Things we learned in May!

Keep up with the routine stuff! Upon a seemingly routine eye exam for Kelly, she was shocked to discover that her vision had changed quite a bit in the last two years. While we're now seeing the world through fresher eyes (Holly's new vision insurance should be coming in soon), it reminded us to continue advocating for our health and taking care of ourselves.

Broken AC is no fun. Last week, our AC decided to stop working (And then it was 85+ the next day as a high). Even though we grew up without AC, it's amazing how different 86 inside feels in an open, hardwood floored house versus a less-than-1000-square-foot mostly carpeted apartment.

The pollen this year is NOT messing around. We've both come down with cold-like symptoms this year. I think I'm (Holly) still blowing my nose after 3 weeks...

Having the opportunity to meet family is a privilege. We had the opportunity to meet Justin's older brother and sister-in-law as they visited from Australia! We spent a few days with them in various settings, but it was an absolutely lovely time with lovelier people. For me (Holly) it was especially a privilege, getting to know the family of someone I've grown to care about very much.

Life is short. Very short. A friend to many from our church passed away after an awful motorcycle accident. The fact that he even survived after the accident itself is a miracle. But as friends of ours gathered together to grieve this loss, it reminded us how short life is. It's only but a vapor, a brief moment in time. Make the most of it. Don't dwell on the negative. Tell those you love that you love them and tell them often. Be thankful for what you have.

Sister time is STILL important! We had a sister date that involved iced coffee and pedicures. And we had an absolute blast! 

Friends are still friends, no matter the distance. We got to pick up our friend Matthew from the airport as he arrived back from the land down under! True friends are never separated by distance. We're very thankful for ours :)

What did you learn last month? What are you learning now?

Normally we don't let our kitties on tables...but the AC was out here, and it was close to the fan...

Things we learned in April

New friends: We've had the privilege of making one! It's never too old for anyone, isn't it? Over this past month we've done a few things together, and it was just a time in our lives where we felt God calling us to reach out to this particular person. It's been terrific!

Let's get better: We're both pretty healthy and have been for all our lives, but this month we decided to see for ourselves- that is, make actual, adult doctor's appointments and be more proactive with our health. I (Holly) go tomorrow, even though I'm currently battling cold-like symptoms, and Kelly went earlier in April and, aside from some joint issues, received a clean bill of health :)

Honest conversations and realizations: Sometimes you have to have them, be it for setting the record straight or coming to that conclusion that you just have to let go. It's one of the many ways we grow as humans.

Cars are expensive: Both of us had some unforeseen car issues arise this month that left us needing to pinch pennies for a few days. Be prepared!

Mental illness is real: Our sweet, dear friend bravely shared her struggles with depression in a candid, honest way, because so often these types of conversations are brushed aside. A sobering reminder to always, ALWAYS be kind and considerate to others, because we never really do know what the other is going through. Treat others with compassion, and be grateful for what you have.

Birthdays can still be fun: For the first time since either of us can remember, we rang in 26 out of school, out of home, and actually...out of Kentucky! We spent our birthday weekend in Chicago, where we nearly froze to death, ate way too much, and just cherished the moments we got to spend both together and with Justin.

Those that we hold in our hearts never truly leave us: Our beloved Grandpa passed away on our birthday (April 9) three years ago this year. It's almost every day that something or someone reminds us of him.

Happy b-day from Chicago! 

The flaw of today's healthcare in the eyes of a US citizen

Kelly: I will begin by offering this disclaimer; these are merely my observations and opinions. I am not putting myself on a pedestal and deeming myself an "expert." But, I feel that what I have seen and heard cannot be unnoticed. I just saw and heard some very heavy duty stuff, and this is my opportunity to process it all. I borrowed a video from one of my professors titled Sicko. I wasn't really sure what to expect. The first half hour (this is a documentary) discussed several US commonfolk who faced current health problems but because of lack of health insurance or flawed insurance were denied medical coverage. The first two examples were no health insurance, and a guy literally HAD TO CHOOSE which of his fingers to reattach. One would cost over 50k, the other just a little over 10k. Which do you think he chose?

There was more to the video, but two parts of this movie disgusted me the most. The first scenario took place in LA, and there was a guy who worked at some sort of free clinic. He was talking about how one day he was watching the cameras and a staff member escorted a confused and disorientated woman inside...while she was still in her hospital garb. Turns out, the staff of the hospital she came from found out she couldn't pay her bills, so they put her in a cab and drove her to the free clinic.

I'm sorry, but....WHAT?!

