Meta tags:

Headings (most frequently used words):

2008, august, my, blog, wednesday, 24, sunday, an, faithfully, leaning, about, things, love, archive, thursday, january, 15, 2009, tuesday, november, 25, september, 31, friday, 22, 13, provision, where, did, the, last, months, go, time, for, update, glance, at, fall, god, has, given, me, grace, lift, eyes, up, amitriptyline, not, antidepressant,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
and (128), the (85), for (59), that (55), has (29), god (29), was (26), this (25), with (24), have (21), out (17), you (16), how (16), but (16), been (16), had (13), not (13), even (12), last (12), emily (12), diabetes (12), lord (12), all (12), nursing (12), see (11), time (11), get (11), back (11), just (10), first (10), mom (10), her (10), they (10), are (10), through (10), school (10), when (9), #things (9), year (9), 2008 (8), day (8), she (8), blood (8), good (8), know (8), cells (8), going (8), from (8), much (8), joy (8), nate (8), provided (8), home (7), posted (7), brenna (7), mertens (7), into (7), now (7), can (7), went (7), what (7), mri (7), well (6), doctor (6), visit (6), came (6), also (6), body (6), about (6), where (6), more (6), heart (6), there (6), does (6), then (6), over (6), faith (6), today (6), will (6), grace (6), clinicals (6), while (6), only (6), thank (6), months (6), brain (6), used (5), though (5), august (5), sunday (5), few (5), week (5), his (5), found (5), insulin (5), why (5), here (5), life (5), comments (5), would (5), surgery (5), every (5), very (5), blog (5), semester (5), look (5), symptoms (5), bad (5), two (5), january (5), post (4), any (4), made (4), type (4), word (4), quickly (4), wasn (4), didn (4), ohio (4), before (4), icu (4), juvenile (4), your (4), sugar (4), these (4), most (4), take (4), having (4), times (4), another (4), glory (4), such (4), one (4), than (4), health (4), savior (4), given (4), love (4), got (4), new (4), again (4), past (4), update (4), since (4), saw (4), lean (4), continue (4), lesions (4), mind (4), college (4), earlier (3), want (3), currently (3), taking (3), antidepressant (3), because (3), wednesday (3), friday (3), after (3), filled (3), called (3), told (3), some (3), loss (3), morning (3), church (3), who (3), bring (3), glucose (3), which (3), serious (3), should (3), doctors (3), sent (3), don (3), beta (3), other (3), within (3), reason (3), giving (3), him (3), trust (3), started (3), myself (3), getting (3), asleep (3), amazing (3), during (3), ask (3), passage (3), far (3), trials (3), jack (3), always (3), endure (3), trial (3), start (3), jesus (3), next (3), thursday (3), hospital (3), amy (3), come (3), our (3), fall (3), break (3), studying (3), sleep (3), lecture (3), aka (3), able (3), like (3), hours (3), work (3), moments (3), feel (3), negative (3), long (3), family (3), christmas (3), delivery (3), ordered (3), many (3), dark (3), relationship (3), provision (3), 2009 (3), faithfully (3), posts (2), comment (2), clear (2), might (2), mentioned (2), amitriptyline (2), prescribed (2), being (2), purpose (2), working (2), migraine (2), problems (2), thinking (2), put (2), antidepressants (2), wanted (2), case (2), were (2), friends (2), them (2), summer (2), car (2), everyone (2), doing (2), picked (2), could (2), hear (2), something (2), incredibly (2), wrong (2), checks (2), levels (2), test (2), around (2), immediately (2), thankful (2), cases (2), find (2), monday (2), learning (2), rare (2), system (2), organ (2), hand (2), behind (2), lower (2), stomach (2), contained (2), food (2), throughout (2), use (2), alive (2), multiple (2), their (2), challenge (2), understand (2), control (2), himself (2), wants (2), situation (2), give (2), hope (2), caught (2), eyes (2), doesn (2), tell (2), sweet (2), felt (2), room (2), blessed (2), great (2), wait (2), meet (2), message (2), did (2), ready (2), anticipate (2), title (2), hebrews (2), better (2), christ (2), alone (2), anything (2), say (2), endured (2), waiting (2), diagnosis (2), issues (2), each (2), need (2), keep (2), classes (2), kind (2), turned (2), turns (2), nephew (2), full (2), harder (2), literally (2), kindness (2), sure (2), sometimes (2), done (2), wake (2), same (2), pray (2), gone (2), left (2), side (2), tests (2), neurologist (2), september (2), desperately (2), address (2), happened (2), tomorrow (2), yes (2), willing (2), due (2), years (2), thought (2), eventually (2), labor (2), others (2), specialist (2), lot (2), nothing (2), abdominal (2), later (2), everything (2), spinal (2), bloodwork (2), excellent (2), november (2), especially (2), month (2), loans (2), clinical (2), portion (2), almost (2), idea (2), believe (2), truly (2), thing (2), dating (2), courting (2), challenges (2), circumstances (2), let (2), provider (2), born (2), dad (2), coffee (2), student (2), leaning (2), subscribe, atom, older, reference, afternoon, confussion, migraines, google, medication, quick, mention, marketed, longer, depression, rather, solving, headache, worrying, curious, king, island, mine, trip, end, fun, amusement, park, headed, phone, voice, intensive, care, unit, noticed, unusual, excessive, thirst, weight, suspected, friend, diabetic, meter, possibility, away, checked, trouble, level, somewhere, 100, 510, rushed, gave, hunches, someone, coma, spared, grateful, spent, cope, adapt, those, compared, monogenic, gestational, irreversible, unlike, occurs, immune, attacks, destroys, certain, pancreas, size, located, part, along, types, small, islands, endocrine, pancreatic, islets, normally, produce, hormone, helps, move, energy, destroyed, produced, stays, instead, cause, damage, systems, people, must, order, stay, means, undergoing, injections, daily, delivered, pump, testing, pricking, fingers, six, stopped, tears, poured, asked, three, chooses, sovereignly, loves, shall, hard, lie, midst, cloud, seems, hover, head, shines, future, finally, airport, walked, bawling, said, stop, cry, cried, whole, ride, midway, composed, bitter, dropped, luggage, sat, bed, held, loved, missed, set, parents, lovely, sisters, adore, readily, expect, lift, refreshing, anticipating, worship, encouraging, aid, perservering, main, point, show, calls, ongoing, perserverence, possession, heaven, worth, world, offer, pertain, knee, workman, comp, approve, nephews, defect, mitral, valve, stenosis, almighty, view, light, eternity, encourage, trusting, motivate, drifting, encouraged, sing, transition, easy, fast, paced, stressful, profs, hands, dirty, med, surg, floor, dan, finals, glance, sorry, updating, best, allow, beyond, class, maybe, once, alas, finished, intramuscular, injection, return, demonstration, skills, lab, minutes, starts, asks, teaching, step, make, helped, focus, dividing, down, achieve, success, mean, nights, couple, pulling, nighters, repeat, mornings, feels, raw, shakes, imagine, lack, question, preach, truth, foremost, opportunity, answer, strengthened, tasks, ahead, requests, arm, leg, randomly, falling, sensation, dizzy, frequently, hearing, lots, high, pitched, ringing, eyesight, peripheral, vision, fuzzy, black, spots, headaches, amytriptaline, medicine, yesterday, ran, off, fluids, electrolytes, thanks, prayers, support, karen, sending, gentle, reminder, needed, yikes, begin, unexplainable, packing, hopefully, won, write, leaving, standing, tradition, little, girl, spend, thanksgiving, favorite, holiday, comes, weeks, free, share, aunt, less, excited, progressively, operating, observe, triple, bypass, open, craneotomy, removed, tumor, frontal, lobe, colon, large, intestine, resection, least, absolutely, thrilling, lnd, gravitate, towards, challenging, beautiful, benefit, christian, realm, detox, ate, drank, bottles, magensium, citrate, flush, pelvic, scan, days, bleeding, incredible, pain, saying, content, burner, watch, sidelines, progress, concerning, labs, eliminate, thryoid, etc, north, way, overly, impressed, suspectible, sclerosis, primary, physician, recommended, tuesday, really, excuse, delaying, eeps, highlights, missing, ways, kindly, stick, comfort, knowing, mighty, completely, utterly, aspect, goal, gen, eds, pre, reqs, actual, impossible, balance, played, job, receive, mail, opportunities, nannying, babysitting, breaks, equal, enough, money, without, convinced, single, rest, living, million, cats, house, story, goes, certainly, singleness, lacked, ever, guy, opened, wonderful, door, entering, godly, loving, caring, man, whom, fit, longing, desired, denial, grow, withold, children, therefore, witholding, ounce, goodness, particular, dealt, immense, amount, physical, still, endurance, peace, strength, professors, drop, current, application, explain, constantly, lately, placed, dwell, meditate, ultimate, specific, brought, closer, true, specifically, ohrvalls, 26th, psychiatric, rotation, boy, psych, ward, patrick, william, bakken, 12th, lbs, ounces, inches, sister, brother, law, makes, number, looked, fly, december, 28th, 5th, awesome, talk, basically, asking, permission, date, court, officially, intentions, marriage, old, fashioned, term, helpful, seriously, medical, pretty, manageable, dormant, stage, bronchitis, pneumonia, feeling, second, february, april, may, june, july, archive, conversations, laughing, sovereign, chocolate, starbuck, verona, roast, thunderstorms, busy, needing, circumstance, encounters, proverbs, own, understandings,

Text of the page (random words):
