Trials and Triumphs

Time for a new blog!

2011-01-09T15:00:00.005-06:00

I have been using this blog since January of 2005 with almost 300 posts and I think it is about time to start a new blog. It is interesting to go though this blog as sort of a diary of my life for the last few years, many great times and some trying times, many things I have forgot about, and many fond memories. However now that I am married I started a new chapter in my life and now I have a new name so now the blog will be more appropriate to my life now:

rachelandalexvanvoorst.com

Hopefully the blog will get better once I learn to use the wordpress blogging system and thanks to my brother in law for setting it up for me!!

Happy New year!

2011-01-02T11:20:00.002-06:00

Two post in one week, Im on a roll!
This was in the church bulletin this AM , thought it is a good refection for the new year:

" If you enter a prosperous year and receive all that your heart desires, yet lack God, it will be a disastrous year for you. It is better to be bowed under a cross with the Lord than to have a life of abundance without God. The important question, therefore is: Have you begun this year with God? Do you have the Lord as your God? If God's blessings depart and disappointments come, will you be alone? It is imperative that you understand that without God you really have nothing. This year, seek God before everything else. "

Anyways, speaking of blessings, Alex and I have been married one year today!!!
Hope you all have a good new year!

Better Late than Never

2010-12-31T17:44:00.004-06:00

Hello Everyone!
I hope that everyone had a wonderful 2010, I sure did. I have been blessed beyond measure, more than I deserve or even imagined. Alex has been so good to me, he is my perfect match! Many people say the first year of marriage is the worst, and in our case it was not bad at all! We are able to work out our arguments with talking, I learned early on yelling is not a good option! This year has been so good, I just am so thankful for Alex!!! We will be married one year on SundaY!!!!

This year really have been focusing on our house, and man it has changed! We have redone almost every room in the house, with two to go. We are saving one for the nursery and one is a den that has hideous wallpaper that Alex and I do not feel like attacking more wall paper at this point in time!!! We wanted to do this before children come while we had the extra time and money. Now hopefully those children come soon ;)

We were blessed with so many visitors this year! It made it a little easier that I was not able to make it home. We had my aunt Karen and family, my mom, the Flanagan family with all the boys in tow,my cousin Daniel, and many visits from friends from all over! It was nice that they all came out here to visit and we welcome anyone else who is willing to come!

I have been busy with my job in Physical Therapy! I have been mainly doing the inpatients as well as some out patients which has been a nice variety. I have gotten to know many people and I enjoy working with them. It is amazing how the Lord can use to me to help other get better and strong, so that they can get back to living. It is an exciting field to be in!

Alex has been busy growing his businesses and being a good hardworking business man. He started doing polyaspartic flooring which has also gone over well. The one thing I don't like is that he really comes home stinky!! :) But that's alright, he enjoys it greatly. He has been busy growing all the businesses he has and is doing well.

One exciting thing was that my friend Judy had her baby, which has been pretty exciting to see little Kaydrian grow. He is almost like one of my nephews and I love this little guy to death!!

Other than that we only have the Lord to thank for all these blessings he has given us. I am always continually reminded what a blessed people we are and we should not take this for granted.

Hope everyone had a good year and hopefully 2011 is just as good!!

Judy and baby Kadrian

Carol Anne riding a horse! Pretty good!
Uncle Steve Catching flies with the vacuum, it was quite funny!
Having a great time with my FAVORITE little boys :)
They loved uncle Alex and all the neat things he showed them! Even got a ride in the fire truck!

Married!!!!

2010-02-03T21:31:00.005-06:00

Its about time! It has been a busy couple months, getting married and moving and all that requires! However I am proud to say Alex and I have been married for a month now!

The wedding:
It went SO well! It was pretty fun to have everyone in town for the wedding. I did find it very stressful to do all the wedding stuff while try to have fun with all the out of town guest. Alex was VERY patient with me, I admit I probably was not the nicest to him. That week I barely slept, felt sick to my stomach, and had no appetite to eat! It was terrible and hope I never will have to go though that again! the actual wedding date was so much fun! I had my good friends Ashley and Rachel be my personal attendant and they were amazing helping, as well as my mom and a bunch of family friends. It seemed like everything fell into place! My most favorite time was when the photographer, Ashley, Alex, and I went out and took pictures on the town. It was nice to get away and they look so nice!!! I am just glad that wedding day is OVER!!!

Then we went to Dunns River Sandals resort.
THAT WAS AWESOME!! It was so much fun just relaxing with Alex. WE had room service so that was nice late at night for that late night snack! We got to go do the zip line, a ski lift kind of thing though the rain forest, snorkeling, climb a huge water fall, go on a mini cruise kinda thing, shop on the town, and most of all relax!! It was fun, however towards the end we were just ready to go home and get on with life. Being away from home for 3 and a half weeks is way to long. However, Alex and I loved it there and would love to go back someday to Jamaica!

Home! We had the Iowa reception that Friday we got back and it was so amazing. We had good food, lots of friends, and a fun time. Alex's mom did a great job with that! It was fun to have my good friends PAm and Joanna come down and stay with us in our new guest bedroom!!

Then our house.... we got most of it organized, out with all the old stuff, in with the new. We were given very generous gifts which we are very thankful for. We were able to get a VERY nice new Weber Grill, a wicker table for our Jamaican sunroom ( for entertaining in the summertime!) , a new dyson vacuum ( the most AWESOME THING EVER!) , and got a bunch of other nice things which add to our house. Alex and I feel so blessed to have such great gifts and we hope in the future we can show such generosity that what shown to us. I am so proud of the house we have decorated and hope that people can come visit AND STAY with us in our guest bedroom. I also got a wonderful husband. Today I came home he has the laundry going, fixing the rest of the supper I had cooking in the crock pot, had the table set, dog fed and brushed, and someone lined up to clean all the carpets tomorrow!!! I know.. he is wonderful... :) I am blessed and I am SO thankful that God had it in his plans that I would end up in Iowa for college and eventually end up living here!!!!!!!!!!!!! With that I will give you some pictures......

First the wedding website for the professional pictures:

http://www.natashareedgallery.com/Weddings/Rachel-and-Alex/

When we got our baby back from the babysitter! he was happy to see us!

Iowa reception, a little cold out!!

All the mail waiting for us after being gone almost a month!!

ready to zipline!

view outside our room
my love :)
ten toes up, doing pretty good!!!

Well thats all I will put on her for now...it takes a long time :) But anyways, thanks for reading, hope everyone is doing well!!

wedding wedding wedding

2009-11-08T21:52:00.003-06:00

It is almost wedding time! I can't wait. Until then a lot needs to be done. One of them is to get my gallbadder checked out. I have been getting awfully sick lately especially when I eat out all day, like yesterday with a family reunion in the morning and a wedding shower at night. So I will get an ultrasound on Wed to get it checked out. Hopefully it is nothing.. but if it is we better get it taken care of before wedding time. Then I would really lose the long standing contest I have with my siblings who would be the first to have surgery !

Other than that feel free to check out our wedding website ! http://rachelandalexvanvoorst.com

We have had a couple nice showers and boy people have been so generous to us. It is nice to get rid of some of the old pots, pan, and plates and get all new. The house is looking good too:).

Now Alex and I have a contest between each other who can decorate a bedroom cooler. Alex did a pretty stellar job on the guest bedroom, now I am in charge of the master bed room. We will get it all painted and decorated then get our new king size bed in there ( the awesome wedding present from his parents that we got to pick out this summer! ) It will look good, we got pretty bedding after a long hard search for the best! If you want to see what we got click here

Anyways hope everyone is going well. My new job is awesome... got to mention that! I do miss my residents though but I make sure to visit them often as I can !

Two months....

2009-11-02T21:46:00.002-06:00

and i will be married to my best friend, my perfect match, my one and only, my Alex Wade :) I can't wait to be his wife!

On kinda the same note.. we got our guest bedroom looking pretty awesome... so if anyone wants to visit us in the future it will be ready for you soon! I am in charge of the master bed room ( Alex did the guest) so I think that would look even better ( its a contest who can make the better room ! ) . I will take pictures soon once it is ready!

I DID IT!!!

2009-10-03T09:33:00.003-05:00

I did it! I did not tell too many people I was taking my exam but I took it on Thursday and found out exactly 24 hours later while I was working! I want to thank everyone who helped me along the way, all the thoughts and prayers, and most important I thank the Lord for giving me strength and the knowledge to get through school and pass this test! So just to let you all see it is for real, here you go: ( i really had to check back a couple times to make sure I was just not seeing things!)

Iowa Bureau of Professional Licensure
License Verification

Rachel Anne Feucht
PROFESSION:	Physical Therapist Assistant
LICENSE NUMBER:	001406
ORIGINAL LICENSE ISSUED:	10/02/2009
STATUS:	Active
TEMPORARY:	No
EXPIRATION DATE:	02/15/2012
LICENSED BY:	Exam
DISCIPLINARY ACTION:	None

Fall

2009-09-26T11:49:00.004-05:00

Sorry it has been a long time since I have posted. I have been so busy it has been crazy, but the craziness stems from all good stuff so I have nothing to complain about!

Well first and foremost, the wedding plans are going well. All the big things are done and now we just have to figure out some smalls things and send out the invites! I am so surprised how many of my friends are flying in from wherever to come to the wedding, it is such a blessing to be loved by so many people. My future mother in law and I just went to a lady in town that does decoartions for our Iowa reception and we picked everything out for that and it is going to look BEAUTIFUL! I wish this lady can come help me in Washington. However, I am VERY VERY thankful for my mom and sister Sarah who have been working hard to help me with everything there. It gets so easy to take for granted all they do.... but I really am thankful. My brother in law is actually making us our own website which will later by our future blog! So look forward to that everyone!

Alex and I went to washington in sept and we had a good time. My nephews loved him and he loved them so that was fun to see. We had a good time, but I am thankful that I don't have to live with the city driving, and I think Alex is thankful he does not have to live with me a backseat driver! We got to talk with my pastor which was very good, he had good things to say regarding marriage and our future life together.

Another blessing is that I got a job as a PTA! It will be a full time job in Orange City which is about 10 mins away from Sioux Center. The man that owns it has been very blessed with his business growing into 3 other different towns, and I will also be helping out at another facility in Hawarden Iowa. He is so kind and very family oriented and he even gave me my 3 weeks off for my wedding! :) Now I just have to take my boards on next week which I am VERY nervous about. It is scary and hopefully I pass!!!!!!!!!

But on the flip hand I am very sad to be leaving my nursing home. My residents are mad at me but they understand that I have to go. Its so weird leaving them.. its like leaving part of your life and family behind. Seriously, I have never imagined how much I would have grown so close to many of my residents and their family. I told them that I would continue to visit them as long as they still remember me. :) I even decided that on Sundays when Alex and I go to church in Rock Valley we will have to either stop by before evening church or after morning church!

also speaking of losing family, Diane will be moving back to Washington this month :( I am sad about it but ya.. I understand she needs to get on with her life and i will be ditching her soon to live with Alex. She was so nice to me last night, I was puking ( I think I had food poisoning ) and she went late at night to get me some medicine and 7 up! But she has been fun to live with and I am very thankful for my sister.

Another nice thing was that Alex bought a new car for me to drive in the winter with the snow and ice that would handle a little better and would be safer than my little car. We got a 2005.5 Audi , black, beautiful , all wheel drive, only 38,000 miles, and most of all GERMAN! Alex loves it so much, he is used to a pickup truck which he has to drive for work, so he loves his car.

Well I will end with a couple pictures,,,, well... Sarah pictures of my little nephews. They are so cute and so smart. I miss them... the make me smile :)

my attention starved dog

2009-08-13T17:10:00.004-05:00

Since everyone loves to update about thier children, I will update about my little boy, Bentley.

Bentley loves three things:
1. PEOPLE - bentley just loves people - he would do anything to be around people. He loves everyone. He won't leave me alone when i try to do something, if i go inside he wants to follow, while alex sits in the front bentley sits in the law chair right next to him, anything just to be with someone.

2. paper and rippingit to shreds. Newspapers, tissues, boxes, ANYTHING. He makes a MESS. It is annoying when he does this.

3. His third love probably stems from the 2nd one being the broom. He goes NUTS while I am sweeping his mess up or if he just finds the broom in the closest he goes nuts. Its crazy.

When i am typing on the bar stools at Alex's house bentley loves to come under my arm to get attention
oh here he comes
I love my baby boy even though he is naughty!

Of the subject, but Alex and I just got some AWESOME new bedding for our future guest bedroom, so anyone, if you want to visit us in iowa, we have room for you!!!!!! :) Its so pretty and hopefully comfortable ( Alex is going to test it out for me) !!

Whats going on?

2009-08-11T17:59:00.003-05:00

Hello Everyone! I figured maybe I should update my blog, it has been a while.

Everything here has been going awesome! It is such an awesome feeling to not have to go back to school this fall. I do have to study for my licensing exam which is a pain, but I can do that when I want to. It is nice getting 40 + hour weeks to help with paying for things and it is also fun to see my residents more.

Wedding plans are going well. A lot of things are coming together and that makes me really happy. I just have to finalize thing when I go back in Sept. with Alex. It will be fun to take Alex around my home town, have him meet the rest of my family and my little nephews. Its kind of pathetic this is his first time coming with me in the year and a half we have dated. oh well, he is a busy man. But he promised me a yearly visit home, with him in tow. I will keep him up to that promise ;) It seems like the wedding cant come soon enough when I think of being married to Alex, however when it comes to the wedding planning and getting things finalized the wedding is coming around WAY to fast. :)

I went home in July and that was a lot of fun. I saw one of my best friend, Laura get married, and got to go home with some friend and see my family. My little stubborn nephew, Liam decided to come the day after I left. I can't wait to see him, however that will have to wait a month :) He is pretty cute !

