Helping Others

Tonight I went out with some people in my nursing program and we were doing search and rescue with the Union Gospel Mission in the White Center area. I’ve helped pass out food on skid row in LA and served food at the Everett Gospel Mission before, but this is the first time I’ve been able to help pass out things other than just food.

It was a completely humbling experience. Going into it I was careful to not to carry judgments. People are homeless for a variety of reasons. You can’t assume that all homeless people are addicted to drugs or are lazy and don’t work. These are hard times. Did you know that the largest numbers of people that are becoming homeless now are families with small children? Many people are just a few paychecks away from losing it all.

Working at the hospital and especially in the ER I have run into a lot of homeless people. It makes me really sad when I see them treated as second class citizens. They are people with feelings too. One thing we were talking about tonight is how that not everyone that is homeless has a mental disorder, but the longer a person is homeless the more likely they are to develop some sort of mental disorder because nobody talks to them. I think we need to be more intentional in talking to people. I always try to make sure that I talk to homeless people like anyone else I would talk to. They can also go a long time without being touched too so tonight there was also a lot of hand shaking and putting my hand on people’s shoulders. We prayed for people too. It was amazing to see how receptive they were to prayer and I wasn’t the one that initiated it.

Tonight I didn’t meet a single person that was rude or angry that we were passing out things to people in need. Almost everyone thanked us for coming around. I talked to a number of guys that just recently became homeless and they really had nothing other than the clothes on their backs. Everyone was so grateful. It was wonderful being able to go to the van and get people blankets, socks, jackets, sandwiches and hot chocolate. What was hard was when we started running out of things that people needed. It broke my heart when I was talking to these people that had nothing and I could not provide them with what they needed. It was a cold and wet night tonight, but unfortunately we went out without gloves because there were not any to give away. Almost every person asked if we had gloves and after the first person asked me for gloves I no longer had any to give away because I gave him mine. I really did enjoy going and helping pass things out and I would like to be able to do it on a more regular basis.

I’m not trying to make people feel guilty here, I promise! With me being in school and not working things are tight for Nick and I. Sometimes I get sad because it would be nice to be able to go and do more fun things, but we have survived. Our way of life has changed and very rarely do we ever go to get coffee, if we do we often share. If we ever eat out it will be something that is pretty cheap or I might have a coupon for. Can anyone say Costco date? I only suggest that one for the married folks or the super serious daters because the burps are something else J

I am bringing all this up because recently I have been feeling convicted in the area of helping others. As a Christian I am called to do more and give more. Even though things are tight for us and we don’t have a lot of things or money our “not much” is way more than what others have. This is a good time of year to start thinking about others and how we can help. When I got the mail the other day I saw that my World Vision gift giving catalog had arrived. There are a lot of things in there that don’t cost much, but can make a huge impact. Some of the gifts are even being multiplied 11 times due to corporate sponsors. What a great bang for your buck! My nursing cohort has decided to adopt a family with 4 teenagers through the YWCA. I’m excited to see us come together and help others.

Okay, I’ll be honest. I lied. I’m sorry! It wasn’t my original intent, but I just changed my mind. I’m a girl, can you blame me? The thing is I want to challenge you, whoever you might be, to do something to help others. There was this one time when my dad had been laid off of work on my birthday. He kept looking for jobs, but was unemployed my entire 5^th grade school year. I remember that time was tough on my family. My sisters and I kept getting sick with strep throat and tonsillitis every month. Our pediatrician was kind enough to give us enough sample antibiotics when he could so we didn’t have to get a prescription. We didn’t turn on the heat in the house and only heated the family room with the fire place. The wood we burned to keep us warm was from pallets we had gathered from behind the local stores. Our family was the family that received the food basket from the food drive at school. I still remember the people coming and bringing us Christmas presents. I can’t imagine how hard that time was on my parents. They did everything they could to take care of us and help our family survive. (Note to mom and dad: You guys did a great job and I am a better person for everything that we have gone through. Thank you!) Those were the hardest time for my family and there are other families and people that experience even more. Having gone through that it makes me want to help others.

Do you have some extra things laying around that can be donated someplace? Check your cupboards and donate to the local food bank or a food drive. There are plenty of families that could use it. As you unpack the winter wear are there some items that no longer fit or have been replaced with something newer and nicer? There are places that can use that too. Also, anyone that has extra money, well I’m sure you know that any organization will be happy taking that off your hands J Are you bored all the time and looking for things to do? There are lots of places that could use volunteers! If you have extra stuff you want to donate someplace and you don’t know where, just ask and I would be happy to help direct you.

With my nursing program we did a health fair at Mary’s Place in Seattle. Mary’s Place Day Center is a weekday program that provides a welcoming and accepting environment where homeless women and their children can build community, enrich their days and find resources to restore their lives. Mary’s Place does some great things. They are looking for volunteers and donations if you are interested. Contact information for Mary’s Place: 314 Bell Street Seattle, WA 98121 Phone: 206-621-8474, office@marysplaceseattle.org, http://marysplaceseattle.org/Marys_Place/Home.html. Donations may dropped off weekdays between 9:00am - 2:30pm or at other hours by appointment. Here is a link to what they could use: http://marysplaceseattle.org/Marys_Place/How_to_Help.html

The rescue we went on tonight was through Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission - Tonight when I was talking with the person in charge they said they can use all sorts of things, but what they never have enough of are hats, gloves (the $1 one size fits all ones are great), scarves, tampons, rain ponchos and jackets with hoods. Donation Link: https://secure3.convio.net/ugm/site/Donation2?df_id=1220&1220.donation=form1&JServSessionIdr004=kxkyr4m4n2.app306b Also, if you have time this is a great place to volunteer. They never turn willing volunteers down. Here’s how you can get connected with volunteering: http://www.ugm.org/site/PageServer?pagename=howtohelp_volunteers

Check out World Vision’s Gift Catalog: http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/pages/give-a-gift-change-a-life-v2?open?open&campaign=1193519&cmp=KNC-1193519&gccode=animals You can change a person’s life with big and small donations.

