Glenda’s NACC Blog

I’m sorry that I have written in a while, but I do want to thank those of you that have written me encouraging me to continue to write. I also want to encourage those of you that wrote me explaining that you had to withdraw from the nursing program due to personal problems with your children. I want you to know that you’re in my prayers and to always remember that sometimes the timing is just not right. You take care of those kids and before you know it, you’ll be enrolled again passing with flying colors-for everything there is a time.

I really do feel honored to have had so many of you write me and I promise that I will try to make a greater effort to write. It’s a busy time for all of us, but I’m going to try and do better.

Best of holidays,

Glenda

I can’t believe how fast this semester is going. It seems like it was just yesterday that we started, and now here we are nearing the end of the semester.  I have been so busy that I haven’t written anything in a few days, but I have found a thought to be constantly on my mind and it has served me well-so much so, that I would like to share it with you.

There have been a few times in my life that I really felt proud about something, just as I’m sure there have been for you. I know that my greatest accomplishment is raising my family, but I’m talking about things on a personal level. For instance, one of my proudest moments is when I was asked by the C.E.O. of a Skilled Nursing Facility to consider taking the job of being head of admissions. I took it and I did well. In fact, I loved it; but I know now that it was not to be my greatest moment.

These times are good and we indeed do change from them because we learn and we grow, but it’s not every day that we have these kinds of opportunities. However I have learned something recently that I should have learned a long time ago.

I have personally found the following to be true: Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but rather in rising every time we fall. (Confucius) There are going to be times in our lives, that at the best of what we think we can do, we are still going to fall flat on our face. If you were to look at me real closely these last few days, you would probably see some of my battle scars from where I hit the ground. In fact, one might think that I fell into a meat grinder.

However, I have learned that some of our greatest accomplishments comes from falling and then brushing ourselves off to rise again.It really is one of our greatest moments in life because doing this is not easy.

It’s easy to take on a job, a new challenge, or whatever when someone is telling you how much they would love to have you and how they love your work. It’s real easy to go after something when someone has your back, or when the corners are so full of people cheering you on that you have to bring out chairs to accommodate them all, but it’s not so easy to pick yourself up off the ground when you feel alone and everything inside you is saying “what’s the use?”

This is where that you and I really accomplish the most. The fact we rise again, insures us that we are going to yet again have an opportunity to move forward and have those moments of glory that we all enjoy. If we never got past our failures we would live in a land of dry and barren bones, but when we rise again and keep going forth, it’s like new life is breathed into us and before long we feel strong again and looking forward to reaching our goals.

I had never before considered those rising up moments as being one of my greatest accomplishments until now. Being able to forgive ourselves for falling short and having others to forgive us is such a great gift. In fact, in the bible we’re taught it is the “greatest of gifts”, to be forgiven by God and to forgive others as He has forgiven us.

So if you’re like me and sometimes feel that you’ve fallen short of the mark and you’re beating yourself up for it, try with all you have to stop and rise up again. Admit your shortcomings, forgive yourselves, seek the forgiveness of others if need be, and then smile; because whether you realize it or not, you have just accomplished something great.  You have just picked yourself up off the floor and you’re well on your way to reaching your goals.

For some of us it will be nursing, and for others it will be a different field. It doesn’t really matter what the destination is, it matters only that you reach it!

To our success,

Glenda

As most of you know, the family was called in with my niece, they didn’t think she would make it through the night, but I am glad to report that she did. She was discharged to home with hospice. She is staying with my brother so I am able to see her more. It is so hard to watch her little body just wasting away, but she is a fighter.

However, I am so thankful that her pain is able to be controlled. She is one brave young lady and I love her so much. I know that is one of the reasons that my heart is so heavy having to watch her not be able to enjoy life as she once did.

Anyway, she’s a fighter and loved by all. Please remember to keep her in your prayers.

Glenda

I haven’t written anything in a few days, partly because so much has been going on, and partly because I just didn’t feel impressed on what to share. I never like to sit down and think about what to say, but rather I prefer it when the words just flow out quicker than I can type them.

