patience is a virtue... I don't have it.

I read this scripture and I like it a lot... what do you think?

"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may LIVE A LIFE worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way; bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and PATIENCE, and JOYFULLY giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has RESCUED us from the DOMINION of DARKNESS and brought us in the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of Sins." 1 Colossians 1: 9-14

I just think that's an awesome passage. I definitely need to work on living life to please God in every way and bearing the fruit I was blessed with. I know patience is not my fruit of the spirit... that's FOR SURE! I am so impatient! I hate that.... but I have tried to control it and there just is no controlling it. We all know that if we pray for patience, God will give us something to be patient about. Let me TELL YOU... I know that most certainly is true.


First few days of classes... CHECK! Completed...

I think I am going to like this semester. It is definitely going to be a lot of reading and work... but I think I will like all my classes. I have Pharmacology, Common Health Problems (those are my 2 nursing classes..) and Short Fiction, and Philosophy of Religion are 2 of the final 4 general elective courses I have left in my college career. LOL!


Well... that's all I have for right now... let me know what you think about the passage I posted.. any different thoughts on it??

WHEW! Sigh of relief... and now back to the real world!

YAY FOR 2008 and the beginning of a New Year!!!!

Unfortunately... all good things bust come to an end. I go back to Wesleyan on Tuesday morning....

This break has been WONDERFUL! I've got to spend time with my family, friends I haven't seen or talked to in months, Matt and his family... it has just been so great. It was definitely much needed! I love being home.. and yet I love living away from home... it's kind of weird. I don't realize how much I miss home until I've been here awhile or I've been gone for a month or more.

Christmas was fabulous this year. I got some much needed things... a Brita water pitcher, a cell phone car charger, fabulous boots...vera bradley planner, notebook and pencils, cd player alarm clock, an old school SEGA GENESIS WITH SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!!!! :-) Saved By The Bell, E.R., and Grey's Anatomy seasons on DVD, Ray Lamontagne, Stevie Wonder, and Frank Sinatra CDS... and plenty more wonderful things... but the most precious to me was the ring that my parents go for me. There are 3 opals... 2 small ones which were my grandmother (dad's mom) whom I never met. They were her earrings.. and the bigger middle opal was my mom's.. in a necklace. She had all the stones put into a ring setting. The setting is beautiful. It is very antique looking. I LOVE IT!!!Sorry, it's a little blurry...

This break has also been a refresher in my spiritual life... I've been able to sort of take a breather and realize how important God needs to be in my life. He needs to be number one... and I know this... but we all know that being human, sometimes putting God first is not the easiest thing in the world AT ALL! I love that we can have refreshers in our walk with God. That He can just open our eyes and make us realize just how AWESOME He truly is, and just how much we need Him in our lives. He has made me realize that I need to be thankful for TODAY. I have always struggled with that so much. I am always looking forward to the next chapter of my life. Always looking forward instead of just enjoying the moment. I need to enjoy this chapter of my life and realize that God has me here for a reason. He created this chapter and He is in charge. I need to make a difference now instead of wondering and thinking about the future differences I will make. I need to bless the people around me right now, and be blessed by the people in my life right now.
All of this is so easy to type on a blog to the world... but not as easy to live by. I wish it was this easy. I guess it's just a constant issue I need to work on and pray about.

So Tuesday is back to the grind... back to nursing school, working in admissions, piano, friends :-), and studying. I'm actually kind of anxious to get back and get into the routine of things. I started weight watchers on my own and I am anxious to get back and get into an exercise routine at the nautilus everyday and to make more time for God everyday. To see friends and make more new friends.

Hope everyone had a marvelous holiday and a great beginning of a wonderful new year!!!



I'll leave you with some pictures of this holiday season!

My brothers and I on Christmas day... Kraig and Kevin.Kadence lookin' all cute in her Uncle Kevin's hat... she is getting so big! LOVE HER! Kraig, Jamie and Kadence... such a cute little family! :-)
Matt and I on New Year's Eve at Skye's house!

