De-stressing

I have learned both in class and at work lately how important relieving and preventing stress is. During my CNA class, we discussed how to relieve stress. We must, or our emotions and tensions might be taken out on the resident, who does not deserve those acts at all. And a friend at work has been dealing with the effects of stress after visiting his mom in the hospital for the past few weeks. So I got to thinking about how I like to deal with stress, which is running or walking.
The more I thought about how much I love to run, I realized what I really enjoy is God's creation. Growing up in Iowa, the scenery on my jogs was always quite beautiful. All the land is green for miles and miles, with grass and trees and corn (of course!).  I also realized today that this is why I couldn't enjoy running as much in Chicago. I felt as if I was being pressed in by the city, and my feet would complain from the concrete path. I wasn't craving the run; I craved nature. So today I decided to take a few pictures of what I see along my jog.

My view as I begin my run through our pasture

Some nature (empty walnut) and modern industry (rusted steel)

My dad planted these walnut trees when I was a young child. Now they are so tall!

Praise be to God! His creation is beautiful!

Catching Up

Warning: Later on in this blog post will be a rated R picture for graphic images. PLEASE do NOT look at it if you do not like blood! For my nursing buddies (Lisa and Danielle), enjoy!

OK, I am failing at this whole bloggig thing this summer. Mostly, I have just been attending CNA classes and working while I am not there.
Last weekend, a couple of my friends came over to my Grandpa's farm to go swimming in the pond. It was perfect weater, and the water was just right! I look forward to going again on Saturday if it isn't storming!

This is an old picture.. But it shows how beautiful Iowa's praries are!

Saturday is also Risefest, which is a mashup of a bunch of Christian bands and speakers in Sheldon. Two bands that I like, Remedy Drive and Tenth Avenue North, will be there! However.... one more important thing is happening this weekend.... Ben is coming to visit, all the way from Denver! I cannot wait! We are going to finally celebrate his birthday with a day-date in Sioux Falls.

WARNING: THIS IS THE SECTION WITH BLOOD!

Now, for the graphic image part. So Monday I ripped off my whole entire toenail. Nope, it didn't hurt actually. It just felt funny when I stepped down, so I looked, and there it was. My whole toenail just barely hanging on in one corner. Even the part of the nail that is usually covered by skin... that came off too. Now, however, it stings quite a bit. I am putting my health care skills to the test and soaking it in some Epsom salt to draw out any nasty staph aureus that might be hiding in there. I know, biology nerd.  Well... here's the picture!

My brother says it looks like my feet have been through a battle, and he's right. A few days earlier, Jager got me with her rope. I have two really nice rope burns around the front of my ankles. Three injuries in three days. Luckily, I have been injury-free since Monday! I will try to keep that going.

Peace out girl scouts! 

I'm Going To Be A CNA!

Yesterday, I had my first CNA class! By the end of June, I will have completed the 75 hour course, and will be ready to take the test to get certified! I am really excited and I can't wait to get a job in a hospital so I don't have to work in the shop any more.

 To be honest, my first class was pretty easy. A lot of it was common sense, but a lot of it I learned in my Nursing Concepts class at Trinity. Hopefully that means the rest of the class won't be too difficult. I guess we will see what tomorrow brings!

Patience is a Virtue

For those of you who are music lovers, this is what I am listening to while I blog. I know Marisa will like this one!

Somebody That I Used to Know-Covered by Justin and Jocelyn

Patience. It's difficult. Especially for me. I was really impatient when the University of Colorado lost my application for my summer class. Turns out, because of that little sitch (as in short for situation), I was not able to get into the chemistry classes I hoped to take during the summer. Which means I am here in NW Iowa for the summer, packing parts and taking CNA courses. Hopefully in July, I can get a job in a hospital instead of a steel shop. No offense to my family. But during this time, it was really difficult for me to just trust that God was going to let happen what should happen. I wanted to demand that they find my application now and admit me to the college now so I could take my class. Along with that, me not being in Denver means I have to wait a whole 'nother month to see Ben. We've been apart for a whole month before, but it's still hard.

