Bend

After two years of checking and re-checking the hospital website for open ER jobs, and prowling the internet for examples of crazy travel nurse information, I’m awaiting the start of my first job after Community.  As it is the night before any important occasion, sleep is not coming tonight, regardless of how amazingly comfortable this memory foam pad is on my new air mattress—my bed for the next few months. 

My aunt and I drove over the mountains today, starting in misty, pure Portland weather and ending in eighty-something, sunny high desert.  The mountains had some cloudy clothes on them, but you could still see them, and, most importantly, the sky was blue above where we were as soon as we went through the pass.  It is crazy to me that you can go from rainy-grey mist in the forest up by Mt. Hood down the mountain to a sunny, forested valley that leads to a hot, Utah-esque canyon down by the Deschutes river—and back up again to fields of grass and hay that lead to sagebrush and juniper.  Mountains, snowy and not so snowy, hang out in the background.  Coming from the Midwest, where everywhere is pretty much the same this time of year—hot, humid, with the occasional thunderstorm—this blows my mind.  The thermostat in my car went from 66 degrees to 91 today within the same three hour time span as we drove to Bend.  That was all during the day, too; no night lows involved!

I cannot believe that I am finally here; that I am finally doing this.  I met my roommate today and she is the epitome of who you would want as your roommate.  The house is beautiful.  The area is gorgeous.  The view out of my window is a butte with mountains in the background—to the West, no less, so I see the sunset.  God totally laid this whole adventure out for me.  I am still trying to figure out what it is that made Him give me, a sinner that does a very good job of ruining the good gifts He gives me, this incredible gift.  “Great is Thy Faithfulness” is my favorite hymn, and it sure rings true throughout not just this season, but my entire life.   “All I have needed,” His hands have provided.   It’s not up to me to figure it out; I know this.  How lucky and blessed and GRATEFUL I am to have been granted this request to live my dream, this particular desire of my heart!!