Philip's birthday

Yesterday my sweet husband turned 28. It is his golden birthday (28 on the 28th). So i tried to make it really special for him. as I posted here, i LOVE birthdays. I love making a day all about that person and celebrating their presence on this earth. I know birthdays arent a big deal to some people, but they are to me.
He had to go in for conference from 7-12 that morning. So i got up early (earlier than i get up on a work day!) to make him a breakfast casserole before he had to leave for work. We ate together and he went on to work. I, took a little nap on the couch:) He was home by noon and we got to spend the afternoon together.
That night we had his friends over for a cookout. matt, michelle &natalie, ryan&kim, Jeff and Dugan all came over. And the sun was shining for once! It made it nice to grill out:)
On the menu was hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled corn on the cob (thanks Rach!), cottage cheese macaroni bake (thanks meg!), fruit made my Kim, and fruit dip that we coined "crack dip" because it is so addicting (thank you Aunt Annie!). For dessert was Philip's traditional birthday cake that I talked about here. We were all so stuffed that we sat around our dining table and talked for a long time- none of us wanted to move!
We had so much fun seeing everyone and getting to play with little natalie. she is getting so big and playful, and holding her is so sweet. Philip and I just passed her back and forth:) Even jackson did well with her!
His birthday celebration will continue as Sunday we go to his Mom's to celebrate, and Wednesday night my family is taking him to dinner. I love spreading out the birthday celebrations:)
to my wonderful husband: I hope you had a wonderful birthday. you deserve it. :)

One Year:)

Yesterday was our one year anniversary:) It fell on Easter this year, but Easter was later than usual. I wonder how many times we will celebrate both in the same day?
We were lucky enough to have 5 days off together and that in itself is a celebration:) we got to do lots of fun things on our time off, and I am so grateful for this weekend we had together. 
Saturday night we went to Acres of Land Winery in Richmond for dinner. It was delicious, and the atmosphere was lovely.

That night we came home and watched our wedding video. I can't believe it has been a year since then!

Yesterday morning we went to church. We just love southland. Last year on Easter they did baptisms in the pond and Philip got baptized. It was such a special moment for both of us. This year at church they showed a video of baptisms and Philip was actually in it, and so we got to watch him getting baptized again. What a happy day:)
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and were able to spend time with family and reflect on the wonderment of Jesus rising from the tomb.
* I have to take this moment to brag on my mom. Traditional "one year" anniversary gifts are paper. She took the wedding picture above and made this:

the background is the scripture we had read in our wedding

I love it so much. We were so spoiled with gifts, cards, texts and fb posts from so many friends wishing us a happy anniversary. Each one means so much and we are so blessed to have the family and friends that we have. Thank you all for loving us and taking the time to wish us a happy celebration of our first year of marriage:)

Philip is so good picking out flowers:)

rainy day:)

Yesterday we were supposed to go to the Gorge with our friends Ryan and Kim. But it was raining when we woke up, and the forecast called for rain most the evening. So we decided to go to Newport Aquarium and then have dinner at the Hofbrauhaus. And we had so.much.fun.
The aquarium was amazing. we spent hours looking at different wildlife and having fun. It was the first time all of us (except Philip) had been. and he went so long ago he didn't really remember it.

it was Sweet Pea's birthday! (one of the sharks)

crabs. ew.

Ryan feeding the birds with nectar. me being grossed out.

2 finger touch

making the sign for shark in scuba language. 

My favorite was the penguins and I didn't even get a picture of them! I think i was so enthralled by them that I was too distracted. actually, no. I didnt have the camera. Philip was off trying to take underwater pictures of the sharks. :)
When we left the aquarium it was pouring. But we were all soo hungry. so we took off running through the rain to get to dinner.

The food there was amazing. I was a little leery about 'German' food, but LOVED it. i mean, what is there not to love about bratwursts and fried food!:) We topped the night off with Orange Leaf on the way home. Have I mentioned how much i love that place? Then we had a sleep over followed by some yummy breakfast this morning. I love it when Philip is off and we get to do normal couple things:)

Good Friday

“Tetelestai.”

