I'm back! A year later!

Wow! What a year it's been! I haven't been here in awhile! Let me fill you in on what has happened the last year or so.

•  I took care of some pretty important people in their last days/months of their lives. 
• First, I lost my husband's grandmother. She was a very important person to the both of us. She took me in when I was 17. She taught me so much about life, Jesus, just showed me what kind of person I wanted to be. She was such a role model to me. I had the honor of being with her during her last days. She left us unexpectedly but left such an impact on so many peoples lives and our worlds just won't be the same without her. Also, we lost her husband a few months later. He just couldn't take the world on without her and we miss him dearly too.
• Then, my grandmother got very sick. She had always been sick the past few years but she took a quick turn and was put on hospice care. I was very fortunate to get to go spend some time taking care of her and all of my family was about to surround her in her last few hours here on earth with us. She was such a sweet and compassionate lady. My cousins and I spent summers at her house being kids and those moments are so precious. 
  
• I started nursing school! In August I started a Practical Nursing Program and as of Friday, I finished it! I'm so proud of myself for accomplishing something like this. It was such a huge deal for me and I am so glad that I did it! I'm so excited to finally being able to live my dream of being a nurse. I don't want to stop here at LPN but I will work for a year before going back just so I can get some experience under my belt. 
  

What now?

Now that I am done with nursing school for the moment, I want to focus on me. I want to do some things that I've been wanting to do and along with that is get my blog back up and going. I had huge hits from the few recipes I posted and I would like to continue to do that. 

I also, would like to start doing some reviews. I recently started reviewing for some things on amazon so I would like to review the ones I really like and would like to share on here. 

These next few weeks are going to be about me! I'm going to focus on myself and I would like to get back into fitness at least 3 days a week. 

I hope you all continue to follow me through this journey! I will try not to leave you for so long like I did last time! 

-Until next time.....

My first 5k

Last Saturday Joe and I accomplished our first 5k! Yes, we walked it. But, our goal was to walk it in an hour and we did it! We finished in 56 minutes! 

I was awesome. The feeling of being part of something big is pretty cool! Seeing people all around you pushing themselves really makes you push yourself. I'm not going to lie, I was TERRIFIED. I was thinking I would be last and would look ridiculous walking. I was just SO happy that I wasn't last. There were about 20 people behind me and I was okay with that! 

Most of the time we were in a gap so we were alone. The first 1.5 miles we didn't talk at all and just listened to our music but when we got to (in my opinion) the most difficult part, we took our headphones off and Joe helped me push through it. 

I loved it. I know some people would just think I'm stupid for making a big deal out of a 5k. To me, this was a big deal. I'm looking at it as a new beginning! Joe and I have decided to start practicing on running and we've already signed up for another 5k in September and then we are doing a Zombie one in October! 

I can't wait to see what the next few months have in store! I'm excited! 

-Heather

Homemade Crockpot Chili

WOW! It's COLD outside! What PERFECT weather for some chili! 

HOMEMADE CROCKPOT CHILI...

What you need: 

1 lb of ground beef (or ground turkey)

1 can of rotel 

1 LARGE can of chili beans

1 can of tomato sauce

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

1 teaspoon of onion powder

1) Brown Meat in skillet

2) Add all ingredients into crockpot.

3) Cook on low for 3-4 hours 

4) ENJOY 

I'm back!!

Hi! I'm happy to say everything is going well! I've been so busy with school and work that I haven't had much time to post!

BUTTT, God has been sooooo good to us! Hubby got offered the job and is now working full time so now, I don't work that much and have more time to focus on my school!

I also am looking forward to start posting again! But, I would like some input what would you like to see?

Some things I plan on blogging about:
-My journey to become "healthy"
-Recipes
-Crafty things
-Tips for college

Is there anything specific you'd like to see? If so leave a comment below and let me know!!

Until next time,
Heather

Falling into place...

Well, it's been awhile since I last posted. Alot of things have changed...

We're still back in Mississippi. Which is nice. It's nice to be back around our families. We really did miss them.

I am going back to college at a local university in January. I will be majoing in Pre-Nursing with the hopes of becoming a Nurse Practitioner. I only have the Spring Semester and one class in the Summer to finish my Pre-Nursing courses. I apply for Nursing school in Feb and if I get accepted I'll start in August. Right now I'm trying to focus on taking my TEAS test (nursing school entrance exam).