Sometimes when things are on my heart and I try to talk (speak) about them, I only end up saying something that comes out the wrong way, but when I’m writing it, and God is revealing it to me, then there is more of Him, and less of me. I don’t seem to make as much of a mess out of it that way. I guess it’s because I’m writing so fast that I don’t have enough time to put a lot of my thoughts into it, and that’s a good thing, better yet, a God thing.

I’m glad that no one can see me this morning, I cried myself to sleep, and my eyelids are so swollen that you can barely see my eyes.  I haven’t cried like that in years.  I had been holding the tears back for a while now, and once they started flowing it was like a fountain, I couldn’t contain them. The old saying was true, for me it was “all over but the crying.”

I have tried to remain positive and normally I am. I have tried to be an encourager, because that’s what I feel I’m called to be, but last night the heartache that I felt had no room for encouragement. I came so close to quitting the program and still I’m struggling to hold on to my determination.

I was questioning so many things about the path that I’m on. Is this the path that God intended for me? If so, why is there so much turmoil and why was I carrying this heartache that I couldn’t seem to lay down? Sometimes, it hard to know what to do, because just as God opens doors, sometimes he will close them, and I couldn’t seem to discern if he was closing the door of nursing .

I have learned through the years that when we are going forward in the direction that God has intended for us, we can’t expect everything to be smooth sailing. The enemy, or if you will, the world- will always come against us, trying to sidetrack us from accomplishing God’s will for our lives.

I know that I need to be able to discern between the differences and be strong, but sometimes, when we are really hit hard, it’s difficult to discern what is happening in our lives. It’s for certain that when we are hit hard that we feel that every way we turn, we’re running into obstacles, and that every day we awake we’re faced with the decision on what to do. Do we throw our hands up in defeat, or do we fold them up in prayer?

As for me, I folded them up in prayer. I am standing at a crossroads looking down two different paths. I can keep walking in the direction of becoming a nurse and all the opportunities that it holds, or I can begin to turn and walk endlessly on a road that I have no idea of where it will take me. I could literally visualize myself standing there as I cried, and then I was reminded ever so gently.

“Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” “Take my yoke upon you, for My burden is easy, and my yoke is light.” Talking to God about something is one thing, but giving it to Him is another. We do best when we give God our burdens and then take upon us His promises.

I may be in the middle of a storm but I know that this too will pass and as long as I’m making the grades and being a good student, I’m going to continue through the door that God has opened. I will not allow myself to turn around and walk backward on emotions or uncertainties, or because of conflicts arising within the class. We are in the best nursing program in the state of Alabama, and I’m going to make the best of it, and I hope that you will too.

However, many of you are not, and it has finally come to the point that you are going to have to decide what path you want to be on before the decision is made for you. You cannot continue on tittering on the edge trying to break all the rules; because you’re going to be kicked out, and as sad as it is to see an opportunity wasted, it will be a relief to be in a class of eager students.

I hope that the next step you take is leading you down the path of folded arms, and walking through the right door.

Here’s to standing at the crossroads,

Glenda

Any time that something bad has happened to me my family has been there to help me pick up the pieces. Now, I want so badly to help my brother and I can’t. Every day he stays by the side of his daughter not knowing if it’s going to be her last.

Each time the family has been called in to be with her, she has bounced back. This last time, of which was the worse, she came through and smiled and said, “I told you I wasn’t going anywhere.”

Many of you have said that I have the gift of writing, but I don’t feel like I do, or else I would be able to write about my niece in a way that would do her justice.  I have never seen so much strength in anyone. She has faced so much in her short life and never has she complained.

I can’t seem to wrap my mind around the fact that after all she’s been through that she has to battle cancer. It would be easy to say why, but she doesn’t. It would be easy to give up, but she want.

It has made me stop to think about my own life, and I feel that I’m pale in comparison. I have a healthy body and mind and there is so much that I could be doing. Yet, a lot of that time I use thinking of the past and envying people who have husbands and children at home, who all are still in the stage of life that I once was. I find myself thinking, why am I to be alone.

There is nothing wrong with me thinking back on the past, but I don’t need to dwell there. I need to keep moving forward as anyone does. I need to be busy with today and all the opportunities that it holds. It’s sad when people get stuck in a bad place where they feel insignificant.  We all have purpose and value, and some just need to move forward to find it. Don’t dwell in a barren land.

