I needed this reminder on the eve of yet another announcement. It's hard to stay positive when reading negative lines, month after month. I need to not be envious, I need to remember that I am not in control. This is not just for me, but to everyone who struggles with me. One day, our blessings will be mighty and great ❤️❤️ "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved." Psalm 55:22

Babies, babies, everywhere!

Since July of 2016, 2 of my sister-in-laws have had babies.  Lettice adopted a handsome baby boy in July, and just had her 4th baby in November of 2016. His name is Peter and we love him! Lura had a boy as well back in August. That makes 5 nephews! Phew! 5 boys is a lot! I love them all. I've never been an aunt until I married into Preston's family but I'm telling you - it's the best feeling :)


Speaking of babies - it's not a very well known fact but I'm putting it all out there - Preston and I have been trying to get pregnant for going on a year and a half. Recently, I had someone tell me that I should put a joke out on social media that I'm expecting. I remember a comment I saw during Thanksgiving on a picture that said "ruin Thanksgiving in 4 words" saying "Honey I am pregnant". I know... I know that it's all in good fun. It's meant to be funny. I just never expected that I would be in the boat with the infertiles. When you want a baby so badly and people are telling me to jokingly put it on Facebook that I'm expecting - well, it's not funny to me. I had a long and very intriguing conversation with someone a while back, a stranger no less! She knows my struggles, she was so comforting and understanding. Biological children were not written in her cards but she and her husband have begun the adoption journey and were blessed with a match. I am so thrilled for them! I have dabbled in the thought of adoption, even E-mailed an agency about it. I wish we were in the financial position to go through with it. Preston has expressed an interest in adopting also, but alas- who really has $25k laying around to sign a contract with an agency? We have a perfectly good home and perfectly good jobs! It's so frustrating sometimes.


I have been struggling recently with the doctors that I've needed to see on this infertility journey. Communication is seriously lacking, and due to that we have had to put off testing and medications for months. I was so annoyed and heartbroken! I had finally received an answer from a doctor after trying to contact the office for a month that we can start the medication in December - BUT at that time Preston and I would be visiting my family in SC during the time that I would need blood drawn to make sure the medication is working.


One of the girls at the office, while attempting to schedule the HSG test for me, had the audacity to tell me that the offices were busy because of the holidays. This pissed me off. I don't care what time of year it is! I tried to see a provider in April of 2016 and that particular provider told me I couldn't get pregnant because I was overweight. No, thank you, way fatter people than me get pregnant on the daily. I explained the story in a series of instagram posts, accessible here. The bottom line is, that I stressed so much over this whole ordeal of not being able to communicate with my doctors, and not having regular cycles, that I had to get away from all of it. Being in Phoenix has allowed me to not think so much about the heartache that goes along with receiving your period every month. I never imagined how much hearing "it will happen when it's supposed to happen" would piss me off and hurt so much. If you, my reader, ever heard this come out of my mouth in regard to your own struggles - I do apologize. It's essentially the shittiest thing anyone could say to a person struggling to conceive.

For now, I will continue to enjoy my 5 nephews and all the baby snuggles that go along with having 3 under 1! :) All I can do is pray that our time will come, whether naturally or with medical intervention, or adoption. Whatever card is played, I will be happy with.

Travel Nurse Life

Many people cannot understand why I chose to travel, rather than waste my life away in Texas at a job I didn't love, surrounded by people I couldn't stand. I have wanderlust like crazy, and beginning my journey this January instead of next just seemed to be the best option for me. Phoenix has been a whirlwind of fun! I absolutely miss my husband and furbabies, but I have done more exploring in these 3 short months than I have in my 29 years on earth. I've seen the Grand Canyon, drove up to Zion National Park in Utah, explored the Pacific coast in San Diego, finally sat on the edge of Horseshoe Bend, walked among the giants in Saguaro National Park, and hiked a couple of mountains along the way. I have the most outdoorsy heart, but pretty lazy bones. I wouldn't call any of my excursions easy, but they end up being SO completely worth every out-of-breath step I take. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything, and I can't wait to explore more of this world. 

