A Woman's Prerogative

For the past few years, my mom has helped me collect things for when I move out on my own. I have a vast collection of beautiful dishes, pots & pans, silverware etc. My mom's philosophy is that a woman can be successful on her own and that she does not HAVE to depend on a man *or anyone for that matter* to make a good living.

As part of my Christmas present this year, my mom got me a set of professional cookware pots & pans. When I got home from work lastnight a big box was waiting for me in my room. Apparently my dad was upset when he found out that mom had gotten me more things for when I move out. *I think he was just stressed from life in general and the thought of another of his kids moving out* He asked mom why she was getting me all of these things because, "Amy won't need them, she can just move in with someone". Mom replied, "I want Amy to know that she does NOT have to depend on anyone to make it in this world."

Wow...and I thought the whole 'poor pitiful, I can't do anything on my own woman cliche' was gone from the world....I guess not!

On a lighter, yet related note, the past two days my family has been helping my twin brother pack up his things for a move to his first new apartment! He is getting married in June and the Lord blessed him with a nice apartment perfectly located between work and school. I love it when God ordains something as 'good' because EVERYTHING falls into place perfectly!! For instance, Geoff was trying to find a decent coffee table/side tables for a good price *that weren't too schmultzy*. He finally gave up trying to find such things and focused on the main necessities: big comfy chair and a place for his HD tv/surround sound *must be a guy thing* Anyhow, an LPN he works with just happens to live 3 apartments down from him and is trying to get rid of a a solid oak coffee table and 2 side tables for $100!! Geoff was like, "That's exactly what I needed!!"

So needless to say, everything is working out fabulously for Geoff and the new apartment!! PRAISE GOD!!

Finishing Strong

lol cats *hilarious website*

I'm part of a devotional group on Facebook and the past few months we've had daily devotionals from Max Lucado's 'Grace for the Moment'.
The following is an excerpt from the book:

"Finishing Strong"
“Think about Jesus’ example. He held on while wicked people were doing evil things to him. So do not get tired and stop trying.”Hebrews 12:3
Heaven was not foreign to Jesus. He is the only person to live on earth after he had lived in heaven. As believers, we will live in heaven after time on earth, but Jesus did just the opposite. He knew heaven before he came to earth. He knew what awaited him upon his return. And knowing what awaited him in heaven enabled him to bear the shame on earth.He “accepted the shame as if it were nothing because of the joy that God put before him” (Heb 12:2). In his final moments, Jesus focused on the joy God put before him. He focused on the prize of heaven. By focusing on the prize, he was able not only to finish the race but to finish it strong

Bum-to the -Er (Bummer)

Well usually I have something all nice and happy to write about, but today I just need to vent!

Today I retook an exam for Nursing school called the HESI and I did not pass. This is a fake nursing boards exam that just so happens to be incredibly and vitally important to my future of graduating from ETSU and becoming a Nurse.
The test consists of 110 questions, and contains basically EVERYTHING I've learned up until now in school. Topics are as follows:
-Pharmacology (any drug/reactions/side effects etc)
-Health Assessment (everything related to doing a head to toe assessment on someone)
-OB/Gyn (pregnancy stuff ...hypertension. etc)
-Psych (every mental disorder from schizophrenia to Anorexia and how to treat)
-Med Surg. (the basic foundations of nursing: fluid/electrolyte imbalance to infections)
-Pediatrics (developmental stages/milestones/delays etc)
-Advanced concepts (EKG recognition/CPR etc)

....I could literally go on.....and on and ON!!
I have one more try to take this exam, next month, January 7th. The consequences would be being kicked out of nursing school.

I KNOW God put me in Nursing school, I KNOW that He wants me to pass. I KNOW that this storm will pass and light will shine again.

As of now my Christmas vacation will consist of the following:
*Studying profusely (mainly pharmacology and health assessment)
*Working out 5-6 days a week
*Working at the hospital
**most importantly** Giving it ALL to the Lord

I keep reminding myself that everything will be okay, it is just a test....

Shew...I need some major prayers everyone!

