2,800 Miles

We took a vacation!! :) After my test on June 16th we left from Indianapolis to visit Nick's side of the family in Florida. It is over a 20 hour trip and over 2,800 miles round trip! Here are some pictures of the state welcome signs. (side note: I did not like the picture of the FL sign that I got and do not feel that it is blog worthy, so I am leaving it off, but I do promise we were in FL. Also I decided to leave the Georgia sign off too, the picture was not very good!) We drove through Indiana (obviously), Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and then all the way through Florida to his dad's place in Doral and then to his mom's place in Cape Coral. To say the least we were able to become quite acquainted with our car. :)
I was so excited to actually have time to read books other than Nursing books. I have never been a big reader, but after such an important test it was nice to just relax and read something that I didn't have to focus on and remember the information. The books that I read all the way through during our drive were 90 minutes in heaven, 5 love languages of a married couple, and Fireproof! I loved them all. There were times that I cried and laughed. Poor Nick he must have thought that I lost my mind, but I seriously enjoyed all of the books so much!


On our first day of driving I was done with my test by 10 am and we drove until 10 pm and stopped in Georgia about 30 minutes from FL! On our second day of driving we left in the morning and got to Florida around 3ish in the afternoon...I think?!? I'm forgetting the details already. On our first day we went to Nick's dad's place and spent some time with him. While we were there, he took us to Ft. Lauderdale beach, Key West, where we snorkeled and spent the night, and we also were able to spend Father's day with him. After we took him out to breakfast for Father's day we left to drive to Cape Coral where we spent some time with his mom and sister. When we started the long trek back home we stopped in Georgia again for the night, but then instead of driving all the way back to Indiana, we stopped in Kentucky to see my brother, sister in law, and niece.

Here is a picture of Uncle Nick and Maddie in the truck on the way to Mike's softball game! :) So cute!! We don't love our niece or anything!! :)
We had a great trip and loved seeing family that we haven't had the chance to see for awhile! Now it's back to real life. So happy I was able to receive the news from my dad over vacation that I passed my test and became an RN. We were in FL at a gas station when I found out!! :)

NCLEX-RN

So I really don't even know where to start. It has been so long since I have sat down to blog. I have a half written blog, but never posted it so, we will just move on. :)

On June 16th, 2009 I sat down to take the biggest test I will ever have to take in my whole life and guess what....I PASSED!!! I just have to say...God is so good! So now you can officially refer to me as Allison Doyle, RN BSN!! :) haha

It's amazing to think back on the past 6 years and feel like things were not going to work out, but to be here now and see that things did work out and see all of the little things that I missed along the way.

Before I even took my test I was feeling so overwhelmed with all of the topics that I needed to reveiw and study to be prepared and after talking to a friend of mine who had already taken the test she told me to just pray that God would reveal what topics I needed to focus on and let those be what I studied the most, so I did and it worked! It was amazing to me how the things that I focused more on or I knew were difficult topics for me so I studied them more and those were the questions that I had on my test!

So then on my test day I really was not nervous, I tried to not let myself think about the fact that this was a test to get my license, but just a regular test for school that I had been taking for the past 6 years. Also, Nick has this crazy calming effect on me, I can even remember from the wedding day I had people tell me that they couldn't believe I was getting married because I was not more nervous, but I guess when something is right and is going to work out, it just does!! :)

So back to the test....I get easily distracted....Okay...the morning of the test I was there with plenty of time, they didn't even have the door unlocked yet and I was the 1st person there, but I still just stayed calm and when the doors were finally unlocked I got #1 and was the first person to register (give them my authorization to test #, driver's license, and index fingerprint) this was serious business, they want to make sure no one else is taking the test for you, so here is where things get good. I totally felt like numerous little things happened during that morning where God was reassuring me to stay calm and trust in Him.

