After FOUR years I'm finally finished!!!

With my blanket at least! In high school, my friend Kori got me hooked on crocheting...she did so many blankets in a few weeks time...while I was just working on one. Then I started college and it got pushed aside working on it every now and then and on breaks. I finished a couple of scarves for christmas 2 years ago...but my blanket was still unfinished...

UNTIL TONIGHT!

I finally finished it after 4 years in the making. I'm pretty proud of it. Its the size of my twin size comforter. It wasn't suppose to be that big, it just happened!

Here it is on my bed

And that's it folded in half so you can see the detail a bit more. I put the lavender boarder around the whole thing. I love the colors, but it doesn't match anything I have any more, it did when I was in high school. Oh well I'll use it to keep me warm while I'm watching TV. And maybe someday if I have a daughter it can be on her bed...until then I think it's pretty cool that my own two hands did that!

Near the end

So summer is closing to an end...it's been a busy summer with going to Africa and then I've just been working..my free time, however has been consumed with this...



and this...

She just loves the park..."indsay go to park?" and I just love her!

It's also been consumed with this little guy!

He didn't like me much at the beginning but now we are best buds! He is such a little cutie! I love these kids and I'm gunna miss them so much when I have to leave which is next week!! ahhhhh

I'm hoping again to get a babysitting job for this year. Maybe this year will be the year! I would appreciate your prayers on that!

Thanks!

Summer Continues

Well it's been a while since I've written mainly because I have not had internet access for over 3 weeks being away, then I immediatly started back up at work. I'm still on orientation (almost done!), however yesterday when I got into work they decided to give me my own set of patients. I'm not going to lie I was a bit nervous at first, but everything went well! It's hard because each hospital does things different and to make matters worse, each floor at this hospital does something different so it's hard to remember what to do when.

This past weekend my family...well my parents and Meg headed down to D.C. for 4th of July and to visit Adam. It was quiet an experience, especially since I was still jet lagged so I wanted to go to sleep at 6pm, but I'm glad we got to see them. We met up with my Grandparents and my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin...it was good to see everyone. We got there Friday night and went into D.C. and ended up watching the practice of the Capitol concerts. The next morning we went to the Parade, which I wasn't too impressed with and then went and hung out at the Washington Monument until 9:10 pm when the fireworks started. I do have to say that the fireworks were totally worth it and I would definitly do it all over again! The thousands of people were manageable, especially because we walked everywhere. We did have an adventure getting back to the hotel after the fireworks though. There were about 100 people waiting for a 14 seat shuttle bus so instead of waiting until 2 or so in the morning we decided to take the city bus back to the hotel. Well the bus dropped us off about a half mile or so from the hotel so we had to walk, in the dark, at midnight, in a town outside D.C. that was not the safest place to be walking at night. In fact one lady on the bus told us to be very careful when we were walking in that area...how comforting. Megan brags that she walked through the Ghetto at night now and I told my Grandma thats one more thing she can cross off her bucket list. It was a good weekend and a nice break before heading back to work for the week again. This weekend we are heading to Buffalo for my Cousins graduation party. I'll post pictures of D.C. later!

If you want to hear about my Africa trip head over to my other blog, or you can find pictures on Facebook!

Work

I've been working on the floors for two weeks now. Last week I spent 2, 12 hour shifts in the ICU. Packer has 2 ICU's one is for trauma the other is for cardiac. I was in the cardiac one. I am not a fan if the ICU, everyone there is so sick and it's just so sad, especially when the familys come in and see them. Most of the patients can't talk, but know what is going on, you can see it in their eyes when you take care of them, they are in so much pain and its just so sad! I wanted to cry so many times and I am not a cryer. Then I spent 2, 8 hour shifts in the ER. I wish I had been able to spend my 12 hour shifts there, I love that place! There is always something to do and its just so exciting! I think that is the department I will end up working in as a Nurse. This week I was on 6 North for 2, 12 hour shifts. 6 North is a cardiac floor. I kind of like cardiac, I end up there a lot. This was interesting but to do 2 shifts on orientation it gets kind of repetative. We had some pretty interesting patients though, one thought there were oppossums in the room! Another one I had the privlidge of sitting with and getting her to sleep, that was a task since she was disoriented, but a good experience. I still have 6 more days on orientation. I have to go to 6 South which is a trauma floor, 5 main which is oncology, and 8 north which I don't know what is on that floor. Then I'll be off orientation and on my own! This will be after I get back from Africa though!!! Which I leave for on Saturday...ahhh!

