Just a Small Town Girl...

Happy Birthday Carrie!!!!

2012-01-25T11:45:00.004-05:00

Today is a VERY special day. It is one of my best friends birthday!!

Happy Birthday Carrie!!!

After the first week of meeting Carrie, I knew that we would become close friends during our internship.

After knowing her for several months now, I know we will be close friends for the rest of our lives!!
Carrie is one of the most selfless people I know. She is who I called at 3am to take me to the emergency room! Its hard to find a friend like that :)

This woman is such a strong Christian and inspires me to be a better person every single day.

Carrie,

I love you very much and wish you the best birthday of your life! (Even though we are both at home sick). I thank the Lord every day for allowing you to be a part of this miracle he has planned out for me here in Augusta. The internship would not be the same without you! Thank you for being a friend that I can cry with, laugh with, stress over work with, and pray with! Your friendship means more to me than you will ever know!!! I love you!! Happy 22nd birthday Care Bear!

-Midget Mandy

CAMP

2012-01-22T20:53:00.011-05:00

This weekend, I was blessed to be able to go to a camp for kids with cancer. This camp was really cool because not only the kids came, but their entire family was able to come. Due to privacy issues, I am not allowed to post pictures of the kids faces on here. I wish I could because every single one of them would melt your heart!!

All of us interns making signs to hang on the families cabins
freezing our butts off on the golfcart taking luggage to all the cabins.

Friday night, a magician came in to entertain the kids. They were LOVING it!

The rabbit trick was their favorite.

After the magician, we had a bonfire and made smores.

My favorite group of girls!

Two of our supervisors.

Stephanie and Me

I was the counselor for the girls at camp. After breakfast on Saturday, the first thing we did was went to the climbing wall. I was too scared!

A sweet little girl keeping me warm while we watched the others climb!

We had a spa day on Saturday.. The girls spilled some of the paint and ended up dipping their brushes in the mess! It was so cute!

The girls decided on my colors... and sparkles

We also did ceramics.

All the interns had to decorate for the dance on Saturday night.

Us again.

Some of the party favors.

The DJ

My lens popped out from dancing so hard. :)

Steph and I dancing silly and being the entertainment.

Carrie and LM

Me and Care Bear

Each kid that has cancer had to make a target and list out different things that they hated about cancer. I walked around the room reading some of their responses and couldnt stop the tears from flowing.

On the last day, the campers and their families were asked to make a page for their family for the camp scrapbook

The campers also made a stress hand. They filled it up with flour. On one side they wrote out things that they love, and on the other they wrote things that they hate about cancer.

Time to go home!

Carrie.

The best driver award goes to LM!

Our awesome HUGE duffle bag that we were given!

our tshirts

the back.

This weekend was a life-changing weekend for me. I have been around "sick" kids in the hospital, but seeing them in a normal environment was something that made me remember these are still normal kids who like to have fun and be goofy. I had so many emotions this weekend. I laughed. I cried. I held in tears. I cried happy tears. I am still experiencing all of these emotions. Hearing the "well" siblings talk about their sick siblings was something that broke my heart into a million pieces. They talked about how they know when their brother/sister is going to be sick and how they take care of them. The parents had meetings all day and talked about what all they were experiencing. It was really neat to see how all the parents bonded and ended up exchanging information when the camp was over. All the mamas were blessed to have a spa day where a spa came down and gave them massages, manicures, pedicures, and a hair cut/style. The children who have cancer were asked to write a letter to cancer and to express their thoughts. Those were also heart breaking to read. So much more happened this weekend, but I cannot go into a whole lot of detail.

There were children there who were diagnosed with cancer two weeks ago and are just now losing their hair, there were children there who have just finished their last chemo treatments, and there were children there who have been battling this horrible disease for a while now. But they were all so positive and so supportive of each other. It makes me realized how I get stressed out over stupid little things, when things could be so much worse.

I have been inspired from every single family that went to this camp, and my life will be forever changed because of them.

Follow Friday!!

2012-01-20T11:49:00.002-05:00

Yall know what today is.... Follow Friday!!!

Everyone, head on over to my new friend Lacy Bradshaw's blog...

www.lacybradshaw.blogspot.com

This is my new friend Lacy. I have realized over the past few weeks that Lacy and I are alot alike! We both love to help people. We both love clothes and shopping. We both love country music. We both have a big heart! I look forward to getting to know Lacy more and more.

She post some blogs that I think any girl would enjoy reading! I always get excited when she has posted something new!

So you know what to do....

Go follow her blog!!

You can also follow her on twitter: @lacybradshaw

What I'm Loving Wednesday! (on Tuesday)

2012-01-16T16:53:00.011-05:00

I decided to go ahead and post this, because I have to work 8am-8pm tomorrow and I know I am going to be exhausted!!

This weeks "What I'm Loving Wednesday" is dedicated to my apartment here in South Carolina! After 6 weeks of being home for Christmas break, I am LOVING that I have a beautiful, cozy, and quiet place to come back to!

This is what you see right when you walk in.

My dog, Chanel, painted this with her paws :) One of my favorite pieces of art in my apartment!

This sofa is my favorite thing about my apartment! It was the first nice thing that I bought with my own money!! That is why it has sheets on top of it, so Chanel wont get drool on it :)

I did this painting several years ago.

My two newest paintings.

I call this my Ivy wall. My good friend Ivy painted the tree for me and taped a page out of the Bible onto it. The picture above it is me and my two favorite Ivy/Iveys :)

I LOVE my bedroom!! You can never have enough pillows.. I still want to add so many more :)

I did this at my first art lesson in November.

I just love this huge mirror.

Some of you make think this is weird/strange. I got this rack from a hunting store I used to work at. It was actually a rack that held bumper stickers. We had several in the storage room, so I asked my boss if I could have it. I turned it into a jewelry holder. Several other girls asked me to get them one too. I just thought it was the best idea!

My good friend, Jason Towsend's little cousin painted me this picture!

This dresser came from an older lady at our church. It was all yellow and real old looking. My mom did such a good job at making it so cute!

My G-daddy made this bed for Chanel. I am in love with it!!

I couldnt get a good picture of my closet, but I love how big it is! I also love that the washer and dryer stays in the closet!

My aunt painted the picture on the left, which is a replica of a Picasso painting. My dad painted the picture on the right, which is a painting of our dog, Monet.

I love my kitchen!! (even though I do not cook)

These are the mason jars I tinted off of pinterest. They turned out so good!

What can I say... I LOVE coffee :)

I did this painting a few years ago, by experimenting with different colors!

One of my favorite things about my apartment is my fridge. I put pictures on it that patients in the hospital draw for me. Hopefully it will be completely full soon :)

my bathroom.

That's it yall!

What are YOU loving today?? Comment below :)

Make A Difference Monday...

2012-01-15T21:18:00.007-05:00

This weeks "Make a Difference Monday" is dedicated to a special man in my life, my Daddy. Everyone uses the phrase, "I have the best dad in the entire world" but I know for a fact that I do!

My dad is one of the strongest Christians that I know. I have been blessed to grow up in a home where God is put first. If it were not for my parents and their relationship with the Lord, I do not know where I would be today...

If you know my dad, then you know that he has a heart of gold. I think he is where I got my tender heart from. He does not like to see anyone upset and will do anything he can to try and bring happiness to someone.

My dad sends me encouraging texts every single day. ALL of my friends know that a day does not go by that I do not get a text from him saying, "I love you and your beautiful". In the past 3ish years, he has only missed a handful of days of forgetting to text me that :)

Not only has my dad made a difference in my life by his huge heart, but he is the most talented person that I know. I love that I was able to grow up in a house where art was an every day thing. I have learned to appreciate art, and am so thankful that he has helped me improve my art skills. I have learned that painting and drawing can be a very stress relieving hobby :) My dad always told me to find a job that you love doing, and you will never have to "work" a day in your life. I have kept that in my mind for years and years now, and I have finally found where my heart is!!

Daddy,

I hope you know that you have made a huge difference in my life. I thank the Lord every day for letting YOU be MY daddy! God sure did know what He was doing when he put you in my life! I love you!!

Random Post...

2012-01-15T21:03:00.005-05:00

I left my camera cord in Augusta over the break, so I had to use my mamas camera while I was home.. These are pictures that I took before I realized I didnt have the cord :) Sorry for the randomness...

All the interns on our last day before the break..

I cannot wait to see these girls on Tuesday!!!
Mr. Chris celebrated his birthday at Mikatas over the break.

Me and Anthony.

His birthday pineapple..

Last week in albany...

2012-01-15T20:22:00.007-05:00

I started to slack off with my picture taking this past week... and I am pretty bummed out about it... but here is a small recap of my last week in Albany...

Me and Chanel after church.

My silly brother and I

Grammy and G-daddy bought Chanel this cute little blanket

I got to spend some time with Anthony.

Anthony bought me a Coach purse :)

I have become addicted to pinterest, and decided I wanted to dye mason jars.

This is what they looked like before they went into the oven

The final product!

Poppy took me on a date to Pearlys for breakfast... We had fun laughing and talking with each other.

Honey went with us too :)

My Grammy took me on a lunch date to Harvest Moon. I had so much fun talking with her!

I spent the afternoon yesterday packing up all my stuff. Can you see a cat in this picture??

I went to say my goodbyes to my Nanny yesterday. I love having my great grandma still around! She makes me smile.

Chanels toy that stays at Nannys house named "Chi Chi". It barks and walks. She had the best time chasing it around!

Nanny loves Chanel ALMOST as much as I do!

Last night I went out to eat with Anthony, and then went and said my goodbyes to Mimi and Poppy. I did my very best to hold in my tears saying bye to them. I am so blessed to have such wonderful grandparents.

Chanel was pooped by the end of the day!

The hardest part was this morning.. Saying goodbye to my parents.

I have been blessed to have such wonderful parents. I love the love that they show to me. I also love how supportive they are with my career choice! The fact that they are so supportive makes it so much easier to be this far away doing what I love!

I had such a wonderful winter break!! I am sad that it is over, but am so excited to see what lies ahead with this next semester at the hospital!!!

Make A Difference Monday

2012-01-09T22:18:00.004-05:00

Today I was listening to KLOVE Christian radio station and they were talking about "make a difference monday". People were calling in telling the sweetest stories. I decided I wanted to start blogging about people and events that have made a difference in my life. I also want to talk about ways that you can make a difference in someone elses life.

My sophomore year of high school, I went with a group from school to Peru for my first over-seas mission trip. It was over our christmas break and my birthday so I had mixed feelings about not being in the states during this. However, I had no idea what a difference this trip would make in my life. I have been on several mission trips before, but this one was different. I have never seen such poverty. I have never seen kids that wore the same dirty clothes for over a week straight. I have never seen kids who had to care for themselves all day long by themselves while both of their parents went off to work. I have never seen houses made of clay and sticks. I have never seen children as giving as these. I have never seen siblings take care of each other like they did. I have never seen someone get so excited about a camera. I have never seen children so dirty.

I have never seen smiles so big.

