And Then It Was June

It's hard to believe that my phone tells me it's June 9 today. 

In some ways I feel like I have been home for forever, and in others I feel like I just trekked back from Trinity. Coming home has been a little bit of a struggle, it was hard to adjust back to my life with my family. My sisters weren't eager to have me back home and sharing space, time, cars, etc with them again. 

However, things started to get back to normal after starting my new job. There aren't enough words to say how much I love what I do. As a nurse extern at the Fond du Lac Surgery Center I get to prep patients for surgery, take care of them when they recover, and send them home! My boss is really good about getting me into the OR to see anything cool happening as well.
Since all the cases are outpatient, I'm cherishing my weekends off!

It's been so cold here that not much has been happening. The boat lifts aren't even in at the lake yet. We do have the jetskis in and took a ride on them a few Sundays ago and just about froze due to the icy waters! I was thankful it was sunny so that I could warm up easily. 

I've also been doing new things with Nathanael. I rode with him for a day at work, look at houses, and find new ways to make each other laugh. I'm so happy to be home and close to him again.

In other news, Elizabeth graduated from high school, Rachel is in New York on a mission trip, and David is working on the farm.

Here's a few pictures of what I've been up to.

matching on a happy Sunday together

Ad HAD to play outside with me but forgot a jacket, so she wore my sweatshirt and socks.

on the way home after a LONG day of trucking.

Davey took me for a little ride on grandpas old tractor.

Rewind and Fast Forward

Each day of my planner is filled with things to do in these last few days of the semester. 

I've been supposed to blog since last Wednesday-oops. Here's a little bit of what's happened and what's to come.

May 1 came around and the girls from Alumni 215 headed out our door at 6:30 to head to Midway.
We caught the orange line and headed downtown to see our very favorite morning show, Windy City Live.
If you've ever visited my Alumni home you know that we are always watching ABC 7. So naturally, at 9 o'clock we tune in to Val and Ryan and wish we were in the live audience. Our dreams finally came true and it was one of the best days we spent together. 

May had been advertised as the 'May Giveaway' month. Since it was May 1, we were part of the giveaway month! We received an email from the staff that there would be two tapings that day so we would have to stay there later. Though we were kind of confused as to how you could tape a live show early we brushed it off and were still excited to go! Near the end of the show they announced they would be taking us out to a new restaurant downtown for lunch-the second taping was just a cover up.  

Get ready for a long list of pictures!

 

 Waiting to get seated

 

 inside the studio

 

here we are-on TV! we sat right under the sign and apparently were on camera quite a bit. 

Are we famous yet?

 

A trolley took us from the studio to the restaurant, it was so nice outside the windows were open and we enjoyed downtown!

Here it is, Baume & Brix.

Fancy, fancy.

 

 I forgot to take a picture of our meal, cheese risotto, but here is dessert- tiramisu dips!

 

Kathy got asked to be filmed eating!

Each person in the entire audience also got a $100 gift card to Michael Hill- a jewelry store! I'm still debating what I want to get with mine!

 I didn't have clinical that Friday so I spent a few days at home before heading back to Chicago with my bed for my house next year! I had to go to the doctor to get cleared for working at the surgery center this summer, and had Lyssa cut my hair. I also babysat for L&A Friday night. Landon was content playing the Wii and Addie and I played in her Polly Pocket village.

Saturday Nathanael and I headed back to Trinity. All my roommates are finally 21!  We had a get together for Justine at our new house to celebrate.

matching dresses!

 so happy to have visits from this guy.

 

Here's 8/9 of us that will be calling the blue house on 69th Ave our home for the year!

I'm so excited to have a wonderful place to transition between college and living on my own.

I'm sure we will be learning some life skills this next year!

The end of the semester is coming so soon. I have a lot of studying to do yet!

Good habits at Starbs.

xoxo

Unexpected Blessings

It's almost been a week since I was blessed with a visit from both of my grandparents. 

