A week gone by...

WOW. I can't believe it's almost December already! Where on EARTH has the time gone? I sat down yesterday to scratch out some thougnts for a Christmas letter and thought of all the things that had gone on this year. Now I am sitting watching Charlie Brown Christmas, still amazed that it's time for this again!

Thankgiving was SUCH a nice break from work, especially since it has been so absolutely crazy the last few days before. My sister flew in from Virginia and didn't leave until yesterday, so we had a FUN time together. Lots of shopping, lots of eating, lots of talking...and lots of bed hogging, according to Kimberly. I do not believe the last one, but she swears by it. HEY. It's my bed, I do not have to share. :)

Things at the hospital are so-so. My sweet transplant from last week is stable at the moment. He needs a new heart and LOTS of prayers. The annual Children's Christmas parade is this Saturday, and I have FOUR transplanted kiddos in it! I'm excited to see them be able to take part! It will be on 350 stations nationwide, so make sure to watch it! It's SUCH a quality parade and the kids LOVE it! Not sure if I'll be walking in the parade this year or not, but you'll have to watch to find out! :)

www.childrensparade.com has all the syndication listings.

I think I am trying to acquire a cold at the moment. I've been taking lots of zinc and echinecia and other things to ward it off, but I think it's coming anyways. Stupid cold.

I'm sending out Christmas cards this week and would LOVE to send you one! Email me your address if you read this...I'd love to get my address list more complete!

HAVE A GREAT DAY! :)

Fighting for his life.

A sweet little boy received the gift of a new heart yesterday. I've really bonded with this family (I know that it seems like I ALWAYS do, but this family is a special one!) and was so thrilled to be a part of his experience. Unfortunately, there were complications and he is SO sick right now. This boy is a FIGHTER and does not give up easily, so I know he is fighting with all his might right now. Please lift up prayers for him, his parents, and his sisters. Just a really quick story about how sweet he is. When we brought him to the OR, he looked at me and said "Oh don't worry Stephanie, I won't harass you now!". I laughed and said he could harass me all he wanted. When we got him on the table, he asked for me and then told me he loved me (he was completely on calm down meds at this point!). Then he asked if we would pray before he went to sleep. We all stopped and the anesthesiologist prayed out loud for him and the surgery. AFter that, he just calmed right down and went right to sleep. So sweet.

I'm exhausted after the longest heart transplant surgery in my hospital's history. I got there at 11AM yesterday and got home at 8AM today. YAWN. Need sleep! Please PRAY HARD!

Patience is a virtue I need HELP with.

Let's just work through some scenes from my life. Imagine that you are working in your office on a project for a parent. You're on a website for this family, doing research. Your extremely nosy coworker looks OVER your shoulder and says "What are you looking up?".

Scene #2: Instead of preparing materials for a meeting as previously discussed, certain co-worker spends three hours doing nothing and then leaves the office with the meeting materials incomplete.

Does anyone have a nice and tactful way of confronting situation #1? I already handled situation #2. I don't know how to nicely say "GET OUT OF MY BUSINESS!!!" Suggestions? Comments? Encouragement? Because situations like that make me want to quit my job. I'm completely afraid I'm going to SNAP and say something rude and I'm normally not RUDE!

ARG.

Outta here!

The Phoenix Sky Harbor airport has my undying gratitude and thanks. First of all, the absolute QUICKEST check in/security screen I've ever enountered. Second, and most important, they have FREE wireless internet! What a delight! I can waste my hour of sitting time playing around on the internet and not have to pay the bothersome 6-10 dollars that the companies airports contract with like to steal from me. I am very grateful.