Finally, I’ve got a big challenge for you. Don’t decide right this second, but think about it and then decide. Do you want to make an impact all year long and not just around the holidays? Yes? Then sponsor a child. There is no time commitment, just donate a little money and help a child receive some food and an education. You can change the world of the child you sponsor. There are a lot of programs out there for child sponsorship. We currently sponsor 4 children through International Child Care Ministries: http://www.childcareministries.org/sponsor/index.php. In the past I had also sponsored a child through World Vision and then she graduated out of the program. You can check out World Vision too if you would like: http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/about/sponsorship-faqs?Open&campaign=1193512&cmp=KNC-1193512

Thank you for taking the time to read this. May you have a blessed holiday season!

~Stephanie

Countdown to Taiwan: 80 days!
Countdown to Graduation:  174 days!

Reflection on this week and Grandmas

This was a crazy and interesting week in nursing school. There was a ton of stuff going on and honestly, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with everything that had to be done. What I was looking forward to most about the week was just being done. Actually, next weekend is quite chaotic too, so truly I was looking forward to making it through to next weekend.
The main reason I wanted to study nursing at Northwest is because it is a Christian program. I wanted to be able to study nursing in an environment that would challenge my faith, instead of a program that would being challenging because of my faith. Due to the Christian aspect of our program there are assignments that are very different from other programs.

I was really excited about the opportunity to have lunch with the senior women at Calvary Christian Assembly, CCA, on Thursday. Having attended Marysville Free Methodist Church for the first 26 years of my life I became close with many of the seniors there. Even though I did not know these ladies at CCA, I knew it would almost feel like going home and sitting with the ladies I love and that watched and helped me grow up. These wonderful ladies at CCA are going to be our prayer partners for when we go on our international trips in February.

I was privileged to have an opportunity to meet a wonderful lady named Vera and I feel very blessed to call her my prayer partner. As soon as she introduced herself my heart started to do something crazy that I cannot even explain. It is quite possible that I began to tear up.

I think it is very special that this Vera will be my prayer partner because almost 2.5 years ago Grandma Gill passed away and her name was Vera. Grandma Gill was a wonderful lady and was very special to us. She was always a big supporter with school and life in general. There was a point when her health was declining and she could not really communicate with us well. One day when I was visiting her I told her that I was going to be going back to school to be a nurse and she started crying. I know Grandma Gill would be proud of me and what I am doing, and sometimes it is hard not to have her here with us.

Grandma Gill passed away on Father’s day 2009 the day before my Anatomy and Physiology II final. She hadn’t been doing well for a while, but for so long she had been in poor health that I didn’t actually think she would be going anytime soon. It was really hard when Nick came home and told me. We talked, cried and cuddled for a bit. Eventually I went back to studying for my final because that is what my grandma would have wanted. She was so proud that I was going to be a nurse, so I had to focus and learn so I could make her proud.

As I drove to my final the next day it finally hit me that my grandma was gone, I let it all out and I stared bawling like crazy. When I got to school I told my professor what happened. He said that I could have an extension if I would like and take the final the next week, but I just wanted to take the final so I could be done with it and then I could focus on my family stuff. I decided that because of everything that was going I would be okay if I didn’t get the most amazing grade ever and just wanted to at least pass. As soon as I got my final I sat there and I prayed. I prayed that God would help me focus my mind for those two hours on everything that I had studied and that I would make my grandma proud. Here is how God is crazy sometimes. When I looked at my grade for that class I was floored. Somehow, I ended up with a higher grade AFTER my final then I had going into the final. My professor must have thrown out some questions because there had not been extra credit and I got a 102% on my final! That was also enough to bring my grade up from the A- I thought I was getting to an A.

I think about Grandma Gill a lot when I am working with patients. I think about the people that were so nice and took care of Grandma Gill like she was their own grandma when we couldn’t be there and help her ourselves. The first month of clinicals I was in a long term care facility and as I provided care for each of the patients I imagined they were my grandma or grandpa. To this day I still try and treat each and every one of my patients like they are close and special family members. It is important to me that each of my patients are given the loving and gentle care that my grandma received and the loving and gentle care I would have given her if I could have been there. To have a Vera here, even though it is not my grandma, as part of my prayer support is amazing and I am grateful to have her.

~Stephanie

Countdown to Taiwan: 101 days!
Countdown to Graduation:  195 days!

Here I am!

Hi! Thanks for stopping by!

I’ve created this blog so people can try and stay in the loop with what is going on with my life. Recently I have been horrible about calling, emailing, sending Facebook messages or even returning texts. Maybe, just maybe I’ll be able to put some interesting stories and other fun things on here :-)

Today at school we had the first official meeting regarding the upcoming trip with the nursing program. One of the things they mentioned was starting a blog so family and friends would know about all of our experiences while we are away. So, here we are and Taiwan here I come! We got the tentative travel dates and we are currently looking at leaving on February 1^st at 1:00 am and getting back home on March 2^nd at 5:25 pm. I am super excited!!! However, I do feel a little pang of guilt leaving Nick behind and going on a crazy month long adventure.

Blog #1 has been a success! I have effectively avoided doing homework for too long… Maybe I should spend time on my study guide for this week's Pediatric's exam, or take a nap...

Thanks again for stopping by!

~Stephanie

Countdown to Taiwan: 109 days!

Countdown to Graduation: 203 days!