How cool is it that Trinity still has a grandparents day?! This day is really special, I loved having all my grandparents at my school and spending the day with them. They all mean so much to me and all have had a special impact on my life. I'm truly blessed to have grown up with all of my grandparents, some of my friends have none! I can't imagine growing up without any of these people. My grandmas also left me with a hefty supply of cookies, yum! Looking forward to spending another grandparents day with them next year!

This past weekend I was part of the 21 Jump Streeters in Trinity's Amazing Race downtown. Let's just get this straight, I don't run, and when I do, I hate it. I had been part of the amazing race before and about died with all the running we did. This year I was very reluctant to sign up but my friends needed a fourth person in order to sign up. I was the fourth person. I was already regretting my decision when we got to our first stop! We went through the race eating some hot dogs, searching for pennies in the sand, finding servals at the lincoln park zoo, bowling, drinking jello, solving clues, and much more, running the way. At the end of the day we were freezing cold, and I felt like I had just run a marathon but we had so many laughs in one day.

It was really fun to see so much of Chicago in one day! 

first stop, lucky strike

cassie was brave enough to eat all the onions and that hot dog.

  

team pic at lincoln park zoo.

just attempting to do a team jumping picture with a stranger for a challenge.

a day finished in a beautiful city.

Birthday Princess

My first little sister was born 18 years ago today! I specifically remember that day Elizabeth was born. It was a blizzard and my dad had to carry David and I up the driveway of my grandparents house before they went to the hospital.

Growing up with Bethie Boo was a challenge. She has a strong head and isn't afraid to say what's on her mind. We didn't always get along but I'm always happy to be able to spend time with her-especially when she gives me her honest opinions when we are shopping. 

Have a very special day, Beefy, love you!

Just to Even Things Out

I have a thing for even numbers or multiples of five. 13? Just not a number that clicks with me.

Last week Milan Andrew rounded out the number of grandkids my Grandpa and Grandma Smits have to a nice round 14. 

I didn't have clinical last Thursday or Friday so I had an exceptionally long weekend home with perfect timing to meet my newest cousin. 

It's incredible how much you can love someone before you even meet them, it's the love of a family and I am blessed to have the family that I do. I spent countless hours with them this weekend; visiting Grandma, playing with L&A, chatting with Lyssie, etc. 

Probably one of my favorite moments was when Adalyn walked in the door to my house and saw me home and said, "Danielle's home! Good! I missed you! Can we play Old Maid?" 

We play Old Maid when I babysit them at my house and sometimes I think they might forget me while I'm away at school, I was so happy to hear that she and Landon remember the time we spend together. 

I was also blessed to be able to hang out with Nathanael and his family quite a bit. My boyfriend and I are both quite competitive and game night got pretty intense. He won't let me live down that he beat me in Skip-bo and I hate every minute of it. I have to get back at him next time! We also had a typical date night which involves us and my brother out for pizza. This time we picked Tony's, never too much cheese.

This is probably the last time I'll be home before the end of the semester. I can hardly believe that a year from now I'll be preparing to graduate, and move on to real life! Scary!

Here's a peek at the most wonderful weekend, because sometimes words aren't enough.

photo credit to rachel. this picture melts my heart. ad is a big sister!

the first picture i ever got of him, looking so big!

family time at Mark and Andreas. L&A even got the boys to play old maid!

precious time with Milan Andrew.

1,2,3...Spring Break

In the middle of March I was able to spend a week in paradise..er...Gulf Shores. 

I have many memories of Alabama from visiting with my family back in high school. There was so much anticipation for this trip with seven other girls. We stayed in a really nice condo with two pools, two hot tubs, and the beach!

The weather was perfect and we spent most of our days laying outside in the sun. After a few initial shin burns and an occasional lobster status burn we transformed into bronze beauties.

It was back to reality for 4 days before heading back home for Easter Break. 

I am so blessed to have such great friends! I am looking forward to living with most of these girls in a house next year!

Here's a few pictures of our adventure.

 

Kathy's parents let us use their van, we were pros at loading and unloading the red rocket!

We also had a sign to celebrate spring break!

 

Justine drove from about 3ish to 7ish, and I was the copilot. There were a few times we thought the van was going to fall apart and a few times we had to start talking really  loud to each other to stay awake. I took a 30 second nap at one point but we made it!

