Girl's Trip!

We left straight from graduation at FHU (Sending Dad home in my packed down Saturn VUE) for a girl's beach trip!  Tori was the only bridesmaid who didn't get to make it, and we missed her.  Lindsey was only able to make it for a couple of days, but we're so glad she came!  It was absolutely beautiful while we were there, with no oil to be seen!  An added bonus was that with the oil scare, many people were cancelling thier trips, so we had hardly any wait anywhere we went and no crowds on the beach!  A sweet lady from church let us use her beach house for an amazingly generous price.  It was the perfect way to say "goodbye" to the single life!

Mom, Janna, and Melinda with their massive seafood platter!

They obviously enjoyed it!

Graduates!

Among all of this wedding chaos, we also managed to graduate!  We both received Bachelor's degrees from Freed-Hardeman University - John's in Environmental Biology, and mine in Nursing.

Shower Time!

April and May were jam-packed with showers and wedding preparation.  During this time John and I realized how blessed we are to have such amazing family and friends. What an overwhelmingly humbled feeling!

Family Shower

My cousin, Tori and her Mother, Charlotte did these amazing decorations!  Each table had a theme, and the best part was that I got to pack all of the decorations up and bring them home!

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The beautiful cake made by Tori Maggard!

Woodson Chapel Shower

Thank you wonderful ladies for all of your help!

This was just one of the packed gift tables... so overwhelming and humbling to literally see everyone's generosity!  When we thought we were finished opening the gifts on this table... we found that there were tons more gift bags packed underneath the table!

I don't have any pictures on my computer of our third shower - the Hohenwald shower, hosted by the wonderful ladies of Kimmins Church of Christ.  One of the many things that I absolutely loved about that shower was meeting the many ladies who have known and loved John his whole life.  They didn't have to convince me that he's amazing, but it was so nice to meet and get to know better that many people that have impacted his life and made him into the man and husband that he is today!

I also don't have any pictures of my last shower - a lingere brunch hosted by my aunt Janna.  It was nice to get  together and visit with friends old and new.  And a special thanks to Janna for putting it all together with another of my aunts, and her sister, Amy in the trauma ICU at Vanderbilt!  Amy was life-flighted to Vandy after a nasty run-in with a momma cow.  So happy to report that she's doing great at home!

Saying Goodbye

I worked for seven wonderful months at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital's NICU learning and developing into a neonatal nurse. I'm not sure that it's a process that can ever be completed, but I developed a major foundation there.  I made the difficult decision to leave my work home and work family that I had come to love for the best interest of my upcoming marriage. John simply could not use his major to be a provider for our family in that area. We were planning to go to Birmingham, AL for John to attend grad school, when there suddenly became a possibility of a state job in his field of study in Columbia, TN. I was super excited about this because we could possibly be close to both our families! I immediately began searching for jobs in both areas .... with no avail for many months.  The night came to say goodbye to my NICU family, and it was no easy task.  I was assigned a very sick tiny baby on my last night, and I was glad to have the distraction!  I was doing well until it came time to eat.  As I headed into the break room I found a beatiful potted flower with a sweet card that brought me to tears, and a yummy bunch of food waiting for me!  Everyone had chipped in to make my last night a party, even if it was only for my 30 minute meal break!
The hardest part of the night was by far cleaning out my locker, clocking out, and walking out the door for the last time.  I owe to everyone there the nurse that I am today!

Catching up... in a nutshell

First and foremost - let me appologize for neglecting my blogging life.  I am a bad blogger.  SORRY! 

So.... it has been a full YEAR since my last post!  It may take multiple posts, but I'm hoping to catch everyone up!

In that year:
I worked
We were showered
We graduated
We relaxed (for a second!)
We got married
We went on our honeymoon
We moved
I got a job
Job got a job

Whew!! Now for the details!!

I guess now I have to be an adult...

