maybe blogging isn't my thing

Hello all,

Well it has been way too long. I may not be cut out for blogging. I have not posted in so long..

what have i been up to...

Well i am in my second quarter of nursing school and have really enjoyed my time thus far. I have gotten to interact with patient's and i have gotten to learn so many things about medicine. It has been overwhelming, but amazing at the same time. I really enjoy my professors and am so glad i chose SPU as my school. what else as happened... hm Well my brother has begun dating a sweet gal and things have been going swimingly for them. My parents are in the middle of tax season (as accountants) and my other brother is trying to move out of his house. overall, it has been really busy. 

Zito the dog has been doing well. We are babysitting my brother's dog right now which to zito's dismay has not been good. Zito appreciates having her own place, but with my brother's dog, she is moved down stairs for the majority of the time. Good thing too for she doesn't appreciate other dogs very much.

my apartment has been nice. I live with 2 other girls and that is as much drama as i need.. anyways this was just a short post i wanted to do to update people. Honestly i much rather read other blogs than to write my own.. too much work haha

till i write again,

Anna 

current update

Hi All,

Wow it has been a long time since i have written anything. Well let's do a little update shall we. Currently i am out of school and on my summer break. It hasn't been much of a break because i have been working quite a bit. I am still at Emerald heights as a nurse aid and am enjoying spending time with my residents. They really do brighten my day and make i an enjoyable place to work. I also enjoy my co-workers. Sometimes my residents compliment me n my care and support for each of them. It touches me that they would say these things when most people might think to say something sweet, but don't.

Another note: I have been hiking quite a bit. I have hiked Tiger mountain, little Si, Bridle trails, Poo Poo point (yes it really is named that) and my greatest accomplishment thus far in the hiking arena, Mount St. Helens!  You heard correctly, i have indeed hiked my first mountain!. 8,400 feet of elevation and going up boulders, skrii (slippery sand) and having no trail to follow was difficult and you needed all the determination you could get to get to the peek, but it was worth it. I had a 360 degree view of mount Rainier. mount Adams, mount Hood and mount Jefferson. Mount St. Helens used to be taller, but in 1980, it erupted causing the mountain to lose 1100 feet off its top. I really enjoyed this hike and seeing the wonder and splendor of nature.

Camping... I love camping and going to camps. When i was younger, i loved doing all the traditional camp things: boating, ropes course, hiking, playing games... and all that jazz. This year was my first year of being a camp counselor. This camp was a little different though. I worked with campers who had MDA.  MDA (muscular dystrophy) is a genetic disorder (40 different types) where the patient lacks certain muscle proteins that enable the child to grow muscle. essentially, the patient can't develop muscle, so the body decays and the patient slowly loses all ability to do tasks you and i take for granted. I was given a camper who was not able to walk and could not stand up. This was difficult for me honestly. The camper was challenging and trying to help the camper do tasks used a lot of creativity. overall, my experience with this camp was good. I loved how the camp tried to make the camper's experience as "normal" as possible, even if they had to get medications and perform tests on the campers. 

two of my campers :)

Dating life: Well I am still dating my best friend! We have been together for almost 5 years! Wow its odd writing that out. Anyways, he is doing an internship at an ultrasound company. He makes me so proud. Many of my friends constantly ask me when we are going to become engaged or even married (going to a private christian school does that to ya ;) ). All i can say for now is we have talked about this and are waiting until both he and i are done with school to get married. However, when he proposes is still a mystery. He says he wants to propose right after he graduates or something like that, so we shall see.

Nick and I in our younger high school days lol!

Family: my family is doing well. nothing new to report hahaha.

well after i have written an essay, i am going to go off now.

blessings,

Anna 

current update

Hi All,

Well I am coming to an end to another year of University. I have been currently working on getting ready to present my findings for my baby lab study in my Psychology research internship class. I have also been studying for my two exams coming up this next week. This past weekend, my mom, sister-in-law, her mother and I completed our first half marathon. This was on mother's day. I am so proud of our accomplishment. We had a nice time together. I treasure the memories i have with my family oh so very much. I am excited to start nursing school this fall and am looking forward to having some more hours at work. Anyways, I guess it is back to the books for me :(

Happy Easter!

Hi All!!

I hope you all have had an amazing Easter! He is risen! For Easter, I played for three of my church services. We then had my sister-in-law and her family over to spend some time together. After that my parents drove me back to Seattle Pacific and i took by boyfriend's sister out for her birthday dinner. I am truly blessed. I have so many people around me that i cherish.

blessings,

Anna

And here's the bunch :)

 

nursing school!! yea!

