Hobbitsees

Richard Armitage. Need I say more?

"What do you mean? Do you wish me a good morning or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it to be or not or that you feel good this morning or that it is a morning to be good on?"- Gandalf

"All of them at once." - Bilbo Baggins

New Favorite

Relatively clean entertainment (with the ladylike and *in my opinion, authentic hipster* Angela Lansbury).
Discovered on a rainy afternoon with time on my hands.
Also discovered that my mom loved this show in her single days!
Ladies and Gentlemen, "Murder, She Wrote."

Thoughts on Nursing

Christmas Glow

My favorite. Every year.
~having all of the lights out except for twinkly ones that are put up for Jesus' birthday.

Tis the see'son

#itstradition
#eggnogtruffles
#datewithmom:)

Made it!

#onesemesterdown
#bythegraceofGod

Post from a Pupa

Image courtesy of biology.knoji.com

I was asked to describe the overall experience of my first semester of nursing school.
As much as I like to think that I am a writer, I am truly at a loss for the words to describe the experience(s) that have been this semester.

Transformation is the first word that comes to mind.

And what portrays transformation more than God's divine illustration of a butterfly?

This image is a butterfly pupa. Several, actually.
Some are just starting their process of turning into a butterfly, called molting.
"Green", I believe is the term for these newbies in the back.
Some have flown away from their cocoon, having no need for the white shells they left behind.
The one front and center, though, is in the thick of it.

What a pupa has to go through to become a butterfly is, well... Unimaginable. Awkward. Unpleasant.

I wonder if pupae dream about flying in freedom as a butterfly one day, while their entire body structure is bent and broken and grown and put together to perform completely new things.

Because I have "matured" past the stage of believing in talking/thinking animals, I highly doubt this.
It is a nice thought.

But then, pupae don't have to consistently make choices in moving towards butterflydom.
It just happens to them.

For us humans, to make an analogy, our transformation is much more complex.

My current journey is my transformation into a nurse.
And you (on this blog or in real life) are seeing me in my pupa stage. (Talk about humbling.)

Every day there are choices that need to be made to this end. Choosing to study. Choosing to sleep. Choosing to bear another's burden. Choosing to rest in my heart. Choosing to walk into a situation despite fear. Choosing to embrace responsibility.

I couldn't imagine taking each step, making each choice, without a vision for the future.

There is one semester under my belt (well, there will be after this week).
The past three months have been full of experiences, assignments, and considerations of the magnitude of the profession (such a small word to encompass such a profound role) I am training to join.

I think differently. My schedule is more full. My appreciation for being human is greater. My gratitude to Christ and dependency on Him has grown.

These changes may be subtle, but they are real.

I continue to be in the pupa phase of my transformation, but I am much less like a larva.

Only, unlike the insect, God has been good enough to give me a vision for the future. A hope for completion. A goal for the future.

And it is this hope (in knowing Him more and becoming a practicing nurse one day) that sustains me each day that I'm wrestling through the transformation process that is nursing school.

When you let a 5-year-old play games on your phone...

#pinkcamo

The Terrible Lie...

"As soon as the snake saw his chance, he slithered silently up to Eve. 'Does God really love you?' the serpent whispered. 'If He does, why won't He let you eat the nice, juicy, delicious fruit? Poor you, perhaps God doesn't want you to be happy.'... And a terrible lie came into the world..." ~Sally Lloyd Jones, The Jesus Story Book Bible

Party On.

Whenever I see the leaves of fall on the ground, it seems to me that there was a party that I missed out on.

Yet, I still have my own personal celebration walking through the leftover confetti sprinkling the ground in shades of gold and red!

Today's occasion for celebration:

~it's Fall and God has been faithful all through this season, and will be into the next!

~there is no condemnation for me! I am free an loved! (Romans 8:1)

~the blessing of 3 extra hours due to a cancelled class! (Amid my rejoicing, praying for my unwell professor.)

Peace~

image courtesy of flicker.com

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. ~Heb 13:8