"Ask yourselves, young people, about the love of Christ. Acknowledge His voice resounding in the temple of your heart. Return His bright and penetrating glance which opens the paths of your life to the horizons of the Church’s mission. It is a taxing mission, today more than ever, to teach men the truth about themselves, about their end, their destiny, and to show faithful souls the unspeakable riches of the love of Christ. Do not be afraid of the radicalness of His demands, because Jesus, who loved us first, is prepared to give Himself to you, as well as asking of you. If He asks much of you, it is because He knows you can give much."
now that my junior year of college is behind me, i'm back to blogging.
...
this month was full of surprises.
my niece, Claire Camille, was born a month early and i got to visit her over my spring break. obviously, she is the cutest baby ever. being in the NICU with Claire reminded me of why i wanted to be a nurse in the first place. and everyone needs a little reminding right of that in the middle of a long and hard semester of nursing school.
...
and i got a wonderful phone call this month, after two interviews, i found out i'll be working as student nurse at the best cancer hospital in the country (google that for specifics). i am beyond excited. my Adult health clinicals were at this hospital and i can't wait for all the learning experiences i'll have. scrub shopping is in my future!
Adult clinical group.
Women's clinical group. ... my two clinical groups were fantastic this semester. we're all quite different and eventually want to be nurses in all different kinds of fields. but we saw each other in the best and worst moments this semester. and even during the joy of c-sections and scariness of patients' coding, we were there to help each out. ... i absolutely loved my Adult clinical professor and would love to be like her when i grow up. during one of our Saturday clinicals, i peeked into one of the patients rooms on our floor and saw her inside crying with a patient. later that day, i learned that the patient had just found out that her cancer had metastasized to her brain and that her husband had just been diagnosed as well. our clinicals at a cancer hospital really put everything right back in perspective for us, and time and time again showed me that even when it seems impossible, we need to let go of our worries, big and small, and rely on Him for our strength.
stained glass at the co-cathedral of the sacred heart in houston, tx
“May the jubilant voice of the Church reach all of you with the words which the ancient hymn puts on the lips of Mary Magdalene, the first to encounter the risen Jesus on Easter morning. She ran to the other disciples and breathlessly announced: “I have seen the Lord!” (Jn 20:18). We too, who have journeyed through the desert of Lent and the sorrowful days of the Passion, today raise the cry of victory: “He has risen! He has truly risen!”
before reading, watch the video above to get yourself in a baby loving mode. try not to cry. but i always do. pampers believes every baby is a little miracle to celebrate, support, and protect. sounds suspiciously pretty baby friendly and might i even add pro-life to me!
my five weeks of women's health clinicals flew by. i had two days in labor and delivery, two days in postpartum, and just one nursery clinical. in those five weeks, i heard heartbeats and felt some mama's contractions. i found out what two centimeters and then what ten centimeters looks and feels like. i've seen seven c-sections, two births the good old-fashioned way, and three circumcisions. i've had a husband videotape me as i catheterized his wife, can you say first-time parent? i've fed two babies their first bottles, i've changed too many first dirty diapers to count, and i've swaddled to my hearts content. i did all this and more but i still never got to have a NICU clinical experience.
confession time: when i started this whole nursing school thing, i kinda had my heart set on being a NICU nurse. holding, feeding, and loving babies - check, check, and check. turns out the nurses in the NICU do a lot more than that. you see, my brand spankin new niece was in the NICU for the past two weeks up in pittsburgh in the largest NICU in the state. and due to the unexpected crossing of my pre-planned spring break trip and an emergency c-section, i got to hang out with her all last week.
when i watched parents seeing their newborn for the first time, i saw this look - the locking of eyes, the tears filling up in the sides of their eyes, the smile that slowly spreads across their face - and then it clicked - that look, seen of the face of that new parent filled with so much love for their baby - is the same look that i constantly see on the faces of people at adoration. for the parents - the baby they've carried and the baby they've dreamed about, is right there in front of them. they get to hold and care for them for the rest of their lives here on earth. and in adoration - the Lord we've read about, the King we've heard about, the Man we've dream about, the Savior we've prayed to, the One we've longed for and who loves us more than anything is right there, in front of us. and in that instant, in those glances, and in that connection, one of the biggest moments of understanding and appreciation in our lives is revealed - God gave us the gift of new life so we could better understand the depth, power, and vulnerability of His love for each of us.