Distracted by more Justin, along with Henry this time....I Love These Guys!

Even in everyday activities, I must learn patience. Waiting for 5 o'clock so I can relax, disagreements in decisions that my friends make, waiting for a response from someone, etc.

So this is what I'm working on lately. And since I love putting pictures in my blog, here is a few pictures from Memorial Day Weekend!

The Memories of Denver

Well, I survived my sophomore year of college. Done-zo. Congrats to me! To celebrate our acheivements, a group of my friends and I went out to Denver for a week.

All the chicas- Larissa, Marisa, Dayna, and Kolette

I was really looking forward to spending this time with Marisa. She's been my best friend since before pre-school. I missed her, and I think she missed me too.

And this is the weather we had for three hours on the way to Darin's cabin the next day. Fantastic! Although it was a bit of an anxiety attack to drive through the snow storm, we all made it through the mountains safely and had a wonderful weekend at the cabin. Activities at the cabin: stopping by the Red Rocks, boys cooking hot dogs in the rain, Matt making pancakes, greatest hits around the fire, signs, swimming at the pool, We Bought a Zoo, Larissa and I making grilled cheese, roaming downtown of a small mountain town, and a "Hooray! You are dating!" party for Ben and me. This party was part of a deal we made with Austin and Kyle. We would go FBO if they threw us a party. So they did! I had my first Pazookie (however you spell that) and they even got us a card!



Probably one of the best parts of going to the cabin was the afternoon when we went hiking at Adam's Falls Park. We may or may not have gone off the trail a bit...



The rest of the days were spend in Denver. Activities in Denver: church, Denver zoo, the mall, Chili's, riding the free bus, seeing the capitol building, denying drugs, playing guitar and singing, meeting Darin's family, Tommy Boy, visiting my cousins, Chipotle, and playing rock band.

At the zoo! Taylor, Leah, and Brittany joined us today.

Over all wonderful trip. We praise God for safety, as we drove every day. We praise Him for the beautiful creation we were able to witness during our hikes. We praise him for the blessing of friends in our life, that we are able to grow closer together and closer to Him.

Yep...

Still studying...

Still figuring out life decisions...

Keep on keeping on.

P.S. I can't listen to music while I study. These are simply in as ear plugs. Believe it or not, sometimes Trinity's library gets a bit rowdy.

FINALS WEEK!

O my word! It's finals week and we all feel like we are about to pass out over here. Part of the is because of the extreme storms the midwest has been experiencing, which caused our campus to lose water, power, and Internet Friday. Craziness. However, we were able to survive, and look good while doing it!

After running through the storm to go praise the Lord. Our God reigns! Our God rains!

Happy Friday everyone! We survived!

This past week has been super hectic trying to figure out my current school work and my future school work. I have one exam finished, done, complete. Pre-Calc. Thank goodness! For next week, I need to prepare a presentation and study for two biology exams. Both exams should be challenging, but it will feel so good to be finished! While studying for these exams, I have been trying to search out what classes to take this summer, and where. I need a few upper-level chemistry classes which aren't offered at most small or community colleges. (Yikes! I just remembered that I never watched Community this week!) I have finally found the classes in Denver! I will be in lecture all morning and lab all afternoon, Monday through Thursday. I am really looking forward to living in a new city and being able to spend time with some new friends! Oh, and Ben has an internship in Denver, so that will be nice too!

Last weekend, I went to spend some time at Dordt. Ben had a cover night both Friday and Saturday, so I decided I would be myself and surprise him Friday night. During 20 minutes of set up and his first two songs, he didn't notice I was there! But after a few shouts from our friends, he finally saw me. He was quite the rockstar! I also got to have Sunday dinner with my gramma and grandpa, and Patrick even came home! He surprised me! (Although not intentionally).



Waiting for the Ben Sytsma Band to begin!



And now I am chilling at Starbucks, enjoying Half Off Frappes with the one and only Sarabi. What a gal. I let her help me pick out a drink since I'm not too good at this fancy stuff. Back to studying diseases of the cardiovascular system. Today we praise the Lord that my ear piercings did not lead to subacute bacterial endocardiditis!