M.I.A.

I know my posts have been few and far between...  my apologies to you and my future self for not properly documenting this season of life.  I'm caught between wanting to post about life-happenings and not wanting to just login to complain... which has led to my cyberspace silence.  Karl has been gone for 4 weeks today.  And it feels like he has been gone for 4 years.  So basically I'm not feeling too optimistic about the speed at which this year will go by, time is certainly not on my side at this point.  Friday nights are my loneliest time as my sisters and parents usually go on dates with their spouses... for which I am thankful- I am very aware of people feeling sorry for me, changing plans because of my solo-status, and even more acutely aware of my own pity parties so I'm not particularly interested in playing third-wheel on date night each week- praying my pity parties away because I know that is certainly Satan trying to break my spirit.  So, how about a little written gratitude now that I've given my honest take on the past month?  I am thankful for my job.  I haven't written about it yet but I am really SO excited about it!!  I have been hired on for a part-time nursing position at the @rlington pregnancy center!  This is my dream first nursing job that I have been praying about for months, literally.  Long story short, this job just fell into place perfectly, in God's perfect timing.  I really look forward to going in, so enjoy what I will be doing, and couldn't ask for better coworkers- really all the women there are such servants.  I never imagined that I would have the privilege of working with such supportive, encouraging, and Godly women.  Not sure how much blog-time this position will get from me as confidentiality plays into basically everything that happens there, but I'm excited to share my job news with you today!  I've had this position for maybe 5 weeks now;  right now I am just going in once a week for training, however starting in January I'll be working about 20+ hours a week.  I'm thankful for busyness- planning Maddie's wedding is basically a full-time job, helping my parent's with decisions about the renovation of their new home is really fun for me, and shopping for/talking about/obsessing over Callie & Jeremy's baby boy, Oliver Ryan, is plenty of fun as well!  I am thankful for friends and their outreach to me and I am especially looking forward to a trip to Little Rock next week!!!  Thankful for health and wellness for Karl and my family- especially my sweet newborn cousin that came home from the NICU after a 3-week stay this past week!!!!  Thankful for great TV shows, a supportive family, and mostly for how God has protected my heart during this time.  I have been praying that Karl & I wouldn't feel lonely, empty, or sad and He has certainly provided.  I kind of just feel numb- like, don't think about what is actually going on in my life, Korea-wise, in fact, it still doesn't even feel real to me that this thing is 12 months long.... maybe that will catch up with me in a bad way but for now, it's working.  So, now are you glad I've been quiet?  Because most of my posts would read similarly to this... kindofdepressing, but I'm working on it.   How's that for honesty?  And speaking of honesty- go ahead and lower your expectations of me in that department- when I'm asked about how this is all going face-to-face with someone, I'll tell you it's fine... I mean, what am I supposed to say?  "This really blows, I'm pretty lonely, and time is going by at snails pace."  So I just lie instead.  God is working on me.  Maybe another month and I'll be totally over it all.  Maybe.  Annnnnnd now some cheery pictures to send you on your way:

Maddie & I at her most recent shower- SO FUN!

Sending Karl lots of Christmas packages- LOVE doing this!

Billi, loving the house plans too.

And last, but OBVIOUSLY not least- a picture I recently sent Karl to brighten his day.  Never looked better, I tell ya.

Happy week to you,

Hannah K.C. Burton

Hey Karl- how about another guest post from Korea?!?  Your fans are demanding more from you!  You're so popular!!

Eat Less Chikn

Move over Chick-Fil-A cows... I'm here to spread a different message! I am officially in the middle of my rotation at Tyson Chicken plant in Springdale, AR and let me tell you, it is the most interesting clinical experience I have ever had. My day consists of the following:

- Sitting around, a lot. A whole lot.
- Reading for Critical Care, which is actually a very good use of my time, totally unrelated to the clinical but time management nonetheless
- First Aid. I do quite a bit of first aid, but these are not your average injuries. Allow me to paint you a picture... stab wounds in the chin of a grown and bearded man. Why? Because when his beard hair net fell instead of pulling it back into place with his FINGERS, he POKES it back into place with his KNIFE. As in the knife that he has been dismembering raw chicken with... Stab wound on the arm of a woman because the person she was working next to pointed at something WITH HER KNIFE and accidentally cut her. This is not a joke. The MOST ridiculous wounds! I spent about 10 minutes one day cleaning CHICKEN BILE out of a woman's eye, yes, chicken bile.
- Gagging at the smell. This is a live kill plant, as in kill, defeather, debone, package... the whole shebang. It stinks BIG TIME. The parking lot is teeming with feathers, not kidding.
- I took a tour yesterday. I was having a dilemma, should I keep my eyes faced ahead so that I don't run into anything? Or maybe cast them downward in order to dodge the chicken fat strewn all over the ground? Should I breathe through my nose in order to avoid getting chicken blood or unidentified liquid from dripping in my mouth? Or should I breathe through my mouth to hopefully not vomit from the smell? I sort of had a little panic attack with my hair net and Tyson embroidered smock on, ear plugs in.

So people, relish in the light and beauty of your normal jobs as I trudge through feathers and chicken parts while caring for the non-english speaking population of Springdale, Arkansas. In the wise words of my Gammy today on the phone, "Have fun and don't kill any Mexicans!" Sure thing, Gam, sure thing.