ch better nate came to visit me and the family december 28th january 5th what an awesome week the first day nate came out nate and my dad went out for coffee to talk about our relationship and nate basically asking dad permission to date court me so nate and i are officially courting aka dating with the intentions of marriage old fashioned term yes but it s just helpful for us and for others to know that we are taking this seriously and it s not just a relationship to have with no purpose behind it patrick william bakken born january 12th 2009 9 lbs 6 ounces 2o 3 4 inches long born to my sister and brother in law that makes it nephew number two amy had an excellent labor and delivery only a few hours long and she looked and felt great immediately after delivery and even the next morning thank you jesus mom fly s out to visit next thursday currently i am working full time for the ohrvalls while i m on christmas break classes clinicals start up january 26th and it s my psychiatric nursing rotation oh boy aka i ll be in a psych ward so let me explain the title of my blog post provision this word has constantly been on my mind as of lately especially after nate left me to go back to college i know that god has placed this word on my heart and mind for a reason and i truly believe god has wanted me to dwell and meditate on this idea of him being my ultimate provider for a very specific reason this word has brought me closer to my savior and more and more thankful for how he has been my true provider for all of my life and specifically this past year let s take a look back over the last year i sent in my application for nursing school and got in very quickly which is rare god provided i have dealt with an immense amount of health physical challenges over the last 6 months but god still provided he provided me with endurance hope peace joy and even strength to continue nursing school even when my professors told me to drop out due to my current circumstances for years i had myself convinced that i would be single for the rest of my life living with million cats all alone in a dark house you know how the story goes i certainly didn t believe that god had singleness in mind for me i just lacked faith that there would ever be a guy out there for me here i am not even a year later and god has opened this wonderful door of me entering into a new relationship with a godly loving caring sweet kind man god provided god provided when and where and with whom he saw fit i look back now and am truly able to see how it was only god s kindness that he didn t give me this longing when i first desired it and was in denial he had much to grow in me and at that time it was not a good thing for me to have god does not withold good from his children so at that time dating courting wasn t a good thing for me therefore he was not witholding one ounce of his goodness from me at that particular time in my life my goal throughout college has been no loans i was able to work during my first year of nursing school since it was just gen eds and pre reqs but now that i m in that actual clinical portion of school it is almost impossible to balance school and do it well and work at the same time i ve played around with the idea of getting a job many times at the hospital so far though the lord has provided and i have much faith that he will continue to do so no i don t receive checks in the mail filled out to me but god has provided many opportunities for me to continue nannying babysitting during my breaks and what does this equal enough money to get through college without loans i m sure i m missing many other ways that god has so kindly provided for me this past year but these are one s that stick out in my mind i take such comfort in knowing that i have a mighty savior who is completely and utterly in control of every aspect of my life posted by brenna mertens at 2 02 pm 2 comments tuesday november 25 2008 where did the last 2 months go thank you karen for sending me a gentle reminder that i desperately needed to update my blog yikes 2 months since my last post where do i even begin well in my last post i mentioned that i was going to go visit a doctor to address my unexplainable symptoms here s what s happened since then saw my primary physician he recommended that i get a brain mri had my brain mri and they the doctors found lesions on my brain the doctors thought my symptoms brain lesions could be suspectible of multiple sclerosis so they sent me on my way to see a neurologist i wasn t overly impressed with him so i went and saw an ms specialist north a good two hours excellent doctor he ordered for me to have a spinal mri to see if there were lesions there and about 15 labs bloodwork to eliminate other problems like thryoid etc had my spinal mri and bloodwork done and everything came back negative as in they found nothing so for now they re saying it s not ms i m content with that and willing to put everything on the back burner for a while and watch it from the sidelines i ll re address it if my symptoms continue to progress i ll also have another brain mri in about a year to see where things are concerning the lesions then two days later i