"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!

Ahhh, Spring!

I think I have mentioned it before, but spring is my FAVORITE season! I love the warm (but not to hot) weather, the beautiful sunshine, the budding trees and most of all, I love the spring flowers!

Last Friday, I was working in the office at AF Hospital and I decided to take my lunch break outside. They have this place right off of the lunchroom called the "Healing Garden" with flowers and a waterfall. It was so peaceful and sooo nice to be outside again!

I just sat there looking at the beautiful flowers and listening to the water flowing and thinking about what a beautiful world we live in! I took the picture above with my phone camera because it was so beautiful that I wanted to remember it. Don't you love the exquisite detail of the flowers; the perfectly formed dark orange petals with the yellow and blue accents. How can anyone not believe in a loving Heavenly Father when they look at so much beauty?

This picture did not turn out quite as well, but I thought I would put it in anyway. This is a picture of the flowering tree, the spring flowers and the waterfall in the background.

I am so grateful for spring!

Another Wonderful Weekend!

(Warning... Long post with LOTS of pictures. Read at your own risk.)

Last weekend was another fun weekend with family activities and especially with General Conference. I thought I would do a hodge-podge post of my fun few days.

Ok, this first picture is not really of the weekend, it is of Thursday April 1...and the weather played an April Fools joke on us. Doesn't this look like December weather?

I took this from the balcony of my condo. I couldn't believe it when I walked by the window and saw it! The one good thing about snow in April is that it melts fast. By the next day, the weather was still cold, but the snow was melted.

That was good for our famliy because we decided to do our annual Easter Egg Hunt/Barbeque on Friday night because of Conference. It was such a fun night. The whole family was there (18 adults and 19 children) and we had a great time.

When I first got there, my sweet 3 year old nephew Joey and I took a picutre of ourselves. It is a close-up picture because I am holding the camera, but he looks so cute I just had to put it in!

The kids were really excited and so cute together. I love that they are all such good friends! Here are a few cute pictures I got.

Josh, Jenni, Brianna and Annika in a huddle. I am not sure what they were huddling about, but I thought it was so cute!

Emma, Annika and Brianna--good friends!

When everyone got there, we decided to do the Easter egg hunt right away before it got much colder. While the adults hid the candy, Jen and me stayed in the house with the kids and talked about the real meaning of Easter and sang Primary songs. It was so cute to have all those sweet, earnest faces looking up at me as I talked to them!

When we were ready to start, the little kids went out first and we separated the rest of the kids into middle and oldest kids to make the hunt fair. The little kids got a few mintues, then the middle kids went out for a few minutes, then the oldest. Here are pictures of the last two groups (I never got one of the little kids...)

The "middle kids" waiting to go out

The "older kids" waiting to go out

Some of the kids finding candy and eggs

Karla, Stace and Tiff (some of my sis-in-laws). Aren't they cute!

After the hunt was over we had a Barbeque and sat and talked and laughed. It was really a nice night. I love spending time with my family!

Two of my brothers, Jon and Seth, manning the Grill.

My brother Mike and my Dad, chilling on the couch.

On Saturday, I had to work a clinical shift at the hospital. I was sad to miss Saturday Conference, but the shift ended up being a nice one and I got off right on time!  I had some really cute kids and enjoyed the day. I love what I learn from my sweet patients! They are such an example of cheerfulness in the midst of challenges. My patients that day were so pleasant and fun to work with. It makes me want to be a better person when I see how they handle difficult situations. I can see why the Savior said to "become as a child."

I have had a really good BYU student with me the last few months, and it was her last day, so we took a picutre. I thought I would put it in because it shows me at work. I will miss working with her! She has been a great student and a great help during my busy winter shifts.

Karen and me at Peds. Don't you love the cute decorations on the windows? I work at the best place!

Sunday was a wonderful day! I love General Conference so much and I love being in the Conference Center. I was able to go to both sessions, thanks to Jen. As I sat there, I thought of how blessed I was to be able to be there, to see the Prophets and Apostles and to hear the wonderful messages of hope and peace they gave.

Sunday morning I went with my nephew Josh, who was just baptized last week. I was a little worried about whether he would be able to sit through the whole thing, because we went early and it was longer than usual because of the Tabernacle Choir broadcast, but he did great!

Here is Josh on the way in to the Conference Center. He was so excited about the waterfall!

Josh and me waiting in line. He is holding his ticket. He was so excited to have his very own ticket!

