Case Studies are informative, yet droll
I think I have bruises on my bottom. I have been learning the ways of an ER nurse for the past two weeks and it will continue with case studies until the end of next week.
I am thrilled about what I'm going to be doing and reading about it makes me want to just jump right in to the mix. I'm still learning patience... really though, it's my fault. My nurse educator asked if we wanted more classroom or if we wanted to take a break and start on the floor, but I said I wanted to be as prepared as possible. I don't want to just stand around and wait for someone to tell me what to do, I want to be aware of what is going on so I can start my own assessment and give the appropriate treatments.
I am also bonding with my co workers and like that. Since the reading is self paced, we make time for coffee breaks.... and a lot of those are needed. Understatement there. What I've always liked about the ER atmousphere is the teamwork and I feel like I am building that ground work. I've had some great Jesus talks too and I love talking bout that sorta thing.
I am thrilled about what I'm going to be doing and reading about it makes me want to just jump right in to the mix. I'm still learning patience... really though, it's my fault. My nurse educator asked if we wanted more classroom or if we wanted to take a break and start on the floor, but I said I wanted to be as prepared as possible. I don't want to just stand around and wait for someone to tell me what to do, I want to be aware of what is going on so I can start my own assessment and give the appropriate treatments.
I am also bonding with my co workers and like that. Since the reading is self paced, we make time for coffee breaks.... and a lot of those are needed. Understatement there. What I've always liked about the ER atmousphere is the teamwork and I feel like I am building that ground work. I've had some great Jesus talks too and I love talking bout that sorta thing.
I'm lovin it up here... thats an understatement also. I do miss home. I'm thankful that I have good coping skills also or else I think I would tear up often about things that I'm missing out on down there. Hopefully, I will be able to arrange my work schedule for the holidays so we can hop on a plane. I'm a bit unsure of the logistics due to my orientation, so just keep that in prayer paleese.
Anyhoo.. that was just my update. I figured I had time to do that since Jon is taking a little nap and it's rainy outside.
love you guys,
Tammy
Monday, September 17, 2007
observations of monday
So I need to say thanks to my buddy Joey, b\c he helped us out with the funding for the martial arts program! He sent out an email explaining our situation and plan and we had an answer form an organization in Peoria Illinois that is sending $200 for the shirts and in addition to that some of our supporters have been kind enough to give extra just for this need! All I can say is that I am constantly humbled by the body of Christ as we serve each other and it gives me hope on days like today when there seems to be so much poop mixed in our functioning of the church.
So I do these assessment meetings for the organization and the advantage of that is I get a great view of all that is going on in the ministry, the disadvantage of that is that I get a great view of all that is going on in the ministry…Be that as it may, this is one area I am able to serve here. And I’m selfishly asking for your prayers as our family in Christ. I need wisdom and discernment, and a peaceful tongue, and patience, and self control, and hope, and the list could continue…so please be praying for me in these endeavors. Change is painful and slow usually…
As for more exciting things, Tammy has been really enjoying her new job, which I know she is filling you in on, and we are constantly amazed at how God saves us from our ignorance so often.. His plan is always better than our own! Thankfully…
Another area you can be praying for is our friend Andrea, she graduated with me and is considering moving up here to help in the ministry as a grant writer, but the challenges of discerning God can sometimes be difficult and challenging. She has some another offer in Cincinnati that she is considering as well. So pray that she can find peace in the decision making process and go as God leads her, even if that’s not here =(
So anyway, life progresses and it was a wonderful 59 degrees this morning…I love winter…and I am enjoying the climate change. And I love lunch….which is calling me. God bless you guys, and much love.
