This Ride Is Speeding Up!

Feels like I'm on a rollercoaster that keeps going faster! We went to the school and nobody "official" was available to help us, but the receptionist seems to run the school, so she helped us!

She answered questions and then sat me down to fill out the registration form online. Then she asked if I could come back at 1:00 to take the Accuplacer test! I wasn't expecting that quite yet, but I took it and aced the reading comprehension part. I got a 43 on the Elementary Algebra, which isn't surprising since I've never had Algebra! (41st percentile, so I wasn't at the very bottom!) Next Tuesday I go to see an advisor to sign up for summer classes. Probably Fundamental Computer Concepts, Introductory Algebra and Intro. to Nursing in Long Term Care (CNA). I might have to take more credits to qualify for financial aid, but I'll find out then.

Whew! This is mentally exhausting, but I'm praising the Lord for giving me peace all day. I'm just going to enjoy this experience as much as I can and try not to be fearful about anything. =0)

What's really fun is that my dd will be doing summer classes, too...
She will be doing hers online and will be living close by so we can talk shop and act like old study buddies. What fun!

Looks like I'll be updating my immunizations before the nursing part of my schooling starts, but I have to rack up 12 credits of generals and get my CPR certification before that.

Thank you, Lord, for this new adventure! Help me to keep my eyes on you and on the goal of using this training to care for others. Amen!

I may be going back to school! College at MY age?

My hubby surprised me a couple of days ago by asking me if I'd like to go to college. Don't laugh now, but this was right after we had been watching Mrs. Washington Goes to Smith. For those who haven't seen it, it's about an older woman who returns to Smith College to complete her college degree after her children are grown. ANYWAY...

I've mentioned on numerous occasions that I wish I'd taken advantage of the opportunity to go to college when I was younger. My step-dad was going to pay for my college education, but I didn't have any idea what I wanted to study and didn't want to waste his money, so I didn't go.

I've always known that I DON'T want to work in the deli forever, but didn't really have a plan. I sure didn't think I would go back to school, though it sounded like fun to take a class or two.

I've been interested for a long time in nursing at some level. I'd like to work maybe with geriatric patients or doing home-care. What I'm considering is going to a two year community college and getting an Associates Degree in what they call "Nursing (Generic Option)-Associates Degree (RN)".

It's a little scary in a lot of ways. 1.)Is my old brain capable of all this learning? (But I've seen lots of people who seem less capable than me who are nurses. Yikes!) 2.)It's a 100 mile round trip to the school, but my boys did the same thing for 4 years, so I could probably manage. 3.)I would give up my job, because I can't possibly do both, so financial aid/grants would have to be enough to pay some bills while I do this. We are very much living from paycheck to paycheck, but this would have to be the Lord. Nursing would be a ministry of mercy in my thinking, not just a career. I'm not sure it will pay much more per hour than I'm making at the deli, so that's not the reason I'm doing it.

It was my husband's idea and he's not worried about the financial part. He would also have to give me some space and quiet for studying, which would be the hard part for him, LOL! We're driving down to the school in Wadena, MN on Thursday to talk to someone. Our kids have all gone to community college, so we know the registration process will be a pain in the neck, but that's okay. Anyway, we'll find out a lot on Thursday.

I've already checked out some library books to start refreshing my memory in the area of chemistry and algebra. Heck, I've never even taken algebra, how can I refresh? But I can get familiar with it before I have to take the Accuplacer test.

I'm excited though a little nervous. All my life I've talked myself out of doing things because they looked hard. It's called FEAR. I've been working on that and I'm not going to listen to that little voice anymore! Amen?

Any nurses among you who can give me some input?

Now I'm off to peruse "The Joy of Chemistry" before going to work at the deli. =0)

Loving Jesus...

I'm still reading "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. It's going slowly because, as usual, I have too many books going at one time! But I came across a few things that made me stop and think. (His book does that a lot!)

He quotes John Piper from his book called "God Is the Gospel":

"The critical question for our generation-and for every generation-is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?"

