Secondhand Serenade...what a blast!

Graham took me to the Secondhand Serenade acoustic concert tonight for my birthday and it was fantastic! He is such a great musician. I love concerts almost more than anything. There is nothing quite as good as live music. But I must say...I'm starting to feel old when I go to concerts! Oh well...guess they keep me young! Graham and I in the classic "hold out the camera" picture.

Here's Graham loving to have his picture taken between sets. Isn't he handsome.

The venue we went to was really small so we were really close to the stage. This is the third time we have seen him in concert.

He usually tries to stick around afterward and this time we got to take our picture with him.

It's Official

GRADUATION!!!

The day has finally come! Graduation was a blast and it was so much fun to put it together and see how it all turned out. For the SLCC Nursing program the graduates have to put together a committee of students and plan and pay for graduation. While I don't necessarily recommend trying to coordinate planning graduation and study for finals while in nursing school...it proved to be a fun and rewarding experience to see it all come together. Below are some photos of graduation, the beautiful flowers we bought (and one that I took home, my house smells awesome!), and the award that I got. More about that with the picture. Thanks to everyone for their support through the past 2 years...especially to Graham for his patience, he was even more excited to be done than I was!!


I received the Spirit of Nursing award. It is the only peer nominated award and it was really exciting. My brother-in-law called it the Emmy for Nerds...I happen to take that as a compliment.


Getting my scroll and pin.



Graham lovingly refers to this group as "The Nerd Herd". We all studied together and each of their families came to adopt the group title for us as well.


The graduation setup. It turned out looking really pretty...despite my nervousness.

30 days...but who's counting!

I am down to one month of school left until I graduate as an RN. I am so excited to be done and get to put to use what I have learned. I decided to make a chain to count down the days. Can't wait until it gets even shorter.

Overachiever - DAY TWO

Look how much he got done on day two! We can already walk down them. Now we just have to figure out the rails...this might take awhile so don't expect to see anything for day three! He did such a great job...what a great husband.

Overachiever

My nursing school has truly taken its toll on Graham. He has been wanting to start a project. So while I was doing a ride along with one of the Fire Stations, he decided to take the plunge and start one. When I got home from the ride along the deck stairs were essentially gone. So I decided that I would chronical the project.


This is the only picture I could get of the stairs as a "before"...

DAY ONE - This is what he got done the first night. He started about 6 or 7 and closed up shop about 9:30. It's a little far away to see it perfectly but it is looking nice already! We'll just have to throw the dogs off for their morning outing!

Writing Again

When I was a kid I always wanted to be an author. I would write poems and short stories. I really loved it but I haven't written anything for a long time. Well, given recent events I felt like writing again and I wrote this poem.
Written June 4th,2010.

A Baby Today

I lost a baby today.
I stumble through the motions of life;
My body broken, my heart torn, my soul wounded.
I curl like a child on his lap and I sob.
Uncontrollable, gutwrenching; filled with the emptiness of my womb.
He holds me silent, words are of no comfort.
I feel the strength of his arms even as mine remain empty.

I lost a baby today.
A perfect baby boy with my name.
I’m empty. No tears fall.
Outward: strong for her.
Inward: loneliness to immense to bear.
His life so short, mine changed forever.
I feel my arms around her, this body so full of pain.
Broken and shattered; I feel alone.

We lost a baby today.
Our future unpredictable.
No laughter, no amazement, no baby to fill our lives.
Sadness instead.
This dream was but a moment, slipping away before our eyes.
A tiny body: perfect fingers, perfect toes, a perfect spirit.
Not meant for this world.
Each night a reminder.
Missing him terribly.
We feel alone; even as we are together.

Have we lost a baby today?
His life made perfect through the sacrifice divine.
Loneliness, broken hearts will heal.
Faith to carry us through.
An angel we have gained.
His precious body now joined with his pure soul.
With his Father and his Saviour.
Never to be alone.
Separate in mortality.
Bound in eternity.
Forever His arms encircle.
We feel peace.

Gone Too Soon

Bryson Graham Thompson was born on April 25th, 2010 at 11:22pm. He was 7.5oz and 10 inches. He was not with us long and will not have to suffer the pains of this world. He was the most precious child for the time that we had him. We are deeply saddened to lose our first child but are comforted with the knowledge of being able to raise him when the time comes.

Thank you for all of the thoughts, prayers and tears that have helped us and continue to help us through this difficult journey in our lives. Thank you to all of our family that traveled here and saw us through our sorrow. Every day we continue to heal and we will forever have the memory of our little boy in our hearts.