overwhelmed

I'm about to go take my 5th of 7 finals but I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. I googled that word, overwhelmed, and this is the picture that came up. It perfectly describes what I'm feeling. A little stressed, also bowing at the feet of The Lord.
For the millionth time in this week of finals I feel overwhelmed, for the first time this week it's the joyful kind. I mentioned Karl's deployment in my last post. I've kind of been slowly thinking about this, trying to comprehend what it will be like to not text him throughout the day, to go more than 6 weeks at a time without seeing him, to not talk to him right before I go to bed, or Skype him while I eat dinner and study. With the date getting closer, I've been forced to think more and more about him being gone all next semester and about the logistics of him actually leaving. Turns out he will leave right after I go back to school. Convenient, huh? Not. So, I began the hunt to find out who my clinical instructor will be next semester so I could talk to her about the need to miss clinical one week, which, if you go to my nursing school you know is a task next to impossible. I went straight to the source, Dr. Smith-Blair gave it to me straight and gave me some great news...

a) I don't have clinicals on Fridays next semester!! This has NEVER happened to me and is SO great!!! WOO HOO!!
b) I got the Community Health clinical site that I wanted- Tyson!! Yes people, that's THE Tyson, as in Tyson chicken! FUN!
c) My clinical instructor for Community is Mrs. KVJ. At the time, this meant nothing. I only needed her name so that I could do some uark.edu research and find her email address. I was about to make a huge request. I would venture to say this request is virtually unheard of in my line of education...I'm going to ask to miss a week of clinical in order to see Karl off on his deployment.

So, yesterday I emailed KVJ my requests, being sure to include how responsible I am, how I will make up the days in the most convenient way for her, and how sorry I was for starting out the semester with these requests! I fell asleep praying last night, I'm sure each of you can imagine what my cry to The Lord was. It would absolutely crush me to not be able to see Karl off, for the last time we see each other to be when he leaves DFW after his Christmas break...

I woke up this morning to an email from KVJ. I called my mom and immediately started crying, which is kind of a big deal for me, but kind of not when it comes to stuff with Karl (flashback for all my Pi Phi '06 PC readers...picture me in upstairs center hall in my towel while Karl was at basic training...you know where I'm going with this.). Well, her email reads as follows...

"Hannah,

Buy your ticket, we can work with you. I can be available so you can make those two days up on Fridays the two weeks following your absences. I will check with your site but if they are unable to accommodate the Fridays I can find you another clinical site for excellent community experiences on those days if needed. We can deal with the details during clinical orientation or your first week. Happy Holidays and Best Wishes to you and your fiance. KVJ"

I am blown away. She doesn't even know me. She has no idea that I am a good student, that I am responsible, that I turn in all my work on time, that I have made all "A's" in clinical, that I don't like to ask for favors and rarely do. She is my new favorite person. What a huge blessing in my day, my week, my semester. Above all, what a fascinating and fun God I serve. I hate how blown away I am by this. God never fails to hear my hearts desire and go far above my requests, my God shouldn't shock me, He is very clear about who He is and what He desires to do for us and in our lives. I am overwhelmed at the mercy KVJ showed on me today, I feel blessed, happy, joyful, and so so pleased. I am overwhelmed at the God I serve and His ability to hear my heart and soften others. I am overwhelmed.