Meowry Christmas

Yeah...the cats officially hate me now....

Tyrone saying, "okay Amy... hurry up"

"She's angry elf..." Emmy kitty loathing me...

A gingerbread house I made back in

high school pottery class.

Awww look at those cute Szabo kids...

where are they now?

George, Amy, Geoff and Greg

George:

Amy:

Geoff:

Greg:

Art and Finals

Sorry it's been awhile since my last post. Life (work, school, family and health) have been keeping me busy.

I found my absolute new favorite artist, Mrs. Brenna White! Mom and I found her website while searching the internet for 'coffee-cat' pictures...because coffee and cats are two of our most favorite things! Here are some of her pieces she has for sale on ebay:

'Happy fat cat'
**This is me w/long hair & the cat

'Christmas Magic Calico'

**This looks like my Emmy kitty!

'Easter Magic Tabby'

'Only the best'

**This one reminds me of mom

She also does paintings of dogs and various animals / landscapes.

This is 'Mocha Moose'

A painting of her dog 'Lucy'

If you like what you see, visit her website at: http://www.bluelucystudios.com/

Well, I've got 1 out of 3 clinical exams finished. Tomorrow is pediatrics and the next day will be Psych. Then next week is my actual final exam week *lots of prayers to pass every exam*

I am sooooooo ready for this semester to be over. I cannot wait to be able to read books I want to read, but more over I cannot wait to hang out with my friends whom I haven't seen in forever! My brother and sis-in-law are trying to fly me down to Florida in January, hopefully I'll be able to get off work to go. I miss my Florida family so much ie: Greg/Rosie/Luanne/Phil/Mamaw/Dave/Nana/Popa etc.

Well everyone, it's 12:15 am and I need some sleep. I've got an hour on the treadmill awaiting me in the morning! *By the way, God has allowed me to lose 20 lbs!!*

I love you all

Thanksgiving Pics

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Here are pics from ours, enjoy!



Apples...LOTS of apples...I somehow peeled a bushel
and 1/2 with my trusty pink Kitchenaid peeler!

Fixin's for our famous Apple pie!

The famous Szabo Apple pie

Just to show you how huge these pies are

here is a pic of Geoff 's head by the pie

Me getting friendly with the turkey

Dad carving the turkey

George making his awesome gravy

Play time with Cadence and Ashley

The family chilling in our living room

Nephew Cody and Cadence

Neice Carrigan and soon to be sis-in-law Megan

making play-doh goodies!

Cadence melting my heart

More family time

Ashley, Chaz and their cute daughter Cadence

"Man...I'm tired of cameras!"

"This pumpkin pie stuff is good!!"

Timbo kitty on a tryptophan high

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

As a wonderful tradition for many families, here is the complete version of Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving. *parts 1, 2 and 3*

Not giving up

Yesterday is what Anne, from Anne of Green Gables, would call a 'Jonah Day'.
Nothing went right from the moment I woke up until I went to sleep.

I woke up, make coffee *Gevalia Hazelnut is amazing BTW* and proceeded to get ready for my HESI *fake nursing boards* exam. I usually wake up around 5:30 am and get on the treadmill for 25-45 minutes, but not this morning.
Right before I leave the house, my coffee 'kicks in' and I make a 'pit stop' before the 30 min drive to J.C. After finishing my 'business', washing my hands and getting my bookbag for school, I hear an odd trickling of water in the bathroom. Hmmm maybe I forgot to turn the faucet off all the way...as I walk into the bathroom and the floor is covered in toilet water.
**Okay, I know what you might be thinking, "Amy, courtesy flush!!" No...it wasn't like that thankyou, it just happened to be one of those random things that happened. *our house is around 26/27 years old and needs new pipes, amongst other things*

