Back again

Hello Friends!

After more than a year off and multiple requests to return to blogging, I figured that it was about time to share some more of my thoughts here. As many of you know, I graduated last May with my Bachelor of Science in Nursing, obtained my RN in July, and currently work at Mercy Medical Center here in Canton, in the ICU. I love my job, and it stretches my in ways I would never have imagined. As the name of my blog suggests, the redirection of my career to nursing has definitely been a reinvention.

I am going to refrain from talking in-depth about all the goings-on of the 14 months since my last post, but if you'd like some additional snippets of that time please visit Life Without a Map for Monica's musings. In the meantime, here are a few highlights:

We spent a week in St. Augustine, FL, with great friends last June.
In July I passed boards and received my RN, and stood as best man for my brother at his wedding.
Started at Mercy's ICU in August.
Celebrated with Monica's sister at her September wedding.
Bought our new home in October!
Traveled to Washington, DC and Chicago for two different conferences as a committee member of the New Careers in Nursing Scholars' Network.
Tore my ACL the week before Christmas (while warming up for a basketball game).
Waiting for Fogarty child #5, due in February.

2013 was a great year! A few thoughts...

Tearing my ACL made me realize how much I take for granted my ability to be active. I will be having reconstructive surgery in mid-February, just before our baby is due. It's stressful thinking of the time crunch that this will present, but a combination of limited time off and surgery availability requires that we take that time. God is in control!

RN work is hard. No other way about it. Every nurse faces challenges in their respective departments, and the ICU is especially challenging. I have learned more in 5 months than I could possibly have imagined, and I know I will continue learning until the day I hang up my stethoscope and retire. There is never a day without stress, and that is natural part of taking care of people and holding their life in my hands with each medication push, drip change, vital analysis, assessment change, etc. Some days I walk away from my shift smiling, other days I can hardly wait to get to sleep just to forget the stress of the previous night. I try to visit our chapel before each shift because I know that I can't do this alone, and I still hold to my belief that Christ called me to this profession to act as His vessel in a the work of caring for others.

Our new home is fantastic. We have been truly blessed by a home that meets our needs. We got a fantastic deal on a home that needed lots of updates but has a full and dry basement and a large, tree-lined yard. We were blessed immediately after closing with a flood of help from family and friends, and within two weeks we had stripped the whole house of wallpaper, painted all the rooms, tore up carpet, and had new carpet laid just in time for move-in. We have dabbled with little projects here and there since then, but have spent most of our time enjoying our new life in the very Northeast corner of Canton. We are close to our parish and many of our friends, and it's a short 15-minute drive to work. God truly blessed us with this home.

I have much more to talk about and share, but I'll use that as motivation to return here soon. In the meantime, here is an excerpt from today's mass readings and a couple short thoughts:

"You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They belong to the world; accordingly, their teaching belongs to the world, and the world listens to them. We belong to God, and anyone who knows God listens to us, while anyone who does not belong to God refuses to hear us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit." 1 John 4:4-6

Take heart today with the knowledge that if you strive to follow Christ, seek his ways, and love others as Christ loves the world, we have no need to fear the forces of the world. Don't allow frustration to take over when those you meet deny Christ. Continue to reflect truth!