Francis Chan talks about his Grandma Clara who was "madly in love" with Jesus. He said, "Every morning Clara would kneel by her bed and spend precious hours with her Savior and Lover; later in the day, just the sight of that corner of her bed would bring joy-filled tears and a deep anticipation of the next morning spent kneeling in His presence."

The chapter begins with this prayer:

"O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, so that I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, "Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away." Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long." A.W. Tozer-The Pursuit of God

This is certainly something I need to pray about and work on. Living in this world can really dull our senses and take our eyes off of the One who means everything.

Shalom...

How many times do you get to see a meteorite in "person"?

I'm sure you saw it on the news this morning, but I watched it last night as I was sitting in my favorite living room chair. It was about 10 p.m. when a ball of light caught my attention through the living room window. Our window faces south so this fireball was gliding slowly from west to east (right to left from my perspective). It was blueish colored at the top of its arc and turned orange as it got lower. It was so COOL to watch. My hubby was sitting at the computer and I said, "Oh my gosh! Look at that!" By the time my comment registered with him it was too late for him to get to the window. We were concerned, at first, that we might have witnessed a plane crash, but we didn't hear an impact, so we came to the conclusion that it was a meteor. He had a great time teasing me about it being a dream, but I was vindicated this morning when it was headlining the news!

As I lay in bed this morning I could hear the news on TV and as I heard this news story I said, "AHA!!" My hubby, in the living room, just chuckled.

This video must be filmed quite a bit south of our position because the meteor goes from left to right, so they must be filming looking north. Anyway, super-cool! Thanks, Lord, for that wondrous experience!

Due to ANOTHER computer virus...

I'll be offline for a while, other than the occasional trip to the library to use their computer.

Be back as soon as we get this figured out! ;0)

Crazy Love, worry and stress...

I just started reading "Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God" by Francis Chan and was struck by this paragraph:

"Basically, these two behaviors (worry and stress) communicate that it's okay to sin and not trust God because the stuff in my life is somehow exceptional. Both worry and stress reek of arrogance. They declare our tendency to forget that we've been forgiven, that our lives are brief, that we are headed to a place where we won't be lonely, afraid, or hurt ever again, and that in the context of God's strength, our problems are small, indeed.

Why are we so quick to forget God? Who do we think we are?"

Just a little taste to whet your appetite. You'll have to get the book and find out what happens next! =0)

John Bunyan by Kevin Belmonte

As a book reviewer for Thomas Nelson Publishers I recently finished reading John Bunyan by Kevin Belmonte. I found this little 142 page book (not counting appendixes) hard to put down. Having read Pilgrim's Progress many years ago I was curious to know more about the life of its author. Mr. Belmonte did a fine job of taking me back to England in the years between Bunyan's birth in 1628 and his death in 1688. He paints a vivid picture of Bunyan's childhood influences, his growing up and his life as an adult who is jailed for many years as a dissenter. A lot of English history is compressed between the covers of this little book and it is not dry reading. It captures much of what shaped John Bunyan's character as he grew and as his life was transformed by his encounters with the Son of God who would become his Savior. The book is sprinkled generously throughout with quotes of famous men who were influenced by Bunyan's writings; men such as G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, Robert Louis Stevenson, John Brown and many others. Later authors whose writings held references to or seemed to be influenced by his writings would include George Eliot, Jane Austen, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Samuel Johnson, Benjamin Franklin, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain and Charles Dickens. With the insights provided by this biography I am inspired to re-read Pilgrim's Progress. I know I will see it with new eyes.

Movie day...so far!

It's a lazy day off. I've watched "Monsters, Inc." and now I'm watching "84 Charing Cross Road" for the umpteenth time! Maybe later I'll go outside and do some yard work! I also want to do a little reading. I'm reading a bio of John Bunyan right now that I'm really enjoying and I want to get to "Crazy Love" which my son Jordan loaned to me.

Have a great day!