started having lower gi bleeding with incredible abdominal pain went back to my doctor he ordered for me to have an abdominal and pelvic ct scan they test came back negative again they found nothing went and saw a gi specialist he ordered for me to detox ate a lot of lean lean food for the week and drank two bottles of magensium citrate to flush my system out i feel amazing and all of my gi symptoms are gone it has been and was a very challenging semester for me but you know what s beautiful about all of this i look back on it and thank god for it he used this trial for my good he used it for his glory and he also used it to benefit me and others in the christian realm nursing school is going incredibly well i m excited by it every day and fall more in love with it even as things progressively get harder on friday i had my first or operating room day i got to observe a triple bypass open heart surgery a craneotomy brain surgery where they removed a tumor from the frontal lobe and a colon large intestine resection to say the least it was absolutely thrilling i ve always thought that i d eventually go into lnd labor and delivery but now i m thinking i just might gravitate towards the or only time will tell i m going to be an aunt again in less than 2 months amy is due on new years nate comes out in 5 weeks who s nate you ask feel free to ask me and i m more than willing to share leaving tomorrow morning for ohio it s a long standing tradition literally since i was a little girl we spend thanksgiving with mom s side of the family every year it s our favorite holiday yes even over christmas well i need to get packing for tomorrow hopefully it won t be another 2 months before i write again posted by brenna mertens at 8 58 am 2 comments wednesday september 24 2008 time for an update sorry friends for not updating my blog in a while nursing school has got the best of me and it doesn t allow for anything beyond class clinicals studying and maybe sleep once in a while d but alas i just finished my im intramuscular injection return demonstration in the skills lab and i have 20 minutes before lecture starts so what s new it has been a full semester so far much harder than last semester but come on going from a nursing home to a hospital only asks for it i love it though the lord has been teaching me to literally take it one step at a time last semester i got so caught up in how will i get through all of this aka how will i make it out alive and god in his kindness has helped me to focus on today even dividing that down to get through lecture get through clinicals get through studying and so on god has given me much grace and through that i ve been able to achieve much and find success thank you lord i m also learning to endure with joy i wasn t sure for a while what that would look like i mean how can i have joy when most nights i m only getting a couple hours of sleep or sometimes pulling all nighters just to get my work done and then have to wake up at 4 30 for clinicals and repeat the same all over again some mornings my stomach feels raw and my body shakes i can only imagine from lack of sleep but the question is how do i endure with joy here s how i wake up and i preach truth to myself i thank god first and foremost for giving me the opportunity to be in nursing school then i look back and see god s past grace that he has given me for moments just like this then i pray and anticipate that god will hear me and answer and he does he always does within moments my symptoms are gone i feel strengthened and ready for the tasks ahead of me pray requests i m currently having some new health issues the left side of my body arm and leg have been randomly falling asleep loss of sensation i m dizzy frequently my hearing has been bad lots of high pitched ringing and my eyesight has also been bad loss of peripheral vision at times very fuzzy sometimes i see black spots and my headaches have been bad even while taking amytriptaline prescribed migraine medicine i went in yesterday to see my doctor he ran a few blood tests and i m having an mri on monday 9 29 at 4 45 pm if the blood tests and mri come back negative i ll have to visit a neurologist off to lecture it s time for fluids and electrolytes thanks for all of your prayers and support i m blessed to know each and everyone of you posted by brenna mertens at 8 38 am 4 comments sunday august 31 2008 a glance at fall 2008 8 25 08 i started my classes clinicals back up first week was amazing god has been so kind to me and has made the transition very easy in a fast paced and stressful situation i love my profs and i can t wait to get my hands dirty i start clinicals next thursday at the hospital med surg floor 8 30 08 grace turned 12 9 9 08 mom turns 50 go mom 9 9 08 9 18 08 amy dan and jack come out for a visit 9 12 08 jack our nephew turns 1 10 17 08 finals and fall break