What Jesus did for us. He died for our sins and was risen from the dead 3 days later.  I find it’s easy to gloss over what Jesus did for us, He died for us. Point taken and appreciated. But this past Sunday at church Pastor John went into a bit of graphic detail of what our Lord and Savior went through before He died.

Jesus submitted to the Father to the point of death and not just any death but death on a cross like a mere criminal. Pastor John explained that our Savior was “scourged” which means whipped in such a way with a specific weapon that would tear flesh from muscle. Personally my stomach turned at the very thought of that.  Jesus was also kicked, mocked and beaten mercilessly. He wore a crown of thorns that was likely beaten into his head.

My Savior Jesus Christ is alive after that horrible death, He was risen from the dead 3 days later, and now He lives! It’s amazing. This is The Gospel, plain and simple. And what is even more amazing is that we now have access to God the Father as well as an advocate with the Father. I think it’s so easy to forget what Jesus had to endure in order for us to be forgiven of every sin. When we focus on Christmas and the gifts and the shopping and yes…Jesus was born on that day it’s skewed to put Him last or in some cases,  not in at all.

It’s taken me three days to write this short post. I don’t know why it was so difficult to write out The Gospel. Probably because it’s not easy to really think about in detail what Jesus went through for us. God is so good !

 

 

 

Tommy and I will celebrate 22 years of marriage today. We were married at 25 so if you do the math you’ll have our ages not that I care to hide how old we are. I think back to how young we were. We had Thomas by the time we were 26 yrs of age so we didn’t have a whole lot of “us/alone time” before we had children. Now that everyone’s older and taken care of we really enjoy being with each other alone, even if it’s a trip to Home Depot and we are young enough to still want to do things that we couldn’t do years ago.

For our 20th Anniversary we went away for the weekend alone to a mountain house resort. It was really nice to be together and just be with each other. This past spring we took a short jaunt to Florida…alone. That was great. The weather somewhat cooperated and we drove just about all over the state visiting beaches and relatives. We had a really sweet time. Since I’m working now I had the pleasure of paying for dinner. I’m not behind sarcastic it really was my pleasure.

For this particular anniversary we went to dinner at a local popular restaurant that I’ve really wanted to dine at. The cuisine was Mediterranean and absolutely delicious not to mention the atmosphere which was soIt was nice, very nice.

We topped the evening off with television in bed, the excitement keeps coming! I’m so glad I married this 17 yr old  guy who never gave up in pursuing me, he made me laugh back then and he makes me laugh now even times when we shouldn’t be laughing.  He’s my lover, my best friend he’s in my soul…

God is so good!

 

The school where I work is a special needs population. There are all kinds of different needs and backgrounds and diagnosis. Some are more intense than others and some students’ needs are greater than others. Sometimes the more fragile looking student is more stable than one who appears “well”. I enjoy my job and interacting with the students and seeing their faces light up and communicating with some that I didn’t think could communicate at all. I’m also appreciating how fragile many students are on the health continuum.

Twice in a week’s time EMS has been called to my school for 2 different students. Both are fine now thank God, but to see them in a crisis was scary. The last one was for a student I was called to the classroom for. When the teacher told me to get there right away I literally ran down the hallway to get there. Thankfully my co worker followed behind me and was very supportive and helpful.

I really wasn’t sure what I signed up for when I was hired for this job. I seriously had no idea how medically fragile these students would be. Situations that in the past would surely have prevented these students from getting any kind of education or related services (speech therapy as well as physical and occupational therapies). The fragility of students varies from school to school, I recently spoke to a few of the nurses I trained with and their populations weren’t nearly as acute as mine.

I’m not complaining about my school I’m more amazed at these students than anything else. I had a conversation yesterday with a young man who has a voiced computer controlled by his eye movements. That was really sweet.

God is so good.

Finally after a year and 7 months of waiting and praying and waiting and finally deciding that things will happen when The Lord wants them to happen…Thomas is moving to his group home!  The big move is planned to take place over Thanksgiving weekend. I can’t think of a better time than that weekend to help make his transition easier.

This process has been dragging on for what seems like forever. People in charge at both the state and local levels not communicating and if they did communicate it was a very slow progression moving forward. Thomas, through it all has been extraordinarily patient. He’s surely gifted. He’s been ready to move since we first told him about the group home so many months ago. God has blessed this child of mine with many gifts; resiliency and patience being two of the most prominent.

