"That ye may stand as witnesses for me..."

(The sunrise on my way to work one morning--what a beautiful world we live in!)

The title for my blog today comes from Mosiah 24:14. I have always loved that story—the story of the people of Alma who are taken into bondage by the Lamanites and apostate Nephites, and have great burdens placed upon them. The voice of the Lord comes to them in the midst of their afflictions and tells them to be of good comfort, that He would ease their burdens, and that they would stand as witness for him afterwards. I love that concept. I want to “stand as a witness” for another one of the many things that Heavenly Father has done for me.

I worked this last weekend at Utah Valley. I found out when the schedule came out over a month ago that I would be in charge of the unit during my shifts this weekend, and with staff that were newer or float nurses. I was a little worried. Usually we have 3-4 regular staff scheduled and Utah Valley can be very busy with difficult situations. I used to charge all the time when I worked before, but even though I have been back at the hospital for almost 3 years, I worried about being in charge since I have not done it for awhile and since I would be the most experienced nurse there.

One night, I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep. I started thinking about those shifts and being a little concerned again. As I thought about it, this scripture came to mind from Exodus 3:12, “Certainly I will be with thee.” I felt like Heavenly Father was reminding me that He will always be with me, even in uncertain or difficult circumstances, and not to worry about it. I thought of that scripture and experience a lot over the next month and felt very calm about it after that.

As I said my morning prayers, and again as I was driving to work on Saturday morning I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to be with me, to help me as I cared for the precious children that I was in charge of that weekend. I felt again the promise that He would be with me.

I have to include here a picture from that morning. Since I was charging, I had to be there at 5:30. I love driving in the very early morning and seeing the dark mountains against the sky that is just beginning to be lightened by the sunrise. My camera does not take the best night pictures, but I thought I would include it anyway:

Well, both days this weekend at work turned out to be such good shifts! They were very busy shifts with lots of admits, discharges, lab draws and IV restarts, but things went so smoothly! Heavenly Father was truly with me; guiding my hands and my decisions through all the things that happened. One thing I like about charging is meeting all of the different patients. As I went and met with the different patients and their families, I had some really neat experiences.

I want to share of few of those experiences. I have to be a little vague about the details because of confidentiality, but I will share what I can:

• I was helping with a sweet baby that has been in several times. She was really fussy all day not able to calm down and sleep. Her mom, who I just love, was really struggling. I told her I would go in and rock her baby and she could take a walk to take a little break. As I was in there rocking that sweet baby, I thought of a talk by President Uctdorf from last Conference that I had listened to that morning as I got ready called, “You Are My Hands.” In the talk, President Uctdorf talks about being the “hands” of Christ in our daily lives. I rocked that sweet baby and prayed that she would feel the comfort of Christ through me. The Spirit was strong in that room as I rocked her, and soon she fell asleep in my arms. It was the sweetest thing!

• There was another patient there who has been through a lot of medical issues in the past few years. As I talked to his mother, she told me of some of the struggles she has had with his chronic problems and with other things in her life. I wish I could share the details, but she has been through some really difficult things. She has also had some wonderful tender mercies. As we talked, she told me that the struggles over the past few years had really affected her testimony. She even stopped going to church for awhile. She was back now, but still struggling. As we talked, I was able to share experiences from my own life about compensatory blessings and how I knew that the Lord would continue to be with her, that she was doing well and that there was much to look forward to. We both had tears in our eyes, and as we finished the conversation, she hugged me and said, "I am so glad you were here this weekend." What a choice experience!

• We had a fun teenage boy there that I had joked around with and helped with a few things on Saturday. I ended up being his nurse for the last part of Sunday. At the end of the day he said, “You are the coolest nurse I have ever had.” What a compliment from a teenager!

I am so grateful that Heavenly Father helped me so much this weekend. I am learning so much in life not to fear difficult things, and to trust that He will "certainly be with me" and that He will lead my paths.

I am going to end with a few more pictures. I think we have had some beautiful days lately!

The view from the parking terrace at work as I walked in one day. I love the green trees and the clouds. So pretty!

Another picture of the sunrise!

Have a happy day!

Hello Again, Hello...

(Are you all singing the Neil Diamond song now?)

Wow, I haven't posted for awhile!  I spent last weekend with my Mother in the hospital so I have been a little busy again. She is doing great now, thank goodness, and life has settled back down to a more normal pace.

The one nice thing about having her in the hospital was that I got to see her and my Dad a lot more than usual. I was pondering about that while I was there with her...how there are always blessings in the midst of adversity. She was in the hospital for four days, but by the second day was feeling much better, so it was nice to spend time just talking to her and other family members that came to visit.

I know I have said this before, but I sure love my family! I had some more fun family times this week that I wanted to blog about.

On Sunday night we had my brother Adam and his family over for dinner. My Dad ended up coming as well for a few minutes from the hospital. It was nice to sit and visit with them and their kids. The kids were so excited to be there and were really cute! I like having our whole family together, but it is nice to be with the individual families as well and have some time to talk. I was so busy with dinner and visiting that I forgot to get pictures, but it was a really nice night.

After dinner, Jen and I went to see my Mom and got to visit with my brother Seth and some of his kids, so I got to see lots of my cute nieces and nephews that night.

On Monday, one of my sister-in-laws Janelle had her appendix out (lots of hospital stuff this last week) so Jen had their kids. I was working at AF a 12 hour shift, but Jen brought the kids to see my Mom and they came up and saw me at work briefly. It was fun to see them again!

On Tuesday I went to my niece Holly's "Hope of America" program at the Marriot Center, where 5th graders from all around Utah County come together to present a patriotic program. It was a nice program, but most of all, it was nice to spend time with my brother Jon and his family.

Holly was able to participate in the program and was really excited about it. They did a great job and I enjoyed the patriotic songs and the presentations. At the end of the program they turned off all the lights and sang a song about being a light to others using flashlights. That was my favorite part of the night. It was very powerful!

Here are a few pictures from the program:

I thought it was so neat how they had the kids sitting to make an American flag. It was really well done!

My brother's family after the program.  I love how this picture turned out!

Holly and I after the program...Isn't she cute! I can't believe how old she is!

Last night Jen and I had dinner with my sister Michelle and her family. That was really fun to see them again. It has been awhile since we have seen them for some reason, and it was really nice to visit.

I had Jenni and Joe-Joe in the car on the way home and when we got to my house, my other sister and her husband were pulling up from taking my brother-in-law's Mom (who lives in the same condo building as we do) to dinner. The cousins were really excited to see each other, so we ended up having the kids come up and play while we talked.

Later, we decided to go get ice cream and I had Jenni, Joe and Emma in my car. They were so cute and fun together. I just love spending time with my nieces and nephews!  They were laughing and singing together and just so cute, so when I stopped at a light, I turned around and snapped a picture of them.  Aren't they cute?

As we were driving, I pointed out the sunset to them. It was so beautiful and peaceful. I told the kids that whenever I see a beautiful sunset, it helps me remember how much Heavenly Father loves us, so Jenni told me I needed to take a picture of the sunset.

It's not the best, since it is from the car window, but I thought I would put it in anyway because it reminds me of my fun night with those cute kids.

It has been a great week! I was reflecting this morning again about how blessed I am. I have all these wonderful children that love me so much, a wonderful family and friends, a job that I love... I could go on and on. I really do have a wonderful life!