s school’s greenhouse.  I love the idea and it’s so cool to see the community rally around the students and staff to make it happen.  My Diddy is even in charge of construction for the project.  How cool is that??  My parents are amazing.  In addition to working on the greenhouse and courtyard as a family, it was such a fun and blessed weekend of family time - catching up, laughing, eating, and of course, boating.  The weather was beautiful and I was so sad to hop back on the plane to Houston (although excited to reunite with the hubs ;)). 

This month also marked the beginning of Michael’s second year of school and my end of orientation and start of circulating on my own in the OR.  Man was I nervous ab0ut both of us starting back at the same time.  But, as always, God has been so faithful.  I prayed for Him to prepare us for this transition, and it really has been so smooth.  Michael has been so supportive and encouraging when I have my rough days (which are few!), and he is loving his job – his students are really interested in learning so that makes it really fun for him.  I’m learning so much each day that I go into work – every single day is different and I have the privilege of working with so many people.  And I love the work that I do – OR nursing is a different kind of nursing (you don’t study OR nursing in school; in fact, you only get about 4 days of observation total in the OR while in school), but it really is fulfilling.  It’s difficult to explain, but my favorite part about it is working with one patient at a time, working as a team, getting to use my critical thinking skills to put the pieces together, and getting to use my technical skills to troubleshoot equipment.  It’s definitely true that God knows me better than I know myself because I had no clue what the OR really entailed, and I think it is a great fit.

Well, I guess that about wraps up the month of August.  Stay tuned for a September update!  Oh, and p.s., here’s a fun article about our church.  A man and his wife came to visit (their goal is to visit 50 churches in 50 weeks) and they came to visit our church and wrote a little blog post about it.  We were super encouraged and think it reflects our church very well.  Plus, you kind of get a taste of what a typical Sunday looks like!  Enjoy!

Love,

Emily (and Michael)