  

The view from our balcony! So Sunny!

Living the dream

walking around at night, getting some ice cream!

the last night :(

 after supper at the hangout

 orange you glad we are friends!? ;)

 never a dull moment with this girl

 

the best days.

 

Never Gets Old Coming Home

This blog post is at the request of my sister Elizabeth. Apparently I don't post enough and she really wants to stay up to date on my life. The problem is, not too much has been happening in my life. 

The past weekend I made the term home after clinical. My parents were headed to Milwaukee to spend the night before their flight  to Riviera Maya. Those lucky folks get to go on vacation all the time it seems like. 

I  met my parents along with David and Nathanael for supper. The rest of the weekend was just the siblings at home. It was fun to just hang out ourselves and be together.  I even convinced Beefy to come shopping with me Saturday. I definitely did some damage in  Dells!

I also got to spend  some time with the boyfriend. He is really busy with his new job and I hate it but he likes working there so I guess I'll have to deal with it! 

Tomorrow I have my last OB clinical! I don't think I'll miss the long days but it was a fun experience. Dealing with moms and babies probably isn't what I'll be doing for the rest of my life! 

I'm also looking forward to spending Saturday in Michigan to celebrate Megan being a bride to be! It will be great to see her so some wedding talk.!

Next week I have 2 test and one midterm and then I get the reward of spring break! I can't wait to get to the gulf and see the sun and sand! 

I tried to capture my weekend, this is what I got.

Lost in Ecuador

I came back from Ecuador a little over a month ago. 

I've been busy with school-figuring out all about moms and babies, planning spring break, finding a house for next year, and attempting to be a therapist.

I made this video to share with my church. 

It's a little bit of a whirlwind but reflects my trip and what we did there.

Shout out to Miss Sarah Marie. She introduced me to this song when she made a video about our Peru trip in 2011. I've found it to be the song that reflects missions and where your heart should be while serving the best, so I used it for this video too. : )

And Here it Goes Again

Well, it's been awhile.

Here's what I've been up to.

I came back from Ecuador. It was an incredible experience, ask me about it sometime. I would love to show you all the pictures and share all my stories. In short, we saw 600+ people from the capital city of Quito and the mountainside village of Columbe, outside of Riobamba. 

I returned home completely thankful for health care, hot showers, normal food, and God's blessings of family and friends.

I started the sixth piece of pie. Grandma Smits has encouraged me to look at college as a pie; seeing as my undergraduate degree will be eight semesters long. It's hard to believe that at this time next year this will be the last piece. 

I am happy to be back with my Trinity friends and am ready for a normal routine again. (I was starting to get a little bit lonely at home when everyone was at work or school!) I am looking forward to my OB clinical at Adventist Hinsdale hospital. It's absolutely beautiful there and I'm sure I'll see lots, I'm just not crazy about being there from before 6:15 to 5:15 for the next six Fridays. Those will be long days. 

I'm looking forward to more normal weather, seeing new babies, and finding a summer externship.

South America Take Two

In about 12 hours I'll be headed for Ecuador!

It seems like yesterday I was headed on a plane to Peru. In my head I keep thinking that this will be similar to that mission trip but in reality it's going to be totally different. 

Today my team and I filled 300+ bags of toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, soap, etc, filled bags with school supplies and prizes, and packed shoes and clothes for the people we are going to serve in Quito and Riobamba. 

This trip has been in the back of my mind for over 2 years now. When I was a freshman at Trinity this interim was offered but I decided against it because I had few nursing skills.
One hard semester of nursing later I feel really ready and willing to serve these people!

Originally the interim was planned to to some work in an orphanage and to do mission and health care work in the jungle. This kind of evolved when Phil from the semester in Ecuador program came to talk to us and found out we were all nurses. He pulled some strings and we actually get to go to an Ecuadorian hospital as well as do health clinics for impoverished families. 

I have been so blessed by all the support I've received from friends, family, and my church.

Please pray for safe travels, few bug bites, and for the love of Christ to be shown through Trinity students each and every day!

I can't wait to tell you all what happens on my endeavor to Ecuador!