Going to Virginia was our first leap into the world of travel nursing. I was quite nervous about the whole thing. We left our house in MA in the hands of a friend. We made him an offer to stay there at our house for a very minimal fee. All we asked was that he care for our place while we were gone and take good care of things. Well, this is not what happened. To keep an unpleasant memory brief, our house was in ruins when we got back. It cost us over 2000 dollars conservatively to fix all the hurt done to our house. We were left with the personal struggle of why. Why would a brother in the Lord do such a thing to us? We were of service to him in letting him stay there for such a modest cost and yet he trashed my home. It brought my wife to tears and me to several pity parties thrown in my own favor. I felt it was my fault for trusting him. When all is said and done, the Lord made it clear to me that we did the right thing to offer to him to stay there. He is the one who did the wrong thing. The Lord calls us to forgive. It really sticks in my craw to forgive someone who acts as if they don't even need forgiveness. Jesus is our example of true forgiveness. It was a very hurtful thing that was done to me and my family. Why would my loving Father allow it to happen to us? I believe that question is still not fully answered. I do have some ideas though. I remember early on how God was gently showing me that the way he was treating my house is a sign of how I treat this body he has given me. It is a gift from God and I tend to misuse it. I feel that I am a better man now that the Lord has carried me through an abuse from a brother. He has brought me to the side of forgiveness. I have set him free of his debt to me. The repercussions of how we behaved while this happened and after it happened will have an affect on the children and how they deal with others in the future. The full story is not yet written......this is what the Lord says to me; I am in control. Mind your business. Love one another and forgive those who harm you. God has richly blessed us and I have much to be grateful for each day. When I think back on the whole ugly mess, I feel sadness for him. He harmed me and my wife and my children with his selfish acts. I have responded in kindness and love. What is the price to teach that type of lesson to your children? God continues to rain down blessings upon us. I pray for him whenever I think about him. I hope and pray that my children learn to always respond in love towards others. That although some people will hurt you in life, do not let it skew your attitude towards others. Shake the dust off your feet and press forward.....loving one another; just loving one another.

There are so many experiences that happened to me at Maryview hospital that will cause me to always remember it fondly. It was definitely a rough hospital as far as the amenities go. Most of the rooms were 2 people per room. Supplies were tough to get at times. Weekends were frequently shortstaffed, Sometimes you would have pts. all over the floor as opposed to right together. Those however are not the things I remember. I remember the culture difference from anything I was used to. I remember the people I worked a lot with. People like Keith, Ricky, Joyce, Demetria the secretary who gave me flack everyday in a playful way. She called me Moo-laanney!! It was a joy to work with them. They have taught and continue to teach me as I remember them in my thoughts how people go through life with such different viewpoints. Cultures are so different even here in the same country. I must say that I was a little concerned that I would discover that the gospel would not hold water when placed against the differing cultures of the world. Well, so far it has. Though all people are different, we all struggle with different individual personal struggles. For some it's food, others sex, or temper, or attitude. Whatever our struggles we all seem to have something that is a thorn in the flesh. One of my spiritual mentors who died the year I was born is a man named Samuel Shoemaker, an old minister. He made a statement that I believe to be true and have quoted to others on many occasions. "We are all some kind of weakling, and those who think they are not, pride is their weakness, and that is the worst of all."
The "customers" as the patients are sometimes called in this world of political correctness, were mostly black women as I recall. I loved them! Though we are all different as are they, it seemed they all had things in common. It may be because the hospital is in Portsmouth which is the poor part of VA. Most of the patients were lifelong residents of this poor town. Almost all of the older black women whom I had the pleasure of serving had wonderful things to say about God. I frequently felt the Lord urge me to ask them if God can be trusted to watch out for me as I grow older in this life. Each of them told me a different story with the same conclusions. "God is good......ALL THE TIME!! I would listen to them and you could sense the intense persecution they had endured simply because they were black AND they were women. Yet they all said things like," God has been good to me! HE is a good God! HE ain't NEVER let me down....No sir!!" Many of the men patients I had echoed the same sentiments of how Good God is. The openness with which they speak of Gods goodness was unheard of where I come from in Massachusetts. No way you could talk about God that way at work!! Here I was in VA and it was the pts. bringing up the Lord with me! Many times was I able to pray for my patients. They were so open to receiving prayer for their illnesses. People did not put on heirs in this hospital. I really loved that about Maryview. That is what sticks out to me the most. That I could be of service in the spiritual sense to my patients AND their families! I am the blessed one for being there. The joy is in the journey someone once said. I am a grateful man. I am doing my best to live in that joy. I have no final destination here on earth. The joy of the Lord is my strength. That is a scripture verse that the lord has written on my heart. I wonder if there is some type of interwoven connection there with that word joy? The Lord has us on a journey. I get excited when I grasp the reality that I am living life on the edge. We are living out our heart's desire to see the world. God is going before us and we are living life! Thank you Lord.

