Update

Here's just a bit of the trip home in May. Below are Angela and Anna against the sunset.

Daniel on the job...

Life Continues

Life continues... Caleb came to visit me and meet Matt last weekend! Sarah and Bob graced us with their presence for Sunday lunch.

L to R: Sarah, Bob, Caleb, Matt, Amy
We had a nice time going to Matt's choral arts ensemble concert, playing Frisbee, hiking, eating sushi (my first time!), and of course, talking. I received my own private concert in the Ghonda building with Caleb on the piano and Matt singing.

Today completed 12 weeks of ICU training classes that I went through with some of my best friends here, Tiffany, Emily, and Sarah. This picture was taken by Bob, Sarah's special guy, on our last day of class.

Bob jumped through so many hoops to provide a feast for us during lunch break that day! His story brought many chuckles.

Below: Sarah and Bob. Enough said:)

My girls. These and a few others are my girls here in Rochester. They're fun, encouraging, inspiring, thought-provoking, interesting, beautiful blessings! Left to right: Kristy, Sarah, Lindsay, me, and Tiffany.

My friend, Leah, and I went for a walk and talk to a lake at the edge of town. Even though it is very green and the flowers are in full bloom, it's still rather cold for late May. Yesterday and today, the high was in the 60's.

Now that my classes are over, I will leave the neurological ICU and begin orienting on all of the others, including medical, trauma/general surgery, thoracic/vascular, cardiac transplant, cardiac surgical, cardiac medical, and the ICU at Methodist Hospital, including liver and kidney transplant patients. Thursday means a trip home to Texas! We will help Grandmother and Granddaddy celebrate 60 years together! Other things include camping out with family and friends, touring the Eagle Med flight team place where Daniel is working now as a flight medic, spending time with all of the family, and playing with the newborn baby goats! I'm just a little bit excited!

New Growth Green

"Open your eyes to the beauty around you,

Open your mind to the wonders of life,

Open your heart to those who love you,

And always be true to yourself."

Donna Davis

The breeze is softly tickling my face, twirling my hair and lifting the music through the air. How can I convey to you how I feel in my heart right now? It's spring!

Several things have happened since I started this blog...Maurita came over for lunch, we tramped around the woods taking pictures and laughing, and I had a wonderful visit with big brother Micah. Now, I am listening to the St. Olaf choir on CD, drinking ginger tea, and downloading pictures from the walk today to share with you!

On our walk, Maurita and I had to stop to breath in the smells, admire the flowers, climb enbankments, run up hills and down little paths, sing, and laugh at ourselves. The green was that of new growth, so bright in the spring. I thought of Helen Keller quotes. Because she was unable to see and hear, she had to touch, smell, and feel with the heart.

"Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousand of miles and all the years you have lived." Helen Keller

"To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug." Helen Keller

Slacker

I was just informed by a very important person that I have been a blog slacker. I take this seriously, and though it hurt, I believe it is having the desired effect. I'm blogging again!

I don't know where to start or what to include, but certain life events have driven me to journal more and blog...well...none. Many things have happened in this last month, but it's hard to know which of those things are blog material.

I started dating Matt:

Had a visit from Mama, Daddy, and Angela...

...and found out that Daddy likes to do dishes...in Minnesota!

Had a murder mystery party at my house for Sarah's birthday:

Went to visit Ben and Tandalee and am now home with a cold and pink eye: [no picture]

Babysitting...

When was the last time you totally jammed out to kids music? Played baby tigers? Spent a whole hour trying to get two kids to go to bed? Well, that's what I did this evening, plus some:) It was a nice change and totally different kind of challenge after spending all day studying ECG's in and out of class. Lunch included stimulating conversation with Sarah and Emily at a Greek restaurant, but other than that, it was a day of ECG overload. After walking by my old hospital floor and tying up some loose ends on this and that at work, I dropped by home barely in time to leave to babysit four kids, ages 7 1/2 to 1 1/2, three boys and little girl.

Spring is in the air! Everyone and their dog were out running today! Just walking the 4 or so blocks home, I must have seen 4-5 people running or walking with a dog. The grass is beginning to show in places in the front yard! Are you catching the excitement!!!

Melting

"Sunshine cannot bleach the snow

Nor time unmake what poets know."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

After class today, a friend and I went for a long walk and talk along the river. It was in the 40's today, and the coat became unnecessary as we trudged through the melting snow! See! Bits of grass are showing through and the ice on the river is cracking!
I have thoroughly enjoyed the winter, but it is exciting to have more sunshine, see some ground, and even hear the first few birds chirping. A few days ago, we had the fluffiest snow imaginable. I hated to brush it off of my car and wanted to take pictures instead, but alas, I had to go to work. Even with signs of warm weather, we will probably get a few more snows before Narnia completely melts into spring. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain and snow! Here's how I feel about it:

"To appreciate the beauty

of a snow flake,

it is necessary to stand out in

the cold."

"I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beech-tree, or a yellow birch, or an old aquaintance among the pines." Henry David Thoreau
"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather." John Ruskin

Note: only the first two photos are from today.

Winter Sea Caves

We debated as to whether it would be worth making the trip to Bayfield yet again simply on the hopes that the sea caves would be half as spectacular as the few pictures I had seen. Wow! It was well worth the time!
The picture above is a personal favorite. Fairyland? Is this real? Erin taking a picture, gloves and ski pole aside.No, Erin is NOT suspended, and no photo editing was done!

While there appear to be pools of water in some of these photos, its all ice, except in the photo below, where a stream did run into the lake.