Joe has been blessed with a great job he's been trying to get for over 6 months. He will start that January 2nd. I know this is what God wants for him. We've prayed about it numerous times and I know it will be great. It will be such a blessing since I'll be attending school and won't be able to work very much.

I've learned so much over the past 4 months since we've been moved back. I feel like God has really tested us. We've struggled so much with pretty much everything and some how he managed to get us through it all. I've just had to remember to keep faith in him. I know he has a plan and he knows what is best for us.

For the first time in over 6 months I finally feel like things are starting to change for the good. I feel like it is all about to start paying off. And, I have to say, IT FEELS GREAT!! :)

"Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Mark 11:24

-Heather

Finally.

Finally, we are settled down for awhile. Hopefully.

Last time I posted we were still living in AR. I was working at the hospital and wanted to major in Biology (Pre-Med). Joe was working at a little company that he hated but was trying to get on with a bigger company doing drilling work which he used to do.

Well, Joe didn't get the drilling job in the time like we thought he would which meant I had to continue to work full time at the hospital to be able to make it. The college I was going to go to didn't have any night classes so I was going to have to chose to work or go to college. Which, I wanted to go to college. I already felt like I had wasted enough time. But, I knew we couldn't afford me quitting my job to go back to college.

So, one night I was upset about not being able to work and go to college. So, we started talking about moving back to MS with our families. That night we made the decision to move back. We both we're ready to be back. We were at the point where we were making the 1.5 hr drive every weekend anyways so why not move back? Not only that but my mom had agreed to let us live in the upstairs of her house since she had 2 open bedrooms anyways. We agreed that we would both give our two weeks notice the next days at work and we would move by the end of August.

I REALLY didn't want to leave my job. It's the only job I've had where I loved the environment, coworkers, patients. I was really sad to leave but I knew it had to be done if I wanted to go back to college. Joe didn't mind leaving his. He wasn't treated very nice anyways so it didn't hurt him to leave.



So, here we are. We're back in MS. Joe is waiting on a job. I work part time. In January I will begin at a local college majoring in Pre-Med. (We will see how that goes).

Things are tough right now. Money is tight. But, I know God has a plan for us. If Joe isn't going to get 1 of the 2 jobs he's hoping for right now I know God will provide until he finds one. He has a plan and even though we can't see it I know that if we have faith in him and believe in him it'll get better.

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11


-Heather

Following My Dreams...

Wow! It's been a while since I have wrote a blog! Where have I been?

Well, let's recap. Joe and I moved to Arkansas from Mississippi so that we could both attend a University. We somehow thought we both would be able to go to college and work full time. Yea, right. So, here we are, in Arkansas having no idea what to do next.

I thought I wanted to just get my bachelors in Accounting. But, I landed an awesome job at a local hospital that really opened my eyes up to the medical field. I was already having thoughts that I might want to get into nursing but this really sealed the deal.

I went to meet with an adviser in May about seeing what I needed to do to get into the local nursing program. She pretty much told me that with my GPA (3.2) there's no way I could get in. She said they only usually accept 3.4 and above. Yea, I left a total mess. It made me completely not know what to do. I HATE when someone tells me I can't do something. I was so angry with myself for letting myself even have a 3.2 GPA. Why did I slack so much? Why did I stop caring about my grades?

Anyways, I got this job at the hospital. I interact with people all day long. And I love it. Yea, there are ALOT of crazy people but still I do really like the hospital environment. So, that's why I have decided that I am going to major in Biology. I'm going to go to either Medical School or Pharmacy School. You can think I'm crazy. You can think that I'm just wasting my time. But, no. I am determined. I am going to do something with my life. I am going to try my hardest to get into Medical or Pharmacy school. If I can't I'll go back and do nursing but I won't ever know until I try. Everyone tells me "yes, do it. your smart enough." Do they really think that though?

Anyways, Joe is hopefully getting a job soon where he will be working 10 day on 4 days off. Yes, I'm going to miss my husband but I think it'll give me a good opportunity to have study time since I'm planning on kicking this Biology major in the A**. It's going to suck being over here alone. I already miss my family but I'm sure with him gone will only make it worse. But I just have to think about our future. I'm going to do this so that when I get done with school he can go be whatever he wants to be.

I really thank God for giving me someone who is willing to put his education on hold and work full time to provide for us while I go follow my dreams. Wow, did I really just say that? Yes, if I follow through with this I will be following my dreams.