Officially 30!

I'm officially 30 years old! Yay! It's been a long journey to get here, but I have finally arrived! Turning 30 was not nearly as bad as I imagined it to be when I was younger. I had such a wonderful weekend leading up to it and a very relaxing and fun birthday! 

Over the weekend my friend Julie came to visit me. We've known each other for about 19 years, so it was fun to celebrate the incoming decade with her. Of course she also came to town because she wanted to see the pregnant belly before the baby comes! We had a fun weekend, Julie, Chris, and I went to the California Museum of Science on Saturday and walked the rose gardens. It was a beautiful day, but super hot!

On my actual birthday (monday) I went to lunch with my friends Yuki and Meghan. After lunch my friend Dayna took me out for a pedicure (which was amazing) and while we were out Yuki and Meghan delivered me cupcakes. It was a fun and restful day! To top it off Chris and I made fondue for dinner and then played my new game Carcassonne with Dayna and Matt! It was definitely a fun birthday! 

Thank you friends for the many birthday wishes! Goodbye 20's hello 30's! 

Baby's Blanket is Finished

I finally finished making my baby's blanket! I bought some pink yarn to compliment the pink speckles on the rest of the blanket and crocheted a pink boarder around the edge. It turned out really great! I'm excited about the blanket, but I'll be even more excited when the baby is able to use it. 

CPE Graduation Day

Today was my graduation day from the CPE program at Arcadia Methodist Hospital! It's been a long eleven weeks, but a good experience. At the beginning of the internship I never thought I would see the end of it, but the day has finally come! I will miss my group tremendously, and the many people I met at the hospital both patients and staff who have touch my life and changed me forever. I don't know where God will lead me next, but I wouldn't be surprised to find myself one day back in a hospital being a light that shines for God in the midst of suffering. I loved my experience and I'm thankful that I had the opportunity to learn what it means to minister in the hospital. 

The picture above is the walkway leading to the back entrance of the hospital. I walked this path many times! I love the cross on the top of the building, and this was the best picture I could get of it!

This is the hospital chapel decorated with beautiful flowers just before our graduation!

The stained glass with a mural of the tree of life. The alter with the cross and six pots of columbine flowers representing the growth which took place in each of the six students over the course of the internship. 

This is a picture of my group! Our supervisor was not in the room when we took this picture so Rev. Amy is missing from the photo. From left to right: Bob, Gihun, Robin, Angela, Debbie, and me! This was the best group to work with and grow with over the past quarter. I will miss them. 

The Quietest On-Call Night

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for my on-call nights to be quiet! Yesterday and last night were the quietest on-call times I've experienced! God was so good to let me sleep all last night. I woke up this morning so very happy!! 

Last Sunday I was on-call too, but sadly it was a difficult day and I had to deal with the worst situation ever. I won't go into details to spare  you and myself because it wasn't fun. But I am glad to have experienced it because it gave me a picture of the larger ministry of a chaplain. After Sunday I was ready to throw in the towel and quit, but Monday rolled around and I had probably one of the best days ever at the hospital. So I realized that I promised God I wouldn't make any life changing decisions regarding Chaplain ministry until I have completed the CPE program... and then continue to discern for a while after. So I haven't given up on this ministry. There is a great need for chaplains, and I love what I do in the hospital, even though there are things I wish no one ever had to deal with. But that's life, and God still calls us to minister in those difficult situations. 

So I now have two more weeks until I graduate the program. Thanks for your prayers this far friends! My experience although challenging and terrible at times has been amazing. God has opened my eyes to something new and I'm not quite ready for it to completely end. So we'll see how God calls me into ministry!

Nick Names

Names are fun especially nick names... at least when they are nice. So I've given my unborn daughter two nick names so far. The first is Little Bowling Ball, because she's getting so big and heavy that I feel like I'm carrying a bowling ball... and she rolls too! The second name is Anaconda, because at times when she moves I feel like there is a huge snake moving inside me! Pretty crazy huh? Anyway it's all fun and we get some good laughs out of it! 

So yes baby girl nelson is getting bigger each day and stronger too. She moves frequently which keeps Chris and I entertained. The other night she was moving so much that I couldn't stop laughing because it kind of tickled! 

Each day we get more and more excited to welcome our daughter into the world. As excited as we are, we are also trying to be patient because we don't want her to arrive to early for her own sake. But we are enjoying the time together as we await her arrival! 

My Baby's Blanket

My baby's blanket! Although it is unfinished....

So I completed crocheting the main portion of the blanket a little while ago and realized that I haven't posted a picture of what I've done so far. So here it is... it's folded in half in the picture. Chris and I are going to pick out another yarn so I can complete it with a colorful border. So stay tuned for the finished product! 

At The Half Way With CPE

So I've completed half of my internship as a chaplain now, and the past 6 weeks have been quite the journey. While I very much enjoy the ministry I'm doing in the hospital, I have to say... when it rains it pours! When I'm on-call I get worked! Yesterday was my first weekend on call, and I spent a total of 8 hours at the hospital. After having spent 5 hours in the morning helping a family with a viewing I was able to go home for about an hour and a half before getting paged back to the hospital. On my drive to the hospital I received another page from the hospital this time from the Emergency Department. So I say... when it rains it pours because I seem to get paged in waves. Things seem to happen in twos even though I can only be in one place at a time. Thankfully everything worked out! I have a great supervisor who welcomes calls at any hour when we need help! So she made some calls and was able to help take care of one of the situations, while I spent time with a family at the Emergency Department. 

I have another 5 weeks of this internship, and God has continually given me the strength to carry on when things seem so difficult. I really like working as a chaplain, but I'm still not certain if this is something I want to do with my life. I do feel like God could be calling me in that direction, but for now I'll take it one day at a time and finish this internship before I make any decisions! 

There are definitely things I dislike about this type of ministry... 1) I don't like waking up in the middle of the night to go into the hospital, 2) I don't like getting called back to the hospital when I just pulled out of the parking lot, and 3) There are simply some situations that no one really wants to have to deal with. (But I still do it)

But regardless of those things there are still plenty of things that I love about this ministry... 1) the smiles on peoples faces when they look at me in the midst of their dying and tell me they are going to see Jesus, 2) The joy I hear in people's voices when they tell me they feel like God is with them, and 3) The feeling I get inside knowing that even in the pain and suffering I see glimpses of God's beauty in the hospital. 

If you think of me... please pray for discernment as I approach the last 5 weeks of this internship. And also that God would continue to strengthen me in this ministry.