My favorite memory of this trip was the day before my birthday I told all the kids that my birthday was the next day. I didnt think they would remember. The next day, our van pulled up to the child care center and all the kids circled around it smiling. As we stepped out, several of the kids started yelling and singing "Feliz Cumpleanos" to me. I had one little girl step up and give me her only piece of jewelry... a brown beaded bracelet. My eyes filled up with tears!

This trip made me realize how materialistic America is. These children had nothing, but were still so happy. They didnt have tv, furniture, a bed, internet, nice clothes, Coach purses, shoes, etc.. I am still so guilty of being materialistic at times, and that is something that I would like to change about myself.

I wish I could find my cd of all my Peru pictures, but they are nowhere to be found. This trip was such an awesome experience. I know it made a difference in everyones lives that went on this trip. We all realized everything we take for granted. We went on this trip to make a difference in THEIR lives, but I think it turned out to be the other way around...

Who or What has made a difference in YOUR life??

Comment below :)

Follow Friday

2012-01-06T19:14:00.003-05:00

Im teaming up with an old friend today for "Follow Friday". She is new to the blogging world and is hoping to get her blog up and running! She is hosting some give-aways, so if your looking to win something, go follow her now!! So who is this girl??

Ashley Taggart

http://www.abeautifulminde.blogspot.com

I met Ashley SEVERAL years ago, and she is still just as sweet now as she was back then! She is a very artsy girl, so I am sure she will be posting different blogs about her projects she is working on! She has also posted a few blogs on different recipes to try! Ashley is also a very positive person, so I am sure you will be inspired in some way or another!

So what are you waiting for?? Go follow her NOW!

Thankful Thursday

2012-01-05T10:37:00.006-05:00

I have so much to be thankful for: Family, Anthony, Friends... and so on, but today I am going to list the 3 things that have been on my mind the past few days..

I am thankful for my best friend, Chanel. I have been sick for the past week and a half and at home alone, since my family and Anthony have full time jobs. This dog has not left my side. She stays snuggled up right next to me and watches movies with me. I cant get enough of her sweet kisses!

I am thankful for my internship. I am still so amazed at how God worked all of this out for me. I could not be at a better hospital. I have learned far more than I ever imagined. I have had wonderful supervisors. I have met some amazing families. This internship is one of the best things that have ever happened to me. My heart is 100% in this field, and I am dreaming big with great things to come!

I am thankful for these ladies. I could not ask for a better group of interns to work with. Nobody can understand the joys and heartaches of this field like other Child Life Specialists/Interns. It is so nice to have this group of girls that really "get it". We all have each others back and all encourage each other when things may get tough. It is so hard being 4+ hours away from the people I love, but these girls make it so much easier.

What are YOU thankful for??

Oh, give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His steadfast love endures forever! Psalms 107:1

What I'm Loving Wednesday....

2012-01-04T15:08:00.006-05:00

WOW! I havent done one of these post in a while... so I guess since its the new year, it is a perfect time to start again!!
I am LOVING the fashion during this season.. Leggings, boots, baggy sweaters, and scarves are what I wear almost every day!!

I am LOVING all the fur coats,vests, and purses this year!! I feel like I buy everything that has fur on it!!

I am LOVING all the time that I have been able to spend with my family over the break. I am also LOVING that I still have another week and a half here to spend with them.

I am LOVING how sweet Anthony has been to me while I have been sick! I am also LOVING getting to spend so much time with him over the break!!

I am LOVING this cool weather!! It finally feels like winter!!

I am LOVING that it has been cold enough to build fires in the fireplace!

I am LOVING the fact that I have nothing to do over the break!! Life is so crazy busy in Augusta, so it has been nice to lay around and watch movies all day!!

I am LOVING that some of my shows started back this week.. Switched at Birth

Revenge

....and The Lying Game

I am LOVING my new boots!!

What are YOU loving?!?!

Shop Till Ya Drop....

2012-01-04T14:22:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, Me, Mama, Mimi, Fowler, and Mrs. Lisa all woke up super early to head to the Atlanta Mart for the day!! Even though I was sick, I had so much fun with these ladies!!

Floors and Floors of nothing but clothes, jewelry, purses, scarves, etc. I was in HEAVEN!

My Fowler :)

I think this picture would make any girl happy!

This picture does not do the store justice. We spent 2 hours picking out jewelry in this store!!

After we finished up at Mart, we went to the Tanger outlets to do some MORE shopping!!!

I got a COACH purse and scarf.

This is just SOME of what we bought yesterday!! We havent opened all of our bags yet.

We stocked up on some scarves!! I am addicted to wearing scarves!!

My favorite purchase of the day!

Mama, Mimi, Lisa, Fowler.... this trip is not a "cop out" of our BIG trip!! Lets get to planning... New York, Chicago, California..... or as Fowler says "We will probably just end up in NYC again!" I had so much fun with yall!! Love yall so much!!

Pet Peeves

2012-01-02T17:31:00.000-05:00

Since I dont want to complain much this year, I am going to go ahead and list all of my pet peeves, just to get it all out of the way :)

Drivers who dont use a turn signal

People who drink directly out of a drink container

People who still try to drink out of their straw when ALL of their drink is gone

When your on the phone with someone and they put you on hold because they have another call coming in

Couples who have a joint facebook account

Guys who leave the toilet seat up

Obsessive girls that try to be like other girls

People who ride your bumper when your already speeding

Dirty dishes in the sink

Leaving lights on in a room that no one is in

People who smack their food while eating

People who know how to spell but choose to shorten each word

Store clerks that do not tell you to have a good day after you buy something

Skinny jeans on guys

Drama Queens

Getting a text message that says, "k", "okay", or "cool"

People who judge others relationships and try to throw in their advice, especially when nothing is wrong

People who do not discipline their children for acting out

Rappers who "Thank God" after winning an award, when their lyrics do not honor God.

People that are known for cancelling on you.

People who are only friends to you when it is convienent for them

Girls who wear leggings as pants

Shopping buggies with a jacked up wheel

People who point out everyone's faults except for their own

People who change the channel 30 seconds into every show

People who dont pick up their feet when they are walking

People who leave their dogs in the car in the summer heat

People who drive 10 miles UNDER the speed limit

Negative People

People who use the Lord's name in vain

People who literally push church on others

People who go through your text messages

Going to bed with a messy room

People who think that their idea is always the best idea

People who call you 15 times in a row hoping you will eventually pick up

People who wear clothes 2 sizes too little

Not having an "extra" roll of toilet paper in bathrooms

Hypocrits

Girls that are BOY CRAZY and cry over every boy they meet

Kids who are mean to their parents/grandparents

People who leave clothes in the dressing room

Girls who bow down to their boyfriends

Guys and girls that tweet about their relationships every other post

People who will do anything just to get attention

People that dont like to see others happy

Lazy people

People that brag about how much money they have

I think I've complained enough for all of 2012, so Ill stop now :)

2012 Bucket List

2012-01-02T14:55:00.000-05:00

I decided to make a bucket list for this year. I am sure I will add to it as I think of things, but hopefully I will be scratching things off as the year goes on! I am so excited about 2012!! What is on YOUR bucket list for this year?!

swim with dolphins

go to disney world

make a scrapbook for my internship

buy a car

start up a child life specialist program at Phoebe

be in a movie

go to a midnight movie premier

buy a stranger a meal

jump in a pool fully clothed

learn to cook

learn some sign language

go to a shooting range

sell some of my artwork

go cow tipping

learn to forgive and forget

go to a movie alone

ride horses as much as i can

go to a braves game

go to a UGA football game

save money for somethign really nice

go white water rafting

join a gym

save a life

become a column writer for the Albany Herald about Child life and other random things

donate money whenever i can

go on a LONG vacation to the beach

Spend NYE in Times Square (This may not happen this year, but it will happen!!)

Take hip hop dancing classes

shoot a deer

go to a drive in movie theatre

see lady antebellum, carrie underwood, and lauren alaina in concert

be a counselor at camp rainbow in july

catch lightning bugs and put them in a jar

travel more

be ME, no one else

Go ice skating

complete P90x or Insanity

go camping

do a project a week.. off of pinterest

witness a miracle

lay in a field looking at stars

serve thanksgiving or christmas dinner to the homeless

send a message in a bottle

start a fundraiser for children in hospitals

make a quilt out of old tshirts

listen to my gdaddy teach his sunday school class

take a pottery class

become friends with a stranger

milk a cow

take a self defense class

New Years Resolutions

2012-01-02T14:26:00.000-05:00

I have never really made New Years Resolutions before, but I decided I wanted to try this year!

1. Eat healthy

I am not trying to lose weight or anything like that, I just simply want to eat healthier than I do now. I am a sucker for sweets, and eat a ton of junk food, so this is going to be hard for me, but I want to try my best to cut sweets out... some ;)

2. Work out

I do not think I have worked out since my senior year of cheerleading. I always envy the girls that are out jogging in the neighborhoods, because I wish I could do that. I do not know how to run! haha. I am not in shape, so I give out of breath so easily!

3. Not say anything negative about anyone

I am not one for gossip, but it is so easy to fall into that trap. It is so easy to be judgemental too. Judgemental people drive me nuts. You do not always know what is going on in a persons life, so it is completely unfair to judge others. I have learned that people dont always remember the positive things that come out of my mouth, but they always remember the negative. I just want to avoid every area of negativity this year. Even stuff as simple as "Did you see what she was wearing?" It is also nice to always feel in the loop about things that dont even matter to you, every human being likes to know all they can about each other. I do not want that to be me this year. I want to just concentrate on the family and friends that matter to me.

4. Finish this semester strong

I will be finished with my internship in May. I had no idea what I was getting into when I accepted this offer. I thought it was going to be easy and fun. It is so much work!!! HARD WORK. I want to finish these next few months strong without complaining. I am so blessed to have this internship and I know it was 100% God who put this internship into my path. This internship is the most well respected internship in the country. I want to pour my heart and time into it, and finish strong!!

5. Make time for a devotional

I pray all throughout the day, but I always make up excuses as to why I cant read my Bible or why I cannot do a devotional. But I can spend time watching tv, movies, twitter, blogging... etc. I want to find a good devotional that I can do every day.

6. Stop trying to please everyone around me

I am the biggest pushover that there is. I like to do whatever I can to make everyone happy; even people that I do not even know that well. I want that to change this year. I want to be 100% happy. I want to make decisions for myself. I want to figure out who I am, by myself. I do not want to be walked all over. I want to learn to stick up for myself. I want to be bold.

7. I want to try to go a year without dying my hair

I know this is a silly one, but I want to try and save some money this year. Dying my hair every 6 weeks can get to be expensive! I want to try and go for the "all natural" look. This is probably going to be the hardest resolution for me! Haha. I love adding a billion colors to my hair, but I want to see how long I can go without doing that!... It'll also make my hair healthy and grow faster!

8. I want to do some volunteer work/get involved in the community

I want to get involved with children's hospitals. I want to become a part of different charities. I want to be a part of mission change.

