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!