For instance, before I went in to take the test I went to the bathroom and there were automatic soap dispensers....this doesn't seem like a big deal, but just a few weeks before that my friend from school proved to me how gullible I am by telling me to check out the "automatic soap dispensers" at this outlet mall we went to, but they did not have them, so I just had to laugh when I actually did have the automatic soap dispensers at the testing site, also all through school at Bethel the instructors would always pray for us before a big test, and it was so encouraging to me that right before I went into the room to sit down at my computer that the guy who was proctoring the test told me that I had nothing to worry about because they were all out there praying for me....just what I needed to hear at exactly the right time, but that's not it!!

The best part of all....because I was the first person in the room the guy proctoring the test kept talking to me until I was seated at the computer and he told me, "Allison if you need anything during the test just let me know, my name is Alfred." I was in shock...I asked him, "What did you say your name is?" he said, "Alfred" for those of you who don't know....that was my grandpa Isley's name! That's not a very common name either...so after that I knew things would be okay!! Like I said before...God is good!!

Things were ok...because I passed and I've reached my goal to become a Nurse. It was not always easy and I was stretched further than I ever thought I could be to points of feeling like I was going to break or fail and not go on,but here I am. Done with school and with letters after my name to boot!! :)

No More working for Free!!!!

So I just had to post quick and say....I am all done with clinicals! I have been doing clinicals for 3 years now, once sometimes twice a semester so if you add that up I have had 8 different areas of clinicals. It won't officially hit me until next week on Thursday when I won't have to get ready for clincals, but work if I signed up to work. :) It's amazing, bittersweet, sad, and scary all at the same time. Let me explain, as graduation gets closer, the more I realize that soon I will be working as a Nurse and I will be responsible for people in a professional way and let me tell you...that freaks me out! I am ready though! I am ready to be done with school, no longer have homework and sometimes worthless homework that is not beneficial at all, no more e-journals each week (hallelujah), I will be able to move on in my marriage and Nick and I will finally be able to experience a relationship not involving school, but just work. I will be able to figure out who I am as a person, not a student! :) Can you tell I have been in school for sooooooooo long. I won't know what to do with all of my free time. :) Especially in Nursing, you work your 2 or 3 days and then you are done until your next 2 or 3 days!
I am so grateful though! I am so glad that I've had to work soooooo hard to get into Nursing school and so hard to stay in it! I will appreciate my license so much! I hope I will not turn cold to what Nursing is all about. I hope I will always remember what Nursing school was like, the comradery that you build up with your fellow students, because you are all struggling together. I hope I will never forget. I don't think I will. :)
Well that's all for now. I will have more time to blog now too...so..we'll see what's to come.

I have good reasons why......Promise!

Okay, So it has been a loooong time again! I have good reasons why it has taken me so long to blog something though. Here is my list of excuses:
1. I am in my last semester of school and there is a lot of "busy" work that has been assigned this semester.
2. I have been applying for jobs online and getting completely bummed about the options out there.
3. I have been trying to work more, but just in this last week I've been put on call a lot!
4. I went to visit my niece, Maddie, over Spring Break....and that was fun!!
5. I always make time to spend with Nick when we are both home...except right now. :)
6. There are a lot of really good shows on T.V right now...such as...Biggest Loser, American Idol, Hell's Kitchen, Jon and Kate plus 8, Toddlers in Tiaras, Survivor....and the list goes on.
7. I have clinicals twice a week until midnight so I do nothing once I get home. (I only have 2 more weeks of clinicals though) Yay!!!!

I think that list will do for right now. :)

I did start a blog awhile ago that I need to finish....it was back in February when we celebrated Grandma Nettie's birthday. Also, I should write one about Spring Break, my IKEA purchases, there is much more to come.



~Allison

Nettie Cleo

On February 15th we celebrated my Grandma Nettie's birthday! How else...well going to Ponderosa of course! :) It is somewhat funny, Grandma hardly ever eats anything, but we are able to get her to eat when she goes to Ponderosa. Of course compared to the rest of us she doesn't eat much, but I think she enjoyed the day.
On her birthday we didn't do anything else after taking her to Ponderosa, but we did spend about 2 hours there just talking, eating, and having fun! I love my Grandma! When they sang Happy Birthday to her...but of course it was the Pondo way she had the biggest smile on her face. This picture shows it all.