What else is new............

Bentley boy is growing like crazy. He is now 37 lb and is as crazy as ever. Alex and I look him on a two hour walk yesterday and he still had the energy to walk for two more hours.

I did my first womens water fight with the firemen. It was fun, I lost!

Love you all!

Here is a picture of my baby making Diane feel better :)
The second day i had bentley, with Judy's little dog. Bentley has grown so much, while her dog just grew an inch or so ;)
The boys at the water fights, relaxing
The one that looks like they are about to topple over is yours truly, about to lose good thing alex won first place to make up for this :)
Taking the day off boating with some friends, SO RELAXING!
At Lauras wedding in Lynden. It was so fun, Laura was a pretty Bride
Us girls waiting
The girls of the firemen, watching our men
Some engagement pictures taken by our friend

oh out of order, Lauras rehersal dinner
Last one of my and my lover :) He is awesome and I love him more than words can describe!

What a life :)

2009-07-15T13:47:00.002-05:00

These few weeks have been busy! I am DONE WITH SCHOOL FOREVER!! I am SO happy about that. I am also happy that I am able to get full time hours now and am able to get a full time hour pay check! This week Alex went on a vacation to a like in Mn and I am leaving for washington in like an hour. Diane and I have had little bentley at my house and he is been pretty naughty( as to be expected!) WE actually got him pig ears and he sat still in the house for ONE HOUR, even while I was doing the things like sweeping that he loves to chase. I recently taught him how to roll over and he is getting better at the STAY command. He still loves to jump which is a pain in the butt with little kids that he knocks down!

Wedding plans are good, hopefully I can get some stuff done when I get home this next week. ALSO the reason I orginally was going home was that my good friend Laura is getting married! So weird, everyone is getting married! Hopefully Sarah has that baby before I come or while I come so I can see that little boy before I leave!

No much else is new, I can feel you in with the boring, but exciting details of my life, like the nursing home move, picking apart the cadaver, and other stuff but i better get ready to leave!! :) hope everyone is doing well!

Wedding Bells!

2009-06-23T17:17:00.004-05:00

Wow. I can't believe that once you get engaged your whole life turns to wedding planning! Alex and I have been doing a lot, just so that we can get ahead and have a laid back wedding! It is hard to figure out how many people are going to attend the washington wedding because a LOT of people from Iowa all decided it would be a good excuse to go get away and visit some relatives while they are there! So it will be fun whoever shows up and we will all have a good time. We got the grooms tuxes chosen out and they are going to look SO SHARP! I cant wait to see how handsome alex is going to be :)

I also wanted to say how thankful I am for Alex. He really does know the right thing to do at the right time. He is my best friend ( well besides my sisters!!) and I cant wait for him to my husband!

I dont think i got around to writing down the story of the engagement... but I will write it on our wedding website (that I need to find time to make!!) .

Happiest girl alive!

2009-06-09T23:01:00.002-05:00

I just thought I would make it public...ALEX AND I ARE GETTING MARRIED!!! Alex proposed tonight and I can't be any happier! We are planning on a Jan 2 wedding, but if you can't make it to that we will have an iowa reception in Sioux Center Jan 14th i think? So ya .. I tried to take pictures of the ring... but bear with me and the bad quality!

from way back... but i think i found my prefect man

2009-06-08T18:51:00.000-05:00

May 26, 2005

Well I have a little time off of what i am working on so I will tell you story!

Today my summer job is to pressure wash the backyard bricks and side walk. SO i started off with the job and found it was really fun! So i started doing the bricks then i saw the bbq griller was dirty so i decided to pressure wash that, then I saw the propane tanks for the bbq where dirty so i was going to do them, but then i remembered something i learned in school, that maybe they would blow up, so i did not do them. Then i did the hot tub, the flower pots, the random bee that tried to sting me, I was going to do my legs because dirty was flying everwhere due to the high pressure, but then i relized that would be a terrible idea, i would hurt myself! So i decided i want to be a pressure washer person when i grow up. Forget colllege when you can pressure wash!!!

So these are my shoes after pressure washing everything, so dirty!! I was just as dirty.. all my clothes where drenched with mud!

And here is my good old pressure washer.. my new favorite machine!

well its time to go back and pressure wash! have a good day

Lots Going On!

2009-06-07T22:55:00.002-05:00

Hello All!
It has been a busy, but good couple weeks so I have not had much time to blog about all the fun things going on!

Well last week my parents came to iowa, so that they could check up on Diane and me and also so my dad could meet Alex. It was really fun to have them here and Alex and my dad hit it off! We went out to eat with his parents to a nice restaurant and then we also went boating on Alex's boat. My dad was crazy and tried to water ski but that water was really cold/too rough that it did not last long until he was back in the boat! WE enjoyed my parents stories about Banglidesh and it was sad to see them go!

Then I started another clinical in Sioux Center. It has been going pretty good and I have been getting to do a lot of stuff!

Then this weekend was supposed to be the summer celebration for sioux center with parades and all these activites but it started raining so most things were cancelled. however the die hard fire fighters still had their water fights. So that was fun to watch... a little cold... but fun. ( you cant resist a bunch of firefighters in their fire gear ;) ) I also took Bentley to it, who decided to POOP IN MY CAR! The dumb dog.. but i got it cleaned up good as new ;)

Anyways, thats the sweet and simple for now , I will probably have more news later ! Hope everyone is doing well and here are some pictures to end the blog with! Or maybe not. ... they are taking a while to load so i will just post them later!

I'll be there in the back of your mind

2009-05-19T13:25:00.002-05:00

I got this song stuck in my head this last week so I thought I would play it for you all :) Sorry Sarah, You probably dont like it!

BUT GUESS WHAT!! MY BABY IS LEARNING SO FAST! The little sucker can sit, come, stay for a couple seconds, lie down, and fetch and bring it back! I brought him to the nursing home and all my residents loved him!!! I hope someday he can be good enough I could just bring him with me to work and he hangs out with all the residents! But that will be just a couple years when he calms down a little bit!

anyways.. time for work :) I can't wait to have regular work hours,,,, enough of these evening shifts BLAH :)

What new?

2009-05-14T17:12:00.002-05:00

With school? Done with my internship at Floyd Valley in Le Mars. It was such a good experince! I got to work with many different things .. like a lady with a Halo, patients almost dead- but bouncing back to full recovery, and many different things. It was a lot of fun and I found myself taking over the treatment of the patients which is a good feeling. :) It was sad to leave but it is good because I AM ALMOST DONE WITH SCHOOL! I have a 2 week break now then I have one month left of clinicals here in Sioux Center! I will be done July 2 FOREVER! I just have the final test left which will need a lot of studying. My class took a practice test and the teacher expected us to get in the mid 50% ... and yup I got a 60%. It was a wake up call to get my butt in gear studying.

With life? I moved. THE 4TH TIME IN A YEAR. So ya .. I have lived on all the houses/ apartments available on 348 4th st. in Sioux center. So now this one is pretty nice... a lot of room ( I GET MY OWN ROOM WITH A DOOR! ) and I enjoy not having to put up with Diane's staying up late sleeping schedule! I threw a lot of stuff away which is good that I am purging my junk for the next move ! AHH

With Alex? He is awesome. I am so in love with him it is ridiculous. He is busy lately so I don't get to see him so much but when I do get to see him it is always the best. We have been doing good and as happy as we can be!

With my baby Bentley- He is naughty!!!! Well he is a puppy growing a lot. Typical puppy, likes to bite, pee in the house, run like crazy, but he is also loving, LOVES people/ kids, and he is mine! The first week I got him he learn how to sit, he is getting there with potty training-- when he does go in the house it is by the door, is used to his crate and does not cry in it, he hardly ever barks, listens pretty well.. so he is a pretty good dogs and also so darn cute. I have been reading up on how to train the dog so I am going to put new training things in place.

Other than that I am excited for my parents to get home from Banglidesh and then come visit us here! It should be a good time! Hope everyone is doing well!

More bentley pics!

2009-05-03T18:40:00.003-05:00

He is too cute!

These our our first "family" pictures ! We were laying on the ground and bentley came and crawled between us! It was so cute!

He has been such a good dog. However, he hates being alone, so that makes the nights REALLY hard for him. He cries so much, so last night Alex got sick of it and put his kennel in the garage and that worked a little better for those two. He loves to be around people!

INTRODUCTING BENTLEY!

2009-05-02T16:03:00.001-05:00

,
He is the sweetest dog ever!! He follows me around everywhere, he loves to be around kids, loves my friend Judy's puppy, and loves people! He is such a sweetie. I love him to death!

BABY oh baby!!

2009-04-22T22:25:00.004-05:00

ME AND ALEX ARE GOING TO HAVE A BABY!

well.. A PUPPY! We were looking at golden retriever to buy maybe in a year, but recently everyone around us got a puppies ( one of them being a golden retriever too) so we decided we could handle one! I AM SO EXCITED! WE are going to look at a couple of them up by pipestone, mn and if we like one of the two availible we willl get him! :) IT is going to be a lot of work but also a lot of fun! I am really excited!

Today...

2009-04-11T14:21:00.001-05:00

ALEX AND I HAVE BEEN DATING ONE YEAR TODAY!! :) I can truly say I have never been happier and I love him to bits ... now time for us to go out on a date to sioux falls :)

NEW ADDITION!

2009-03-31T19:21:00.002-05:00

SO I FINALLY GOT IT! My brand new macbook laptop. It is pretty sweet I would have to say. I would thank Sarah and Andrew for helping me buy this computer because I don't know how I could have done with with my 20 hour work week!! I did get a refurbished one off the apple website, which has been worked over and has a new outside cover and everything, and I saved $200! It has the same warranties as a new computer so I think I got a pretty good deal!

This is me and Alex playing with the new camera... pretty hot huh? ( or not!)

And here it is! :) yea!!!

A little about life

2009-03-28T12:10:00.002-05:00

Hello All,
I had an awesome week of clinical! I am now at Floyd Valley Hospital in LeMars for 7 weeks and I am having such a good time! They are very good at helping, teaching, and letting me have hand on experience with the patients. They have a large facility with so many different patients, so I get to learn a lot! They said next week they are going to put me to work with the treatment of the patients, which will be very fun because it will challenge me and help me learn. SO that is exciting.

Other than that my life is not to fun. Alex won an award for a newspaper, 20 under 40 regarding young business leaders around northwest iowa. It was pretty neat that he was awarded this honor! So my clinical let me skip some an go to his award breakfast. what can I say, I am dating a pretty motivated and awesome man!

To end this blog, since I have no exciting pictures, here is a song I really like!

Thoughts on a Friday

2009-03-20T11:21:00.004-05:00

Last night I was talking with Alex about the future and different things and I stated that I really can wait to do things, like get done with school, get more stable work hours, get married, get a dog, and have babies. Then alex gave me a good reminder, to enjoy the moment I am in now while it lasts because I will never get this time back. It is so true though I am always looking to the future and never taking so much enjoyment in the here and now! Just a good reminder. It also goes with one of my favorite song, one of Diane's most favorite ( JUST KIDDING!)

I also found out I was going to have another nephew! I was surprised because now Sarah will have 4 BOYS! Sometimes I wonder why God did not just give her one girl, like it says in the Bible "Delight yourself also in the LORD: and he shall give you the desires of your heart." ... However, I know that God has a very better plan with the four boys than we can imagine. And think.. that poor girl would have to grow up with three big brothers.. !!

Well this weekend Alex's family and I are going to pack up to Spirit Lake and go to a huge indoor water park and spend the night at a hotel! It should be fun :) Hope you all have a good weekend!

Hello Everyone!

2009-03-18T16:04:00.002-05:00

What a week!
I can say it has not been the best week at all.. but I am getting by.

First my dumb computer decided to die... the hard drive is gone. So I have to get a new computer. The problem is money. I was trying to decide if I should just go to walmart and get one of those 300$ discount Dell laptops and hope it lasts until I can get another one, or should I just bite the bullet and get a new macbook and just live really really really cheap the next couple months. I have no idea. It is so frustrating without a computer with school project due and with things I need to turn in left on that crashed hard drive ! AHHH HELP ME!!
:)

So I come to the library. It has an hour limit on the computers so yesterday while doing a paper I did not realize the dumb computer signs you out when your time is up! So I lost my whole paper I spent a long time doing and I was just so frustrated! AHHHHHHHH!!! Anyways.. I finally got the paper done. phw

Anyways.. that's it with the bad stuff... now for the good. I think my parents made it to Bangladesh.. I guess that they neglected to email their poor Rachel ;) However Sarah got one that said they made it there. So pray for them as they are in a different country doing their missionary work!

Yesterday I made Alex some corned beef and garlic mashed potatoes. Yumm! :) it was a good St. Pats day. I look forward to the day with a bigger kitchen and more room and supplies to cook! yay!

Anyways.. I better go... I only have 9 more mins on the computer!!! :)

I got forever on the tip of my tounge!

2009-03-12T14:58:00.002-05:00

Wow, life has been busy!!! I finished up my first 7 week clinical with the sioux center hospital! It was a good experience and it was fun being so close to where I had to go! Now I have two weeks free, with three of those days having seminar at school. This week I think I am getting 16 hours overtime also so the bank would like that! Something else happened with a potential job however I will wait until I get more info to go into detail!

My parents are going to Bangladesh tomorrow for two months doing mission work so everyone pray they will stay safe. I will worry about them, but I also know God has everything under control and will provide safety for them.

