A Look Back on 2009

Can you believe another year has come and gone! Let me take moment to look back on 2009 so much has happened this year:

January:

I started my last semester of nursing school/college

My sister celebrated her 18th birthday

February:

I celebrated my 22nd birthday

March:

My sweet Grandmother passed

Bob and I celebrated 7 years together

Bob transfered to NC

April:

I started my practicum in the ICU-which I loved!

We found an apartment in NC

May:

I went on a fabulous beach trip with my girlfriends

I graduated from the University of Mobile with my Bachelor's of Science in Nursing

Bob and I got married

June:

We honeymooned in the beautiful Jamaica

Jess and Josh got married

I moved to NC with Bob

I got a blood clot then bed rest for me

I started blogging

July:

Family birthday month: my dad, my in-laws, and my grandmother-in- law

More bed rest for me

August:

I passed my NCLEX and officially became a registered nurse

September:

I was able to go home for a visit with my family and saw Heather

October:

I began my job search

November:

Mom celebrated a birthday

Erica and Bryan got married

I got my 1st nursing job interview

We celebrated our 1st Thanksgiving with the Smitherman's and McIntyre's

December:

I got a job in the ER at Durham Regional Hospital

No more blood clot medicine

Bob turned 24

I went to see Phantom of the Opera with Jess

We got Izzy

We got our 1st Christmas tree

We celebrated our 1st Christmas at our home with Josh and Jess

Overall it was a wonderful year, I am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful man and can not wait to see what 2010 has in store. I know no matter what whether good or bad God is sovereign and in control!

Goodbye 2009 See y'all in 2010!

December Recap:

As the Holiday season draws to an end and a new year is dawning, I thought I would make up for my lack of blogging with a quick recap on the past month as promised. It has been pretty crazy around here. December has been a fantastic month. On the 111first day of the month we celebrated my sweet husbands birthday and my new job. I started work on the seventh. The first two weeks of my job I had orientation then on the nineteenth I began working on the floor. I was so nervous. Of course I spent the whole night before worrying and waiting for something bad to happen and it did. The night before I started work we got our first snow up here in NC, which was awesome, but somehow I left a light on in my car on accident and the battery died. Bob had already gone to work so he had to come home after buying a new battery and fix my car. I was 4forty-five minutes late, not an ideal start to my first day on the floor but everything turned out ok. My preceptor is fabulous and I could not ask for a better job. I really enjoying working in the Emergency Department. Ok so switching gears, do you remember a few posts ago when I was talking about Phantom of the Opera, well I went to see it with my friend Jess as part of my Christmas and it was absolutely fabulous. This year was our first Christmas together as a married couple. As Christmas approached Bob and I went out and got a real Christmas tree, no artificial ones here! We started Christmas traditions, like baking cookies together on Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve one gift exchange, and watching the Christmas classics. So Christmas was wonderful, we had Josh and Jess over for dinner. I made bacon and herb crusted turkey, dressing, macaroni and cheese, sweet potato crunch and cheese cake, it was fantastic. Santa came to see early, and brought us a sweet 1puppy , named Izzy!I We also got lots of great presents, like books, I got new cook books too, Super Mario Brothers for the wii which is just like the old game), clothes and more. December topped of an overall great year despite our ups and downs we have faced. Enjoy some photo's from this wonderful month!

Jess and I at Phantom

Our Christmas Decorations

Our Loot

The Christmas meal

Our First Family photo

Checking In

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Can you believe the end of the year it almost here! Crazy! I am sorry I have had a chance to blog lately with work and the holidays. So look for a new post soon on my job and Christmas at our house!