Oh no, it gets worse. Turns out when the hospital gets wind that patients can't pay their bills, they dump them. Yes, as in put them in a taxi and drop them off.

I'm sorry, but....WHAT?!

Another scenario focused on several 9/11 volunteers who helped victims get found amongst the rubble. I will say this again, these were volunteers...as in...NOT employees. However, because they were not properly protected because they were just you know, trying to do the right thing, they developed some health complications. But because their care was "too expensive" according to their insurance, they could not get the full care that they  needed. Cut to....Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. This is where some of the 9/11 terrorists ended up as prisoners. They receive...and I quote straight from the film "top of the line healthcare." Yes, along with France and England and other European countries covered by the NHS (National Health Service), and Canada, they receive FREE HEALTH CARE.

Now I know what you're thinking: You mean to say that TERRORISTS who were responsible for 2,000+ lives over 10 years ago receive BETTER healthcare than average US Citizens?

Yes.

So later, the movie director gets a BOAT, takes these volunteers and boats them from Miami to Guantanamo Bay so they can get some good healthcare. But...according to the media, Cuba is one of our enemies. Or so you thought...the 9/11 volunteers are not only NOT turned away, but they also receive the diagnostic tests, cheaper prescriptions and procedures that some of them needed.

At this point in the movie I was crying. I really was. Not only because the volunteers got the healthcare that they truly deserved, but that they had to go to a "enemy" country to receive it. And they got exactly what they deserved, by golly! It's just appalling that this flawed healthcare is what our country, my country I live in, has come to. Refusing to pay for care, dumping helpless patients, denying people health insurance is just...sick. I can't come up with any other word.

What upsets me the most are two things: number 1, I will be working in this. I can't escape it, unless give up everything I love and have worked hard to build and move to another country. I'd make a heck of a living, but the trade off is higher tax dollars. Hmm...yeah, I'd pay higher tax dollars for free health care. Sign me up. Second, I too am fighting tooth and nail with insurance. Apparently, the rest of my physical therapy that I completed almost a year ago won't be covered until I go to the Billing Department and fill out this form that NOBODY bothered to tell me about. My mom had to call my insurance company.

I apologize that this post is so long, but I feel that we need to read this. And even if you're not a health care professional, PLEASE see this movie in some point during your life. It will change your life, maybe for the better, maybe for the worse. But if nothing, your eyes will be opened wide, as mine are. All I have to close with is this; we can do better.

To close, I would like to give the credit to the movie Sicko and all of the directors, participants and producers. Thank you for opening my eyes. Our country as a whole may not be "the best," but as a future healthcare provider I will do MY best to be THE best.

Random Post XYZ

Holly: Helllllllllllloooooooo everybody! *waves*  I hope that everyone is having a wonderful day/week/month/LIFE! :)

Things have been kind of insane lately.  To begin, I am sick.  Again.  With what, I'm not sure (doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon will hopefully shed some light on that), but it's either what I've been sick with for a while now, or something totally new.   Regardless, I began running a low-grade fever this afternoon and have been feeling craptastic since.  It must be bad because even when I went into work today to help out (I usually don't work on Wednesdays, but hey, labs don't prep themselves), my boss noticed I was off.  Definitely glad to notice others care about my well-being. 

But whatevs.  Life goes on.

Random tangent of happy news: next semester I might be TAing for a fun class! Stay tuned!! I'm really pumped about it!!!!! :D

Insanity bout numero dos: The previous week had me running about all like a chicken with its head cut off because of a lesson plan for my senior seminar class.  Stress, angst, stress, angst, stress, angst, stress, angst, ya know! One week and several communication issues later, the lesson plan was presented on  Monday and all went well! :)

Insanity bout number three: This evening, as I was in my shoebox dorm trying to recuperate from WHATEVER has me feeling so crappy, I received an email from Academic Services, (kindly) telling me that my current incomplete grade from when I went abroad this summer must be resolved by the end of finals or I will receive an F in place.

Ok...I'm sorry.........WHAT??!!?


I have turned in EVERYTHING I was supposed to (by "everything", I mean a one-page report of my experience that was due in freaking September!).  AAAHHH RAGE FRUSTRATION WHYDOESNOBODYCOMMUNICATE?!?!?!?!? @#$%^&*()(*&^%^t&*&^%^&*!@#$%^&%$#@


I know that blogging/ranting will not fix anything, but it is still very, very frustrating.  That's all.

