{sunday thanks}

what is up!

Well today is a gorgeous day here in the French Quarter of New Orleans.  I hope it has been gorgeous where you are, too!  It was a great day: breakfast with Taylor, late lunch with my parents and week 2 of the Bible study my mom and I are doing together, the pups I'm house-sitting have been good, my first day working at a hospital is tomorrow, I finished the book I'm reading... So yeah.  Good day.

I know for sure that I want {Sunday thanks} posts to be a continual, regular thing here on peaches & magnolias.  So here goes!

To Krista --  Thank you for driving all the way to the Quarter to hang out with me on Thursday!  I have really enjoyed your friendship these last several months and I am looking forward to only becoming better friends from here on out.  You are so lovely, so easy to talk to, such a wonderful friend!

To my EC Life Planner --  My 2013-2014 friend, your time as my lifeline is soon over.  But fear not, as I am not one to throw such gorgeous works of art away.  You will be stored away to where I can look over the events, due dates, and life things that you helped me remember to attend from time to time, fondly, as one of the greater years of my life.  And I will hold onto you until my future husband tells me it's been 20 years and makes me throw you away.  Sorry your demise will be so sad.  But I promise to treasure you until then.

To Uncle Jeff -- Thank you for trusting your nephew's girlfriend with your gorgeous home, own two dogs, and best friend's dog (and for allowing the bar to be open for me).  Your home is lovely, and I can honestly say I will miss my time in the Quarter.  Please remember me for next time you go out of town!

To Ochsner -- Thank you for hiring me!  I am definitely dreading 12-hour shifts, since I love my naps, snacks, and otherwise regular meal times, but I am so looking forward for the opportunity to do nurse things in a hospital!  I really believe this experience will make me a better RN (one day).

To greasy cheeseburgers, perfectly-cooked grits, cookies n cream ice cream, and Royals -- oh, you.  Making life more delicious.  NOLA life is good.

Hope you have a delightfully restful Sunday and a glorious second week of June.  Enjoy these long days while they last!!

{sunday thanks}

{via}

such week.

much days.

wow.



hello my friends.

Don't you just love doge?  Those eyes... those cute crossed paws!  We love it when Charlie (my mom's corgi) is suspicious.  Ah!  Such cute.  ;-)

The past few weeks have been good ones, pretty chill for nursing school.  Definitely productive.  I'm not looking forward to the next couple of weeks because T is going on a long business trip and I have a bunch of tests and projects coming up, plus clinical paperwork, so it's going to be interesting.  And by interesting I mean busy.  And by busy I mean stressful.  I'm so not ready for tomorrow.

However, I will still give thanks.


[thank you]

Dear allegra, thank you for being a great comrade versus pollen.  Pollen and I don't agree but you help mediate the war.  Thanks for that.

Dear S, thank you for all your kind and encouraging words on Friday night.  I am so thankful that I've met you through dating T.  I hope we are friends for a very long time!  I'm so grateful for knowing you and for our friendship.

Dear Hyatt Regency, thank you for being so beautiful and such a fun place to stay for the weekend while T and I witnessed two friends' blessed union {even though I could barely handle the tenth floor, much less the twenty-seventh).  And to City Park/the Botanical Gardens/the Court of the Two Sisters and New Orleans, y'all were amazing hosts, too.  The absolute perfect settings for all the fun we had over the last couple of days.

Dear MayBooks, thank you for being the best solution to my journal needs.  I love how helpful you are with my studies, prayer life, and list/organizing needs.  And oh!  The monograms!  How I love!

Dear macaroni & cheese, why are you always so delicious?  More importantly, why am I questioning it?  Thanks for being consistently wonderful and a staple in my life (and for being such a good pair to dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets for those days that I just don't care).


grace + peace
xoxo

wwweeedddnnneeesssdddaaayyy...

oh Wednesday, I love you.

So many times in my past you have meant something special to me, whether that was high school youth group (Fusion, what what!), Wesley chapel, or just the preparations for the end of the week.  It truly is the turning point of the week, oftentimes a point of reflection or stress as we prepare for those end-of-week deadlines.  It's the beginning of the end, truly.  I like this about Wednesdays.  Always a day of preparation.