the NICU is sacred place. i know this is a stretch but in a way the NICU reminds me of my favorite church. it's quiet, it's beautiful, and we (or parents) go to gaze, to catch a glimpse, of the One we love the most. whenever i hold a newborn baby, i can't help but to think of Mary. how much love must have poured out of her soul when she saw her newborn son, Jesus, for the first time. when she looked down upon the Son of God, Our Savior, did she know that thirty-three years later he would give up his own life to save his people from their sins? when we spend time with Him in adoration may we too look upon Him with the same love as Mary, His most holy mother, does.
"You can call happy those who saw Him... But, come to the altar and
you will see Him,you will touch
Him, you will give to Him holy kisses, you will wash Him with your tears,you will carry Him within you like
Mary Most Holy."
"The Internet causes billions of images to appear on
millions of computer monitors around the planet. From this galaxy of sight and
sound will the face of Christ emerge and the voice of Christ be heard? For it
is only when his face is seen and his voice heard that the world will know the
glad tidings of our redemption. This is the purpose of evangelization. And this
is what will make the Internet a genuinely human space, for if there is no room
for Christ, there is no room for man."
when i was in high school, i volunteered in the NICU and i made name tags for all of the new babies. i worked on Claire's name tag today and i'll be bringing it to her on Monday when we'll meet for the first time.
"The most basic Christian gesture in prayer is and always will be the sign of the cross. It is a way of confessing Christ crucified with one’s very body."
this past month has truly been one of the best ones in my life. it was busy, and fun, and filled with so many glimpses of my future could be like. i've learned and actually applied what i've learned more this month than i've ever done in all of college, or really in my life, so far.
this month was fun. kailin - my best friend and roommate - contributed to a lot of that fun. she surprised me, totally surprised me, by getting us tickets to see NeedToBreathe, my all time fav, in concert! they were amazing and sounded even better in concert. other fun roommate adventures included free chick-fil-a nights, spur of the moment makeup shopping at Sephora, and thrifting at our favorite Goodwill. i found a anthropologie skirt and even bought a pair of boots!
Stephanie's 21st.
Fat Tuesday Pancake partay.
we also hosted two apartmento parties this month. i love that our apartmento is big enough for all of our friends. i love having people over. i love that we're the "party apartment". i love celebrating birthdays and special parties. i love making people feel special. i have so many party ideas spinning through my head now - tea parties, holiday celebrations, maybe we'll have even an Our Lady of Guadeloupe fiesta next year?
free Houston Symphony concert and my favorite cathedral? it happened. front row seats? of course! such a fun night with marissa, stephanie, and kailin.
nursing school just keeps getting better and better (and harder and harder). two lecture classes, two online classes, one group projecto class, and two clinicals have kept me mighty busy. my clinicals are awesome. the highlight of my week for sure. my adult and women's clinicals are polar opposites - cancer and babies - yet equally challenging and wonderful. finally checked off those Foley catheter and IV skills. and in the process for interviewing for a summer nursing externship at one of the hospitals i've been doing my clinicals at - we shall see!
i love this time in my life. nursing school takes up a majority of my time. my only responsibility is keeping myself alive. but is that really my only responsibility? teaching the high schoolers is my responsibilty. sharing my faith is my responsibility. learning everything i can during clinicals, so that one day i'll be able to keep my patients alive, is my responsibility.
and lent is here. i love lent. i love this season of repentance and fasting and prayer and commitment. i love that the cathedral is full in the morning with all the new daily mass attenders. i love the lines for confession. i love going to confession on a whim after listening to a really frustrating lecture about contraception and then ending up talking to my favorite priest for thirty minutes. i love that my high schoolers have really been sharing with each other. i love that they come to class when they really don't have to. i love that they want to learn. i love that they challenge me with their questions.
the high schoolers and i have been memorizing prayers and scripture passages this lent. today, for the first time ever, everyone recited our passage perfectly. definitely a proud teacher moment. i feel like i've been trying to break through this invisible barrier with them all year and hearing them recite the Magnificant this morning with their eyes closed and voices just above a whisper, knowing that they took the time out from school and homework and jobs and sports to learn those words, was one of those big life moments that i'll never forget.