Here’s to the future and new opportunities,

Glenda

For all of you that beleive in the power of prayer, please pray for my niece. The family has just been called in. They say there is nothing they can do. It’s all in God’s hands at this time. I’m on my way to Birmingham, and we really need your prayers.

Glenda

I know that the way my mind works probably seems silly to some. I get so excited over blogging and I’m constantly encouraging you to succeed and most of all the way that I look at other people and their pain. For instance, some people can’t walk in a nursing home, let alone, work there. But for me, I count it as an opportunity of being able to give something to someone that otherwise might not have received it. I think of hospice as a chance to show love to someone before they die that might otherwise have never known it.

Each time that I write something I am putting a small piece of who I am on paper. It is a small piece of me and sometimes I find myself wondering what type of picture that I’m building. I think it’s important that we all take a good hard look at ourselves so that we can strive to do better. There are so many areas of improvement that I’m constantly finding in my life. It is a never ending battle, or at least it shouldn’t be. We should never be satisfied with status quo.

That’s why I was really disappointed when our class had to be reminded of that. We have lost the privilege of using our books on test, and now we have lost the privilege of getting our grades back early. I’m not upset over their decisions, I support them, but I’m saddened over the fact that it came to that. Dr. Jones made an excellent point that hit home with me when she mentioned how some people, when they are rooted, really feel responsible for other people, and did she ever hit the nail on the head.  I don’t feel responsible in causing what happened, but to some degree I feel responsible for our class, because I’m a part of it. I just wish that I could wave a magic wand so that everyone could see that we are not just taking classes anymore. We’re not just sitting and listening in a classroom striving for a grade, those days are gone.

We are in training to become a nurse, a lecturer, a teacher, an advocate and so much more. We are under the wings of our instructors and Dr. Jones, but one day we’re all going to have to fly solo. Some will fly high, and some will fly so-low only to crash and burn. 

The funny thing is, I want you ALL to fly high, myself included, that is if you’re willing to be a professional and uphold the standards of nursing. Now here goes my silly ways again—I like the high standards of what it means to be a nurse, the sense of accomplishment and respect that it carries when you identify yourself with that title. I don’t want the standards of nursing to be lessened to where everyone and anything goes. I would hate for the sense of pride and professionalism to be taken from the word NURSE.

I think of Dr. Jones as the coach and the instructors are the center, and the quarterback.  Their teaching, and at times, they throw us the ball and it’s our turn to run the play. When the ball is thrown to me, I want to know what to do with it. I don’t want to be running around in circles, or running in the opposite direction, or constantly being tackled. I want to get in the end zone. I want to score, and each of you should feel the same way.

We practice daily and we run the plays over and over again in our minds, and we know what is expected of us. I hope that we can all learn from things that have happened thus far, and be more determined to work as a team and be able to win regardless of who the ball is thrown to. If the ball is thrown and it lands in the second row, I want to catch it and run with it, but what if it’s thrown to someone in the last row? Regardless if it’s the last, middle, or the first row, whatever, I want the person holding that ball to know exactly what to do and to be able to run like there is no tomorrow. I want to block for you or do whatever I can so that you can run in that end zone to be able to do your victory dance–because when you win, I win and everyone in our class does, just as the client, family and community at large will—even NACC wins when they are graduating top of the line nurses.

I want the quarterback and the center, and especially the coach to have to scratch their hands and say, “Did you just see that play into the end zone?” I never want anyone to be left out that is trying, but I hate it when those that might not be trying began to bring the team down. When it gets to that point, I don’t think you’ll be part of the team much longer. No coach will allow players who don’t come to practice, run the plays, or follow the rules, stay on the team long because it defeats the purpose of having a team.

We have had enough games now, test if you will, that if your scores are not up to par, there is going to be some weeding done. I am not trying to discourage you, I’m trying to do a reality check and encourage you to do whatever it takes to get geared up and ready. If you want it, I still believe that you have time and can do it.  I want us all to make it. The only ones that I want to lose are the people who have no desire to work, learn, and to be a productive part of the team. If that helmet fits you then I would ask.”Have you ever considered another sport?”