Thomas is also already enrolled in a “day program” which is where he’ll go and spend his days from Monday to Friday. I’m hoping there are vocational opportunities for him. We shall see and I’m not worried at all.

It’s on to the fun stuff of moving Thomas his new home and buying bedding and decorating his room the way he wants it. All the residents in this group home have their own room, I’m excited for Thomas as he hasn’t been without a room mate since he arrived at the residential school over 5 years ago. I think he’ll enjoy having his own personal space. He has enough belongings and clothes to fill it up.

God is so good !

 

So I’ve survived my first week of being a school nurse for special needs students. I had a good week I think. I quickly became a pro at hanging gastric tube feedings, emptying an ostomy bag and giving medications by mouth to challenging students who are able to walk on their own but unable to communicate verbally. I’ve also become proficient in figuring out insulin doses for diabetic students. Time management quickly became my priority this week as well as helping out my co workers since they waste no time in offering to help me out.

I am learning from these students. Such as those that upon first impression, you think they aren’t cognizant of your presence or that they might know you. After calling their name and speaking to them they get used to your voice and you start to see a glimmer of recognition and its sweet and nice and humbling. When a student you’ve just met this week refused to talk to you then answers on Friday when you ask what she had for lunch you can’t help but grin.

For the most part I see the medically fragile students but here and there are “walk in” cases and you never really know who’s going to walk through the door with what ailment.This past week I was quickly put to the test, using my nursing assessment and judgement as a guide to treating a few walk ins. I don’t always feel confident in my judgement but that is what will come with time I’m sure.

I feel fortunate to be there.

 

When it’s your first week on the job you want to do everything right and/or in time. I have a set assignment of students who are “mine” and I’m quickly getting to know them as well as the students assigned to the other nurses I work with. It’s a great environment where we help each other, no one says “ well he’s/she’s not mine!” And goes about their business. I’m glad I am where I am and I do believe God has placed me there for a reason. I really like the job and my co workers. It’s also nice to be at a local school and be home by 3:30 ish. Depending on when I leave because there’s always something more to do to keep you there.

I was chatting with one of the staff this morning and this woman happens to also be a mother of 2 special needs sons. They are both blind and are in wheelchairs. We spoke about group homes and how she is not ready to go there with her sons. She’s worried that they won’t receive the same care at a group home compared to how she as their mother cares for them. My heart broke a little at that point. I told her maybe she should pray about the situation and ask for guidance and direction. She confided how she was angry at God for some time after her sons were born but she isn’t angry anymore. I can understand that and appreciate those feelings. We ended the conversation with us both having to get back to work. I hope she does pray about her situation for the God I know will answer her in His time.

Speaking of group homes we are still waiting for Thomas to move into his. My son is so ready, oh man. And he’s been so patient, it’s inspiring. Not once has he complained about how long this process has taken. I’m hopeful that maybe he’ll be in by Christmas?  One can hope.

This may sound silly but I almost can’t wait to go to work tomorrow. I have my own desk that I’ve already printed out pictures of my family to put on;  I bought 2 small non breakable pumpkins to place on there and I get to organize my medication and treatment binder; where all my orders for the students I’ll be caring for are kept. I’m looking forward to organizing the medication binder the way I want it. Right now it’s all together just not the way I want it.

I guess I’m the quintessential “new girl” at the office. I’m looking to organize the huge bulletin board that is currently unorganized. We have a decent sized room thank goodness. I’m not looking to change the world or change the school even.  I want to serve God and care for my students as a child of The Lord.

I’m glad I trained at this school this past week because I was able to become a little familiar with the students assigned to me and also get to know some of the staff. I’m looking forward to getting to really know “my students”.

I’m excited for this new chapter in my life. And I’m reminded that God never wastes hurt or a trial. My history with Thomas and all we’ve been through have prepared me for a job I had no idea was waiting for me. My background experience as a nurse in hospital so many years ago has been useful in ways I never thought it would be.

God is so good.

Wow, I’m so excited!  Today I found out that the school I’ve been training at requested me to be their new nurse!  I won’t be traveling to Manhattan every day (although I was totally ok with it). I’ll be working at the special needs school that Thomas used to attend before he went to residential school. It’s here where I live; my commute is about 20 minutes with traffic!