Oh glorious God,

Thank you for this Wednesday, this incredibly busy but fulfilling Wednesday.  I am so glad You have blessed me with it.  Thank You so much for finally getting me to the OB rotation, it makes me glad every day, I am so blessed.  Thank You, God.

Today I am praying for New Orleans.  Oh God, this wonderful city.  I am so thankful every day for the chance You gave me to live and learn here.  I am so happy that it is such a cool place, God.  It's so interesting, everyone here is so interesting and has amazing stories to tell.  I love it.

God, please keep New Orleans safe.  There is a risk to living here, as we all saw in 2005, and I know You have the power to keep that from happening again.  I lift up everyone who calls New Orleans home, whether or not they actually live here.  May they all be coming back to You.

Lastly, thank You for the physical city itself.. I am so floored by the magical union of naturalism and industrialism here, the beauty in the balance of these two things that we live in.  It is amazing, God, such a cool place.  I am grateful.

love you,
K

[xoxo]

so. behind. on. prayers.

oh my gosh y'all, this resolution is so much trickier to manage than I anticipated. This week in clinical was crazy, trying to figure out how to manage my schedule on the northshore with all my things in the city. What to bring, what to leave... Y'all. It made a total mess of my schedule. I can't exactly say I'm looking forward to living out of a suitcase for half a week, every week, for the next 4 weeks. But I am looking forward to every day in the labor & delivery unit and helping more women become mommas and taking care of the littlest babies I have ever seen... I love.

So... We're off!

monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday

world, united states, greater new orleans, church community

My beautiful and glorious Heavenly Father,

What a week it has been, God. It has been so wonderful being in a labor & delivery unit. I can't wait to see how the rest of this rotation goes and be even more involved in the most amazing, but most everyday, of miracles. I am so honored You brought me to this place and I ask for Your continued grace and an openness do mind and spirit as I learn how to be an L&D nurse. 

First and foremost, my God, I want to pray for the world. And not the world that I know, my short-reaching, nearsighted, few-hundred-thousand-populated-at-most tiny portion of the world, but the whole actual world. With all the heartbeats You're counting and all the breaths You're allowing. Blessings that we don't even know, God, too great are they for our minds to comprehend, but is all in a moment's work for Your heart. I pray for every soul on this Earth, God. I know You have placed all of us here for a reason and purpose, and I pray that these purposes are realized and the glory comes back to You. Your heart must break a million times a day for all the heartbreak You witness. I am so sorry for our imperfections. 

I want to pray for my country, God, the good ol USofA. God, I love my country. I love what was scribed into our foundation so many years ago. I feel incredibly blessed to live here. I am so thankful You allowed me to be born in and be a citizen of. I thank You, God. We live in a state of constant turmoil here God, and it can be hard. Legalities and repression and bullying and indecision and greed can oftentimes seem our rulers here. Please hold us and watch over us, God. We're a bit of a mess. And I know everything gets better when You're a part of it, so I pray that happens here. 

For New Orleans and the surrounding communities and suburbs, God, please take us into Your knowing and loving hands. I am blessed to live in an area where I can comfortably be myself, but I know many here are uncomfortable, and I know many others feel not just uncomfortable but repressed and struck down. I pray these feelings are lifted. I pray for more love to be abundant in this great city. I pray for those who are without warm coats, food, and homes to find those things, God. I pray for all of us to find the love in our hearts and share it among ourselves in the New Orleans cityscape. I remain unconvinced that there is anywhere more interesting, and rich with history, that one can live in the United States. Thank You for blessing me with the opportunity to live and learn and work and love in this great city. 

Lastly, my God, I return to You with prayers for my church community. It is far-reaching in this town and I love that so many people are a part of it. I know we have been blessed with amazing pastors and staff. It is really easy to see Your hand in the church, blessing it, allowing Your love to shine through it and working through it for the members of the community and New Orleans proper. I am so thankful for this community and what it means to me. I pray Your love never leaves it. I pray we always know Your presence and seek it. I am so thankful for STUMC, God. Thank You for it in my life. 

Thank You again for what this week has meant to me and what is yet to come in it, God. Keep me near You, drawing ever nearer into Your presence and grace. Oh, God, I love you. 

In Your most glorious name I pray, amen. 

[y'all have a wonderful Thursday now... more regular prayers are on their way.]

[xoxo]