So needless to say, I'm trying to figure out how to turn the water off when mom comes running in, after just waking up to my cries of four letter words. Okay... Tile + Water + Running = Falling
Thus, Mom fell on her butt, drenched her night gown and stubbed her toe while trying to get to the knob to turn the water off. Okay, by this time Amy is like, "OH MY GOD, MOM IS HURT BECAUSE OF ME!!" I'm running all over the place trying to find towels to clean the floor, while still keeping an eye on the time so I won't be late for my ever important HESI exam for Nursing school.
After the 'toilet fiasco' *and changing my clothes* I drive 30 min to J.C. to take my exam. I forgot to get breakfast, so I went to B.K. and got a rather unhealthy sausage egg cheese biscuit. I get to campus, open up my biscuit start to eat it and then somehow dropped it on the floor board of my car while trying to get situated. I basically ate what didn't hit the floor board, chugged my orange juice and went to the testing center.
I get to the testing center and wait in line to see where I take the exam.
Alright, for those of you who do not know, I have the a mild crush on a guy in my nursing class. He just happened to be standing behind me in line with a buddy of his.
*Just for added info, we found out that we are both artistically inclined last monday and that we both really like eachother's artwork. He's shy and I'm usually not, but in this case I somehow am. We've emailed eachother and he is looking around for drawings to show me*
Anyways, I wait for him after he finds out his place to take the exam and instead of saying something normal like, "Hey, good luck!" or "Are you ready for the exam" I freak out and jabb him in the arm and say, "Hey ...uh...check your email!" He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and was like, "ummm okay" and walked away. Completely mortified at my random punch in the arm and stupid statement...I go to take my test.
We end up starting the test an hour late...
I ended up failing the test with a score of 758 *850 is passing*
Found out that over half my class failed it too, in which we can retake it Dec. 17th.

Went home with a gigantic headache, took an hour nap and went to work only to find utter chaos.

Can we say..."AHHHHHHH!!!" ?

By the grace of God, I had ordered a Chrisitan teaching CD on 'Not giving up'. Let me tell you, what a 'word in season'!! I needed to hear every bit of that CD. What stood out to me the most was, "God didn't put you where you are for no reason. Just because you might fail at something doesn't mean it's over. Get up, dust yourself off and start again!"

Wow... God is soooooo good!!

Becoming who you were born to be

I Peter 3:11 – To enjoy your life, you must be at peace with yourself.

Wow, what a thought! Being at peace with yourself is sometimes one of the hardest things to accomplish in life. So many of us have things we want to change about ourselves, we don't like who we are. I can name about 5 things off the top of my head that I want to change about myself. For many years I have allowed issues, such as my weight, to hold me in bondage. Depression, anxiety, paranoia and low self-esteem *amongst other things* felt like 50 lb weights, keeping me from living the good life God intended me to live. I can remember coming home and just crying because I hated myself soooo much.

Apparently, I had absolutely NO peace with myself. It wasn't until this year that I started to get down to the heart of the problem, and give it to God. The following verse REALLY hit home for me during my struggle:

Galatians 5:14 "Loving yourself is the foundation for all good relationships"

I've had so many bad relationships in my life and the reason for that is this simple truth:

You CANNOT give away what you don't have.

I had no love for myself, how then could I love others in return?

How was I to be a successful Nurse if I couldn't love others??

Inspired by a wonderful book by Joyce Meyer, 'How to Succeed at Being Yourself', I made a list of the things I DID like about myself. In doing so, I got to see my strengths. It was hard at first to think if things I actually liked about myself, but it gradually got easier. The next thing I did was make a list of things I DID NOT like about myself. Making this list actually helped me visualize the things in my life I was letting hold me back from living my life.

The thing that encouraged me, and still does to this day is II Corinthians 3:18, "His word changes us little by little, from glory to glory."

Now, I embrace change...I even look forward to it! Because of God, I now have a new, positive outlook on life. I know I'm not where I need to be, but thank God, I'm not where I use to be!!

