Without God

Every one of us wouldnt say that we've never had one of those crazy hectic weeks (especially coming to the end of the semester!) When we are crazy busy, we sometimes forget what is most important; our relationship with God. We just look at our week as Sunday through Saturday with no time for relaxation. Our goal is to keep our head above water and if we dont mess anything up, we have succeeded. Well, when keep God out of our lives, our week should look a little something like: Sinday, Mournday, Tearsday, Wasteday, Thirstday, Fightday, and Shatterday. Think about it...ITS SO TRUE!
Sometimes we go through the motions, are calloused towards our sinning habits and may even not realize that we have put God to shame. Therefore, we go on without asking him or others we have hurt for forgiveness.
When things go wrong, we always ask why. We seldom come across the thought that maybe our trials are a result of our sin and God may try to be getting our attention back where it should be.
We waste so many hours in our lives doing nothing worth while. Just think of all the time you spend on the computer, texting, watching tv, etc. Then think about how much time you spend with the one who created you.
When we go without God for a period of time, if we are truly striving to become more like His Son, we have that thirst for Him. The feeling of regret that we've been gone for so long, and the yearning to hear from Him.
Sometimes we are so bitter and selfish that instead of doing what God has willed for our lives, we turn the other way. We think that our way is better because we know what's best for us. HA! We all know that NEVER works out in the end.
After pushing against God for a period, our lives eventually shatter. We cant take it anymore, life is too hard on our own, we throw in our white flag and give up.
Thankfully God is always there waiting us to come back to Him. He compassionately welcomes us back because He knows what is best and knows that we cannot do anything without Him.

Its the Little Things in Life...

This week an ear infection decided to pay me a visit unfortunately. As a result, i have not been able to lay down flat for the past three days...meaning that i have slept on the couch those three nights. I can honestly say I MISS MY BED! I miss the spacious mattress, I miss that once you turn off the lights they actually stay off, and i miss my beauty sleep not being interupted by kitchen lights or the ice machine, or clanging of spoons against cereal bowls. Whenever i have gone to bed at night, i dont necessarily think about how nice it is to have a dark and quiet room and that i get to sleep uninterupted. Thats all :)

A Health Proposition

So my mom has done a lot of researching lately on seizure/migraine triggers and many things have come to the surface. In short, my diet will soon change here in a couple of days :) A lot of the migraines that I have are caused by what I put into my body; we have found through research that MSG is a big trigger. She was given a website to read and I just read it. Before I looked at it, she told me there were some food items on the website that contained MSG, and if I wanted to be as healthy as I could possibly be, it would be in my best interest for me not to eat those items. Well let me tell you, that was one long list! However, migraines are NO fun, and I can definitely sacrifice some food for comfort....I think.
Hence the list of MSG-infected food:
Hamburger Helper Microwave Singles® (targeted towards children)
Doritos®
Campbell's® soups - all of them
Pringles® (the flavored varieties)
Progresso® Soups - all of them
Lipton® Noodles and Sauce
Lipton® Instant soup mix
Unilever or Knorr® products - often used in homemade Veggie dips.
Kraft® products nearly all contain some
Gravy Master®
Cup-a-soup® or Cup-o-Noodles®
Planters® salted nuts - most of them
sausages
processed cheese spread
supermarket poultry or turkeys that are injected or "self-basting"
restaurant gravy from food service cans
flavored ramen noodles
instant soup mixes
flavored potato chips
restaurant soups made from food service soup base
gelatin hydrolyzed plant protein (found in canned tuna and even hot dogs)
yeast extract
soy sauce
Splenda
Worcestershire sauce
dry milk and whey powder
King Arthur, Heckers, and Gold Medal flour
body builder drink powders containing protein
Parmesan cheese - naturally high in free glutamate
mushrooms - naturally high in free glutamate
Medications in gelcaps - contain free glutamic acid in the gelatin
So.....some will be hard to not eat, but after reading the website, most of these items I wouldnt even classify as "real foods" after reading all of their ingredients.
For all of you out there who are "healthaholics" here are just some easy tips for eating out that will lead to A LOT healthier lifestyle:
AVOID all CHICKEN items
AVOID all SAUSAGE items
AVOID all PARMESAN products
AVOID all Ranch dressings - stick to oil and vinegar Italian
AVOID Croutons
AVOID KFC altogether
AVOID Dipping Sauces
AVOID Gravy
AVOID TOMATO AND MUSHROOM soup
AVOID McDonald’s fries
Ugh, hopefully I can remember what I can and cant eat :) More importantly, hopefully it will help me stay healthy and prevent my migraines.
Also, another plug in that the grass fam is now doing...my mom has found that if you store leftovers in glass containers rather than tupperware and plastic, it is healthier. Studies have shown that microwaving food in plastic containers may cause breast cancer. Even though glassware is much harder to store in the fridge, it is WELL worth it!
Well thanks to all of you who read my health rant, and feel free to ask how well Im doing at eating what im supposed to and staying disciplined in this area :)

