Hospital Adventures of the Teenage Soul

This week has been quite crazy! It's the last full week before school starts and it was the last week of classes for my mom. Yesterday Lexie, J'son, and I had appointments at the eye doctor and we all got our glasses ordered and they will be in Tuesday or Wednesday! And this week I needed to get a TB skin test done for my nursing class at school and that was quite the adventure! This is again a lesson in assuming; you know; never assume, you're always wrong. Well I assumed my doctor gave TB skin tests, however to my dismay, when I called on Wednesday to schedule an appointment for my test and for Lexie's allergies the receptionist informed me that they did not give TB skin tests! I was quite worried because it was Wednesday afternoon and I had two days to have it done! I need the results back for Wednesday of next week, which is the first day of school! So I go into panic mode. I try to find some place to have my test done and I can't find anywhere! So finally I call the hospital we will be volunteering at and asked if they would give me a TB skin test. They told me sure, they took my name and said just come on in tomorrow and we will get you all set. So this morning I wake up at 8:15, which was quite difficult because I had stayed up until 5 this morning reading my book! It is wonderful, but needless to say it was quite the challenge waking up with only 3 hours and 15 minutes of sleep. So I get up and get ready and my neice, who is 15, came with me. We left, off to the hospital. We arrive there and the lady on the phone never told me where her office was, so Breana and I decided the intelligent thing to do would be to look at the map of the hospital. As we are looking at this map a guy walks up and says, "You need some help?" I replied "I need a TB skin test, I called yesterday and the lady who is head of the volunteer department said I could come in today and have it done." he asks "You need a TB skin test?" I relpy "Yes, sir." So he picks up the phone and dials a number and starts talking, then a moment later he moves the phone away from his mouth, asks my name and then returns to his conversation. After he finished his brief conversation, he hung up the phone and looked at me and said "Mellisa is out until next Wednesday, you can come back then." I then said, "When I spoke to the head of the voluteer department she said I could just come in and Mellisa or Kathy would take me up." He asked me again as though he hadn't asked before,"You just need a TB skin test?" I repeated myself again, "Yes, sir." He said "Well I can show how to get there." So off we go. After going up the elevator and to the right into an office that is hidden away quite well I might add, I explain what I need and the nice receptionist said, "Mrs. Blackburn will be with you when she gets off the phone." I replied "Thank you." So Mrs. Blackburn gets off the phone and asks me what I need the test for. I tell her this long explination and she says "Well let me call so-and-so, before I give you the test." I said "ok" just because what else was I suppose to say?! After getting off the phone she says "Well I'm going to go ahead and give you the test now." So she pulls out all the nessary equipment. Then she proceeds to stick my arm and complete the test! After she finished she said "Now if you will just go wait out in the chairs just outside, when Kathy calls back I will come and talk to you. If after 5 minutes I don't show come back, because I will forget about you." So we go sit and wait just to walk back into her office for her to say "Thank you, Kaitlyn I will see you on Monday." For anyone who hasn't had a TB skin test done, you must wait 3 days! The whole time we were there at the hospital, everyone seemed very skeptical. But my thing is why would a teenager make up a story to get themselves poked with a needle. It just seemed a little silly! But oh well, all is fine now. I will return on Monday to recieve the results for my teacher. I am way excited about my opportunity! It's going to be lots of fun, I just know it!!

Tomorrow, we will be able to get our houses put together! I know this sounds wierd, and it's because it is along with strange and unusal! But we bought two single wides and we are putting them together. I want to send it to Jeff Foxworthy, "You know you're a redneck if... your house is two single wides that got put together!" But none the less, we will have a 4 bedroom 3 bath house. It isn't quite bad. But right now it is very embarrasing! I don't like it at all but hey it's a house and not my sister's basement!! So within the next two weeks I will have my own room again, and I will be able to say, "Hooray!!!!" Now all we need is for my mom to get the job she interviewed for! Please pray! We need all the prayers we can get!!!

Home on the range!! (or the farm)

I recently returned home from visiting Louisiana! It was absolutely a blast and I loved every minute of it! After living in Kentucky for a year, I didn't really notice what I had learned. Who knew it would take a 2,400 mile trip(that's both ways) to actually know what I learned. I knew that I would learn alot from living in Kentucky but I never really knew that it was as deep as it was! I always realized the stuff I learned from kids at school but by going to Louisiana, I learned/found in the last year: myself or who I really am and what I stand for, I really can stand on my own, I am so pumped for college now and to move along with my life, I embrace change a little better, and I have become more accepting of people and their ways. Even though almost every minute of my life in Kentucky faces opposition, I wouldn't trade it for the world. Of course, there is oppositon in all things and that's one of the purposes of this life, learning to overcome that opposition.

While in Louisiana, I went to Girl's Camp, which was absolutely amazing. It is so AMAZING to be able to be with a group of girls who accept you for who you are. They believe the same as you and even help you keep your standards. It is such a strength for me, it's that little recharge that we hope for and I so desperately need! I also went to EFY, which is Especially For Youth. I guess you could say it's a church camp, but for my deffintion, it is where a whole bunch(this year 800) of LDS youth come together at a university and spend a week. We have classes and dances and devotionals and game night and a testimony meeting and pizza night. But I would say that the most important part isn't scheduled, it isn't a class or anything I said above, but it's the bond you make with the people you are with. There are groups that are called "companies" and there is usually one girl group and one guy group in each company, however, you can two girl groups and one guy group or vise versa. And having 800 youth at EFY, you spend a ton of time with your company. My company was amazing! The girls were awesome and they totally accepted me for me, and I loved that! And the guys in our company are just amazing! They helped me in so many ways that I'm sure most of them will never know! But EFY for me is probably the greatest week of my year. Honestly, I hate leaving and I wish there were more! And now that I have looked more into college because it's my senior year and I'm in a time crunch, I have realized that when I go to college it's going to be one big continuous EFY! I mean, yeah, I will have school work and a job but I can't wait for that spirit. I love it so much and that spirit helps me so much! I hope to have pictures up soon from EFY! I will deffinately get back to you on that!