Can't wait to see what 2008 has in store for me!

With Love,
Katy

Nursing School

WOW! It has been a long time since I have updated this! So... here goes nothing!

So I have officially completed my first semester of nursing school at West Virginia Wesleyan!

first day of clinicals at St. Joseph's Hospital... that's my friend Bria with me.

Not only have I completed the school aspect... but I have lived away from home for the first time, lived with a roommate for the first time, and been away from Matt for long periods of time... It has been a crazy 4 months... I have learned a lot, I have grown a lot, and I have learned a lot about myself that needs to change. I have grown into more of an adult, and acted childish and immature.

The first few weeks of school were a little emotional. Here I was in this completely new place. I only knew a few people... I had no idea where anything in town was, where any of my classes were.... nothing. It was like being thrown into this whole new life and being completely lost. I was so used to relying on others that I did not know what to do. So, the first week went by and I made new friends... got acquainted with how the classes were going to be and frankly... went on an emotional roller coaster. At first I loved being away from home... and then I hated it... and then I realized it was okay again. I hated not being able to see Matt as often... and some days not getting to talk to him but only once. I loved making new friends... but I hated not having any alone time for myself. Living with someone is very difficult. I get along great with my roommate and I like her a lot! we have gotten closer throughout the semester and it has been fine! But ... I am a person who has to have my own space. I have to have my own time to myself. When I am upset I like to be alone... and that does not always get to happen.

I tried a couple different churches this semester. I began in a church that I was not entirely comfortable with..... at all. I went for 2 weeks and decided it most definitely was not for me. The next week I tried the local Christian Missionary and Alliance church. It has been great. I have been going there ever since... (on the sundays that I am there and not at home or at Matt's church...) so in reality I have only been like 5 or 6 Sundays... but all of those have been great! I like the people a lot and the pastor is very good and very nice.

I am still making friends and trying to grow in my spiritual life and discover who I really am. Towards the mid to end of the semester I was really struggling with myself and knowing who I am... and not entirely enjoying who I was becoming. The stress of the nursing classes and classes in general was really getting to me. I was not making time to spend with God and I still struggle with making and finding that time.... and I was not having time for myself to exercise. For 2 weeks I was doing really well.. and then it all went downhill. I got so busy with school that I could not focus on myself and my health. I find that I do this to myself quite often. I hate that about myself... I hate that I get into a routine for about 2-3 weeks and then give up. It's like an endless cycle of caring and then not caring! I just want to always care and always make time for God, and exercise and alone time!

So here it is Christmas break... I am done with my first semester... and I realize I am only half way done with college. I have 2 and a 1/2 years to go.... 5 more semesters. That really just blows my mind... part of me wants to be done soooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOO badly... the greater part of me that is... and the other part of me wants to stay in college for awhile longer because I know that in reality I am so not ready for the "real world" lifestyle. I guess I should just live for this moment right now.... this moment that I am sitting here on my computer writing to a world who probably does not care.... or will never read this at all... or those of you who do care and are reading this because you are my friends and family and are saying to yourself " I already know all this...." thanks. LOL!

I love being home. I love this time of year... I find myself getting very nostalgic this time of year. I think back to my childhood when all I wanted was to be with my family and open presents... or my teen years and when all I cared about was if I was getting the new Hanson CD that I asked for.... or the new *Nsync poster to plaster on my wall. I think back to all the fun toys... but more importantly I think of how far I have come. I think about my family and all the changes we have seen. I love my family so much. Although it always seems like there is something going on.... it keeps us all on our toes and makes us realize that God is the most important thing. That God needs to be our focus... and that He is the ONLY thing that will keep us together, keep us sane, and HE is the reason for the season!

I hope I did not bore you all too much... just a little update about my life!!!!

Here are some pictures from the past 4 months of my life.....

This is my friend Bria. She is in my nursing class... we are attached at the hip with all the same classes and being good friends and all. :-) and this is how we felt about Health Assessment class within the first week....

