Registering for Board Exams

I am officially registered for two of the four board examinations I am to take prior to actually being able to apply for licensure as a Registered Dental Hygienist after graduation. Yikes. The first one, the written National board will be taken during Spring Break, and the others will be mid-May. Ready or not, here they come.

On Monday, is our "Mock" Anesthesia Board where we will go through a simulated practice exam to prepare us for the real thing. I find it amusing. We will be tested on two injections, and in the last year, I have only administered each of these two injections ONCE each! I have the best test patient though; she is a friend who graduated from the program last year. So, she's been through the test as a student, as as a patient multiple times. SHE is confident I will do fine. Fortunately, I've been feeling pretty relaxed over school. As school seems to be the EASY component of my life right now. If I fail, either in the big scheme of life it doesn't REALLY matter that much, or maybe I'll be able to do it again another time. Either way, no big deal. On Monday though, I will sit down with my friend and pretend I have done it a hundred times before and see if I can fool my examiners (who are really my instructors who are fully aware of my 'lack' of recent practice).

Moving on, tomorrow ends week five of the term which means I'll be half way through the term already. I had a midterm on Monday and looked ahead to the list of assignments and due dates for the rest of the term and felt the anxiety build for the first time. The stress got the best of me for a short while, but I am looking at it as one assignment, one requirement, one clinic session, and one day at a time. I will get through it (Lord willing!)

I couldn't be doing it without the unconditional support of my dependable family and friends -- and my faith in the Lord. These challenges of life sure have put a new perspective on life and brought me such humbleness.

This morning there was a beautiful bright pink sunrise. It was a sunrise similar to ones I had seen many times before coming up over the mountains more than a year ago. I used to look at those sunrises wondering if they were just as spectacular on the other side in Black Butte where dear husband was working in the frigid cold. Thinking about both of us looking at the same sunrise made me feel close to him even though he was so far away. I had a similar feeling this morning, although this time, he was on a different side of that sunrise watching over me from above, and not working in the frigid cold.