Things with Alex are going well,,,, I love him so much :) He is seriously the best most awesome wonderful guy in the world! Next weekend I get to go to a large indoor water park with his whole family and stay the night at a hotel there. That will be a nice break after all the hours I have been putting in!

I think that is about it for now... my computer broke so that stinks:( I am hoping that it will fix itself in the next couple days,,, or else I will be at Dianes mercy to use her always password protected computer...lol

Hope everyone is doing well! :)

2009-03-03T22:15:00.004-06:00

This song I just heard on TV and I think it is pretty catchy! I will post more later but its off to clinical I go! :) Have a GREAT day

Happy Birthday weekend!

2009-02-23T21:54:00.002-06:00

Last weekend was my birthday! I can't believe I am now 24 ..I am getting to be a old fart!
It was a pretty good weekend/ week. Thursday was my friend Judys birthday so I went to decorate her apt and work office and Diane made her a pretty cake ( homemade one too!) Then her and I went out for the night to eat. Then on Friday night alex and I went out to eat in Le mars which was fun but it took a long time to get our food so when we got back I just went to bed because i had to get up early in the morning to work. Then on my bdayI went to work 6-2 and it was fun having all the residents sing happy birthday to me several times because they forgot if they had already sung it to me. :) They are so cute :)

Then I came back and went to Alex's sisters house for two of his nephews bday party and my own bday party . Then after that we had to go to a firefighter steak fry in her town and had some really good steaks and food. Then Sunday I worked in the morning then Diane made me Alex and Judy a really good meal! :)

It was a good birthday

Hope everyone is doing well , I caught a terrible cold this weekend and it just is a bugger. I can't breathe, I have a sore throat, and my face feels like it is going to explode! Hope none of you get it because it is miserable!!

best Vday Ever!

2009-02-15T12:53:00.002-06:00

What a good valentines day! Alex really surprised me :) He had me come over at 6 and when I arrived this is what I saw:

A candle light dinner, he mixed my favorite drink, he was dressed up, and had the salad there waiting for me! He made rib eye steaks, hashbrowns with cheese, and his homemade garlic bread! It was very good and I was VERY surprised! Then he rented a really girly move for me ( The Note book) and it was just really fun.

Here are some pictures of the flowers he gave me! sorry these photos are not good quality ... :( Maybe i will get a camera for my birthday next week! :)

Such a lucky girl!

2009-02-13T23:06:00.002-06:00

Today i had the biggest surprise! I was at clinicals at the sioux center hospital and in comes someone with a really pretty arrangement of flowers and they were for me!! Alex sent me them, what a sweetheart!!!

Tomorrow I am going shopping with the girls in the morning and then I am going to alex's house for a surprise night! I will write about it later with a picture of the beautiful flowers he gave me. I think he is a keeper ;)

Almost the weekend

2009-01-29T20:56:00.002-06:00

One of my lack of gifts is being able to write. I often think about writing an exciting blog, but as I start writing I have a very hard time relating my thoughts down on paper (or the internet in this case). It makes it so hard for me to write blogs... as you can tell.

However, I think it is very important for you to know what I am doing in life so I will keep writing ;)

This week was very good and exciting. Physical therapy is so much fun and I am excited to do it on my own not being a student. One of the younger patients I have been working with called the clinic and asked me on a date...which was flattering in a way.. but also a bummer in the fact that I probably will not be able to work with him much anymore just because it might be awkward. He was an interesting case which is a lot better than the normal boring shoulder injuries :).

This weekend should be busy but fun. Tomorrow is my works employee appreciation banquet in which Alex is coming with me and Judy and some other fun co-workers will be there. Saturday Alex has a family thing which I will go with him to ( he has LOTS of relatives.) It is a little overwhelming with all the people but I figure I have to get to know them at some point in time! :) Then we are going to have a bunch of people over to his house for game night, which should be really fun. Sunday I am working 6-2 but get home in time for a nap before church!

Anyways.. that's about it for now. The flu is going around here but I am trying to avoid it the best I can. Alex got sick, but I think it is with the flu that I got the flu shot for, so I came and made the poor boy supper. However I think he is feeling better because he has been out paint his new huge shed building whatever's office, so no more pity from me!

Hope everyone is doing well any staying well! :)

busy bee

2009-01-22T22:16:00.002-06:00

Hello everyone~

Just thought I would give a quick update! I started my clinicals at the Sioux Center Hospital and I really enjoy it! I love talking to the patients and being able to actually do things!!! The therapists often let me teach the exercises to the patients and get to do their ultrasound and electrical stimulation set up. It feels good to be trusted by them and able to actually do it instead of sit there and feel like a dumb dumb! It has been really fun so far and I am glad to be able to go this!
However now that I am in clincials, work hours have gone down terribly. I have worked it would with my clinical instuctor that I can leave early for the days I have to work so that I can get there in time. The thing that stinks though is that the hours avalible are not on my usual hallway, so I do not get to see my favorite residents as often :(

Other things are going well... besides the fact that Iowa is FREEZING!! Last week I think it got down to -27* ! It was bitter cold and I did not enjoy it. However, spring is coming more in sight :)

Thinks with Alex are so good :) I love him so much! He is pretty much amazing and more than I could ever ask for in a guy !

Anyways, I am past my bed time and I still have a paper to write! Ahh!!

I'm in love

2009-01-06T23:05:00.006-06:00

Here is a special post about my awesome boyfriend :) He makes me so happy and it's amazing how well we get along. It was really hard for me to open up to Alex in a way because I did not want to get my heart broken and in a way I just wanted to be careful with what I was doing. So you probably have not heard oh so much about Alex in this blog, but in reality he has been a huge part of my life in the last 9 months :) He is just so awesome, he cares so much about me and my friends and family. He would go out of his way just to help me with something little... like making sure I get home from work alright on an icy day or making and bringing me my favorite pizza :) I guess it has been fun the last week,,,, we have hung out a whole lot and spent a lot of time together. I am going to miss not seeing him everday when I start clinical and he gets busier with work :( Haha... I am pathetic..

My little pizza he made me :)
whoops i ruined a good picture!

Also, here is one of his new businesses, Christmas lights!

Proof of some good years :)

2009-01-01T13:19:00.002-06:00

Christmas 2008
Christmas 2007

Christmas 2006

Welcome 2009!!

2009-01-01T12:28:00.006-06:00

I can't believe that last year is already over, it went very fast and it was a very good year! I have a feeling that this next year is going to bring many changes and hopefully it is the best year yet! Whatever this year brings, I have to remember to praise God for both the good and the bad times and thank him for being faithful to me throughout the years!

Last night, after I worked until 10 pm, a few friends and I went over to Alex's house and played some fun board games and welcomed in the new year! I wish I took pictures but I forgot to bring my camera. :(

Backing up to Christmas, it was a VERY good week at home! It was great to see my little nephew and my family. My parents are going on a year long vacation this year so it was good to see them before they go off on their escapades. I wish I could have been their longer, but work was calling my name!

That's about it for now... here are some pictures! Enjoy!

Patrick with his favorite present from us!
Sarah and I with our yearly picture with Sammy
Ethan taking some steps!
Sammy lost his pants but loves watching Diane make something yummy
Ethan loved the kitty!
Having a good time!
Sam sam and his favorite present from us
We love Sammy :)
Sammy potty training
We love Ethan!

Wow .. two posts in a week!

2008-12-08T21:48:00.002-06:00

Every Sunday night after church Alex's family all goes to his mom and dad's house for snacks and it is a fun time to catch up and relax before the week starts.

Well yesterday morning his little 4 y/o nephew announced that he only had 3 kisses that day, his mom, his aunt Jewel, and me! So when he saw me that night he gave me a great big kiss on the cheek.. it was so cute :)

What a Week

2008-12-07T17:13:00.002-06:00

This week has been CRAZY

Tuesday:
My carpool buddy ( driving) and I were leaving school after a long day of school, pulling out on the main road. The road is kinda hilly so I always look with the driving to see if anyone is coming before we pull out, and we both saw no one, so she started pulling out to turn left. All the sudden we see a motor cycle come out of nowhere, looking like he was going out of the control coming at us very fast. My carpool buddy tried to get out of the way, however the motor cycle tipped over and the driver flew off flying right into my friends car ( A HUGE BANG) and then on the street, while his motor cycle continued flying down the road about a hundred feet. I was the most terrified I have ever been in my life... afraid to climb out of the car and see the condition the man was in. I called 911 really fast and look a first look of the helmet less motorcyclist and it did not look good. A bunch of guys game really fast all dressed in black ( found out later they were all coming home from a friend who committed suicide's funeral) and they stated he probably was trying to do a wheelie or something crazy and lost control. I did not take a good look at his body but there was streams of blood flowing and a big gash out of his head, however he was moving his legs and was moaning. Well we had to stay at school for three and a half hours after while the SWAT team and other people took pictures of the accident and everything else they have to do. The guy was lucky and had no brain injuries but does have several other injuries and he was at fault for going at high speeds. It it SO hard to get it off my mind ....

Then this weekend we went to Minniapolis to visit Shannon and Brian. We went Christmas shopping at a mall and there was a man giving massages so I decided I was going to get one because my back was killing me. In middle of it I felt my nose running so I quick wiped it realizing it was bleeding!!! I did not want to stop the massage so I just hoped it would stop, which it kinda did. Then towards the end he started pounding on my back and it started bleeding really really BAD!! Blood was dripping and my sleeves were covered in blood! I felt so bad and I have no idea why it started bleeding.

Then we decided to go out for a nice dinner, so we all ordered our food and started eatting. I was already full by the time we go the food so I did not eat a lot of it, but I offered to give my friend Ashley some of it because her meal was small. I pulled something our that I thought was just a piece of chicken but then I realized it was a HUGE SHRIMP! EWWW I HATE FISH! I was SO disgusted and I it was pretty obvious to our waiter something was wrong. He felt so bad after I told him about my HUGE disgust for seafood and he immediately got me the right food, which I was too grossed out to eat any of it. I did get the meal free however that was SO GROSS!!!

Anyways, this week should be busy! Finals! I will talk to you all later!

Thankful

2008-11-28T12:06:00.003-06:00

As a think about thanksgiving and all I have to be thankful for ....I realize I am a pretty lucky girl!

However yesterday I was really thankful for my work. It was my holiday to work so I just figured I was scheduled to work... so early this week I was shocked to find out that I was not scheduled. So I went around asking everyone who was working if they would like me to work for them. I figured everyone else has family and kids and I know how important it is for them to be with their loved ones on this holiday. It was not long until if found somewhere to work.

It was SO much fun waking the residents and telling them "Happy Thankgiving!!" and watched them surprised and say.." Oh! Its already that time of year!?!?!" It was just an awesome relaxing day... played some music and just was such a cheerful atmosphere! For dinner we made one huge table out of the square tables and had one huge family all together. It was just so fun.. I love those residents with my whole heart and I am glad I got to make up for the lack of family many of them have. I really wish I could post pictures up of our time together.. but that would probably be breaking some kinda HIPPA law so I refrained from doing so!

Then I got to to go Alex's family thanksgiving and stayed around for a few hours and tired to put a puzzle together! It was fun... his family is so kind to me and I am so thankful fo them.

Then to top the night Alex and I snuggled up on the couch and watched my most favorite movie, Love Actually. :)

It was a good thanksiving :) I have so much to be thankful for.

Good time to post~!

2008-11-23T14:29:00.002-06:00

It is a lazy Sunday afternoon and I love it!! This morning I went to church and came home and made the best scones ever. So I brought some to Judy and then to Alex. However, Alex was already down and out for his Sunday nap so I just left him instructions telling him how to make a scone. :)

This weekend was pretty fun, Friday working until 7 pm then went out for steaks with Alex and relaxed the rest of the night. Saturday I woke up to a white blanket of snow everywhere! I had a bridal shower for my friend, then a VERY short thanksgiving feast with one side of Alex's family ( he had to leave early to scoop snow), then went shopping with Judy to Sioux City ( just got two things... both for Alex :S ) then went to the town of Doon ( like 800 people live there). In Doon they had Bingo and the prizes were Turkeys and Hams! I won a turkey so I am going to make it up on Wednesday for a couple people and Alex and have a feast! I have to work Thanksgiving day so I will get to eat there with all my residents. I actually like spending the holidays with them because technically they are in the same boat as me.. with no family near by to spend the holidays with.. so we all get to spent it with each other.

Speaking of work it was really cute.... I was just putting my last resident to bed then the nurse told me that someone was coming to visit me.. and they thought it was my boyfriend. So I got really excited that Alex would come visit me at work so I ran out in the hall only to hear the door alarm going off. I searched for him for a minute then called him and asked him where he was. He said he set off two door alarms and got so nervous of turning off alarms every door he went out that he just picked up and ran out ! It was funny and sweet of him to try to come visit me!

Anyways... time for bed now.. :) hope everyoen has a good week!

life goes on...

2008-11-17T12:08:00.002-06:00

Helloo all!

Life has been busy as usual!
Lately my time has been spent doing something exciting! Alex's house is a little out dated.... with wall paper everywhere, outdated light fixtures, and a lack of a nicely decorated living room. So we solved this the last couple weeks! We removed three rooms of wall paper, painted, and totally re-did his whole living room... getting new furniture, wall decorations, and curtains! It looks SO nice now!!! We have a couple touch ups in the bathroom then it will be done! We are then going to have a bunch of people over to check out the new house. The one thing I regret is that I did not take before pictures, however I will take a couple snap shots when it is all done! It was so much fun doing this with Alex :) It is amazing how well we get along and how easy it is to be with him, I just love him so much !

