Here in America, if you're watching TV, you're likely watching the "Help For Haiti Now" telethon which is on just about every channel.
CMT News:
Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief has announced the addition of new musical artists and celebrity participants to its lineup -- with Beyoncé in London, Madonna in New York City, and Haitian artist Emeline Michel in Los Angeles.
The telethon will air Friday (Jan. 22) at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
Madonna, Beyoncé and Michel join the previously announced lineup: Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Shakira and Sting (in New York City), Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift, and a group performance by Keith Urban, Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow (in Los Angeles) and Coldplay and a group performance by Bono, the Edge, Jay-Z and Rihanna in London.
In addition to the musical performances, Wyclef Jean, George Clooney and CNN's Anderson Cooper will be joined by former President Bill Clinton, Ben Stiller, Brad Pitt, Chris Rock, Clint Eastwood, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jon Stewart, Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, Nicole Kidman, Robert Pattinson, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hanks, Will Smith with Muhammad Ali and more than 100 of the biggest names in film, television and music.
Music performances from Hope for Haiti Now will be available for purchase and download at the iTunes Store. Beginning on Friday (Jan. 22), iTunes customers will be able to exclusively preorder both the Hope for Haiti Now full performance album ($7.99) and the full two-hour video telecast ($2.99). Preorders will be delivered in the days following the telethon. Individual audio performances will also be available for purchase and download for 99 cents each in the days following the telethon. Apple, the record labels and the artists will donate their share of the proceeds to Haiti relief funds managed by Hope for Haiti Now charities.
Hope for Haiti Now performances will also be available for purchase on AmazonMP3 and Rhapsody, with distribution provided by INgrooves. Proceeds from those purchases will also benefit Haiti relief funds managed by Hope for Haiti Now charities.
Hope for Haiti Now will benefit Oxfam America, Partners in Health, the Red Cross, UNICEF, United Nations World Food Programme, Yele Haiti Foundation, and the newly-formed Clinton Bush Haiti Foundation. Proceeds from Hope for Haiti Now will be split among each organization's individual funds for Haiti earthquake relief. With the exception of the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, each partner organization was selected for its history of operation and collaboration within the NGO community in Haiti.
Hope for Haiti Now will air across ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1, CMT, PBS, TNT, Showtime, COMEDY CENTRAL, Bravo, E! Entertainment, National Geographic Channel, Oxygen, G4, CENTRIC, Current TV, Fuse, MLB Network, EPIX, Palladia, SoapNet, Style, Discovery Health, Planet Green, CNN en Español, HBO Latino, and Canadian networks including CBC Television, CTV, Global Television and MuchMusic.
In addition, the event will be live streamed online globally across sites including YouTube, Hulu, MySpace, Fancast, AOL, MSN.com, Yahoo, Bing.com, BET.com, CNN.com, CMT.com, MTV.com, VH1.com and Rhapsody and on mobile via Alltel, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and FloTV. Hope for Haiti Now will also air internationally on BET International, CNN International, National Geographic and MTV Networks International, which is available in 640 million homes worldwide. Hope for Haiti Now will be available non-exclusively to all terrestrial radio stations around the globe and Sirius XM Radio as a one-time-only radio broadcast via the MTV Radio Network and Westwood One.
Hope for Haiti Now will begin accepting donations Friday (Jan. 22) at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT via the following methods: Online: http://www.hopeforhaitinow.org Phone: (877) 99-HAITI Text: Text "GIVE" to 50555 Mail: Hope for Haiti Now Fund, Entertainment Industry Foundation, 1201 West 5th Street, Suite T-700, Los Angeles, CA 90017
You've all read the news, seen the photos, viewed the footage on the evening news. Haunting, absolutely devastatingly haunting. Read these journals by Dr. Mark Hyman for the Huffington Post if you want a raw, true account. Unbelievable, isn't it?