9. I want to give back

So many people have done so much for me to help me out with college and this internship. I want to find ways to "give back". It doesnt have to be with money, but something as simple as time, a phone call, an email, a picture, or other creative ways.

10. I want to be the change in this world

I want to seek out ways every day to brighten someones day. If I see something that I like about someone, even a stranger, I want to let them know. I love getting compliments from strangers. Its crazy how something so little can brighten your day. I want to be that person for someone else. I want to make others feel good about themselves. I want to buy a stranger a meal. I want to make a depressed person see the joy in living. I want to be the change...

New Years!!!

2012-01-01T18:32:00.000-05:00

Because I was sick this year, I did not go anywhere or do anything. Anthony came and picked me up and we went to Red Lobster to eat. Afterwards, we went back to his house and sat outside for a long time talking about this past year and the year to come. We also just watched tv and saw how crazy it was in Times Square waiting for the ball to drop.

It might not have been a glitz and glamour night like alot of people had, but it was perfect to me!

For lunch, the family ate at Mimi and Poppys house. It was the "New Years Luck Meal". I do not know what all the food stands for (and I might not be as lucky as everyone else, because I didnt put everything on my plate). We have done this since I was born, so hopefully this tradition will carry on for many more years...

Happy New Years Yall!!!

Christmas

2012-01-01T17:59:00.000-05:00

On Christmas morning, Andrew and I got up to see what SANTA brought us! We also exchanged gifts with our family.

After Church, we went to Mimi and Poppys house for lunch and to open presents.
Nanny and Chanel

Our family.

Honey wanted a picture

Chanel was falling asleep in Daddys lap

Mimi opening a present from Poppy

Poppy and the picture that my Daddy painted for him.

My Mr. Coffee Frappe maker!! SO GOOD!!

More of our family came over for Christmas night.

Reid climbing the door

Mama, Uncle Mike, and Uncle Keith

Reid teaching me about his game

looking at OLD photo albums of all of us

Nanny and her two great granddaughters

Me, Aunt Susan, and Mimi

the kids

Mimi and Poppy and all the grandkids

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!! Thankful to have all of our family together! Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!

Christmas with Anthony

2012-01-01T17:57:00.000-05:00

Anthony and I celebrated Christmas a few days early, because he had to go out of town. We went out to eat at Red Lobster, and had a good time laughing and joking around with each other.
Anthony got me a beautiful diamond bracelet and I got him a fossil watch. I love love love my bracelet from him! Looks like he is a keeper! ;)

Christmas Eve

2012-01-01T17:16:00.000-05:00

Every Christmas Eve, we go to my Grammy and Gdaddys for dinner and to open presents... here are some of the pictures from that night....

longest phone cord ever!

We had such a good time laughing and talking with each other. This is one of my favorite days out of the year!

Class of '07 Annual Christmas Party

2011-12-23T11:16:00.001-05:00

Last night, I had all of the '07 girls come over for our annual Christmas party. Almost everyone showed up, so I was so excited about that! We also invited April and Abbey to come this year (Even though they were the '06 class!) :) We were so glad to have them with us though!!

Top Row: Ivy Laing, Me, Sara Herring, April Keefe, Abbey Carter

Bottom Row: Kendyl Davis, Danielle Gonzales, Ivey Foster, Erica Pollock

Oh how I wish I could put what we were watching on Youtube!!!! I will keep all of yall wondering!

Ivey's face was the best watching this video!!
KD and Danielle :)

We had some REALLY good dessert food :) This one was one of my favorites!!!

And, cupcakes are my weakness!

No words can express how much I love these girls!!

This is always one of the main things I look forward to every year. This is our 4th year doing this party, and I am so glad that we have kept up with it. When we get together, it is like we never left highschool, we pick up right where we left off! We have all grown up and decided what we want to do with our lives, but we are all still highschool kids at heart! When we were in highschool, all of the teachers hated our class because we were all so close and always had each others back. I love the fact that none of that has changed! It was so nice to sit around a table from 7:00 until after midnight just laughing and joking around with each other! These girls will always be in my heart, and I hope we continue this tradition for as long as possible!! Also, I am so excited that Abbey and April were able to make it. They were in the class above us, but I think they secretly wanted to be in our class! ;)

My Birthday!!

2011-12-23T10:38:00.001-05:00

Last Wednesday, December 21 was my 23rd birthday!!!

Every year, for as long as I can remember, Mama always writes Happy Birthday on our mirrors with her lipstick! This will be a tradition that I pass on to my kids!

The day before my birthday, Mama and Daddy gave me these cowboy boots so I could wear them to my party!

I registered to win a Christmas card from American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery. And guess what! I WON! and got it on my birthday!

The night before my birthday, the entire family and Anthony all came to Blackbeards for my birthday party!

Me and Anthony!

Aunt Bec, Uncle Bill, Seth

Mama, Daddy, Nathan, Anna

Grammy, Gdaddy, Micah, Poppy

Me and Mimi

I look like a monkey!!

my family :)

I love my family!

Andrew gave me some onesie pajamas!!

I hopped around the house like a little kid!

Justin Bieber came in town just for my birthday!

I wish I had more pictures!! Poppy took some on his camera, so hopefully he will email them to me sometime soon! I had such a wonderful birthday party with my family and Anthony. I love that everyone is so close! For my birthday Mama and daddy gave me my cowboy boots, and a princess watch!!! Anthony gave me a gorgeous jacket. Mimi and Poppy gave me a pretty bracelet and some clothes. Grammy and Gdaddy gave me some money and some cool hand tattoos that the patients will LOVE. Uncle Tod, Aunt Mel, and Nathan gave me some gooooood smelling perfume. Sue and Greg gave me a cute outfit. Bill and Beccy gave me a giftcard for Chickfila. I am probably missing some things that people gave me:( My birthday was so much more than presents. I had such a wonderful time talking to everyone and spending time with the people that matter most to me!
On my actual birthday, I woke up and went shopping and to eat lunch with Mimi and Andrew. I then went and visited with Nanny so she could give me my present. I spent the rest of the day with Anthony. We went to Sunset Grill to eat and then we were going to go see the lights at Chehaw but it ended up raining to hard :(

Christmas Parties

2011-12-23T10:34:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday Night Mama, Andrew, and I went to a Christmas party at the Edmonds house.

Me and my Fowler
Me and my brother..

Most of the people from the party were from our Church. Alot of funny things happened that night, but to respect my mama, I will not post them! ;)

*******************************************************

On Monday night, Mimi and Poppy had a Christmas party at their house.

Me and Andrew and our grandparents!

Some of the party guests.

One thing my Mimi and Poppy cherish is their friends from church. They had such a good turnout at the party. I am so glad they have such wonderful friends!

Coco Chanel Photo Shoot

2011-12-17T22:38:00.001-05:00

When I came home tonight, Andrew got out his camera and started taking pictures of Chanel... These are some of my favorites.....

This one is by far my favorite!!!
Me and my Nelly

sweet kisses.

No words to describe this one.

Santa

Date Night

2011-12-17T22:03:00.000-05:00

Tonight, Anthony had a wonderful date night planned for us.
First, we went to Longhorn and had an AMAZING dinner!

We laughed a lot :)

It cracks me up how his eyes get so little in pictures!!

After dinner, we went to look at the house in Lee County that is decked out in lights.

If you turn your radio to a certain station, the lights went with the beat of the music. I heard this has gone on for years, but this is the first time I have ever seen it!!

They even had a spongebob! haha. I took a video of it with the music, but do not know how to upload it!! Hopefully I will figure it out soon!!

Welcome Home Seth!!!

2011-12-17T21:40:00.000-05:00

My cousin Seth just got home from Marine Boot Camp in Parris Island, SC .
His ID.
The happy parents decked out in USMC shirts!
I dont know what happened to this picture... But me and Andrew sure are glad that he is home!!

Seth,

Congratulations!! I am so proud of you and who you are becoming!! You have grown into a man just in these past few months! I cannot wait to see what your future holds!! I love you so much!!

One Last Christmas

2011-12-16T16:02:00.000-05:00

**Before you play the video, make sure you turn the music off at the bottom of the screen so you can hear the video**

Im going to start off by saying I chose the best career out there. However, with this career of being a Child Life Specialist, my tender heart can be dangerous. Not only are you working with healthy patients in the hospital, but you also work with critically ill patients. Alot of the critically ill patients know that they do not have much longer to live, and it can be very heart breaking. I wish I was able to talk about different patients who have impacted my life in the short time I have been in my internship. They would make your heart smile.

Last week, a new movie came out on the Christian Network Channel called "The Heart of Christmas". I have not been able to see this movie yet, because we do not get that channel. However, I have heard all about it,read all about the story, and watched the trailer for the movie. Tears began to fill up in my eyes until they started pouring. I have worked with several patients this year who this probably will be there "One Last Christmas". I look at Christmas differently this year. It could be someone's one last Christmas. It could be someone's first Christmas without a loved one. Or it could be a Christmas that someone was told they may not live to see, but survived. Holidays can be such a wonderful time, but they can also be very emotional.. They can also be a time where people can be snappy, greedy, angry, and judgemental. Everyone, please be respectful to everyone you come into contact with this season, you never know what someone may be going through....

I have met so many families who remind me of this family.. I ask all of yall to please continue praying for all of the sick children in and out of hospitals around the world.

Jill and Warren Gorman...

2011-12-05T21:13:00.001-05:00

Have you ever had those moments in life where you do not think things can get any worse? Where you feel like you've reached your breaking point and have nowhere else to go? Or feel you have noone to turn to? My freshman year of college was a rough time for me. I was in such a dark place and was experiencing some sort of depression. I eventually began to hate myself and did not think that I would amount to anything. This is where Jill Gorman stepped in. Jill and her husband, Warren, had just moved to Albany, and my mom kept telling me to get to know her and sit down and talk with her (Jill is a marriage and family therapist). When I reached my breaking point, I finally gave in.

I remember being so nervous the first time I met up with Jill. I was so scared that she would judge me. I had never opened up to anyone like I did to Jill. I know she probably thought "What in the world am I getting myself into?!" Jill helped bring me out of my lowest point in life. She never judged, never gave up on me, never stopped praying for me, and never broke my trust. Jill helped me to believe in myself, have confidence in myself, and have respect for myself.

I truly believe that God put the Gorman family in Albany, because I needed her. I know Warren was offered a job at Byne.. and he did a wonderful job there, but I do not know where I would be today if it weren't for my sweet friend Jill.
Today, Jill and her husband, and their newly adopted baby moved to Little Rock. I am heartbroken to lose her as a friend here in Albany, but I know that she will be someone that I will always be in contact with. Jill has helped me grow mentally and spiritually, and I have been able to watch her grow into a "Mama". I am going to miss them so much, but will be forever thankful for everything she has done for me!

Jill,
THANK YOU for helping me get through a such dark phase in my life! I seriously dont know what my life would be like if you didnt step in. I am so blessed to have you as one of my good friends. I am so excited for you, Warren, Baker... and Marley. I know yall are going to touch so many lives there in Little Rock. I know yall touched so many here in Albany. I love you so much!!!