Anyways.. besides that... Work has been good.. a little crazy. Last week I really wish I did not work there. Basically a man with end stage congestive heart failure and renal failure decided to take himself to the bathroom and fell in the TINY bathroom. We could not get him up for the life of us ( he was really tall and about 300 lbs) .. and time was running out... his lips were turning blue. I was kneeling in front of him holding his trunk up with all my strength urging him to breath deep.. and by the time we got him up and in his chair by myself and three men, his eyes were rolling in the back of his head. He was full code... so we had to do all we could to revive him. I called 911, flagged in the EMTs and watched as they frantically shocked him and gave him CPR... even doing compressions as they ran out out the door. It was so unbelievably hard on us to see this.... and did not make for a good afternoon. He ended up dying that day :( Things like that make me sad to work at that nursing home, but also thankful that I know I did everything I could to make his last days good. I am not sure but I think I was the last person that man saw and talked to :(

Other than that.. it is getting cooler ... school is winding down and life is just awesome :) I hope everyone is doing well and staying warm!

Death, death, all around

2008-10-27T21:50:00.003-05:00

Hello All,
This past week has been full of death.... and bodies.

So on Sat. Alex and I decided to make a little road trip and so see the body exhibit in Watertown, SD. Alex knew that I have been wanting to see this for a VERY long time and it is ending on Friday. So we took his truck up 2 and a half hours to go it! It was SO very VERY awesome and I suggest everyone to go see it. They are actually real people, whose body parts have been through a process to make everything like plastic. It was fun to see all the muscles I had to memorize and quiz myself. Even Alex, who is not very into healthcare like I am, really liked it! What a good time both seeing that and spending time with my most awesome boyfriend :)

Then today I got to work and found out someone had died. I had no other choice but to be there and help put his body in the body bag. I had worked with this man quite a bit so it was so sad to see :( I don't know what it is.. but while someone is alive it is so easy to take care of them but it was so hard to see this man and his poor family.

I guess that is just part of life..... death is a natural process. The most important thing though is to be ready for it.. and realized it could happen at any time. We have to just trust in the Lord and live a Godly life.

Anyways... busy week at school and work.... picking up lots of hours so I can get some $$$ :)

Hope everyone is doing well!

Hello all my faithful readers :)

2008-10-19T18:43:00.003-05:00

So.. I am not so good about updating on my life. Someday when I have a big chunk of open time, with no homework, nothing in my house to clean, and no other distractions ( which will probably never happen) I would write my life story. But as for now you get the sweet and simple.

This last week my mom came to visit! I greatly enjoyed her stay and it was a lot of fun having her here with me and Diane in our apartment. She did a bunch of cooking for us, met Alex, and spend quality time with her daughters! I was glad that she could me Alex because I have no idea when he will get the time to get out to Washington. He just bought a new business, The Yard Man, and along with that comes snow removal in the winter. I was really sad when she left, I love my mom :)

Also, my nephew Patrick turned 4 on the 18th!! I can't beleive how big he is getting!! A funny little note also... Alex's brother in laws bday is on the same day as Patricks! It is funny because important dates in the life of my family often overlap so this was just a funny connection!

Work has been going well. The residents at the nursing home and I have a great time. I wish I had time to type out half the funny things that happen there. It is such a rewarding job and I love my residents... they keep me smiling and excited to go to work. This job really makes me wonder if I should focus on Geriatrics someday.... but we'll see.

I get a three day break from school this week, so I am just going to work long hours to try to put some money in my bank. I just finished clinicals at a local PT clinic here in Sioux Center. It was a lot of fun, but I really can't wait to be done and start doing stuff on my own ..... Other than that school is challenging. Neurology is the most frustrating class because it is hard for me to visualize the nerves and the spinal cord and figure out how it works. Muscles are easy... you can see them work and know which muscle is which by moving, but nerves are a pain! Trust me.. its hard to tell if it is C5 C6 C7 that innervates the thumb by just moving the thumb...

Other than that.... everything is good. I still love living with Diane... we have a good time together... that is when we actually get to see each other.... we work opposite hours!
Alex is really good! We now have been dating 6 months! Half a year.... and seriously it has been an awesome time. Its weird.. its amazing how well we get along and how well things go when we are together. I dunno how to explain it except that I think Alex as perfect as it gets almost! I don't think I really take the time to really mention much about Alex but I am very thankful for him and of course his family.

One last sad note....
There is this one lady at my nursing home, she is 98 but in perfect health condition.. is independent and still can walk unassisted. However, her husband and two of her three kids have since passed aways.. and her 3rd daughter had terrible cancer and passed away Tuesday. I first feel bad for this lady.... being so old yet perfect condition.. with all her closest loved ones gone already. Then her daughter had a husband and a 10 year old daughter that she left behind... who I am familiar with them all because they visit her every sunday. I can't imagine what that little ten year old girl is going through .... just lost her mother and now it is just her and her father. Makes me so thankful for my parents and that they are alive and healthy. My life would have been so different without one of my parents growing up and I am so thankful that I still have them in my life. ( However next year they will be pretty much absent from my life with all the trips they will be on! ;) )

Anyways... it's late and bed is calling. Hope everyone is doing well... and if you can please pray for the lady at my nursing home and her family. It is so hard on them and it is hard to see crying all day wondering why she has been given all these years, yet all her children died before they were very old.

Have a good week!

whoops

2008-10-05T23:28:00.003-05:00

So... as you can tell..I have been REALLY bad at posting lately!
Life has been busy.. so i will just give the brief overview!

1. School has been going well! Since I stopped working nights I have had a lot more energy to focus on school! My class just went to the major Physician therapy conference three hours away in Council Bluffs. It was really fun staying at a hotel with 5 of my other class mates ( 3 of my classmates could not come) and learning about physical therapy. I went to the 12 hour course on Early mobilty in the ICU. It was VERY interesting! I learned about how important it is to start early PT on patients, the different diseases that cause weakness, and the different tubes and machines used in the ICU. I learned that the ICU is VERY complicated and something I would not want to do, but it was very interesting!

2. Saturday was Alex's birthday! I got him a really cool Ipod docking station, some clothes, and a book by Donald Trump he wanted. It was a good time.. we went out to eat and to a movie. By the way... did I every tell you all how awesome of a boyfriend I have...seriously.. he is AWESOME.

3. Other than that, life has been good. My mom is coming to visit on Saturday and that should be fun! Tomorrow is my brothers birthday... so HAPPY BIRTHDAY JONNY!!

Hope everyone is doing well!

My class out to eat at a really cool resturant
Us being silly... looks like I lost my legs!!

Hello All!

2008-09-12T23:44:00.003-05:00

Wow... this week.. or month has been BUSY! Seriously... every morning I get up at 6 ( except for Tuesday night, were I worked the 11 pm to 11 am shift) and don't get to bed until about 11 to 12. I had 4 test this week while working 32 hours, and tried to get a bunch of other stuff done. Now I am worn out. I feel like I can go to sleep and sleep for the next 3 days. Well tomorrow I have off ( YES!!) so I am going to sleep in nice and long.

It is nice living with my sister ( if you wanna see awesome pics of our apt. go to her website dianefeucht.com ) She has done a lot of cleaning and cooking which has been awesome :)

She as also been the first one in the family that has met Alex. :) She likes him a lot but then again .. there is not much to not like. He has been awesome. Seriously.... we have been dating five months and I don't think that we have had any arguments... or been angry with each other. I know it is bond to happen someday.. but it is just perfect right now. He makes me smile and I am so thankful for Alex. I could not ask for much better :)

Alright... enough of all that... I got a couple quality pictures of me and alex ;)

5 months!

2008-09-10T17:26:00.002-05:00

Alex and I have been dating 5 months tomorrow, what great months they have been! I will write more later, for now Alex is going to make or take me out to eat! ;)

Busy Week

2008-08-27T22:33:00.002-05:00

Wow. Thats all I can say about the last week and a half! Here is a shortened version of my last couple days!
1. Had an AWESOME clinical in Washington. The therapist let me do so much and she trusted me to take her patients and do their rehab by myself. It was just a confidence booster to be able to do this and know that I could! I learned a lot in the 40 + hours I spent at Puyallup Valley Physical Therapy!
2. I came back to Iowa and the same HOUR I arrived I had to switch apartments. The two apartments are in the same house.. but it was just a big mix up and a long story .. but I had to move. Nothing was really packed and I really did not want to move.. but there were people waiting on me to move out so I could move in. So Alex got some of his guy friends and the all helped move me... needless to say my apt. is really messy and unorganized still, but it is actually a nicer apt. I moved into and cheaper!
3. I have had no time to unpack because I started school on Monday. I could already tell this is going to be a hard semester, but I think I can make it through. I don't know if I will be able to get my 4.0 GPA but I will try ;)
4. I also work a bunch still too! It's the best feeling when the residents still remember me and ask me how my vacation was and tell me they missed me. A lot of them have memory problems so it is pretty special when they remember you so that made me feel good. It is sad though.. one of my little residents has gone down hill so much since have been gone. She used to walk, but now she can't even stand. However, I am determined to get her back walking so I worked with her today and did get her to propel her own wheelchair with her feet and ( to the other CNAs surprise) got her to stand up and hold her self up. Hopefully by spending extra time with her I can get her back to where she was !
5. Diane is moving to live with me in IOWA!! I have to help find her a car here, but Alex has been so amazing helping me find her a car. Alex knows EVERYONE in town so when we went to the car dealers today they promised to help us find a good car in the price range Diane is looking in. It is just helpful to have a guy like Alex who help and goes out of their way to help. He even offered to let me drive his big truck if Diane needed to use my car for a while.. but ya... I don't think I would do well driving that big honker!

Anyways.. that's the long and short of it... hope everyone is doing well!

Home sweet home

2008-08-17T18:36:00.004-05:00

This week has been so busy so far! Home has been very good.... getting to see a lot of my nephews and family. On Thursday my dad, Diane, and I took off for a three day hike up to Rachel Lake. That morning I was not feeling to good .. however we we got about halfway up the mountain I was feeling miserable... and I started to throw up! So needless to say we all turned back and went home. Diane and my dad also ended up with the flu that night so it was not so much fun! The next morning I felt better so we decided to go to the beach with Sarah, Andrew, and the boys! It was so funny how the temperature went from 90* in Puyallup to 60* at the beach! It was pretty cold but it was a good time. I start full time clinicals tomorrow with a Physical therapy clinic in Puyallup. It should be a good time! Hope everyone is doing well!

Sam Sam and I
Sammy is the funniest kid I know. He was sicking his hands in his cup holders the whole walk around the lake!
Sammy giving little Ethan some love
Patrick and his bubble gun!
Family pictures are almost impossible with three little boys
Diane and Ethan having a grand old time!
Sammy really hated the cold water.. Sarah and I had to pull him out!
Patrick being really cute at Dairy Queen
Sammy was so sad when he would not get constant bites of ice cream !
Sarah and Sammy are cute
Brotherly love
Sammy is a cute boy!

HOME!!

2008-08-12T23:03:00.001-05:00

I'm Home!! And I am really excited to spend time with my nephews and family!! Here are just a couple pics from my first day home!

yawwn

2008-08-03T10:58:00.004-05:00

Happy Sunday everyone!

This morning I had to skip church in order to work ... so its 11 am and I have nothing to really do... SO you will get to hear about my somewhat interesting life....

This week has been busy... with work and other stuff... but it was good. This weekend was really fun ! Alex and I took his parents out to a really good steak house about 30 mins from Sioux Center. That was a good time. Then Sat. I went with some firemen and one of their wives to a firefighter water challenge about an hour away. It was fun to be in the sun and cheer Alex and the rest of the Sioux Center firefighters on. However, there was one instance in the final rounds that Alex won ( believe me.. i was right up there yelling to cheer him on ;) ) and they called it a tie and a re-do and the other team ended up winning... which made me really mad. I let it known that they made a bad call... but of course did not work :) But what amazed me was that Alex knew that he really won... but he did not make a big fuss out of it after it was called and done for. I asked him why he did not later and he said something that he would be seen for his good game than being a sore loser.... or something like that. it was really respectable that he did not make a big fuss out of something that really could not be changed.

Anyways.. my bed is calling.. hope everyone had a good weekend.. enjoy the sweet pictures!

Yea... that's Alex and I
Alex and the new firefighter he is training... he did really well for his first water fights!
This is a really neat picture :)
So this is how it works.... There are 3 people on a team.. ( you cant see the 3rd in the pic) but the first guy aims the hose at the barrel and the guy behind him helps carry the hose ( which I think is really heavy) and the 3rd guy in the back helps prevent the hose from kinking and helps make it easier to move forward.. or backward. Then the first team to the the barrel on the other side wins.
You just gotta think a guy in uniform is good looking ;)

Hats off to some very important people today!

2008-07-24T21:25:00.005-05:00

Today if a very important day!! Three very important bdays and the last day of my grandma Megyesi's life.

First, my grandma Megyesi was a model of someone who I aspire to be like. She was a wonderful woman who I miss greatly. I can't wait to see her in heaven again!

Second, it is my old college roommate, Laura's 23 birthday! I love Laura, she is one of the best listeners in the world and one of the best friends a girl could ever ask for! I love you Laura and hope you have a good bday!!

Third, it is my little sister Diane's 22 birthday! Diane is only 17 months younger than me so she has always been a good mate for me. We get along so well... well most of the time.. and I am so excited to see her when she gets back to Washington .. and possibly Iowa???
Then there is little Sammy who turns 2 today! I love this little boy and miss him so much! I can't wait to see him in August! :) Look at him in these pictures... he was such a little runt!! He is still so very cute and I love him!!

Now look at him, getting so big!