All the photos, the videos, they can be heavy, but then again, we know our God is touching these people in amazing ways. Unfortunately, some of us are apathetic - it's easy to ignore a disaster that hit miles and miles away - and others don't believe in hope for one reason or another, but beneath the dead bodies, orphaned children, and moonlight tears, there is this:
h o p e
Barely past a week ago, a small country woke up. The people began their daily routines. Perhaps like you and I did this morning? They went about their days. Most were in poverty, but they tried to make ends meet. Little did they know what the next few hours held for them: an earthquake, striking their entire country into ultimate devastation.
Who says that couldn't have happend to us? We wake up every day expecting a normal day. Unfortunately, disaster can, and does, strike. These beautiful people could have been us. They could have been you, me, our parents, friends, coworkers...
Let these images from LIFE speak for themselves. Click to see the image bigger so you can see every bit of desperation, charity, teamwork, hope, and defeat. (Yes, there are graphic images, but challenge yourself to come out of your comfort zone and really see what these people are going through.)
I know how so many of us feel hopeless when we see the magnitude of such a disaster, so many miles away. We're here, they're there. We can't bring water, help build housing, or carry orphans to orphanages in the US. We can't even hold them while they cry, wipe away their tears.
These global catastrophes really make my problems seem so small. My heart reaches out to these people, and below I'll list some ways I'm helping. I'd love it if you'd join me! We call can give up that cup of coffee or extra cute shoes. :) The best part? Everyone can help. A simple prayer could make a difference or save a life. If you want to donate money, it doesn't have to be a lot! Read this piece by Suze Ornman - Even your spare change can inspire someone else to give, to help these poor devastated people. A very good place to donate your money is Compassion International. They're a Christian group that connects me with my "adopted" (sponsored) daughter in Nicaragua. Millions of people, through Compassion, sponsor needy children in the most desolate areas. I've been with them for nearly a year, and this group is high up on those lists that rank how much of your money actually goes to charity (as in, not the CEO's bank account). Many of the sponsors had children in Haiti, so this is extra devastating to all of us. Some sponsors are without the children they've helped raise through donations that provided learning, clean food/water, safety, etc. Very sad.
Another site I'm really looking at is Hope for Haiti. It's a site where one woman's great idea turned into earning thousands of dollars for Haiti. Each post has something from a sponsor company (jewelry, gift certificate to their store, cosmetics, blog redesign, experiences, you name it) and each item has a raffle. Buy as many "raffle tickets" as you'd like, and you might win the item you want! All items are donated, and all profits go to Haiti. Who said one person couldn't change the world?
Please do something. Do many things, or do one thing. Say a prayer, or pray every day. Everything counts for these precious people. This could have happened to anyone...
I can't believe I haven't posted in 2 weeks! Of course a lot of things have happened. I'll post on them later as I get pictures done, thoughts together, etc., but today was a big day for me. Today, I went back to school, spring semester, to get through one more semester of clinicals. So far, this has been not one bit easier than last semester was when I found the strength to return in the first place. It's actually harder because I spent a couple of my Christmas break weeks sick with different things, and right now I am just feeling run-down and exhausted.
But like a new friend of mine said, "Not trying to play was never an option."
So today, I went to school and tried. I almost fell asleep several times (and that was on the stimulants I have prescribed) and I wondered on about two dozen various occassions, "When did we ever cover that?" (Answer: "Duh, Amanda, when your brain was in a zillion pieces after your car accident.") I left feeling inadequate, unprepared, and too weak mentally to get going in our only 5-credit hour clinical (aka, this class counts, and for a lot!)
Tomorrow, I'll try again, and I will next Monday, too. And even when I have my first clinical - 12 1/2hours with a one hour drive each way - I will continue to try with all of my heart.
My plan is, if I try my hardest until our first exam and if I just cannot grasp all the information when I'm suffering with this much pain (the last 3 weeks have been unbelievable), then I will drop the course and wait to start Geriatrics/Rehab in March. It's a full clinical day and two days of lecture, but after a break of a few weeks, it shouldn't be anything to worry about.