This is Amber. She is Bria's roommate and my good friend as well! This was in Pittsburgh at Dave and Buster's for her 19th Birthday!
This is my bed.... Mr. Chicken is my friend :-) Matt got it for me 2 Christmas' ago! LOL

This is my desk... if only it were always this neat and tidy!! haha!
This is pretty much the rest of our room.... with the exclusion of Sara's desk to the right of that yellow shelf.... LOL



December 2, 2007
Matt and I celebrating our 2 Year Anniversary at The Melting Pot in Pittsburgh. It was AMAZING! Everyone should go there. The best food I have ever had!

These are just a few blips of the past 4 months.... soooo much more has happened... But I just wanted to update you all on what's been going on.. as if you already didn't know!!


Love,
Katy

WORKING STINKS! (literally!)

Oh my goodness!! I am SOOOO exhausted!! I can't believe I'm actually going to say this... are you ready for it?!...
I AM SO READY FOR SCHOOL TO START!!!! I do not want to work 41 hours AGAIN next week! It's my last week of SUMMER!!!! Okay okay, I know I won't be complaining whenever I get my check, however, working 41 hours is NO FUN!!! Let alone being so excited to move, and having to pack all my stuff next week as well, oh yeah, when I'm not at work, or trying to spend time with visiting family, or trying to see all my friends before I leave for awhile. It's going to be a crazy week that's for SURE! But I'm pretty pumped about school, and starting new experiences and meeting new friends ( I feel like I've mentioned this in practically all my blog entries lately...)! I know I shouldn't complain about working because I did ask my boss to give me full time hours for the last 2 weeks (considering I was down to about 7 hours one week!!!) so as to have SOME spending money when I go away to school to be able to afford gas to get home every so often to see my family and my boyfriend!! I know... you get what you ask for... SOMETIMES!

Well, I'm off to shower from the nasty long day at work and packing today! WHEW!!!

Check out my pretty AWESOME bedding I got at KOHL's for my dorm room! I'm pretty pumped about it! It's called Amore... ooo lala! HEHE! love it!

VACATION!!!!!

So, I just got back from vacation!! YAY!!!!

I left Monday evening with my wonderful friend Tess B. and we headed to a city right outside of Baltimore, MD.. the city of Dundalk. Tess' aunt, uncle, and 2 cousins live there and we decided to go on a mini vacation and see her family and spend some time in the Inner Harbor Baltimore. I love it there! It is so nice. So, we headed out on Monday evening. We arrived late that night and pretty much just crashed.
We woke up Tuesday morning and her Uncle, Cousin Becky, Tess, and I hoped in the car and made the 2 and a 1/2 hour trip to Ocean City, MD. We spent the entire day on the boardwalk and the beach. We had an old time picture taken and just spent some time in different shops and things.
We tried on these goofy hats and sunglasses in the kite shop. It was pretty funny. We swam in the ocean for a couple hours and laid on the beach for a little bit. Then we got some Thrasher friends and We played some skee ball in the arcade. I did WAY better than i thought I would considering it's been quite sometime since I have played. A funny story from skee ball... after I was done spending my $3.00 limit of quarters I set for myself I pulled off what I thought was my very long strand of tickets from the old rusted skee ball ticket machine right beside me to my right.... well...the boy beside me gave me a kind of funny look.. but I didnt think much of it, and waited for Tess to get done with her skee ball games. She grabbed her tickets FROM HER LEFT. and I suddenly realized why the boy beside me had given me such a weird, disturbed kind of look before. I TOOK HIS TICKETS!!!! HAHAHAA!!! oops! After hour skee ball session, and our Thrasher fries, we headed back to her aunt and uncle's house and crashed for the night.