Summer

Sorry it's been a while since I've written, it's been so crazy. You'd think since school is over then it would have been time to relax..but NO. I started my second job last week and I had to do orientation all week. It was horrible. 8 hour long straight days of just lecture! ugh so boring. The only good thing is that I got paid for it. Then I started back at Lourdes too. I realize that I really like Lourdes compared to Guthrie (the new place). It's a nice small hospital and I really like most of the people that I work with. So anyways I've been busy, plus trying to get everything ready for Africa which is in 2 weeks! Tomorrow is my first day of real work at Guthrie. I'm working a 12 hour shift, 11a-11p. I'm excited. I'll be orienting in the ICU tomorrow and I already know one of the nurses, she was in my orientation, so that will be nice. I'll get paid time and a half too since its a holiday! Thank goodness, I'm running low on money. Tuesday I'm working another 12 hour in the ICU and then Thursday and Friday I'm working 8 hours in the ED!!! I'm so excited about that! My supervisor asked what I thought would be my favorite department and I said the ED so she put me there twice for orientation just for the fun of it! I can't wait.

Africa..in less than 3 weeks!!!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16
Dear Friends and Family,

The above verse is one that many of us have had memorized since we were young, or have heard it sometime before. As simple as it may seem, this verse is very powerful and true. Unfortunately there are people in the world we live in that do not realize that someone loves them so much to send their son to die for them, so they can live forever with God.

God has been preparing me for missions for some time now. In 2006 I had the opportunity to go to Guyana, South America with my youth group and minster to the local people there. Ever since coming back, I felt a calling to share the love of Christ with others and do it through medicine. I have just finished my third year of nursing school, and I know that God is calling me to use my skills to minister to others.

Within the past couple of weeks, God has provided me with the opportunity to participate in a medical mission trip to Ivory Coast, Africa with World Venture this summer from June 4th to June 29th. While in Africa, we will be working in the hospitals to provide various types of medical care including wound care, medication administration, OB/GYN care, medical teaching and much more. We will also be helping out a missionary couple that is living in the Ivory Coast, and ministering to the families in the town where we will be staying.

I am very excited for this opportunity that God has presented to me and am excited for the challenge of planning and leaving for Africa in such a short amount of time. I know that I cannot do this alone, but I also know that God will provide for my needs. Would you please prayerfully consider participating in this ministry with me this summer?

There are several ways that you can participate, the first being through prayer. The bible tells us that with prayer, great things are possible. With prayer, we can make a difference. Would you please help me by praying now as well as while we’re in Africa?
Please pray now that:
- God will prepare me and my team to serve Him the way He wants
- God will prepare the hearts of the people that we will be ministering to
- That my financial needs will be met in such a short time
And while we are in Africa, please pray that:
- We will be able to minister effectively to those we come in contact with
- That we will be safe in our ministering
- That we will be received by the locals

A second way that you can participate is by helping me financially. Would you prayerfully consider if this is the way that God would like you to participate? In order for me to participate in this mission opportunity to Africa on June 4th, I need to raise $4,000 dollars. On such short notice, this seems almost impossible to me. But I know that with God all things are possible.

If you feel led to participate with me financially, you can send the money directly to World Venture and you will receive a receipt for tax purposes. Please make the check out to World Venture and in the memo line of your check just write my account number: 6171-916. You do not need to put my name on the check. Mail the check to:
World Venture
1501 W. Mineral Avenue
Littleton, CO 80120-5612
Because there is such a short amount of time between now and the trip, I ask that if you feel led to support me financially to please contribute by May 31st. I apologize for such short notice, but World Venture just contacted me a couple of weeks ago. If you’d like to contribute, but cannot do it by that time, please contact me so we can make alternate arrangements. If you are not able contribute financially, then would you please continue to pray?

I want to thank you in advance for your participation and I’d like you partake of this journey with me. Please log onto my blog that I have started specifically for this trip. My hope is to provide you with information leading up to my trip, as well as update you while I am in Africa. You can view it at http://www.lindsays-africatrip.blogspot.com/. Also please feel free to contact me through email at lbotzenhart@liberty.edu.