Jesus' last word spoken. while he hung on the cross. dehydrated, broken, bleeding. he said this word meaning " it is finished". a pivotal turning point. when He declared it was all over. all previous sin, all current sin, and all sin to come is paid for. it is finished. meaning God has won. He beat death. He created a way for us to live eternally with him. That no matter what, we can be with Him. forever. unconditional love. not ' if you do this' or 'do this this many times' and you will be rewarded. you are already rewarded. because God loves us all that much. the words 'thank you' can't even express the love and gratitude I feel. 

ahhh Spring:)

We had such a fun 'spring' day today!
We went to keeneland with our friends Tim and Denae. They had box seats and invited us to go! It was a little chilly at first, but that was just a good excuse to get some hot chocolate:) Once the sun came out and stayed out, it warmed things up. We had such a good time and enjoyed spending time with them. I made a few bets and we won a few races. we didn't come out ahead, but it was money well spent. :)
After that we had dinner with some more of our friends, Perry and Nikki. Nikki is an internal medicine resident so we don't get to see them often. We went to Orange leaf for dessert and it was Philip's first time. I'm not sure he loved it quite as much as Perry and I do, but he liked it well enough:) I on the other hand, LOVE IT.
Next to Orange Leaf is Bluegrass Barkery, so we stopped by to get Jackson some treats. He got a peanut butter filled biscuit (made all natural). he also got a new toy, and a harness. The harness is a necessity as it is getting almost impossible for me to control him on a walk. he is currently licking on the peanut butter unsure what to do with the bone. I think he thinks he's not supposed to have it. but I know he's had peanut butter before (DAD!).
Now we are just relaxing on the couch watching wipeout:) we love this show.
We are hoping to go climbing and camping tomorrow, but the weather isn't looking to be in our favor. we are going to play the day be ear, but are keeping our fingers crossed. I have all kinds of new hiking and climbing gear I havent gotten to break in yet!
Hope you all are enjoying the weather as much as we are!

Nursing

I know everyone has different aspects of their jobs they struggle with. And each profession has it's own stresses and rewards. I can't speak for other jobs. all I have ever known is nursing. I don't have a lot of experience in other areas. But I need to decompress from my day yesterday.
Let me start by saying I am orienting a new nurse named Dawn. She is wonderful and is going to an amazing nurse. She soaks up what I teach her and figures so much out on her own. that being said, yesterday was a tough day for her. well, and for me, but more for her. she's new to all of this:)
The atmosphere alone was chaotic. our computer system had crashed, and we rely on computers for EVERYTHING (lab work, orders, documenting, everything). so that was gone, which was a challenge in itself. we also had a patient that ended up having a bad outcome. an unexpected bad outcome. and it was handled exactly as it should have been, and everything was done that could have been done. the unexpected was something we could not have predicted. and I know it is tough for Dawn to accept that. but it's true. she did great and called for help immediately. unfortunately the patient did not survive. and as you can imagine, the family was beyond upset. it's a hard hard situation. and I forget sometimes what it is like when I first started nursing and wasn't sure how to handle things like this. Because usually i step back and let Dawn lead while I watch from the sideline making sure shes ok. but this time I took over and let her watch me. I comforted the family the best way I could, explaining exactly what happened and what we did to attempt to bring their family member back to life. I helped pick them off the floor when their legs wouldn't hold them. I offered words of comfort although they felt so useless in a time like that. I let them hit my arm in despair. this is when 'nursing' means 'comforting'. because your focus has now moved from your patient, to your patient's family.
When Dawn left work she said ' I don't like my job today'. and she was very shaken and upset. and I told her that God had a plan for our patient. and her being their nurse was part of that plan. that sometimes things don't make sense, but they do to God.
So last night, i found myself thinking about work a lot more than I usually do. I know it will sound terrible to those of you who aren't in the medical field, but you become desensitized. you have to. because if you don't, you will not be able to do your job. I'm not saying we aren't compassionate. or sympathetic, because nurses are. we cry at work. we cry with out patients and our patients families. but for the most part, you can leave work at work. its rare for me to come home and not be able to put it out of my mind. because if I came home and thought about it all when i wasn't at work, I would need to be on antidepressants. But last night, I thought about the situation from Dawn's eyes. and thought about how hard it is when you are first becoming a nurse. Because these situations can cause you to question yourself,  your career path, and your faith. But you have to realize that God put you where you are, to do what He knows you can do. and after days like yesterday, you have to trust that you are doing what God needs you to do. even if you feel like you are inadequate.

"Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God's spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts. "
~Florence Nightingale

Happy Day

What a fun and productive for me today!
The day started with my dad coming up to remove the dead tree in our front yard. last spring it had a few buds, but that was it. this spring, nothing. more than once we have had people stop by our house or put a flyer on our door telling us they will remove our tree. yes we know, the tree is ugly and needs to be gone. so my dad volunteered. he's so good like that.
this morning he wrapped the tree in a chain, attached it to his truck, and pulled it up. then he cut the wood up and loaded it into his truck. Goodbye tree. It always makes my day better when i get to see my dad. :)

our treeless front yard, and one loaded up truck

After he left I jumped in the shower and got ready so I could meet my friend Erin for lunch. We went to Josie's, which my friend Whitney introduced me to. and i love it. if you live in Lexington and haven't been there, go. she brought baby Brayden and I got to love on him while I caught up with her. it was wonderful.
Philip got home around 1, so I got to catch up with him over his lunch. While he napped I sat in the sunshine and read 'the girl who kicked the hornet's nest'. I am so into this series. if you haven't read them, i recommend them. (yes it is tough to get into the first one, but push through- it's worth it!) I woke him up and we went to the Wellington Dog Park. A bunch of people from the ER were having a 'doggy's day out' and we all met there and let our dogs play. It was Jackson's first dog park experience. and he LOVED it. he made so many friends and got to just play.

Tonight we got to have dinner on Merrick patio with our friends Megan and Brian. We rarely get a night where we can just hang out and catch up with them. we can't wait until our schedule's calm down and we can do it more often!
And to make the day even better, I got all our laundry done and was able to get the downstairs cleaned today. What a happy day:) :) Hope you all had a good day as well!

April

April is such a fun month for us. Which is funny because I have never really loved this month. But I sure do now:)
April 28 is Philip's birthday. ( i used to remember this by thinking 4x2=8. i make math problems out of everything). here is a picture of his first birthday with me:

yes I am making this cake again this year, upon request:)

he was still getting used to me making him hold things up and smile for pictures

Last year we celebrated his 27th bday in the Mayan Riviera:) tough to top that one. but his present was this little rat.

jackson right after his eyes opened

This year we both have his birthday off and I have such a fun plan day planned! :) I am so excited to celebrate.
 April also means our wedding month!! Yes, it rained on our wedding day (dumb April showers). but really it was still wonderful :) it still managed to be the most special day of our lives. we will celebrate one year on the 24th.

Our anniversary falls on Easter this year. Which is neat to me too, because Philip got baptized on Easter last year. So that 'anniversary' is definitely something to celebrate too. (I also got baptized on an Easter Sunday)

Our life group after Philip froze in the pond (minus nickb)

We are going to get to go to the Gorge with our friends Ryan and Kim the weekend of our anniversary. We are so excited to climb and camp and just hang out. and eat miguels. yummmmm.
I also have lots of friends birthdays this month, and i love celebrating birthdays!! Happy birthday month to Ann, Grandma B, Megan, Emily, kevin B, and my childhood cat Cookie.
So April has turned into one of my favorite months (aside from December). I look forward to many more fun Aprils to come:)