Friends come and go...

2011-12-05T20:29:00.000-05:00

One thing I have learned this year, is that friends come and go, but family last forever. In high school, I had so many freinds. It was always "Movie night at Mandys" on Friday nights. In college, things changed for me. Some of my high school friends decided to go down a different path than I did.. and the ones who didnt, moved away. I was lost all throughout my college years. I couldnt seem to find anyone who was "just" like me, until my senior year. I decided to just invest my time in the true friends that I did have. I would much rather have a few true friends, than friends that I could not trust. However, this year... my "true friends" have started to fade away. I dont know why. I try to be the best friend that I can be. I try to call, text, email, meet up when possible, but sometimes I get nothing in return. I have friends that I invest so much time in, tell them my secrets, tell them about every detail that happens in my life, ask them to pray for me, and tell them I am praying for them in return. I am not trying to brag on my friendship skills, but I feel that I am a really good friend to people.

It really hurts to find things out about my "best friends" from facebook, twitter, blogs, and so on.. Am I trying to hard? Am I thinking too much about things? Do my feelings get hurt too easily? I will never know. All I know, is I can not keep worrying about this, and upsetting myself about friendships that are fading away. Maybe I am trying too hard to hold onto memories. Maybe it is time for me to make new friends, and stop living in the past. Maybe I do care too much. I have tried many times to confront friends and tell them I miss how things used to be between us, but nothing changes. Maybe that is a sign. Maybe that is a wake up call. Maybe that is to show me that I deserve better friends. Isn't the quote, "To have a friend, you must be a friend?"

I have learned that my best friends are my family members and my boyfriend. They are the people that are always there for me. They are the ones I cannot wait to come home to see. They are the ones that I know I can trust. They are the ones that I know will call me or text me when something important/funny/sad/random happens. They are the ones that never give up on me, and I will never give up on them. They are the ones who do not judge me. They are the ones who will always love me... unconditionally.

I am finally going to do it, I am going to move on. I deserve to have some wonderful friends in my life. This isnt going to be easy..but I know that it is time.

Patients Christmas Party

2011-12-04T13:26:00.001-05:00

8 year ago, a oncology nurse from the childrens medical center was killed. Instead of sending flowers to her funeral, the family wanted people to donate gifts to the childrens medical center to start up something called "The Tamara Fund". This group is involved with our Monday night dinners for the patients and families at the hospital. Also, every year they throw a Christmas party for the patients at the hospital. This past Friday, they came and it was such a cool experience.

Every patient was allowed to pick out one toy to keep.
They were also able to make stockings and decorate them with glitter.. I ended up having glitter ALL over me by the time it was finished!!

There was also a station for coloring.
There were toys EVERYWHERE for the patients to choose from.
My favorite station was the cookie decorating station. One girl stacked 5 cookies on top of each other with icing in between each layer... and COVERED it in sprinkles. She asked for a fork and knife to eat it with! haha..
This was probably the highlight of my week. The patients LOVED it, and so did their family members. This was the first time I have heard of what the Tamara Fund actually was, and after hearing about it, it amazed me that the family is able to still come up to the hospital every year after her death. If you want to look her up and read about her story, her name was Tamara Dunstan. It is such a heart breaking story, but her family sure is living out her life here at the hospital.

Happy Thanksgiving Yall!!

2011-11-25T20:40:00.001-05:00

It has been so relaxing having a few days off from work! The night I came home for Thanksgiving, the family went out to eat together and then I made Daddy give me my first art lesson!!

I learned so much, so hopefully I will be able to try and start doing stuff on my own now!

This was our final product
Andrew and Chanel in the car heading to Grammy and G-daddys for Thanksgiving lunch
She looked happier with Andrew :(
Nathan

The kids table.. I had to fight to sit at it this year! Not ready to be a grown up just yet...
Me and my only girl cousin.. Kendyll :)
Aunt Mel and Uncle Tod

One of my favorite things about eating lunch over there was that all of the girls went through our Grammys jewelry, our great grandmas, and our great great grandmas jewelry! It is crazy how some of the things have come back into style now.

We thought this was a pair of earrings, but later found out that it holds a scarf together! haha
Grammy and her watermelon necklace!!!! HA!
I dont know how this turned black and white, but it did. But these are some of the pins we found in the boxes of jewelry. I liked the flower that I found, but everyone made fun of me! But you will notice that I wear it the rest of the day :)

The cousins..

We were all tickling each other.

After we left Grammy and G-daddys we met up with Mimi, Poppy and the rest of the family to go bowling. This is something that we do every year now!

Mama showing off her skills.

Me and Hunter.

Our family.

My Poppy.

Me, Poppy, and our dogs :)

Nanny brought her "pet dog", Chi Chi over to see Chanel. Chanel fell in LOVE with this toy!!!

Me and my Nanny...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! It was so nice to spend quality time with the family all day long. I am thankful to have such a wonderful family, dog, boyfriend, friends, my internship, and lots more.. But the one thing I am thankful for is my salvation. I do not know what I would do without the love and forgiveness from my Jesus.

Happy Thanksgiving yall!

Weekend

2011-11-21T21:53:00.000-05:00

Im sorry I havent been blogging lately.. Things have been so crazy with the hospital and homework, that I have not had a chance to breathe until now! My week started out to me waking up to this hot air balloon outside my window.

Carrie won all the interns a Mary Kay makeover this past weekend. We were all excited to go get our face done. Carrie got to use the "magic brush" since she is a future bride.

Laura Merriem and Tricia- pre makeup.

Steph, Carrie, and Me -pre makeup. Except I had to put on some lip stuff :)

Saturday night I went to my first art class. It was at a place called "Van Gogh To Go". It was such a cool experience. The teacher would paint on a canvas in front of the class and then we had to copy what she did.

Our class consisted of me and a married couple haha.

Sunday night, Laura Merriem had all the interns over for a Thanksgiving dinner/homework night. I am not going to lie.. her food was AWESOME!!! It was also nice to be able to hang out outside of work and just be normal girls and laugh with each other. I am so blessed to have these girls as the other interns!

Carrie, Me, and Stephanie :)

Doesn't she have gorgeous eyes?
Laura Merriem, Tricia, and Carrie
Tonight, we had Thanksgiving at the hospital for the patients and their families. They were able to come eat a Thanksgiving feast, and we had several activities for the patients to do. This was their favorite! It was called Thankful Turkey. They had to write what they were thankful for and stick it on the turkey. I wish I could have taken a picture of every single feather, the things these kids are thankful for are heart breaking and precious!

I GET TO COME HOME TOMORROW!!!
I am beyond excited. I feel like it is the night before Christmas, because I know I am not going to be able to sleep because I am so excited. I have had to write 3 research papers in the past week on top of all of our other homework and clinical hours, so I am pooped! I cannot wait to get some lovin' from my family, Anthony, and friends!

Weekend at Home..

2011-11-07T21:39:00.001-05:00

This past weekend I went home for a few reasons...

1) G-daddy had heart surgery

2) One of my best friends is moving to another state so it would be my last time to see her

3) Christmas Open Houses

4) I was homesick

5) I needed some love from my family and Anthony

6) The fair was in town

I made G-daddy smile for a picture..

He then told me to get a picture of how he really feels.

Its time like these when you realize how close your family is.. I went up to the hospital several times over the weekend, and there was ALWAYS family up there. I love being a part of such a loving family!

Grammy, Uncle Todd, and G-daddy.

I was able to spend some time with my great grandma, Nanny. I love the fact that I was able to know all of my great grandparents. I am even more blessed to have one stick around this long :) A lot of my friends do not have their grandparents left, so I am lucky to have my grandparents, and my Nanny.

Mama and I surprised Nanny by buying her a fish. I think she fell in love with it instantly! Its name is "Blue Baby".

Anthony and I were able to go to the fair for a little bit this weekend! I had completely forgotten about the fair coming to Albany, until my mama reminded me!

I love the atmosphere of the fair.. just not the smell!!! We walked around, rode the ferris wheel, ate a funnel cake, and.... WON A FISH!!

My cat Dolce didnt know what to think of the fish! Neither did Mama and Daddy... they keep telling me they are going to send the fish to "Fish Heaven" and flush it down the toilet!

Chanel got a new scarf this weekend...

... and I got some COACH rainboots, thanks to Anthony!

My good friend Jill is about to move to Little Rock. This was my last time to see her and spend time with her and her family. Im not going to lie, I am heartbroken over their move. Jill has been a good friend of mine for 5 years now. She has helped me out through some of the darkest stages in my life. I do not know where I would be without her friendship. I am sad about the move, and sad about saying goodbye, but I know she was put in Albany for a purpose, and I am glad that I was able to be a part of it!

This is her son, Baker, that she adopted 5 months ago.. He has grown so much, and is seriously the cutest thing EVER! I am going to miss this handsome fellow!

On Sunday, Mama, Mimi, and I went to some Christmas Open Houses. This is a tradition that we have done for as many years as I can remember! I wasnt able to go with them last year, so I am glad that it worked out this year! I honestly go for the food and apple cider :) Which, Southern Elegance provided the best food and drinks!

Happy Halloween!!!

2011-10-31T16:47:00.000-04:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!

All of the interns decided to go with the "decades" theme for our costume.

Today was a crazy Halloween at the hospital. We spent the morning finding costumes for patients to wear. They were all so excited, because they didnt think they were going to be able to dress up. After we got them all dressed, there was face painting!! I saw some cute faces, as well as some pretty scary ones. After face painting, the patients went on a LONG walk around the hospital trick or treating at different stations. Never in my life have I seen a person get as much candy as each patient did!!! After trick or treating, we did the haunted playroom. Patients were able to hide in the playroom and scare doctors, nurses, staff members, and families of the patients! It was SO funny and the kids loved it!!! These are two of our supervisors. All 6 of them dressed up as carebears. I wish I could have gotten a picture of them all! For this rotation, I am with the girl in the pink!
Our supervisors gave us a bag of goodies! Candy, fingernail polish, and I got a pumpkin caramel latte foaming hand soap! I have washed my hands so many times since I have been home because it smells so good!!
Happy Halloween from Chanel!!! She sure is one "hot dog"!!

You can tell by her eyes how much she loves being in her costume...

Prayers for G-daddy

2011-10-30T21:21:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow, my G-daddy is having heart surgery. I am asking everyone to please say a prayer for him and for the doctors. It is always a scary thing when someone has surgery, but can be even scarier when it is an older person. It is killing me that I cannot be in Albany while this is taking place. I would love more than anything to be up at the hospital with my family. But I am confident that the Lord is the greatest physician there is. But prayers would still be nice! :)

Praying for you G-daddy!! I love you!!!

Haunted Playroom

2011-10-30T21:02:00.000-04:00

Today, all the interns were in charge of decorating one of the playrooms to make it a "Haunted" Playroom. I wish I would have taken before and after pictures, because it was a HUGE difference!!! These pictures give an idea of what it looks like, but it does not do it justice for when the lights are turned off, scary lights are turned on, glow and the dark things are lit up, and creepy music is playing. Patients are going to help us out and hide behind the props and scare doctors and other patients as they enter! I cannot wait to see all of this play out tomorrow!!!
We went with an abandoned house theme.. This is supposed to be the living room.