The last time I mentioned my job search I told you that my dream job in the Neonatal ICU had "all but fallen through". I was getting super frustrated that with a nursing license I was not getting called back for jobs, or getting disappointing calls letting me know that I should apply again "after I got some experience under my belt". How are new nurses supposed to get experience if every job requires it!? My roommates are currently job searching, so keep them in your prayers. As for me, I'm a lucky one! One day about a month ago when I was feeling particularly hopeless I e-mailed the director of the Neonatal ICU at which I had applied and interviewed with back in March. I asked what the chances were of another job opening up anywhere in the near future. She wrote back that she actually just happened to have a few positions open up since a couple of nurses had decided not to return from their maternity leave, and another was moving out of the state. She said she had no reservations to hire me, but wanted me to come in and meet with some of the other nurses to make sure it was still what I wanted. I went in for a team interview, decided it was definitely still what I wanted, and got a job offer the next day! Since then I've been super busy with orientation and school starting back this week. For example, my schedule for next week beginning tomorrow:
Sunday - Work 7A-3P, church at 5, fit in homework that's due Thursday
Monday - Work 7A-7P
Tuesday - Work 7A-7P
Wednesday - NRP (newborn resuscitation) class at the hospital 8A-4:30P
Thursday - Chapel @ 10:30, Marriage and the Family class @ 11:30, Physical Assessment class from 4-7
Friday - Pack and leave for Family Labor day Weekend at Doublehead
Saturday - Catch up with the family!
Sunday - Church, leave Doublehead, sleep all the way home, work 7P-7A
Sometime in all this I'd like to see my fiance, and maybe go out to eat for our 3 1/2 year anniversary, which was last week!

The good news is - so far I absolutely LOVE my job! It's easy to get up at 5AM and head out for a 12 hour shift when you enjoy what you do. Even after a rough experience yesterday when a baby that was doing well suddenly went VERY bad (two collapsed lungs at the same time) and ended up on a ventilator and with a chest tube (which I watched being inserted), I still love what I do. If anything I've realized what amazing people I work with, and how lucky these little babies are. If this baby had been at home or had any circumstances been different he wouldn't have had a chance. It just so happened that a nurse was standing at his bed at the time baby quit breathing, and all of the doctors had just returned from a meeting and were all there to work on him (and it took all of them!). I just love seeing all these little babies who, if they had been born just a few years ago, wouldn't have a chance of survival go home healthy babies. Knowing that I have some little part in helping that baby get well enough to go home makes my job so much better! Plus, when I come home from a long hard shift I smell like baby!

The only downside is... now I have to be an adult! I have benefits, a paycheck, and big responsibility! I don't know how many times I've called Mom and said "Help! I don't know how to do all this adult stuff!" I'm also trying to get everything done wedding-wise so I can know that's done and focus on school and work. I think we've gotten almost everything booked and I'm so excited about how everything is working out! Just a little over 9 months to go!

Engaged!

This past week I've been at camp all week. I asked John a couple of weeks ago when we would see each other again and he said "maybe next Thursday since I'm off if we can work it out." I was kind of disappointed since it had already been a couple of weeks, but I understood because I had made plans to attend a wedding reception last night and he was going to take his younger cousin fishing in a tournament today. I came in from a long week of church camp, took a nap, then got up and got cleaned up and dressed up for the wedding reception. I was sitting on the couch with Ashley waiting for Mom and Dad to get ready when a white car pulled up in the driveway and John got out with a dozen red roses! He came in and told me that he knew I would be dressed up, so he decided to come up and take me out to dinner. I was totally suprised, but I didn't expect anything! I thought he had just done that because he could tell I had been disappointed. We went out to our favorite restaurant (The Sportsman's Lodge) and had a wonderful dinner. When we got there He opened the trunk to put his backpack inside and I saw a scrapbook I'd made for him and noticed some of my decorations had fallen off of it. Instead of thinking "why is that in there?" The only thing that crossed my mind was "he broke my scrapbook!". He quickly told me he'd brought it so I could fix it, and I didn't think anything else of it. Afterward dinner I was ready to just be home. He asked if I wanted to go see The Proposal, but I told him I'd rather just go home. When we pulled in the driveway he went around to the trunk and pulled out the scrapbook and said "I want to show you something." He then pulled out a calendar and showed me that it was from the first year we dated. He had made little marks the day we began dating, the day he first kissed me and the day he loved me. He asked me if I knew what happened day 95. I told him I thought it was the day he told me he loved me and he said it was. Then he asked if knew what happened day 1,204. While I was trying to think when that was he said "That's the day I asked you to marry me" and got down on one knee and asked! My eyes teared up and the first thing out of my mouth was "really?" He said "really!" and I said "yes!" He did a wonderful job with everything, especially the ring!! Mark June 5, 2010 on your calendars, because WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!