Progress

I know this is going to sound ridiculous, but I struggle with the idea of working; there, I said it. Lazy, in my opinion, is the last word that could be used to describe my personality so I know that has nothing to do with my desire to be a non-working, yet completely productive member of society. My desire is to be a super involved, stay-at-home mom but that is for a much, much, much later chapter in my life. For the more immediate future, I am making progress. I realize that I need to probably use my $60,000+ education that I have shed blood, sweat, and tears over for the past 4 years. So today, as I have said, today I have made progress. Probably at least once a day someone asks me what I want to do with my nursing degree. My response, I either leave the questioner speechless with a blunt, "well, ideally not work a day in my life," or I lie, "I'm not sure yet, just nothing in a hospital." Part of the lie is true, I have yet to experience work in a hospital that isn't miserable or vomit inducing. So, back to the progress I made... for the first time since starting school, today I'm glad I'll be a full-fledged nurse come May 8th. Why? Haiti. I usually have a really hard time grasping the reality and gravity of natural disasters or acts of terrorism and if you were to talk to my roommate, Charis, about this she would tell you that I have a bad habit of cracking horribly insensitive jokes about these two tragic things. I have been watching the news and reading the blog of a missionary family that serves in Port Au Prince and my heart is aching for this country and it's people. Someday soon, it will be completely within my control to be apart of relief efforts, God forbid something like this happens again during my working career. That is neat. I feel a little inspired, I know the picture is super dramatic... and maybe it is a Navy Lieutenant Doctor in the limelight but I see that guy in the T-shirt holding that bag of IV fluids, THAT COULD BE ME... Also, I haven't mentioned this idea to Karl. Surely he'll go for it, he's strong and can dig people out while I save them. Maybe I'll use this degree after all...

burned out.

I'll be home in a few short days. Until then, I hang on to thoughts of things to come, which prompts the following list of delights I'm looking forward to enjoying upon my return home and my respite from academia...

5. No School. I wish each of you, my utterly faithful readers, could truly grasp the significance of this for me. For those of you in and around my daily life or somehow associated with nursing school or the medical field in some way, shape, or form, you probably can. For the rest of you, allow me to paint you a picture...by the time I graduate I will have completed a staggering 1005 clinical hours. Come next Tuesday, I will have completed 143 tests thus far in my college career. I would say that I am not being dramatic with the guesstimate that I have completed 3600 hours of studying hours since freshman year. Nursing school is so stinkin' demanding for the outcome, in my humble opinion.

4. R&R...I'm slowly becoming a little bit more seasoned and picking up on more and more military lingo. R&R is affectionately known as "rest & relaxation" by our servant-hearted military personnel. R&R for me over the next month will lend to much needed sleep, TV watching, PLAYING WITH BILLI (one of the things I look forward to most about going home, even though she sends my allergies off the deep end), blog catch-ups, and eating my mother and father's home cooked food. Speaking of R&R, Karl's going to be getting some of that too! See #1 below...


3. WORK! I know. Call me crazy. Most people would groan and moan over the thought of working over their Christmas break, BUT, I have been graciously accepted back by Covenant Kids, a non-profit foster care and adoption agency that I work for over Summer and Christmas break. It is just the nicest place to spend a few weeks over Christmas, seriously. Great work, great people, great boost to my savings account.

2. I have my first dress fitting the first Saturday that I'm back. I am thrilled. Let me repeat myself, THRILLED, about this. I know we are a little premature for fittings because lets be real here, I'm hoping (like every other glass-half-full bride) to have hit the gym a few more times come August BUT, I'm having my bridal portraits done up here (by, ahem, my obsession) this Spring. So, better hop to with the alterations.


1. KARLLLLLLLLLL!!!! This requires a sublist...


A) I haven't seen this boy since the beginning of October. That is far too long, if you were wondering. Karl is being deployed to Iraq in January and I just am so desiring time with this boy before he goes. I feel blessed we get to spend Christmas with each other.

B) We will do wonderful things including but not limited to: REGISTER (which I clearly have been excited about for a while now), finalize wedding details with the venue, pick a wedding invitation, finalize our guest list, see a movie (because according to my calculations, we haven't seen one together in almost 18 months), celebrate the birth of our savior, relax.

C) Can't wait to relax with him. In reference to R&R, he needs some of that too. He's a hard worker, he actually ties for first place in the "hardest worker I have ever met" contest. My dad would be the other 1st place winner. I can't wait to serve Karl while he's home...sorry all you feminazi's who read my blog, but if your fiance's hands looked like this after work, you would want to serve him too.


D) Celebrate the start of 2010, which, if you were curious, is the year we are getting married, to each other.

So, may the ghost of finals passed (pun intended) be with you all as you embark upon this finals week and weekend (which, in my humble opinion is just downright sinful. That's right Gammy, we have finals on a Saturday! Throw be a bone Chancellor Gearhart!).

hannah

Word to the wise

In light of my recent clinical experience at "The Maples" ahem, nursing home, I have been prompted to think about the end of my life. Don't stop reading now, I'm not trying to get weird or sentimental here, who do you think I am anyway? The Extreme Makeover Home Edition team? No. Conquering that topic is for a different post, on a different day, when I have way more time. To sum up my most significant thoughts for today I leave you with this: I want to die at the exact same time as Karl, preferably sky diving when we are 85, definitely with full control over our bladders and bowels, with our own teeth (guess we should start flossing), and nothing artificial in our ears. Amen.