:)

2008-07-21T23:11:00.002-05:00

Today I was feeling blah after work. It's super hot in my house, i am not feeling well, and it was a busy day at work. Then as I was slaving away over dishes, there was a knock on the door. It was Alex with something behind his back... 6 red roses! They are beautiful!!! He just brought them over for fun,, then had to run off to a meeting :) What an awesome guy

"Embrace them, Don't waste them, for these are the days of our lives."

2008-07-20T11:58:00.003-05:00

This week I was able to go up to Minnesota and go on a mini vacation! The families that were there have been going up there for eight years already, so it was very nice that I was able to join in on their vacation! It was a lot of fun, it was in a resort on a lake and we spent a lot of time boating, swimming, playing games, go karting, and having a good time relaxing.

We spend so much time on Alex's boat and in the water, it was AWESOME!! However, I caught the cold while I was there which is not fun now. :S I would have pictures but they are all on another camera!

However, I got to get rest, my head feels like it is going to explode!

Here is just one pic I took of Lindsey and Derrick. Behind them is the resort and big trampoline!!

Changes, changes, changes

2008-07-13T22:23:00.004-05:00

Wow, today was a crappy day at the nursing home! Literally! Everyone down my hall was under the weather and had diarrhea! I felt bad for them.. but it made for an interesting day... and i will leave it at that!

Today is the one year anniversary of my grandma's death and the 11th year anniversary of my grandpa's death. I can't believe how fast times flies by. It seemed like yesterday I was just at home and going to my good friend Jill's wedding. I was getting ready for a big move to Iowa.. and did not really know what was going to happen from there. God has really blessed me and shown himself through my life in the past year. If you asked me a year ago what my life would look like today.. it would not think it would look like how it is now! I am so thankful for all the good times I have been through as well as the struggles I have gone through. It has shaped me and molded me to be me :)

On another note....

I did another really Iowa thing.. I went to testicle festival... where they fry up cow balls and have a big town party over this. I came late so I did not get to see them or try it.. ( which I would have not anyways!) but it was really hickish-- right up there with the tractor pull!

Which I do have a couple pictures of...

Me, Judy, and Ashley taking in the tractors!

What a handsome stud ;)
A little taste of the tractor pull.. I wish I got a better pic. What they do is have the tractors pull this cart and as they get further up the track the cart makes the weight shift closer to the tractor making it harder to pull.. or something like that... !

YEH HA

2008-07-12T15:06:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I went to my first really Iowan event! The TRACTOR PULL! It was a rather hot evening but the wind picked up and it ended up being pretty nice! Some tractors had cool engines, like helicopter and jet engines, so they burned pure alcohol and that was neat ( AND LOUD!) . Other ones had fire coming out of them when they finished and other ones made SO much smoke ! It was a lot of fun!

Yesterday Alex and I have been dating 3 months! :) I am such a lucky girl... Alex is such an awesome guy. He is now gone the next week on vacation 4 hours away :( I am gunna miss him a lot!!! However on Friday I might drive up there and join him for the day and night then go to Minneapolis for a day to see Shannon.

Anyways.. I got to sleep.. busy day working today!

Updated from below

2008-07-09T15:51:00.001-05:00

My little guy is alright! I went to go check on him the next morning and he was bandaged up on his arms.. he had 7 stitches and just has to take it easy with his hands for the next little while. He was actually more worried about me and told me that he really wanted to call me and tell me he was alright , but he did not know my phone number or last name!! He is such a cute little fellow.. I'm so glad he is alright!

Terrible , terrible

2008-07-07T21:21:00.002-05:00

Today I was taking one of my most favorite residents to group exercises.. which he was so excited for! ( I don't know if he actually likes them.. or just likes being with me because he has a little crush on me :S) I was walking by him, talking to him about dancing and such. He started showing me dance moves and just as I was telling him to wait to do the dance moves, he lost balance and fell backwards. I tried to catch him and help him down, but in the process he ended up getting a couple skin tears and bonking his head. His skin is like paper thin so they were pretty big and you can see his muscles and under his skin. He was alright, but I was mortified. I started bawling and I felt SO terrible. Technically there was nothing I really did wrong, but I felt SO bad. He had to go the emergency room to get stitches and checked out but he should be alright. I just get so sad when I think about it though :( I feel bad for the poor little guy.

"I like the sound of the gulf breeze blowing, Holding your hand, the sand on our feet"

2008-07-06T11:38:00.006-05:00

This weekend was exciting! On the 3rd Alex had a big party in his newly re-done back yard. He invited a lot of people I did not know but I got to know them and we had a good time. I also then learned how to do flips on the trampoline ( both forward and backwards!!)... his niece taught me !

Then I worked the morning of the 4th. It's really encouraging because the other CNA's are getting told by the residents how much they like me!! It is just encouraging to know that I can make a difference in their lives.

Then that night I watched the fireworks with my lovely ex- roommate Lindsey and her new husband Matt. After that I went and slept outside on the trampoline with Alex's niece! It was a beautiful night and you could see the stars so clearly! I loved it!

Then on Sat. I went boating with Alex's whole family! It was a lot of fun.. lots of food and a lot of sun! We went tubing then I learned how to water ski. Granted it took me a couple times to get all the way up.. but Alex was in the water with me giving me some good coaching! One I got up I went for quite awhile until I got exhausted so I just let go!! It was SO relaxing .. and very fun :) His family is a lot of fun and I am getting more and more comfortable with them.

This is his youngest nephew, Bridger. He passed out right away when we got on the boat and he stayed asleep the whole wild ride!
His two nieces, Keana and Micheala.. They are a lot of fun to hang be with!
Alex's sister and her son Karter. They are fun people!
The whole gang on this run of the boat. Alex was teaching his nephew Devon how to drive the boat... it was a little scary but we made it out alive!
The two girls turned into arabs... :)

White paint

2008-07-01T00:39:00.002-05:00

So.. I decided I am dating an awesome guy :) ( I knew it before.. but I am even more convinced !)

Alex has been doing some yard renovations and putting in a new fence and making his house look nice. So he has been busy pulling out bushes, powerwashing his house and deck, and doing a bunch of stuff. So I thought I would help him while he is really busy putting in his fence. He had me painting his window white and staining the wood around his deck.

So today his friend's wife, Beth, was helping me and I was so into talking to her I did not see where I was going and I backed into the paint can.. which HAD to be open and I knocked the whole thing over this brick porch! AH!!! Beth and I scooped up the paint with our hands and saved a lot.. but there was a HUGE white spot on his deck. I waited anxiously as the guys went to get him from the skid loader to see what his lovely girl had done. He just looked at it and laughed.... said there was no use getting mad at that..! He just is going to powerwash his deck again to get it off! He could have gotten mad at the situation.... but he is awesome :) .

It was pretty funny.. all the other guys there had a good laugh! Thank goodness Alex is such an easy going guy and does not get angry easy!!

So anyone want me to do some home painting for them???

Weekend fun !

2008-06-22T15:13:00.004-05:00

Wow.. what a weekend!!!

On Friday Alex and I took his two nieces and one of his nephews out to eat and then to the circus in Sioux Center! It was fun.. the circus was a little weird.. but then afterwards me and his two nieces all rode the elephant together! :) IT was a good time and fun with the little nieces!

Then the next day we finally got to take out the boat! WE went with his good friend Damon and his wife Beth! It was a lot of fun.. really relaxing... caught some sun! I can't complain a bit :)

Hope you all had a good weekend!

After a nice steak dinner, taking a walk by the lake!

Damon and Beth lounging out :)
Us hanging out in the back
BEAUTIFUL day!
I got ten toes up and nothing to complain about
Crazy alex :)

My Life..

2008-06-16T16:07:00.002-05:00

My life is CRAZY! However, I love it. Now that I am a "super CNA" ( Thats what the other workers call me at the nursing home because I passed the test without taking the CNA class) .. I realized how much work it is to take care of someone. The smells, the views, the other side of people that you lucky people don't have to see... often make me wonder what the heck I am doing. But then I think... some day this might be my parents or even me and I want someone giving me the same care that I give these people. It puts a whole new spin on care taking.... so I don't complain when someone is wet and I have to change them... or they puke all over the nice shirt I just struggled to put on them. They often apologize for needing to be changed and not being able to take care of themselves.. and I just look at them and tell them it is my pleasure to be able to work with them. So often I see people jerking people around to get them done fast.. and it makes me sad to see this. I want to work my hardest to show the residents in the nursing home the same love I hope people showed my grandma and my other loved ones who may have to be in a nursing home. Trust me... I am also no perfect... I do cringe sometimes when I finally get to sit down and someone HAS to pull their light ... but oh well its my job!

ANOTHER WEIRD THING!! I met someone who went to school with my GRANDPA!!! He knew all million kids that were in my gpa's family! Just made me laugh because I really never think that I do have roots in Iowa... but this is just proof again of my humble roots in the northwest Iowa area!

Other than that.... life has been good. Tonight I get to go to a Sioux Center Commerce banquet with Alex.. which should be fun. I guess they are going to serve really good food so I am excited about that! Its funny.. Alex told me about the Steak frys that the Sioux Center firemen put on for the fire fighters and their families... and now they decided to have one soon called the "meet Alex's girlfriend Steak fry!" That should be fun... kinda fun meeting a whole new group of people and having such a special occasion kinda dedicated to me :S

The weather has been really nice... we are not drowning here in Iowa like the news might portray.. and thankfully no tornadoes have hit! I do get a little scared without a TV to get the updated weather announcements if bad weather is on its way.. however all my friends promised to call me and tell me to get in the basement if need be!

Sioux Center Days

2008-06-08T16:50:00.003-05:00

This weekend was the Sioux Center weekend .. or something. So on Friday night was cruise night so Alex and I got to go in front of the fire station and watch all the fancy cars cruise on Main Street. Then we were able to go ride on the fancy old fashioned fire truck, which was exciting. Now that I am dating a fireman, the other firemen make sure to give us grief.. but it is fun :)

Then Saturday I went with Alex's family to see the firemen water fights! Alex one first place in one event and 4th in another.. he is pretty amazing ;) Then we were in the parade and I helped hand out magnets for his business. Afterwards he took me out to the Blue Mountain in Orange City.. for an AMAZING meal outside :) It was fun to be able to spend the day with his family and his little nieces and nephews.

Busy busy busy week!

2008-06-03T09:40:00.004-05:00

Hello All :)
Hope everyone is doing well! This week has been a REALLY busy week for me... I quit one job, started another, had several friends fly to town early for a wedding and stay with me, moved from one house to another, passed the CNA exam and became a CNA, and went to one of my friend's wedding! It was terribly busy and my house is a MESS, however I am thankful for all the help I received from my friends and Alex in this move! While I was at work Pam would work hard organizing the down stairs of my house so I would have a little bit of a normal place to live. Thank goodness for Alex's big truck which was able to outdo little Lucy's carrying abilities!

My new job is AWESOME!!!! I get to start the restorative program for the residents so I was able to go with their care plans and visit everyone and evaluate them and the current exercise program they are on and if it is being carried out correctly. I did not make it through all the 60 some residents of the nursing home, but I greatly enjoy taking the time and talking to them. I tell them about my self and the importance of exercise for the elderly and tell them how much fun we are going to have with our one on one exercise sessions. Then I learn about them, what they like to do, who they are, and just random things! Seriously, I don't think I should be paid for this because it is so much fun and I love it!

Well tonight is my first 11 pm- 7am CNA shift. I am a little bit nervous that I am going to be dead tired.. but I plan on drinking lots of coffee and taking a nap before I go out. It won't be too bad I hope!! I also passed the CNA exam without taking the 75 hour course... and just studying for 3 hours!!!!!! I was SO excited!!

Things with Mr. Alex are good :) He makes me smile so much. Yesterday we finally got to see each other without a huge crowd of people and when he went home my cheeks hurt from smiling too much :) I don't know if I mentioned that I met his family last Sunday~ they are very nice people! I realized that one of his cousins are realized to my Aunt Emma Gerber! When we started making these connections I was a little worried I would find out that we where related, and thankfully we are not!!!!! It was good to meet them, family is an important part of a relationship and I think that I can get along with them quite well :)

My friend Lynae got married this weekend. It was a pretty wedding, got to see some old friends and it was good. We all stayed at this camping resort and stayed in a 11 person hotel room. It was fun... good bonding time with the girls :)
We all went put put golfing on Memorial day , while we were waiting for Laura to come in . It was a lot of fun.. we all are bad golfers so it made everything in good fun :) Waiting for Laura... Alex is special so he gets the wheelchair... :)

First meal in the new house... note.. no chairs!!!! AHHHH
My girls :)
All my friends doing the signature "Rachel dance" :)

Helllllllllo

2008-05-18T22:03:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone!
This was a really fun weekend :) I had my class... well minus 4 people .... so 6 people in my class over to smoke some hookah and chill out for the night! It was really fun.. I really love my class! Alex and Judy also came to join in on the fun!

Also, my phone kinda got waterlogged, not my own fault, so now I am phoneless until the insurance company gets me my new phone! It is funny how much I depend on my phone... I think I am going to go crazy without it!!!

Busy week!!

2008-05-16T18:17:00.001-05:00

This week has been crazY! I finished school, had Irish night, and mowed a lawn for the first time ever!

1. School was good... got good grades then on Tuesday my whole class went out to eat. It was fun to hang out with everyone.. and tonight they are all driving to my house to hang out and smoke the hookah!

2. Irish night was so much fun! WE had corned beef, green beans, mashed potatoes, rolls, and green sherbet!

3. Alright, mom you should be glad that you love to mow the lawn. I tried to mow mine.. and it has mow hawks all over the yard..... whoops... i will learn someday!

Here are some pictures of the week.. enjoy!

Happy Mother's daY!

