School Days

Recently, we had a visitor to our Wednesday evening class. No, not the Doc, but his friend.
As part of our course, naturally, we are learning about the human frame. If this season of learning has no other purpose, but to let my heart stand in wonder at the awesome mystery of God it is worth all the effort.

We really are fearfully and wonderfully made ! I do not understand how scientific men can study these things, and still, some deny a Sovereign Loving Creator.

I am enjoying this new experience very much. I wish I had been able to accomplish this with excellence when I was young. How my life would have been different and perhaps so much more fruitful and even happy.

The course I am currently taking is one that will enable me to work in a hospital setting, or maybe a doctor's office or something along those lines. We will see.
So, I decided to take the OHIP Billing course. That is the manner of billing that doc's use to get paid from the Ontario Government.

I did this last weekend, in an intense twelve hour course . All I can say is OUCH!



By the end of the weekend, it felt like my brain was oozing out of my ears, and all my insecurities were screaming at me of my dullness and stupidity.

O.K. so I haven't experienced a lot of affirmation in my lifetime, that is obvious, but I press on.
To get the certificate of completion , I have a six page take home exam to mail in and wait for the results. I just completed it today.
Now I find myself sitting here in a swirl of mental exhaustion once again stunned by the fact that I am even doing any of this at my age.

I wonder why ? What if , when I am all finished my new education, there are no jobs out there, anywhere, not even in my beloved K.C.? Ack !

I much prefer the eternal perspective on things, since the truth is that tonight once again I am feeling like a stranger and alien on this earth.

All I really want is God, and all things pertaining to God, with no distractions, like having to make a living. Trying to survive in the midst of all the confusion and human frailty, especially my own.

I wonder what He is morphing me into ? Am I on some wild adventure that never seems to end ? Are we having fun yet ? Nope! I am glad He loves me no matter what, and that He never leaves me. Thanks Lord. You are Amazing and I trust You.

Did good on my test! Yay!
O.K. I got 97.4 % or 74 out of 76
(2 mistakes, it had to be the stress....right? yeh, right!

Another one next week!

A test every two weeks on 100 new 'elements' like
gastr- meaning stomach, and, ost- means bone.....you get the idea.

Then there are the combining elements like ECG is Electo/cardio/gram.
electric/heart/record.
Plus I must learn to spell these many strange words correctly.

My other class on Computer Upgrading is easier, no tests , just assignments.
Praise the Lord!

It has been an interesting though tiring few days.

Last weekend I worked a lot of shifts, filling in for some as well as doing my own.
By Monday morning I was toast!


I was moaning to God how 'I can't do this any more'.....

My clients are lovely. One suffers from Alzheimer's Disease, and the other has Dementia. I was with them many many hours. It really is living in a different world. Not only meeting their needs physically and naturally, but existing in their 'world' or 'environment.'

Their main activity during most of my shifts is watching television after their day, and before bed time. The problem is they are both hearing impared , and at this stage of their diseases, they cannot comprehend a lot of what t.v. land has to offer.

Therefore, the t.v. volume is up to the max. and they keep changing the channel every few minutes looking for the news.

I do try to help them find the nine and ten o'clock news before bed time, and anything that will keep their interest like funniest home video's. I just discovered they like baseball as well.

While all this is happening I sit nearby at the dining room table close at hand . Sometimes I read.

This weekend I was attempting to study. I was reminded of the scene in the old Robin Hood movie , when he was trying to find the target with his arrow, and Maid Marion whispers in his ear, 'can you do it amidst distraction?

'Ack!! No whispering happening here ! Distraction ?....definitely !

All this to say, I was 'done' by the end of my shifts. I had been mentioning to the Lord that I would like a 'real job', so I could sleep regularly, and have a constant income.

On Monday morning, My Lady is telling a story at the breakfast table.
( I actually think she had dreamed this)

"I went for a walk, and met this neighbor who we used to live beside in Oakville. He was very rich, then, (here they try to remember how he got rich in the first place, but they could not remember, though they did know his name.)

He was buying a paper, and didn't have enough money on him, so he asked me if I could help him with a little change to buy a paper. So I gave it to him.
IT FELT SO WONDERFUL! I JUST HELPED THE RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD!"

My Lady's face was bright with a huge smile as she recalled this feeling, and I was pierced through by the Word of the Lord.

Yes, He IS the richest man in the world, and chose to remind me that he needed me here for a season, though it is just small change to me, He is in need... and I would rather be at His feet somewhere else. Hmmmm.....

Anyway, a good lesson for me, and I felt much better once I got some sleep.

I now have my official student card I.D. and have begun my Computer Upgrading classes, which I am enjoying a lot. Tonight I had my first test on Medical Abbreviations. Yes, I did memorize them and will know my mark next week.

Thursday, Sam and I are heading to Trenton to see our friend Lillian. I have been reading her 'The Old Curiosity Shop' by Charles Dickens. Lillian has macular degeneration and is legally blind, so she enjoys these times when our imagination can see into another time . I don't think Dickens knew or cared much for a lot of punctuation, I seem to be finding, at least in this book.

Small Change eh ? Hmmmmmm........

First Evening

Tonight was my first class on Medical Terminology. There were 27 other women in the room. We are taking a Hospital Secretary Course, and the first test is next week.

We must memorize 4 pages of abreviations.

As we were going through each one, I could feel something around me.
It didn't take me long to realize it was the collective tension of mostly mature women faced with the first test.
Mostly silent screams.....including my own.

Some things never change, so I had better get busy studying......and praying .

School Days

September.....2006.
Time for School. Anneka, Jared, Ryan, Joey, Grandma.
Yep!
Grandma's going back to school too. Not tomorrow, but next week.

I have decided that I need to take some positive steps towards an eventual improvement in my work situation / wages.

I have been trying to learn to type at home with Mavis Beacon, as well as an on line typing tudor. All this in preparation for classes at Fleming College . Computer Upgrading, and a Hospital Ward Secretary Course, all beginning next week.

I am praying for a clear mind, peace and supernatural enabling , for this old brain to get into a new gear.
We will see what God will do. I am looking forward to this new challenge, except for the pressure I have already put on myself to do well.
I need to give myself a break !

The courses are part time studies, so I will be able to continue to work.
Ack ! Help me Jesus! I'd rather be at IHOP.