Hello all,

I am writing to say that my last quarter as a Psychology student has just begun. I am taking history courses, anatomy for psychology majors, advanced statistics and independent research. I am so excited to also write that i was accepted into NURSING SCHOOL!! I was so excited when i opened my letter :)  anyways, that is my exciting news.

over spring break i went for the first time on a chair lift to go snowboarding. my friend took me to her sister's house and from there, we went to the mountain near her house. I must say that snowboarding is an exhilarating feeling. I was excited to go down a mountain fast and trying to stay up right. i think that i did pretty well for a beginner. anyways i think that my break was good. now i am off and running.

blessings,

Anna

my thoughts in life

Hey all,

As of now, I am sitting in a University library with my housemates trying desperately to study for finals tomorrow. Well, my brain is done for now with the studying. Seriously, i can't really function well past 8:00. Like, i can read my material, but it tends to leave my brain as soon as i say the words in my head. Anyways, i though of writing in my blog instead of trying to study. Now let's see what big things have happened? Well i went to support my brother in the polar bear plunge. this is a plunge to raise money for the special Olympics. the people involved mean so much to me. when i was in high school, i got to teach 5 children with mental deficits. they are some pretty cool people. maybe i should do a list... yeah i think i will!!

top 5 reasons to help with mentally disabled

5. never a dull moment! seriously these guys are funny and curious.

4. always encouraging. these kids i worked with are so encouraging and uplifting. it doesn't matter where you are, if they see you, they will say hi to you and give you a big hug! so worth it!

3. gain patience and understanding. i have learned to be patient and loving to them. there will be days you want to pull your hair out, but in the end you can see that you are really helping them and they appreciate that you will take your time to be with them and hang out with them

2. you can stretch out your creativity. i had to think of creative ways to teach my students. they aren't at the same capacity of learning as i was, so i had to come up with different ways to teach them basic concepts.

1. you gain new friends. these kids are great. we still talk and love to hang out and spend time with one another.

I highly recommend working with this people. you won't regret this decision.

blessings,

Anna  

thoughts

Well hello again,

Sometimes i am not really sure what to talk about or blog about. I guess that sometimes i feel that people who read about my life may think it is boring and slow... After all, i am a college student who really doesn't do much in terms of fun except go on to pinterest, netflix, and hang out with my house mates. we usually just talk and stuff, nothing exciting. I don't go on random trips to anywhere on the whim. I spend time reading and cooking. I guess those are things that i find fun. let's see what can we discuss. well, recently there have been news about Ukraine and China. I haven't really kept up with what really is going on. All i know is that both of these countries need prayer/ guidance. I have realized that our world is a hard place and not something relaxing. When people get ready to go out into the world, we need to become prepared. I feel sometimes the classes people take at my school don't prepare us. I wish we had classes where we learned practical things, like learning how to budget and learning taxes. I almost think that people aren't ready for the real world by the time they graduate, so they have to grow up really quick. Oh my i lost track again. I was talking about China and Ukraine but got onto a different topic on school. Let's see what i do know about China is that there was a knifing incident that got 29 people killed and many others injured. Ukraine, i am not really sure what is going on except that many people are having riots and it is really dangerous. one of my house mates has friends serving over in Ukraine and they had to leave for safety reasons. As a student in US, i can't really do anything except for pray for them and try to offer support to people i know who are feeling the effects of these problems.

I guess i can tell you all about my work! I work as a Nursing assistant. I am in charge of 10 residents and my job is to take care them and help them get through different tasks, like use the restroom, dress, brush teeth, eat...etc It is such a rewarding job. Each resident has a character that just brightens my day. they make me happy to help them and make me like going into work. sometimes it is difficult for me... some of my residents are heavy and hard to move, and me being 5'2'' is somewhat a challenge to move them, but i figure out different ways of moving them. i absolutely am blessed to have this job and see this as a great stepping stone for me in my nursing journey.

other news is that i recently had my nursing school interview. it was interesting being asked questions. i was put into a big group and we were asked questions about our lives and our history. i am not sure how i did, but i will find out in a few weeks if i made it into nursing school. If i don't make it into the school, i will be finishing my psychology degree this year and will graduate which is somewhat scary and exciting i guess, but i rather stay in school and get my nursing degree.

I hope you all have a restful rest of the day. blessings :)

Anna