My next assignment will be a little closer to home. When I found out that my dreams of going to the Pacific Northwest would be put on hold, an opportunity presented itself for me to spend the summer on the beach in Texas. I will be traveling to a pretty small Pediatric unit in the border town of Brownsville. It's around 6.5 hours from home, which is a lot more doable for a quick trip home VS. the 14 hour distance to Phoenix. It will be incredibly nice to be close. I ended up snagging a condo on the bay in Laguna Vista (which is only about 15-20 minutes from South Padre Island!). I'm pretty excited to be going. It's always nerve-wracking starting a new assignment. There happens to be another travel nurse on the unit I'll be working on who has extended her contract 3 times already... if that doesn't speak volumes about the unit then I don't know what would! I doubt I'll be exploring much this summer, as I will be mostly soaking up all of the vitamin D on the beach. I am really hoping to be able to head to Washington or Oregon for the fall, but the beauty of traveling is being open to going anywhere the wind might take me! :) 

Hiatus for the billionth time

A LOT has happened since the last time we conversed. Tons. It's crazy. I'll start with the good things before I delve into the clusterfuck that was my last place of employment. 

P and I were able to spend Christmas this year with my family in Charleston. It was nice. I don't think I have many pictures, they're mostly of the cat and dog. I guess this is what parenting is like? Our worlds revolve around our animals, haha. I'm not even complaining, we have the best animals in da wholeee world. 

Next on the list of good, crazy things that have happened is that I decided to begin travel nursing. I wanted so badly to be able to stay in Texas so that I could be close enough to home in order to visit more often. Well, that wasn't a possibility. Texas hospitals weren't biting so my recruiter asked where else I was willing to go. She said, "I have Salt Lake, Flagstaff, Phoenix, San Diego... let's chat." At that point, I decided maybe to get my butt in gear and expand my horizons. I thought about those places, and remembered that I have family in Arizona, right outside of Phoenix. I agreed to let her submit me to Phoenix Children's Hospital and Oklahoma City (OK is still within 5 hours of home). I interviewed within days of both of those hospitals, with OK City offering me a job on the phone interview. I called my recruiter and told her everything, including how the interviews went and how I felt about them. While on the phone with her, she got the offer from PCH in Phoenix. I immediately signed my contract after that. It was so exhilarating, I couldn't believe I was about to move 14 hours away from my home in Texas to begin traveling in Arizona. I had always thought that I wouldn't like living somewhere where there weren't any mountains or beaches. I packed my car and drove to Phoenix on January 19th. I did the trip in 2 days, stopping in Las Cruces, NM. I was in awe of how beautiful NM was! Mountains everywhere!! Who knew?? 

I got to Phoenix and was blown away by how beautiful it was. I mean, mountains literally 360 degrees around me, with insane sunsets and cactus as tall as the empire state building (maybe being a little facetious). It is SO beautiful here. The weather in the wintertime is mild to cool, so it's been comfortable the entire time I've been here. I'm working at PCH from January 23rd until April 22nd. I have been SO happy traveling. I haven't been able to head to the Grand Canyon or Saguaro yet, but I sure will coming up with my 8 days off! I'm getting to spend way more time with my grandma and uncle, also. It's been really great. I plan on heading to Sedona as well. I tried to summit one of the mountains here, and it started to get dark before I could reach the top so I turned around to head back down. There are 7 summits of Phoenix, and I plan on reaching the top of all of them. 

Traveling has given me such a high. I went to San Diego this past week to meet up with my friend Stephanie from nursing school who lives in Bakersfield. It was amazing. We stayed at a super adorable AirBNB right near the gaslamp district. San Diego is fantastic. I will eventually try to get an assignment there. I love how understanding P is through this whole thing. He knows Texas didn't have my heart and I was stir crazy. I have a gypsy soul and I don't feel like I was ever really happy in Texas. I loved being near P's family and loved being home with him and our furbabies, but I needed travel in my life. Also, traveling alone is fantastic. I think for my next assignment I'm ready to go to the Pacific Northwest. I want to either get a contract near Seattle or NorCal. I can't wait to hike the trails up there and finally see Mount Rainier. 

You know, maybe I'll leave the clusterfuck story to another post later on down the road. I'm still pretty bitter about what they did to me and this was a happy post so I'll leave it happy and not mix too many emotions to ruin the happiness, haha. Until next time!