Merry Christmas Y'all

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Bob, Whitney, and Izzy

New Job Jitters

So as you may remember reading I recently got a job at Durham Regional Hospital in the Emergency Department. The hiring process was a whirlwind after so many months of looking it all happened so fast. The past 2 weeks I have been in nursing orientation. I have seen many, many, many slide shows and taken tons of online courses with tests that I have completed. So now it is time to start my actual job. I will be orienting with a preceptor for 14 weeks. My first shift is Saturday and I am so nervous. I am working from 11am to 11pm, so maybe I will be able to see some of the snow that we are to possibly receive (which I am totally elated about). Anyways enough about the possible snow, back to the jitters. The ED (Emergency Department) is often controlled chaos. Although I tend to thrive in stressful situations it is a whole different type of nursing than on the floor. I am excited about it but hoping my nerves do not get the best of me. I am nervous about my preceptor, my new co-workers, and my patients. I have that small voice saying “I hope they like me”. I hope that I am able to provide the best care possible to whoever comes into those ED doors. I remember what is was like to a patient in an ED. It was only just six months ago I was scared and unsure about what was wrong with while waiting for answers in the ED. So as Saturday draws closer I ask for your prayers. Prayers for calm and peace and recall of all the knowledge and skills I have acquired over the past few years. I am excited about this new job now it is just a matter of getting over new job jitters.

Sweet Precious

Yesterday my sweet poodle of fifteen years had to be put to sleep. It was a hard day, like losing a close family member. She was the best dog anyone could ask for. I have wonderful memories of her and she will be greatly missed!

All Praise to God Alone

We have been brought to tears and down on our knees frequently over the past six and a half months. Our faith has been tested along our young marriage. We could have never anticipated that just nine days after our wedding we would have faced the trails that we encountered. The diagnosis of a blood clot in my leg had me on bed rest for 3 months with much pain and little effectiveness of blood thinners. Following those three months it has been touch and go with the blood thinners effectiveness and a limited activity level. On top of this we had one variable income and I was unable to take my nursing licensing exam till the end of August. When I passed I found the job hunt was bleak. We have asked for prayers from friends and family, found ourselves at some of the lowest times in our lives the past 6 months. We tried with all our might to hold on to hope and trust in the Lord. Through it all the Lord sustained us, sent encouragers, and provided for our needs. We repeatedly had to renew our faith as the trails continued but He constantly showed Himself faithfully. Recently we have received some of most wonderful blessings. I had been searching for a job for 3 months received nothing but letters saying I had insufficient experience or no call/response at all. I was visiting my family and applied at Duke's Durham Regional for a job that was not set to start until next February or March for new graduate nurses. I applied on a Friday and didn't think about again. The following Monday I was having lunch with my in-laws, sister-in-law, and grandmother and received a phone call asking if I could come in for an interview the following day for an unpublished job in the Emergency Department at Durham Regional. I flew back into NC and went to interview that afternoon. Last Tuesday, I received a job offer and it was to start in 6 days! I was elated singing praise to the Lord for His provision. It was a very happy birthday present for my sweet husband and I thought what a wonderful Christmas present. PRAISE GOD! However, the blessings have not ended there. On Monday I went for my usually lab test at the doctor to evaluate the clot/medication and the results came back wonderful. My doctor that my treatment regimen was complete and the clot is gone so no more blood thinners for me!!! PRAISE GOD!! Once again we praised Him, He still amazes me and was not done yet. Today I came home and we had received a letter from the hospital I went to when I was sick in June. We have very substantial medical debt since I was not covered by insurance at the time, so I was dreading opening the letter. Bob and I had been praying these past few months for his provisions on the financial burden and today received wonderful news. I was once again amazed and overwhelmed by God's provisions. The letter stated the hospital reduced our debt to the point where we only owe 1/3 of the previous balance! PRAISE GOD! We have been blessed beyond measure in the past few months and significantly in the past few weeks and He has been with us through it all. If you are facing tough times just remember He hears our prayers and He is faithful! Trust in His timing it is ALWAYS perfect!!

Praising HIM in ALL things,

Movie Review: The Blind Side

This past week I went to the movies to see The Blind Side. If I had to give it a 1-5 star rating I would give it 5 stars. The movies was phenomenal, absolutely inspirational. Sandra Bullock gave the best performance I have ever seen from her. "The Blind Side" is an inspirational story of Michael Oher, a homeless young man from a broken home, who is taken in by a well-to-do family the Touhys. The Touhys take him in to help him reach his full potential but in return they learn things about themselves and are forever changed. Oher works hard to overcome challenges as a student and football player. It is a wonderful film I would recommend for anyone to see! Gather your family and your friends and make a trip to the movies to see this great film. I am sure it will not disappoint.

