A gooood day!

Well today has been a very good day... Started off by going to the library for 9 like usual, I finished and submitted an assignment and 20 minutes later received an email saying I'd been offered an interview! Wooooo! Literally the best timing for the email for several reasons:
- It was after I'd submitted my essay, had it been before I would have struggled to concentrate.
- I'd said to myself if I hadn't heard by the end of today then I would give up and look for ward jobs (of course I may still need to do this anyway... we'll see!)
- I had told God about a week ago, that I'd quite like it if He could make the email come through promptly after submitting my assignment! God is good, and has a sense of humour! :)

So after a few minutes of celebrating in the library by myself, I decided that I really wasn't going to focus on my dissertation after the exciting news so after a few nudges from the librarian (who I shared my news with and I'm getting to know quite well) I came home and spent the afternoon being excited and pottering around the house.

My housemate and I went for a walk this evening in the hope of catching a beautiful sunset, and we did which makes me very happy. I don't think I could ever get bored of living by the sea and seeing glorious sunsets, there's just something about it... Every time I'm simply in awe of how big, amazing and creative God is.

So I'm one very happy girl right now. I've got lots to look forward to as well - church weekend away this weekend, seeing a good friend the following weekend, Sarah is coming down to visit soon, and before I know it it'll be Easter and I'll be visiting home :)

Happy one-year-of-being-engaged anniversary!

Now I'm not really one for soppiness to be public but this is an exception, so if you don't like mushiness I suggest you stop reading right about now!

It was exactly a year ago today that PJ asked me to marry him! I guess it's not a really big deal anniversary, but it makes me to smile to think back on the moment and look forward to our wedding in 208 days!
This year has gone so quickly and we are nicely on track in terms of wedding planning. We're blessed with so many lovely family and friends around us, willing to help and offer advice - we appreciate it all and look forward to sharing our day with you. 

After 6 and half years of being together the one thing I am looking forward to most is simply being able to see PJ without having to book him in my diary. I stumbled across this quote the other day and I feel it sums it nicely:
'I want to hold your hand, laugh at your jokes, walk by your side, snuggle on the couch, look into your eyes, talk about whatever and kiss your lips, every single day.'


PJ and I were also incredibly sentimental on Saturday and decided to go back to the exact place where he proposed... it first started off as a silly suggestion when deciding what to do for the day, but we decided it would be cute to actually do it! By my amazement PJ managed to remember the exact place that we were (very impressive considering it was in the middle of a fairly large forest!), and after a few 'nope this log doesn't feel right', we found the one!!

The day we got engaged!

363 days later in the exact same spot! 

Very soppy, mushy, lovey stuff I know... But it could be worse!


In other news... I'm still waiting to hear back about my Health Visiting application, and beginning to lose hope more and more as the interview week gets closer and closer. I'm currently spending the majority of my time in the library - which is proving to be very productive and I'm even finding myself wishing that the library was open into the evenings too! 

Plan A or Plan B?

(Mum wants a blog, so Mum gets a blog - this is for you Mum! :) )

wow... what a week!
So until last Sunday my plans were to qualify, get a job as a staff nurse on a children's ward and just go from there and see where I end up, but things seem to have shifted slightly... To be honest the thought of being a staff nurse on a ward has always frightened me due to the amount of responsibility they have, and I've never been able to see myself working in a hospital for the rest of my life. Last Sunday I was just chatting to my housemate and fellow student nurse about qualifying and getting jobs and finding it scary etc etc, and something clicked within me... I was beginning to question if I was really pursuing what I really wanted to do. (Don't worry I'm not about to say I'm not going to nurse and my degree was a waste of three years!)

I would like to be a Health Visitor. It's always been in the back of my mind but I guess I've always shunned it away because I've felt like there's an obligation to work on the wards for a year or so first to consolidate my nursing skills. Whilst there is a lot of truth in that, I also thought there's nothing stopping me from applying to Health Visiting now - I don't need ward skills in health visiting and I have other valuable experiences which will help. So Monday and Tuesday I did some searching as to how I go about applying - basically you apply for a 'student health visitor' job and you get paid a salary whilst doing a year of uni and placements to become a qualified Health Visitor. I had a little look on NHS jobs to see what there were any around, and there was one (for this area) and the deadline is 4th February! Less than a week to get a CV and personal statement together... This is when my hopes quickly diminished thinking I'd never manage it and that I'd missed all opportunity, and the sudden change in plan was a bit of a shock! So until today I'd sort of put it off for now thinking jobs might come round again and thinking more about whether to pursue Health Visiting. The more I've thought about it the more I really want to do it.

If I didn't have to worry about money, or working and could do whatever I wanted I would love to be in the community getting alongside and supporting children and families. Which is a major part of Health Visiting... it's a no brainer about whether to go for it or not really...!

So anyway, I met with my tutor today and was chatting about how I'm thinking of doing the Public Health degree and she responded with 'Go for it, bite the bullet! Write your personal statement over the weekend and apply!'. And so in a bit of a whirlwind I made it home, calmed down a little and settled down to fill in the job application form and write my personal statement. I'm now done for the night (wish I was this motivated with my essays!) and will carry on writing it in the morning.
I'm feeling pretty excited that this could potentially change my career, and also a little overwhelmed by how fast this has all happened. But I'm feeling very peaceful about it and know that God has it in control.

This may not have been my original plan (and I realise it may not work out - competition is high!) but it could be God's original plan. I just really feel whatever is happening is happening for a reason. As my Bible reading reminded me this morning - 'We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose' (Romans 8:28). Whatever happens it's for my good, I may not get a place, but that's okay because God has something better planned for me.

This is a very rambly blog tonight as I'm now quite tired, but I hope it makes some kinda sense!

For those who pray, I'd of course love some prayer for guidance and to continue trusting this is all in God's hands! And that I will form a decent personal statement by the end of Sunday! Thank yooou :)