We got there at 8:00 am and got good seats. As we waited for Conference to start, Josh worked on a Conference packet that Jen had made for him and we circled the pictures of the Apostles we saw.

At one point, Elder and Sister Nelson walked by and saw Josh. Elder Nelson said, "I need to shake this young man's hand." Both he and his wife shook Josh's hand (and mine, that was fun) and asked him a few questions. It was so neat! What an opportunity for him! Afterwards I talked to him about how lucky he was, that many people all over the world would love to shake the hand of a prophet. He circled the picture of Elder Nelson and wrote, "shook hand" above it. It was so cute!

During the choir broadcast he wrote down the name of every song, and then sat and listened. During "God So Loved the World" he turned to me and said, "This song makes me feel so peaceful." It was so sweet and I was amazed that he was sitting an listening so well!

During President Monson's wonderful talk on the Resurrection, Josh turned and started talking to me about the Resurrection and asking me questions. I couldn't believe at eight years old he was still paying attention after sitting there for almost four hours! It was really sweet.

After the session ended, as the First Presidency was walking out, President Monson saw him and stopped. He pointed to Josh and said, "Young man, you go on a mission!" It was so neat!

Then, as we were standing waiting to go out, Sister Lant, who was just released a Primary General President, came up to talk to him. It was such a neat day and so wonderful that our leaders took time out to notice and care about a child. 

 

Here is Josh after Conference. He said to me, "I loved this!" and even called later that day to tell me that he had been sitting thinking about Conference and stared crying because he loved it so much. What a miracle to see how Josh has changed since his baptism and to see the Gift of the Holy Ghost work in his life.

Jen and I went to the last session together, and it was wonderful as well. She put this picture on her blog but I thought I would put it on mine as well. I thougth it was a cute picture of the two of us and we rarely get a picture together for some reason.

 

Well, since this post took me two hours to write, it has probably taken too long to read, so I will end. I guess since I only write once in awhile, I might as well write long posts :).

Wonderful Saturday!

Yesterday was such a wonderful day!

To start with, my nephew Josh was baptized and it was such a neat experience. Josh has been a little nervous to get baptized because he was worried about being under water. In fact, I remember when we went to my niece's baptism a few years ago he said, "That is just not right; you shouldn't drown people like that!"  Well, thanks to lots of prayers and help from his parents, Josh made the decision to be baptized and was really excited about it.

It was so fun to walk in and see Josh all in white and so handsome and excited! I kept getting a little teary eyed as I looked at him and as I felt the Spirit of the day. It was also fun to be there with family.

Jen and me were sitting on one of the smaller side benches and just kept gathering children as the families came in. At one point we had 8 of our sweet nieces and nephews on our bench--two beside Jen, two on Jen's lap, two between me and Jen, and two on my lap. It was so cute! I just love all those sweet children so much, and I love that they love us as well.

Here are a few pictures from the baptism. I am sure Jen will post a lot more, so I just chose a few:

Josh with his Dad (my brother Adam) and Mom (my sis-in-law Stace)

Josh with his Granparent's Southern

Josh with Me and Jen

Isn't he so cute? Don't you love pictures of children at baptisms, dressed all in white and with their countenance glowing? It was a really neat day, and Josh did really well with the baptism and was not even nervous. I love these wonderful moments in life!

I have to add one picture from the luncheon after the baptism. I told Jen she should get a picture with the two pregnant women in our family because maybe it would be good luck for her to find a husband and have kids of her own. It turned out really cute!

Stace, Jen and my sister Emilee

Last night I went to the General Young Women's Meeting in the Conference Center with my friend Rachelle, who also happens to be the Stake YW President (I am her first counselor.) It was such a great meeting! All of the talks and music were wonderful, but I especially loved Sister Dalton's talk and President Uctdorf's talk.

President Uctdorf talked about how fairy tales start with "once upon a time" and end with "happily ever after," but in between those lines each character had to face adversity before they reached the "happily ever after." Then he related it to his own life and told the sweetest story about trying to win his wife Harriet, despite the fact that at first she wasn't very interested.  

Rachelle and I were sitting right in front of where Sister Uctdorf was sitting and it was so fun to watch her smile as he talked about her. After the meeting, as he walked out, President Uctdorf put his arm around her and she gave him a kiss on the cheek. What a sweet example of true love!

My favorite quotes from President Uctdorf's talk were, "It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life story will develop," and "My beloved young sisters, stay true to what you know is right... God knows how to get there. He has created a map for you. He knows the way...trust Him enough to follow His plan...  That path will take you to your happily ever after destination."

