Well readers, here it is- the one you have all been waiting for (drum roll please!)

Graduation Day! 

I thought I'd go ahead and post some pictures before our post-grad lives get to crazy!  I was hoping Kel and I could write this post together but between last minute wedding preparations, good ole Hurst and other life shenanigans, we just simply haven't had the time.  

We still can't believe this long-awaited day has come and gone!  

Enjoy! :) 

Pre-graduation Pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graduation Ceremony! 

Look, ma I graduated!

Stack of empty diploma covers!

Kel's so excited!

We did it!! :)

So I know we are a little behind on updating you on our fun graduate festivities and post-nursing school lives, but please bear with us.  I mean we have all the time in the world now, right?? :)

As for now, I wanted to post a little snip-it of our pinning ceremony.  

There will be more to come later, don't worry your little hearts.  

At the pinning ceremony, I had the privilege of saying the "reflection" or as I like to say, the prayer.  I wanted to post the prayer so that in my future nursing days, I can look back and remember why God has called me to this profession.  

"Heavenly Father, ...As we recognize and celebrate our achievements tonight may we remember that it is only because of You that we made it this far, for this Lord we are thankful.  Lord, You have given us the skills and knowledge we need to let Your works be carried our through us as we embark on the next chapter of our lives.  May we use them for Your honor and Your glory.  Lord, be with us as we each go our separate ways, fulfilling the roles in which You have called us to serve.  With Your help, may we have the strength to love and comfort those who come to us for help.  Let us honor and care for each patient as though they were made in Your image.  Father, with Your guidance may we be a reflection of Your mercy when caring for the lonely, poor, suffering, and dying.  Thank You for calling us to this most respected profession and giving us the privilege to serve You by caring for Your children.  Your light is adequate for this new path that each of us is about to journey on.  May we continue to seek You, entrusting the care of patients into Your hands.  To our patients, let us be an extension of Your healing power working in us and through us.  Lord, by Your grace may we live according to this profession."  

Have a great night fellow blog readers

-lots of love, Aimee-

DONE! DONE! DONE!

Hello Friends! :)

Well we are 3 days away from graduating college as Registered Nurses!! We finished our last final on Monday - and were in a state of shock once our grades were finally posted! 

We went out to lunch at the Pita Pit in Hammond to celebrate - which was delish!

We have been enjoying our time completely free of anything school related! Let's take today for example: we are currently sitting, relaxing in Barnes & Noble decorating our grad caps! We have had several stares due to the level of craftiness going on at our table! Picture glue, scissors, glitter paper, paper cutter, feathers, etc. You get the idea.

A little recap on some recent events:

- This past Thursday we both had the honor of being inducted in Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society. "Bulldog, bulldog, terrier! terrier!" <--- we partook in celebratory singing - to keep it simple.

- Our clinical instructor Mrs. Compton invited us as her guests to the Tangipahoa District Nurses Association banquet to honor the Top Nurses in the parish. It was so neat to attend our first professional organization event. There was over 900 years of nursing experience present! WOW!

- Tomorrow night is our nursing pinning ceremony! We are really looking forward to it - be looking for in our white scrubs and nursing hats! (just kidding about the hats...)

We will be sure to post pictures - so check back soon! :) 

Have a wonderful day blog-readers!

Love your coffee-drinkin', carefree bloggers,

Kelly & Aimee

P.S - Happy Nurses Week! :)

The Breakup...it's official.

I believe

God knew I needed encouragement today.  So He sent this to me by means of one of His faithful servants: 

"I love you Lord.  You are my strength (Ps. 18:1).  The Lord is my Light and my Salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Ps. 27:1).  The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear (Hebrew 13:6).  I am who God says I am; I have what God says I have; I can do what God says I can do.  I believe, and all things are possible for me because I believe (paraphrase Mark 9:23).  I sought the Lord, and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears (Ps. 34:4).  You foul spirit of fear; I resist you in the name of Jesus.  I refuse to doubt.  I fear not.  I only believe.  I made that choice; now get out!  I believe God!  The victory is MINE!  I am fighting the good fight of faith.  I've got a good confession, and I'm going to enjoy this fight, because God is with me.  I have the victory through Jesus Christ, my Lord.  In Him, I am redeemed.  In Him, I am strong.  In Him I am blessed.  In Him, I am forgiven.  In Him I am always triumphant.  I live by faith.  I walk by faith.  I believe that God is talking to me right now, so I am going to rejoice.  Victory is mine! Healing is mine! Prosperity is mine! I receive it by faith!  IT IS DONE!!! I rejoice with joy unspeakable, and I am full of the glory of God (paraphrase 1 Peter 1:8-9).  I have the faith of God in me (paraphrase Mark 11:22).  The spirit of the Lord is upon me.  I am anointed.  This is it!  Now is the time!  This is the day of my miracle!  The anointing of the Holy Spirit is here and in me.  Jesus is walking with me on the Glory Road.  All things are possible with God.  I have the spirit of faith.  I believe and I speak.  I have a measure of the God-kind of faith and that measure is growing.  I have an overcoming faith, mountain-moving faith.  It doesn't matter how I feel because I believe!  I am not moved by feelings or impressions- I am moved by the word of God!  I am not moved by what I see or feel.  I am moved by what I believe and I believe God!  I believe, and because I believe, I will see the glory of God.  Lord, here I am- teach me something!" -From "The Spirit of Faith" by Mark Hankins

Happy studying! 

