New Beginnings

I have been accepted as a Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Resident at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) hospital. I could not be more excited about this! The program begins on Monday, September 27th and will last a whole year. This is going to be a brand new experience for me because it will be both the best and worst parts of school and working full time in a high-stress environment. Yikes!

This is going to mean some big changes for me. For starters, I will be out of the house more than I am here. That also means I will have to develop some new habits. One I am going to make a big priority is making better food choices. So I am working on some better recipes that can be prepared relatively quickly or without a great deal of advance preparation. Although I won't know all the details of my schedule until I start, I can assume that I won't be home until almost dinner time (and will probably not be in much of a mood to cook!) so I am exploring new crock pot recipes and will be test-driving several of those between now and the end of September. If you have any suggestions, shout them out!

This also means I will have to go shopping for some new "grown up" clothes. I have gotten away with a lot at the church and since I rarely "need" to dress up, I don't have a full wardrobe of professional attire. My only requirements at this point are that they look professional, be comfortable, and be relatively easy to maintain (the less ironing I have to do, the better!) I promise to share any new additions to my wardrobe! Although I don't have anything specific in mind right now, here's what I'm guessing I will end up with - khakis, two-in-one sweaters, twin sets, and more "travel knit" (or other on-call appropriate attire!)

All in all I'm very excited about what I will be doing in the next six or so weeks to get ready for my first day, and then all the new things that will happen from there. I'm sure there will be lots of twists and turns along the way and I doubt things will go the way I plan. Still, I know it will be wonderful. Stay tuned for more on this!

(photo taken from the UAB website)