A busy but enjoyable day!

Today has been a busy, but enjoyable day! I got up early this morning and went to the gym. I worked out for about an hour. Then I came home and got ready to meet my mentor (Hospice Chaplain) at 9:30. Volunteering at Hospice this semester has stirred up things in my life that I have never dealt with, which has led me to do a lot of self reflection. With the help of my mentor I am beginning to sort through some of this stuff, learning more about myself each day.

After meeting with my mentor I went and picked up the pottery that Jamie, Jennifer, Reagan, and I painted a couple weeks ago! They all turned out so cute!

This afternoon I met with the chaplains at the Medical Center to talk about hospital chaplaincy. They shared there CPE experiences with me, and gave me some very helpful advice about CPE and chaplaincy. They told me that no patient visit is the same and that chaplaincy allows you to be creative in your ministry. They also said that with chaplaincy when you leave work, you can really leave it, unlike church ministry. One of them asked me if I had ever been with someone when they died. I told them that I hadn't, and they encouraged me to have someone to call to help me process the experience when I do experience my first death. They encouraged me by telling me that I seemed to be an open perosn who will be far ahead of others because I am asking questions and observing chaplaincy now.

Later in the afternoon I met with the bereavement coordinator to talk about the memorial service. Heartland Hospice has two memorial services a year for the familes and friends of those who have passed away. The theme for the memorial service is Sacred Moments I am helping the bereament coordinator plan the service and I will also be saying something in the service.

After this I treated myself to a manicure and pedicure. Then we went to church tonight!

My pastoral care professor cancelled class for tomorrow with the we promise that we practice a spiritual discipline to observe Maundy Thursday. Since my Thursday is now free I will be going with my mentor to visit patients tomorrow and then Ben and I will go to the Maundy Thursday service at church tomorrow night. We plan to head to Savannah on Friday to spend Easter weekend with my family!

Another Monday

Today was another Monday. I met with my coaching partner today for the first time. It was a really good experience. She shared with me what she has learned about the importance of being able to love yourself and of putting your trust in God. I know her words were meant for me to hear. These are both things that I continue to struggle with, but I'm making improvements each day!

I'm staying with the in-laws tonight! We watched a CRAZY episode of House that somehow related to my life right now. It opened with a wife telling her husband it was okay to die, and before he takes his last breath the wife has heart failure. Somehow he managed to gather the strength to call help for her, which prolonged his life. In the end she died and he lived. It's strange that when we come to a new place in life we are able to see life through through the same lens of those who have been in that place before us. The wife now saw life from the same perspective her husband had seen life, and he saw life from her perspective (watching a spouse die). So much of our lives is similar to the lives of others. As my mentor said to me, "the themes are the same, but the content is different." Just something to think about!

I am finished with my paper on My Growth in Emotional Competency, and I couldn't be more glad to have that paper behind me. So much inward reflection is hard exhausting work!

What an accomplishment! I've posted two days in a row!!

Trying Again

So I thought I would give this blog thing another try.

My life has been a little crazy lately. I continue to try to figure out how to balance school life, home life, mentoring, and the things I enjoy doing for me!

Friday night we ate dinner with Carson and Jennifer. I enjoyed their company after a long hard day! We played a couple of games including "In a Pickle" and "Compatibility". I'm not sure what I think about "In a Pickle," but "Compatibility is ALWAYS fun!

Saturday we helped with the garage sale at church to raise money for summer mission trips to El Salvador and Boston. We did not have as much response as we had hoped, but I think we still did pretty well. It was fun being around and getting to know people you don't get to spend much time with.