Cushions make me happy

It has been a while since I last blogged.  Since then, I have worked, worked and worked some more.  Then I caught one of the many bugs being passed around the ship and spent my two days off recovering from a vomiting bug.  Then back to work again and 52 work hours and 5 days later I’m now on a day off!  At home, maybe I would have been complaining about the amount of work hours.  Here, things are different.  I do feel like I haven’t seen some people all week and on the ship, that is definitely a long time!  Each day on the ship, for me, feels like a week of life at home.

The ward is definitely busier than this now!

As for work, I think I mentioned previously that I have a new role since my last stay on the ship.  This year I have been asked to work as a charge nurse.  This means that I am charge over the ward I am assigned for that shift.  I help the nurses working by answering their questions, liaising with Drs and the specialty team leader, delegating tasks and overseeing the translators in the ward, updating the patient census with specific care for each patient and allocating nurses their patients for the oncoming shifts.  It has been a big shift in job roles for me, not really doing hands on care for the patients anymore.  I do miss it, but I grab a cuddle here and there from the kids walking around the ward.

I still find special moments each day that warm my soul.  At the moment we have two caregiver’s children, both about 2 years old, walking around the ward amusing themselves while their sisters heal from their surgeries.  One of them in particular is just so gorgeous I had to make friends with her!  She took a few days to warm to me and still she was cautious.  But finally I told her through a translator I wanted to be her friend and with some encouragement from her mama she walked over to the bed and grabbed a piece of cloth.  As she walked to me holding it, the translator explained to me that this gorgeous little girl was tired and wanted me, her new friend, to carry her on my back while she rested.  I was overjoyed!  And of course carried her around for as long as I could manage!  From then on, she has been my little friend, often bringing me the blocks she is playing with to my desk, one by one.  She even gave me a bunch of fake flowers!  They are proudly sitting in the pencil pot on the desk next to my computer.

I have been so blessed this year to live in a four berth cabin.  I live with 3 other amazing women and am excited about the time we will get to spend together over this year.  The other amazing things about our cabin are that we have a window (YAY!!!! ) and a lovely big room in the back, with a big pile of cushions!  It’s a great place to hang out in the evenings with friends.  I also love to sit there with a cup of tea in the morning, eat breakfast and read my bible.  We even have a working fridge now!  I am so blessed!

I know that right now I am exactly where God wants me to be and I feel so content.  I don’t think there could be a better place to be :)