Done, Done, Done, and DONE

Finished my first semester of the program and I could not be happier!!!!!!!!!

Off to a glorious week at the beach!

~BKL

Not What I Thought

I posted earlier about my community clinical, Hagar's House.

Hagar's House is a 30 day emergency shelter for single moms and their children. I have so enjoyed my time there. It has just been so humbling. The moms are so strong. I look at them and see the strength of my great-grandmother. Many of these women, like her, are widows, left to raise a family on their own. Unforeseen circumstances have left them homeless. Things that could easily happen to any of us. This experience has redefined my idea of homelessness. We tend to stereotype the homeless as lazy, unproductive citizens. These women are not lazy. One mom, has seven children. Just like my Ma. Seven lively, healthy, robust children. Children that need food, clothes, and a place to call home. My Ma easily could have become homeless when her husband was killed. She was 35, had never worked, and had seven children. With the help of family and neighbors, she got by. Barely, but she did. These women haven't been so lucky. They have no families.

For five weeks, I have spent time with their children. Amazing, resilient kids. These moms are not lazy, unproductive citizens. They are doing something so incredibly right. They are raising families and teaching them the importance of taking care of one another.


Playing with Nataria.


Destiny's artwork.

Pray with me that these moms find jobs and secure housing for their precious, precious families.

~BKL

Salt, Sand, and Ocean

Two more weeks of classes and one week of finals between me and the ocean.

That sounds so heavenly; however, thats: four hospital clinicals, two community clinicals, twelve classes, three care worksheets, two regular exams, two final exams, a nine page paper, two group presentations, a case study, and four care plans.

Salt, sand, and ocean, please get here soon before I go insane.

~BKL

Jerry, Jerry, Jerry!!

I've been doing a home based clinical at a place called Branan Towers. It's a high rise independent living tower for 62 and olders. Most people who live there are lower income. (Rent is 30% of their income). Anyway, we've been practicing our health history taking and each were assigned two residents.

My first was a sweet sweet lady. She reminded me so much of my Ma. She only made it to the third grade and worked as a farm hand. She had TWELVE kids. Um?!? Ouch. Anyway, her interesting story was that when she was 8, she was thrown off of a mule, and hurt a rib. She said they were too poor to do anything so her mom put a homemade remedy on it and she had to suck it up and go on. When she was having one of those twelve kids her rib moved and punctured her THIRD kidney that she just happened to be born with and she had to have emergency surgery.

The man I was assigned to is hilarious. He loves to read palms so we started off our first meeting with a palm reading. I am going to have two kids, I'm good with money, I have a guardian watching over me, and I have strong ideals, LOL! Any way as we were talking, I noticed a slam toy (those things kids slam that talk) in the shape of a Jerry Springer head. I said "Did you go to the Jerry Springer show?" And he said "Oh yeah, I was on TV!" I said "Oh, cool, you were in the audience and made it on the show?" Oh no. He was a contestant. And you don't even want to know the episode
title.................














Senior Citizens Still Getting Busy.

Yes, indeed. What do you say to that one? Thank goodness we never made it to the sexual history portion of the form...

~BKL

Hagar's House

This week I start my community clinical rotation at Hagar's House.

Here's the link if you're interested, I can never get the clicky type to work.

http://www.ogumc.org/templates/cusoakgroveumc/details.asp?id=35004&PID=672032

It's a 90 day emergency shelter for women and children that is ran by the Decatur Cooperative Ministry and is affiliated with Oak Grove United Methodist Church. I am so excited!

The only downside to this clinical site is that it only operates in the evening/night so that's a bit of a bummer, but I think it'll be worth it!

~BKL

Just wanted to share

that Justin found a job!

It's in his field, which is awesome, and eases the sending of the student loan payments a bit too!

He started today, and it was a long day (6:30-5:15ish, but getting up at 5) in the heat. He has been hired as a project manager, but in order for him to manage well, they want him to understand how long things take which definitely makes sense, soooo he's working with the installation crew for a bit to get a feel for things.

He says it's the hardest he's ever worked and came home covered in dirt from head to toe. He also drank over a gallon of water. I find that crazy! We need to go to SAMs and stock up on sunscreen and Gatorade!

Anywho, thank you all for praying with us that he would find a job. This job was definitely an answered prayer. They weren't even hiring and Justin just happened to find them online and send in a resume and cover letter. The last couple of months have been very hard for us financially and needless to say we've accumulated some debt so we're both happy to be able to start paying on what we owe because we both hate owing others money!

Hope everyone had a Happy Father's Day with your families!
~BK

Let's See

My life is crazy. If you call if a life, lol. Thankfully my husband is the best. He definitely makes my life easier.

Last Friday, I passed my first nursing final and lab practical! Many more to come.

On Saturday, we went to Summerfest, one of the best festivals in Atlanta, with some of my classmates and their SO's. We didn't have any money to buy anything, but the booths were amazing with the neatest stuff. (Imagine pre-fourth x 100). They also had tons of food vendors and live music, including Tonic. It was a blast!

Today I had my first home based clinical, although we didn't really start, we just toured the place and met some of the residents. It's in a high rise tower apartment for 62+. It should be an interesting experience, lol.

This weekend, we're house and dog sitting. I'm so freaking exciting about sitting by the pool, hopefully the weather will cooperate with my plans.

Hope things are good with everyone in our blog circle! Big congrats to J! Check out her blog for her news!! Have a great weekend!

~BK