Life brings all kinds of different adventures and feelings! If you have a relationship with God then you know that He is giving you blessings as well as trials! God prunes and molds us to be the people He wants us to be. Sometimes that pruning and molding is painful. I speak from experience. Since Andy started school it has been a quite the experience! When Andy decided to apply for his masters program for CRNA, we knew it would be a long, tough journey. I don't think we realized though just how hard or how much pruning would take place. I often times ask God "Really!?!" I don't know His plan but He will fill me in as I go.
The definition of prune, pruned or pruning is:
To cut off or remove dead or living parts or branches of (a plant, for example) to improve shape or growth. So let the pruning begin.
To get into a CRNA program is quite the feat to begin with! You have to have a 4.0 and be at the top of your game with nursing. Andy felt like this was where God was leading him. So we knew that if this is what God wanted it would happen. There is one school in AZ that has this program the rest are scattered across the U.S. We had just bought our house here and the market had already started to go down from what it was. We wanted to stay here of course but you cant put all your eggs in one basket right!?! So Andy applied to 5 CRNA programs: Midwestern (here), two in North Carolina, one in Virgina, and one in Texas. Now if they like your application you have to go to that school for an interview and if they still like you they send you an acceptance letter and you have to put a hefty, non-refundable deposit down to hold your spot or you get a letter telling you they put you on a waiting list. So Andy got interviews at all the schools he applied to. Go figure my man is smart and good at what he does! :) I always had more confidence that Andy would get accepted somewhere then he did. So we forked out money for flights and hotels for these interviews because of course Midwestern interview was the 2ND to the last one! Now the decision might need to be made about whether if Andy gets accepted to a school before we know about Midwestern do we put down that hefty, non-refundable deposit? Andy got denial letters from both North Carolina schools and wait listed at Virgina. Andy of course is discouraged. I am confused because I know my man can do this and am kinda shocked not one of these schools took him first time!! But God closed those doors! So Andy gets his interview with Midwestern and gets ready to go in and he said he felt Gods presence the moment he walked in the door. It was a God moment he said. When Andy was walking out of the interview one of the interviewees said I cant say this officially but, you scored very well with us! I am excited because to me I had my answer as to why God closed those other doors. Andy didn't want to get his hopes up yet.
About two weeks later we got a letter from Midwestern saying he had been accepted!! That was the beginning of what I feel has been our pruning, happy, stressful, molding, learning journey.
God will close doors for a reason and sometimes it is hard to understand why. God has had His hand on this from day one and we both believe that! But it doesn't make it any easier when God is molding and pruning you to grow. We are almost at the end of this particular journey as Andy graduates this August. But God is still teaching us and pruning us as Andy looks for jobs that do not seem to be in the Phoenix area! God has closed doors here thus far, but I know in my heart that he will open others wherever and whenever that may be.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Grateful
So this last weekend was Mothers Day and then my Birthday was two days after that! I had a great weekend and birthday!! It made me think about how grateful I am to have such a wonderful husband, beautiful kids and great friends!!! I spent Mothers Day going to church, and then hanging out with great friends. Andy made me my favorite dessert that he makes from scratch......strawberry shortcake!!! It was good!!
My birthday was a great day as well. I got lots of phone calls and notes on FB which of course made me feel loved. That is always a good feeling!! Andy had the day off so that was nice. He took me to dinner at my favorite resturant, Old Pueblo Cafe!!! I love mexican food! Chloe picked out a cake for me which had to have some very specific things! It was a chocolate cake, with white frosting, sprinkles and a balloon!!!! It was a very special cake and it didn't matter what it was or what it tasted like because she picked it out special for me! My friend came over after kids were in bed and we watched a great chick flick, Bride Wars!!! Then we just talked uninterrupted (usually interrupted by kids) til 12:30am.
Yes, I am grateful!! Even though there are bad days, my children test their boundaries and my patients, Andy is in school, he doesn't have a job yet and my sister is not back in the states yet, I can be grateful for the good things in life, such as my husband, children, family and my friends. God blessed me with these people in my life and they make it better!!!!