The Blog has Been Choosen

I received some exciting news today my blog has been chosen by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group to participate in their Blog for Books campaign! So in the future I will be posting book reviews here for you to read! I am so excited. I am an avid reader and look forward to the opportunity to review new books for the publishing company who published one of my favorite books of all time, Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers.

Elf Yourself

Have you ever seen the website Elf Yourself? If not you need to check it out it is so fun!I just wanted to spread a little holiday cheer and laughs, so I decide to elf my sweet hubby and myself. So here are a few of our videos:

Enjoy!!

Hip Hop Style

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Disco Style

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I hope you got a good laugh!! Try it for yourself!

My Christmas Wish List

It is the most wonderful time of the year!!! I love Christmas time. I dont know about you but do you remember as a kid the excitement of your mom bringing home the BIG JcPenny catolog. You know the one with the big toy section. Ah, the joys of pulling out the notebook paper and beginning to make Santa a list of all the things you wanted. Those were the days! I love making list so I decided to help my hubby out and Santa by making out a Christmas wish list about 2 weeks ago. The cool part is I have already recieved one of the things on my list. What you want to see my list??? Ok don't beg I will let you see it.

= My Christmas Wish List: =

Brother Sewing and Embroidery Machine SE350 w/ Bonus Font Embroidery Card

A sweet puppy to love %: Like Suzy at the Durham APS Shelter

Cricut Expression

Twilight Saga Hardback Boxed Set (Sadly, I only have the 1st book)

Adopted for Life by Russell Moore

Karen Kingsbury: Redemption Series (Redemption, Remember, Return, Rejoice, Reunion)

And most importantly a JOB _: I just got this!! I start Monday at Durham Regional!

What is on your wish list???

Happy Birthday Mr. Wonderful!

Today is my sweet husband Mr. Wonderful's birthday!

I can not begin to express how lucky I am to be married to this man.

He is my match in every way, my best friend, my rock and love of my life!

I thank God for him! So

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

I love you!

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all

This is a very different Thanksgiving for us. We are 600 miles from our families and are unable to be celebrating today with them. However, I am very excited about this Thanksgiving for this is our 1st Thanksgiving as a married couple. I am excited as we start new traditions to be celebrated annually by us and one day our children. Above all this I am excited for today, because it is a day that is specifically set aside to give thanks. Thanks for salvation, my husband, our marriage, our families, sweet friends, a roof over our head, life, his job, provisions, our health, food on the table, and so much more. We have so much to be thankful for and all praise is unto God alone. Our menu is pretty exciting this year, it is my 1st Thanksgiving to cook. I made my everything from scratch. Last night Mr. Wonderful and I made my Grandma's dressing, homemade cornbread, squash casserole, candied pecans and pumpkin cheesecake. This morning the dressing and casserole are in the oven and I am making deviled eggs to take to lunch. We are having lunch with sweet friends then coming home to make herb and bacon roasted turkey breast, Nana's sweet potato crunch, Grandma's macaroni and cheese and by special request from one of our guests fried apple turnovers. Overall the makings for a wonderful Thanksgiving day. I hope y'all have a GREAT Thanksgiving. Remember to give thanks for all the blessings you have received this year and above all praise Him!

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

I'm BACK

So I just had a whirlwind week away as you can tell from my previous post it was packed. I had a great time and saw lots of wonderful friends and family. New Moon was FABULOUS!! I even got a phone call yesterday for a job interview. Today I got back in town and had a job interview at 3 at Durham Regional Hospital part of Duke Health System in their Emergency department. I actually applied for a different job but this is a pilot program they are doing in the ER for new nurses. If I get the job it would start December 7th instead if February. The interview lasted 2 hours, I think it went well, but we will see. I am really excited to get things in order for Thanksgiving we are having lunch with sweet friends. I guess that is about all that is new with us. I have tons of pictures to edit from this past week and the house needs to be picked up, poor Mr. Wonderful has been swamped with work and a paper. If you are traveling this week have a safe trip and Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

(The picture above is of my sister and I from this past week)

This Crazy Week....