Remember you don’t get to the playoffs over night. If you really want this and you’re thinking your grades are not good enough there’s still time. There’s still time to pull them up, but there’s not still time to put off getting it down. Today, this minute, you should already be doing ALL that you can do to study, organize your time, change your studying habits if necessary, talk to an instructor, get in a study group, or whatever it takes to pull those grades up.  No teammate, coach, friend or family can do it for you; it must come from the desire within YOU!

Here’s to being the best and never having to play tailback– always having to hear, “Get your tail back on the sidelines!”

10-22- 38 HUT!

Glenda

On a lighter note! Don’t you just love people that lift you up without even trying? They’re just fun to be around. There is a young man that sits behind me in class, and I’m not going to call his name, because I wouldn’t want to embarrass him. Alright, I admit it, I don’t know how to pronounce or spell his name. He is of a different nationality. Every time he talks to me I end up laughing. I’m not laughing at him, but rather with him. He is a VERY intelligent person, and so likable.

Don’t you just love people like that? He has no idea of how much I enjoy his company, and no idea of how uplifting his personality is. I don’t know if he realizes it, but he has a gift of making people laugh even when their down just by being around him. What an amazing gift!

One thing for certain in nursing, well really in any goals that you’re trying to reach, surround yourself with positive people. Sorry girls, he’s married, and he’s going to remain that way—that is the mother coming out in me.

Speaking of laughter and making you feel good, my aunt shared this story with me, and I laughed my head off. She said that she always tries her best not to get up during the church service so as not to disturb the order of things. However Sunday she just couldn’t put it off. She got up and went to the ladies room and when she came back the children’s choir was up singing “This little light of mine.” Her grandson is in the choir so of course she was smiling and making hand gestures toward him as she was returning to her seat. The song goes like this, “This little light of mine I’m going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. She was singing real low with them, and as she began to sit down, the woman sitting beside her reached up and gave her skirt one big yank. She had walked all the way up the aisle letting her light shine, (tail that is) her skirt was stuck inside her panty hose. I laughed until I about died.  I don’t think she will ever get up in church again. After church, several people went up to say goodbye and they were all singing. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

One more and I promise to stop. When my dad was growing up they didn’t have a lot of money, in fact, they were about as poor as one can get and still be able to eat. He was sharing this story with me about when he and mom first married. He explained that every day going to work that all he had to carry for lunch was a cold biscuit and a bowl of turnips. He said that he had eaten turnips until he couldn’t eat them anymore. He was working in a lumber yard and he told his boss that he had to leave early for lunch, but that he would return back as soon as possible. Dad told me that he just wanted to get to the lunches before everyone else.  He said he looked around to make sure that no one was looking and reached in and grabbed the biggest and heaviest sack. The whole time thinking Lord forgive me, but I just can’t eat turnip greens anymore, and of course he thought, I’m not really stealing, I’m just exchanging. He had left his bowl of turnips.  He grabbed him a sack and went off into the woods to eat. He sat down on a stump and opened the bag. Dad said on the inside was a hammer and a sack of walnuts. He said he spent his whole lunch cracking walnuts and starving to death. I still laugh when I think about this. You would just have to know my dad. I imagine whoever got those turnips was singing, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus. They probably couldn’t stand the thought of having to crack one more walnut. This just goes to show that there is ALWAYS somebody that would trade places with us.

I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful day and is looking forward to the weekend.

Glenda

As a parent, and a grandparent, I remember what it’s like to run after a toddler, especially from 1-2 years of age. They are fascinated by everything, and it’s a natural part of their developmental stage to want to see, touch, and feel.  What I can’t imagine is to have to watch my once healthy child, have to struggle living in a world of darkness and silence.

I can’t imagine as parents being told that my child will never see or hear again. Most of all, I can’t imagine being the child who wakes up to darkness and silence and has no idea why. You talk about a panic feeling; to me this truly has to be one. A child is always afraid of the dark once they have known the light. 

I can’t even begin to understand the fear and panic that Helen Keller must have felt as she first comprehended the fact that she could no longer see or hear. If you’re like me, most of you have heard the story of Helen Keller and are amazed by it, but never really thought about all the emotions and fears that must have been involved.