But I'm a pusher, I'm a trier, nothing unlike me there. Just this time, this is a bigger try than I like to have. This is a try out of my comfort zone, but try I still will.
Tonight, I felt like coming home and ripping my biggest class out of my schedule but then I thought how carefully it was placed there probably by God himself. I was able to get a coveted seat in the program, I was able to get my 1-day (vs. 2) clinical, and although it's too far to drive to, I also nailed a rare spot at the Cleveland Clinic - a wonderful place to learn. This goes for 7-8 weeks and then I begin the next rotation, and I'm balancing 2 online courses on top of it. Online classes have the technology now to accomplish anything you can in a classroom, which means "online classes are such a joke!" no longer applies. In fact, I wish I was only taking clinicals and no other classes because it's a lot to balance. Or the comparatively easy road - just online classes and no lecture/clinical. Will I ever feel "up" to clinicals? I really want to hope so! And by all means, if I had that promise in front of me today, I'd stop what I was doing, move this clinical out of my way to take later, and do whatever else I could to fill the time between then and now. But I'm a realist. I can't sit and shovel the same classes around and around in circles for the end of time. I sort of did that with Human Physiology. A poorly timed class (literally and figuratively!) and a terrible professor left me with two "withdrawls" on my transcript, which anyone in acadamia will warn "Withdrawls are the curse!" but really, if you're holding a strong GPA, employers don't really care. At least in this field, my field, nursing.
I should have known when I had a nice week or so during break that it would be gone soon. I did know it, though, I really did. It was so amazing to feel capable of breathing air in a somewhat sustainable pattern, and I tried to hold onto those moments until spring semester would dance before my eyes.
So today was Day 1. What I really want to do is scream, "Okay, I DID it, I TRIED!!! Are you HAPPY now?!?!?!" as I fiercely throw my course materials to the wind and literally remove my name from the roster. BUT. The word try is inspiring me, as are the words of my friend Tom Golarz, so I will try. Like it or not. And I will try tomorrow. Over the weekend. Monday, and then Tuesday, first clinical. More lectures, clinicals, then Exam 1. Then we shall re-evaluate all the components, all the issues, all the pros and cons. Because if you left it to me, I'd follow my heart. I'd have taken this course a year ago and might be dead from what all these strenuous courses have stolen from me, but at least I'd have the one thing I know I worked harder than anyone else in the world to obtain.
And even if I don't have that, I do have the one I know God made just for me, and quite honestly, that's the only thing I need. God, and my soulmate.
Does that make all the previous irrelevant? No! Would I be lost without what I believe is my true calling? Yes! The degree to be a nurse is a huge need as well, something our society interlaces with achievement, success, and in my case, safe patient care. Nurses are vital to healthcare reform, for spontaneous nursing care, to perform in-depth techniques, to mediate, to guard, to give hope to the hopeless. One day I'll get there, but for the point I'm trying to make here, I can't say my life honestly depends on whether or not I take a few more courses to get me a license to get me a job.
We all can make someone smile every day.
We all can do something big every day.
Isn't that what matters most?
We'll all be okay.
I've never met anyone else with the same liver disease I have. Never. My doctor assures me there really are other patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis - afterall, she treats many of them - but most of the time, it seems I'm the only one in the world with this awful curse. PSC is commonly diagnosed in one's 40s, next commonly in late-teens, early-20s. It's so much easier to think of older people suffering from this, not the five year old I was when I was diagnosed, or the more common whole-life-ahead-of-me teenager.
Then Dad found an article in Thursday's (12/31/09) USA Today and saved it for me...
Clock's always ticking for Penn State senior
- Mike Lopresti Gannett
He was 17 when the diagnosis came. Primary sclerosing cholangitis, the rare liver disease that killed Walter Payton.