posted by brenna mertens at 2 43 pm no comments sunday august 24 2008 god has given me grace today has been so refreshing to me i went to church anticipating that the lord would meet with me during the time of worship and message and meet me he did how encouraging is it to know that the lord is ready to aid us but do we have faith to ask and anticipate that he will the title of today s message was the last day perservering faith today passage hebrews 10 26 39 main point the passage is here to show us that the last day calls for us to have ongoing perserverence today why because we have a better possession in christ heaven one day this alone is worth far more than anything this world has to offer us so how does this pertain to me well within the last year i would say i have endured a few trials my knee surgery waiting a year for workman s comp to approve the surgery waiting to get into nursing school jack my nephews diagnosis of a heart defect mitral valve stenosis surgery my on going health issues this summer emily s diabetes i juvenile diagnosis last sunday but have i endured these trials with joy not always but i can and i should endure each and every trial with joy faith and trust in my almighty savior what do i need to start doing view my trials in light of eternity this passage in hebrews should encourage me to keep trusting in jesus christ and motivate me to keep from drifting i am encouraged the lord has given me such grace today how my heart wants to sing for joy posted by brenna mertens at 12 18 pm no comments friday august 22 2008 i lift my eyes up last sunday 8 17 i was in ohio at king s island with a few friends of mine i had made the trip out to ohio on friday to visit them before summer came to an end after the fun filled day at the amusement park we headed to the car and i called my mom to see how everyone was doing she picked up the phone and i could hear in her voice that something was incredibly wrong she told me that emily was in the icu intensive care unit and that she had diabetes i juvenile earlier that week mom had noticed some unusual things in emily excessive thirst and weight loss and suspected something was wrong so earlier that morning at church she had a friend who is also diabetic bring his glucose meter which checks your blood sugar levels to test emily s blood sugar levels to see if diabetes was a possibility so away they checked and quickly found out that emily was in serious trouble a good blood sugar level should be somewhere around 100 she was at 510 they immediately rushed her to the er and the doctors quickly sent her to the icu i m so thankful that the lord gave my mom these hunches because in most cases you find out that someone has juvenile diabetes when they go into a coma first god spared emily and i m so grateful emily spent sunday and monday in the icu and is now home learning how to cope and adapt for those of you that don t know juvenile diabetes is the most rare and the most serious of cases compared to diabetes ii monogenic diabetes and gestational diabetes and it s also irreversible unlike diabetes ii type 1 diabetes occurs when the body s immune system attacks and destroys certain cells in the pancreas an organ about the size of a hand that is located behind the lower part of the stomach these cells called beta cells are contained along with other types of cells within small islands of endocrine cells called the pancreatic islets beta cells normally produce insulin a hormone that helps the body move the glucose contained in food into cells throughout the body which use it for energy but when the beta cells are destroyed no insulin can be produced and the glucose stays in the blood instead where it can cause serious damage to all the organ systems of the body for this reason people with type 1 diabetes must take insulin in order to stay alive this means undergoing multiple injections daily or having insulin delivered through an insulin pump and testing their blood sugar by pricking their fingers for blood six or more times a day when i first found out that emily was in the icu my heart stopped tears poured and i asked god three things why diabetes lord why am i here in ohio and not home with her why are you giving me another challenge even though i don t understand at times why the lord chooses to do things there are a few things that i do know and understand at my god my god is sovereignly in control god loves emily my god does all things to bring himself glory and if god wants to use this situation to bring himself glory then glory i shall give him it s been a hard week i m not going to lie but in the midst of cloud that seems to hover over my head the lord shines through and is giving all of us faith hope and trust for now and for emily s life in the future i finally came home on wednesday mom picked me up at the airport as i walked out i caught mom s ...