Sunshine State

Vegetable Judging!

2008-03-05T19:48:00.009-05:00

Today was my first practice for non other than Vegetable Judging. Now many may think this to be kind of silly but in all actuality it's quite helpful. We become familiar with different veggies and their seeds, as well as insects and diseases plants get. I was surprised that I knew a lot of the vegetables already but there were some I had never heard of. I also learned that there are quite a few types of beans. Before today I only knew of the classic Green Beans, now I know of 3 others. There is the wax bean, the pole bean, and the bush bean. The seeds were hard to remember at first but after a few minutes their names started to stick. It was really cool to see how different the seeds are from their product. I would never have guessed what some of them were seeds of. Here are some pictures of the different type of beans I mentioned.

This is a Bush Bean!

This is a Pole Bean!

These are Wax Beans!

Yet another Tragedy

2008-02-06T20:06:00.000-05:00

These past two weeks have been very tragic for Ocala, Florida. We have lost 7 young people to horrific car accidents within one week of each other. It's an emotional time for many high school students because many of us knew the ones who died. We need a lot of prayer and support right now. Our community is trying to recover but it's a slow process. I as well as many others worry as to what the weeks to come will bring and now live in a sort of fear. We need the Lord's comfort to fall on us and to touch our hearts. Please keep in your mind and prayers the community of Ocala as you go on through the week. I just hope that my next blog will be on a happier note.

A Sad Day

2008-01-27T13:48:00.000-05:00

Yesterday five boys all 19 years old died here in Ocala. They were driving on a local airport stip at a speed unimaginable! The car went off of an ledge and the boys flew 200 ft in the air then hit two trees which caused the car to split in two. Two of the boys were ejected and all were dead on the scene. To make matters worse there was a blog posted about the incident in which the reader completely degraded and made a mockery out of the 5 deaths. He laughed at the fact everyone in Ocala was mourning over the loss of the boys.
I never thought I would see such cruel mockery. To think that one person is capable of saying such things just blows me away. After reading his article my mind went to those 5 boys, two of which i knew and were my friends. I felt for their families and how they could not just deal with the death of their sons but also with a man insulting them. Every one in Ocala just needs to disregard this mans words. He needs prayer and help and we should not lower to his standards by yelling at him. I hope that God sends someone into that mans life to help and comfort him. I just wish the community, friends, and families never had to read those harsh words.
The world is not a safe place and I am glad this does not have to be our home forever. I just never thought I would see such hate and disregard of this manner in my community.

Smiles In Trials!

2007-11-18T20:36:00.000-05:00

This school year has already brought many positive experiences. I am in my third year of Health Academy which is a health/medical program they have at my school. During this year I will get the chance to shadow at the local hospital in several different units of personal interest. I also will be going on class field trips to medical related facilities.
Just recently I went with my class to a local elementary school and took a tour of their "ESE Wing." This is a school that works with special needs children to receive an education as well as physical and speech therapy. The ages of the children range from the itty bitty four year old to the wise and superior 5th grader. Each class is suited for the type of disability the children have, For example there is a "PI" room, which works with the younger children to teach them to feed themselves, use the restroom on their own, and to become more sociable with other people.
As I went through each room I was touched more and more. Each little smiling face that i passed by warmed my heart to a greater degree. The simple fact that each of these children are struggling and fighting to have somewhat of a normal quality of life and still manage to keep high flying spirits and bright glowing smiles amazes me.
One room in particular touched me on a personal level. This was the ambulatory department. This department consisted of four children that have very limited mobility and control of their motions. While they may physically be 6 or 7 years old mentally they are only 6 months old. They have to sit in special chairs that keep their posture upright and be carried to certain places. These young children are totally defenseless. They can do nothing on their own and are completely dependent on the staff to help them.
Going through this room nearly brought tears to my eyes. It was difficult to watch such a young child have to live a degraded version of life. Even through all of this they still managed to be happy. One child a young boy by the name of Brandon was full of excitement and ecstatic to see so many people. Watching him was the worst because while he was so happy every time he laughed his eyes rolled back into his head.
One young child by the name of Garret told us we were all his friends immediately after meeting us. He was there for speech therapy along with another student Alex. The way their therapist worked with them made you want to become a speech and language therapist. After seeing her with them I didn't want to leave. I wanted to say, "Forget school, I'm staying here for the day!"
Those children might not have realized it but each of them taught me something that day. They taught me how to accept people no matter their appearance, how to be a friend to any one that comes by, and that laughter and smiling can be the best medicine. I will never forget my day at Maple wood Elementary nor the children I met there. What the school is providing for these kids is excellent. I hope to be able to go back and spend more time getting to know every single child there.