Now Tom Golarz is a Penn State senior, a walk-on who has worked his way into playing time, an economics major with graduation ahead. And then what? Many active years, he hopes. A liver transplant someday to save his life, he figures.
But before a future with no guarantees, one last college football game.
The bowl sprinkle becomes a deluge in coming days, and nearly all the players will be more famous than Golarz. None will be more appreciative of the moment.
"It's hard to sum up how it feels to come to the end," he said over the phone from Orlando, where Penn State will play LSU in the Capital One Bowl on Friday. "I think I'll have a better understanding of what it means to me five or 10 years down the road."
Golarz will be on the Nittany Lions' kickoff and punt-return teams, as usual. No walk-on at a national powerhouse has an easy road to the playing field, since about seven dozen scholarships are given out to more highly prized prospects.
So what about the defensive end who twice during his college career needed a tube put down his throat to clear his bile duct?
Who understands that the current definitive treatment for many with his condition is a liver transplant, and that Hall of Famer Payton outran NFL defenders for years but could never outrun this, losing the fight at age 45?
"I assume they found out about his disease later in his life," Golarz said of Payton. "Comparing it to my situation, I guess, gives me a little bit of hope that I've caught it so early and maybe have a chance that I can really stay on top of it."
But the clock ticks for this, just as it does at the stadium.
"A transplant," he said, "is probable at some point in my life."
He hopes a new treatment will pop up in time to help, hopes it never gets as far as a transplant.
A lot of hope in this Nittany Lion's life.
One college offered Golarz a football scholarship. Instead, he decided to walk on at Penn State with dreams of Big Ten Conference football, since he had two brothers play at Northwestern.
"What it came down to is, I don't know how this disease is going to go," he said. "So sometimes selfishly, I think I want to do the things that make me happy."
Right at the top would be playing football for Penn State. The 6 a.m. workouts during the offseason? No problem. More wind sprints? Done.
"In comparison with some of the other things I've had to do in my life," Golarz said, "that's not asking too much."
Some days, the wall he hits by nightfall is harder than granite.
But not trying to play was never an option.
"When I first got (the diagnosis), I struggled a lot with 'Why me?' " he said. "I'm 17. I'm not supposed to hear about life and death and be thinking about 30 yards down the road getting a liver transplant. That took a long time to get over.
"I'm now in the position where maybe using it to get awareness of this disease could help. Maybe that's why God dealt me this card, where I could help other people. I like to think of it that way."
LSU will be a dangerous opponent Friday for Joe Paterno. He has a special-teams player who knows of one worse.
We are all Penn State fans around here - It's Poppop's alma mater, and he is the truest, most loyal, diehard PSU fan you could ever imagine. And I guess I'm technically not a fan, but I definitely would be if I cared even the least bit about football. :)
I can't believe what this kid is doing, and the hope he has is amazing. I'm excited someone like this (and even someone like Walter Payton) can use his growing fame to raise awareness, perhaps fund research, catalyze the movement we need to find a treatment option that isn't the enormous risk of an invasive liver transplant. The nurse and patient in me wants to yell at him for playing (playing a contact sport? this contact sport?! are you kidding me?!) but I'm guessing he's been passionate about this sport for his whole life - Telling a 5 year old to avoid contact sports is different than telling someone who has lived and breathed football for 17 years that they need to immediately stop playing. Sure, the right impact could rupture his spleen, and combined with other factors, cause him to bleed out before they even got him into an ambulance, but I don't think his story is going to end that way.
He has too much hope, and his realization of the need for awareness is just too promising. I wonder if he'll go pro - if he'll take that risk - and what else he'll do down the road. But most of all, I hope he makes it. I hope we all make it.
2009 wasn't the worst year ever, but it wasn't the best either. I'm all about reflecting and want to give the year a proper goodbye, an adequate tribue to the time of my lifetime I spent in its grasp.
In 2009...
I hit the wall hard.
I left babysitting to take up nannying.
I went to Disney World with my parents and sister!
I lost my precious Nana.
