Full Time

Today was my first day of full time at the hospital!  

It was wonderful, pretty much the same, 

but now I have an office and a direct phone number.

I'm so excited to start my career at the hospital and am

so blessed to have the position I do now.  I couldn't be more thankful.

I have been reminded lately about how perfect God's timing is.

In the time I have been at the hospital, I have grown in my 

profession and been able to develop relationships with staff and

families.  I am definitely more mature as a social worker today

than I was even 6 months ago (when I started at the hospital).

Thank God for providing exactly what we need.

And I am so thankful for family and friends who are supportive

and a huge encouragement to me.

Now I'm just praying that my orientation/transition into

the new position area goes smoothly.

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A Great Year

This year has been amazing so far.  God has been completely faithful and proven, yet again, that He is in complete control.  Not only have I been blessed with wonderful friends and a great family, but God's timing has been perfect.

This week's sermon at church was about contentment in every circumstance God places you in.  The verses we went over were Philippians 4:10-20.  More specifically, Philippians 4:13, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength."  As was taught on Sunday, this verse isn't a promise that we will be successful in anything we attempt because "God promised we can do all things through Him".  This verse speaks to the truth that if we put our hope and joy in Jesus Christ as our Lord, we can do all things because God is our strength.  When we become weak, He is strong.

At this present moment, life is good.  I recently passed my WI State Statute exam to become a Certified Advanced Practice Social Worker.  In order to be certified nationally, I need to take one other exam.  I'm hoping to take the final exam sometime in March.

In addition to passing the State exam, I also got offered a position at Children's Hospital as a medical social worker!  I'm so excited.  I knew that the position would be available sometime soon, but wasn't positive the timing would work out for me to apply and get the position.  Thankfully, God's timing was perfect and I had my temporary social work certification and official transcript just in time for the interview.

With the exception of posting about the position on this blog, I am trying to keep the news a bit of a secret for now since I haven't officially started yet.  I have to go in to the hospital on Wednesday to do some paperwork, but my official start date will be February 22nd.  :)

So, all in all, things have been really good for me lately.  I'm just continuing to pray that the Lord will guard my heart for the right guy and hopefully lead me to my future husband soon!  So far, I'm being patient and waiting for God's perfect timing in this aspect of my life as well.

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Countdown

It is now the official countdown to the end of my internship at Children's Hospital.

I can't believe it's already been 3 semesters there and that this Wednesday is my last day.

Being a medical social work intern has had its ups and downs; emotionally and physically, but has been an amazing experience.

Here are some things I have most enjoyed about the internship:

1.  Learning about medical diagnoses, terms, procedures, medications, and life in the hospital.
2.  Spending time with my field supervisor, Anissa, almost daily and getting to know her better.
3.  Practicing my skills as a social worker and being viewed as a professional by families and staff in the hospital.
4.  Laughing with coworkers daily.
5.  Playing with the kids and developing bonds with them over the past year.
6.  Carrying around a pager, which made me feel *important*.
7.  Showing up to the internship and knowing each day would be different.
8.  Dealing with crises and situations that most people run from (i.e. talking to a family about code-status or working with a child who is intubated).

The internship has been one-of-a-kind and I have really enjoyed my time at Children's Hospital.  It hasn't quite hit me yet that I'll be done in 2 days...

Maybe after prayer, God will open an opportunity to continue there with a full-time social work position.  Either way, I feel so blessed to have gotten the chance to spend time at the hospital and learn all that I did.  I know that my time there was not wasted and that it served a purpose in my life.  :)

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