goodbye: AOB

its time to say goodbye to the adventures of bort.
and hello to:

the rev & the mrs

start reading my life over there. follow me. and change your link to me over there!! :) enjoy!!

oh my.

i had no idea it would be like this---
exhausting. tiring. rewarding. exciting.

in the past 3.5 days we have: moved across the state.
rearranged the furniture in the house (switched around bedroom furniture)
moved boxes here there and everywhere.
unpacked about a million boxes.
steamed the carpets. not once or twice. but 6 times.
eaten some INCREDIBLE homemade food from church family.
moved furniture some more.
bought a couch and ottoman.
tried to train a dog.
pulled out carpet (that was steamed)
had our church family over to help pull up more carpet and all the things that go along with that.
cleaned our beautiful hidden hard wood floors.
thanked God that we had beautiful hidden floors.
moved the furniture again.
taken a shower.
moved more furniture.
then. now. finally. sat down.

time for a nap.
its been an incredible ride.
but we are all exhausted.
our church family has welcomed us in with open arms.
fed our bellies.
loved on us.
and loved on the house.

we are so blessed to have an amazing house to live in.
lots of beds--- so come visit.

on a side note..... i mentioned i am starting a new blog.
and i am.
im starting a new chapter in life and want to start a new blog along with it.
ill make the big switch later this week---
but you'll know when.

love & peace & happy 4th

insanity

im moving.
its insane.
our house is a disaster.
our kitchen is packed.
we threw out a lot of spoiled food.
made me feel bad.
we have a twin bed in our living room.
our wii--- its still connected. priorities people.
television and entertainment are the last to be packed.
one day-- ill post pictures.

but it will probably be later.
the movers come thursday.
i have class on wednesday. isn't that awesome.

woooo packing~
i loveeee moving.
wooooooo.

i hope you can smell/taste/feel the sarcasm.

one week

in one week... my life is changing.
7 days left in durham.
one week until we load up and say goodbye to our first home.
7 days until we wave goodbye to friends that have become so dear.
one week until we start the next chapter of our life together.
one week until we begin our simple life in the mountains.

and one week until my new blog starts. (:

something exciting is happening....

change is a coming.....

pretty sunset at the carolina railhawks game

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race

today i ran a 8k!!
thats five miles folks

and i would like to add-- i have never run 5 miles. haha. i have gotten up to 4 miles- but do to my laziness, packing, being tired from cleaning and packing, school work, and travels i have not been running as much as i should have.

despite that... i FINISHED!
and i wasn't last.
and the course had not closed.
and there were a TONNNN of people at the finish line cheering me on.
it was great. and encouraging. but kinda awkward. haha.

anyway. its 10:30 in the morning-- and ive run 5 miles.
im pretty pleased with myself.

love & peace

excited

the past several days ive been in the community that ryan and i are moving to in just a few weeks. 

im so excited about our future here. 

not only is it beautiful!

the people here are so great. genuine. sweet. welcoming. and full of love. 

i can't wait to move. 

im excited about our new house. our new church. and our new community. 

i started my clinicals today-- down the road in black mountain. 

and it was a wonderful day. 

i loved the clinic site. the patients. the providers. the other office staff. 

really-- its just a different way of life here. 

slow. genuine. care-free. relaxed. caring. kind. 

i really, realllly like it. 

i think i just love mountain folks. 

there is just something different about them that i love.

im thrilled about the next chapter in our life. 

our life in the mountains. 

as a pastor's family. 

in the country. 

with cows as our neighbors.

casseroles in the fridge. 

rocking chairs out front. 

a swing in the backyard. 

and lots and lots of sweet tea. 

im pretty sure i was made for this. 

mowgli.

we have a dog.

his name is mowgli. 

monday he will be 11 weeks old. 

he. is. awesome. 

almost completely crate trained ((on day 2!))

only pooped 2x inside. 