2008-05-11T22:53:00.004-05:00

I just wanted to take some time to tell everyone that I have an awesome Mom :) She is such an awesome role model of what a Christian mother should be. Thank you for always being there for me and I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! There are not enough words to express how much I love you!

Other than thinking of my awesome mom today, I had a pretty low key weekend :)

Friday I went to Sioux falls to bum around with my friend until we had to pick someone up from the airport. It was a crazy fun time. I am started to find things to decorate my new apt. with! Sadly my roommate ditched me.. which is kinda nice to have the place to myself.. but it will stink paying for rent. However, my landlord is pretty awesome so I have no complaints.

Then Sat. I got up unusually early for a Sat. and got some studying done. We were going to pull the boat out if it was a nicer day... ( not to do water skiing or anything.. just to cruise around) but it rained all day. So Alex and I went on a double date with his best friend and his wife. It was awesome because unknown to me the guy's wife was in my graduating class at Dordt. We knew a lot of the same people and we got along really well! So we went out to eat at Blue Mountain restaurant in Orange City and then came back to Alex's house and played some games. It was really fun to hang out with the other couple.. and of course Alex! :)

However... it's kinda scary starting a relationship with Alex... just because he is so settled in his life here... has his house, his businesses, and a lot of other things going for him here... that if things become more serious there is chance that I might become a Sioux Center lifer. Granted that is REALLY looking ahead in the future.. but it is still something to consider. I just trust God that if this is what is supposed to happen it will.... just like he has been faithful with everything else in my life. It is just so hard to trust that God has a plan that will work out perfectly when the future looks so blurry and confusing! I will just keep praying that God's will will be done in my life ~

Other than that my last final is on Tuesday... on all the muscles in the body. It should be hard but I am not too worried because I know it pretty well. I just have to hit the books tomorrow so that I can refresh my memory!

Mom, I hope you had a great mother's day despite my lack of presence.. but I did think of you and missed you a extra lot today! I hope everyone else is doing well and hope you all have a good week!

I was TAGGED!

2008-05-10T07:18:00.003-05:00

My sister Sarah tagged me, so here it goes… again!

7 random facts about me:

1.) I hate sitting around and doing nothing... So I have no idea what I am going to do on my days off when school is done. I might be a little bored.

2.) The only food I have at my house is cereal, milk, and a frozen corned beef that if for Irish night with my friends

3.) I never broke a bone, had a surgery, or been hurt enough to be hospitalized. Kinda weird judging from how clumsy I am!

4.) I had a 4.o last semester and I think I just ruined my 4.0 this semester with a test I took yesterday :(

5.) I grind my teeth so bad that if I don't wear my night guard my teeth will be hardly there when I turn 30 .. or so says that dentists

6.) I cant stand veins. They gross me out and I don't even know why.

7.) This last year at this house, I think I have turned the TV on twice to watch it... Not my thing to watch TV I guess... I have better things to do with my time.

The rules say that I get to tag 7 more people, so:

I will just break the rules! No one is tagged cuz I am a cheater!

Meh

2008-05-07T16:22:00.000-05:00

Three very painful days of not being able to look at bright light or go outside + one visit to the eye doctor+ one TINY bottle of eyedrops - $75 for the TINY BOTTLE= one cornea ulcer and one sad and POOR Rachel

"You and me and all of the the people "

2008-05-04T23:04:00.004-05:00

Hello all,
Its been quite a while it seems like since I actually updated this blog.

It will be short and simple because I got to go to bed soon!

1. This weekend we smoked the hookah .... 5 different flavors in a row!!! The neighbors also were having a party and heard we where smoking the hookah and they whole PARTY came over too! It was fun.. two people smoked it for the first time.. Alex and Kathy! It was quite the experience :) I was going to take pictures but my camera battery was DEAD!!!!

2. I went on a date with Alex this weekend to the pizza ranch in Sheldon that he own part of. It was pretty neat .. one the nicest pizza ranches I have seen. :) Then again.. I may be a little bias ;)

3. I got to go on a RIDE IN THE FIRETRUCK!! Alex took me around Sioux Center in the newest fire engine and I got to sit in the fire captain's seat and honk the horn. It was really fun and I know I am a dork!

4. SCHOOL IS OVER FOR THE SUMMER IN ONE WEEK!!! I AM PUMPED!!

5. I can't wait to start my NEW JOB! My teachers were SO excited for me and said it is the BEST job I can do for practice in my field. It will be SO FUN!!!!!!

6. I move in a WEEK.. well technically I will be renting two apartments so I will slowly move out to the new place. It should be pretty nice.. I am going to actually try to decorate it nicely so that it will be more homey!

7. I am tired... worked all week and stayed up late a lot of nights.... So I better get some ZZZZZZs for the big week ahead :)

Hope you are all doing well!

Iowa first time

2008-05-01T20:55:00.003-05:00

This is the picture of my first tornado! It was really funny because I thought it was just a fire then my friend called me freaking out that there was all these tornado warnings. So then I realized it was a tornado and started getting ready with my roommate to move in the basement! Afterwards I realized ... the things that meant the most for me to save was : my phone, my computer, and my backpack full of school books. What a nerd.. who brings their backpack??????

However, it hit north of us so we are all ok here in Sioux Center!

Check this out!!

2008-05-01T19:37:00.002-05:00

If anyone is interested in any baby gifts or anything for your own baby, make sure to check out Sarah's Baby Boutique! It is my sister's new business and she did a very good job at making some nice items for babies!

Never know what you got.. until it is gone!

2008-04-26T23:53:00.004-05:00

::::::::::::UPDATED:::::::::::

This is my friends and my broken hookah. I am so sad that we have to keep in it a bucket of water so that all the water does not drain out. It still works but hopefully I can save up money to get a new base ... because this is one of my favorite summertime pastimes!
This last week I have wanted to call my parents and ask their advice on several things.. however I realized that they were gone and unavailable to talk to because they are in Germany! I take advantage of the fact that I can call my parents whenever I want to talk to them... and they are there for me whenever I need them. So all in all, I love you parents and I am glad they are coming home soon! I miss you :(

One thing that I needed their advice on was a job situation. I had an interview at a nursing home where they are offering me full time hours being a CNA as well as a restorative aide. This is sort of my dream job for the time being before I am an actual PTA. My job would involve being creative in helping the residence with their exercises, incorporating them into their everyday life.. instead of having an extra time for exercise. However the hours I would do the CNA would be the 3 pm to 11 and the 11 pm to 7 am shifts... not the most desirable times to work. BUT .. if I do the 11 to 7 am shifts I can stay four more hours and get my restorative aide stuff in so I would not have to come as much. It's a hard toss up to switch jobs, but I feel like God is leading me to this.. and get practice in my field. I am going to miss the free food, my coworkers, and I am not quite sure how I am going to tell my boss, but I am sure they are all going to understand.

Also, things with Alex are going well. :) He is such a sweet guy and makes me smile.

Also... Today I pulled out the hookah for the first time this year! HOWEVER... the base of the glass part broke off!!!! So we tried to super glue it... but it still had leaks so we just put it in a bucket with the water levels the same so that the water did not leak out. I am going to have to buy a new glass vase/ base for my hookah.. but for the time being it was fun sitting on the porch with my friends and smoking it again!

Anyways.. I hope everyone is in good health and doing well!

Got my fix for the year :)

2008-04-23T23:40:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I went to Sheldon to spend the night ( so that I am 20 mins closer to Worthington for my early morning clinical). We met up with my friend Chad who was tilling the land in his tractor.. so I got to go on a ride with him! I got to drive the tractor myself, which I drove very crooked! It was fun.. I love doing farm work once in a while. We were talking about all the new farm stuff.. and you can get GPS for your tractor so it drives in straight lines and you can just sit and the tractor will drive itself ! It is amazing... I wonder what my gpa Feucht would do if he was alive to see all this. However, I think it would be boring to be a farmer... just drive all day..... :S

Today was my last day in Worthington. I ed really cool exercises to realign your pelvis! I practiced with my friend Ashley and I could tell it already worked with her!!!

They gave me a sweet shirt and also offered me a job when I graduate and offered to help pay all my loans ( too bad I have none :S ) .. but I don't think I will be going back to work there... maybe for my 4 week clinical .. but not there forever!! :)

Other than that everything has been really good :) I really can't complain... especially with almost 80* weather today!

My bad

2008-04-21T22:45:00.003-05:00

Whoops! I accidentally deleted the last post... sorry if you did not get to read it :) All in all... I just want my parents to know I hope they are safe and having a good time in Germany!

Bad Touch

2008-04-18T20:44:00.003-05:00

So it all started out last September when my co-workers gave me two little goldfish who I kept in a small plastic pickle jar. I figured why spend the money on the foo-foo stuff for the fish if they were just going to die within the month. However, much to my surprise, they kept living! So I thought it was about time to buy them a bigger tank, with the filter, rocks, tank decorations, and a couple more friends to hang out with.

Well... it all started when the next morning I woke up and one of my new fish was dead! I was sad and just figured it was probably from the trauma of moving and the rest will be ok. Then a couple days ago I noticed the huge fish I just bought was being really lazy and was just laying at the bottom of the tank. His head was growing white and he had a big protrusion from his side.... which looked really weird. Well.. the next day he was floating... DEAD! I was just glad that it was not one of my original fish because I grew quite attached to them. However, this morning I woke up and one of them were DEAD!!!!!! I was quite angry... so I immediately transfered the two living ones to a new bowl and new water ( which was distilled and room temp so it was safe for them). I clean out the tank really well and put new water in it and waited until I got back from work to transfer them to the new clean tank (not that it was very dirty before I washed it!) Now the other one of my first fish is looking pretty grim... barely floating and a little lifeless. I have NO idea why they are dying.... do you think that one of the new fish could have had a disease?? I made sure to feel them enough but not too much.. their water has a filter and nothing else should be wrong with them! Does anyone know why my little fish are dying??
It makes me really sad :(

VERY GOOD NEWS!

2008-04-12T14:19:00.003-05:00

This last weekend I went on a date with a guy that a the director of development at the hospital set me up with ( it's his co- business owner) . He guy was very nice and sweet... and has a lot of potential. He owns his own business and also rents out apartments around Sioux Center. On our date I mentioned to him that I was in desperate search for an apartment and somewhere to live. He mentioned that he does have an apt. opening which he was going to show today... and if the people did not want it he would show me it. So today I was studying and he called me up and the people never showed so he would show me it! It was small but a nice place to live... so I decided to take it!!! I am SO RELIEVED you don't even know! I have to be moved out by May 31st... and all the apt. in Sioux Center are taken with a long waiting list!! So we will be able to move in the middle of May and get everything out by the move out date!

So that is my good story of the day :) It totally was a work of God that I set up with this guy that has this place... !

Maybe more to come about this mystery guy ;)

Tagged

2008-04-06T19:15:00.005-05:00

I got tagged by Sarah , so here goes nothing.

1. Ten years ago I was…

in junior high school .. 7th grade. The teachers were wondering what to do with my massive amount of energy. I was very nerdy looking with a sweet perm that I had no idea how to take care of. Let's just say I am glad those days are done!!

2. Things on my to do list today:

Wake up at 6... drove to Worthington for clinical, went out to eat with my good friend, went to go check out a rental house I might live in, got coffee, do homework, run 4 miles, take a shower, and go to bed :)

3. Things I would do if I was suddenly a billionaire:

I would put some away in savings, buy a nice place for me to live in, buy my nephews lots of presents, then donate a lot to orphanages around the world

4. Bad habits:

Spilling coffee on myself. Not very good at correcting my terrible grammar :D
I know I have a lot of them but I really can't think of any right now!

5. Places I have lived:

Chicago, Mississippi, Puyallup, Gottingen, Sioux Center

6. Jobs I have now or have had:

I worked at my dad's office for different periods of my life, the day care while I was at Dordt, the hospital now, and I am applying to be a CNA at my friend's hospital.

7. Things people don’t know about me (quirky things about me):

Well, my last post gave away the fact that I have a tail. I also get really scared when I am home alone by myself so I love to blast my music when I am home alone so I don't hear the creepy noises.

8. Things that make my life superfabulous right now:

School is going really fun and it is almost over for the summer which makes it even BETTER! I also think I can convince one of my friends to get a little puppy so that would be really sweet if he actually does!!! Also, SUMMER IS COMING and it is getting hot out!!!

I get to tag three people, so Jonny, Dad, and Josh ( if you guys even read this blog :) )

Near Death

2008-04-04T17:55:00.003-05:00

Today I decided to be a good owner to my fish and clean out their tank ( which is a plastic pickle jar!! ) . So I got it all cleaned out and was trying to get them in their clean tank and all the sudden PLOP. The fish jumped out of the net and was flopping on the bathroom counter!!!! I freaked out and had trouble picking up the poor guy to put him back in his container, but after a few seconds he was back and safe in his little tank. I thought he was going to die of shock but he seems to be doing well, so I am very glad I did not kill the thing.

Also in class we are learning the hip joint and the muscles and ligaments surrounding it. In order to learn them well we have to practice finding them on our partner... and with this chapter it requires a little bit of unconformable touching of the hip region and its surroundings. So my partner Traci was feeling my glut max which had a connection to the tail bone so she had to find the tail bone on me. I knew she had found it when all the sudden she screamed and turned red! My tail bone is more tail like than other peoples because it actually curves around and pokes out of my skin, and she was not expecting to find a sharp pointy thing in that region. So the WHOLE class came through and felt my tail bone and oh course they all gasped as they felt it because it is so weird.

