It's starting...

The business of the nursing program has kicked into full gear as you can tell by my lack luster posts the last two nights adding up to a big, old ZERO!

Things are really busy around here too. It's hard to want to study with the laughter leaking through the walls. It sucks me in. I want nothing more than to throw all my books down and just be irresponsible, stick it to the man....But the man I'd be sticking it to is myself *long dramatic sigh*, and I don't want to sabotage myself. It's tempting.

Then there's the part of me that hears my mother's voice, her words tucked safely in my bones: School is important, study hard. (She almost always tells me this between conversations on the phone, thanks mom. No, really, Thank you.) I didn't listen to her studying advice until college, and I've come to know through the years that you don't want to live out a path of not following sage advice. Yes, we mostly have to learn on our own. But if we can save ourselves the trouble of not learning on our own, the big things at least, then it would be better for
So I avoid leaving the confines of my room that has become where I work, sleep, think, dream, hope, imagine what two years down the road will look like, and study, study hard.

I haven't bought all the books I need yet, only the two so far. I am feeling a little nervous about that, but am really trying to trust God for all those pretty pennies I need to collect to buy those books.

Does anyone else have a problem finding iphone chargers that actually charge your phone well?
I am having a terrible time with finding ones that don't short out, including the ones from apple.

If anyone has some good advice about where to get a longer lasting iphone cord, please share!

Love,

Amber

Incase you wanted to know.

Saturday I got a rather troubling piece of mail.

There it sat, in my hands from the Oregon State Board of Nursing, a letter I was anticipating. Looking at the size of the envelope, I thought it seemed to kind of...well, immense for just a simple letter stating that I was licensed to be a CNA in not only Idaho, but also Oregon.

To my dismay, the letter stated no such thing.  I've been waiting so long to actually start working in Oregon, and this has been the hold up that has prevented me from starting.

The words on the page said something to the effect that the Oregon State Police had accepted my fingerprints, but the FBI couldn't use the very same prints due to their low quality.

Why would one red-tape organization readily accept them, but another governmental branch scoff at my prints and put a big, old, fat rejection stamp across them? Ugh! How Rude!

I didn't think much of it, but I definitely felt like there was a bustle in my hedgerow over this news. I went to the bank and got the $7.50 for the new fingerprints, because I couldn't even think about arguing with someone who could easily just throw me in a cell since it's conveniently located an entire 20 feet away from where they actually fingerprint you.

As we were having dinner this evening, I explained to my brother what had gone on with this, and he said just go in there and play dumb. You shouldn't have to pay, because it's not your fault.

This was his suggested conversation:

officer: it's going to be $7.50.
me: I already paid for it.
officer: No
me: Maybe I'm not explaining it better, I'm sorry. I paid for this last time. I'm just asking for a reprint for the same thing.
officer: It's still $7.50.
me: can I get your name, because I'm a blogger and I have some followers that might want to read about this. (He was teasing me here)

Me interrupting my brother's banter:  Wait. Bub, are you being serious right now? Because you know that I'm prepared to go in and just say everything you just told me to say.  If this is funny to you right now and you're not serious, now might be a good time to tell me so I don't say something I shouldn't. (This is how much I trust my brother's word)

He was halfway serious, the blog thing though.. not so much, haha!

So there I was at 7:15 PM, prepared to fight world war III (not really) inside the fingerprinting area of the Emmett jail and just hope I wouldn't have to wait for my one phone call to ask my brother to bail me out. I was running through the dialogue in my head before I got out of my car, prepared to stand up for the injustices of poor quality fingerprinting, when the very polite and kind-faced officer explains that a reprint doesn't cost me a penny. Well if that wasn't the best news I'd heard all day! I wanted to sing and dance like it was nobodies business, but I course held it in because that also might have required them to throw me in the cell.

I know this was highly dramatized, but honestly I shrink when it comes to standing up for myself sometimes. I don't think that it's important to argue, and I would rather just let things slide then go up against authority for myself. If others are being hurt or are in danger that's a completely different thing. I try to always do the right thing.

I am reminded of our sermon this past weekend when Tom said that we sometimes too often give away our authority. We don't stand with confidence in our convictions.

Sometimes I think I need to practice being brave more. Not for the sake of being a tyrant, but for the sake of not giving up my authority...

Love,

Amber

I've got a story to tell you!

Today started out like any other ordinary day.

I woke up, got ready for the day, and got into the routine of things.

I wondered what to write about, and thought, OH! I will share about an amazing lush body product that I absolutely love because gosh darn, the world should know about this.  So I snapped a few photos of it and went on about my business.

As the day went on, I knew anxiety was creeping in about school. I see the calendar and I nervously say to myself,

Well, schools starting. Yep. And I have all these books to buy, and absolutely no money left to buy them. Especially the two I need this week. Where is this money coming from….God?

YES, YES, I know. I should just realize already that I am meant to be a nurse because the world keeps putting these HUGE obstacles in my way (like money), and God is like…Money? No problem. Done and Done.

There’s more to this story. We’re just getting started.

I visited with my dad about how I was feeling fearful about the impending year.  I wasn’t sure how I was going to cover the some odd $1500 dollars of schoolbooks I had to purchase in just a matter of two weeks. My dad is the nicest guy in the world, who would give anything to anyone so of course he wanted to help. Times are tough for everyone in my family, so we prayed. I left feeling encouraged, but I was still a little fearful.

Here’s the story I wanted to tell you.

You see, earlier today. I cried, and then I cried even more because while I was having a complete melt down in front of my sister about how I needed God to work a miracle to pay for just two of the school books I absolutely need this week to study for an 18 chapter test I have the first week of school, my nephew says,

“Aunt Amber, I have 39 dollars.”

If I wasn’t a mess before, I was then! My heart melted, and I told him I couldn’t take his money of course.

We prayed.

Sometimes it’s so difficult to trust God. It’s hard to trust someone you can’t see on a daily basis, you can’t hug, or have audible back and forward conversations with. Knowing God is walking with me is probably admittedly one of the harder things I face in my faith.

It’s times like this that I pray God will show me how to have more faith, how to have more trust, and how to feel peace while I’m waiting for this faith to kick into high gear.

Then God answers prayers.

He sends someone to do His work.

Today someone, other than my family, and I have no idea who, left an unmarked envelope with the exact amount of money I needed for the two books I have to have this week.

This is a God that lives outside the box religions put Him in. This is a God you can come to for every worry, every pain, and every trial. This is a God who has love for the people He created. This is the God I serve. He still works miracles today, incase you didn’t know.

And this is where my faith has grown. I’ve come to realize the hard times just grow my faith immeasurably. I learn that I can approach God like I would my own dad, and He cares.

God is never late. He is always on time.

He knows.

I am excited to know how He is going to work out the rest of the details for my school finances. I still have a long ways to go with how much I need in a short time, but I know God is faithful, and this gives me more peace and comfort than anything else can.

How lame that lush body product seems now in comparison to the kind of day I've had..

Stay tuned!

Love,

Amber