I almost got another puppy.
I did make one cent of government-taxed income.
I tried.
I upgraded to a flat screen TV and Blu-Ray player!
I bought a new desk that I absolutely love.
I did not scrapbook.
I did two separate runs of physical therapy.
I was hospitalized twice, went to urgent care once.
I went to 93 medical appointments.
I inserted my first IV.
I experienced pediatric and obstetric nursing.
I failed a paper.
I had two car accidents in one day.
I found a name for the pain.
I went to Florida with my mom.
I had a total of seven different carseats in my car.
I bought three Coach bags and received one for an Easter gift.
I cried harder than I'd ever cried before.
I had too many panic attacks to count and three or four nervous breakdowns.
I made out.
I attended one kindergarten graduation, one college graduation, one awards ceremony, zero weddings, one funeral, and several birthday, movie, and game parties.
I had my birthday party/dinner at Bravo! Cucina.
I tipped one waitress less than 20%.
I missed someone thousands of miles away.
I sold a ton of things on Craigslist and gave lots of things away on Freecycle. (And bought/picked up lots, too!)
I discovered oncology nursing.
I promised I would not watch American Idol.
I watched every episode of American Idol.
I had a little penpal.
I fell even deeper in love.
I saw Santa twice. Three times if you count my uncle donning a Santa suit.
I completed more pre-transplant tests than I ever had before... then my insurance denied progression. Good thing: my liver is not that bad yet. Bad thing: waiting some more.
I watched someone shatter my heart and still try every single day to put the pieces back together.
I was "ill" sick (not directly related to my chronic conditions) six times. (One time in January, one time in the May, and four times during Fall semester)
I went to four new doctors.
I smiled.
I adopted a precious little girl in Nicaragua.
I savored.
I fell asleep with a newborn in my arms.
I pleaded.
I cleaned up puke, poop, pee (all both dog and human!), blood, wine, and even the entire inside contents of a ripped-open Beanie Baby.
I purchased nothing on the shopping channel but a huge amount of things online.
I overdrew my checking account three or four times, all accidentally of course. One of the times, I used crying, relentless begging, and a few references to get the fees removed. Oh, and I promised to start keeping a ledger. I have kept every other promise I've ever made in my life. ;-)
I was fired, and I quit.
I endured.
I made many big decisions.
I went to five concerts (two FFH, Brandi Carlile, Taylor Swift, Colbie Caillat), one Disney on Ice, two or three Cavs games, one Broadway play (Wicked), and one Akron Aeros game.
I lived.
I loved.
Seemingly not too bad of a year, but the heavy stuff overshadowed any glimmer of hope. Illness. Death. Pursuing something outside of my strength. Anxiety. Changes. Second guesses. So in 2010, I hope things start getting better. They could get worse, yes, but I think this is the year I need to build the bridge I need to get to the other side. I'm feeling really optimistic. I'm also feeling scared beecause I know 2009 about killed me, and 2010 will be even more intense, but that's the way it has to be if I ever want to get out of this rut. So I'm feeling optimistic, but scared out of my mind. Not so much scared of the unknown as scared how I'm going to get through. But I always do - I have God, a fiance, an amazing family, fabulous friends... if nothing else, I have so much support behind me. (I am also feeling grateful.)
In 2010...
I will bust my butt completing 2 semesters of school/clinicals and whatever I decide to do during the summer to "advance my education" (aka, graduate)
I will make a definite wedding date that we really can commit to. (Health insurance, money, a place to live... it will all come together.)
I will study healthcare in Ireland or complete a summer RN externship.
I will make more time for myself.
I will learn to budget better.
I will regain the memory I haven't had since the car accident.
I will continue to love life despite its challenges.
I will live, laugh, cry, smile, travel, read, help, yearn, see, want, make, go, need, give, build, share, and hope.
I will transcend.
And this is that crazy miracle called life.
One. day. at. a. time.
Reflecting...