Wednesday morning we woke up and headed to the Inner Harbor. We went straight to the Aquarium because we weren't sure how long we would need to go all the way through the aquarium and see all the exhibits. As we begin walking around the aquarium, we realized that for some CRAZY reason, every single parent on the face of the Earth, and every kid summer camp decided to bring the kids out for a nice day at the aquarium. Now, I absolutely love children. I mean, I think it is what I want to do with my life, be a pediatric nurse! However, after walking around for approximately 15 minutes at the kid infested National Aquarium, I pretty much made the decision that I never wanted to have children. The reasonS being that, Kids these days seem to have NO care for rules, or other people, or what their parents say! I mean, I know that when I was a child I didn't always want to do what my parents told me to, and at times I am sure I threw a little hissy fit, but I always did it. Kids these days just completely ignore their parents, disobey, and through complete and utter tantrums when they don't get their way!!! I can't believe how parents just give in to whatever their child wants! And the kids would just push you out of the way and squeeze right through you to get to what they wanted to see, and then the parents were all running around trying to watch where their kid was. Tess and I went through that aquarium so fast, we saw a few things we wanted to see after pushing our way through the masses of children, and adults with HUGE metal backpacks on their backs with little children hanging on for dear life. I HATE those stupid backpacks and I HATE those leashes parents put on their children. However, I do confess that after seeing all the kids running around, I can understand how every parent in their would want to put their child on a leash! It was CRAZY!

Alright, enough of my ranting. I do want to have children someday... but not for a VERY VERY long time. I can only pray that my children have the fear of disappointing their parents, or the fear of getting in trouble like Tess and I were talking about ourselves having when we were youngins'.

So we made our way to the dolphin show at the aquarium. Seeing the dolphins took me back to my younger days of the couple years I wanted to be a MARINE BIOLOGIST! Then I thought back to the one biology class I had at WVU, and instantly decided that I had better stick with getting through Nursing School. haha!

After the rendezvous with the flipping dolphins, we headed to LUNCH! We decided that since neither of us had ever been to the Cheesecake factory that we should try it out. OOOOOO MMMMYYYY GOOOODDDNEESS have I been missing out! The food was AMAZING, the drink I had was AMAZING, and after eating our lunch we had no room for cheesecake at that moment.

so we decided to go back after a few hours of shopping and get our slice of cheesecake.
I got the original with strawberries on top. It was soooooooo good!

After our long day at the harbor, her uncle picked us up and we headed back to their house for a crab feast dinner! i was SOOOOO Excited to have Maryland crabs! i hadn't had crab for 2 years, the last time we went to the beach! I was so pumped! i ate 3 crabs! Immediately after, I became sooooo sick! I guess the combination fo not having seafood for a long time, and the amount of food I had eatin' that day hit me. I was so stuffed, and my stomache was NOT happy. I took some of that great tasting chalk called, Pepto Bismol, and went right to sleep. I woke up the next morning feeling much better, but it was not a fun night before I fell asleep! whew!

Tess and I woke up the next morning and headed back home. we stopped at Haggerstown Prime Outlets. With the little money I had left, I began entering the shops, and leaving empty handed. As Tess and I walked around the corner after going through about 10 shops. Before my eyes, I saw a heavenly sign. THe sign read "VANS outlet". OOO MY! I told Tess I was going there, and she said "alright, call me when you're done". About an hour or so later, maybe 45 minutes... a LONG time though... I called Tess and said "I just left the VANS store. Where are you?" She was like "WHAT!?" Let's just say that it is a VERY good thing that the VANS outlet is not close to Morgantown, WV, because I would be constantly BROKE. I bought a new pair of shoes, matt a new pair of shoes, a pair of jeans, a scarf, and a long sleeve shirt all for the price that I would have paid for one pair of shoes at the regular VANS store or at a store here in Morgantown. They were having a HUUUGE sale. It was amazing!

We finally made it home from our very busy trip. It was a blast!

So today, Matt and I headed up to Pittsburgh, PA to go to Kennywood amusement park. It was not busy at all, and we pretty much had everything rode in a few hours. So, we rode our favorite rides 2 or 3 times. it was a lot of fun!

Well, this is getting pretty long. My vacation week was GREAT! I had a good time! Now, back to work for 2 weeks, and then off to Wesleyan to be very busy studying all the time!


Katy