Thank you and God bless,

It's official

I AM DONE WITH JUNIOR YEAR OF NURSING....











....enough said

Long week...

I am on the downward slope of a very long week...Since last Tuesday I have been taking a test everyday, with the exception of Saturday and Sunday. On Tues, Weds, Thus I had a board prep test each day...these turned out pretty good..I did well, but wish I did better like always. Then of Friday was my Pharmacology final. I am proud to annouce I will never have to take a Pharm test again! What a relief. It didn't seem as bad as everyone made it out to be..including the teacher, but we will see. We won't get our grades back until the end of all our nursing finals. It's their way of "protecting" us...I don't know if I like that, but I guess it keeps me focused on my studies? Tomorrow is my Med/Surg final, and Tuesday is my OB final. Then I have to finish my dlp humaities class by the 8th as well as pack and move into my new house! (which by the way I'll put pictures up as soon as I have the time) After that...I will officially be a SENIOR!!! ahh I can't even believe it, time has gone by sooo fast! In a few months I'll need to be applying for jobs and deciding on where to go...I'm thinking Duke..but we'll see, I still got time. Right now I have to worry about finals and getting enough support for my Africa trip....go here to get updated on that process...anyways I better get back to studying, like always..I wonder how it's gunna feel to actually have a night where I don't need to cram 16 weeks of information into my head for numerous classes at a time...that'll be the day...

New Blog

Hey guys...so I started a new blog for my trip to Africa! on there I will be keeping everyone updated on the planning process, and then my hope is that I will have some access to internet while in Africa to be able to keep everyone updated so go check it out at here!

Check this site out!

Hey so I'm sure most of you know about this site already but for those of you who don't....My friend Kaley has this awesome new site all about deals! and you know how I LOVE deals, especially since I am a poor college kid! so check it out... chachingonashoestring.com!

Ahhhh!!

So it's really funny how God works. I've been wanting to go on a Mission trip this summer for a while and as you know had a lot of choices that eventually narrowed down to me not going....until Saturday when I got a call from Jim Copeland the leader of World Venture saying that if I wanted to go on the Medical trip with them to the Ivory Coast in Africa that I could.... Crazy huh! How could I say no to something that God specifically worked out so I could go...I wish I could explain all the little details but that would take forever...soooo on June 4th I will be heading over to Africa for a month to various medical stuf!That is if I get the funds that I need...so be praying for that and that everything goes smoothly as I get everything together in such a short amount of time and then as the team heads over! So that's one stress that is a good stress...

Another stress that is not so good at all is that we just found out today that we can no longer live in the Lake house...Virginia has this (stupid in my opinion) law that no more than 3 unrelated females can live in a house together otherwise it is considered a brothel. Apparently there are a lot of brothels in VA??? Normally it's pretty easy to get away with if the landlord is ok with it but since we had to apply to have membership to the lake we got caught and now only 3 people can live there and it's too expensive for us..so I have 2 weeks to find someplace else to live!!! Yeah talk about a huge stressors...to top it off I have a big OB test on Weds, I have another test by sunday and starting next tuesday I have a test or final every day until the next tuesday evening when I'm done and wanted to be moving into the Lake house! ugh...but it will all work out! Hopefully!

Anyways I just wanted to give a short random update..I'm super excited for Africa....not so happy about this house thing, but both are in God's plan for me!

Easter

I remember as a child spending Easter in various places including our Grandparents house when they lived in Matthews, NC. We would wake up at a crazy hour (which was really only like midnight or even earlier) a few days before and drive through the night. My parents were smart in doing this because that meant that their 4 children (this was before the time of Megan) were sleeping the whole way down. We would arrive sometime the next morning/ afternoon and I remember the smell of spring, the south has a distinct smell that I love. On Easter Sunday we would wake up and hunt for our Easter baskets...get all dressed up in frilly dresses with white tappy shoes and Easter hats, take pictures in the front garden and head off to their church for an Easter breakfast. Then after church we would go back to my Grandmas and die Easter eggs, my Aunt Beth always coordinated that, go on an Easter egg hunt, and then have a big family Easter dinner. It was glorious!