So I do these assessment meetings for the organization and the advantage of that is I get a great view of all that is going on in the ministry, the disadvantage of that is that I get a great view of all that is going on in the ministry…Be that as it may, this is one area I am able to serve here. And I’m selfishly asking for your prayers as our family in Christ. I need wisdom and discernment, and a peaceful tongue, and patience, and self control, and hope, and the list could continue…so please be praying for me in these endeavors. Change is painful and slow usually…
As for more exciting things, Tammy has been really enjoying her new job, which I know she is filling you in on, and we are constantly amazed at how God saves us from our ignorance so often.. His plan is always better than our own! Thankfully…
Another area you can be praying for is our friend Andrea, she graduated with me and is considering moving up here to help in the ministry as a grant writer, but the challenges of discerning God can sometimes be difficult and challenging. She has some another offer in Cincinnati that she is considering as well. So pray that she can find peace in the decision making process and go as God leads her, even if that’s not here =(
So anyway, life progresses and it was a wonderful 59 degrees this morning…I love winter…and I am enjoying the climate change. And I love lunch….which is calling me. God bless you guys, and much love.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
my new adventure
HORRAY!!!!
I have had the most fabulous week at my new job. Where do I even begin? I guess I could say that this is the best fit for me. The staff, even management, is personable, welcoming, and fun to be around.
I thought orientation was going to be horrible... with management throwing policies and procedures at me like crazy while I feel totally overwhelmed. It is actually the exact opposite. I find myself learning without even knowing that we have drifted from typical conversation to my nurse educator teaching. I am in orientation with 8 other employees, two of them will be joining me in the ER. The other 5 are sad that they didn't come to the ER because the nurse managers from ER always come up to the classroom and give us high fives. I keep hearing how amazing the teamwork is down in the ER. I will find out for myself on Tuesday because the classroom part of my orientation will be over. I have a feeling that it is true and the learning environment is going to be great.
Bronx Leb is known as a family hospital. Everyone gets their family members to work there because the "feel" is supportive. I love that. Something else I love about it is the diversity. Today at lunch, I learned a bit about Korean, African(Nigerian) and Spanish culture. Where else besides NYC can you do that all in 45 mins? Amazing.
Anyways, just pray for me and my comrades this week as we embark on this new advendure in the ER. I am ready. At least I think I am...
I feel priveledged and blessed to be in the center of a chaotic/sort of controlled environment. I hope that I will be Jesus' hands and feet. That somehow my presence manifests His. I also pray that my attitude will effect my surroundings. Prayerfully, my attitude will be calming admist the chaos... and instead of adding to the confusion I can produce change and healing. It's going to be fast and furious there, but it's exciting.
I was asked just a few days ago what is the vision for my life? I responded by stating "To positively effect peoples' lives through healing." Of course physical, but also spiritually. I hope that I can bring peace and strength to patients and family members when the stress is high. I was told today that we as RNs are unable to speak of spiritual matters due to legalities.... but I know prayer is powerful.
Anyway, just wanted to let you guys know about it:)
Lovelove,
tammy
Thursday, September 6, 2007
a note on martial arts
Hey all, can you belive we have a need???
so to the $$$. Right now as many of you know (if you're reading out blog which you must be or this statement is pointless) I have the privilege to start martial arts classes for the community. Beginning October 2nd i will be teaching on tuesday's and thursday's with a traditional kids class from 6:30-7:15 and a non-traditional adults self defense and conditioning class at 7:30-8:30. To fill you in on my exciting new development in life, i've been reading this book called "irresistible revolution" by shane claiborne, and he has really challenged me concerning Jesus' message of love and compassion. (i bet you're wondering what this has to do with Martial arts) so in reference to the martial arts, +) i noticed over the summer as i was teaching these kids, how the language we use in the martial arts circles is a language of violence. we teach, unknowingly i think, retributive violence by the simple language we use to refer to techniques and the "other guy." for instance, when we teach strikes, we teach where to aim on the "bad guy" or "enemy" or "opponent" for the most damage, (i.e. "two finger poke goes into the eyes, front two knuckle punch drives through the solar plexus to knock the wind out of your enemy") and my concern is that these kids are growing up in a world of violence already so in teaching this way, we (the instructors) are depriving the kids of the most significant elements of the martial arts. i've always said that martial arts as self defense in general is not the best training, and for kids is ridiculous b\c of their ability to actually harm an adult is much lower. so why teach the martial arts then?