The hall

The spider and pumpkin table.

The snake table.. Several snakes pop out of the bowl.

This is the dining room table.. We are going to have worms (spaghetti), eye balls (grapes), fingers (hot dogs), guts (jello) in the bowls for the patients to stick their hands in.

It looks better with the lights turned off.

The little girls bedroom.

The mask wall.. This wall is going to have about 14 more masks on it tomorrow before we let the kids enter!

We have glow in the dark footprints all throughout the haunted house.

We added so much more after I took these pictures, but I wanted to give everyone an idea of what we did!!

Friday Night Fire..

2011-10-29T15:44:00.000-04:00

Last night, I was able to hang out with Timothys family again. I am sad that my 15 hours are completed, but I have learned so much from this family. Last night we went to a family friends house for a bonfire and dinner.

This is how many pills Timothy has to take at bedtime for seizures.

The only way he can take all that medicine is by mixing it in with pudding.

sweet timothy!
I think Timothy was singing a song in this picture! He LOVES music and loves dancing.

Sarah playing with her sparklers.

Heather and her husband roasting marshmellows.

All of us with our sparklers.

He kept asking me if he could hold my hand.

Still holding hands! haha.

I had so much fun at this bonfire!! It is so nice to be around such a loving family, especially when you are hours away from family and friends.

Gymnastics & Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-29T15:21:00.000-04:00

Last week (before the 2nd episode of the kidney stones) I was able to hang out with the family I was paired with for my internship... That morning, I was able to go to his gymnastics classes. It was the sweetest thing I have ever been to! Timothys whole class got to play on balls, play with parachutes, and dance!

Timothy LOVED bouncing on the ball! I have never seen him smile that big!
Timothy and his mama playing under the parachute.
That afternoon, I was able to go to the pumpkin patch, and eat dinner with the family! This is Timothys sister, Sarah. isnt she beautiful???
John John would not let anyone else pull the wagon, I thought it was so cute!

This family has been a HUGE inspiration to me. I wish everyone had the chance to meet them!
While we were there, a random lady came up to Heather to ask about Timothys diagnoses. She then began talking about how sorry she felt for Timothy and the family, and how the Lord told her to come pray for him. I was completely shocked by this, and even more shocked with how Heather responded. Heather went out to tell the girl that Timothy is the glue that keeps their family together. She also said that they look at Timothys diagnoses as a blessing, because they are able to see the value in life and also are able to be an inspiration to other families who have children with a disability.
Their daughter, Sarah, has a great deal of hearing loss. Last month, she was blessed to get hearing aids. I was able to put them up to my ear to see what it sounds like with hearing aids in. I took a picture of them, because she has all different kind of "earring jewels" to hang from them! I thought that made them look fun!

When we got back, Heather decided to teach us how to make pumkin pie!

After we ate, and did the pumpkins, Heathers husband came home and I was able to sit down with both of them and talk about what their life is like. I wish I could talk about everything we talked about, but I do not want to post anything that the family would not want everyone to read. However, this family is AWESOME. They have such an awesome attitude, and have so much love for everyone in their family. They have been such an inspiration to me, and I am sure they have to you as well!

Spoke too soon...

2011-10-23T20:47:00.000-04:00

Well I spoke too soon in my last post.. I said that the doctors thought my kidney stone was going to stay in my kidney for a while, and that I didnt need to worry about it too much. Well that very night, it decided to start making its way down me again. I woke up at 4 am with sharp pains again. I knew right away what it was. I tried my best to go to work the next day, but the pain became worse and worse. I walked downstairs to the urologist and they gave me some more medicine, then I decided to go home. Mama had offered to come get me, but I didnt want her to miss work. I got home and Anthony got me lunch (it was his birthday) and then I went home and rested on the couch all day long... and drank LOTS of lemonade! The next day the pain wasnt AS bad, so I was going to try and get out and walk some..Anthony came and picked me up and we went to get some lunch and to the mall to try and find him a birthday present. We had to go a few other places, but then the pain started kicking in, so I went back home to get back on the couch and to drink more lemonade..
I would get tired of laying on the couch, so I walked down to Daddys studio to see his latest piece of art.. I love it so far!!
Each day the pain was less and less, so I decided to get lunch with my newest friend, Laura Lee. We went to one of my favorite spots.. El Vaquero, and just talked and talked! She is such a sweet girl. Afterwards, I met one of my best friends (that I NEVER get to see) at Elements to get some coffee and catch up. Every time I am with Ivey, we pick up right where we left off. I love that about our friendship!

That night, my parents had to be at Judgement House at the church, so Anthony came and sat with me so I wouldnt be alone (the pain always got bad at night). We watched tv, and he left before I felt like I was going to fall asleep. The next morning I felt MUCH better. I met Anthony, his mom, his step-dad, and step sister for lunch at Harvest Moon. Afterwards, I talked him into taking me to Marks Melon Patch to get our pumpkin.

Marks Melon Patch is something that I look forward to every year! I love taking pictures with the sunflowers, pumpkins, and LOVE getting some boiled peanuts!!!After Marks Melon Patch, we went home to carve the pumpkin and then left right away to go to Judgement House. I wish I would have been able to take pictures of the different scenes, because I thought it was awesome this year! It is one of the things I love most about my church in Albany. After JH, we went to the movies to see Paranormal Activity 3. SAVE YOUR MONEY!!! DO NOT GO SEE IT!! It was weird, not scary.

At the end of the night, I got these flowers for being a "good girlfriend". I was pretty excited!!

The next day (today) was Andrews birthday, so we went to Mimi and Poppys for lunch to celebrate with the family. I was excited about this, because I didnt get to see my family much this weekend because they had to work their jobs, and work at Judgement House every night. So it was nice to finally get to spend time with everyone!

Me and the birthday boy!

This is always the sucky part.. I hate having to say goodbye to my family. The 4 of us do not get to all be together at the same time that often, so this weekend it was SO nice to be able to have the ENTIRE family together!!

... Until Thanksgiving...

Happy Birthday ANTHONY!!!!!

2011-10-18T22:04:00.000-04:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANTHONY!!!!

(Tomorrow is his birthday, but I have a crazy busy day, so I figured I'd post this tonight!)

I know I probably embarrassed you by using this picture, but I just love it! I hope you have such a wonderful day!!! I hate that I am not there to celebrate with you, but I promise to try to make your day as special as I can! I cannot wait to see you this weekend and celebrate then! I am so thankful for you. You have been nothing but sweet to me, and I am so thankful to have you! Thank you for always putting me first, even when I do not deserve it! You have done so much for me over the past few years, that I will never be able to repay you for! Thank you for making me happy!! I hope you have an unforgettable birthday!!! Make everyone treat you like a prince! :) Miss you so much!! I cant wait to see you!! Love you!

my LIFE family..

2011-10-18T21:48:00.000-04:00

During our internship, we are each paired with a family who has a child with a disability. We are required to spend 15 hours with them from now until Christmas break. The point of this is for us to see how difficult a daily schedule can be for a family dealing with a child with a disability. I absolutely LOVE my family. It consist of a Mom and Dad, a 9 year old son with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, a 6 year old daughter who is mostly deaf, and a son who is 2 years old right now.
I met the family today at an activity called "Halloween with a Heart". This program was for schools all around Augusta for kids with disabilities. Over 1,000 kids showed up! That blew my mind. I did not realize how many kids have disabilities just in this little area.
Such a sweet family. He LOVES giving kisses!!

This was his class from school.
All the kids dressed up and went around this huge gymnasium trick or treating and getting a TON of candy!!

This was one WILD child!! I spent most of my time chasing him around and dancing in circles with him!! He stole my heart!! I love the chocolate smeared all over his face!!!
More sweet kisses.

He wouldnt give me kisses just yet, maybe next week!

This is one of my sweet friends that I have come to know over time. She is such a sweet girl with such a loving spirit! You cant help but to smile when you are around her!
I may not have gotten kisses from him, but he did FINALLY agree to take a picture with me!!

I think this is going to be my favorite part about my internship. I was with this family for several hours today, and just in those 3 hours, I was worn out!! It really gave me just a glimpse of what the sweet mama has to deal with every day of her life. She told me how she doesnt sleep at night because she is scared of her son having seizures during the night. She told me how her husband is in the military so she has to do alot of this on her own. She taught me appropriate language to use when talking about children with disabilities. She told me that she has her moments where she doesnt understand why she has to go through this, but she is able to turn it all around for good and be an example and an encouragement to other families who are in similar situations. I had SO much fun with them today! I hate I didnt get to meet the daughter. I am going to gymnastics with them next week, and hanging out with them on Halloween, also! I cannot wait to learn more, and spend more time with them!!

Mimi and Poppys Visit

2011-10-18T21:19:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, Chanel and I had two very special visitors... My grandparents! They originally came to take care of me because of the pain my kidney stones were causing, but it ended with us just having a good time together!

Poppy took this picture, and I thought it was cute.

Right when they got here, Poppy had a cute little surprise for me. He made me this clock out of wood from Hawaii. I thought it was really cute, and it is now sitting by my bed!

After they got here, we headed to MCG for my doctors appointment with the urologist. This was the view from the waiting area. It looks over at the Veterans Hospital. We were there for about 3 hours, and ended up getting good news! I passed one of my kidney stones, and there is still another one in my kidney. I will have to keep getting in xrayed to make sure it is not growing. If it grows, I will have to have surgery so it will not damage my kidney. I pray that thing stays in there and does not grow, because I do not want to go through that pain EVER again!!!
After my appointment, we went down to the River Walk..

The three of us.. our view..
After the walk, we went and ate at my favorite place, Boll Weevils. The food was excellent, but I am always a sucker for their desserts. I got just the simple strawberry cheesecake.
Mimi got the lemon filled cake.
and Poppy got the chocolate chip banana nut cake.
This is a better picture of how big the cakes actually are.
That night, Poppy stayed at the house, and Mimi and I went shopping!!!!!!

Laying with their dog Honey before it was time to go to bed!

The next morning, we got up and decided to go to the mall to do some shopping! We got a few Christmas presents out of the way, and Mimi and Poppy bought me a "Get well soon" gift.. a mustard color scarf!! :) Maybe I should get sick more often!!!

It was so nice to have family here on the weekend! I get SO lonely here on weekends, so it was nice to actually have something to do and someone to do something with!! Mimi and Poppy, thank you so much for coming!! I am so glad that I ended up feeling much better!! I had a blast with yall! I cant wait to see you this weekend!!! LOVE YOU!

When I ask WHY, YOU answer.

2011-10-11T19:46:00.000-04:00

Alot of yall know that I think way too much. I always try to figure out other peoples intentions, why certain things happen, and I always have a lot of "What If?" moments. Well with all this pain that I have been in the past few days I keep asking God WHY is he letting me go through something so painful and away from home. I came up with alot of reasons...