Sometimes I wish I hadn't grown up, that I could still just be told what to do and not have to miss out on things like this. The past 3 years I have been in school for Easter. My freshman year I went to church at Thomas Road and then had chinese for lunch while I studied Anatomy. Last year I was able to go to a friend's family in NC for Easter Sunday which was great, but I missed out on Easter dinner on a count of needing to head back to school. This year my family stopped by on their way to the beach and we went to Thomas Road together and then shared a nice turkey sandwhich meal with a delicious hashbrown casserol (a tradition for my family) in my dining/ living room. Easter just doesn't have the same feel without a big dinner and family gathering.

But that's not what Easter is all about. It is intended for us to come together as a family, but to celebrate that Christ is risen again! Have you ever noticed that Easter falls right at the beginning of spring? When everything is begining to bloom and rise out of the ground. Maybe I'm stretching it here, but there is just something about Spring when everything is new and fresh that helps remind me that because of Christ we are new and fresh too! It may not be the ideal way to celebrate it, and it's probably going to be the same for the next couple of years...but no matter what way you eat dinner or where you are, Easter is not about the food or the easter baskets, or dieing the eggs. It has a deeper meaning, like most other holidays that we celebrate that we can't over look or let it become over shadowed by the worldly traditions...

Thanks for keeping your promise Jesus!

Why I love SPRING!

So I can't help but post one more post tonight just because when the weather is warm so much stuff happens!!! First of all, it is an indication of Spring and with Spring comes flowers and garage sales! Yesterday morning after a late night clinical on Friday and before a late night clinical on Saturday (for me at least), my roommates and I woke up early Saturday morning and went garage saleing! It was beautiful...here's my first buy of the season...

It actually rocks too..it's so awesome and the best part is it was only $5!!! I'll probably end up changing the cushions by buying some seat cushions for cheap at Walmart and sowing them together, but it's pretty comfortable for now! This will most likely be put in the sun room at the lake house! I'm so excited!!! That's all I got during the first garage sale outing, but my roommates made out pretty good..one actually got a microwave and toaster oven for 15 dollars total, and they are really nice too! Love it!!!

Another thing that I love about spring is flowers! Here are some that we have in our house...

I'm not sure what these are called, but they are my roommate's, she has a lot of different ones, but this is the only one that bloomed so far this year!

We also have Lilacs and not pictured we have sunflowers and Lillies in vases too! It's wonderful...trust me!

Recently my mom and littlest sister got into painting pottery, my sister made me a pot which I love just for the heck of it...so I was looking and debating as to whether I should put flowers in it or some sort of plant like basil or something. Well I went to Target and in their dollar section they had these little starter kits so I bought two.

The one in the yellow in the "green house" are sunflowers and the other one has Zinnia's in them... They were only a dollar so I wasn't sure if they were going to work, but as you can see they did and their sprouts came up earlier than expected! They gave me so many seeds I had extra so I put Zinnia's in the pot my sister gave me and I have more Zinnia seeds and Sunflower seeds I am going to plant outside at the Lake house

Look at all those...they are just growing like crazy, I didn't expect so many to come up so I might have to terminate some...this is going to be hard, how do you choose which one stays and which one goes????

Down by the James

So it's been pretty cruddy here weather wise the past week, raining constantly....but it's been looking up..this weekend it was in the 70's!!! Beautiful! Unfortunatly yesterday I didn't get to enjoy it because I was in Labor and Delivery clinical for 8 hours...was that ever interesting...still not sure if I want to have children, but that's another story...this story is about my 2 roomates and mine little hike by the James River in Downtown Lynchburg. Last Tuesday it was a beautiful day! and since we don't have classes we decided to go for a little hike!

Lynchburg is similar to Binghamton in the way that it's small, old, and was built around factories. It differs from Binghamton in the way it looks in my opinion, Lynchburg's looks reminds me more of downtown Owego! With all of it's old brick buildings built right along the river...

The main factory that founded Lynchburg was the Craddock Terry...this didn't really occur to me until recently. Downtown has the BEAUTIFUL hotel called the Craddock Terry Hotel. I always thought that was just a cool name for the hotel, but then as we drove around and noticed all the old signs on the empty warhouses that said Craddock Terry we realized that it was orginially a big shoe factory. Here is a picture of the back of the hotel...we didn't realize it was a shoe factory until a couple days later and this picture made sense then...