my heart

Isaiah 30:21"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

I guess I have never really been faced with a 'big decision' in my life. I went to Georgetown College because they offer awesome scholarships to Scott County residents. God made it more than clear to me when i was a freshman there to major in nursing. I was a tech at UK all through nursing school, and so switching to the nursing role was the logical next step. Deciding to marry Philip was a no-brainer. When we bought our house, God worked in an amazing series of events that proved to us this was what He wanted. So up until now, decisions haven't been hard for me. I think God knows I need Him to spell things out for me.
But something came up this week that caused me to stop and evaluate my life. To ask myself if we are in God's will at this moment. And i'm not going to get into what came up, but I am going to share my heart and things I have learned over the past several days. because this time God didn't spell it out for me. I think this time He wanted me to seek him more than I have in the past.
The most important thing that was shown to me, is what an amazing feeling it is to know you are right where He wants you to be. and in knowing that, you start to seek out opportunities He is trying to give to you, that you might miss if you werent paying attention. So I am trying to pay better attention.
Something else is the concept that when making a decision, Satan specializes in the urgent. This is exactly what happened to me and I have never dealt with it before. I let the fear of 'if I dont seize this opportunity now, I might not get another like it' take over me. but two people I respect so much, offered me that advice and told me that was the wrong way to think (thank you Jordan &Rachel).
Jordan also told me not to make a decision that you don't have peace about. to let the opportunity go. When I was thinking about 'what if I did this' I had anxiety. majorly. and that didn't feel like peace to me:) But it's hard to make a decision when your heart is torn. And when you know the decision you are going to make is going to make you feel so sad and so disappointed. but yet it is what God is telling you to do, right now.
Lastly, I was taught that first and foremost, God wants me to Philip's wife. That no matter what, that comes first to us (and vice versa that Philip's top priority is to be my husband). As a couple, we learned that no decision will be made that will affect our marriage and who we are to each other. And right now that looks different to us than it does to most couples. because the thing that is the hardest in our marriage right now, is time. and so anything that affects the time we do have together, is going to impact our marriage negatively. Give us 14 more months and we will be singing a different tune! (goodbye residency!)
So no, there are not going to be any big changes in the Overall family at this time. God wants us right where we are right now, and we are at peace with that. We are still trying to work out what life will look like for us when Philip is done with his residency, but we have time to figure all of that out. God has blessed us so much and we can't wait to see how he is going to use us in that next phase of our lives:)

*I'm sorry I am being vague, but I am not sure who all reads this, so I don't want to get into details.

Boston & a bird

The residency director told Philip and Marshall (the academic chief) that he is going to be sending them to Boston for a conference in June. Then he added ' you can both bring your spouses if you like'. yes please!!!
Lucky for me, the beginning of that week is memorial day weekend, and that Monday is one of my assigned summer holidays. so i was able to ask my manager if I could work that Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and be off the rest of that week (people who have off a holiday generally don't want to work the day before or the day after, so that worked out to my advantage). So I don't have to take any vacation days to go on this trip!
I immediately called my good-friend-since-elementary-school Corey. she lives in Boston and is working as a CRNA. i told her to get her party boots on, i was comin to town!

corey and I

Marshall's wife is also a nurse and has been able to get off those days as well, so I will have her to play with while the boys are at seminars and what not.
We looked up the Red Sox schedule and they have 4 games in the days we are there. How exciting!!!

now, THE BIRD.
This morning I was sitting on the couch catching up on the facebook world. I decided it was nice out, and I would open the windows. So I am sitting here playing on my computer while my husband sleeps peacefully upstairs, and the wind is making a nice breeze in the house. I hear this rustling noise and I think its Philip waking up. I hear it again, but this time I see a big black bird flying at my head. I scream. i mean, SCREAM. Philip jumps out of bed and races down the stairs. I mean he probably thought I had a gun pointed to my head the way I was acting. I throw the blanket over my head and yell that there is a bird in the house. he tells me to calm down. ( i overreact sometimes). The bird tried to fly up the stairs and Maya (our cat) jumps at it and grabs it! she knocks it down and Philip opens the front door and out the bird goes!!! I came out from under the blanket. birds,ewwww. Jackson sat on the couch the whole time. way to protect me Jax. I went over to the window and slammed it shut. I realized that was the window that Jackson had broken the screen out of. oops.
So my husband is attempting to get a few more hours of sleep before he goes into work. since his crazy wife scared the devil out of him.
Hope you all have just as much of an exciting Monday:)
 

wishing we were here right now...