it's been a while.

I went to a Roller Derby bout a couple weekends ago, one of my classmates is part of the NorCal Roller Girls. I had no idea what to expect, so the night before I had a couple people over and we watched Whip It (awesome, btw). That night I decided two things 1.) My sister looks so much like Juno 2.) I can never play derby because I already have enough aggression as it is and smashing girls and skating fast would only exacerbate the problem. The bout was fun, it was different than the movie because they played on a flat rink, which means that the fans can totally get smashed by the girls falling, haha! I saw some hard hits and some pretty serious falls, it was very entertaining.

jammers.

Voy a escalar las montañas.

Praise God, He is so good to me, I am overwhelmed by His grace in my life! I am not only able to walk, be in nursing school, but I am able to climb! Last night was my first day back on the rock, it felt totally natural to climb- no fear, no hesitation, just climbing... wonderful!

ps- I was wearing my purple shoes on the infamous fall of January 9th, needless to say I wore the tan ones last night ;)

Perfect Sunday

Nicki Bluhm

Today was Taste of Chico, a food and beer festival. I was strolling along tasting some delicious treats when I stumbled upon one of my favorite singers- Nicki Bluhm. This made my freaking week! I absolutely love her, I posted my favorite song here months ago, you need to listen to it. Later on I got to chat with her in the beer garden, she wears heart shaped sun glasses too- we're soul mates. To top the day off, her husband's band, The Mother Hips, played as well. Thank you Chico, I love you.

The Mother Hips

Simulation Center

Today we went to the Simulation Center where we got to practice on mannequins. These are fully operating computer people. There are babies, adults, and "Noelle"- the pregnant mother who actually gives birth! These things are crazy! "Noelle" can have her baby slowly, quickly, breech or she can have postpartum bleeding and start dying and her baby can start dying, etc, etc. The scenarios are made up by the professors and then programmed into the computer and these dummies actually act like real people. We can give them IV's, take their pulse, bp, respirations (their chest's rise and fall like real breaths), they have heart sounds and so much more! The Sim Lab is designed to put us in high stress situations and equip us for when emergencies happen. Stressssssful in Sim Lab, stressssssssful in real life.

iPhones and red sox

2.5 games behind, let's change that.

I didn't get an iPhone for many reasons, the main two being money and materialism. Since I was forced to purchase an iPhone for my program I have to use it. Let me just say the iPhone is pure magic, it does so many things so quickly and anywhere! I know I should say the most important app I have is my drug reference guide or medical dictionary but really it's my At Bat app- instant Red Sox updates. They will make it to the world series, they have to, I have the app for that!

fixed.

update: if I curl my hair it's much better. Phew, I almost had to brown paper bag my head...

It's a long story...#6

The next week, my x-ray showed complete healing. My surgeon was surprised, I was surprised, my mom was surprised- the world was surprised. Surprise- God heals.

After five months, looking at the new x-ray, my surgeon surprisingly and awkwardly said “wow, you’re a really good healer” (yeah, 'cause I can do that...not) then literally said to me “get up and walk.” How great is it that I can declare that my healing did not come from man, for what man cannot do, God can! Now at that point I was terrified and did not believe what he was saying; my leg had atrophied, I hadn’t walked in six months, I was scared out of my mind but guess what- I got up and walked.


I'm not going to lie, my walking was super awkward, slow, and in a boot but still- I was not on crutches nor was I using a cane. Again, I'm not going to lie, I've had times where I still get frustrated with my progress and I forget what God has done, but truly my life is and continues to be a testament to who God is and how He pursues us, molds us, redirects us, and continually draws us closer and closer to Him even in our disobedience, failure, and lack of faith. Praise God.

It's a long story... #5

Luke 8:48
“Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace”

The Lord was reaffirming that through faith I could be healed, not for my glory or comfort, but to reveal His glory, here on earth. Our God loves to heal and restore, He loves to show us His power. This was part one to the lesson God was teaching me that week.

Luke 11:8b “yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.”

Once my eyes were opened to healing for God’s glory, He threw in part two. The Lord asked me to be bold and ask Him for healing. Up until this point I had not asked the Lord to heal me, I was of the mindset that whatever was going to happen was good because God was good. It was really hard for me to hear this, I heard God asking me to ask Him but I was so timid. My first prayer was this, “Lord, please give me boldness to ask you” (says Noelle, timidly), my second prayer was this, “Lord please heal my foot by August so I can go to nursing school” (says Noelle, still timidly). Now, it’s important to note that the Lord had revealed first that my healing was not for my sake, but for His glory (yet I was still timid to ask, oh me of little faith!).

It's a long story... #4

After my surgery I felt relieved that I had finally started the healing process, with much naïveté I assumed I was on the path to climbing, running, and jumping again- modern medicine works, right? wrong. The surgeons did not know what state they were going to find my foot in, it was strange to say the least. I was informed that the healing could go one of two ways- it does or it doesn’t. “Whaaaat…. there is a possibility that is doesn’t heal?” Well, come to find out the chances ‘it doesn’t heal are far greater than the chances that it does.’ Let me repeat my reaction, “whaaaaaat!?” The best case scenario I received was that I would walk with a cane for the rest of my life- best case scenario=cane. Over four months of weekly x-rays there was no healing. My surgeon informed me that nursing school was probably not going to happen, I would not be able to hike, climb, run, etc. After that appointment I sat in the back of my Honda Fit, crying while my mom drove me home. That drive was a time of mourning the future I had planned, and it was good. This is where the story gets crazy awesome.

I went home and cried with my bible study, cried with my family, and cried alone. During this time I was convinced that the Lord would have His way with me and that if I wasn’t going to be able to walk, He would change my desires and make a new path for me. I never denied the Lord’s goodness, praise God for that. However, I never allowed God to do miracles in my life, although he had done them before, I wasn’t going to risk asking for more. During that week the Lord spoke, and spoke clearly. He asked me to be bold and ask Him for healing. He reaffirmed His voice when I was reading through Luke.