Love, Aimee

goodbye SLUSN!

Well blog readers, today was the last day we will sign SLUSN behind our names!  We are still in a bit of shock that the next time we will be taking care of patients in the hospital we'll be RNs!! When did we get here, seriously?? 

We can't believe how far we have come since first semester of clinical!  

Love your sayonara-SLUSN's 

:]

Last Lecture!!!

Well guys, we are in a bit of a state of shock today as we sit in our very LAST 3 hour undergraduate lecture.  When did we get here??  

To think that nursing school/life as we know it will all be over with 2 weeks from today is absolutely nuts!  We cannot wrap our minds around this.  

  These past few weeks have had their bitter, sweet, and bittersweet moments.  

Last Tuesday we had our very last NCF meeting.  It was a time of celebration and goodbyes.  

Graduating seniors with Mrs. Meyers, what a blessing she has been to us this past year! 

 

With NCF, we also finished our Dollars for Diapers Drive!! Through this, God provided $526.50 for us to send to God's Littlest Angels in Haiti! We were so so excited about being able to support such an amazing ministry! 

 We finally finished our Capstone senior project yesterday!! And we couldn't be happier that this is over with!  Goodbye Capstone, and good riddance :)  (this was a very sweet moment!)

5th Semester Clinical Group!

We are down to nitty gritty: 2 exams, 1 final, 2 quizzes, 1 discussion board, 2 days of clinical, and 1 last set of clinical paperwork!  It's getting real, people.  

And we have never been more excited! 

We are hoping to find some time to write a few more blog posts in our nursing student career :) 

Oh Happy Day! 

Catch up with you soon faithful blog readers! 

Love your "adios-acuity" bloggers

baseball for the babies

Well hey there lovely blog readers!  This week has been absolutely crazy!  We will have had 4 tests, 2 papers, capstone implementations, sim lab-punch me in the head-, and an NCF event! For your sake, will skip all the boring stuff and get straight to the event.  

Our Dollars for Diapers Drive got to be promoted at an SLU baseball game against Tulane on Tuesday.  It was a perfect day for a baseball game!  It was pretty amazing the way it all worked out as it came together in the wee hours before the event.  God is truly amazing and provided above and beyond what we could have ever expected (like always).  We are so excited about this fundraiser and get to be in the student union on Wednesday collecting more "Dollars for Diapers".  -so come visit us! 

 

We are just 6 short weeks shy of graduation.  HOLY. GUACAMOLE. BATMAN.  Where has the time gone?  It's definitely a bittersweet time for us.  We are so ready to be done with this insanely busy semester but at the same time aren't quite ready to say goodbye to our college life as we know it.  

ps- we found a tree with a belly button... our lives are never dull...

love your baseballin' bloggers 

       

today

Today I comforted my patient and held her hand.  Today I was able to minister to my patient.  I was able to use these gifts God has given me to glorify Him.  Today He taught me how to care for patients as if I were caring for Him.  And why wouldn't I give my Savior the very best care?  Today I wondered "what if I had cared for every patient as if they were Jesus?"  The patients I have the privilege of caring for are His children.  They are made in His image.  He has entrusted their care into my hands, not through my ability, but Him working through me.  Today, I have realized the significance in my call to nursing.  Today I have been encouraged and challenged to care for every patient as if they were Jesus.  

-Aimee-   

swiss cheeseheads

We are officially under the 2 month mark and that means only one thing...life is about to get crazy! :] 

Somehow we have managed to do absolutely nothing school related which is okay with us.  These past two weeks have been such a whirlwind to us and reality is starting to set in.  We have been super busy applying for our state nursing license, ordering graduation announcements, ordering our cap and gowns -which we will be picking up tomorrow, and buying our white scrubs for pinning ceremony!   

Oh, and best of all...we just paid $200 to finally meet the NCLEX Lady (aka register for NCLEX)

-we are hoping for an autograph- 

Today we had our second NCF meeting of the semester; it was such a wonderful meeting/devotion time.  We love sharing with our fellow nursing students.  It was such a beautiful day so we decided to have our meeting outside, by a fountain.  We had a wonderful meeting and are excited about upcoming events!  We are starting to kick off our "dollars for diapers" drive to raise money for GLA, the Haitian baby ministry.  Plans include a day in the union and a table at a baseball game! 