I'm going to finish my tea, check my temp again, then probably go to bed.  Yes, I know it's before 10.  But I'm using the sick card.  Adios! xx

Kelly: All of these problems can be fixed with one thing...COMMUNICATION!!!!!!!!!! Ok, that's it. Seriously, it's not like I'm asking for a lot here. It's just....incredibly frustrating because...how are we supposed to know? NOBODY TALKS. I just feel like all this work for my abroad credit is going for nothing. because they already scraped my active learning experience (ALE) because they PUT ON MY SCHEDULUE a class that I look LAST YEAR that was NOT LISTED for the ALE requirement for LAST YEAR when I registered for it!!

Do you understand my frustration? Ok, now that we're all on the same page.

I don't want to talk about this anymore. I just want the proper people to do their jobs so that us hard-working students don't get screwed over. In the meantime, I will pull all the strings, take time out of my super incredibly busy schedule to deal with this. When did seemingly simple processes become so darn complicated. Can I have a cookie?

Gold Star!

Holly: Today I witnessed first-hand the sheer goodness of people; people who go above and beyond. 

First off, my sister went through "the IKEA experience", she bought me a sick puppy; basically, a cuddly stuffed puppy that is...well, kind of sick-looking, to help me feel better (I've been battling an icky cold for almost a week now and I can't seem to shake it).  Completely unexpected and it completely made my day! :)

Instant number 2: One of my professors opened the lab up for us biology students today so we could finish our slide projects.  As if that isn't splendid enough, he actually came in for a bit to help us out.  ON. A. SATURDAY.  Ladies and gentlemen, this is why I love Berea!  I mean, would you get that anywhere else? I think not! 


Now that I have a sick puppy sprouting out of my lap, I will turn things over to my lovely sister! I hope all of you take the time to thank the people who make your day.  If not, be that person to make someone's day! :)

Kelly: Ahh, I have officially gone through the IKEA experience!! If you have not been through the IKEA experience, do so. Anyway, speaking of my IKEA experience, I have a gold star to award for today. Today as we were about to leave, I wanted a bottle of water, but I was 2 quarters short (they were $1.25 for a bottle). I asked my group if anyone had 2 quarters. Out of nowhere, some random guy gave me 2 quarters! Dumfounded by his kindness, I smiled and said thank you, then proceeded to enjoy that bottle of water the whole 2-hour ride back to the Bereaness of it all.

Flash back to....last night. Me, along with several other BCASN folk (Berea College Association of Student Nurses) planned, organized, set up and tore down a haunted house for the campus community and the community at large! We started set up at 5:00, the show started at 7:00, and we stayed until 11:45...PM...to tear down. One of our instructors (who posed as a psychotic patient on the loose) even stayed for a while to help us out. Then today, we got an email from this same instructor as read..."Just wanted to tell you how proud and impressed I am of the efforts that were put forth last night to create a fantastic Haunted House." It really makes me feel good to know that our efforts were not in vain...even if it was just a haunted house.

Well, now that I have concluded this day in a fantastic mood, more homework calls me away unfortunately. I will post pics of the work we did later (when I remember...) and some of our IKEA experience! Have a great weekend and start to the week. Cheers!

Connecting in church, Berea, food, family...everywhere!!

Holly: First off, as a sort of sad sidenote, I have come down with the ick that has afflicted the Berea campus. So if I spawn off on random tangents, you know why...

Sundays are probably my favorite days of the week, primarily because I am able to be a part of something so awesome that, most times, I can't stop thinking about it. Like today. Now, I've heard many of Pastor Kevin's sermons in my almost three years of attending Berea Baptist, but what really gets me about him and his sermons is that he's not on a pedestal preaching to people below him: he's preaching to himself too! That level of humility is something that so many people strive for, yet so few achieve (I myself still struggle with this and probably always will). The sermon today was titled "Things That Last Forever." I won't get into the nitty-gritty details, but basically, the main idea was to focus our human mindset onto the fact that here (earth) is not our permanent home, and that the vast majority of the things we accumulate will not matter once we reach eternity with Jesus! Towards the end, he asked "If you knew you only had a few hours to live, what would you do?" Really struck a cord with me today, especially since, in the college world, we still have that mindset of trying to see how much "stuff" one another has...which is stupid, because if I see a Berea student with an iPad or driving a Mustang convertible I'm forced to do a double take! So I'm going to try my best to shift my perspective (which will NOT be easy, so stay tuned).