At nineteen months of age, due to an illness, Helen Keller was never to see or hear again. Overnight, her life changed and it would never be the same. If truth be known, I’m sure that many people thought her accomplishments would  be few if any, other than learning to care for herself.

However, in May 1888 Keller attended the Perkins Institute for the Blind. In 1894, she and Anne Sullivan moved to New York to attend the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf and Horace Mann School for the Deaf.  In 1896, they returned to Massachusetts and Keller entered The Cambridge School for Young Ladies before gaining admittance, in 1900, to Radcliffe College. Finally in 1904, at the age of 24, Keller graduated from Radcliffe magna cum laude, becoming the first deaf blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.

She went on to become a world-famous speaker and author. She is remembered as an advocate for people with disabilities amid numerous other causes. In 1915, she and George Kessler founded the Helen Keller International (HKI) organization. This organization is devoted to research in vision, health and nutrition. In 1920, she helped to found the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Keller and Sullivan traveled to over 39 countries, making several trips to Japan and becoming a favorite of the Japanese people. Keller met every US President from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon B. Johnson and was friends with many famous figures, including Alexander Graham Bell, Charlie Chaplin, and Mark Twain.

Then on June 1, 1968, Helen Keller died, but not her legacy. In 1999, Keller was listed in Gallup’s Most Widely Admired People of the 20th Century. In 2003, Alabama honored its native daughter on its state quarter, and soon the Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield, Alabama was to be dedicated to her, as well as a street. In 1984, her life story was made into a TV movie called “The Miracle Continues.”

These are just a few of the things that she is remembered for. Isn’t it ironic that this blind woman came to the point of being able to see reality better than some of us can? We have our sight, yet so many of us live in darkness.  We can’t see the good, for not being able to see past the bad. We tend to dwell on the obstacles and all the what if’s more than the desired outcome.

We are all blind to certain things and we need to learn and be willing to take our blinders off. We do this partly, just by knowing who we are and what we believe in, and by knowing what our part is. We are all not created with the same gifts, desires, and calling, but we’re all called. And I personally am glad of that. To me there is nothing sadder than having to always stand on the sidelines and watch, and never being put in the game.

I will never forget this story that a dad shared with me about his son. He told me that he knew his son was not the greatest of athletes, but that he tired. On a good day, he was average, but his trying and desire was above average. He just really wanted to play. The dad told me that during a basketball game their team was winning by 30 or more points and the coach told him to get ready that he was going to put him in the game. He said, “You should have seen the look of excitement on my sons’ face.” The son was looking up at his dad and grinning, and was pacing around a little with anticipation. It was if he was saying,” It’s finally here, I’m going to play and dad is going to get to watch me.” They waited for what seemed like an eternity and about 30 seconds before the final clock was to go off, the coach FINALLY put him in. The little boy was thrown the ball the first play. He shot it immediately and missed it. Much to the dad’s surprise, the coach called a time out and yanked his son off of the basketball court. Now think about this, they’re winning by 30 or more points, he waited until 30 seconds before the end of the game, and the coach pulls him off the floor!  There’s only a few seconds left in the game, it’s practically over. The dad explained that you could see the look of hurt and humiliation on his sons face. The dad, of whom I know well, is not a violate person, but he explained that before he knew what was happening, he was in the coaches face and hit him. As I said, I know him, and he is a very mild mannered man, and I really don’t know if I have ever seen him mad, let alone hit someone!

The family got in the car to go home and no one was saying a word, then finally from the backseat he could hear his son’s voice saying, “Thank you dad!”

I can’t imagine what possessed that coach to do that, but I can understand what possessed that dad. (smiling) I’m not saying that hitting is THE answer, but it is A answer. (smiling even bigger) Don’t mess with our babies!

No one should have to stay on the sidelines and just watch life. Each one of us has our share of hard work and practice that we put in and we all deserve an arena in which to use it. We want to be part of a win, something that is productive and successful–Something that not only enriches our lives, but helps to impact the lives of others as well. 

If this dad was that upset over his son’s hurt just imagine how Helen Keller’s parents must have felt as they watched her struggling in her world of darkness.  Just because you have your sight, that doesn’t mean that you can see. Many of you are still standing on the sidelines waiting to be put in the game. I want to encourage you to keep pushing forward. Be as determined as Helen Keller, and practice like the little boy as though you’re already a star.

