Brokenhearted

Tonight I have a heavy heart.

Tonight I am broken for those that are suffering around me.

Tonight I am looking forward with expectation to the day when God will restore all things to the way that He intended from the beginning.

I wish that I could put into words the emotions that I am feeling tonight. Three times I have begun to type and then erased the words because I can't seem to express the thoughts that are running around in my mind. This week has been a very hard week. I have seen so much suffering that I am overwhelmed and can't help but let tears flow as an expression of that. I wonder if the Father is grieving, too? I wonder if God grieves alongside His children that are hurting, knowing that this broken world is so far from the way that He intended it at Creation.

Please pray for my friends. Pray for a family that has been battling cancer for 4 years. They are tired and weary. Please pray for the families of the three girls that died this week. Pray that they would know the peace and rest that can only come from the Lord.

This song that I love just came to mind:

All who are thirsty
And all who are weak
Come to the fountain
Dip your heart in the stream of life

Let the pain and the sorrow
Be washed away
In the waves of His mercy
As deep cries out to deep, we sing

Come, Lord Jesus, come
Come, Lord Jesus, come

Lord, I anxiously await Your coming. I long for restoration. I am thankful for a God who is Holy, yet hears the cries of His people. I am thankful that You are faithful even when we struggle to be. I am thankful that You are good and that we can hope in You.

Resolutions

I am not good at New Year's Resolutions. I stopped making them a long time ago. This year, though, I decided to take one month at a time and try to work on some things in my life as I feel the Lord leading. For January, my goal was to work on four things:

1. Delight in the Lord through the book of Genesis.

2. Take care of my body by making healthier lifestyle choices.

3. Be a good steward of financial responsibility by establishing a new budget (and actually trying to live by it.)

4. Consider simplicity and how to better apply it to my lifestyle.

I am happy to report that I am really trying to follow through with these things. I am almost through with the book of Genesis and have really enjoyed being reminded of the stories of God's love and faithfulness to His people. I decided that my body needed a bit of a de-tox after the holidays, so I have avoided all forms of dessert this month and have been starting to make some use of the treadmill upstairs that has been sitting idle for some time. I have, however, noticed that I am drinking way more coffee and tea in my effort to avoid sweet things. Perhaps that is something to tackle in February... I revised my budget to make it applicable to my life, and have been trying to pay attention to what I am spending money on. I still have a little ways to go on this one, but I am kind of excited about finding better ways to save money and get rid of debt. I have been reading a book by Dave Ramsey, who is very hard-core about getting rid of debt fast. I think maybe some of his ideas will be helpful. Number 4 is probably the one that still needs a bit of work. I would really like to simplify my life and live in a way that honors the things that the Lord has taught me through His word and also honors and serves the poor around me.

Feel free to give me your feedback or comments to help me stay accountable to these things!

An introduction - continued...

Some more facts about me:

My favorite flower is a tulip.

I don't like corn (or cornbread, or corn nuggets, or corn casserole). I don't like tomatoes either.

My favorite season is fall.

I would love to visit all of the continents. Well, all except Antarctica that is. I am not all that interested in ice.

My favorite shoes are flip-flops. I don't really wear any other kind.

I really like a good chai latte. Or coffee with peppermint mocha creamer. But, as previously mentioned, they only sell that at Christmas. So sad for me.

I am the middle child. I don't think that I have any associated syndromes.

Here are some pictures of some people and things that I love:

My parents - My dad would like you all to know that he taught me all that I know about baking chocolate chip cookies. While this is true, I still argue that mine are better :-)

My mom and I in an elevator on a cruise ship. I think she is the source of my nose genes.

My sisters and I on the beach on Christmas Eve.

Pam and my soon-to-be brother-in-law Jeremy (aka J-Rob)

My Bella all sprawled out like a frog (except for the paws crossed part)

My roommates Erin and Avivah in front of our Christmas tree (which was beautiful even though you can't actually see it in this photo).

Some roommate fun in Decatur

Amanda, Emily, and Kristy - some fabulous Furman friends that I love

A pink tulip - my favorite!

Just one of many reasons that I love Peru

The only kind of shoe that I wear. Given the 20 degree weather today, I am trying to branch out. I still think that my foot would rather be a little cold than shoved into a real shoe...

Some fun friends - including about half of my community group, which I love!

a night at the movies

In the past 4 days, I have been to see 2 movies. I think that equals the number of times I frequented a movie theater in the entire year of 2007. Well, that may be a bit of an overstatement, but I really don't go to the movies very often. I usually find that I would rather be hanging out with friends in a place where we can talk and catch up. But, I do enjoy a good movie every now and then.