Notice the Red Stiletto....

On the river, there is this big fountain...I don't know what it's for, but it's pretty cool and it shoots up really high...

Here is some pictures of our walk...

There are my roommates...Mary is kneeling and Leigh is in the green...

Don't worry this was not from us...

The Lake House

Here is the house! It looks kinda small, but it is very deceiving...

This is the front of the house

Here is our fenced in back yard...and the LAKE!

Entering the house...it's much bigger than it looks, this is only half

Part of the sun room with a view of the lake

Part of our deck where we are going to have a BBQ's!!!

Part of my bedroom...I can't wait to decorate it!

My bathroom...you can tell it's an older house by the matching color of everything! I'm gunna have to add different color than blue!

This was used as an office, but we are making it into a bedroom....notice fireplace number 2

Here is part of the downstairs, it's carpeted and has heat..there is a bedroom and bathroom on the other side, 3 storage rooms that go off of it, 1 has the washer and dry, 1 is just a storage room, and the other was used as a work shop...This place is seriously huge!

The other side from the picture above..notice fireplace number 3! This is not the other bedroom just a continuation.

There is still the kitchen, and 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms that I don't have pictured here, but you get the jist of it. I wish the pictures did the size justice but they really don't. I'm so excited that it is spread out a big house because that will make living with 5 other girls easier! I can't wait to decorate it and make it look nicer! I also can't wait to wake up to the sun shining on the lake! Y'all will have to come visit!

New home

Well it's official...or will be Monday, but I have a new home! I'm really excited about this...number one because it's on a LAKE! That's right for one full year I will be living in a house that is on a lake! It is so cool. The house looks small from the outside, but it is huge on the inside! There will be 6 of us girls living there! It's so weird how God works. The one girl, who currently lives in the basement of the house I'm in now, I met freshman year, just briefly through a mutual friend. And now 4 years later we are living together! How crazy is that. Another one of my roommates is a quadmate of mine for freshman year who left Liberty for a year and a half and is now back and we are going to be living together! It's so crazy how God brought all these girls into my life. Looking back I know it's all through Him. And this housing situation was all Him as well. We found out about the house and in less than 4 days got a call from the Landlord saying it was ours! I'll put pictures up on a later date, but I'm just so excited for my new home!!!

I'm Probably going to die...

As this is true, hopefully it won't be any time in the near future.

As you have probably caught on by now I'm hoping to have the opportuinity to go to Afica this summer for a missions trip. Well in order to go you need certain vaccines such as Yellow Fever. I got this vaccine 1 week ago to the date. I experienced no problems until last night when I noticed it was feeling a little tender, when I looked at it this is what I discovered:

A red, raised, warm, tender area. Now as nursing majors we become hypocondriacs! and I was flipping out.."I probably have yellow fever, but I don't have any systemic reactions" "Why did it react a week late!" and all this stuff. I've never had a reaction to a shot before. So my roommate said that we should trace it and see if it grows...the first dark circle is the trace from 9pm the night before. When I woke up it was just a little bit past the line, but I decided that was enough to go to the Dr.s. First I went to my nursing instructors because they know all! (literally) and no one was around! go figure. So then I just gave in and went to the Dr.s. Turns out its probably an infection/ reaction. Which I thought briefly before the thought of yellow fever popped in my head. So she put me on an antibiotic and anti-inflammatory so hopefully it will go away. The second line is from my friend about 20 hours after the first line. As nurses we are told to initial and date everything...so she did. Hopefully it won't grow any bigger and will just shrink. The Dr. measure it as 4 inches by 2 inches! ahh and its on the back of my arm. It's so annoying.

Anyway I'm still alive and need to get back to studying! Just be aware if you ever get the Yellow Fever shot!!!

Quick, Random, Catchup

Well I'm on the downward slope...I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...or so I'm told. I think I migh be blind because I am not seeing any light except the light coming from my alarm clock at 6:00 am.