After church Kelly and I met up with one of our dear Berea friends who graduated back in December and has since then become a mommy! Her little one is adorable! :) Our favorite married friends joined us later and it was absolutely spectacular to catch up...over yummy food, of course! Always a plus! :)

The absolute highlight of the day was a visit from our mom's cousin and her family, whom we haven't seen probably since we were about 7 or 8; they were driving back to Ohio from Asheville, North Carolina, and decided to pay Kelly and I a visit. We gave them a (very) brief tour of Berea's campus and then...ate more yummy food!! Yes, twice in one day, but...seriously, cannot pass it up! The visit was lovely and we had a great time catching up with family we hadn't seen in a while!

Going back to the sermon, there was also an emphasis on relationships. That could not have come at a more perfect day, if I say so myself. :)

 Kelly: 8% of the world's population owns a car. Over 1 billion people have no clean water. 800 million people will not eat today. 300 million of those people will be children. 1 billion people live on less than one dollar a day.

Readers, we've got a problem.

Those were just some of the statistics mentioned in church this morning. Shocking? Yes. Sad? Incredibly. But what as Christians and humans can we do? Simple; count your blessings. Granted, we may not have the "best" or the "nicest" possessions, but you know. Compared to those individuals who don't have a car, clean water or a stable income, we've simply got it MADE. Definitely going to change my thinking and definitely going to be extra thankful for what I already have....or don't have.

Anyway, onward. Holly forgot to mention an additional highlight of the day which happened while we were eating lunch this afternoon. Our pastor happened to be there with his family and was eating lunch with another couple from our church. My friends left and so Holly, me and my roomie were talking to them for a while just because it has been such a long time since we've actually....just talked. And of course, their adorable 15-month old was the spotlight of attention. She later on was serenading us in "Three Blind Mice." I don't know if we have any pictures or not....anyway, adorable. Absolutely adorable. Garsh, I am so blessed to have found this wonderful church. I talk a lot about church, in case you haven't noticed. In addition, two girls in our Sunday School class became members today!!! *big grin* At my church if you're a college student you can do what's called a "dual membership" in which if you belong to your home church then you can also become a member at BBC too! Great, huh? Yes, I am a dual member and have been since May of 2009 (read the previous blog post about how we got started and all the mayhem we've been involved in!). Good times, and I wouldn't change a thing! That's about all to report today. Hope all you fine readers have a fantabulous week. Will post more later on. Cheers!

Spoonbread, spoonbread, we adore thee....not really

Kelly: My apologies if I go off on strange tangents, but I am sick. Have been since Wednesday. But I'm going to just take it easy and let whatever this is run its course. No, I do not need an antibiotic. Anyway, onto the purpose of this post. Tonight, here on Berea's campus kick started the annual Spoonbread Festival. It runs tonight till Sunday early evening. Now some of you are possibly wondering; well, what is spoonbread? I will tell you what it is and then I will tell you how I feel about it. Spoonbread resembles cornbread, except you...get it in a dish and eat it...with a spoon. So in layman's terms, mushy cornbread. And that's how I feel about it. Personally, I think the stuff is disgusting, and the only way I like it is if I put tons and tons of butter on it. So now not only is it disgusting but incredibly unhealthy. Bad cycle. So I just don't eat it. But here in Berea, there is an entire weekend festival all about this spoonbread. However, the festival itself is quite enjoyable; sis and I have attended at least one day out of the three years we have been here.

Tomorrow morning though, we are going on a mini adventure! During the festival, usually on the first full day, the day starts with a hot air balloon ride. Well, Holly and I have never been in a hot air balloon, so we're going to give it a try come tomorrow morning at 7:30. Stay tuned for that; we will probably post about it tomorrow! I'm actually really excited, despite my wee fear of heights/falling from up high.  Now I'm going to watch some Whose Line and laugh my butt off. Cheers!

Holly: Ah, Spoonbread.  My opinion of the liquefied cornbread is basically the same as Kelly's...well, the connotation of "liquefied cornbread" basically just explains my opinion! lol

The one thing I find amusing about the stuff is that locals absolutely despise it, but out-of-towners LOVE it.  Riddle me that.  Anywho, early morning hot air balloon ride tomorrow is sure to be an experience, but I'm actually pretty pumped about it, considering Kelly and I decided to go for it somewhat on a whim.  No, seriously, the extent of the conversation was something like "Hey, there's going to be hot air balloons, want to go?" "Sure."  End of story.

I shall now participate in some great and fantastic humor-watching laughs of Whose Line.  Never gets old.

blessings! <3

P.S. Is it possible to be overtly excited about...well, anything, really?? No.  Ok, well, here it goes:

NINE. MORE. WEEKS. Until Colin and Brad Show hits up EKU! Kelly and I are beside ourselves with excitement!