It's today! It's today!

May 15th is actually here! Wow- I can't believe it's time... Johnny graduates TONIGHT. He's headed for rehearsal right now. We're having a hard time letting it all sink in. Maybe when it's really happening, it'll feel like it's happening :)



How many people get to graduate from college with all of their kids there? I'm so excited for our kids to see Johnny walk tonight! For me to see him walk! We're so proud of him and I know he's going to be an excellent nurse. He's so caring and geniune with people. That's one of the reasons I married him. He inspires me to be better.

Going into this, Johnny and I realized we were not the ordinary college students. Well, actually that's an understatement, isn't it? lol We knew that time was going to pass no matter what, so at least this way, we knew what we would be doing with that time. We saw this as an opportunity to invest in our family's future. Of course, not everything has gone "as planned", but what ever does? Even though we've spent a lot of time (nights, weekends, holidays) studying, I feel like we've spent a lot of good time together and with our kids. We've had to neglect some things (like the yard sometimes), and we've missed out on a lot (A LOT) of get-togethers, but all-in-all it's been an incredible journey. We've grown so much closer than we could have without the trials and faith, and trials of faith- haha. Every night our kids pray that "Dad can be good at school"...or..."Dad can be good on his tests, if he has some"...or... "Please bless Dad to at least pass his test"- such sweet kids! It's becoming a habit for them (kinda bad, I know), but until he passes his NCLEX (state board), he'll still need the prayers.

I've learned so much about medicines, procedures, symptoms of illnesses and what a nurse can delegate from helping Johnny study night after night, weekend after weekend. I know what a beta-blocker is for! LOL (Melissa T.- you'd be proud!) Last semester, I helped him study for his finals- which were a HUGE deal because he had an awful MedSurg teacher and was failing the class. Our sister-in-law, Kayla, came and picked up our kids for the night and Johnny and I ate pizza (typical college students, right?) and crammed! When I tried to fall asleep that night, and many other nights, words like "acetylcholinesterase" and "alpha-fetoprotein" and "hypoparathyroidism" would go through my head. You know how sometimes you get a song in your head and wake up thinking/singing it. I would wake up thinking these words! LOLOL His teachers think I should get the degree because I've helped him and his class study so much. LOL This past semester, we used Google Documents to make study guides from the teachers, and shared them with all of the students. Their textbooks are online and while Johnny was in class or in clinicals, I would look up the information and cut and paste. Very simple. But it helped so much because the students had more time to study and didn't have to spend time looking everything up. I didn't do the whole study guide myself, but I helped as much as I could. It was actually fun and interesting to me and gave me more confidence in myself to know that someday I could get my degree. I don't think I want to be a nurse though, not knowing what all they have to be prepared for (burn victims, SIDS, etc.) and where they have to practice (nursing homes make me sad). I hope I don't forget too much of what we've learned so that I can understand what Johnny's talking about when he comes home from work.

Life will be very different very soon. I hope we're ready for the change.


OH!!! Olivia and Ella are playing doctor right now.
Ella said, "I'm just going to draw your blood."
Olivia: "No! Waah!"
Ella: "This is just a rubber band. It's okay. I used to be little, and I was just a baby doctor!" Olivia: "Oh! Waaah!" She's pretending to be a baby and is laying on the floor.
Ella pretends to give Olivia a shot in her arm and, while making a sound effect, throws the needle away.

LOLOLOL I am cracking up! (Ella's had to have blood drawn a lot lately, without success. Her doctor wants to check for anemia and every time they try to "draw her blood" it doesn't work, so we keep having to go back and try again. Maybe next week it'll work.)