Quiet Day, Busy Weekend

Thanksgiving Day was quiet at my house. For me, it was truly a day of thanksgiving. L is home. He has been pleasant, congenial. He cooked the turkey. We talked on and off all day about birds, Dallas, Arizona. Good talking. I had time to read and pray. I had opportunity to experience the freedom of forgiveness. Giving L that freedom also returns it to me. I learned several years ago the power of forgiveness for my own life as well as the life of the one "let off the hook" so to speak. Sometimes, walking in what I know can be a challenge, but God is faithful to help when I call.

Then on Friday, we decided at around 11:15 that we could go see family in the Dallas area since I didn't have to work after all, and we scurried around and were out the door and on the road by 12:30. Now that's some moving on! It was a good visit with family, and we took some time to look around the area. L is pretty familiar with the northern sections of the Dallas metro area, so it was pretty easy to see some of the shopping districts, etc. We came back home on Sunday, tired but content. It was one of the better holidays I've spent.

Thanksgiving Blessings!

I pray you all have a wonderful Jesus-filled day tomorrow. It really is my favorite holiday because it is celebrated specifically to thank the Lord for His grace, goodness and bounty. It gets glossed over so easily because it is hard to commercialize it like we've done to Christmas. The nurses on DSU got an extra blessing today. Most of us were scheduled to work on Friday, but since most of the doctors offices will be closed over the whole holiday weekend, we will be also. That translates into a 4 day weekend. I don't have to go back to work till Monday morning. We're keeping things simple this year, just the bird and potato and veggies and of course, pumpkin pie. I'm looking forward to some down-time. And you won't find me out on Black Friday at any point in the day fighting the shopping crowd!

Blessings to you all!

For Those Interested

Grandma's Homemade Rolls

1 c hot water
pinch salt (1/2 tsp)
1 small cake yeast or 1 pkg dry yeast
1/2 c warm water (mix warm water and yeast together)
2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp butter
5 c flour

To hot water add salt, sugar, butter. To warm water add yeast. Combine after yeast is melted. Add water to flour, mix with fork (can add flour or water to get right consistency.) Let stand 5 min. Knead (the more it is worked, the more air is incorporated, making lighter bread.) Grease bottom of a large bowl with butter or grease. Let mix raise for 20 min, work down. Let stand 30 min. Grease shallow baking pan with butter, form rolls (pinch off a piece of dough about the size of 1/2 a tennis ball, form into a roll by placing thumb in the center of the dough and pulling the dough around thumb several times until dough is smooth everwhere but where your thumb has been, close this spot by pinching the edges against each other and placing the dough in the pan with the spot as the bottom.) Coat tops with butter, let rise to top of pan. (approx. double original size or more.) Bake for 30 min, until tops are golden to dark brown.

Oven temp 375, can preheat to 400

Hope you enjoy them. They are one of my favorite foods from childhood.

Banker's Hours (?)

I have spent the last 3 days working 1-9pm, or more aptly named, 1-close. Day Surgery officially closes it's doors at 9pm, but often there are still patients remaining at that time. So on Monday night, I didn't clock out until 11:50 and Tuesday night it was 10:55. I am scheduled to work at 8:30am on Thursday and Friday, and have been praying all day that tonight would not be another late night. So, our last patient went to surgery at 6:35 (really late), but was scheduled for a pacemaker insertion and was to be admitted to the medical floor afterward. When we found that out, we packed our bags as fast as we could, locked the doors and ran! Our only other patient had been gone about an hour. We didn't hang around long enough to let anyone call and say, "oh, by the way...". So, the Lord heard my plea and is allowing me to have a full night's sleep. He is so good! This is not a shift I would want on a full-time basis. I never have cared much for evening shift because you have to miss so much of what goes on in the family and community. I really like my 9:30-6 or 10:30-7 shifts. I can still attend church, etc. even if I have to be a few minutes late. Someone said it sounds like banker's hours. Don't know about that, but I do like the not-so-early morning and the not-so-late night. Lets me have time to spend with the Lord in the morning, and a couple of hours in the evening to unwind. The nurse who normally works the 1-9 shift is out right now recovering from knee surgery. I'll be glad when she gets back, but not just because we will be back to full staff; she's also my friend.

A Much Better Day

Well, today was busy, but nothing like yesterday. I can do without any more days like that. And to top it off, L fixed my lack of computer sound while I was at work. I am sitting here listening to Albert Svenddal play "As the Deer" on the steel guitar in surround-sound while I type this. I know: "HUH?!" But I gotta tell you, it sounds really good. I am a long-time guitar (regular acoustic) fan, and the steel, when played well, gives me that same sit-back-and-soak-it-in feeling. Albert plays really well. Such a nice welcome home. I could hear it as soon as I walked in from the garage, and knew, "that ain't computer speakers!" See y'all later. I'm gonna soak awhile.

How you do not want your day to go

Ok, so the day isn't over yet! How you do NOT want your day to go.

1. Arrive at work at 9:30. At 9:40, have someone call a code 99 (cardiac arrest) on YOUR unit!
2. Find out that all your heart catheterization patients that have already been waiting a couple of hours for their turn will be waiting until around lunchtime because the computer module in the cath lab is on the fritz. That means that all of them will be with you ALL DAY LONG!
3. Have an emergency case go to the OR, pre-empting all the scheduled cases and putting them hours behind, so that you are just getting the first of the surgical patients back when they should be just about ready to go home.
4. Have a patient returned to your unit, with dismissal orders filled out; then finding out from an angry Dr. that this patient is NOT going home today, and what is she doing on YOUR unit anyway? (Because he filled out the wrong set of orders? Yeah, that would be why.)
5. Be scrambling and running trying to get said patient comfortable, so when it is time to go home, not a scrap of charting has been done.
6. Stay an extra two hours getting caught up, thus missing a (by now very much needed) Bible study.
7. Coming home and trying to post all this mess, and hitting "enter" after you type in the title, thus posting a nothing note. (That's why the first comment about the day not being over yet.)

Well, I am home now, and feeling much better. I surely hope tomorrow is a better day. Good night.

So Blessed!

Today has been a day of soaking in the presence of the Lord in both services. We have been praying on Monday nights, for the last couple of weeks, and I believe that the Lord has already begun to move in response. While I have no desire to turn church into a bless-me club, is it just wonderful to walk with the Lord, having Him meet us where we are. I feel just saturated right now; rested and peaceful.

The week had been a little tense for me as I waited for L. to come home. I guess the Lord knew I needed a time of refreshing. I am so glad it was with other believers who also got to be refreshed in His presence. I should sleep well tonight.

It was also really great to see Kablot today and get to sing with her. She is such a special lady, and I enjoy her company immensely. I like her singing pretty well, too! ;D Several of us went to grab some lunch after morning service, and I think the staff at Charcoal House wondered what in the world they had let in the door. We were in the back because there were 9 of us, but not many of us have what could be termed a quiet voice, and that place isn't very big...you get the picture. But the food was good, and our server got to assist in pulling a prank on Lorna.

All in all, it was a day that prepared me for the workweek ahead. Which is the way it is supposed to be, I think. Prime the pump, and let the river flow!