updates

"So my life feels like it has been moving at the speed of light.. everything has been happening so fast and time seems to have just slipped by. So here is the update on my life as it stands right now.

Childrens has been absolutly amazing! I have learned so much and met such amazing people. I even got to watch open heart surgery and i was like two feet from this open chest cavity and saw the heart and the lungs and watched them stop the heart and re start the heart.
I also have worked with so many different diseases and conditions and the experiences are so diverse and interesting.

Also there is a new person in my life. He is sweet and fun and really nice.

I can't wait to come back to the loops and start playing barefoot soccer again and see everyone! I love Vancouver during the playoffs but every other day isn't really that fun :) Although I do love all the different types of food that there are here.. Now all I have left to do is find a job which is turning out more difficult then I expected..

Anyways not back to reality and to homework.."

~Char

timelines

"Lately I have been thinking a lot about timelines. About how things seem to line up in some aspects of my life and in others seem to be off just a little bit. Although i only see these timelines throuhg my perspective and not God's so it could possibly be just me that thinks they are off.
The more that i think about the more they seem to line up... not in the way that i would want them to line up but in a way that i think is going to teach me soemthing amazing about God's plan for my life or just about another characteristic of Him that i can achieve.
I don't know if these ramblings are making any sense at all but they have been on my mind a lot and i just needed to write them.

On another note, i am having so much fun here in vancouver! My preceptor is still amazing and very approachable and i am meeting people. Yesterday i went to church/bible study at Lucas' families house in the morning and it was actually really nice. I quite enjoyed myself and everyone was super friendly, although i dont remember half their names :) but i'll work on that.

Anyways i'm off for a run.. write soon."

~Char

1 night shift down

"So last night was my first night shift at BC Childrens.. It was amazing. I was super stressed before hand and couldnt sleep all day before my shift so I was exhausted, and there were other reasons i couldn't sleep but I wont divulge :) My preceptor is so wonderful and has made it her priority that I get the best possible learning and the best possible experience and that I only have to move at my own pace and she doesn't want me to feel overwhelmed or anything. I really enjoyed working with her last night.
In other news i am in Vancouver. Alone. Which isn't turning out to be such a bad thing. I have a place to live where I can walk to work and walk to a grocery store and yesterday i found out that i can go to Richmond and still find my way back home so maybe my directional skills arent so bad :)
Anyways I just felt like updating :) "

~ Char

mobbed.

"Tonight I was in a flash mob! It was super exiting and wonderful and it went by so fast. I want to do it again. It was at the Bay and people were cheering and taking pictures and videos. It was really great :)

And my week of nothing is turning out to be way more boring than I previously expected. I am running out of things to do, except for cleaning and running :) Which isn't really a bad thing because I am moving soon so probably should be packing and I am running a marathon on sunday so training will help.

Anyways night world!"

~Char

a week of freedom.

"So school is basically over, except for my practicum which I am super excited about now :) I move to Vancouver in two weeks which is both super exciting and a little scary. This will be the first time since I graduated that I will be actually alone. It is going to be a whole new experience. I think it's Gods way of pushing me out of my comfort zone. It should be fun to live in a big city and be a city person for a month and a half.
And since I have a week before my practicum workshop starts I can do whatever I want to do for a whole week. I could do absolutly nothing if I wanted to :) Although this week did start off pretty great already. I had my first ever easter egg hunt tonight. It was actually pretty fun. dana is kinda amazing!!
I have been playing barefoot soccer after church now for a couple weeks and yesterday I scored two goals :) It was awesome. The one curved perfectly and went just beneath the top goal post (the rail that goes across the top, im not sure of the proper name). It felt good :)
Anyways goodnight world"

~Char

school, school, and more school.

"Today I did my first official final exam for this semester and it went really good. Granted we were given all the questions in a study question list but still I had to study and I feel really good about that exam. I also finished my distance course yesterday and as much as I enjoyed that course I was glad to be done. Now all I have to do is make it through an final evaluation and one more exam and then I move for CPE. It will be fun and exciting and very scary. But I can't wait!
Goodnight world."

~ charlene

It all comes down to this.