Starting this week, we will be caring for 4 patients -gasp- We can remember when we were scared of taking care of 2 patients.  Hahaha.  We have come so far this semester and have learned so much! 

Oh- last week we had a brain cell-killer of an acuity test so we decided to "blow" off some steam at the shooting range!  We have decided that this is by far the best way to relieve post-test stress!

Well faithful blog readers, we finally have a night to get in bed at a decent hour so we are taking full advantage of it!  Goodnight! 

-love your swiss cheesehead bloggers :] 

(because that's what 5th semester will to do ya!) 

  

I'd rather be...

So while we were about to lose our minds in a very non-interesting lecture, we decided to make a list of things we would rather be doing.  Enjoy:

I'd rather be:

at the beach laying in the sun

riding the biggest roller coaster

snuggled by the fire...drinking yummy coffee/tea :] 

SKYDIVING
taking a hot bubble bath

eating some sushi

in Haiti 

visiting Florida Hospital for Children & then Disney World

at CC's 

shooting a gun

playing Yahtzee

gator huntin'

writing my paper

finding a journal article...and writing a summary

driving home

eating rocks

singing "Whole Enchilada" ...while wearing sombreros and Mexican staches 

giving a bed bath

sitting through skills lab 

looking a a pressure ulcer...stage 4 (BARF)

talking to Brenda..if she answers

cutting the grass...with scissors

standing in a blizzard in shorts...next to a polar bear...that's hungry

walking in the Sahara Desert barefoot with no hat or sunscreen

drinking burnt coffee with no creamer (GROSS)

swimming with sharks

[..lastly, our favorite] 

bear-hugging a cactus...naked 

...well we better pay attention in this brain dissolving cardiac lecture!

Have a good day lovely blog readers!

 

fireside Friday

So we have realized one very important thing: tomorrow marks 3 months until graduation...yes, from college!  This is insane and unfathomable to us right now considering how much we have to do before then.  

Last night we had a fun little sleepover/paperwork party. -note sleepover=fun, paperwork party does not-.  We had every intention to go to a fun Mardi Gras parade, but the wet cold rain had other intentions.  Knowing we could not jeopardize our health for the sake of a few beads and a moonpie, we stuck to the fireplace instead.  :]  

...and what a cozy night of a paperwork party it was!  

...until we completely crashed...

...paperwork induced coma... 

The only antidote for this coma of ours is the -drumroll please- 

CARDIAC DANCE!!! -you better be getting excited about this! 

If all goes as planned, we are hoping to do our own little rendition of this as a fun way of studying.  Don't worry your little hearts our lovely blog readers, we will be sure to video this event for you! 

As for now, we are really wanting to be lying on a beach...like this one...

somewhere very warm as we are experiencing major ineffective thermoregulation r/t extreme wind and excessive coldness. 

Well we better be going to find some heat before we turn into popsicles!

Love your frozen and frigid bloggers!

PS: check out NCF's National Website for a post about our local chapter's involvement and Haiti!  http://ncf-jcn.org/

Wenckebach!!

Someone get us a defibrillator because at the rate all these cardiac notes are going to give us a heart attack.  Since it's been such a crazy day, we decided to leave you with a video to make you smile.

 ...we kinda wish we could do this right now.  6 hours of sitting in class is a killer....

 ...dope nursing students we are...

 

Love your brain dead, bradycardic bloggers :]

What ARDS you doing? :]

...We'll tell you what we 'ARDS' doing...

We are sitting in our Acuity lecture right now, having our brains twisted into a pretzel.  Sheeshh...this stuff is hard.  

ps- if you were wondering ARDS = Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

If you want to know any more than this, we probably aren't your best resource quite yet.  We recommend WebMD! hahaha! 

Well, back to note taking!  

Hope you're having a great day faithful readers!

the beginning of the end

...light at the end of the tunnel...call it what you will

 Whatever it is, we are excited!!

(and a tad nervous, but that will probably subside by the end of this week)

We are both at a loss for words right now about this semester as it will be filled with its ups and downs.  So in the meantime, we will catch you up on our Christmas break! 

Over Christmas we went on a mission trip to Haiti!  While we were there, we had the opportunity to visit GLA, the orphanage we held the 50/50 raffle for last semester!  It's almost surreal that we actually got to see what we supported all semester.  We felt like kids on Christmas morning we were so excited! It was amazing to see what God was doing there in the lives of so many children through the volunteers there.  Because we don't have enough words to tell you how amazing it was, we will share some pictures with you! :] 

Outside the gates at GLA's new location! 

Some of the kids at the toddler house...check out our little photo-bomber...

NICU bed at GLA

Rooftop at GLA... what an amazing view!

 We still cannot believe that we are in our very last semester of nursing school!  We are looking forward to an amazing semester and cannot wait to share with you as we go! 

We love you faithful blog readers!  Thanks for staying tuned! :] 

Love your rip-roarin'-ready to graduate bloggers! 

(whatever that means)