There is a saying that I love, “Shot for the moon, that way if you miss, you’ll still land among the stars.” To me, everyone has the right to play, and the right to live among the stars and shine.

Stay focused, stay determined, and stay in the light; then just at the movie title implies, “The Miracle Continues”, it will. It will continue with you.

Here’s to Miracles,

Glenda

The information about Helen Keller was taken from Wikipedia

All throughout my life, I have had a strong feeling that everyone has a place and a job to do– In other words, a plan.  It is a deep conviction that I really can’t explain where it came from. It wasn’t instilled in me by my parents or anyone in particular that I can name. However, just as sure as I know my name, I’m convinced that each of us was created for a purpose.

All throughout my life, I have always be drawn to the verse in the bible that says, “For I know the plans that I have for you, plans to prosper you, and to give you hope and a future.”  For years, I thought I knew that purpose. My husband was an ordained deacon, we sang in a gospel group, and I taught classes in church, and etc. You name it, and we were helpers of it. I just felt that my part was to be a good wife, good mother, and to help train and encourage others.

Then one day after twenty -two years of marriage, I was asked to sit down at the kitchen table. I will never forget pulling up that chair. The moment I sat down, my life changed and it has never been the same. “Glenda, you’re a good woman with a good heart, but I just don’t love you anymore.” These are the words that started my life down a different path.

My life changed, and the plan changed. I began to question was there really a plan at all. If so, surely this was not it!  This couldn’t be all that life had for me. I’m sharing this story with you because I hope to build you a picture that there is a plan for your life. To me personally, there isn’t anything any sadder than to think that we’re just here and that everything happens by chance with no rhythm or reason, that we’re just a drifter.

After my marriage ended, of which I just knew would be saved, I began to change.  I questioned things that I had never questioned before, and I feared being alone, because I had never been alone.  After several months of this, I was lying on the bed one day trying to decide if I was brave enough to go to a ladies conference on my own. I had no one to go with me, I would know no one there, and I had never driven in that city, and I was terrified of going. At the same time, I was terrified of not going. I just really felt that it was something that I needed to do.

I was lying there trying to decide and several scriptures kept running through my mind. I couldn’t sort one of them out. It was about a man on a roof top. I kept trying to put the story together in my mind and I couldn’t. I called my former pastor and asked him if he knew of a story in the bible about a man on a roof top, and just on the spur of the moment he couldn’t think of it. Well needless to say, I was bound and determined to find it, because it just kept coming to my mind. I got my bible down and low and behold there it was. Peter and Cornelius– now I was really confused, of all the things that I needed to hear why was it about Peter and Cornelius?

This was the night prior to the conference and I decided that I was going. I got up early the next morning, threw everything in a bag and off I went. I was not registered, had no idea of how to get there, and I knew that there would not be one single person that I would know. I didn’t even know if the registration would be full, or if I could still get in.

To make a long story as short as I can, I arrived about 15 minutes late and slipped in the back of the room. Though it was a ladies conference, a man made the introduction to formerly welcome everyone. I will never forget what he said when he walked up. He began to welcome us and  then soon started sharing his heart on how we all have a plan and a purpose. He said, “Think about Peter and Cornelius.” My heart was about to beat out of my chest. He explained that God showed Peter that his love was not just for the Jews, but for the Gentiles as well. Peter was to let Cornelius know that nothing God had cleansed was to be considered unclean. God used Peter and his teaching to show that love, redemption and forgiveness was for everyone, regardless of race, gender, or former sins. What God cleanses is clean.  I began to light up, I could see how God is no respect of persons and He does have something for all of us to do. God had just taken the time to give me a little gift of hope that I needed, but it didn’t stop there.

Now this is how God works, the main speaker of that conference was Susan, and she walked up to me that day, and asked if I had a room. I explained that I did not, and she offered for me to stay with her. I think back on it now and I still can’t believe that I was willing to stay with a complete stranger. Normally you couldn’t pay me to stay with someone that I had never laid eyes on before, but I did. You talk about a weekend full of feeling God’s presence and his love and being shown that he indeed had a purpose for me. There is just not enough words to explain it, nor time to tell it. It didn’t matter that a husband of 22 years had left,  nor did anything matter.  I was born into the world with a purpose and a plan, and the only thing that would keep me from it, would be my unwillingness to do it.