I was working at Maryview for only a day or two when I was cutting through the kitchen one day and was met by one of the nurses aides who stopped me dead in my tracks and said," Are you a Christian??" Yes I am I told her. She then proceeded to tell me that she knew I was. I asked her how she knew. "I could just feeeeeel the spirit movin between us!" Vera was her name. She was a blessing to meet also. I always felt the presence of our lord when she was there. She would get discouraged at times about being there as an aide because she felt God wanted her to do something more important than what she was doing. I remember when my fingers got squished in the big metal door and the pain I felt. I sought her out and when I found her I said,"Go ahead". She gave me a strange look but soon knew what I was talking about. She prayed right there in the room for God to heal my hand and not allow any permanent damage to come to it. As far as this man is concerned Vera was working right where she needed to be. She was a blessing to me. I am thankful that Vera was an aide at the hospital that God put me in.

While it has been quite a while since I blogged, the topic is still VA. Next I will talk of Aris. This woman was a quiet spirit when I met her. She said "My name is Aris....like Paris but without the P". She didn't speak much to me but she was always cordial. Over time it was evident that we were of the same faith. She spoke of her early life church family and how she missed them. She clearly does her best to follow our lord. One day I brought my wife in to meet my fellow employees. Afterwards, she said to me," That Aris woman is strikingly beautiful"! I had never really noticed. Her hair was very tight to her scalp and very different than anyone I had ever known. After my wife said that, then it was clear that yes she was a beautiful woman. The last couple of months I was there, I started eating low-carb with much success. Little did I know that so was Aris! We became an encouragement to one another in following the Lord and allowing him to direct our eating styles and habits. It was a blessing. It was God's way of telling me that He was with me. So often I think we do not realize how we ourselves are instruments of god's blessing to one another. Just our presence is a sign to some people that God truly loves them and is watching over them. Aris was this kind of blessing to me. She spoke words of encouragement to me that caused me to blush on more than one occasion. "Don't you ever change Dan. You keep loving your wife and family. You are what a man is supposed to be. You are a Godly man" Perhaps she didn't even use these words but this is the message I received from her all the time. What an encouragement.

Miss Diggs......what can I say. I think I could best describe this firecracker of a woman with something that happened on my first day there. I kept walking into this door in the back lunch room because it had a handle that seemed to suggest you could just push it open. However, it also had a doorknob that had to be turned. All the ladies were sitting at the back room lunch table (as I later would find out they do EVERY day at about the same time), when I once again slammed myself into the door again thinking it would open. Well, Miss Diggs started talkin' and for a brief moment I had no idea she was talkin' to me! "I Tell you what!" she began, " You goona learn one thing before you git outta this place today and that's how ta open that door!" I could have taken it personal as she was not laughing when she said it. And the other ladies just confirmed it with their own comments like, uh-huh, and that's right! and my personal favorite.....you don't EVER LIE!! She made me nervous at first. While she was just a nurses aid on the floor, it was clear to me that most of the nurses did what Miss Diggs said. She was one of the un-official bosses on the floor. When they would all get together at lunch time, she was the elder statesmen; the one with an answer for most things.
Over the six or so months I was there, I had a few opportunities to talk with Miss Diggs about things of importance and personal. I discovered that her life had been a hard one. She had a couple of kids with some guy who wouldn't marry her and in fact she was still with him despite livin at her momma's house with her other siblings as well as her own children. This man came by and in a terribly unromantic way, told her to get her coat cause they were gonna go get married. I sensed she did it to get out from under her momma's hair because the house was so crowded. She told of how he was a nasty an and cheated on her repeatedly and on occasion hit her. My heart went out to that poor woman. She would have no pity though...not Miss Diggs. Present day, this man was almost an invalid with some type of illness going on like parkinsons that made him completely dependent on her for care. What did she do? She did it. she cared for him. She admits she don't love him but she has to take care of the man. she was clearly toughened up from a difficult life. Perhaps that's why she laughed so much at work. She had so much fun with all the other ladies. The people she cared for loved her. The nurses that were working with her on a particular day loved having her as an aide because she did her work. all I can say is that she would do anything for me. I must say that in my opinion her life was full of many lousy things in her past, but she come out shinin'! God bless her.