Just continuing the tradition...
1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?
Got dumped.
2. What are your New Years Resolutions?
To try harder when it matters, to forget about it when it doesn't
3. Did anyone close to you give birth in 2009?
Mom of my nanny girl, now my nanny GIRLS :)
4. Did anyone close to you die?
My Nana - just a few months after I told her she needed to live long enough to see her great-grandbabies
5. What countries did you visit?
Stayed here. Too busy with school to go anywhere but Disney in May and Florida earlier in the spring to go through Nana's things
6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
My fiance to be my husband
7. What date(s) in 2009 will remain etched in your memory and why?
The day my Nana died. Also the night I had the nervous breakdown where my mom cried on my bed with me until my fiance left his prescheduled event to come hold me. Taking my baby sister to see Taylor Swift - floor seats!
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Completing an entire semester of clinicals (fall) and standing up to a ridiculous professor, being a nanny
9. What was your biggest failure of 2009?
Not pushing myself to take clinicals in the spring
10. Did you suffer any illness or injury?
The exact same illnesses, thank God no new injuries. Definitely a few more panic attacks and nervous breakdowns than last year though.
11. What was the best thing someone bought you?
A Pandora bracelet with charms & a book of my blog
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Every/Anyone who gets out of the bed in the morning and gives the day their best effort
13. Whose behavior appalled and depressed you?
Someone I definitely didn't expect and ironically, one of his/her relatives
14. Where did most of your money go?
Expensive indulgences like my new TV/blu-ray, new Pottery Barn bedding, tons of pedicures, sponsoring Julenia in Nicaragua
15. What did you get really, really excited about?
Going to Disney World! (We'd been there 20-30 times before, but my sister (19) and I (21) year old run around the parks like we had never in a million years imagined it would ever be so magical! Ahh, Disney.
16. What song(s) reminds you of 2009?
I hate to say it, but I didn't lisent to too much music this year, I still had my "Song kicks" where I'd listen to a song over and over until I got sick of it, but nothing that stands out in my mind.
17. Compared to last year are you...
a.) Happier or Sadder? Sadder
b.) Thinner or Fatter? Fatter (but last year I lost an insane amount of weight from a medication, so it's a "good" fatter!)
c.) Richer or Poorer? Richer (but money doesn't provide happiness)
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Breathe
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Mental and emotional fighting
20. How did you spend Christmas?
With my fiance and I's million sides of family
21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
More and more every day
22. How many one night stands did you have?
I belong to someone else, so that's not an option.
23. What was your favorite TV program?
Grey's Anatomy, Friday Night Lights, One Tree Hill, The Office, Private Practice...
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't this time last year?
No
25. What was the best book you read?
The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan, a memoir that will change any woman's perspective on life
26. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
I turned 22. And no idea. Babysat? Went out to dinner? I really don't remember.
27. What was your best musical discovery?
Nothing in particular. Definitely listened to too much Baby Songs, Disney and Hannah Montana!!
28. What did you want and get?
See #11
29. What was your favorite film of the year?
My Sister's Keeper, the Time Traveler's Wife
30. What did you want and not get?
Married
31. What one thing would've made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Being married to Jonathan
32. How would you describe your fashion concept for 2009?
Black or brown lounge pants/capris. Loves it!
33. What kept you sane?
My mom and fiance. My best friend. Loads of Ativan. God.
34. Which celebrity or public figure did you admire most?
Sarah Palin
35. What political issue stirred you most?
Healthcare reform
36. Who/what do you miss?
My Nana and my naivety
37. Who was the best new person you met?
My OB clinical instructor
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned.
No matter how hard you try for anything, it's never enough. And at this point on my journey, I can't quite figure out why.
Another lesson is by nannying, I am reminded every single day of the precious innocence of children and the huge miracles they are.
Nursing, although I'm fighting every part of my being to get there, is an honorable lifestyle, not a simple career. At the end of the day, there's nothing like seeing you helped make a human being better or they say you gave them a good day just by your smile. Nothing like that in the world.