Then the next day the teacher was taking about the knee and how when someone does not shave their knee well then their knee has bangs. We all thought that was funny because we never heard it put that way. Then we thought we heard her say "Well nothing is worse than having bony tail!" ( Keep in mind she had no idea about the previous class and did not know about my tail bone.) I turned red and was like... "I have a bony tail!!" as the rest of the class was absolutely dying of laugher because they all heard the same thing. The teacher started at me in confusing as she looked at my knees ( I was wearing shorts) and said "No you don't, I don't see any pony tail on your knee!" The class all mis heard her and she really said PONY tail.....

We all had a good laugh over that..... and I am positive the class will never forget me because of my tail.

Well those are some good stories from the week.... It was not the best week because I got sick and lost my voice. It was really hard from me then not to talk.... so I am getting over this sickness!

I hope everyone has a good week and love you all :)

First day in Worthington

2008-03-26T16:29:00.003-05:00

Today I started my 5 week Wednesday half day clinical in Worthington, MN. I loved it!!!!! The people there were really nice, the PT explained thing really well, he let my do my FIRST ULTRASOUND!!!, and I got to do the rehab with a knee patient practically putting my whole weight on his knee trying to make it extend all the way! It was really fun.. and they even told me that they would hire me once I am certified. However, I do not think I want to live in Worthington when I graduate ;)

Just thought I would share that exciting piece of info with you all!

Going the Distance

2008-03-18T15:24:00.003-05:00

Flexion- Medial condyle Extension - Lateral condyle -- Brachialis - origin: Distal half of humerus Insertion: Ulna Action : Flexion ( NOT supination because it does not attach to the radius!)

What would you say if you knew these were my first thoughts this morning? Well this and more has been going through my mind all week. Why?? Because I have a huge test the day I get back to school next week! WE have to know all 52+ muscles of the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and hand, their actions, insertions, locate them from start to end on your partner ( providing you put them in the best position to find the muscle), then we have to know bony landmarks on the skeleton. It is a lot of stuff to have to know and I am overwhelmed!!! So I decided it was high time for me to take a vacation, so I switched work around a little and made it so I can go to Minneapolis to visit Shannon from Sat.. to Tuesday morning! It was so much fun to see shannon and hang out with her. We did went out to eat and went shopping.. maybe spent a little bit of money :S ( Good thing I got a lot of money back from my taxes!!!) I did get some studying in.. so that was good. On St. Patrick's day I made Shannon and Brian the traditional corned beef and cabbage meal.. which I was surprised that they never had before~!!! Maybe it is just my family but I thought everyone ate that on St. Pats day :)

Now I have the rest of the week to earn some money.... and to study a whole lot :) Hope everyone is doing week~ :)

We even had green plates!!
YUM :)
haha me and Shannon are funny..... maybe funny looking ;)

"Feeling pretty good and thats the truth!"

2008-03-12T22:16:00.004-05:00

It really is a great day to be alive! Today I had my last clinical with the Sioux Center Hospital... and it was pretty fun! I got to do a lot more... especially with the millions of in-patients they have in the hospital. I got to practice transferring patients from the bed to the a chair ( even one who has pooped every time they were transfered!) , designed an exercise program for a patient, and helped progress my rotator cuff patient to the next level of rehab!!! It is just so much fun... I can't express how much I love it!!!

My life has been BUSY!!! School is crazy... we have so much to do. Who would have guessed how many muscles are in the hand and arm to make it function how it does! It is amazing!

We also had our Dutch night last night! My friends and I are having theme nights, and so far we had Mexican and Dutch. My friend Judy is as dutch as it gets and she made some dutch potatoes.... they were interesting but I think it is an acquired taste!

Ashley eating the sloppy tacos!

Yummu yummy!
Margaritas-- have to be part of mexican fiesta!
Ash Shoveling in the dutch meal!
My and my food!
Then here are some random pictures of my life:
Me and my roommate Lindsey

Glad it is getting spring.. this was our door a couple weeks ago
SaVE ME FROM WINTER!! I NEED SUMMER!
Some random person came to our house and clogged our toilet and my brave roommate Sarah plunged it ( while brushing her teeth) what a brave soul!

Anyways, that about it for now. Next week is spring break and I am just going to work and study a whole lot! Weird not going on a major spring break trip.. but I think I will survive. ;)

"Whenever I'm around you, you got me thinking.. I like the sound of that"

2008-03-02T11:28:00.002-06:00

Wow this weekend weather has been really nice... you know.. a whole 40*!!!!! I woke up Saturday morning and thought about what a nice day it would be for a run. So I got my running shoes on and ran all around Sioux Center. It was a good workout but now I am SORE! I gotta get in that exercise mode so that I will hopefully develop good habits for the summer when I am not too busy with school.

Also, the little ice patch at the end of my drive way has been slowly melting so I have been faithfully spending hours chipping away at the ice ( and water!!) .. which is totally not gone now. I think my neighbors think I am a retard trying to get my driveway perfectly ice free..

However now I have other problems...
My BACK HURTS!! I never had a good back but a mix of this ice scrapping and being a stomach sleeper has been taking a toll on the back . So I got resistant tubing that they use for physical therapy and I am going to use it to strengthen my back muscles and hopefully that will help. I will have to pull out my therapeutic exercise school book and look up all the exercises for my back!

Anyone have a good idea how to stop sleeping on your stomach?? It is such a bad habit and it is so bad for my back but it one of the only ways I can sleep!

Anyways... hope everyone is having a good Sunday:)

Good day...!

2008-02-28T21:22:00.002-06:00

Have you had a day where you picture everything to turn out bad.. but then it ends up really good!!! Thats how my day was.

It started off with class today. We were getting major tests back that we took and i thought I did pretty bad ... and the teachers stated there where very upset with our class as a whole on the test scores. I was really nervous... and felt as the teachers were talking directly to me... So me.. of course not quiet at all in the back row.. announces.. "ahh I don't want my test.. I did SO SO SO bad. "

Then my teacher gets to me ... I take a deep breath as she exclaims " Little Miss quiet back her did really well on her test! " I was SO shocked!!! I only missed two! Then the rest of the class hated me.. oh well!

Then!!! I got another job maybe...I am going to start being a part time receptionist at the hospital Physical therapy place that I am doing my clinical at!!! It is just a foot in the door working with PT.... but the thing that really stinks is that I am not going to stay here in order to possibly try to get a job at the hospital!!

Also... what else is new? What is up with EVERYONE wanting to hook me up???? Am I getting that OLD??? There is this one man at work who wants to hook me up with his co business owner and then a couple other people want to hook me up with some of their friends. Just scares me though.. because I did go on a blind date with this one guy and a couple of dates after.. but I ended up calling it off when he asked me to be his girlfriend ( heart breaker I know). I just can't be in a relationship right now... but then I think.. what happens if I turn down a opportunity that could have worked???

Alright.. thats enough, I will be quiet. Ohhh one more thing!!! With all my bday money I bought a Ipod nano! A new fitness place is coming opening in Sioux Center and I can't wait to get a membership and whip this body into shape, but the Ipod was just a start in the preparation stage of working out..

Alright.. good night and have a good weekend!

"Life is not counted by the amount of breaths you take.. but by the times life takes your breath away"

2008-02-24T21:04:00.011-06:00

WOw, I am truly blessed. From all the nice emails, comments, and mail that I received this week for my bday.. I could not help but feel the love from all my friends and family. Thank you everyone for the bday wishes!

So I was reflecting on my 22nd year of life. There have been a LOT of good times.. and man.. a lot of stuff I regret!!!!! I did a lot of growing up.. and have a lot of that to do yet. SO.. I guess pictures are worth a million words.. so here are some to sum up this crazy year!! Thank you to EVERYONE who played a part in my life. God has really blessed me and made me realize how much I have been given. My heart overflows in thankfulness and love because of this.

Now here are the pictures!

My 22nd birthday! So happy to spend it with all my friends!A cold winter.. had a HUGE storm! I will never forget.. me and Josh just took off to Walmart in the middle of the storm and barely made it there! Then they next day?? We went to Lincoln with his parents and we saw more than 100 cars in the ditch and it took a LONG time to get there. However, it was really fun and such a good memory.
Spring break Josh and I went to Washington where he got to meet Patrick and Sammy! There we we were the first to find out about Ethan! What an exciting time!
This was one of my favorite because the background with Patrick :)
I got to meet Josh's really adorable nephew Caleb. It was really fun getting to know his family and go to Lincoln to meet his brother Kyle and Lori ( and Caleb of course! )

I worked at the day care in Sioux Center. I loved every min of it. I still go by and see the kids who don't remember me anymore!
Camping.. I JUST LOVE IT! I finally got to sleep in my new tent. It was good times with my girls at Dordt.
Going out with the girls. This time we were celebrating Jill's engagement.. but I have no idea where she was in this pic. This was also a big day.. My dad called me right before that pictures was taken and told me he wanted to come home for a while during that summer... which was a really hard decision to make. However, I did go home for that summer.. which was really good.
My girls and I took some nice photos before we graduated. This is my favorite. I really hope to blow it up and frame it someday. It's weird to think that we all have moved on and probably will ever all be all together again.
Bowling. I did A LOT OF THAT. I never got any better either!!!! I took a bowling class and bowled quite a bit. I guess it never was my thing.. but I did always have a good time while doing it!

Then I graduated from Dordt! Whoo HOO!!
WE all made it :)
Then I came home to Washington... it was weird being home but it was nice to be back for such a long time. There is never a dull moment in the Feucht household!
I worked at a Urology and my dad's office. I love it there, the people where fun and the work was also somewhat interesting. If anything.. learned A LOT about urology ( more than I really wanted to know!!) And it was really nice to see my dad a whole lot!! I also got to see him preform a surgery for the first time~
Then something serious happened. My dad had some heart problems and really made me realize that my parents are not as invincible as I had previously thought. It really made me thankful for my parents even more than I had already been. I am really glad my father is doing well and sounds like it was a wake up call for him and now he is in good health!!!
I saw my last grandparent for the last time. My crazy little Grandma Feucht, I really loved her and she is missed.
She passed away while I was at my friend Jill's wedding. I was honored to be one of her bridesmaids. She was a beautiful bride and it was a lovely wedding.. even though I cried through it ..don't know why weddings do that to me!
Then on the other hand, my wedding money was spent on a car :) My little Lucy.... ain't she a beauty ??? An NO ACCIDENTS OR TICKETS! ( Hopefully that goes for a couple more years !! ;) )
Then I traveled to Edmonton, Canada for Shannon's wedding! It was really fun being there for a week before the wedding.. getting to be part of her family. I also got to stay with her husband's family ( Brian Bouma ) for a couple weeks before the wedding, so I was not homeless in Sioux Center! It was such a good time that would be cherished forever!
Then Nov. 1 a little blessing came into our lives! Ethan Andrew Flanagan was born :) I love the little guy and I can't wait to see him grow up!
My little sister was also in Iowa for the first part of the year. I love her so much and I am sad she is in Germany:( LOVE YOU DIANE!!!
I also still have friends in IoWA! WOW! I have fun hang out with old friends as well as making new friends!
Old friends have came to visit me! I love it... and I am so glad that we all have still kept in contact!
I also love work! This is Kathy.. not a good pic.. but I love hanging out with her so much! We have the best times together! I also love working at the nursing home.. it is making me realize that maybe someday I would want to specialize in geriatrics?????
And Iowa is still a cold icebox. This is my neighborhood... which tends to be a lot more snowy and more drifts than the rest of the town. I hope the rest of Sioux Center is thankful for this because we take the grunt of the wind to protect them from it!!!
However, I am still a little crazy and love to have a good time. :)
Hopefully, 23 will be a good year!!!

Anyways.. it is getting really late and I did not get much sleep this weekend. I hope everyone is doing well! I will post pictures of the weekend up later! And again.. thank you everyone who has played a part in my life!!

So tired

2008-02-20T19:16:00.004-06:00

Wow,,, the last week has been so BUSY it seems as if I can't stop to take a breath! This weekend one of my bestest friends, PAM, from college came over from canada to visit! WE did a lot of stuff... like bowling, hanging out, went to my friends Dave's sweet house, went to a neat church, we made a nice dinner together, and had a birthday party for me and Judy!

Tomorrow I have a HUGE test and I am SO nervous!! I guess it is worst because I feel like I have not studied enough.. but there is SO much to know about the shoulder joint. Tomorrow is also my 23rd birthday.. I am getting too old. However a guy in my classs is going to bring a treat for me and the class! Lets see if he remembers!

Today I also did something stupid. I had clinicals today and I guess I was just ina hurry to get to them that I forgot to turn off my car lights!!!! SO then... one of the coldest days of the year (-20*). Good thing I am friends with a lot of men at work.. and they were all willing to jump my little Lucy for me.. however.. now I won't hear the end of it!

Anyways.. I also built a snow cave with Pam.. and I still have to work on it. Dad , are you proud of me??? :D

My Valentine

2008-02-15T00:20:00.002-06:00

I had one of the best V- day dates ever! It first started off with a game of getting chased by the cops, then a romantic date of mac and cheese and apple slices, followed by a fancy dessert of delicious cookies, then we went and fed some hungry hungry hippos, then did some fishing! We cuddled together watching a movie then after that he told me HE LOVED ME! and got a big good night hug and kiss before bed. Then I got paid a lot of money and went home ;)!

( BTW if you can;t figure it out my little date was a 3 year old I babysat ;) )

Today!

