Breathing a Sigh of Relief

Whew- this weekend is done. I am not excited that tomorrow is already Monday, but I am so glad my "to do" list for this weekend is done. B's office Christmas party was great and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. The baby shower I had here today went off without a hitch and even though we only had a few people, I really enjoyed the adult time and my house is cleaner than it has been in about a year. B took the girls to see the Nutcracker ballet for the first time while I had the shower. It was fulfilling a lifelong dream for Emmaline and she is more excited about taking ballet now than ever. I have done a lot of thinking this weekend. It was one of those "one thought leads to another" things. I had heard before the Christmas party that one of the other few privately-owned pediatric practices here was really struggling and was being bought out by the hospital. I felt for those docs. B was told when he wanted to open his practice "You'll never make it. You should not do that. Private practices rarely survive." Etc.... We had to go to 5 banks before we found one that would take a leap of faith and loan us the money to open the practice. Then it was a lot of work and prayer for several years after that. When I went to the Christmas party Friday night, I looked around the room at all the staff and it was just amazing to me at how we have been blessed. Our first party was held at our home with about 12 people (that included staff spouses). Now,8 years later, we have about 45 people in the room. God has been so good to us. I was asked several times this weekend what my plans are for my career. I know I was not "called" to do phone triage, but while the girls have been young and not in all-day school it has been wonderful to be able to do that. I really want to go back to Pediatric Oncology (where my heart is and where I spent 10 years of my nursing career). But, I don't want to go back to working weekends and holidays- that time is too valuable to me at this point. I have decided that after we move and the girls start school next Fall, I am going to get certified in Grief Counseling. I've come back to that over and over for the past year. It is something I had to do as a Pediatric Oncology nurse quite often and it was the area I felt the most equipped and comfortable in. It will allow me to work in the area God has called me to and do the thing I feel like I need to be doing. That led me to another thought. I had a few patients on the Pediatric Oncology unit that made an impact in my life permanently. I thought I would take the next few days to honor them and tell their stories. I want to share their stories as a tribute to them and also just to share the experiences I had with them with others and maybe have a positive impact on someone else through their stories. So, this week will be dedicated to the children in my heart who aren't biologically mine (not all of them have passed away). I loved all of my patients, but a few of them touched my soul and those are the ones I want to talk about. I hope I can do them justice with my renditions. I think they would be really happy that I was sharing them with other people. For now, I am pooped, so it is off to bed and up for a manic Monday in the morning. Hope everyone has a great week~