I know some of you may be thinking Peter and Cornelius that’s way back there, and you’re right, so let’s  move forward. Think aobut Abraham Lincoln, Alexander Graham Bell, Benjamin Franklin, and Henry Ford. Think about how our lives are different because they were persistent and didn’t give up. These changes did not come over night, they had to be PERSISTENT!

Let’s take a look at Florence Nightingale who established the first organized program for training nurses. Think about it, because of her and what she was passionate about, it trickled down and now it has impacted my life. Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, how many lives do you think she has had a part in reaching? Mary Mahoney, the first professionally trained African American Nurse. Abraham Lincoln started the path for her, Florence Nightingale picked up the torch, and then Mary Mahoney was persistent, until she reached her goal. Do you see how the actions of one person affect what happens with another?  This includes actions we do or don’t do.  What if all the people above were just not into all the hard work that it required?  What if persistence just wasn’t there thing? What would our lives be like today?

Now let’s  move in a little closer. Look at  Dr. Jones who is working hard to get our LPN program accredited. I realize that people can still work without it, but who is to say that one day you can’t. It is for certain, that carrying the title of accreditation means that to anyone applying for a job in a different state where the hiring staff is not familiar with the NACC nursing program, that the applying LPN will have a better shot of getting the job, because it means that you’re graduating from a facility that has proven itself as meeting all the requirements for training the best. I would want to be considered as one of the best, wouldn’t you?

Alright you’re thinking well Dr. Jones has a Doctorate’s degree. I can’t do that. You’re not supposed to do that. Let’s look at Judith who works at NACC. Her job is to work with the computer system. If you have any problems with blackboard and so on, she is the person to contact. Yet the life that she has lived, and the person that she is, is what helped me to realize that I wasn’t too old for the nursing program. You can ask Judith; years ago she never thought that she would be working in a school system being able to impact so many lives. Her job ended and she was faced with the decision of what to do as she stood at a fork in the road. Now, here  she is, she has her masters if I’m not mistaken, and she’s still climbing. If I make it, she will be part of my success. As will be Dr. Mildred Montag, who established the first associate degree nursing program. I don’t know that I would have been brave enough to enroll at the beginning in a four year program, but because I had the option of a two year program, I enrolled. Now that I have listened to all these instructors, I would love to get my masters. I would love to teach one day, but due to my age, I’m going to have to move fast. That’s why I stay on you younger ones, I want you to reach the top, and when you get there, wave at me and smile, and I will know in my heart that I had a small part of getting you there.

Ms Gentry shared this quote by Josh Billings:  Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists of its ability to stick with one thing until it gets there. I want to encourage you NOT to give up. If you want to be a part of nursing, ask yourself, is it the actual material that is too hard for you that you’re not making good grades, or could it be that you’re not sticking with the goal until you get there. You’re not being persistent in your studies and in your time. I’m telling you now, if you want it, then you can do it! But, you have to be determined to do it. You can’t just now be taking the shrink wrap off of your books. Gosh what are you thinking? One day, you are going to hold someone’s life in your hand. I’m asking you, please read the book before you take care of someone that I love.  I take that back, you won’t hold someone’s live in your hand, because you won’t make it, if you’re not studying.  Each time that you do not study, that you don’t put forth the effort that you know you should, you are taking actions that are going to send you down a different path other than nursing. I hope you have an idea of what you want it to be.

I know that this was a long post, but I got so excited as the big picture began to unfold before my eyes of how each one of us, what we do and what we say with our lives, will always have an effect on the life of someone else, and sometimes many.

I don’t know about you, but regardless of what you believe about God, whoever you consider your maker to be, when we stand before our maker I don’t want to have missed one thing that He had for me. I don’t want to be shown a picture of what I could have done, but I want to hear well done!

I am so excited about what lies ahead for all of us, here’s to all of us being like the postage stamp.

Licked and stuck tight: Persistent to the end,

Glenda