and always pees on the pee pad if he can't make it outside in time. 

he is sooooo cute. 

knows "no" already. 

chews on his toys and is learning not to chew on the rug (good thing it was 10$ at target and already completely worn out)

and he is great at meeting people!

we also saw our new house this past weekend and met lots of church folks. 

we are reallllly excited about the move. 

but more on that later. 

last 12 hour shift tomorrow! i can hardly believe it!!

love & peace

the final countdown::

2.5 more work days until my retirement. 

now thats its nearing-- 

im getting a little sad. 

my job sucks-- but at the same time it is incredible. 

i see things no 20-something kid should see, i cry with patients, i cry after i get yelled at and harassed BY patients, i get frustrated with the health system, i do cpr and save someone's life, i do cpr and witness a patient's last breath. 

if you want to see a real life roller coaster come follow me for 12 hours in the ER. its definitely life changing-- and after my 2 years of working in the ER im definitely a different- but better nurse and person. 

in case you were unaware our hospital is in a low income underserved area. our patient population is very poor people who don't have insurance, healthcare or money to take care of themselves. its a frustrating job. but at times its incredibly rewarding. 

and.... im going to miss that. 

plus a few of my coworkers are pretty amazing people. 

and im going to miss them. 

so. the countdown ticks away-- and next tuesday i say goodbye to my first 'real career' and continue on my journey to my next career. hmm. i wonder how many i'll have before i'm 30! haha. 

in other countdowns: 1 month until we move!!!

the office is totally packed. 

a lot of platters and unused dishes/items are packed. 

sheets/towels/unused items packed. 

did i mention the office is totally packed? 100's of books. ew. 

oh and multiple more loads were taken to goodwill. 

so its going well.  

off to class tomorrow. 

woo. 

love & peace

bort

espanol.

hola.

so im in spanish this summer.
i was quite worried-- due to my lack of spanish speaking in oh say 5 years. the last spanish i took was sophomore year of college--- luckily i know some pretty decent splangish and do a fair job of communicating with my patients at work. today i had my first clase de espanol. i was a bit worried (preocupado) but. luckily. i knew everything we talked about today in class. i knew the verbs & the vocabulary. thannnkkkk goodness. i am fairly certain i know more spanish than most of the class--- but don't get me wrong. im going to have to study a lot! i don't know ANNYYY medical spanish. we didn't cover any of that today. so that part is going to be tricky. luckily i have a good foundation. and a HUGE desire to speak fluently.

it should be an interesting summer no doubt. 4 classes. moving. driving to durham from canton every wednesday. 2 days of clinical rotations each week. while getting settled in a new house. and running two races. oh and my brother gets married. annnnd my grandma turns 80 and we are having a big throw weekend long throw down. ((the last two things im pumped about. they will be super awesome. and im really excited about moving)) but oh geeze. its gonna be a doooozy. oh yeah. and i have a job. i go back to work tomorrow. but.... only 6 more full days of work before my retirement. thats going to be marvelous. one less thing to worry about!

welp. adios.
 amor y paz.
d

filled up.

wellllll. we are back from colorado. 

after an INCREDIBLE week with my husband- that FLEW by-- we are home to hot and sunny north carolina. 

we had an incredible time hiking- playing in snow- touring breweries- exploring new towns- went to a meadery (honey wine. mm)- walked a million miles- stayed at an INCREDIBLE bed & breakfast, saw ginormous mountains- saw more snow that i dreamed- laughed- played- and enjoyed life. 

but now--- today--- back to school for me. 

i sat down and went through all my syllabi and am getting caught up on work from last week. 

i got seriously organized though-- and put all my dates in my calendar. 

from an empty month that looks something like this: 

to a month that looks like this: 

full of school, work, meetings, and every assignment in between. 

bring it on. 