Cute Pictures I MUST share

My gorgeous neice Carrigan


Papaw George making faces at my neice Cadence



Neice Carrigan racking up some candy


Cadence *aka the cutest baby...EVER*


Only Cadence can pull of the banana look


Cadence and mama Ashley

Glorious Sunday

I think it is awesome how the Lord knows when it is time to dust off and move on with our lives. In the past 3 1/2 years I have gone from working a grocery store, to an Emergency room, to Labor and Delivery, to Acute Care and now to Mental health. WHAT A JUMP! The awesome part is that each one of these moves was brought on by a peaceful 'nudge' to step out in faith and try something that I had not before. Everything I have experienced somehow came together and formed this firm foundation I now know as my soon to be Nursing career. If you told me 3 years ago that I would have this much experience in health care by this time, I would've laughed hysterically. I'd say something like, "Ha! Me?? Yeah..right. I can barely maintain a 3.2 GPA." But God had better plans for me, Thank You God!

I had yesterday off work and was able to enjoy a beautiful crisp autumn day with my family. Dad and I planted around 70 tulip and daffodil bulbs in the front yard. I got to be all creative and do designs with the different color tulips. I made a heart outlined in red tulips and filled in with a dark pink set for Mom, since she is a Cardiac Nurse. Of course to satisfy my pink obsession I planted a set of dark pink and light pink tulips by the front door in a spiral shape. I hope that by spring the flowers actually end up making these designs as the bloom!









After a couple hours of gardening, Mom and I drove down to the new Target *which is fabulous* As soon as I walked in I was greeted by the aroma of Starbucks...and indulged in a tall cinnamon dolce' latte. *It was amazing* We sipped on our coffees and 'Oooed and Awwwed' ourselves around the store for a few hours. Thank God that Kingsport is finally getting with the times as far as shopping is concerned! They built an Old Navy, Target, Kohl's and Dicks Sporting goods in this particular shopping area. *wahoo!*

Well everyone, it is 3 am and I need to get back to sleep.
Take care and I will try and update again soon.

I love you all

Weekly update

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been a little while since my last post. This week has been busy! Today was our last day working in pediatrics and I had a blast with my patient. He was a 16 month old boy that came in with difficulty breathing and oh my gosh he was adorable! His mom and dad have their hands full with this little boy and his twin brother not to mention their child that is 3 years old as well! I went into their room around 8 am and the little boy was wide awake standing in his crib. I did an assessment on him and he had the best time playing with my kitty-cat name badge holder. I have a little light on my name badge that allows me to check pupil reflexes and he thought it would be a good idea to shove it up his nose to see if his nose would light up! *that didn't last long needless to say*
I asked his mom if she minded if I walked him around the unit in one of our play cars *basically a stroller/car* and she was like, "Please! I need a break!!" So my little buddy and I cruised around the unit for 25 minutes. We would make pits stops to say hi to everyone and of course he stole everyone's heart with his big brown eyes and great big smile.

I think pediatrics is an option for me later in my nursing career, kids are just awesome to get along with. We start our labor & delivery rotation next Wednesday and that will be our final rotation for the semester! *WHOOT WHOOT*
My fellow classmates and myself are trying to keep up with our many projects and tests as well as study for a mandatory mid-curricular 'Fake Nursing boards' test. If we do not pass this test the first two times then we fail the ENTIRE semester regardless of how awesome our grades are. I know for a fact that pharmacology will be my best buddy for the next 3 weeks until the test on Nov. 16th.
**PRAYERS NEEDED FOR OUR ENTIRE CLASS TO PASS THE FIRST GO AROUND***

Mom is worrying all of us because we think her gallbladder is inflammed. She has so much on her plate with being the manager of 4 units at the hospital AND going for her masters. She basically doesn't have time to be sick, but as we all know when our bodies decide to be evil it's usually not on OUR schedule. Please pray for mom and that the Lord would heal her whether it is with surgery or without and that she would have peace about work and school during the process. I've got a hard working momma and she hates to get behind, but she needs to realize that her health needs to come first right now.

Well everyone, I'm going to get off of here and study, study STUDY!!

I love you all and take care!

Our babies

Our babies the 'Chickoonies' *named after our KFC loving raccoons**
And the deer family *whom we have yet to name*
Yoda kitty upside down
And of course Freida and Timbo snuggling
God's creatures are awesome.