Baby Goats, Cleaning Closets, CNA.

Here's to a random blog post about the last month of my life!

First off, these are pictures from our day in Seattle the weekend after Valentines Day.

I fed baby goats in Oregon with Dustin. I know I shared pictures earlier, but I have more. They were seriously the cutest little creatures ever!

As soon as I got home from Oregon, I started my CNA program (Certified Nursing Assistant). Really though. I got home at like 11:15 in the morning and was in class by noon. The first two weeks was all lecture. Every day for 6.5 hours we'd meet at BTC and learn about exciting things like infectious diseases and not-so-exciting things like how to clean dentures. Awesome. The first two weeks were busy, but I did really well with the theory portion so that was exciting.

The second two weeks were spent in the clinical phase of the class. Every day from 2:00 to 10:30 at night, we'd go to Mt. Baker Care Center and work with the residents. We were assigned a partner and 4 patients that we would take care of for the day. This was tiring. Holy smokes. Basically the process was checking to make sure the patients were "clean and dry," changing if necessary, then getting them ready for dinner. We'd help feed them dinner if they needed it, give bed baths or showers, clean them up a few more times, and get them ready for bed. Some of the patients were really great to talk to, and some not so much. But for the most part, it was an encouraging experience. I grabbed an application and I'll, hopefully, be working there soon. It always felt good when a patient would remember me or be thankful for the work I was putting in. Others would just mutter profanities at me, claw at me, try to slap me... You know.

This is a picture of my clinical group at our celebration slash victory dinner. :)

It was probably entertaining for Dustin and my Mom, because I usually called them during my break. My part of the conversation was either "I just hate this place. It's horrible. I just had to do ______ and it was awful, and in the meanwhile I got yelled at by this person. It's terrible and I want to cry." or it was more like this: "I really love being here. I was helping out with this lady and it was super encouraging to talk to her. I love being able to help and take care of these people, I know this is what I was made for!"

Anyways. Crazy month, glad it's over, but it was nice.

it's a good life.

This sucker hasn't been updated in awhile. I'm also pretty sure that 4 out of every 5 posts begins with that statement, or one like it.

Here are some pictures from the last little while:

OH! First off, let me explain a little something. My blog title, "Wait for the Rain," comes from one of my very favorite songs. It's called "Colorless" by Logan Martin. He opened for Shawn McDonald at a concert I was at 4 or 5 years ago, and I just fell in love with him. His voice is amazing. Powerful lyrics, rich harmonies, the lot. It's great.

So, I told Dustin about this Logan Martin fellow awhile ago, and all of the sudden, everything clicked! Logan Martin, too, lives in Salem! (I remember this from reading the insert in his CD.)

Long story short, Daniel, one of D's roommates, is pretty good friends with Logan. So the last time I was in Salem, we arranged to meet up with him! Woo hoo! (Boyfriend and Daniel = 2 points each.)

So fun! (And I got a cute new jacket at Nordy's.) :)

D came up for Valentine's Day weekend, and we had a really good time. We had dinner with Derrick and Kathy (and Eli) on Saturday night, and spent Valentines Day at church, out kayaking on the lake, and then had lunch with the Hills. Then he left at 5 PM and I spent the night sulking. Kidding, it wasn't that horrible, but I'm not so good with the good byes. This is a particularly dweeby picture of us- an insane amount of squinting and big, puffy, orange life jackets. But oh well. We're relatively cute most of the time.

There. That's a decent update. Now I've got to get my scrubs on and get ready for another round of clinicals.

I'm exhausted. I left Salem this morning at 6:03 AM and arrived home in Bellingham with my gas light on at 11:13. Despite it being early in the morning and me being sad about leaving, and also the fact that it's a five hour drive, there were highlights.

-I got to see the sunrise over Portland and it was gorgeous.

-I had the most wonderful-perfectly-hitting-the-spot latte from a Starbucks in Tumwater.

-I listened to the CD Dustin made me about 97 times.

-I had a great prayer time. Solitude is kind of nice sometimes because it gives me a chance to slow down and just talk to God. Thank him for the blessings, ask for grace and forgiveness, think about all the beautiful ways he shows himself to me... Peaceful, isn't it?

Okay. Apparently there were only four highlights, but that's good enough.

I had to go straight to class after a quick shower and proceeded to sit in a 6.5 hour lecture. That's right, six. and. a. half.

I haven't posted in forever, but I wanted to put up just a couple pictures from the weekend. I'll blog about the actual weekend (not just the car ride) another day this week. :)

We fed baby goats and they were the most precious little things ever!

Okay, that's all for now. It's 9:52 and I am going to bed. Tomorrow comes early.