I am VERY sad the conference is over! What a great experience! It's one thing to be with coordinators all day at work, but this conference allowed me to meet with coordinators from all over the country and see what works for them in their programs! I was able to network and have fun with people who do EXACTLY what I do, and that's always a great time! My hospital paid for my hotel/meals/airfare so it was nice to not be stressed about money for once. My hotel room was beautiful, the conference kept feeding us, and the weather was hot but NOT humid. The only thing that could have made it better was for me to have taken a friend with me. Next time, I'll certainly know better. It's nice to wander a new city alone, but I'm such a talker that I'm sure some people thought I was homeless and talking to myself!

Here's my latest conundrum. Suitcases. I'm telling you, I really only bought 2 votive holders and 2 things of soap while in Arizona. Before I left, my suitcase was easily close-able. I practically had to LAY on it, even in the most stretched out setting to get it to close before I left! Do dirty clothes take up more space? It was so frustrating because I KNOW my suitcase weighed less than 40lbs when I left. Upon check in today, I discovered it weighed a hefty 47. What the heck? Such a mystery...

I am happy to see my sweet puppies this evening! I'm sure Liberty has forgotten all about me...fickle baby.

There are A LOT of people who want to go to DFW today. Our flight here was packed, and I'm sure that this one will be as well. I really despise long flights. I have too much need to wiggle and move and the people around me start to stare me down. I can't help it! I've never been able to sit still!

Tomorrow, it's back to work, but thankfully only a three day week! And I am NOT on call! Okay, I take it back. Apparently, my co-worker has messed with the schedule and I am on call for donors starting on Friday. CRAP. I can't catch a break. Thankfully, after that, she is on call for a full two weeks, none of this one week business. So I'll end up two weeks on, one week off, one week on? This makes no sense. I give UP trying to figure out her thought processes. I'm just going to have to REALLY take advantage of my three nights with my phone out of my room. It's been really odd this week to not have my pager on...I've enjoyed it! :)

Well, the plane is gonna take off soon. Guess I'd better shut this down. In a few hours, PUPPIES! :)

So stinkin' confused!

Hello from Tempe, Arizona! I arrived here yesterday afternoon and will not be leaving until Tuesday night! Such a long conference! I'm actually really enjoying the conference. It's so applicable to my job that I am not bored! (well, most of the time anyway!) My room is beautiful and has a patio that overlooks the courtyard which is full of fountains! If I had my cable thingy, I'd upload pics I took, but that will have to wait. I went to the pool today and was surrounded by palm trees, cacti, and a HUGE butte/mesa thing. I'll have to take pictures of that tomorrow! The weather here is beautiful this time of year. It's always pleasant outside, but not humid. Probably the most interesting thing this conference has to offer is the snack stations. I'm serious, it feels like they want us to eat ALL the time! If I am really bold, I'll try to take a picture of this wonderland. It's constant food...and all kinds! Fruits, juice, water, sodas, pastries, trail mix, cookies, crackers, candy, cereal, granola bars, and ice cream abound! It's INSANE! So far, there are only 2 things I have found that I don't like. #1: This is a Pepsi drinking hotel. EW and ICK. When faced with the soda choice, those people who know me know my serious addiction to Diet Dr Pepper. When that's not available, I'll go for Diet Coke. If all else fails and the sky has fallen, I'll drink Diet Pepsi. I'm dying for DDP right about now. #2: I can NOT understand the time zone here. I am 2 hours off central time because Arizona doesn't use daylight savings time. Tomorrow, I'll be 3 hours off. As if that wasn't weird enough, I can't figure out the times my TV shows are on! I just looked on Yahoo TV in the Arizona section to see what was on TV now...all I could recognize was Liar Liar. When I checked the schedule, it said that was supposed to be on at midnight...but it's only 9! I'm so puzzled.

It absolutely floors me that by the time I get home, I will be three hours off in time zones. SO weird. I love that the hotel even provides a little paper on "The history of Daylight Savings Time". So educational!

Well, since my body thinks it's nearly midnight, I'm off to bed. I roamed around Tempe tonight and actually went to a movie alone! I've never done that before! Perhaps it was the freedom of a new city.

I do miss my puppies. It's weird to go to bed by myself. :)