2008-02-13T22:45:00.002-06:00

Alright,, i might be a nerd but today was SO awesome!!! At school we have been learning about the rotator cuff and rehab of it. AND GUESS WHO THE FIRST PATIENT OF THE DAY WAS_ A ROTATOR CUFF REPAIR EVALUATION ( two weeks out of surgery... first day of PT) !! It was SO interesting... because with a rotator cuff right out of surgery you don't want to have the patient actively move the muscle... because that could lead to tears in the newly fixed muscles and ligaments. However, the PT or PTA has to do passive range of motion (moving the relaxed arm for the the patient) to help from getting a frozen shoulder. It was very interesting to read the patients surgery report and see what was repaired ( the supraspinantus and the bicipital tendon of the long head of the biceps) and trying to figure out which actions the PT should try to avoid to further harm the muscles ( in this case it was a couple different motions) .

Ok..I am sorrry.. my inner-nerd is coming out but I just LOVE IT!! I love seeing in action what I am learning and I think this is the most awesome field in the world. God has been SO good to me to help me find something that I love!!!!!!!

Also .. tomorrow I get to spend v-day with a very adorable boy. I will tell you all about it tomorrow or someday soon :)

WOW

2008-02-12T22:16:00.003-06:00

Alright.. before bed I have three pieces of random info

1. School is getting HARD!! The teachers say that we should think of this school as our job.. and every moment we get we should be studying. At first I thought this did not include me.. but now i realize I have to study a lot. We are learning SO much and it is overwhelming. However, it is fun... and it is often easy to find people to palpate... and practice on.

2. I start clinicals tomorrow!! They will be just 4 hours every Wed. starting in Sioux Center, then in 5 weeks they will then be in Worthington, MN.. which is a little further away ;) I am excited.. and I hope I can start doing more stuff... but we'll see. I know the PT very well that I am under so it won't be that bad. However... we'll see what tomorrow brings!!

3. PAM IS COMING FROM CANADA TO VISIT THIS WEEKEND!!! I am so excited to see her!!! I feel bad that I am going to be really busy when she is here but it will be good to see her!

Well .. there is much more I can say but that's enough for now... I gotta get my beauty sleep ;)

The most sad face Ever

2008-02-06T17:47:00.000-06:00

Alright, here is the movie I promised long ago! IT is so cute.. and right before this picture was taken Ethan was giving us HUGE smiles!

Also here are the pics of my new bed sheets with the three pictures I need to hang above the wall.. not the best picture. The other picture is of my angel collection ( which Shannon just gave me the one on the right!)

Also, if you look at the pictures behind my angels you may think that since there are 5 different pictures of Patrick and no pictures of my other two nephew, that Patrick is my favorite. However, yesterday I realized they were all of Patrick so I printed off a cute pictures of all my nephews and put them in each of those three frames!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

2008-02-05T07:47:00.000-06:00

Dear Mother, I hope you have a wonderful birthday!! I love you so much and I am so thankful for you! I will call you after school today :)

Weekend fun!

2008-02-04T16:19:00.000-06:00

My weekend was SO much fun! It was great to see Shannon again and get away from this small town! WE did a bunch of things, like visit wit Brian's sisters, hang out in her apartments, went swimming in her apartment, went to go see what a huge casino by her house was like, and went to Ikea!

Here are a couple pictures!

This bed at Ikea is AMAZING!! It is a round sultan bed.. and I just fell in love with it!

Oh wow.. what hot beach babes? OR NOT!! WE got to enjoy the sauna at her apartment complex and it felt soooo good!!
We had to have our girl time and kick Brian out ( expect to take this picture!) It was nice to catch up and find out new things about each other!
Me and Ashley relaxing!
Oh the pool again! We went a little crazy??? Thats what happens when you have goggles and the whole pool to yourself!
Walking home was cold though.. the few mins in the freezing weather really got to us.. so we just made some turbans for ourselves. Ashely was really colorful!
Rachels little sheep.. haha.. a sheep skin sold at Ikea! IT was SO soft.. but a little creepy.

Also! At Ikea I got a new cover for my down conforter and new sheets for my bed! I have to take a picture of my room to show everyone.. but first I am going to hang some pictures up and clean up my mess! It is SO pretty now and I am so excited for my "new" bed!!

Gotta get out of this old town!

2008-02-02T08:02:00.000-06:00

I am going to Minneapolis today to visit Shannon! I can't wait to see her and Brian.. then I am going to look to see if she has any physical therapy places that accept student PTA for clinicals. WE have to do a one week clinical at one place and I thought it would be fun to do it somewhere else! If anyone else out there wants me to stay with them for a week tell me and maybe I can do them where you live!!

Anyways, hope everyone is having a great day and good weekend! Love you all LOTS!

FROZEN IN IOWA

2008-01-29T22:14:00.000-06:00

Today the wind chill was about -50*!!!!!!

So this morning my carpool buddy sent me a text message on my phone:
Traci: Want me to drive today?
Me: Is it icy?
Traci: I dont think so, but it does look really scary out there!
Me: Ok you can drive!

What a good person to carpool with.. or maybe she was just scared for her life with me driving in the VERY windy 0 visibility weather ( due to blowing snow!!)

We made it half way to school, where we met our other carpool buddies- and then had to make a tough decision: to go on or go home! I called up my professor then and asked her if it was alright if we did not come and she was like " Turn around, I don't want you to hurt yourself."

So we spent 15 mins in the parking lot trying to decide what we were going to do.. brave the weather and go to school or go home. I really wanted to go to school and we decided that we best not miss class.. so we made the final trek to school.

It was a good day and I am glad we went. When we came home at 3 today the weather was a bit windy, really cold, but we could actully see ahead of us!!

Anyways.. thought I would share the story with you all! It was weird because yesterday was really warm ( warm being 40*!) and now it is it SO cold!!!!

Hope you all are doing well... and if you can please keep my carpool buddy's mom in your prayers. She just found out she has a tumor the size of a football in her abdomen ( still unsure if it is cancer) and then she was just diagnosed with breast cancer this weekend. It is really hard on my friend... and her mom is younger, 51 y/o, with younger siblings.

It all works out in the end

2008-01-27T00:17:00.000-06:00

Tonight roommate number two got engaged! It was really exciting because I had a bet that she was going to get engaged before Feb. 1 and sure enough they did!

It is so weird.. having all my friends getting engaged, married, and some are now even having babies. In my high school, my silly little plan for my life was that I was supposed to be married by the time I was 23 ( which will be next month!!) Don't get me wrong, I am SO glad how my life is now and I would not change it for anything, but its hard not to get jealous when you see the joy in the couples eyes as they excitingly tell us their story and see so much joy and excitement to spend the rest of their lives together. Then my other roommate is planning her wedding for June 14 and we like to talk about her wedding and her future plans with Matt. I just get envious of them... I know I should not ..but it's just hard when you are so submerged in it. However, I know that I am where God wants me to be in life and I am so thankful for my life and how God has planned it for me.

not much to write.

2008-01-25T12:11:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone!!
I really have not posted so much but nothing much has been happening lately... well.. nothing that is too interesting!

Well, last week my co-worker set me up on a blind date with her friend... and we all went on a double date together. It was really fun.. very comfortable.. and then we hung out a could times after.. but when he asked me if I wanted to actually date him, I had to turn him down. School has been so busy already and I have to be married to it in order for me to get good grades and be the best PTA ever! I have no time for anything else but my work, homework, and the occasional times I hang out with friends. It was hard to turn the poor guy down ( especially after he went to see a very girly movie with me!!) but I have to have my priorities set!

Anyways.. talking about school... I was at school from 8:30 to 6 yesterday.. a LONG time!! We had to get orientated for a hospital in Sioux City, just so we can have clinicals there. There was about 100 people in this big lecture room and I was once of the last people to come in. As i was walking up the the stairs I was telling my friend that I was going to sit by her and then I full out tripped in front of everyone and it was SO embarrassing! It was really funny though.. made me... and all the other 100 people in there laugh too. However, there is a lesson to learn. You have to laugh at your mistakes... if not.. my day would have totally been ruined by embarrassment.

Anyways... thats about it for now.. I have to work all weekend so that won't be fun but oh well!!!

Hope everyone is doing well!

I could not stop laughing

2008-01-17T18:58:00.000-06:00

Serious.. today I was in class from 9:30 - 3 and it was just so funny and fun today.

I won't go through the whole day and say what was funny but here is a story we had to write to help us learn some terms ... enjoy and hope you get it!

: rachel went on a blind date. It started with the boy extending his arm to her as she tightly flexed her fingers in his hand. She wanted to more more proximal to him but opted to remain distal for she had only known him for 10 mins. His radiance glowed from from his suerior to inferior aspects. As they arrived proximal to their destination she realized they where going to the bowling alley and she flexed her elbows and exclaimed "YES!"

After her first strike she fully abducted her shoulder followed by bilateral circumduction. The next frame did not go so well, she went for a running start, slipped on the greasy lane and found herself prone in the gutter. Her date ran to her side, flexed his trunk ( with proper mechanics.. using the power lift) picked her up into his elbow flexed arms. He took her home and laid her supine on her doorstep and abducted himself as far away as possible!"

I just thought that was really funny.. :) Sorry if you did not get it all!

Can't wait to start school!!

2008-01-16T15:47:00.000-06:00

7 thick textbooks * ( 2 classes + my life savings) = SCHOOL IS STARTING AGAIN TOMORROW!!!!

I am VERY excited to start school again tomorrow. I HATE sitting around doing nothing when I am not working or hanging out with friends. The last couple weeks I have been :

working a lot ( even got overtime last week.. whoo hooo! ) My co-workers are awesome
babysitting ( gotta love the kids)
catching up with old friends ( miss all you old Dordt friends :( ) ,
internet searching ( you can discover some interesting things with a couple clicks of the mouse)
reading ( Finding the Will of God is still the BEST BOOK EVER!)
changing my car oil ( more like paying someone to do it!) ,
Trying to get my friends to skip work and hang out with me ( which did not work really well)
making up new hairstyles ( that you would probably never see:S )

Thinking about my little nephews and family :(
sleeping a WHOLE lot (what else are you supposed to do in the morning??)
causing just a little bit of trouble ( which just for me to know and you not to find out!)
hanging out around town ( Sioux center is a really a fun place)
losing my drivers license and finding it in WALMART'S lost and found,
prune and prune juice drinking contest ( REALLY BAD IDEA!!),
seeing a couple of movies ( BUCKET LIST is a REALLY GOOD MOVIE and so is P.S I Love You)
rearranging my room ( cleaning out all the drawers and closets!!-- its so pretty now!!)
cleaning my house
meeting new people (some really interesting ones too.. :S )
had a roommate date to Sioux Falls
and finally.. HOPEFULLY this weekend I can go ice fishing!!!!!

Seriously.. I am now running out of things to do so it's nice school is about to start so then my list of of things to do will be Eat, sleep, study, work, and fun when I can fit it in!

Anyways..
thats about it for now I think!
Hope you have a good day!

A little girl stole my heart

2008-01-05T14:43:00.000-06:00

One of my co-workers ( an older, widowed lady) just got two foster children ages 3 and 5. The little kids have been homeless, living on the streets with their druggie mother, and sexually and physically abused until July when they were placed into a foster home. However, the other home they were at could not take them anymore so they ended up here. Well my co worker had to work early on Sat. morning so I offered to watch the kids while she had to work. They are really cute kids ( a lot of energy!) but we had fun playing together.. especially since the weather was warmer ( 40*!!!!!) Then we came into eat and the little girl was eager to pray before we ate. I let her pray and she prayed for her mom and she said " Please help mommy to stop using drugs so we can go home" .. and it broke my heart. I asked her if she prayed for her a lot and she said that she often goes to her room alone and prays that her mom would stop using the drugs. It just breaks my heart.. Then I had to put the little boy down for a nap he started cry saying that he wanted to go home and that he wanted his mom. :( It just was so sad to me all the kids had to put up with for the first 5 and 3 years of life. It also made me so sad when the little girl told me that she wished that I could be her mom :( It makes me want to have foster kids someday so that I can help them and show them the love that they deserve.

Anyways, other than that my weekend has been good. I have an early morning tomorrow at 5:30 so that should be really fun :S ! I hope everyone is doing well !

wow.. 2008

2008-01-02T10:37:00.000-06:00

Happy 2008! I feel like this is going to be a good year :) I just pray that this year everyone, including myself, can make their relationship with Christ stronger and keep pushing onward to the furthering of his glory and kingdom !

On another note... if anyone is bored.. or just interested in the life of Rachel Anne Feucht and her friends and family, you may look at the websites I made with a good selection of pictures. So far I have them sorted in Christmas, Summer and Senior year of college. http://gallery.mac.com/rfeucht

I hope you enjoy them.. :)

Wow...

2007-12-30T19:56:00.001-06:00

Back to Iowa, Back to work.
Yesterday was my first day back to work.. and I was very sad to see in the list of patients was one of my FAVORITE men from the nursing home. He is one of the most "to it" patients there are.. so it is fun to have a conversation with him .. and he is just liked by everyone. I saw that he went into cardiac arrest and was in the CCU ( critical care unit) ... But as I walked by his room he was alert and was reading his news paper like he always did at the nursing home. So tonight while I was waiting for all the dishes, I decided to stop in and say hi. He was a little slow in talking but then he started telling me about when he passed out. He told me he saw a big staircase and he explained the stairs in great detail.. and how he saw Christ at the top.. and the light there was so bright and like no other light he has ever seen. It really gave me shivers... I know many people who where about to die have witnessed this .. but it was so weird hearing it from him. He is going back to the nursing home tomorrow.. so I guess he is good enough to go back :) I guess it is selfish but I am glad he is still living.. he was really a joy to me whenever I worked at the nursing home.

On another note: Iowa is cold. No big news I guess :) I took this picture of my car thermometer last night ! Never ever complain of 40* weather :)

And to end this post.. here are some funny pictures from my phone :)

Another funny movie :)

2007-12-29T00:08:00.000-06:00