So remember Love much, forgive always and live like you were dying!
My birthday was a great day as well. I got lots of phone calls and notes on FB which of course made me feel loved. That is always a good feeling!! Andy had the day off so that was nice. He took me to dinner at my favorite resturant, Old Pueblo Cafe!!! I love mexican food! Chloe picked out a cake for me which had to have some very specific things! It was a chocolate cake, with white frosting, sprinkles and a balloon!!!! It was a very special cake and it didn't matter what it was or what it tasted like because she picked it out special for me! My friend came over after kids were in bed and we watched a great chick flick, Bride Wars!!! Then we just talked uninterrupted (usually interrupted by kids) til 12:30am.
Yes, I am grateful!! Even though there are bad days, my children test their boundaries and my patients, Andy is in school, he doesn't have a job yet and my sister is not back in the states yet, I can be grateful for the good things in life, such as my husband, children, family and my friends. God blessed me with these people in my life and they make it better!!!!
So remember Love much, forgive always and live like you were dying!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Live Like You Were Dying
So our church has been doing a series since Easter called Live Like You Were Dying. The first day of the series the pastor posed this question, "What would you do if you had 30 days left to live?" The question makes you think. It made me think am living like the person I want to be? It made me think about my family and kids and friends.
Last Sunday the topic was Forgiveness. That can be a tuff subject for anyone. But it is also one we can all relate to. We all have been hurt at some point in our lives and face the issue of giving forgiveness. Or we all at some point have hurt someone else and we have needed to seek forgiveness. Either way its a tuff subject. Something our pastor pointed out was that not giving forgiveness only hurts oursleves more. We become angry and bitter. Sometimes we say "I forgive you" but do we truly let it go? Bitterness is not our friend and steals precious moments of our life and wastes time. I have seen bitterness and its not pretty. I know that I don't want to go through life being a bitter critter!!
God did show us the ultimate forgiveness by sending His Son to take our place and pay our debt. That is awesome for so many reasons. I didn't deserve God's forgiveness but He did it anyway. The least I could do is try to give the same forgiveness to others.
Life IS short. I think in our minds we don't think of ourselves as dying or I could die tomorrow. But there is always that chance that we might not have a tomorrow. So I say love big, forgive always, and live like you were dying! Because we dont know what tomorrow brings.
Now I pose the question to all of you who are reading this, what would you do if you were given 30 days to live?
I would love to hear your thoughts!
P.S- this is a great series and if anyone is interested in hearing any of it go to Palmvalley.org
Last Sunday the topic was Forgiveness. That can be a tuff subject for anyone. But it is also one we can all relate to. We all have been hurt at some point in our lives and face the issue of giving forgiveness. Or we all at some point have hurt someone else and we have needed to seek forgiveness. Either way its a tuff subject. Something our pastor pointed out was that not giving forgiveness only hurts oursleves more. We become angry and bitter. Sometimes we say "I forgive you" but do we truly let it go? Bitterness is not our friend and steals precious moments of our life and wastes time. I have seen bitterness and its not pretty. I know that I don't want to go through life being a bitter critter!!
God did show us the ultimate forgiveness by sending His Son to take our place and pay our debt. That is awesome for so many reasons. I didn't deserve God's forgiveness but He did it anyway. The least I could do is try to give the same forgiveness to others.
Life IS short. I think in our minds we don't think of ourselves as dying or I could die tomorrow. But there is always that chance that we might not have a tomorrow. So I say love big, forgive always, and live like you were dying! Because we dont know what tomorrow brings.
Now I pose the question to all of you who are reading this, what would you do if you were given 30 days to live?
I would love to hear your thoughts!
P.S- this is a great series and if anyone is interested in hearing any of it go to Palmvalley.org
My Blog
People are blogging these days, so I figure I will give it try! My blog will probably be my random thoughts, updates, stuff about the fam and whatever else I feel like sharing. So here it goes........
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