"So this whole semester I have been working with two other students with the Kamloops homelessness action plan to improve community awareness and help create displays for and promote a public forum. And now it all comes down to this wednesday. The forum starts at 6 and then when it is done, we are done.
It is such a wierd feeling to almost be done; to have everything that you have been working on for so long all come down to one night.
You should all come out to the Alliance church this wednesday at 6. It is going to be a good night!"

~Char

all in thirty six hours

"So monday morning was the beginning of a very long day, but it was all worth it. I died (well almost) to save lives.
Just to clarify, I was not physically hurt at all, it was all an act.
My global health class had the opportunity to participate in a mock accident to help all of the emergency services practice their emergency assessments and triage.
My injuries were a major laceration to the head and a lacerated liver. I was in the bus that rolled. I absolutly love acting. It is a passion of mine and it is one of the most incredible highs in the world! My character that i was playing was stuck under the seat of the bus crushing my liver so I was not in too much pain till I moved and unfortunatly for me the fire fighter decided that was almost immediatly after he got into the bus. So then i got to practice my screaming :)
Once I was out of the bus they moved me to the 1st priority triage area where I stayed on a spine board (and cried by the way) for three hours. I know that pride comes before a fall but I was good. A couple of the emergency servive providers came by to ask me if I was hurt for real because I actually appeared like I was hurt.
By the way there was a super cute paramedic that told me to "keep doing what your doing. Your doing amazing". Sorry to brag.
After about an hour my character went into shock and two hours after that I finally made it on to an ambulance. and then I kinda went to far. I hyperventilated myself into an actual problem. I kinda passed out in the ambulance for a sec.

I had soo much fun! A lot of people in my class are complaining that things didn't happen the way that they should have or as quick as they wanted them to but that is the point. We did this so that the problems would become evident for the service providers. It was totally worth staying up all night and going early and the money.

This is my bruise from my licer laceration :) and I'll add photos from my head alceration later cause it was pretty cool too! Anyways I'm going to go finish homework. Goodnight world!"

~Char

Changes.

"So there has been a change in my plans. The job that I was sort of relying on for this summer is no longer going to happen, so now I have to find something else. I am still a little bummed about this but I am trusting that it is for the best. This job would have been good for my career in the future so God must have something even better in store for me. Now all I have to do is wait to see what that is."

~Char

Excitment

"I am super excited. Want to know why?

My CPE 3 is at B.C. Childrens Hospital in Vancouver. It is an amazing opportunity. Although I am not much of a big city person so this will be my tester to see if I can live in a city like Vancouver. Maybe this will prove that I could live there.

Oh and my family is coming up this weekend

I can't wait for them to get here! I miss them a lot.

Oh and for all those who actually read this. I have been working with the Kamloops homelessness action plan and they are having a public forum on April 6th at the Kamloops Alliance church at 6pm and you should all come out. Anyways that is all i have to say for now."

~ Char

The L's of life.

"L #1: Learn 
- Sometimes I feel like I learn more hanging out with my friends or roommates then I do when I go to school. There is always so much to learn though and I hardly know anything. But that's okay.


L#2: Laugh
- I once got into a bit of trouble because I did something incredibly stupid and afterwards I laughed about it. I know I shouldn't have but if you need to be able to laugh at yourself. Which is a hard to do but in my opinion necessary. 


"L#3: Live
- In the words of a song 'just because you are alive doesn't mean you are living'. It actually makes sense, at least to me. It's a little late but I think this is a good resolution. Aim to actually live life.


L#4: Love
- This is the most important L. God says the greatest commandment is to LOVE. This is hard to do for everyone though. But I guess that is where 'Love is patient, love is kind' comes in right. It is hard to love everyone but with God's help it gets easier.


I'm still learning how to live but this is just some of what I know so far."
~ Char

The pitter patter of big feet.

"So Kurt and dana came home today and words cannot explain how happy I was to see them. :) Not that these last two weeks have been that horrible. One of my neighbours had noticed that i was home alone and was shovelling my driveway for me. And I have discovered a respect for being alone. Being happy by your self is definitly a skill in my opinion. 
I am eagerly awaiting my tv appearance though.. and I am using that as an excuse to procrastinate on studying and writing my paper.. which I will now get back too.
Anyways night world!"

~~ Char

Sun, fun and bruises.

