a bigger purpose

I've been tweaking the appearance of my blog, and even changing the URL due to the fact that coptiheller is an inside joke between me and Josh. (When I was young, I had some sort of difficulty pronouncing words and was verbally dyslexic... coptiheller = hellicopter, panshoo = shampoo, garjib = garbage... you get the idea). There, not an inside joke anymore. haha.

Anyways, most of the time I use this blog to write down whatever's on my mind and just ramble on about completely random things... but I want to use this blog to talk about inspiring and important things. To broadcast the beauty of God through pictures and stories, to share personal struggles of mine so that others may be able to relate to them and how God is working in my life... This may not be my gift - I may be terrible at relating to others, but I figured I'd give it a shot.

So, keep your eye out for more posts!
Sara

A pretty cool place to live...

Our second weekend in Pittsburgh; the tides are turning. I'm in orientation 5 days a week at St. Margaret's for now, next week I have a 4 day week of classes, and then the next week after that I get to start on the floor. I think I'll have an advantage to new grad nurses, and I'm looking forward to seeing the flow of the unit. I'm glad that I have a job, and am getting paid right now. Thursday night, Josh and I hung out with my friend Rachel and her fiance` Jay - it was a lot of fun! We went to Del's Restaurant and experienced Pittsburgh's little Italy in prime fashion. Last night (Friday) Josh and I made our way to the Pittsburgh Pirate's game - and they won against the cubbies 1-0! It was exciting and a lot of fun, I always love baseball games. Afterward we stuck around a bit enjoying the scenery, and at that moment, I started to love living in Pittsburgh. It took a while to come around to this feeling - frustration with traffic, terrible roads all over the city, the element of fear that comes with moving into a used-to-be-"shady"-area... Public transportation, (which I have yet to try :P)... But really, it is a beautiful city, and a pretty cool place to live.

That's all for now.

Sara

The Big City

Josh and I did it - we moved from Concord, NH to Pittsburgh, PA. And oh what an adventure it has been. When we first got here, we moved in with drizzling rain going on in the background, we quickly found that Rigby has something against the upstairs renters - she barks at them or the sound of them moving upstairs nearly constantly, and to boot, she doesn't have her "perch" to watch the street people so she mopes in our bed all day long. I had my 2 interviews... and have a job as well. The first interview with St. Margarets went well and they called me back the same day to offer me the position. Having no job security I thought - yeah, I better take it. I had my interview with West Penn yesterday and I think they're planning on hiring a previously employee anyways, so win win I suppose.

I read my blogs every morning - and one that I always read without fail is prayforian.com; Larissa and Ian Murphy's blog. This morning Larissa was talking about how difficult it is to go to work while Ian stays home, and how their roles are reversed. I can somewhat relate to that feeling - Josh doesn't stay home by any means, he goes and does his thing either at law school, or here - the public defender's internship. He's worn out and not getting paid for it... I would very much love to cut back to at least part time, because while I loved nursing in nursing school - something went awry. But also reading her post, I realize how much stronger she is than I. She recognizes that doing this job, getting up and going to work every day - is a display of love and obedience toward God, and toward her husband. I complained non-stop at my previous job because I just hated it so bad, but that certainly wasn't pleasing to the Lord, and it certainly wasn't honoring my husband. I need to go into this new job opportunity with an open mind, and a joyful heart. There will be difficult patients, there will be nights where I'm just thoroughly overwhelmed, and there will be people I don't quite get along with - but God has put  me here for a reason, and it's my responsibility to be joyful, and to do it because "I love god, and I love my husband" - just as Larissa has said.

Amen!
-Sara

Last Day at CMC, and a new chapter

My last day at Catholic Medical Center was yesterday, and what a freeing feeling it is to not have to work this coming week at all. It's like a mini-vacation! The only problem is, there will be no paycheck for this mini vacation, however that is not worrying me at this time. I value the experience I had at Catholic Medical Center, it taught me many things. I have my ACLS certification, I have loads of experience under my belt and I've come away from it a stronger person. Having said that, I look forward to new experiences.

I'm beginning to get excited about this move, this new chapter in our lives, this adventure back to Pennsylvania. I'm looking forward to having friends and family close, to starting a new job, to having Josh more accessible and not having to study/do homework all the time. I'm looking forward to some normalcy in our lives, and making close bonds with friends in the area.

I'm going to miss things from this area, and I'm going to miss many people. My lovely girls from work, our church family in Londonderry NH and Haverhill MA. People have touched our lives, and we're so thankful for that and for God blessing us so richly in our experience here in New Hampshire. Praise the Lord for his grace and providence!

Love, Sara

How could I forget this verse - my favorite verse, my strength in troubling times...


1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.


Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings... because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. How can I be so pessimistic in these times when they are producing an ever-lasting hope, not to mention shaping me for heaven. 

Life Lessons

We're down to approximately one week left before we depart New Hampshire. Needless to say my stress level is through the roof. Luckily, I only have tonight and the weekend to work and then I can really start focusing on what I need to do and a timeframe in which to do it all. I think most of the packing is coming along nicely; there's still a lot of cleaning to be done though. And of course there's the whole thing about securing the apartment. hah! I can't wait until that's over and done with because let me tell you, 76% of my stress is coming from that. If our realtor Sandy would ever actually get back to us about things, that would just be amazing. But no. We have to call and e-mail her in order to move forward with the next step unless we want to wait a whole-nother month. Anyways, Sorry... Venting.

I had a phone interview with West Penn hospital for a PACU position - which was where I really wanted to end up in nursing school, until I met the ED. So needless to say I'm so excited about it I could pee, but I feel like every time I've gotten my hopes up before I've been let down. I know God has something in mind, but I want to know what he's thinking so I don't get hurt again. I know that's not how christianity works - I need to trust whole-heartedly and getting hurt is part of the business, but it's still hard for my tender heart. So anyways, I have an in-person interview May 16th which I'm going ROCK OUT LOUD on, because I want this job so friggin bad. It would be the same hours Josh would be working, so we could actually kind of have a normal life. Wouldn't that be something?? Anyways, like I say before - God is in control, and I can trust whatever he has in store. Maybe if I keep telling myself that I'll believe it. I'm hoping that happens because right now I'm not feeling it - but as Josh has told me many times feelings are unstable, and you can't depend on feelings... you have to rely on what you KNOW. Pray for me and my struggles. haha And pray that my pessimistic ways would change to a glass overflowing.

Love, Sara