I am so excited about this week! It is crazy busy but so wonderful. Today I had tons of last minute errands to run, laundry to do, and cooking for a week to do for Mr. Wonderful because I am leaving town tomorrow. Tonight after dinner with Mr. Wonderful I went to a cooking class at Williams-Sonoma which I LOVED!!! It was Thanksgiving desserts night, I have decide to make the pumpkin cheesecake for turkey day! Anyways Tuesday morning I have to be a the airport by 6:30 am and will be in Albany by lunch! I am so ready to see my family. Then let the craziness begin. I will be offering my self up as the whatever you need me to do since I am your bridesmaid and you were so wonderful as mine little miss helper to Erica. She is one of my best friends and is getting married Friday. Wednesday I am very excited about going to see my grandfather and celebrate Thanksgiving early with him. Thursday is the wedding rehearsal, and bachelorette party....CAN ANYONE SAY NEW MOON!!! SO SO SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Friday is Erica's wedding day :-) and I am so happy for her and Bryan. Saturday I am going to Alabama, yes you read correctly Alabama!!! OH MY GOSH I can not contain my excitement. I am in desperate need of girl time and ready to see my besties even if it is only for one day!!!! Sunday I am visiting our home church in Alabama and then headed back to Georgia to celebrate Thanksgiving early with my family. Monday I get to relax and early early Tuesday morning I fly home to see my man and prep for Thanksgiving. I told you it was a CRAZY week but I am so excited!!! I hope you all are having a great week so far!

The Days Are Flying By...

Lately I feel my days are flying by! I am blaming it on the time change this early nightfall is killing me! I am so greatful that the past 3 days I have had some extra time with my hubby, Mr. Wonderful! I am sad to be leaving him for a week on Tuesday when I travel home. However, I am so excited to be going home to be in one of my best friend's wedding and to see my family! I can't believe it, Erica is getting married in 8 DAYS!!! I hope you guys are having a fabulous day

Today We Say Thank You

Today we say Thank You. Thank you for those who serve and have served in our armed forces. For those who gave and give their lives for our freedom! We honor those in the United States Armed Forces. The men and women who put their lives on the line for this great country we live in.

THANK YOU!!

Because of You, Unknown Soldier

By Courtney Tanabe

Because of you, I am here

Because of you, I am able to live freely

Yet I do not know you

And I have not done anything for you

But there you stand, ready to fight

And there you are prepared to die

For me

You've fought before

And you'll fight again

For someone you don't know

So thank you Unknown Soldier

Fighting for me

I'm here because of you

And I owe my future to you

"All I ask of You"

"Say you love me every waking moment,

turn my head with talk of summertime,

Say you need me with you,

now and always,

promise me that all you say is true -

that's all I ask of you "

I love musical theater. Throughout my life I have been involved in theater, even as a kid I was in a theater group. The stage feels like home to me and I love to perform. It has been 3 years since I have been on a stage on almost 5 since I have been in a musical theater production. Even when not preforming I love to watch musical theater. I love going to off broadway shows and hope to one day see a show on Broadway. My first musical I remember seeing was the Phantom of the Opera. It is a classic! I was even able to see it in Madrid, Spain in Spanish. I was thrilled to discover there is sequel hitting Broadway next November, called Love Never Dies. What brought out my love musical theater on this beautiful day? The excitement of living in an area that gets numerous off-broadway productions which includes two of my favorites, Phantom of the Opera (December) and Wicked (April)! I am so excited and now I will be accepting donations for tickets ;) Below watch this wonderful excerpt from Phantom! (to turn off music scroll to the bottom of the page and press stop on the player)

I Need Your Help...