well i'm looking to answer that by my new methods. with kids i am moving to teaching a strictly form-based traditional content. what that means is that i will remove the targeted strikes and damage\ enemy language to teach strictly the controlled, focused movements of the martial arts. strike training focuses on power and form\ posture rather than damage and practical use. the techniques used to "defend" yourself are totally replaced by traditional forms, which are long sequences of techniques strung together, but used in more of a competitive, disciplinary, and art format. so i'm excited about that! (hope all my jargon makes sense)
as for the adults, i will be teaching a compiled form of self defense called Freeform Combative Arts, which i have had the opportunity to develop over the past year formally. this is strictly focused on practical, realistic self defense. nothing flashy and is completely tailored to the individuals for height, strength, range, etc. as a element to this practical teaching is a heavy emphasis on conditioning. i believe it's important to be healthy and pursue that lifestyle, so my students get to benefit from my opinion! +) (They'll be cursing my name 50 push ups into it one day, i'm sure) but it is in this area of the program we have a need. Citivision is gracious enough to more or less cover most of the costs of the MA program as a way to reach out to the community. (i.e. insurance - big cost, some pads and gear, space, etc) but b\c they are at a financial tight spot, they can't afford to purchase the shirts for the program. in the Freeform combative arts (FCA) classes i am using a non traditional uniform, fight shorts and t-shirts, to replicate more realistic situations. but my first run of shirts is $324. we have a organization and some christian designers that are working with us and give us great deals, but this is still a lot of cash for us broke peoples. so tammy and i are asking that you guys pray that we can get the cash to cover the shirts ourselves or citvision gets it suddenly so our class can have a uniform and be cohesive. now, bluntly if that means you got $20 in your pocket (or more +)and want to donate to buy some shirts, that's great! but we know God can provide, he already has been so much! and we thought it would be a good idea to put this need out to the Body to pray over and who knows who can help?
we've really been humbled these past three months as we've learned to rely on God working through the Body of Christ. Now we may be able to cover the costs since tammy is starting work next week, but we don't know. so we just want to put it before you guys so we can all see what God does together. thanks for your interest and prayers my family! Love you guys,
peace,
jonathan...
(and i'll get back to that other topic soon...CLIFFHANGER!!!!)
(image copywright of holycity photography)
Sunday, September 2, 2007
3 hour vision walks make me tired...
hey all so friday i met with a lady named Jannie from an organization called Generation Excel. they are located in the lower east side and i met her through the LPAC anti-violence grant seminars walter and i have been attending. walter has known her since february, and we met about three months ago. well little did i know that she had a strickingly similar vision for a community center in this area...so i happend to be talking with walter about NYCX (see an earlier post) and how i wanted it to be part of the community centers rec program, then he mentioned this building the Dyckman Marina...and that Jannie happened to know alot about it. so i called, we talked, i found out that she had a similar idea, and i was like,"why don't we just do this together??? there's no need for us to compete or to recreate the wheel..." so we met of friday and she took me on quite a hike around the tip of manhattan (stupid me had brought my bag and Lappy - that's our laptops name - and had to haul it around all day...good exercise though) and the tip of our city is the mountainous part...lots of hills.
so there are two locations in that area. there is the marina proper, that has been closed for about 2 years now, but before was a thrive operation, making lots of money and selling alot of drugs on the side, which makes more money. well they got shut down, obviously the feds cracked that one. and the previous owner had a restaurant running there on the waterfront.
next to the waterfront property is a nicely "in need of renovation" building that is only the shell, but has passed recently the safety testing for structural integreity. right now it's home to some street folk, but holds great potential for a nice community center. it's 3 stories and the park commission owns it and the marina. they supposedly have been dying for someone to come and do something youth oriented with these properties and the annual financial concession the property operators has to make to the commission is essentially nothing...
right beside the buildings is multiple play fields and the only natural remaining park in NYC, inwood park. they have a park center that does educational hikes, climing, environmental education. there are great areas' for games, baseball, soccer, roller hockey, and other things. in addition to that the area holds one of the best views of all the city.
SO!!! please pray for this endeavor. our biggest hope is that we can get this center up and running because we'd be able to supply jobs, training, rec programs, education, and lots of other things through the center!! this is one of my passions for this area! so i'm super excited about it. just an update my family!
Peace,
jonathan
(too bad i can only get tammy to go out in public with me when she's heavily drugged...)