We only have 7 weeks left plus a few days of finals...that's awesome, except for the fact that I just got off spring break and I didn't get any rest and I'm just as worn out now as when I left Lynchburg 1 week ago. Owell that's life I suppose. But the numbers keep getting smaller, 7 weeks left, 6 clinicals, 4 profiles and I think 4 is the smallest number...but hey I'll take it! The only problem is, the numbers may be getting smaller, but the work isn't. I finished my Philosophy class (thank God) and I passed with a good grade too!!! (thank God again!!) Now I'm starting up Humanities...this should be interesting. We still haven't finished round 2 of tests yet and after that we still have round 3, ATI testing, and finals. So in this short amount of time, I have a lot of work to do!

Plus on top of that I'm still working on going on a Missions trip. The one that I wanted to go on is all full, however, I'm still going to fill out the application and get on the waiting list and hope...Then there are a couple trips with Pioneers which look cool. I had originally disregarded this trip because they conflicted with an event this summer, but that event go moved so it's a possibility. So I'm in the process of filling out a bunch of applications! If not I found out that there are 2 different missionaries who will be in my home town that my church supports that both have medical degrees that they use in missions..how cool so even if a trip doesn't work out, I would be sad but it's all in God's plan.

So I guess that's my life in a nut shell. It's not too exciting and it's very very very busy. But I have a good education and I'm healthy and on my trip back down to Liberty today I saw Daffodils! I always love seeing those flowers because I know spring is actually coming! So I'm not complaining!


P.S. Please pray for my roommate, she's going through a really rough time health wise right now plus shes doing everything I'm doing school wise as well! She needs it

Philosophy

At Liberty it is required that you take certain classes to graduate. These class include a couple of bible class, theology classes, evangilism, general education classes, and a philosophy class. Because I'm a nursing student with a schedule restriction, I decided to take my philosophy class online DLP thinking that it wouldn't be hard at all. Well the jokes on me! This class is kicking my butt! I've never struggled with a class before this one. The tests are only 21 questions, mainly true and false with a few matching thrown in there (which in my opinion are the hardest types of questions) on a subject that I'm not interested in and that I don't understand..what a mistake. Along with the tests we have some discussion boards to do. If you've ever taken a DLP class you know that the only purpose of these discussion boards is to have communication with your classmates and teacher so it seems like your in an actual class. I really don't mind these discussion boards at all. They are all short answer and they really make me think about different situations. For example one time we had to talk about artificial intelligence and whether we will be able to achieve it some day and whether they should be equal to humans. One classmate brought up the fact that we already have artificial intellegence; computers, GPS systems etc. I never thought of it that way. But anyways my point in this post:

My class is an 8 week class and I'm on the 2nd to last week with the final discussion board. As I went to read what I needed to write about this is what I found:

Read the following scenario:
To Torture or Not to Torture?
You are a federal agent working for the Department of Homeland Security’s Counter-Terrorist Team (CTT). Part of your duties involves the investigation of terrorist activities and the interrogation of suspected terrorists. In recent weeks, the CTT has been investigating evidence that a large-scale terrorist attack is imminent in a major metropolitan area of the United States. The threat level is very high and sources have confirmed that a major disaster is certain. Until recently, CTT has not been able to discover the details of the attack including the city that is going to be targeted.
You just had a major breakthrough, however. In a raid on a suspected terrorist cell group, a number of high level terrorist leaders have been arrested. During their arrests, you have uncovered important details about the attack. You discover that a thermo-nuclear weapon has been smuggled into the country and is planted in a major US city. Though you don’t know the precise day or time of its detonation, the evidence indicates that it will be soon.
In an effort to get more information, you are assigned to interrogate the leader of the terrorist cell. You have been authorized to use whatever means necessary to achieve your goal. After hours of interrogation you have learned little. He has confirmed that there is a nuclear bomb and that it will go off very soon. In fact, he has boasted about it, but he has refused to tell you where it is located. You can tell he is resolved not to reveal its location and no amount of pain you inflict on him will get him to change his mind.
However, along with capturing the terrorist, you have also captured his family, including his seven-year-old daughter. While you are convinced he can withstand torture himself, you are also convinced that if you torture his daughter in front of him he will break down in time to tell you the location of the nuclear device. Because of your experience in interrogation you are virtually certain of these two facts. However, you cannot fake the torture of the girl – he will not be convinced unless he actually sees you torture her and hears her screams.
You bring the daughter into the room and strap her into a chair. You light a cigarette lighter and prepare to hold the flame against her skin.
Two important points: (1) We know that this will work and (2) It is the only thing that will work. Should you torture her? You are not allowed to alter this scenario in any manner.
In approximately 250 words, write what you think is the morally appropriate response to the situation. Be sure to offer the reasons for your actions. In your response, you may not change the scenario.