The whole meeting was wonderful. You can listen to it here. It made me want to be a better person, to sanctify myself and to be more courageous. (The theme was "Be Strong and of a Good Courage" from Joshua 1.) I feel so blessed to have been able to be there in the Conference Center, in the presence of Prophets and Apostles. There is such a special feeling in the Conference Center!

Here are a few pictures from last night:

Rachelle and me at the Conference Center

The beautiful sunset as we walked out of the Conference Center!

Well, I'd better close. I am off to our family birthday party celebration tonight. I thought I would end with a few pictures of the cakes I made for tonight:

My niece wanted a "My Little Pony" cake with sprinkles (thanks for the sprinkes, Karla!)

I couldn't leave my brother out, so I made him a tractor cake since he is a builder

What a wonderful life I have!

Inspired Prayer

I had an interesting experience yesterday. I was saying my morning prayers and remembered a quote from a talk I had listened to recently by Elder Oaks. It is his talk called "Unselfish Service" from the April 2009 General Conference. This is the quote I thought of:

"In contrast, a wise friend wrote:

'Years ago, I changed my attitude about going to church. No longer do I go to church for my sake, but to think of others. I make a point of saying hello to people who sit alone, to welcome visitors, . . . to volunteer for an assignment. . . .


“In short, I go to church each week with the intent of being active, not passive, and making a positive difference in people’s lives. Consequently, my attendance at Church meetings is so much more enjoyable and fulfilling.'”

(The whole talk is very good. You can find it here.)

In my prayer, I asked that I would do something that would make a difference for someone else in Church that day.  I thought it would likely be something I didn't know about; maybe a comment I made would help someone or maybe even just a smile that would brighten someone's day.

Well, I was going in Sunday School and a man in our ward pulled me aside and showed me a sister sitting alone. He said that she had asked him if this was the right class, said she was new, and seemed really nervous. He was wondering if I would mind sitting by her. (I thought that was very considerate of him to think of her...I wouldn't have noticed her if he hadn't pointed her out.)

I went and sat down by her and introduced myself. We ended up talking off and on throughout Sunday School and Relief Society. It turns out she was baptized when she was young but has never really been back and recently decided she needed the Gospel in her life.

This was her first time in Gospel Doctrine. She asked me to help her find the different scriptures references we were reading and was anxiously marking them. She asked me questions about what we were talking about, and even made a comment in Relief Society! It was really such a neat experience. I was touched by her willingness to learn and glad to be able to help her. It reminded me of my mission.

After I got home, I thought of my prayer that morning. I remembered reading once about inspired prayer; that at times, the Spirit will guide you what to pray for. It was such a wonderful thing to have that concept demonstrated to me yesterday, and with very little effort on my part. I am glad that Heavenly Father saw fit to use me as an instrument to help another person!

Update...and P.S. I Love My Job!

Wow, this is the longest I have gone without posting since I started my blog. I have had an incredibly busy few weeks, and have hardly even sat down at the computer.

I was thinking about how I always talk about my busy weeks and how possibly at times you wonder what it is that is keeping me so busy. So, I decided to give a brief overview of what I did this week, mostly for my benefit, since I am using this as my journal lately (so you are welcome to stop reading at this point if that would  be boring for you ;).

Monday:

• I worked at UV Hosptial in the office in the morning. I wanted to touch base with one of my orienters who was almost done and see how she was feeling. I also needed to set up orientation schedules for three nurses aides that are coming to orient next week. In the midst of this, I helped on the floor as they got a really sick baby that ended up on a ventilator. I actually really like helping in situations like that. I like to see how the whole team works together to help stablize a critical child, and I like helping to keep the family updated and comforted. That situation went particularly well.
• I went to AF Hosptial in the afternooon to check on another orienter that was almost done.
• In the evening I went to my parents for our monthly combined FHE. That was really nice to relax, see my cute kids and talk to my parents.