Wisdom toothless

2007-08-19T01:45:00.000-04:00

Well, Wednesday was a big day for me. Wednesday is when I had my wisdom teeth removed. I was anxious all day wondering what the dentist would be doing and how much pain I would be in afterward. When I got to the Dentist office I signed my name in at the front desk and sat down in the waiting room. While I was waiting i couldn't help but wonder what all the other people in the room were there for. Some just for a simple cleaning one maybe for a consultation and others like me who were there for oral surgery. The wait was not long at all it seems that when one is caught in amusing thought the time passes faster.
My next step into being without wisdom teeth was to talk to one of the dental assistants about after surgery do's and don'ts. This is also where we had to dot all the i's n cross all the t's in giving final permission to have the procedure done. Next i walked through some door ways and passed some dental equipment that looked rather monstrous if you ask me. I mean the mouth is so small. Why would you need to use a machine so big?
Now I am in the room and sitting in the dental chair. I have a blanket over me just in case i get cold during the procedure and a blue medical cap over my hair. There are two dental assistants in the room with me now. They are asking me questions like have I eaten anything that day or am I allergic to any medications. They put an oxygen mask on me which was kinda odd feeling to be honest. Then the Doctor came in. He had on his big white coat, the white latex gloves, and one of those surgical masks over his mouth. He was trying to lighten the mood by joking around but he wasn't really funny. I think the only reason i laughed was because there was some laughing gas in the oxygen. Well I am not exactly sure about the laughing gas but I did feel about odd after a couple of minutes with the oxygen on.
The Doctor then prepared my arm for the Iv. He told me that I would feel a little pinch and not to worry. I was surprised when he put the Iv. in my arm that there was not even as much pain as he warned me of. I mean you could feel more pain with Rollo jumping up on you. After the Iv. was inserted I don't really remember too much. Actually I only remember two things. One was the dental assistant asking how many cc's of anesthesia to give me and the other was the ceiling spinning a bit then I was out.
When I woke up I was a little groggy and confused. At first I didn't know where I was but then slowly it all came back to me as I looked around the room. Shortly after I woke up one of the assistants helped me out of the chair, into a wheel chair, and out to my car where my dad waited for me ready to take me home. For the rest of the day I slept with an ice pack on my face. Every four hours my dad would wake me up so i could take my pain medicine. It was funny trying to drink and swallow with my mouth still being numb from the surgery, but I managed to get my medicine down.
All in all it was a pretty good procedure. Nothing went wrong and the swelling and pain weren't as bad as I expected them to be. It has been four days since my oral surgery and I am still on the road to re cooperation. The Doctor said that the stitches will dissolve in 5 or 6 days so I am checking daily to see if they are still there. So then next time I see any one I will be 4 teeth shorter but hopefully I haven't lost any wisdom.

Flight 58

2007-07-19T14:21:00.000-04:00

It seems to be that whenever I fly alone something goes wrong. Last summer I was held up at the airport for 8 hours due to a mechanical deffect on the plane. This year however it was'nt a mechanical problem that held me up it was rain storms. The airline told all of the passengers of my flight (after we were on the plane) that we would have to wait until we could find a different route so we could bypass the storms in the Carolinas. So we ended up waiting two hours on the plane while they were looking for a safer route to take. The route they choose took us out and around up state New York. We then continued down toward Florida. By the time we reached the Carolinas the storm had moved farther inland. So once again we had to change our course. Now we were traveling right on the coast of the two states. Now when we came to Florida it just so happened that Florida was having some severe weather as well and we could not land in Orlando from the direction we were coming. So we flew past Orlando turned around and flew back up to Orlando to land. Once we landed I thanked God that I was finally out of that plane. A flight that usually takes two and a half hours took us four and a half hours. So I was very thankful to be out of the air and on the ground. So for the next time I travel I think I might try a different means of transportation.