I know right? What do you even say to something like this? That is why I am posting this to share with you guys. I have already answered this and submitted my response, but I want to know what you guys think? Is it morally right to torture the little girl? Is it morally right to torture anyone? What about the hundreds of peoples lives at risk because of this bomb? I struggled with this for a while debating back and forth in my head, and I am satisfied with my answer....

What about you?

Birthday

So I've never been too big of a fan of birthdays. It's just one more day to become a year older and remind myself of all the stuff that I wanted to do by the time I reached that age. Plus being away at school birthday's have been an extra bummer because I've always had like class or some homework or something to do...this year, however, was a little different. There's something about turning 21 that changes everything. Yes, it still has that depressing feel "I'm 21 and I still haven't _____ (fill in the blank)" But then again turning 21 is a HUGE milstone in your life. For example you can buy alcohol, go gambling, and buy a gun! I mean who DOESN'T want to turn 21 just because of all those options? (chuckle) Along with those great opportunities, turning 21 means that you completely do not need your parents anymore. I mean you can do anything now that you want, rent a hotel by yourself, get a loan, buy or rent an appartment. 21 is a big deal..if it hasn't hit you that your a grown up before, then the day you turn 21 (or the day after when you sober for all of you who decide to get smashed on your birthday) it will hit you, your a grown up!

So this year to celebrate the big day, I slept in! My birthday feel on a Monday, which for everyone else is a day of classes, but for nursing students it is a day for clinicals for Pediatrics or OB. I got lucky and on February 16th, I did not have clinical so I slept in. I was then going to go work out but I thought, "It's my birthday, I don't want to" so I proceeded to get ready. Now even though I did not have clinical or class my 4 other roommates had clinical, and my sister had class. But luckily she had a long break so we went out to lunch on mom to McAdo's. Neither of us had ever been there so we decided to try it out. It was pretty good, but O'Charlies is still our favorite. We then went to Cold stone on dad and got some ice cream to go since we were still full from lunch. I then took her back to her dorm so she could do homework before her next class. I went home. As I walked in my door, my roommate who was now home from clinical, came running down the stairs yelling "Happy Birthday!" She had bough me balloons, a teddy bear, and reeses pieces! We chated for a bit and I walked up to my room and was greeted by this:

She's such a sweet heart! We then studied on the couches for the next 5 hours. During that time she had asked me for my lighter because she "had to fix her sweat shirt strings" I told her where it was and she came back with a lit birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday to me! She then left and my other roommate came home and her and I went over to her boyfriends house to watch TV and hang out with him and his roommates. Overall the day was special even though I studied OB all day!

Earlier that week my sister was instructed to get me flowers from my father. These are the ones I picked out:

I like them a lot..I'm a huge sucker for flowers! The partying hasn't stoped yet though. Yesterday was my roommates Leigh's birthday and on the 2nd of February was my roommates Candice's birthday so this weekend we are throwing a joint b-day party for all of us! We are each having our own cake too! I have never had so much cake before in my life!

So overall my 21st birthday was still depressing, but I enjoyed it a lot! God really has blessed my life and I still have a lot of life to live (hopefully). He's definitly done great things for me and has put so many precious and wonderful people in my life and I thank him for that! We will see what this year of life has in store!

P.S. an update on the whole missions thing. I am not going to go to Thailand, my heart is just not in this trip, although it would be wonderful and it is a great trip, it's not the one for me. I have found another trip to Africa with World Ventures that is the perfect trip (in my mind at least), I am just waiting to hear back from them. It's funny but I never had a desire to go to Africa and God is opening up all these doors for me to go!

P.S.S. I've had a brief change of plans for after college. I am praying about possibly going straight into ministry and working with an orphange somewhere. The group Children of the World that is affiliated with World Help came (look them up online they are amazing!) and I just think it would be so much fun and it's always been my dream so why not, I'm only 21 right!