Life with the Lewallen's: May 2010

Post nursing school...

So I am going on my 3rd week being out of school! I can't believe it, the first week after school I had a NCLEX review class 4 days in a row for 8 hours each day. Now I sit and wait to receive my ATT(approval to test) from the ASBN(Arkansas State Board of Nursing) so that I can take my NCLEX(state boards). It can take anywhere from 2-4 weeks to receive this document and I can't start work until after I take my test. On Tuesday it will have been 2 weeks since our applications were submitted so hopefully it will be very soon!

On Friday I accepted a job with a Dialysis Clinic here in NWA. I am very excited! Not what I pictured myself doing after nursing school, but I really feel like this is where God intended for me to be. I am very excited to learn about the things that I wasn't great at in school. Plus, I won't have to work night shift, the lastest I will work is 8:30, every other Saturday, no Thanksgiving or Christmas and after 6 months I will have to be on call twice a month. I don't think I could have gotten anything better!

I will update when I know my NCLEX test date, until then please continue to pray for me as I study and prepare for this big test. I have to pass this test before I can practice as a nurse.

Pinning...

On May 15th I got pinned as a Registered Nurse. The day turned out to be FABULOUS! The day before I was a little panicked because my cousin had something come up and wasn't able to come pin me so at the very last minute I called my teacher Mrs. V and asked her to pin me. No better person than Mrs. Verwey to pin me because my very first day of clinical in September 2008 I wanted to quit nursing school because I was scared to go into my patients room. Mrs. V convinced me that my patient wasn't going to bite and without going in to do my assessment if something happened to her I wouldn't know what she was like before without my morning assessment, so I reluctantly went in and was surprised to come out enlightened.

Mrs. V pinning me at a nurse.

Mrs. V and I after being pinned.

Jennifer, Kelly, Me and Amy receiving our awards for being on the SNA board.

This was on my table at pinning, but since I wasn't able to stay for our reception I brought it to my party that William and my friend Mandy had planned for me so everyone could see my picture and lamp and read what my recording said at pinning.

My mom and I after pinning.

My cake at my pinning party. It was AMAZING!

Close up of the cake, I didn't want to throw the hat away:(

My granny and papaw at my house after my pinning party.

Me after my pinning with my Florence Nightingale lamp.

I got lots of sweet gifts from some of my amazing friends but here are a few of my favs...

I got this zebra painting that matches our bedroom perfectly, I also got a zebra purse and wallet and a zebra beach bag the i LOVE!

My very first Willow Tree figurine, Love of learning.

My 2nd Willow Tree figurine, Angel of Healing.

A pink watch! That won't slide all over my arm.

This has to be the one gift that I use the most, because it is hanging by my sink in our bathroom and I read it each morning as I get dressed.

Graduation...

On May 7th I graduated from NWACC with my Associate of Applied Science in Nursing. It was a very interesting day to say the least. I had class all day, my father in law suprised us by showing up a week before we were expecting him, my mom arrived about an hour before we had to leave for graduation.

William & I before graduation

William & I after graduation

Me walking in for graduation

my mom and I before graduation

me and Jennifer before graduation

Sally, me and Amy before graduation

me on the way to graduation

my mom and I on the way to graduation

After graduation was over, we came straight home because it was like 10 o'clock and I my mom was leaving the next day to go home and I had finals on Monday and Tuesday.

Disney World!

Ok, I am just going to say this upfront. These pictures are on no particular order, because I am using my graduation present(a MacBook Pro) to do this and haven't figured out the short cuts yet so forgive me as I go back and forth!

I went to Orlando, FL on April 6-10th for the NSNA(National Student Nurses' Association) Annual meeting. It was alot of fun to say the least. At 24 years old I rode on my very first plane! It was scary but not as scary as I thought, I actually enjoyed flying rather than I do driving!

When we got off the plane in Dallas, I was in shock! I rode on my very first moving sidewalk and was in what seemed like it's own little city. We had about a 2 hour layover until we got on our flight to Orlando. Sally and I got lunch at Subway, I walked around the airport, and we played on out iPhones.

When we got off our plane in Orlando, it was HOT, once again I was in what seemed like it's own city! We rode on this very cool monorail to the main building. We were on our way to find the Disney Shuttle location to catch our ride to Disney World! It was about a 30 minute ride from the airport, and I must say it's not what I ever pictured Disney looking like but I was not disappointed.

We arrived and ended up waiting several hours on our luggage, more like 5 hours! It was hot and we wanted to go swimming, but by the time our luggage arrived we were ready to go explore Downtown Disney and get some dinner. The last time we ate was at 11am and by this time it was 8pm, plus we lost an hour flying there.

Downtown Disney is amazing and I can't wait to go back so I have time to look at everything. It basically is a really big shopping mall with all these neat restaurants to eat at. We decided to eat at The House of Blues, because it was the only place that didn't have a 2 hour wait. It turned out to be really good! After eating out dinner, I got up from the booth we were sitting in and my foot was really hurting me, I had no idea what I had done. I didn't remember hurting it during the day. So I limp to the bus stop which was about 1/2 mile away but when your foot is hurt it seemed like 5 miles! And the girls I was with was laughing at me, I was almost the youngest one there and I was walking like I was 60!

Since it's been so long the next few days were a blur to me! I remember my foot hurt the whole time we were there, I finally got it to quit hurting by the time it was time to fly back home. Thank the Lord since we had to walk what seemed like across the country in the Orlando airport. Wednesday night we celebrated Sally's birthday at the Spa, Thursday night we were to The Magic Kingdom and Friday night we spent back at the Spa enjoying some drinks since the Convention was over by this time. Our days were busy and we couldn't just do nothing in the evenings since we were at Disney! So, by the time Saturday arrived we were all very tired and ready to get back home to normal school life since none of us had studied in days and we had a big exam that week for which we had missed a 8 hour lecture for.

Me with Dumbo at The Magic Kingdom on Thursday night.

This was our Disney transportation back from Downtown Disney on Tuesday night, it was so full everyone was standing. It was a fun ride to say the least because my foot was killing me!