#1: It has shown me how much my family truly cares about me and loves me. The second my mama knew I didnt feel good, she already began packing up her bags just waiting for me to say come up here. My parents, brother, grandparents, aunts and uncles have all been checking on me. My mom came up here and just let me cry to her and painted my toe nails for me. She cooked for me, cleaned for me, and even watched a ton of movies (even when she was bored out of her mind) just to be with me. My Grammy has sent me several emails just to make me laugh. My brother tries to make a joke out of what all is going on with me. My mom has made her status about me on facebook just to get other people to pray that this pain will go away. I never take my family for granted, but it is easy to forget what all they do for me.

#2:I have a boyfriend who really cares about me. The whole time I was in the ER on Saturday he was texting my BFF Carrie wanting to know how I was doing and if he should come up here. When my mama left on Monday, he wanted to come up here to try and take care of me and give me the princess treatment...I didnt let him, because I knew he wasnt feeling good and didnt want him to miss out on work. But his dad was going to let him leave just because he was concerned about me. Anthony has sent me sweet texts all week and sweet prayers that have just made me realize that I am blessed to have such a caring boyfriend.

#3: It has shown me the importance of having good Christian girlfriends. I have never been one to have a group of girlfriends. My group of friends have always consisted of guys. Up until lately, I have felt like I didnt have any friends, other than my family and Anthony. I am SO blessed to have such a close relationship with the other interns. Carrie took me to the ER Saturday morning around 4am, without even hesitating. All of the girls keep asking me what I need, what can they do for me, do I need them to help me with my dog. They have been such a blessing. I went back to the ER today because I have been in such bad pain, and they all came to visit me. Afterwards, Carrie took my keys and would not let me drive. She drove me to Walmart to get my medicine and then took me home.

She also made me ride in the buggy because she did not want me to walk and cause even more pain. If I were in Albany, I would not have had this group of girlfriends to check up on me.

#4: Even though I am in bad pain, I know that it will only last just a little while longer. The kids I have worked with in the hospital have Cystic Fibrosis, Sickle Cell, Cancer, and several other diseases which cause them to be in pain 24/7. I am blessed that my pain is only going to last a week. It also makes those patients even more special to me, because I know that I would not be anywhere NEAR as strong as most of them!!

#5:A dog truly is a mans (GIRLS) best friend. My dog knows when I do not feel good. She will not let me out of her sight. She is constantly licking me or curled up in a ball right next to me. Its crazy how a little animal can bring so much comfort when you are away from home!!

#6:My heart is at the hospital. I have been saying I wish I could have just a little break to catch up on some sleep and homework, but now that I am on this break, I catch myself thinking about different patients at the hospital and wishing I could be there with them.

#7: I could not be at a better place to be doing my internship. One of the actual Child Life Specialist came and sat with me in my room at the hospital today just talking to me and trying to distract me from all the pain and nausea. Another one sent me a letter down from her office just to let me know she was thinking about me. And my supervisor for the next 8 weeks came to see me just to tell me to take it easy and do not rush back to the hospital. I had been so stressed about missing so much work, but all of the Child Life Specialist have been so sweet and so understanding to me!

#8: I have realized that I get sick or something happens EVERY October.. My Sophomore year I had mono and had to miss school, My Junior year I fractured my skull, My senior year my great grandmother and Aunt Lynda passed away. So now I know DO NOT EVER PLAN ANYTHING BIG IN OCTOBER!!!!

#9: Maybe I needed another "come to Jesus meeting" I have caught myself praying so much more these past few days then what I normally do. But its the kind of prayer where I feel like I get answers back right away. The kind of prayer where I can go to the Lord in the middle of the night just scared to death and feeling so sick that only HE can calm me down. The Lord has taught me so much just in these past few days, and maybe that was the reasoning behind all of this!

#10: When you think things are rough for you, someone is going through something worse. When I think about the pain that I am facing, I cant even imagine the pain that Jesus went through for all of us.

To the ER I go!

2011-10-09T11:36:00.000-04:00

My day started yesterday morning at about 1:00am. I woke up because I felt like something fell and hit my back while I was sleeping. After that, I had the worse pain ever imaginable on the right side of my lower back, side, and a little in the front. I think I finally gave in and texted my mom around 3ish saying that I was in major pain and did not know what to do. I tried taking a bath to ease the pain. I couldnt lay in bed, I couldnt walk, I could not do anything that did not hurt. I was trying to wait until 8am to go to MCG Family Medicine, but at about 4am, my mom told me to call my good friend/other intern Carrie to see if she could take me to the Emergency Room. I called Carrie and the first thing she said was "Whats wrong?! Are you okay?" She hopped in her car and was at my place within 3 minutes. On the way to the hospital, she was rubbing my back with one hand and driving with the other. She then asked me if she could pray for me while driving the the ER. As nervous, anxious, and in as much pain I was in, her prayer calmed me down so much! We got to the ER around 4:45am. I was throwing up the entire time, so Carrie did all the talking to check me in and helped me to a room. I know she had to have been grossed out holding my throw up bowl for me! HAHA

After they gave me some morphine, I was kind of loopy. Wasnt I so pretty?!

My sweet friend Carrie! I do not know what I would have done without her. She played the role of keeping me calm, comfortable, and in good spirits. She also had the role of calling and texting my mom and Anthony when we recieved new information. AND she also had the role of playing "Child Life Specialist". I was so nervous, so she did some distraction techniques and guided imagery. It was so funny, but good practice for us! haha

Wheeling me out to go get my CT scan.

After all of this, the doctors finally told me that I have KIDNEY STONES. I was so glad they found what was wrong, I was nervous about going to the ER and them just telling me I was cramping, so I was excited to know that something actually was wrong with me. I have NEVER experience pain like this before. Everyone keeps telling me that birthing a baby will be a breeze now! haha.

This girl is my life saver!! She was supposed to go out of town to go see her fiance, but she said it was more important for her to be here with me. All the other interns wanted to come bring me breakfast and spend time with me. I am so blessed to have such good friends during this time, away from my family.

My mama is now here with me, so it is so nice to have her here. She went to go get all my "loopy" medicine for me and bought me alot of groceries and magazines. She is staying here in Augusta until I pass the stones. I am blessed to have her here, because I have been such a baby and have not wanted to do anything. We have layed in bed the past 2 days watching about 6 Lifetime movies already! I am SO lucky to have her AND my friends here, AND my family and friends praying for me back home!!

Moving on...

2011-10-09T11:21:00.000-04:00

This past week was my last week with oncology patients. My rotation is now over and I will be heading to pediatric clinics for the next 8 weeks! I am so sad to leave all the patients that I became close to, but am excited about meeting new ones! :)

Each week we had to provide an art activity for the patients. Since mine are long term patients, I wanted to do a project that the patients would be able to do every time they came in.. I decided on a tree with falling leaves and pumpkins. I also came up with the idea of making butterflies out of masks and I think one girl decided to put a cat in the tree. I loved how this project turned out, and the kids LOVES doing it.

One of my favorite things about these past 8 weeks is my refrigerator. Alot of the patients have made me things. They have made me lots of jewelry and several things I could hang up on my frigde!

Since we all had a long stressful, exciting, heart breaking, emotional, and sleepless past 8 weeks we decided to treat ourselves to seeing a movie on Friday night. We all wanted to go see the movie Courageous! It was so good! I think we spent most of the movie crying and getting all of our tears out that have built up the past 8 weeks. This picture was taken AFTER we did all of our crying during the movie!

I will post another blog soon on everything that I have learned so far!

Perfect weekend. Perfect family. Perfect boyfriend.

2011-10-03T18:54:00.000-04:00

Last weekend was the first weekend I have been home in a month.. I did not get as many pictures as I would have liked to have made, but this past weekend was perfect... (almost) The only other thing that could have made it better would have been if my brother came home!

On Friday I got my hair dyed, went shopping with Mama, and then had a movie day/night with the family!

Saturday, I spent the day with Anthony.. the day started off by eating at the mall, then we went back to his house to play some ping pong and get stuff to go shoot some skeet!

I was also able to meet his new cat, Mooch.

Skeet shooting was probably the highlight of the day! We had so much fun, and we were actually both really good!!

After we finished skeet shooting, we went to see the movie 50/50 about the guy battling cancer.. It was such a great movie. I cried, and Anthony teared up.. (He will admit it too!)
I took this picture of a little boy at church on Sunday. I thought it was so sweet. He saw other people raising their hands and singing, so he wanted to do it too!

After church, I went and made my rounds to say goodbye to the family. First stop: Nanny (my great grandmother)

I think she was more excited to see my dog than she was to see me!

Next stop: Mimi and Poppys.

and of course I had to get a picture of their dog, Honey.

The final goodbye: My parents.
After the 4 hour drive home, this is the first thing my dog wanted to do.. get in bed!

All in all, it was a wonderful relaxing fun weekend!! Watching movies, shooting skeet, going shopping, going to the movies, and seeing my family and boyfriend were exactly what I needed after this long stressful month!! I love all of yall so much who made my weekend so special!!

FALL!!!

2011-09-26T18:45:00.000-04:00

This is the first full week of fall, so I figured I would post things that I am excited about!!!

I love the color of fall

I am so excited about going to the fair!

Fall fashion. Fall time is my favorite season for fashion! I love the sweaters, leggings, boots, scarves. I cannot wait to start wearing it all!

Caramel apples

apple cider.

Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte
Bath and Body Works fall time candles! I have 4 in my apartment right now, and one is ALWAYS burning! I LOVE the smell of fall!

I have also become addicted to Pinterest.com I have found so many cute things that I want to do during this fall season......

Fill a jar with olive oil and put a picture in it.

Happy Birthday Gdaddy!

2011-09-26T18:38:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was a VERY special persons birthday... my G-daddy!! I hate that I was not in town to wish him happy birthday in person.
G-daddy,
I hope you had a wonderful birthday!! I miss you so much. I hope I will be able to see you when I come into town this weekend! I am so blessed to have you as a grandpa!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!

Special Visitor

2011-09-26T18:00:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I had a very special visitor come see me! Even though it was only for a short time, I had so much fun!!

Right after Anthony arrived to Augusta, we went to one of my new favorite places (and cheap) to eat... The Pizza Joint! I guess we picked a bad time to go because it was during the UGA game.. So it was loud and crazy in there...

...and he didnt pay attention to me, he was watching the game!

That night we went to my favorite deli/dessert place to eat... Boll Weevil.

The best part about our meal was our cinnamon cheesecake!!!

After we ate, we went down to the River Walk so I could show him how pretty it was!
Ive been wanting to try out a church here, but I havent had anyone to go to it with me... So Anthony offered to go! It was called True North and it was inside a highschool auditorium. I can honestly say it was one of the best churches that I have ever gone to!

The message was on "How to Deal with Difficult People in the Workplace". It was definitely something that I needed to hear! I was so excited about it, I called my parents right when it was over to read them my sermon notes! haha
The music was awesome...and the preacher even planked in church! I am so glad that I finally found a church to go to!

