Trust in the Lord

So I'm always amazed by the ways the lord leads our lives, even if we aren't always listening. With in the past month or so I decided that I was going to move back to Salt Lake City and become a dental assistant. Since I'd lived there before I figured that I would just move back into my old ward and life would be great. Easy as pie, right? Well I planned a trip down to SLC to visit a friend and figured I would ask around to see if I could find someone I knew to live with. I went to church early to talk with my bishop. He suggested I talk to the Relief Society presidents. I had already talked to one of them, but that had kind of fallen through. I thought I would just announce it in Relief Society and be well on my way. Then I was informed that it was the fifth Sunday and Priesthood and Relief Society would be meeting together. My plans were ruined.

So I sat though Sacrament meeting trying to decide what to do. As I was looking around for friends, I saw my ex-boy friend walk in and sat down not ten feet from me in another pew. We didn't end our relationship on the greatest of notes, but I thought that I could handle being in his ward. Not true. I sat there distracted the whole time. After the meeting was over, I decided that maybe I was going about this all wrong. I had been praying and fasting about it for a while, and I knew if I listened hard enough I would be guided. I told my friend good bye and headed back to Idaho. Good thing I didn't stay for the end of church.

As I drove, I was headed right in to the snow storm that had just passed through Utah that morning. It was only to be made worse by our lovely Idaho winds. I had called my mom before I left and told her I was driving home. Luckily due to some promptings I arrived home safe and my car was in one piece. I had a few close calls and the roads were horrible.

I was talking to a friend later that night and he said he had some friends down in SLC that he could talk to for me about housing. As he was giving me options I decided that I should look on craigslist again. After looking through hundreds of ads I thought I had found a place, but the spot was already taken. So I went back to the drawing board again. I think that I have found a place. It is in a new ward, but close enough to family and friends that it won't be a huge ordeal to visit people. I'm still working out the details, but now I can feel secure in looking for a job now.

It just makes me feel good to know that if you put your trust in the lord and do your part things will work out how they are supposed to. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of time for my thoughts and the lords to match up. But that just takes a little bit of practice.

Plasma Adventures

So I'm not sure how many of you have ever sold plasma before. Michael and I started selling in September at the beginning of last semester. We figured we could spend three hours a week in the Plasma center and make $50. That is pretty good money. So I would go in twice a week and make money. I figured that since I was living in Rexburg and it is near impossible to find a job, unless you want to work early morning custodial, that was a pretty good compensation. I'm luck and receive a couple grants and a scholarship so this money was more of a supplemental flow, so that I could save up some cash. Anyway, lets get to my adventures. I hadn't gone in for about two weeks because I was sick with a nasty cold. So yesterday was my first time in a while. There was a few requirements you have to pass each time you go in. You have to weigh more than 110 lbs, your blood protein has to be high enough, you have to have a normal temperature and blood pressure. Luckily I passed all those test (well maybe it would have been better if I hadn't). So I got to go into the back. I think that because I haven't had time to play volleyball this semester my veins have gotten smaller. I only say this because this semester I have had more problems than last.

I'm pretty versed on how the process goes by this point. I know pretty quick if I am going to have problems or not. So I'm just chilling on the bed waiting for them to get the machine set up. Then the phlebotomists plays around with my arm for a little while trying to find my vein. I think it was about this point that I knew there would be problems. So he sticks the needle in my arm and sure enough missed my vein. Now if they don't get it in my vein the first time, I know that at some point before I'm done I'm going to have a clot. So he goes and gets someone else to come fix it. So for a little while they had it going pretty well. I was getting to the end of my first draw and the machine started beeping. This meant that my pressure kept changing, not good. So the draw finishes and we get geared up for the return. It was going really well for about 10 seconds and then all flow stopped. I thought to myself, "This is going to be a long day." Now they had a pint of my blood in the machine. This means that if I don't get it back I can't donate for another eight weeks. Not good for my money flow.

They decide to try my right arm. So they stick it in and he kind of gets it in my vein. He again had to play around with it for a while. Then they start to pump my blood back it. It immediately gets a bubble around the needle. I'm thinking that's not normal. So then they stop. This is going to be a problem, so they go and get the head honcho, experienced plasma guy. We are friends and I interrupted his lunch. He said that if I really wanted to say hi I could have just said so. So he tries to fix that needle, to no avail. I told them they could use another vein if they wanted. Now they had already used the two really accecable veins that I have. Now they go for the ones more to the sides. I had used this vein my first time donating, so I knew what to expect a little. These ones hurt just a little more, but I wanted my blood back. So they stick the needle in. Again with the bubbles. So after that one didn't work he asked me what I wanted to do. I said let's try one more time. So they used the side vein in my other arm. After a minutes, we knew that one wasn't going to work either. I still got paid for my trouble, but I didn't get my blood back.

So now I have two sore arms and some pretty bruises.