Tonight my roommate Erin and I saw 27 Dresses. I really liked it. Definitely one that I will probably own one day. While definitely predictable, it is a cute, feel-good romantic comedy and what girl doesn't like those? Erin and I did decide, though, that movies like this are very bad for our when-will-it-be-my-turn-for-a-husband blues. Especially when the guy in the movie is so dang attractive! So, be warned my single friends - it will definitely leave you hoping for a wedding day of your own. Or, in my case, at least a glimmer of hope on the horizon...

The other movie that I saw this week was P.S. I Love You. Yeah, I know - it sounds like I am just a glutton for punishment! This is the movie that some girls in my small group chose for Girls Night. Let's just say that we cried through the entire movie. Like, the entire thing. I am not sure that I have have shed so many tears in a movie before. Ever. So sad. A beautiful movie for sure, but SO sad!

the night shift life

I woke up 5 minutes before my alarm today. That doesn't happen very often. But then, my sun pouring through my window probably helped. It was 12:40 after all. Yes, 12:40 pm. And yes, my alarm was set for 12:45 pm. You might be thinking to yourself, "Why does she bother to set an alarm to wake her up halfway through the day?" Who knows. But, at 4:45 am when I was going to bed, 8 hours of sleep sounded good to me.

This is my night shift life. Since I was up for 24 hours straight while working Wednesday night, I slept from 10 am to 6 pm on Thursday. Since I woke up at 6 pm, I was not tired until 445 am. Since I did not go to sleep until 445 am, I did not want to get up until 1240 pm. And the cycle continues. The cycle will continue through the weekend, since I am working tonight and tomorrow night. Hopefully, the cycle will somehow find its way to a screeching halt on Sunday. That's when my night shift lifestyle is supposed to end so that I can get ready for day shifts next week. Lucky for me, I have until Thursday to really get that figured out.

And, I am still trying to figure out why I am tired all the time...

An introduction...

Since I am embarking on this new blog adventure, I thought I would start by introducing myself. Granted, if you are actually reading this, you probably already know me, but maybe there are a few things you don't know. Like:

My full name is Amy Michelle Lahey.

I am a hematology/oncology nurse, which means that I take care of kids with cancer and blood disorders. It means that I take care of really sick children, and that I probably will know more children that die this year than you do. It is sometimes a dirty, smelly job. Sometimes, it breaks my heart and makes me long for the day when all suffering will end. Most of the time though, it is an incredibly amazing job. I get to be a part of the lives of the bravest, most amazing kids ever! I get to hold precious babies. I get to wear pajamas to work (or the equivalent of pajamas anyways). Sometimes playing Candyland or making animals out of PlayDoh is part of my job. It's hard to beat that!

My favorite flavor of ice cream is mint chocolate chip. The peppermint chocolate chip kind from Jake's is even better.

I love peppermint mocha creamer and mint M&M's, and I think it is tragic that someone decided that these things should only be sold at Christmas.

I have the most amazing family ever! I love that my parents have been married for over 30 years. My older sister Carla is a teacher, takes dance class, and recently got a part in a community theater play. I love that she often displays her dance moves at random times in the family room of my parents house for our entertainment. My younger sister Pam is a dietitian, loves children, a great cook, and is soon to be married! I love that she sings at the top of her lungs even when she doesn't know the words to the song. I also love the way that she loves people so well. I also have a fat kitty named Bella, who is a boy even though his name might suggest otherwise. Right now he is on an extended kitty vacation at my parent's house where he can open all the doors by himself and likes to sleep on top of the copy machine.

I speak Spanish.

I make really good chocolate chip cookies.

My favorite book is Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. If you are a female, you must read it! If you are a male, it wouldn't hurt.

I love all things Peruvian. OK, maybe not ALL things, but I do love the beauty of the country, the people, most of the food, speaking the language, and the list goes on...

I own my own house. I share it with two amazing roommates.

I don't like shoes.

I fractured a rib once.

The only car accident I have ever had involved a wild turkey and my windshield. The turkey won. Or maybe not, since I am not sure he lived through it. But then, neither did my windshield.

I want to adopt a child one day.

I like to knit, but I only knit scarves. I don't like to wear scarves.

More to come...

Taking the leap

I am a blog stalker.

I admit that I have become addicted to reading blogs. Whether a close friend, someone from the past, or sometimes even people that I don't really know at all, I enjoy catching up on the lives of others through their blogs. Perhaps it's a sad commentary on our society that I sometimes learn more about people online than I do from personal interaction with them. Regardless, it's fun to read about the daily adventures or random musings of the people around me.

So, I finally decided to give blogging a try myself. As usual, I am a little slow to jump on the bandwagon (after all, it did take me all this time to trade in my old AOL email account I have had forever for a gmail account). I make no guarantees that I will be faithful in posting entries or that my ramblings will be particularly interesting. But, I will try! So here goes...