Growth

I started a new job on Monday at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and it has been amazing. At previous employers I've been through orientations where you learn about "the mission" of a hospital or company. In the past I listened, but never really heard or deeply cared about the company as a whole. I really care about my patients and being the best nurse I can be, but have felt much less connected to the big picture. I feel like I have learned so many lessons in just one week. At MDCC everyone talks about "the mission" or "core values" and everyone is there for the same reason, "to make cancer history." I am about to venture in a completely different kind of nursing for all the right reasons. Even though I am nervous about this new challenge, I can't help but feel like I already truly belong there. I hope I can bring as much comfort and kindness to my patients as my family members have received at MDCC in Orlando. Linda and Gerry are doing great by the way. Thanks for your prayers!

Our garden has gone through some changes too!! It's actually growing!!! I did lose a cucumber plant and a cilantro plant both for unexplained reasons. But I am happy to report that our tomato and pepper plants look great! We now have three tomato plants because I made the risky decision to split one of them while it was still pretty small and thankfully they still both thrived. So one creole tomato plant and two yellow pear tomatoes. They just started flowering which is a great sign, so hopefully we'll see results in the next few months.

February 2009March 2009

Flowering tomato plant

P.S. Grapes of Wrath is coming up this weekend. Gabe is performing Fri night at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2:30pm. This is his biggest role to date so we are so excited! We'll give more details soon!