(and thats just one month. and doesn't include clinicals every thursday & friday)

july & august look equally as full. 

time for some espanol. 

love & peace--

colorado.

well.
its beautiful here.
we saw the rocky mountains yesterday.
today--- we saw snow. lots of it. in fact since 8am its been snowing and has not stopped.
we went hiking anyway.
around 6 miles! saw some incredible sites. waterfalls snowed over. 20 foot snow drifts. we hiked on a snowy trail that was only 'paved' by other hikers. it was single file. and over the bridges the snow was higher than the rails on the bridge. it was insane.
most incredible snow ive ever seen.
but kinda sucks.
1. you get wet.
2. its cold.
3. there are no incredible views.

tonight we are cuddling up in our cozy cabin.
the snow is falling outside and we have some movies to watch.
should be a lovely cozy night.

love & peace from snowy colorado!

lunch in tajikistan..... or any amaziiiing tea house

on board!

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colorado

we are off..... for a week in colorado.
exploring. hiking. reading. relaxing.

we are so stoked.

hopefully i'll do some posting from my cell phone---

love. peace.
bort

graduation

i know. im a little behind. 

let me tell ya- that closet got me good. 

hahaa

i had great success in cleaning out the office and storage closet. 

by great success i mean an entire jeep load to goodwill, a trash bin (like the giant ones at the side of the road) full of trash and the recycling bin also filled to the top. 

i found things i had not looked at in yearsssss. like some stuff prob 10 years. 

its mostly all gone now and it feels soooo good. 

after the cleaning i swiftly moved into getting ready for ryan's graduation & the family coming. 

     

friday brought on the fam.   

  we have eaten a lot. played a lot. talked so much. and had a fabulous weekend. 

im so glad the macminn's and snider's get along so well. 

its been a lot of fun and i've enjoyed having everyone together. 

they are all coming back by before they head out of town today. 

and then--- ill probably crash. its exhausting having 9 ppl around!! 

oh and of course-- ryan graduated from DUKE divinity last night. it was such a great service. there are lots of pics of his hooding so ill post some. some time. :) 

 COLORADO TRIP TOMORROW!!!

we fly out tomorrow evening/night and will be off to explore and see what we can see. we have an itinerary and we are set. should be awesome!!

welp. hope all is well in your neck of the woods. 

love & peace

bort

progress

moving has its advantages. 

one: you can get rid of TONSSS of crap 

(well. that is if you HAVE tons of crap)

my goodwill pile after going through my closet and 1/3 of the office closet

the current state of the office = a disaster

and the other side:

there is just stuff EVERRRYWHHERRREEEE.

but soon it will all be packed and have a home. 

(possibly a home at goodwill)

anyway. i successfully cleaned out our bedroom today. 

2 closets of clothes. 

1 linen closet. 

and my cedar chest. its a chest ive had my whole life that my grandpa built me. 

its awesome. i keep "special" things in it. 

little did i know that EVERY SINGLE birthday card IVE EVER GOTTEEEENNN was in there. 

along with EVERY softball jersey ive ever worn. and team hat. 

its a bit obnoxious. 

its not cleaned out. 

i have a few very special items (that may not be in 8 years-- but right now they are) and threw an entire bag of trash away. 

so progress indeed. may the work continue through the night!

when i get on a roll i just don't want to stop!!

love & peace

bort

goodwill.

our goodwill pile is growing!

yeah thats some awesome lighting.... but basically its a big pile of crap.
we are finding all sorts of 'gems' that we are getting rid of.
i found a basket full of notes and cards from FRESHMAN year of college!
how have i not gotten rid of that before now?!?
oh my.
its a big clean out of our house.
and its going well.
we have a lonnnng way to go though.
my goal for this week: clean out my closet (today we did ry's) and clean out the spare bedroom's closet ((which is my craft/scrapbooking/picture/christmas/camping/sewing/everything else storage))
now you know why its going to take a week!

ill keep you posted.
love & peace

nothin better than mexican soda on cinco de mayo