Beautiful Day

I have to say that I've been repeatedly inspired by another blog on this website: http://threebeautifulthings.blogspot.com. On that page, a lady from across the big pond writes about 3 beautiful things she experiences everyday. What a great way to look at the world around you - constantly searching for the everyday beauty we so often overlook. Well, some days at work, this is harder than others. Looking out the window at work the last 2 days, I had quite a view - the Capitol & Washington Monument were in clear site. Inside the window was a little different story. To the casual observer, & me for the majority of the two days (I hate to admit), the patient line up was nowhere near as pretty (two severely brain damaged infants - one whose brain activity consisted of multiple seizures each day, and the other who cannot even control his own body temperature). Now to the happy ending . . . I'm ever amazed at the way parents can so frequently find joy in such sad situations. Just watching these parents interact with their children in such difficult circumstances is one of the most beautiful things I can imagine. So, long story short, even though some days you may have to look harder than others, there's ALWAYS beauty around to enjoy. Just keep your eyes (& perspective!) open! :)

Joy Riding

What a beautiful day we had today. Instead of watching (or napping through) an afternoon of football, which often happens on a Sunday afternoon, today I decided to take a little drive. About a month ago, I was reading a David Baldacci book - a great author, by the way - and it mentioned a drive down Route 29 in Virginia. The lady talking about it said that it was a beautiful drive in the fall with all the changing leaves. Well, today I thought I'd give it a look. :) So, I headed out - with my cell phone and map of Virginia for when I got lost! This path takes you through lots of small towns & TONS of single lane roads lined with gorgeous fall trees. It also runs through the Bull Run Battlefield, which brings me to the picture above. When I saw the sign, I thought "why not?" and got out for a walk. There's not a whole lot to see there (at least in the part I visited). I walked around & took some pictures of the pretty scenery. When I got to a muddy patch, I turned around & started driving again. :) (I didn't want to ruin my cute brown shoes!) I continued on until I hit Charlottesville - home of UVA. I wanted to get out & walk around the campus, but I was running out of time. Church starts at 7:30, and I knew I was at least 2 1/2 hours away from there, so I just turned around. Wanting to see different views on my way back, I pulled off at Culpepper. Desperately in need of some coffee since I overslept and didn't have time for any this morning, I used my trusty map and searched for a Starbucks while winding my way through the countryside back to McLean. I did make it back for church, just about 10 minutes late due to a couple of traffic jams on 66. What a wonderful day, and my thought throughout the 6 1/2 hour car joy ride was "What an imagination our Creator has!"

Joys of Travelling

Well, I'm back home now after a wonderful visit back home. For those of you I got to see, it was wonderful to catch up. For those of you I missed seeing this trip, I'm hoping to see you in December when I return for a few more days! :) It was so nice to be back in warmer weather - near 90 today when I left. Let's just say it was NO WHERE NEAR 90 when I arrived (my apartment was ~60 when I got home!!). The only flaw in my trip was that my luggage got to take the scenic route to DC. (which means that they haven't yet located it or gotten it to me - now almost 2 hours after I landed) They changed our gate about 10 minutes befor we started boarding & apparently forgot to inform the ground crew of the change. So, everyone's luggage from that flight is MIA. The silver lining to this is that they are supposed to deliver it to my apartment. I guess God didn't want me to have to carry the heavy suitcases up all those stairs!! Just one more "blessing in disguise" for me. Have a great day!! :)

I'm Coming Home!

Well, I'm getting to go home tomorrow morning. I haven't been back since I left in July - which is a long time for me. :) It will be nice to see everyone again. As usual, the day (at work) before a vacation starts is always CRAZY! Well, today was no different. I had three different assignments before 10:30 this morning. And that was just the beginning. In case you didn't know, I'm a NICU nurse - which means I get to "play" with babies for 36-48 hours each week in the ICU. The last two days were busy with "healthy" (or at least healthy for being in an ICU) babies. :) The patient I ended up with most of today was very sick - so sick, in fact, that she was on a heart/lung bypass machine. Needless to say, this assignment brought great fear! Let's just say I reached my target heart rate SEVERAL times today! :) As my friend at work, Renee, said "You always go out with a bang before a vacation", and boy was she right. All my terror aside (& honestly, at some points, I'm not sure terror was a strong enough word!), I realized what a miracle this is. More importantly, what a miracle life is itself. (Hence the title of my blog.) :) As I studied & tried to learn about the machine, I was amazed at how big it had to be to do the work of the baby's heart (about the size of her balled up fist) and both of her lungs. As I thought about all of this, I was again in awe at the Great God that is my Creator & Savior. He is so amazing in His creations that even the best science/technology comes up with can't even hold a candle to what He created thousands of years ago! Just something to think about. : )

Whoop!

How 'bout them Ags?!? What a come back! :) In case you missed it, the Ags beat Kansas University 21-18 in the last 3 1/2 minutes of the 4th quarter - in spite of 7 or 8 large penalties throughout the game. Well, this Aggie is now officially the queen of technology. Why? Because I got an iPod yesterday AND figured out how to work it. It was a busy day for this technologically challenged person! :) Well, back to college football. Let's all cheer for OU tonight. As we say in Aggieland . . . "BTHO t.u.!!" Gig 'em!

Lazy Days!

I love lazy days. I typically try to have one after a long stretch of days at work - it rejuvinates me. : ) A friend of mine from Dallas refers to them as "jammy days", meaning you just rest ALL day. I grew up calling them "Me Days" - just ask my family. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it?!? Well, today was one of those days. I had planned to be out all day since the water in my apartment was going to be off & on throughout the day as they replaced the boiler in the building - don't even get me started on the flashbacks to "The Shining" (probably the MOST terrifying movie I've ever seen!). But, I had to wait for a phone call from a place in Dallas that didn't actually come until about a quarter til 7, my time. So by then, it was too late to leave because I couldn't miss Grey's Anatomy. Long story short, I had a great day today resting. I guess God wanted me to rest today since yesterday was pretty high on the "stress scale". Well, I guess that's all I have to say today. Have a Terrific Thursday!!