"So yesterday I went to Sun Peaks with my friend Anita. Passion was born :) I love it. We were up there by 9 and we boarded all day till last chair. It was so much fun and so B-E-A-UTIFUL! The trees at the top looked like they had been covered in whip cream and it was clear all day.
In one run we did part of a green run, part of a blue run, went through the trees, and hit a black run. It was so fun. At the end of the black run me and one of the other girls sat down to wait for the rest of the group and we were looking at the sky and the clouds looked all whispy and wonderful and they were moving so fast.

Riding up the chairlift and seeing all the wonderful landscape made me really appreciate all of God's handiwork.

This morning when I woke up I had some huge bruises on my knees :) I am a little proud."

~ Char

Life.

"I was sitting at home the other day thinking and praying about just random life things. I kept thinking about all these stupid little things that were upsetting me. All I could think was why am I getting so upset? I couldn't understand why I would have the desire to have certain things in my life but they weren't there. Jelayne suggested that maybe this was Gods way of letting me know that I need to lean and depend on him for everything. How did she get so smart? ;)

So I started praying harder and I found that what I was thinking about changed. I am so blessed and I keep forgetting that. I have an amazing family that support me and encourage me no matter what, I live with two of the most amazing people that I have ever known, and my friends are super fun, amazing, and encouraging. Why can't I focus on this stuff? That has just been added to my resolutions.

On another topic, school is going really well. I am working with the Kamloops Homelessness Action Plan for my community project and on the 15th I get to be on the midday show on CFJC. I am super pumped.

And these are the shoes I just bought!!

Anyways goodnight world :)"

~ Char

routines.

"So I am finally feeling like I am settling into this semester and it is going to be good. I don't have a community project for my one class yet but my teacher (or professuer I guess they are called) promised I would have it by tomorrow. I am actually quite excited for it now. before I was just scared but now I just want to get started.

This last weekend i went to Richmond with Erin and we saw Starfield, well the guitar players from starfield with a friend of theirs who played the drums. It was really good. They have this one song about being burnt out and being able to just say that the passion is gone and it got me thinking. So I started praying for the passion. Because in the end I want that passion. I want people to see God's love in my life.  I need to jsut trust him, that things will work out. God has started some wonderful stuff in me and for me and I juast have to be willing to let him work. As my good friend Jelayne recently told me 'God has his own plan and its better so just keep your mind open to him'. And she is right.

So I am now resolving to.... Get the passion back, don't sweat the small stuff, show God's love and excercise more. Simple and yet not simple :)

From nothing to everything.

"So on tuesday I started semester 6 of my program. So far it is pretty A-OK. I only go to school two days a week, my teachers so far are interesting, and I like everyone in my class.
I have also gotten into a course from Mount Royal University in Alberta. It is an assessment class for critical and emergency nursing. I am so excited. It is going to be so interesting!
But I am still so tired all the time and I`m trying so hard to pay attention and be awake and such but it is hard. It makes me wonder if I can do this.
But on to something less... depressing sounding. I have recently started watching Tosh.0. I really enjoy it. He is funny for the most part and it is relaxing.. mostly cause I don`t have to think about anything when watching it :)
But now I have to get back to homework... night world..

-- Char

The curse of the hair... and christmas updates

"Christmas was absolutly amazing! We played games almost the whole time and it was so fun. My dad threw out his back though christmas morning playing baseball on the the Wii. After christmas we went to visit my sister and her family and my little niece is perfect. She is so small and has a full head of hair :) Speaking of hair this is the curse of the hair. On the 28th we left for Sun Peaks and after a full day of driving we started our vacation at a restaurant in Kamloops. And this is where it all began. My mom found a hair in her salad and after that we only had one meal the whole vacation that did not have a hair in it. It was so gross. Other then the hair though it was a pretty great vacation.

I learned how to carve when I'm snowboarding and realised that I actually love to snowboard. I got an amazing bruise on the palm of my hand and the back of my wrist and an ice burn/rash on my leg from jumping in the snow straight out of the hot tub. I got to see the Big Air competition on New Years Eve which was pretty neat although now I kinda wish that I could do the stuff they were doing. I love spending time with my family but today I was happy to be home again in Kamloops. And I'm hoping that the curse of the hair has ended..."

~ Char