Happy Nurses Week

When I am not being a full-time mommy to my fabulous three kiddos, I have the pleasure of being a nurse. I have always wanted to be a nurse. My mom is a nurse, and in high school I had no doubt that I was going to go to college to get my Bachelors of Science in Nursing. And so I did. And for those of you that do not know me, it was during a three month service term in Costa Rica/Nicaragua that I began to develop a calling. To be a burn nurse. Yep, you read correctly. In my junior year I traveled to Yemen, where I worked in a hospital taking care of burn patients. As soon as I graduated, Eric and I were married and I moved down to Chapel Hill, NC (he was getting his PhD in physics there) and began working at the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center. The things that I have seen and done I pray that my children will never experience. But through all the horror, pain and suffering that I saw on a day-to-day basis, God's grace shown through. In the 5 year old abuse victim, in the 40 year old dad of three, in the 19 year college student. To minister to the patients and their families during such a terrible time in their lives - it was not by my strength that I cared for my patients. God definitely put a calling on my life. After almost 7 years there, God moved us to NY, where I am now working in an ICU - and completely enjoying my non-stressful job. I have been a nurse for 10 years, and it is one of the hardest, dirtiest, messiest, most rewarding jobs (other than mothering and teaching) that I can think of. So, to all the nurses out there who take care of us and our loved ones during our toughest moments, to the nurses who save us from the doctors (oh yes:), to the nurses who listen endlessly to your family members:), to my nurses who save my brain from mommy-itis two or three times a month = THANK YOU!!!!