I feel so blessed that growing up I lived only 5 minutes away from Grandma's house. I love the memories that I have going to her house to have her babysit me and we were able to spend time watching The Price is Right, picking strawberries in a field behind her house, walking up and down the road to her neighbor's houses to visit with people, and most of all just spending time together. Grandma is one of the strongest, most Godly women that I know. She has been an incredible example for me on how to live your life and love your family. She will never know the depth of how much I appreciate her and all of the time that I was able to spend with her growing up. I wish life wouldn't have gotten so hectic and I was still able to spend the same amount of time with her now. I know that I am the stubborn person I am today because of her! I love you Grandma!!!


~Allison

It's always good to vent a little.....

Well Hello...it has been forever! There really hasn't been a whole lot going on

other than the same boring thing EVERY single week. Can you tell I'm not

amused with my school/work schedule right now? Here is what my schedule looks like

Mon: Class from 300-430 and sometimes a Nursing Student Affairs Meeting

Tues: Class from 9am-12noon

Wed: Off Class, but I usually work 7p-1a

Thursday and Friday: Clinicals from 3p-1130p

Sat: Work 7p-7a

Sun: Sometimes work 7p-1a....just depends on if I signed up or not. :)



So it doesn't sound too busy, but in someways that is my problem. Due to the fact that I don't really have early classes that means I don't go to bed at a good time and I sleep in waaayyy too long and don't really do a whole lot like I should. For example homework, clean, or just be productive in some way! :) It is really bad! It is actually getting to the point of annoying me, but I don't know if I can break these horrible habits. Oh yeah, I should be doing more to prepare for NCLEX...you know that big test I have to take to become an RN so I should change my nasty habits soon.



I have applied for a few jobs...so who knows. I kinda feel that it is too early to really hear back on any of them. We will see.



Well I guess I should get back to work. :) I needed to vent a little bit first.



Oh that reminds me....the last time I worked I got yelled at by a day tech. In some ways it cracked me up because she was way out of line and just acting very unprofessional and like a jerkface, but I let her have it. :) Just kidding...I did stand up for myself though because like I said...she was WAY out of line.



Yay Valentine's Day is coming up. Nick and I will be celebrating our 5th Valentine's Day together...Awww :) We can't really afford to do anything special so...we'll probably just be lazy at home together...I still think that is a good night any time!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!





~Allison

Randomness......

I really don't have much to blog about. I did want to put up a couple of the pictures that I took on New Year's eve. We really did not do a whole lot on New Year's. We are total homebodies...that is for sure!
It's hard to even remember now what we did. :) I think we just watched movies until midnight and then turned on the TV to watch the ball drop and that was about it. We of course had to have champagne though!







On a different note...we have been back in school for a week and a half or two weeks, but we have both had 1 snow day already! :) I have to say I have not been the greatest with my homework so far. I get it done, but I've had ample opportunity to get it done early and I do NOT take advantage of that...it's a very bad quality. Also, right now I am in Med Surg clinicals...Ugh..not my fave! Oh..here is a picture of me in my scrubs the first day of clinicals..haha.


I am really hoping that after this last and final rotation of my nursing school career I will be able to find some clarity in what kind of nursing I want to go in to. I love OB and women's health, which it would be great to possibly get an office job after we have kids, but I think it might be a good idea to get a background in something that isn't as specialized too. I don't know what to do! Ahhh! :) I love and hate that with Nursing you have so many options. It really complicates things when you have options sometimes. Enough of me rambling about this. :)

You may have noticed that in my last post, which was short and to the point it was about a blogger named Kelly and her newborn baby, Harper. I highly encourage you to read her blog if you have time. Her faith and commitment in God is amazing! It's also amazing how many people in the "blog world" have huddled behind her and her family during this really difficult time that they are going through. It's a really fun read too. :) It cracks me up...I hate reading books, but I can sit all night on the computer reading other people's blogs. Hmm...

I suppose I should do something tonight before Nick gets home from work...you know..try to be a good wife. :)


~Allison