Downtown...

2011-09-17T21:48:00.000-04:00

Tonight, the interns (minus Stephanie) and Laura Merriems fiance went to the Pizza Joint to eat. It was absolutely amazing, not to mention... VERY CHEAP!! The weather was absolutely perfect, and we had such great conversations!

After dinner, we walked down the road to the "Arts in the Heart" festival. Different booths were set up with art and jewelry, several stages for local bands, and food vendors from all over the world. It was alot of fun.... but ended up being freezing outside!
....there was also some creepy belly dancing....

The Burn Center

2011-09-17T21:43:00.000-04:00

On Thursday, I was asked to be a waitress for the Burn Unit dinner. Augusta has the #1 burn unit in the nation, and each year different churches prepare meals and offer places to stay for the families of the patients. This dinner was for the different churches that participate in preparing the meals. The board of the Doctors Hospital came, and there was a speaker who talked about the burn unit. They played a slide show of different burn victims and heard stories of different victims. It was heart breaking to watch and listen to these stories. We have to do one of our rotations at the burn clinic, so it was nice to go ahead and meet people from there and see what we will be working with.

This is my "family away from home" minus Kaitlyn. Mrs. Beth is the one that asked me to be a waitress. I am so thankful for this family and all that they have done for me just in the few weeks that they have known me.

Pet Therapy

2011-09-17T21:37:00.001-04:00

On Thursday, MCG had "Pet Therapy" for all the patients. I have to admit, that when I saw all these dogs walk in, I went straight to them and started petting them all. I think it was pet therapy for me!! Patients that could leave the room met in the lobby and petted the dogs and watched them do tricks. For the patients who could not leave their rooms, we took the dogs to each room and let the dogs do tricks for them. It was so sweet to see how the patients reacted to the dogs. You could definitely tell that it was therapy!! :)

Camp Sweet Life and Camp Strong Heart

2011-09-11T15:27:00.000-04:00

This weekend, we went to Camp Twin Lakes in Rutledge, GA. MCG Hosted Camp Sweet Life (for diabetic kids) and Camp Strong Heart (for kids with heart problems). Even though we were interns, we still got the chance to go!!

On the way down, I rode with my friend/intern Carrie!

Passing the other interns!

Stephanie and Tricia

eating our first dinner there...

The first night, we hosted a Carnival for all the patients..

Playing Minute to Win it...

We had been up since 5am... This is 11pm... Can you tell we were tired???

Tricia and I sitting with Heather... She was a Child Life intern at MCG last year..

Saturday night, we were responsible for setting up for a western hodown...

Me and the Lifesize western cut out!
Laura Merriem and I... the two blondes..
The interns...

****Cute story: A little 5 year old boy came up to me before the dance and tried his best to ask me to be his date and the dance.. He got the words "Mandy will you go with me....." but was too embarrassed to finish the rest! I spent the night dancing with that precious little boy! I have the cutest picture of us, but we arent allowed to post pictures of the kids :(
at the dance

The Child Life Specialist giving out awards...

....and accepting awards for all their hard work

Carrie!

The girl in red is one of the child life specialist.. she was teaching us the Cotton Eyed Joe dance.

this is the prayer we had to say before every meal

After the dance, the camp watched Soul Surfer on the lawn..

loading up luggage..

we were all so exhausted.

Our cabin.. with the creepy cat mailbox

This was by far a wonderful much needed weekend!! It was so much fun being with kids all day, and getting closer to the other interns!!! I am loving every day at MCG more and more!! I am so so so blessed!!!!!!

Border Bash

2011-09-11T15:23:00.000-04:00

Friday, MCG hosted a "Border Bash" pep rally at the hospital for the patients. UGA and USC had their big game on Saturday, so the cheerleaders game and put on for the patients!
If patients were too sick to come down to the lobby, the cheerleaders and mascots from both teams walked into each patients room to personally visit with them. I wish I could have taken pictures of the patients faces when they saw them!!

It was also neat that even though these 2 teams are rivals, they got along so well, and were so sweet and encouraging to the patients!!

I still cannot believe that I have this opportunity to be involved in such an amazing hospital! I could not ask for a better place to be!!

Happy BELATED Birthday, Daddy!

2011-09-11T15:17:00.001-04:00

I had the chance to go home last weekend to celebrate my Daddys birthday! I had been so homesick, so I figured that was the perfect weekend to go home and see him and the rest of the family!

Daddy,

I hope you had a wonderful birthday! I am so glad I was able to come home and celebrate with you! Thank you for all you have done for me and continue to do for me! I wouldnt be where I am today without you! I love you so much!!! Miss you!!!

Whats been up....

2011-08-30T15:53:00.000-04:00

This is my new friend, Kaitlyn Frits. There is a cool story about her... Two weekends ago, she met my brother at church in Valdosta. They went out to eat together and Andrew told her that he has a sister living in Augusta. She quickly told him that she is from Augusta and that her family always takes in college students to be their "family away from home". I got a phone call from her Saturday asking me to go to church with her family and then to eat lunch afterwards. Normally, I would be hesitant and said no, because I dont like doing things without thinking about it for a few days, but to my surprise, I said yes! I did not want to have another lonely weekend, and it would be so nice to have a "family" in Augusta. I met them at church, and immediately they took me in. I felt like I had known them for years, within the first 5 minutes of conversation. Afterwards, we ordered Firehouse Subs and went to their house to eat. She has such a sweet family, who deeply care about everyone. I am so thankful that the Lord put her in Andrews path, and that he felt like he should tell her about me.

This week, we had to sit out in the waiting rooms with patients and "entertain" them. We had word searches, markers, crayons, paper, and pipe cleaners. This is one of my creations. haha.. The kids thought it was cute so thats what matters :) We also taught them how to make flowers, their initials, and several other cool stuff.

This has been the highlight of my week so far. I was making rounds yesterday and took a little girl some paper and markers. She was so excited, but instead of wanting to do something for herself, she wanted to do something for me. She painted this for me, and on the back it says "I LOVE YOU" with her name and date. This is definitely on my fridge now!

Another highlight of the week so far:
I am doing my rotation on the oncology floor, so I am working with cancer patients all month. Well yesterday I met with this one patient who does not have high spirits. Lets just say I was able to get a smile and laugh out of him. They said he has not smiled or laughed in ONE MONTH! I almost burst into tears when I heard that... But thats not all..... I even got him to say he will challenge me to a game in the teen room of "Guitar Hero" ! He wanted to do it right then, but unfortunately, I had to go do something else... So that will be tomorrow!! :)

and last but not least... Here is a picture of Chanel, because I know all my family back home is missing her just as much as they are missing me!!

Superhero Day!!

2011-08-26T16:52:00.001-04:00

Today was Superhero Day at MCG! A group of superheros came to the hospital and visited each patient. Not only did they come and "play the part", they also brought special gifts to each patient including: barbies, action figures, video games, comic books, baby dolls, and so much more! I wish each of yall could have seen the patients faces when their favorite superhero walked into the room.. it was priceless!!

Today was a day I will never forget! I still dont know why God allowed me to be placed in such a wonderful place for an internship, but I am so thankful for each day at MCG!

Laura Lee...

2011-08-26T16:48:00.000-04:00

I am so late on posting this, but I have been so busy! I told whoever sent me a letter I would do a post just for them! (thats how bad I hate going to the mailbox to nothing!) sooo.. My first letter I got was from my new friend Laura Lee Fields!

When I say new friend, I mean NEW friend! When I was working at VERGE over the summer, I happened to meet Laura Lee on my last day there! She was so sweet and so full of energy and smiles, it was contagious! The very next day I happened to run into her at the bank, which I did not know she worked at! Guess that was Gods plan of starting out friendship!

Laura Lee, thank you so much for being so sweet to me these past few weeks! I am so thankful that I met you and have continued to keep in touch! You have been such a joy to be friends with in this short amount of time, and I cannot wait to be friends for many more years! Thank you so much for sending me my sweet letter! I felt like a little kid when I went to the mailbox! haha. I took a picture but for some reason its not uploading.

Love you Laura Lee!!

Day at the hospital...

2011-08-22T20:03:00.000-04:00

After a TERRIBLE weekend of being homesick more than I ever thought I could be, today was a MUCH better day. Saturday was so horrible. I did not want to talk to anyone. I cried from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed. I have never been that upset in my entire life. But today was great!!

The girls all came over to my place at 9 this morning to work on some homework. We didnt have to be at the hospital until 1:00 so it was nice to have a lazy morning!

This is one of my favorite pictures. We were on our break and were all mentally drained!

Tricia, Stephanie, and Laura Merriem

Me and Carrie
Stephanie striking a pose.
We were all sitting around waiting for "family dinner". Family dinner happens every Monday night. Different churches get together and bring food to the hospital for patients and their families. It was so neat to meet all the families and get to know them.

I think we are going to be the crazy ones ;)

Another high point of the day was a guy came in and played his guitar and sang songs to the patients by Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, and other popular artists. The kids were able to dance and sing in the microphone and have a break from all their different procedures. It was so much fun to sing and dance along with everyone. It was also cool to watch kids that were real depressed open up to us and let go of their worries for an hour!

Night on the town....

2011-08-20T20:51:00.000-04:00

Last night 4 of us interns went to a place called Boll Weevils. It has been such a long, draining week for us, so we wanted to get some good desserts. They had cakes, pies, and cheesecakes. Of course, I got the cheesecake with strawberry on top :) I have never seen slices as big as what they serve. It was definitely one of the best dessert places I have ever been to, and I am sure I will go there several more times during this internship.

One of the girls got this piece of cake.. I took this to show just how big the slices were.

Laura Merriem, Tricia, and Stephanie... The other intern (Carrie) had to go out of town for her brothers wedding.

Me, Rebeccah (Tricia and Stephanie's roommate), and Maggie (Laura Merriems best friend from highschool)

After we ate, we wanted to walk down to the river to take some pictures. It was absolutely gorgeous, but we learned our lesson for going down there late at night by running into some creepy guys.

We thought this thing was cool looking :)

1 week down, 31 more to go!

2011-08-19T17:42:00.000-04:00

WOW... This has been one of the busiest weeks of my entire life. I guess I didnt really realize how much harder "med-school" is than regular college!

Monday and Tuesday we had orientation that lasted from 8am -4pm. It was very draining!

I was able to come home to some sweet kisses from Chanel though!

On Wednesday we were able to meet with the managers/directors of Child Life. This is where we were assigned our first rotation, given our assignments for the ENTIRE 9 months, talked about the different camps we get to go on, and all the other information we need to know! I am SO excited, my first rotation is with pediatric oncology patients!! All of yall know cancer patients are who have my heart, so I cannot wait to start working with them! Its going to be such an emotional time, but I will treasure every second of it.

This is our "Big Fat Notebook"

Thursday, all the interns got together and had to come up with 48 different activities that we will have to do with infants/toddlers, school age children, and teens in the hospitals. Every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we will be hosting "developmental play groups" for these patients, with the activities we came up with. I was very proud of us, we came up with some VERY cool and creative ideas, Im looking forward to doing them myself!

