If…

Heaven wasn't so far away
I'd pack up the kids and go for the day
Introduce them to their grandpa
Watch 'em laugh at the way he talks
I'd find my long lost cousin John
The one we left back in Vietnam
Show him a picture of his daughter now
She's a doctor and he'd be proud
Then tell him we'd be back in a couple of days
In the rear view mirror we'd all watch 'em wave
Yeah, and losing them wouldn't be so hard to take
If heaven wasn't so far away

Happy Birthday Grandpa…we love and miss you so very much!

Oldies

I was going through old photos the other day and came across these images.  They were taken in Cades Cove back in 2007!

The photo below is now one that I treasure.  This barn was one of my favorite of all the old barns and buildings that are in Cades Cove.  During a storm last year, this barn was reduced to rubble.  Such a loss to see this piece of history no longer standing!

Fresh and New

Nature’s Art

Each sunrise/sunset is uniquely different.  Painted with beautiful shades of blue, orange, pink, and sometimes purple.  A few nights ago I walked outside and once again saw nature’s handiwork.  It wasn’t a sky filled with lots of pastels or shades of orange and purple.  But it offered up the most amazing rays of light I have seen in a while! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Quick Snap

It was a beautiful sunset at the beach tonight!

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Things That Make You Go…

EEK!

I think this little crawler can do just that! And she was none to happy that I was that up close trying to take her picture.  I used my 50mm Macro for this shot, so I really was up close in her space. She kept doing this little “jump” move at me! That really did make me go “EEK” the first time she did it! Who knows…maybe she thought I was going to take some of her afternoon snack!!!

Quiet Moments

It’s nice to sneak away from all the craziness of life and enjoy the beauty that surrounds us! There has been much happening in my world in the last week…and I hope that I will be able share details soon!

Blissful Bloom ~ Day 2

I am entering this photo in a contest over at:

A Dog & Her Fun

My furry little girl has many toys…to many actually! But one of her favorite things to play with is a paper towel roll, or better yet the roll out of the aluminum foil. And as you can see, she got much fun out of this roll :)

Blissful Bloom ~ Day 1

This most delicate, blissful little bloom is simply beautiful! I can’t wait to track its progress each day until its full beauty is revealed!!!

Sweet Baby Calf

The other day, my Mom and I got out with the cameras.  Little did we know that the highlight of the morning would be seeing this brand new baby calf! What a way to start the day!!!

The “Unofficial” Results…

Yep…it says PASS!!!

Patience

“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” –Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Tonight I am trying very hard to have patience.  Although I don’t know that I am being all that successful!

I took my NCLEX-PN exam today.  Thanks to lots of prayers, I went into the test feeling very calm.  I was ready for what it would throw my way!

The test doesn’t have a certain number of questions.  It can be anywhere from 85-205 questions in length.  It is a CAT test, which means:

CAT successively selects questions so as to maximize the precision of the exam based on what is known about the examinee from previous questions.^[1] From the examinee's perspective, the difficulty of the exam seems to tailor itself to his or her level of ability. For example, if an examinee performs well on an item of intermediate difficulty, he will then be presented with a more difficult question. Or, if he performed poorly, he would be presented with a simpler question. Compared to static multiple choice tests that nearly everyone has experienced, with a fixed set of items administered to all examinees, computer-adaptive tests require fewer test items to arrive at equally accurate scores.^[1] (Of course, there is nothing about the CAT methodology that requires the items to be multiple-choice; but just as most exams are multiple-choice, most CAT exams also use this format.)

The basic computer-adaptive testing method is an iterative algorithm with the following steps:^[2]

1. The pool of available items is searched for the optimal item, based on the current estimate of the examinee's ability
2. The chosen item is presented to the examinee, who then answers it correctly or incorrectly
3. The ability estimate is updated, based upon all prior answers
4. Steps 1–3 are repeated until a termination criterion is met

Nothing is known about the examinee prior to the administration of the first item, so the algorithm is generally started by selecting an item of medium, or medium-easy, difficulty as the first item.

As a result of adaptive administration, different examinees receive quite different tests.

(above info can be found here)

Once the test makes a determination of passing or failing, it shuts off.  And when I say “shut off” it does just that.  I answered the minimum number of questions, 85, and my screen just blacks out!

Talking about feeling queasy and sick to you stomach! That is a gross understatement to describe the way I felt and STILL feel at this moment. 

Many have asked me today how I thought I did.  Really…I cannot answer that.  I know it is hard to believe that one could take a test and not have a feeling one way or the other.  But ‘tis true. 

I now must try to have a little patience as I await my test scores.  I’m praying the are posted tomorrow morning.  As soon as they are available I will post them and hopefully get a little sleep.  I have a feeling it will be a very restless night tonight!

And a BIG thank you to all you for your thoughts and prayers today…that were greatly appreciated!!!

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Little Ladybug

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I seem to have a fascination with water drops here lately!

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Yep…I am trying to get back to daily postings for my 365 Project.  Life has changed pace ever so slightly and to be quite honest, I miss posting daily!

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{insert happy dance here}

I actually got photos this week!!!

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So…

My camera hasn’t been out at all this week!  Miserable fail for my 365 Project!!!  But that’s the way it goes sometimes. 

Earlier this week I learned that the review class that I was taking for my boards was cancelled.  This meant 2 things:  I had to ramp up my own study time and I could change my test date.  So my test is now scheduled for JULY 13th!  That is just 11 days away and I am so ready to get that thing behind me.  The really big upside to the date change was a change in testing time as well.  My original test day time was 8:00am, but with the date change I had more flexibility in the time.  So I will test at 12:15pm.  This is awesome because I am so NOT a morning person and function better in the afternoon to evening hours. 

In other news, I am putting the photography biz on hold for now.  There is just too much going on and I simply cannot juggle it all.  I will soon be working full time and will still be going to school full time to finish up the next portion of my nursing journey.  It was something that I didn’t want to do, but just felt it was necessary for now.  I will still take some photos for friends here and there when the itch hits me and to keep from getting rusty!  This time gives me the chance to also see where I want to take my business when I start back up and make a few branding changes as well.  One being my logo.  I wanted something that would be fun and that I could incorporate into my blog.  This is what I came up with…

And finally, since there are no 365 pics for this week, I will leave you with my shot of the day!