While late in coming, I will attempt to finally start journaling my path through the states.
VIRGINIA----------------
When I think of Virginia, the first thing that comes to mind is how much fun my family had when they would call me at work. No matter who answered the phone, they would hear someone yell for me down the hall, "Day-anne!!, daaay-anne!!" they would yell; and I would hear it first thing when I answered the phone. People were different in Virginia than what I was used to in Massachusetts. I must admit that the diversity there was great. I generally would be one of the few " beige" people on the floor. Mostly there were brown skinned people. They were very colorful. I have very fond memories of many people there. They loved me as I am. I HOPE I was able to do the same. The woman who trained me was a lady named Sharon. Her skin was as deep a brown as her accent was a deep southern one. Looking back, I fondly remember her as a giving person. She was like a sister to me. She would yell at me, and TELL me to come help her like she knew me her whole life. I really liked her. I always wanted her to come visit me and my wife and children at our apartment but it never happened. I think she is one of those unique people who cannot help but give of herself to any who ask. I'd classify her as a giver. She would sometimes talk the talk of a mean person and how she was gonna git this one or tell that one off, but it is just not in her nature to do such a thing. I'm not so sure she really knows what a giving person she is. I used to love workin when she was workin because you knew it was gonna be some fun that day! She just has a way of bein'. The poor lady's husband was away at sea for most of the time I was there and she had to go get her kids at 5pm and they would wait in the backroom till she was done. Unfortunately someone complained about it and then she had to stop workin whole shifts and had to leave at 3; that sucked. It's unfortunate but it seems no matter where you work there's always some people who just aren't happy unless they can spread their misery around and try and make other people's lives miserable.
Anyways, MY SON mICHAEL CAN IMITATE HER JUST FROM ME TELLING HIM THE THINGS SHE WOULD SAY TO ME DURING MY TRAINING DAYS. " IF YA DON'T WRITE IT DOWN AND PUT IT IN THE BOOK, THEN YA DIDN'T DO IT CAUSE YA DIDN PUT IT IN DA BOOK!!" oh BOY SHE IS A FUN PERSON TO BE AROUND. SHE WAS ALWAYS BUMMIN FOOD OFF OTHER PEOPLES TRAYS IN A DELIGHTFUL SORT OF WAY THAT MADE YOU JUST WANNA GIVE IT TO HER. THERE WAS SO MUCH FUN BACK AND FORTH JUST RAZZIN EACH OTHER. THE LADIES THERE WOULD ALL BE SARCASTIC TOWARDS EACH OTHER ALL THE TIME AND BE LAUGHIN AND LAUGHIN!! MISS DIGGS JUST ABOUT FELL OVER WHEN SHE SAW THE HAIR COLOR SHARON WENT AND DID TO HER HEAD. IT WAS A KINDA ORANGE/YELLOW/RUST COLOR. SHARON WOULD BE THE FIRST TO TELL YOU THAT IT WAS A LITTLE "DIFFERENT". MISS DIGGS WAS RELENTLESS IN HER PURSUIT OF A LAUGH OVER THAT HAIR-DO. SHARON TOOK IT LIKE A TROOPER. SHARON WOULD RUB SOME PEOPLE THE WRONG WAY. THERE WERE SOME NIGHT NURSES WHO HATED HER. IT WAS DIFFICULT SOMETIMES TO TAKE REPORT OFF THE TAPE OF HER BECAUSE SHE HAD A THICK ACCENT. I'M NOT SURE WHAT TYPE OF ACCENT IT WAS, BUT IT WAS THICK AND SOUTHERN-LIKE; PERSONALLY....I LIKED IT! that"s all for now. i"ll write again next time about the others.
MISS DIGGS
ARIS
ALICE
THELLON
DEMETRIA
THE BELOVED HOUSEKEEPERS
THE KITCHEN STAFF
THE WONDEFUL PATIENTS.