Basic Training

Well, I began my journey last Tuesday night into the world of EMT-ville. My classes began in which I am aspiring to pass this EMT-B class and be on my way to a possible career in medicine...the urgent kind! I met our instructor, Wes Thompson...he seems like a nice enough fella; ordered our shirts; got a TON of material in which I have 2 workbooks to complete, and in so doing it will equal to 1 major test grade of 100, which I may need as a grade to complete this course. I also found our last Thurday night that I am NOT the oldest in the class, which in itself gives me a mental victory at least! We will have about 5 spelling tests, which will total to equal 1 major test grade as well! I was always pretty good in spelling so this could be a boon for me (we have our first spelling test tonite!).

I do realize that this course will be monumental for me to pass because it is going to be really hard!!! Lots of information and things and procedures to learn and memorize!! We will have several all-day Saturdays to enjoy each others' company and to practice the skills that we will learn in class! Thursday nights' chapter will be on 'The Human Body', in which it details all the bone structure, heart, brain(ium), everything! PRAY that it will all soak into my own brainium so as to become ready to 'upload' when I need answers in class on test day! We get to learn how to extricate a patient from a vehicle on one Saturday, how to drive an ambulance one Saturday, there's a class to learn how to deliver a baby, millions of other important stuff to learn...all before June 10th!!!

Hepatitis B, Tuberculosis, triangulate, consent, DNR, HIPPA, trauma, AIDS, innoculation, on-line, off-line, CISM, stress, decontamination, hazardous, abandonment, confidentiality,scope of practice, duty to act, liability are ALL words I need to know!!

Our shirts are supposed to come tonite, I also have a MCC cap coming--hey, this IS my college course, so I should celebrate somehow, right??? Never a UNC t-shirt or anything so just a mere 35 years later I have delved into the world of education...so I at least deserve a cap don't I???

I think that this new profession (I AM trying to reinvent myself!!) will possibly allow me to honor ♥ Jesus ♥ in a new way and if I am able to witness or encourage one soul along the way it will be well worth the effort! ☺

If I Was God...

As I was reading my devotional this morning I got to thinking about this rediculous question: "What if I was God"??? What would I do differently than what the Creator of the universe do?? Well, for starters I wouldn't send my Son...my Only Son into the world to a small little nothing of a place like Bethlehem! Rome, maybe, but Bethlehem, never! What was the prestige of coming even TO a place so small and unimportant as Bethlehem?? Center of commerce?? Lots of important people living there?? Come on, even CNN wouldn't have been THERE! My Son would have deserved better than Bethlehem!! Lots of grandeur, lots of paparazzi, lots of very influential folks there to witness such as event!

And a stable? You have GOT to be kidding me!!! No room at the inn?? What kind of place is this anyway?? I'm sending God-Incarnate to the earth and I'm gonna send Him to be born around a bunch of cattle and stink and hay and cold...among lowly shepherds as the first visitors to such an occasion?? Come on, I have to have a better imagination than this!! This is appalling!!! Very UN-king-like, wouldn't you say?? And just who would believe such a story as this of the Messiah, the Christ-child which had been awaited for thousands of years!! And the Redeemer of Israel spent His first night on earth sleeping in a trough??? To even believe such a far-fetched story as this would take an enormous sense of faith, let alone to be a party to this and engage so as to bring gifts to the 'King'!!

Later this same Man would be taken captive in the middle of the night by a riotous mob that was bent on having Him killed--no not by their own hands but by the hands of the government! The Romans would do the dirty work, they would just submit the phony charges and accusations against this Jesus, Who is the Christ! If I was God, would I have allowed that??? Touch one hair on His head and it would have been over for the whole party of those who had come to dare take my Son into captivity for crimes that He had never committed!! I may have even killed all the people within a hundred miles of the Garden! Perfect, sinless, Holy and righteous!! He was beyond what any man could ever attain and yet he would be on 'trial' for what these men said was worthy of death. And try as they did, they were only able to find this last plea against Him...that He said He was God and King of the Jews...and a threat to the Roman king, Ceasar. The WHAT!!???

But you know what??? Of course you do, I am NOT God! Nor would my plan have been perfect! Even my reasoning here is VERY flawed!!! Reasonable in man's eyes maybe, but reasonable in the perfect plan of God, no way!! God's plans are not always our plans and His ways are not our ways, nor is His reasoning and understanding! Don't forget we are made in HIS image, not the other way around!! THANK GOD!!!!! What a mess I would have made of this Perfect Plan of Salvation!!! Perfect, absolutely perfect!!!

"For God so loved the world that He gave His Only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life"~ John 3:16

If I was God today, you wanna know what I would do about....

I can't stop myself ☺

Winter...My Perspective☺

Here it is, Feb. 4th and I'M READY for SPRING...already!!! What is going on in this time of 'Global Warming'??? What globe is Al Gore the Bore talking about?? We've had 2 pretty nice snows...in itself is a small wonder because here in this part of the globe (Statesville). They are calling on an ice/snow/freezing rain/rain mixture in the next 36 hours...I'm not even a FAN of cold weather! I had 'wished' to move to Alaska--the state once governed by Gov. Sarah Palin, the "Last Frontier"...but I think that I am going to have to recant that wish right now! What was I thinking???

Just let me rant just a minute (my space, right??). Just what do we pay the D.O.T. for anyway??? Are they a waste of $$$ here in Iredell County?? It snowed last Friday & Saturday here. They managed to scrap one side of Old Mountain Road pretty good and the other side was left to wear/melt as well as possible. As far as 'Secondary Roads' such as East Monbo, Pineville, Buffalo Shoals, Island Ford etc. have been left to melt as time passes. My real beef is why are all the DOT trucks on the roads...all over the county with their blades pulled up?? What do they think they are for?? Drop 'em and scrap the roads you're riding on already!! You see those guys crusing on the other roads...Don't have an 'order' to scrape a certain road?? Then why be on it?? I saw 2 trucks sitting at Kat's Patch parking lot the other day....I guess they were discussing the up-coming Super Bowl game or something. Why do they get paid to sit in a parking lot when there are roads all OVER the county that needs scraping. And if these morons that actually DO clean off a road (such as Old Mountain Road) would drive slower and safer, they wouldn't be knocking down all those mail boxes and newspaper boxes! If the driver themselves had to come back and fix this destruction, they might think again about flying up and down the road at 40 or 45 miles an hour while cleaning off the road!!

On a positive note, Christy and I have spent several days out taking pictures of the white fluffy stuff! Snow creates a totally different look for the world that we live in! We went out yesterday to North Iredell to snap a few (hundred) pics and it was SOOOOO beautiful! Even the cemetery there at Snow Creek looked extraordinary!!! Cattle feeding in the snow, horses grazing in pastures, barns varnished with the magical white, hills and valleys dressed in the satin sheen...ALL gifts from God for us that take our breath away!!

This is what I LOVE about winter...but the mess after it starts to melt, the difficulty that I/we have in motoring around in the unkept roads (see above!), driveways and parking lots that are problematic for our entry and getting about, the yard that poor Toby is reluctant to go out into to use the bathroom in (LOL), the chance of losing power during these storms--especially ice! All this makes spring look better and better!!

Besides--spring brings---YES....BASEBALL!!!!!!