And
Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in
God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from
now on will all ages call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for
me, and holy is his name. His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him.
He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He
has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The
hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty. He has
helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise to
our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
"You have no time to occupy your thoughts with complacency or consideration of what others will think. Your business is simply 'What will my Father in heaven think?'"
"If you pray with words, let them be filled with love and come from the depths of your heart. Pray with great respect and trust. Fold your hands, close your eyes and lift up your heart to the Lord. Let your prayer be a pure sacrifice to God. Do not pray loud and not too quiet. Pray simply. Let your heart speak. Praise the Lord with all your soul. Words will come like that from the bottom of your heart and you will ind joy in prayer. Stop once in a while by a word and think it over, let it sink to the bottom of your heart. Keep them during the rest of the day: They will bring you peace."
"When pride retreats from a man, humility begins to dwell in him, and the more pride is diminished, so much more does humility grow. The one gives way to the other as to its opposite. Darkness departs and light appears. Pride is darkness, but humility is light.”
“Don’t allow anything to interfere with your love for Jesus. You belong to him. Nothing can separate you from him. That one sentence is important to remember. He will be your joy, your strength. If you hold onto that sentence, temptations and difficulties will come, but nothing will break you. Remember, you have been created for great things.”
"Martyrdom means bearing witness to God. Every soul that seeks in pureness of heart to know God and obeys the commandments is a martyr, bearing witness by life or by words."
i had the whole
weekend free from nursing school. so i declared this the weekend of catching
up. you see, soon i'll be having clinicals all up in my weekend, the tests will
start piling up, and these online classes will take over my life. i did do some
homework this weekend, let's not get too crazy, but i also checked off lots of
tasks that have been on the to-do list for quite some while.
apartmento tasks - cleaning
both the kitchen and bathroom counters, putting on
clean sheets, sweeping and swiftering the floors, emptying
all the trashes, filling up the dishwasher and putting it all away, laundry
(whites, darks, towels) doing and folding, making dinner, organizing
our towel and cleaning supplies closet, making a meal plan and
grocery list for the next two weeks, spray painting an old frame, taking
down Christmas decorations, redoing my bulletin board, writing
the rent check, cleaning out the fridge, baking breakfast
for the week, getting my crafty on
nursing school tasks - OB clinical orientation, fetal heart rate assignment, research
article assignment and discussion board, reading chapters for groups,
medications and labs for OB clinical, copy of flu shot paperwork for
hospital, aging discussion board, brainstormed ideas for
capstone project
i'm loving this semester so far. something clicked and i'm actually understanding what's going on now. i love, love, love my women's class. i wish my sister lived closer so i try out all my new found maternal assessment skills on her. one day, one day, i shall.
Did you know that there is just one priest for every 12,000 people in Honduras?
The Church in Latin America faces many difficult challenges.
Powerful earthquakes devastated Haiti and Chile in recent years, creating
lasting damage to the Church, while a significant loss of parishioners to due migration, the inability to support itself financially, and a
lack of priests and religious to effectively minister to the large number of
Catholics continue to trouble the region.
Two of the Friars at my church are from Latin American countries - Cuba and Peru. And we support the St. Balise Parish in Colombia where 770 children will be making there first holy communion this spring.
Our Holy Father is coming to visit Cuba and Mexico this spring. World Youth Day is in Brazil next year. The faith is being kept.
“Pour out upon our brothers and sisters throughout Latin America a true missionary ardor, to spread faith and hope.”
.JPG)