Oh my sweet blog readers, I am so sorry for my absence! I have been battling lovely sinus issues and been a little stressed, but I am back. I am ready to catch up on my sweet fellow bloggers posts that I have missed for the last week and a half. I have missed posting as well and have lots to catch up on but today I need to ask you a favor. I have a few prayer requests for you guys.

• I am, as you may remember, taking blood thinners, for my DVT. This past Wednesday I went to the doctor and had my usual labs drawn. The results came back and my levels were high, meaning my blood is to thin. So this is not good it places me at a higher bleeding risk. My doctor adjusted my dose and I go back in 5 days for a recheck of my labs.
• My sweet friend Victoria, her husband Cody and daughter Logan are going through a hard time right now. Cody's father was in a horrible motorcycle accident about 2 weeks ago. He is still in the ICU and in critical condition. Please pray for him, his name is Bryan.
• Ok so you may be wondering why I am stressed. It is a little thing called a job. I have had a really hard time finding one. I have applied for 21 jobs and been rejected from all of them since I have no experience. Ugh super frustrating. So I have applied to Duke University Hospital's Specialty Nurse Internship Program. They are accepting applications for new grad RN's. So please pray that I hear back from them soon and get called for an interview or that God opens a new door.
  
• Finally I ask for your prayers for fellow blogger MckMama. Her son Stellan is in the Pediatric ICU. You can read his story and battle for life since the womb here. To find out more about him and his current condition visit www.mycharmingkids.net or follow her on twitter @MckMama.

"With God all things are possible"
Matthew 19:26
"Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD."
Psalm 1:24
"Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands."
Psalm 78:7
"But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love"
Psalm 33:18

Thank you for your prayers.
I am so thankful I serve a AWESOME God who hears our prayers!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama.We all have our imperfections and done things we would rather forget. Every Monday MckMama tells about her imperfections and things she certainly did not do and poses the opportunity for her readers to do the same. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Here is goes my first Not Me Monday post.

I was not at all LAZY this past week, not me. I certainly did not sleep past 11 am five days this past week, no not me.I most definitely did not wash a load of towels and then forget about them for two days. Nor did I still dry them and just throw extra dryer sheets in the dryer so they would not smell mildewed, not me. I did not spend most days not doing anything but laying on the couch watching T.V. instead of cleaning my home, not me. I surely did not throw clean shirts I had tried on but not worn in the dirty clothes basket instead of hanging them up. Even if it means I will have more work for me in the end, not me.

What did you not do this week. Write a comment response to this blog it truly is therapeutic!!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, and Pumpkins....

Sorry ya'll for the delay, Bob was on fall break from seminary classes last week so he was home a lot more than usual. Therefore, instead of blogging I enjoyed quality time with my hubby. This post is all about pumpkins. One of the first things people associate with the season fall is pumpkins. They come in all shapes, colors, and sizes. I love simply pumpkins, the are great for decor and carving. I was able to carve my first one last year (picture to right) and can not wait to do one again this year. I am hoping in the next few days Bob and I can go pick out our pumpkins. While surfing online for pumpkin ideas I came across some cute sites. So I thought I would share and hopefully upload some pictures of my own soon!

Here are a few links to my favorite sites of ideas:

Hershey's: the offer great tips to carving and templates for free

Country Living Pumpkins: unique carving designs

Pumpkin Lady: this site has templates you can purchase & free ones there are some cute ideas!

Martha Stewart Pumpkins: this site has templates too!

Huggies: They have Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty Templates

As far as Pumpkin Decor:

How about this cutie from Martha Stewart! Pumpkin Creatures

How about this Cinderella pumpkin from Hallmark's Fantasy Pumpkins- I LOVE IT!

I love Her Southern Charm decor:

The Party Dress also has some adorable ideas:

I hope if you were looking for ideas this helps or inspired you to get creative. If you have any great links or pictures of your own online simply post the links in my comments section, I love feedback. If your not a follower of my blog please become one, I love to see who reads my ramblings (simply click follow the blog at the top where the blogger bar is or on the right side there is a followers box)!

Happy Fall Decorating and Carving!