A Day in the Life of

At work this week I have been taking care of a VERY LARGE patient......700 lbs to be exact. No I am not exaggerating; I looked at the kilograms, converted it, asked a nurse if it was right, and was confirmed. Yeah, interesting to say the least. In the hospital it is a rule that you should turn each patient every two hours. It usually only takes one or two people, but this time it took ten of us using every single muscle we had. We had to order a special bed and gown for her also. Everything you would do with a normal patient, the difficulty level was magnified like 700 times! It was sooo hard to really do anything which is frustrating at times, but oh well. Two days later, her bed deflated and we had to order a new bed. We could not get her from point A to point B so I was told to call the fire dept. so those hefty guys could come move her, and it took seven of them. We took a dietary survey of what she eats; JUST FOR LUNCH she eats 10 double cheeseburgers from McD's! Well, she'll be in the ICU for a while which is sad, but everyday i learn something very intriguing. Just another day in the life...

Little Ones

As some of you know, Ive worked in the NICU as part of my job. I LOVE IT! I was with all the healthy babies so it was not stressful at all. It is very quiet, compared to the ICU. For 2 hours I sat in a rocking chair and fed one little boy his bottle and just held him as he slept. It was actually relaxing, which is rare on the job of course. But more than that, it's very rewarding. They cant do anything themselves so they are fully reliant on you; it makes you feel needed and important. Holding a 7 lb bundle in my arms is soooo fun. They are so precious!

What Are You Thinking?

Most of our unhappiness in life is due to the fact that we are listening to ourselves instead of talking to ourselves. Just think of a scenario....the minute your alarm clock goes off you're thinking, make it stop! and hit the snooze. Then you remember what day it is and all you have to do and think you're better off in bed. But you throw your feet over the side of the bed anyways. As you sit there, you think of what all went wrong yesterday. As you shuffle to the cold bathroom floor, you begin to question the conversations you had yesterday and whether everyone was still happy with you or not. As your standing in the shower thinking of everything that lies ahead of you, you tell yourself that you need to pray. The only problem is, there's no time to pray! Does God feel kinda distant?
To prevent this, we need to speak positively to ourselves. Constantly praying thanks to God and asking Him for guidance. Be others focused instead of self-centered. Have a joyful heart!

A Day in the Life of

This week Ive felt like a mad woman running here, there, and everywhere doing well....you know the things that we do. :) Every night when I fall into my bed, I cant even think! I guess thats how its supposed to be right. I worked a TREMENDOUS amount this week but tis a good thing :) However, especially at the hospital, when ive been there a while and i have 3 drs orders, call lights going off, phone ringing, pharmacy tube dinging, vital phone buzzing, and nurses wanting my help "just for a minute"........ALL AT THE SAME TIME i feel like screaming :) I have never screamed out loud thank goodness, but sometimes under my breath i let out a quiet squeal just to keep me sane. I have truly found out that i have to pray for patience EVERY SINGLE DAY. God probably laughs at me when all those electronics are going off and im about to lose it, but i know its just to help me grow. Today was no different.......
I worked both at ChickfilA and the hospital....a total of 10 hours. At ChickfilA i worked drive thru so it wasnt really that bad. You do have those few costumers who kinda throw you off your tracks a bit. For example, we have this deal that last month for two days we handed out blue receipts and then this month you can redeem the receipt for the same dollar amount of food. Well this lady in drive through ordered $37 worth of food; that's a big ticket for drivethru. She pulls up to the window and said that she had a receipt, but she was looking for it in her purse. I assumed, like any other person, that she understood our deal. Instead she pulls out a Wal-Mart receipt. Wal-Mart?! I told her that it was in fact a Wal-Mart receipt. She obviously had no problem with it. She said, "I know I bought those items on the same monday as the deal last month if you look at the date." Trying hard not to laugh, I explained to her what it really meant, but she wasnt quite happy with me. Oh well, she made me smile :)
Then off to the hospital. I was actually looking forward to it because saturdays are usually pretty slow; not today! We got a new patient right when I got there which is always hard and confusing to jump right into; and he was a handful which was not helpful. We didnt have a secretary, so I had to be a tech and sec, which i dont know really how you're supposed to do that but i somehow managed it...barely :) Call lights NEVER went off. Then when I got to sit down to work on the new patient chart, one patient screamed. I went into her room and her jello spilled ALL OVER her and her bed; her red jello. Never mind that i just gave her a bath, never mind that i just changed her bedding, never mind i just put a new gown on her; everything was splattered red and sticky. She felt bad but still. After cleaning up the jello, back to the dr order which was now four drs orders. About ten minutes before I was getting ready to leave I sat down to eat my pretzels being so thankful that my shift was almost up. Then we got a trauma; a motorcycle wreck. Yeah, it was a mess, so I stayed an extra hour. All I can say is I felt really bad for the nurses that had to be there for 12 hours today :)
Although the hospital is not always fun, it certainly does have it's perks. The other day I went to Home Hospital for two hours and held and fed a baby. It was relaxing and so much fun. There were so many cute babies in that nursery! Its a great feeling to be there and just baby them and give them 100% attention. You never know what their childhood will be like. So even though my job may be stressful at times, I definitely love it!