The following quote was sent to me by Drew Brown (freshmen class president) and I thought it was really good and thought provoking (I have no idea who Daniel Clark is).

"We [as Christians] seem to suffer
from low self-esteem. We seem to think
that we need to associate Christianity with
whatever is cool in order to make the gospel
relevant, instead of proclaiming the gospel
because it is relevant."---Daniel Clark

To me this sounds like what so many churches are doing today. They feel that they must cater to unbelievers in order to draw them in. While I don't disagree that we need to be drawing in unbelievers, I disagree with the methods many churches use today. I feel that Sunday worship should be a time of fellowship and encouragement of believers. Not to say that unbelievers shouldn't be welcome or invited. But that the focus should be on the edification of believers and not the goal of drawing people in. Spend the week spreading the gospel and witnessing and then gather together on Sunday to be refreshed!

What are your thoughts?

Still enjoying my time in the ER! There have been the ups and the downs- the highs of seeing parents who love their children and the lows of seeing parents who, quite frankly, are unfit to be parents!! Working in the ER has allowed me to see a slice of Americana- the rich, the poor, white and black- sickness or injury can affect anyone. And it's been interesting seeing family dynamics. But I have to remind myself that the parents may be at their worst since they have a child who's probably been sick for a couple days before coming to the hospital and now they've just all night at the hospital. Definitely understandable why they are so worn out and frazzled! Anyway, things are going well. Rae is awesome! I am doing more on my own and doing more in general. I am now 4/7 in IV starts- I know, I should be 7/7 right? IVs are hard to get!! It's hard finding veins on a dehydrated kid...and so the ones I have done have not been difficult sticks for an experienced nurse but that's ok because any IV start is still difficult and nerve wracking to me!! Overall, i am feeling more comfortable with my role and feel like I know more what to do without being told.

The ER can be a busy place! But it's really nothing like it is on TV...at least not at this ER but that's ok because it can be overwhelming enough! Most of our patients are not having an emergency. They use the ER because its convenient and often is the best way to get their care paid for by insurance. As a result many of the patients we see come in with vomiting, diarrhea and/or fever. But there are the exceptions and occasionally we have an interesting injury or some other illness. I've seen a couple patients with broken bones and several with lacerations various places on their bodies. Naturally injuries are more common as the weather gets warmer and kids go outside to play! Started my first successful IV (while in the ER) on Monday! Yippee!! Ok, I was excited but the little girl definitely wasn't! I am slowly gaining a better idea of how things work in the ER and am feeling a little more a part of the team. And time is definitely flying! We are almost done with our second week!!

Soul Journey's devotional for today focused on the increasing use of technology in the church. It gives example just how easy it is for people to stay at home and still "participate" in church. But is this the kind of worship God desires? We want everything to be easy but as SJ pointed out, Jesus said following him would involve sacrifice. Are we willing to "sacrifice" our time and pleasures to spend time in worship of Him and in fellowship with other believers? Let me know what you think about this issue!

I finished my second shift in the ER today. I kinda have 2 preceptors at the moment...since Mike is leaving next week, he passed me on to Raelynn (Rae) and I now have her schedule (still 7am-5pm)...sorta. Mike still had me come in today even though Rae was off. So I am not sure if he'll make me come in any other days that she's not scheduled but I am hoping not. Though for every day I come in that she's not scheduled, I just drop one of her days cuz as much fun as the ER is, I am not planning to work (for free) more than I have to! :-) Yesterday I was in the holding room of the ER which is where they send the kids who need to be monitored before a decision is made to admit them or send them home. So mostly kids with diarrhea and/or vomiting. (see, I told you the ER was fun!) It was actually quite busy there yesterday (so I was told) and it was fun because I was working with Rae and learning what needed to be done and how. I didn't do anything really exciting...except get some meds out of the pyxis...I get to scan my finger to get into the pyxis! Ok, so I found it exciting! :-) I was busy and productive and that (usually) means a good day for me. Today I guess I was kept busy but didn't feel productive at all! The best part of the day was spending a couple hours in triage where I was able to start the initial paperwork on the patients. It was kinda scary to me to be the one to interview the parent(s) and start filling out the paperwork...but I started getting the hang of it and was kinda enjoying it. But then I was moved to the back and mostly just observed the rest of the day. Saw some interesting things but mostly just the D and V that I saw yesterday...'tis the season for the rotavirus! Mike was charge nurse and basically handed me off to others so I didn't work with him too much. So I am very glad that I have been switched to Rae because she was a lot more fun to work with!

As for the NCAA tournament...like many people, I chose Florida to win today, and they lost, but unlike others I had them going pretty far (I have no idea why!) and so now my bracket is going to be pretty messed up. At least Wake Forest pulled out the win in the end. Maybe Dayton will shock everyone and go to the finals...that would really mess brackets up (including mine!) but would be kinda cool since none of my Indiana teams even made into the playoff this year!

We got the snow!!! Yippee!!! Maybe I can go frolic later today...

If you want to learn more about Shepherd's and Serve Enterprises (which is where we helped out as well) visit their website which I linked to in the previous posts. It gives a clear description of the work at Shepherd's and has pictures too!

So it's been a while since I blogged and probably lost half of my (small) readership. The week before Spring Break got too hectic with all the papers and projects we had to turn in that I just neglected to blog. But that's old news and won't go into that. Except to say that on Thursday Dr. Alyn surprised our class and treated us to lunch in the PDR! We had to listen to Margaret Wheeler teach us about business dinner etiquette but it was well worth the food and the fun! I guess the nursing department loves us after all!!

For spring break I went to Shepherd's Home in Union Grove, WI. As always it was a blast. We spent the day working with the residents doing various tasks. We helped out in the laundry room (I learned how to fold a fitted sheet by myself- I didn't learn by myself but I can fold it without the help of another person- I know, exciting isn't it?), kitchen, housekeeping and other places. The residents were just as excited to see us as they have been the other years I've gone. In some ways it was hard to leave because the residents didn't want us to go and they are a joy to be around. But it is emotional draining to be around them all day for a week. I have a lot of respect for the staff who work with the residents every day all year. Our evenings were free and we went out for dinner and then a couple nights we watched a movie. Wednesday we did chapel and prayer meeting for the residents. Both went well, especially wednesday night. We used that time to have the residents read or quote their favorite scripture and for them to pray. It was such a blessing to hear them pray not minding what the others thought. Definitely my favorite service of the week! Probably my overall high of the week. Thanks for all your prayers!!

I don't start work in the ER until Wednesday so I still have one more day to prepare myself. Definitely exciting about working but a little nervous as well. Not sure what to expect and that always makes me nervous. I found out (before I left for spring break actually) that my preceptor is leaving next week and so I'll be switching preceptors soon. I haven't worked with Mike yet but I am kinda disappointed as he seemed like a great guy to work with. Hopefully my next preceptor has a good schedule too...I kinda like the idea of working 7-5...well, more so than 7-7!

And finally, they are calling for 3-6 inches of snow tonight through tomorrow. I am excited as always since I love snow but why couldn't it come during clinicals? Oh well...I just hope it comes!