I’m so blown away by the whole thing. God is so good! I was not expecting this at all. The two other nurses I work with are so great they have no issue with me being new (and neurotic). They have been wonderful in teaching me what I don’t know. Th whole staff have been great. I was chatting with one of the para professionals while caring for a student within the classroom and she asked me if I were staying. I told her no that I would be working in Manhattan starting Monday. She was disappointed that I wasn’t staying; it made me feel so good to be liked.

How I got the job? I mentioned that my son used to attend the school. The nurse I was training with with mentioned that to the new principal. The new principal loved that I was a parent of a former student and requested me to work there permanently. Amazing.

My orientation for the new job is almost over. As far as I know this will be my last week working with more experienced nurses before starting at my assigned school in Manhattan. This week in addition to classroom training I’ll be precepted by nurses here at a local special needs school. Coincidentally it’s the school Thomas used to attend before he went to the residential school.

The nurses there are great. There are  only 2 full time permanent nurses, the other nurse position is being held by an agency nurse. She was great as well. Being so close to home made me wonder if I should or could ask for a position at that school. My commute is 25 minutes including driving around looking for parking. And it was nice to be home so early after work. By then again I do love Manhattan. I don’t love the commute but it’s really not a deal breaker. I’m trusting The Lord will lead me to where I’m supposed to be.

I don’t know if I feel “ready” to be finished with training. Does anybody ever feel ready to be on their own in a new job? I’m definitely ready to report to the same place every day and get a solid routine going. In the past 5+ weeks I’ve been to the East and West sides of Harlem, the lower east side, the upper west side and let’s not forget Long Island City thrown in for good measure with a jaunt to downtown Brooklyn here and there to clear up human resource issues. I’ve become well versed in the NYC subway system with the exception of the lettered trains. I’ve learned which of my shoes to NOT wear because they are certainly not “walking shoes”.  I’ve come to enjoy the ferry ride both to and from Manhattan and I don’t mind the subways. People for the most part leave you alone you just don’t make eye contact that often.

But working so close to home this week makes me wonder if I would accept a position here if offered. I think there are some union issues attached to the job posting; other wise I can’t understand why they wouldn’t offer the job to me or the other woman in my training class who is from my borough. She lives on the “South Shore ” of our little Island. I live on the North Shore which means I’m closer to the ferry and my commute costs less money than hers does.  I believe she takes the Express bus which costs (I think) 7.50 each way.

Anyway…I’m writing this on the ferry and the boat is preparing to dock. I look out the window and the sun is almost up. It was dark as night when I left my house. Good morning to all!

It’s Sunday morning and I’m up early (big surprise), I’ve already had my coffee peacefully and noiselessly except for letting the dogs out and feeding the younger one. Today is church day for me. I really enjoy going to church. I enjoy our Pastor and his passion for Jesus and the Gospel. Every Sunday without fail Pastor John incorporates the Gospel in his messages and I love that. Although it would be strange to go to church and not hear the Gospel. I mean that’s what it’s all about. While we were still sinners Jesus died for our sins and the Father loves us so much that he gave his only son to die on that cross. Simple yet can be complicated.

Complicated because many people refuse the gift of God’s mercy. They refuse for so many reasons, they won’t humble themselves and submit to The Lord, they are insecure and don’t believe they deserve such mercy, the list can go on and on. I used to be one that refused to humble myself to The Lord. I thought I could do everything on my own in my own power. Little did I know God was orchestrating my life. Placing each person in my path for my good while trying to raise my children, especially Thomas.

Today and everyday I submit to God. I know His son died for me so I can have a relationship with The Father and I am so grateful. Knowing He goes before me in every aspect of my life is so comforting, even through the storms.

I remember last year when my father in law passed. My own Dad was diagnosed with liver and colon cancer and my mom diagnosed with bladder cancer. It was a terrible time, but God did something only He could do; He wrapped me in His love. I seriously never felt so loved in all my life, that was The Lord guiding me through the storm.

The Gospel is so powerful. It can change your life. If you let go and accept the free gift called mercy. If you submit your life to The Lord and know without Him in your life you’re lost.

I’m going to get ready for church now so I can hear a wonderful uplifting message from Pastor John and leave knowing I worship a God who loves me.