Today, we had to go to a "Professionalism" seminar, with all the other new students of MCG, where the President/CEO and other important faculty welcomed us all to the college/hospital. One thing that was really neat, is one speaker talked about his daughter who had a type of cancer and was in and out of the hospital for years. He talked about how her favorite memory was "Camp Rainbow" (which we get to go to in January). Camp Rainbow is a camp for kids with cancer. He said that the Child Life Specialist were what kept her motivated to keep fighting off cancer. When asked who her best friend was, she replied "the child life specialists". She passed away a few years ago, but I thought it was so cool that he talked about Child Life Specialists in a room filled with doctors, dentists, and nurses. Most people do not know who we are, and I saw several students whispering to each other, "What are child life specialists". This brought tears to all of the interns eyes. We cannot wait to get into the field and make a difference to these patients!

MCG.. Day 1

2011-08-15T18:23:00.000-04:00

Stephanie, Carrie, Me, Laura Merriem, and Tricia

(the other interns)

I am blessed. I am scared. I am shocked. I am ready. I am nervous. I am going to have such a good time. I am going to miss my family. I am going to make friends. I am going to miss Anthony. I am emotional. I am humbled. I am missing home. I am growing up. I am lonely. I am learning to be independent. I am stepping out of my comfort zone. I can do this....

Today was day one of the internship.. nothing too exciting happened, it was just orientation. The exciting part does not happen until Wednesday!

On Saturday I got a text message from one of the interns (I had only met one of the interns at this point) saying they were all getting together for coffee and to pray about these next 9 months. I was in shock. I guess I was not expecting to have a group of strong Christian girlfriends. Alot of the anxiety I was having went away at this point. I could not think of a better way to start off this internship! I got to the girls house, worrying that I was going to be the "odd ball" of the group since Child Life was not my major, and since these girls were already good friends. They took me in like they've known me for years. We spent two hours talking about our expectations and goals of this internship. Before we left, Tricia said we all needed to get in a circle and pray for the year. It was so calming to be in a circle with 4 other girls hearing each one of them praying for these next 9 months. Praying that we will be a light in a dark time for children and their family members in a scary hospital setting. Praying that we will be best friends during this time. Praying that we will hold each other accountable for our actions on and off the hospital campus. Praying that we will find a way to talk about the Lord to patients.

I could not have asked for a better group of girls to be in this internship with me. God has been in this process from day one. He continues to amaze me during all of this. I am so excited to have a group of Christian girlfriends to work with and grow with together these next 9 months! I am excited to see what the Lord is going to do through us this next year!

Apartment Pictures....

2011-08-13T16:37:00.000-04:00

Everyone keeps asking for pictures of my new apartment, so here they are! I cant seem to get the spacing right, so I give up.. just ignore it!!

Mimi and I downtown before she left to go home.

The family.
My Mimi.

We did not realize my place was going to be this small, so I am having to send home a lot of furniture with my parents to put back into storage! I am not used to having white walls, but since I am only going to be here for 9 months, I figured it wouldnt matter ;)
Princess Chanel and her own bed. My bedroom. I am going to paint a picture to hang over my bed, so its not finished yet!

The front of my room.

The dining area.

The kitchen... we are still decorating the top of the cabinets! And I still have to go buy a microwave!
The living room.
Bathroom.

Mama, Daddy, and Mimi-

Thank you so much for all of yalls hard work you put in yesterday and today! I know I am not that strong, and that caused yall to have to work even harder! You will never know how much I appreciate all that yall have done! I love my new place, thanks to yall!

My Poppy and My G-daddy....

2011-08-11T22:25:00.000-04:00

Lets just say that I have the best grandfathers in the entire world... Here's why...

Isnt this bed so cute?!?! My G-daddy made it for me!! Mama showed my a picture in a magazine of something like this, and I just had to have it! Since I dont have any money, I decided to ask my Gdaddy if he thought he could make it. Without any hesitation, he said yes, and had it completed within 3 days! I am in LOVE with it. My mom distressed it (not shown in the picture) and it looks absolutely amazing!! My baby is so spoiled!!

I have never met someone who likes to fix things like my Poppy. I have a soft-top convertible mustang, and EVERY TIME it rains, the back of my car fills up with water... but not anymore, thanks to Poppy! He has spent money taking my car to shops to get it fixed (which didnt fix it), he has looked up new tops for my car, but today.... we found the problem! Poppy, thank you so much for not giving up! I am so excited to have a car that smells good now! :) I am going to miss you so much!!!!

The Last Date....

2011-08-11T22:08:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Anthony took the day off of work to spend our last day together. The day started with me getting my hair colored, then we got lunch, watched movies, made cds, went to Johnny Carinos for dinner, and Putt Putt for some fun time together!

Outside of Johnny Carinos! Both of us were so stuffed! We were going to go watch a movie, but figured we could have more fun doing something active... so we chose Putt Putt!
We have an ongoing battle at Putt Putt to see who wins. Sadly, I have only won once (because we said it was okay to cheat that one round). Unfortunately, Anthony won this time...

But I made the only hole in one!

happiness.
We always choose the first course, because we love the cave with the cricket noise!

Anthony,

You are amazing. Thank you so much for taking off a day of work to spend time with me before I move. You do not know how much that meant to me. I could not ask for a better boyfriend during this time of my life. Thank you for being so supportive and encouraging. Thank you for being a shoulder for me to cry on. Thank you for listening to all my fears and excitements. You always know the right thing to say. I am so blessed to have you. I am going to miss you far more than you can possibly imagine. Tonight was really emotional for me saying my goodbyes, but I think it made us even closer. These 9 months are going to fly by because we have each other to lean on! Thank you for everything! I love you so much!!

Goodbyes....

2011-08-11T21:57:00.000-04:00

Last Friday night, Grammy and Gdaddy took our family out to eat for a "going away dinner" for me and my brother. We went to Sunset Grill, and it was absolutely delicious!!! The worst part was saying our goodbyes at the end...

On Sunday, Mimi and Poppy had our family over for our "going away" lunch. I requested fried chicken and Andrew requested country fried steak, and for dessert we both agreed on butterfinger pie! Needless to say, it was delicious!!!
Andrew, Poppy, Me, Nanny, and Mimi ... some of my favorite people in the entire world!!!
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Monday morning my baby brother left for college :( I have dreaded this day for a long time! My brother is more than a brother to me, he is one of my best friends and a role model to myself and many others. Even though I hate to see him go, I know he is going to change Valdosta State University's campus for the good! He has such a loving heart and a desire to follow the Lord, I cannot wait to see what this next phase of his life is like!
Daddy saying his goodbyes..
Mama crying before he left :(

Thank goodness this picture wasnt zoomed, I had been crying too!

our final goodbye...

GOODBYES ARE SO HARD!!!!

Tallahasse shopping spree and St. Marks River

2011-07-31T22:09:00.000-04:00

For graduation, Anthony and his dad pitched in money to take me on a shopping spree to the Tallahassee mall! Yesterday, the shopping spree took place! I had so much fun picking out clothes, knowing I wouldnt be spending a penny! Haha. After we got done shopping, we went to St. Marks River and had a good time out on the boat.

Me and Anthony

Anthonys dad and his girlfriend, Ms. April

out on the boat.

We saw some manitees. It was so cool how close they got to the boat. They looked so sweet!

We also saw some cute little turtles.

Anthony & Mr. Chris-

Thank you so much for my "Mandy Day" yesterday! I had a blast with yall and am so thankful for yall! Thank you for being so supportive of me and encouraging! I love both of yall!

July 4th- Bible Study-Fashion Show

2011-07-31T21:46:00.000-04:00

For July 4th, our family goes out to Sherwood every year for the Freedom Fest fireworks. I didnt take many pictures, but it was so much fun!!

Me and Anthony at the fireworks.
My sweet friend/sister our at the fireworks.

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I have started going to a girls bible study on Thursdays. I hate that I just started going right before I move, but these girls have made a difference in my life, and I am so thankful for every one of them! I hate that several girls left before I could get a picture!

One of my best friends forever, Miss Ivy Laing

Some of the girls..

The small group leader, Charlye.. She is so sweet! Wish I could have met her a long time ago!

One of my newest and sweetest friends, Miss Katy Jane!
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I just had to put this picture on here... My sweet friend Jill, and the most precious little baby I have ever seen! So excited for you!!! :)
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I have been working at a new store downtown called VERGE. It is a vintage consignment store, with some of the cutest clothes! Last week we had a fashion show there, so here are some of the pictures!

Interview at the Medical College of Georgia.....

2011-07-31T21:23:00.001-04:00

I applied to three different hospitals for child life specialist internships, unfortunately, I was rejected to all three. I applied to MCG and they told me that they only accept interns from UGA. So I thought my dream was put on hold for a while... Well a few weeks ago, I got an email from MCG asking if I would be interested in a 9 month internship, and take classes from MCG. I thought it sounded to good to be true! They asked me to come up a few days later for an interview. My mama was just as excited as I was, so we booked a hotel, and headed to Augusta, GA.

This is the Childrens Medical Center at MCG.

The night before the interview, Mama and I went downtown and found the river walk. It was so beautiful! I knew right then that I wouldnt mind living in Augusta if I was offered the internship!

I felt like my interview went VERY good, but it took a while for them to get back with me. The lady who interviewed me sent me an email that said "We will put a letter in the mail tomorrow with our decision" I called Mama and began crying immediately. I just knew that was a NO.... Little did I know.......

My acceptance letter was on the way!!! I found out on my Mamas birthday while eating at the Cookie Shoppe downtown! I will never EVER forget that moment!!! The Lord has been with me every single step of this process, from meeting MCG doctors at Phoebe, talk of Phoebe buying Palmyra and turning it into a women and childrens hospital, getting an internship my FIRST time applying (it normally takes about 4 or 5 times applying to get an interview), as well as many other mind blowing ways! I am so blessed and excited to see what the Lord has planned during this process! I know its going to be something that will change the rest of my life!!

Our Macon Family...

2011-07-31T20:52:00.000-04:00

Uncle Mike, Aunt Pam, Hunter, and Taylor live in Macon, so we do not get to see them that much. Luckily, they came down for a day this summer and we were able to hang out for a little bit!!

Fathers Day

2011-07-31T20:26:00.001-04:00

I am VERY late, but just found my camera cord to upload pictures... Here are some pictures from Fathers Day....

Happy Fathers Day- Daddy, Gdaddy, and Poppy! We love you!!!!

Happy Birthday Ivey!!

2011-06-12T19:46:00.000-04:00

Today is my good friend, Ivey's birthday! I dont get to see her that often, so I was so excited I was able to see her on her birthday!!!

some of the girls at her party.
The birthday girl!!!

Me and one of my favorite people ever, Paige!

....more girls!

Donna P and Amanda Leigh

Happy Birthday Ivey!! I love you SO much!! I hope you had a wonderful day!!!!!