Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It's back to work we go!!!

It's been a while since I posted, but there is good reason for that.  :)  For one, I started work last week.  Orientation actually.  So there wasn't really much to talk about.  And second, I started work last week, so I had no time. lol  But orientation is over and I started actual work in the OR yesterday.  But before I get to that, let me back up and let you know what's been going on with the Noble's.

I ended my last post with our morning out a couple saturdays ago.  Well we went to church that evening and then went back to church Sunday night for a service called the Presbytery.  It is a time of prophetic ministry.  It was really cool.  A couple days later, Sean and I finally talked about the service.  I asked him if the Lord spoke anything to him and he said no, not really.... but two things did stand out to him.  As he told me both, I just laughed because the Lord spoke to me about the same two things, specifically.  He didn't believe me at first but then I read to him something I wrote in my phone regarding it.  It was pretty cool.  God is good!

Monday I started work, 8-5, everyday for a week!  Although it was really hard getting up every morning, it was very nice to finally get out of the house and be 'off of vacation', so to speak, and back to real life.  As for Sean, he was slightly dreading the week as a full time dad.  Now don't misunderstand this.  He LOVES being with Emery.  However, like most men, he is not made to do that job.  The first night I came home to find him drained.  After that I prayed for him every day and he had a way better mindset the rest of the week.  His spirits were up and he was enjoying, for the most part, his time with his baby.  As for me, I met the girl I sat next to in orientation.  Her name is Bernadette, and she is from Nigeria.  We became fast friends and hung out all week.  She was hilarious!  We laughed ourselves silly!  It made for a much more fun week!  I also met two other girls who just moved from Cali.  One 2 weeks ago, also and the other in June.  Of course, we all work in different departments and different shifts, so I'm sure it will be rare that our paths will cross.  But God willing....

Saturday, we headed out early in the morning on our first sight seeing day.  We first headed to my hospital and I showed Sean around.  I got starbucks and then headed out to the Labrinth, which is a prayer garden that winds its way around to the center.  They explain that as you go in, you lay your burdens and prayers down, contemplate at the fountains in the center and then as you walk out, you walk out leaving those cares behind. It is beautiful.  They really have such a wonderful chaplain program at Cook.  I was really impressed when they came to talk to us in orientation.  Then we headed downtown Fort Worth to the Water Gardens.  Sean heard about them and wanted to check it out.  It was awesome!  We walked around to each water feature. I think there were four.  While it was not that hot of a day, it was horribly humid.  I think it was the first, truly humid day we've had since we've been here.  61% and 88-90 deg.  I literally had sweat pouring down my face, back, arms, legs, on and on.  But we just kept going and enjoyed our time there.  Its weird... I really thought I would be more disgusted with it, causing me to be irritable and cranky.  But it really didn't bother me at all.  It just is what it is and you go with it.  We had a great day together, until.... we got home, put Emery down, and tried to sleep.  She wouldn't let us.  Sean let me sleep a little longer but we were both wasted!  We went to church that night with Emery only having one 30 minute nap.  But she was great!

 This one was crazy cool!  It was so loud when you got down in there... we took turns :)

 The Quiet Water Garden... very peaceful.  All the surrounding walls had water running down them.

 The Flat Iron Building... seems every big city has one

 cruising downtown

Well... with a severely humid day comes, I'm learning, a big storm!!!  This is how it seems to go...  humidity ----> big storm, thunder, lightning, rain ----> humidity clears.   So its really not that bad.  So after a humid, hot day, we went to church that night and came out to a torrential downpour!  It was crazy!  And here I am in a very springy top, skirt and very tall wedges!  All the guys were running out to the cars and pulling them up while all the women and children waited outside under the overhang.  It was pretty funny.  It rained like that for 20 of the 30 min drive home.  Sean could barely see.  If it wasn't for it getting dark and Emery hungry and getting cranky, he would have pulled over and waited it out.  But as we got closer home, it lightened up a little.  We got home safe and sound.

Sunday, we relaxed in the morning and then headed over to Luke and Kathy's for a movie day with them and the Caughrans, both our friends who moved from Fresno.  We had lunch and then the girls watched the long version of Pride and Prejudice and the guys (and the Carlson daughters) went upstairs to the media room to watch The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  We both got through half of the movies.  We plan to continue them next Sunday! :) Then we had pizza for dinner and some more movies and home around 9pm.  It was a long, but very fun day!

Monday, I started work.  It was a very pleasant and easy day.  I worked in Urology.  While most things are very familiar, there are some major differences as well.  First of all, the circulating nurse doesn't do much.  The Anesthesia MD starts the IV, the Nurse Anesthetist runs the IV lines, they do paper charting.... basically the Circ RN orders meds from pharmacy for the day and then does not much else (for typical cases) except bring the patient in, chart, go-fer, and take patient to PACU.  I'm sure I'll see more as the days go on, but that was the gist of what I got out of it.  The RN goes straight from PACU to Day Surgery and picks up the next kid and everything is ready for her when she arrives with the patient to the OR room.  It's crazy!  5 min turn around! (that will only mean something to those that have worked in the OR... lol)  But overall, I had a fun day.  My preceptor is great and super nice!  Everyone was very welcoming.  But despite the easy day, I was drained by the time I got home and started to relax.  I could hardly stay awake. lol

Today (yeah! we caught up!), I met up with my friend, Kathy at her house and we packed up our coffee (on a budget!) and she and her oldest daughter, Brianna, took us to the Galleria Mall in Dallas.  It was a lot of fun.  Though we did do a little bit of shopping, it was mainly lazily walking and talking through the 4 story mall (with an ice skating rink!!!).  We had a great time.  We headed back to her house, ate lunch and I put Emery down for a nap.  We watched Monte Carlo, a cute teenage movie, and relaxed while it continued to rain outside (only in the 70's today!!!!).  They finally both had to leave for an appt and Emery was still sleeping, so I hung out and finished the movie.  Emery woke up just after they returned in which we then headed home (around 4:00).  It was a lot of fun.  It's so much easier to relax at someone else's house since you have no responsibilities there! lol  Emery and I came home, ate dinner, bathed, and went to bed (well, she did... at 6:50.... to only have fallen asleep a little while ago around 8:20!!!  she was hilariously playing in her crib! ugh... silly girl)   Today is Sean's first day of work and is working the closing shift.  So it is a quiet evening at home alone.  And I'll be heading to bed very soon.  5am come way too early!  We are doing great!  Continuing to work through little issues of marital bliss (hehe), communication, parenting and the like.  But it's been a really good thing.  We really feel like a solid unit for once.  Not so pulled in so many directions.  The Lord is really doing a work! Praise God for how much He loves us and takes time with us!