39. Quote a song line that defines your year.
I guess I'd rather hurt than feel nothing at all.
(It's a quarter past one and I'm all alone and
I need you now.
I said I wouldn't call
but I've lost all control
and I need you now) - Lady Antebellum
So that's that.
After I filled it all out, over at (InCourage), I found these 20 questions that I think I like better.
These may just be my new tradition. They're much more introspective, don't you think?.
1. What was the single best thing that happened this past year?
I'm 2 clinicals closer to graduating!
2. What was the single most challenging thing that happened?
Losing my precious Nana, ignoring my illnesses and disabilities to go back to school after my year-long hiatus, losing someone at church who always inspired me to hope and try, almost losing the person who I thought - of everyone in the entire world -would always be here forever.
3. What was an unexpected joy this past year?
Finally finding a nanny family who treats me like I'm part of the family; I adore spending days with those precious girls
4. What was an unexpected obstacle?
Wrecking my car driving an hour up to clinicals - I was half asleep and some guy side-swiped me. Or something. I don't exactly remember. I ran over our brick mailbox that morning, too. It really was a bad day. But that's what you get when you force a narcoleptic to live outside her means.
5. Pick three words to describe 2009.
Hard. Surprises. Changes.
6. Pick three words your spouse would use to describe your 2009 (don’t ask them; guess based on how you think your spouse sees you).
Hard. School. Nervous.
7. Pick three words your spouse would use to describe their 2009 (again, without asking).
Same. Growing. Trying.
8. What were the best books you read this year?
The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan, and My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult was pretty good too
9. With whom were your most valuable relationships?
My mom, sister, fiance, best friend & nanny girls
10. What was your biggest personal change from January to December of this past year?
Deciding to finish school ASAP so we can get married. I don't care if it almost kills me. I now know I'm going to have to take charge of the situation and physically endanger myself to get the dream of me and the one I love. I took spring '09 off from school, so this idea has been evolving for months. I, of all people, a nurse, should know my health comes first, but I refuse to believe it when there's something so huge out there.
11. In what way(s) did you grow emotionally?
I can handle stressful situations a little bit better using my "toolbox," but on the other hand I'm also more prone to nervous breakdowns and panic attacks for some reason. I learned to survive someone's death I previously thought would kill me, so my emotions definitely grow as I still learn to live without her.
12. In what way(s) did you grow spiritually?
Trusting God more, talking to Him more.
13. In what way(s) did you grow physically?
I learned short hair is the only way to get through nursing school and nannying and the insane life that surrounds each. But it's cute, so I'm happy. :)
14. In what way(s) did you grow in your relationships with others?
I'm closer with my mom, sister, fiance, and fiance's sister.
15. What was the most enjoyable area of managing your home?
Decorating!
16. What was your most challenging area of home management?
Sometimes the dogs, lol Or if I was my mom, I'd have cut off my dad's feet by now for all the times he tracks his nasty, muddy shoes ALL over the house. The hardwood gets soaked and then after he's on the carpet long enough, I guess they dry on their own. Disgusting.
17. What was your single biggest time waster in your life this past year?
Worrying
18. What was the best way you used your time this past year?
Working on my nursing degree, loving God, loving my fiance, loving my friends and family
19. What was the biggest thing you learned this past year?
Nothing is ever enough. Children are precious. Days are short. Fight for what matters.
20. Create a phrase or statement that describes 2009 for you.
Glad it's over. And regarding 2010? I sure am praying for a better year - one with clearer paths, more evidence of an impending marriage, nearly completing my education... and maybe, just maybe, a few more good things. :)
Lord, as this New Year begins, We come to you and ask for your blessing. We pray that you would give us joy to fill our days and peace to fill our hearts and love to fill our lives. Thank you for the plans you have for us in the New Year. Thank you for promising to be with us every step of the way.