Tuesday:

• I got up at 4:15 and got ready to leave at 5:15 to go to the temple with the Stake YW Presidency. Even though it was incredible early, I love the temple at that time. It was so peaceful and quiet. I had the chance to read the scriptures for a few minutes before we started. It was nice to be there with my presidency as well.
• I was going to go home and take a quick nap, but I decided as long as I was out, I might as well stop at AF Hospital again because I had a few things to finish there. I was getting orientation quizzes ready for orienters and correcting turned in quizzes so that I could review them with the orienters when I meet with them at the end of orientation. I got involved in that and ended up being there for three hours.
• I ran home and changed my clothes then went back down to UV Hospital to meet with two different people (one about a class I am helping to teach next week and one about an event I helped with last night.)  
• Then I went into my other job (Horizon Home Health) and helped with chart reviews for a few hours.
• I came home around 6:00 and made dinner, my home teacher came and helped fix our kitchen light (since we have vaulted ceilings and it was tooo tall for us!) and then I worked on the temple schedule over the phone with the new coordinator that I am training.  I went to bed at 9:30 because I had to work at clinical shift the next day.

Wednesday:

• I got up at 4:30 and got ready, read my scriptures and went to work a twelve hour clinical shift (15 hours this time) at AF Hospital at 6:00.  It was another really busy day. We admitted eight patients that day...plus discharged a few. It was a hopping day, but I LOVED my patients that day. They were all so nice and fun to work with. Plus they got an extra nurse to come in and help, so I was able to keep up with my patients, even though it was busy.
• I was going to leave around 8:00 but the night shift was still really busy and needed help, so I stayed until 9:00 to help them get caught up. I came home and had dinner, worked on the schedule again over the phone, and went to bed at 10:00.

Thursday:

• I really, really tried to sleep in. I was exhausted after such a long shift the day before and I knew I would be up late at the temple (plus I am having problems with my feet this winter, I must be getting older, I am not tolerating these long shifts as well...) but I woke up at 6:30 and could not get back to sleep. 
• I got up, studied my scriptures for awhile and then looked over the temple schedule again. The other coordinator actually did it this week (thank goodness!) but it was her first time and so I was reviewing it for her.
• I went into Horizon again for a few hours for a staff meeting and inservice.
• I went to the temple at 3:00. It was a great night. I sure love being a coordinator and working closely with the sisters and the Presidency. I realized as I sat in our meeting that I now know every sister by name (and we have around 60 sisters on my shift). That is surely divine intervention because one of my weaknesses is remembering peoples names.
• At one point I was instructing a sister and the Assistant Matron happened to be near by. She came over to me when I was done and told me that she was grateful for how I took care of things on my shift and then suprised me by saying, "You light up the room when you walk in. I sure love working with you." I got a little teary eyed (I know, me emotional) and thought of how lucky I am to work there. It was a very peaceful evening.  I thought again of how lucky we are to have temples in our lives!
• I got home at 11:00 and read a little bit to wind down before I went to bed.

Friday:

• I actually slept in until 7:45. I was a little worn out from the week. I was going to go back into work for a few hours, but I was over hours because of my long shift on Wednesday, so I decided to stay home and rest. I ended up working from home a little bit, but at least I did not have to go in.
• I actually spent a couple of hours studying about the Last Days/Second Coming in D&C 45 and JS Matt and in the Institute study guides. I had been thinking of how there have been three earthquakes in the past three months and remembering the part in D&C 45:33 that talks about "earthquakes in divers places" and wanted to study more about it. It was fascinating and comforting even as I read about all that will happen as I read and pondered about how the Lord will be with us through all of it.
• I did my laundry, did the dishes, cleaned, paid bills and got ready for the evening.
• At 5:00 I went down to UVU to help with the annual "Chocolate Extravaganza" which is a benefit dinner and fundraiser for Pediatrics and NICU.  It was really neat to help. I helped seat people, helped with the auction and with clean up. It was wonderful to see how generous people were.
• At one point, they were asking for donations to help a teenager who was in the NICU years ago and he now has a non-profit agency where he makes these cute blue stuffed lions for kids. One man said that he would give $1000 if the boy would make all of the lions he was donating red. The boy explained that his minimum order to change the color was $3000.  The man then agreed to the $3000! I was very touched by how generous everyone was in general!
• I got done at 10:00 and came home, read a little again and then went to bed after my busy week.

So, that was my week. I am sure you are all bored to tears by now, but I wanted to remember what I do from day to day at this point in my life.

So now to the P.S...  Since I wrote this post a few weeks ago about my very long and frustrating shift, a few people have asked me if I really like my job. I should have been more clear. Even on the crazy busy days I really love my job. I love working with the patients and families and feeling like I am making a difference in their lives. I love learning from their examples of patience in hard times. I love teaching and training new staff. The problem with the day I wrote about a few weeks ago was that I felt like I didn't make a difference, like I it would almost have been better if I had not been there. Those days are few and far between, thank goodness. Just wanted to put the record straight!