It has only been one month since my last post and I have exciting news to share...I got a job! A real, big-girl job! I am so excited, I can hardly contain myself. The Lord provides! I will be working in Muscatine at a hospital as one of two dietitians. I was told that my main roles will be menu planning, working with the inpatient population, and the dietary component of the cardiac rehab program. I also heard that once I get more settled, I will be able to get involved in the community more with various projects and corporate wellness opportunities, since the area is saturated with large factories and many industrial companies. If "Muscatine" looks familiar to you, that's because it's the same town Josh works in. Can you believe it?! It couldn't be more perfect. To all my worries and fears from my last post-- what if I can't find a job in Iowa? What if signing that lease was a huge mistake? What if Josh and I can't live together when we get married because we'll always have jobs in different areas? What if I have to give up the dream??-- I get to say "See ya later!" It just goes to show that prayer really and truly does make a difference. Now more than ever I believe that God is listening, and that He has a greater plan for me than I had for myself. I'm not sure what He has planned for me in Muscatine, or why I am meant to go there. I never, ever, in my wildest dreams believed that I would have a job with three months left of my internship, let alone be able to carpool with my sweetie to work everyday! I'm excited to see where this opportunity takes me. In other news, I got to spend time with a bunch of friends and family in the past few weeks! I haven't been putting pictures up on here lately, so here is what you missed:
Allie turned one!
And she can walk, talk, and wear skinny jeans!
Luanne made this beautiful cake.
She can ride motorcycles, while telling Papa John to keep his hands off her toys...
For those of you who are not aware of this...finding a job is really, really hard these days. I have just started my job hunt (and by just started, I mean I've been typing "dietitian jobs in Iowa" into a search engine for countless months, but now I'm actually looking at what they're asking for in applications and filling them out!), and it is already 102398228376 times more stressful than I originally thought. Senior year of high school, I was told that "the world will always need dietitians", so I thought since I was interested in nutrition, this would be the career for me! I still wholeheartedly believe that, and I know full well that the world will always need dietitians, but there need to be jobs available for these RD hopefuls!
Following a few days of research, "getting my feelers out there", sending a few job applications out, and finding out that my dream job in my dream location can't be funded right now, I had a minor breakdown. Josh and I have many late-night talks about what we hope to be someday, dream up our perfect lives with our imaginary children, talk about what we would do if we ever won the lottery...you know, normal stuff. A few of these nights (maybe more than a few if you ask Josh) have slowly melded into "what-if" discussions, though, too. Like what if our kids grow up and tell us they think we're weird? or What if we have to live in apartments for more than another year? or What if we NEVER WIN THE LOTTERY!?
But our discussion last night was full of worry about what if I can't find a job in dietetics in Iowa? Or what if I get a job, but it's in Dubuque and we just signed a lease for an apartment in Iowa City? Or what if Josh's job is always in a different area than mine and if we want to live together, we can never both have a job we like? Or why would I make him quit his job so I can follow my dream, but at the same time I ask him to sacrifice his?
Worry, worry worry. I'll admit, I got teary-eyed. He told me that no matter what happened, we would have each other, and that's better than a job anyway. Of course, our relationship is more important than a career. I will say that forever. Still, I can't help but worry that all I'll never be able to be the dietitian I want to be. I was all set to turn out the light and pout silently to myself, when I remembered that we hadn't read our devotion story of the night.
Devotions started for Josh and I over a winter break a few years ago. It was our "New Year's Resolution" that we stole (unbeknownst to them) from his sister and her husband. He said when he was in high school, he remembered that Michelle and Aaron always read devotions before bed and would say goodnight. I thought it was an awesome idea, since both Josh and I value faith and wanted that to be number one in our relationship. So we went with it! We read our "bedtime story" either over the phone or in person almost every single night for the whole year (even when I was in Alaska!). But once the year ended, the book ended, and we couldn't find one that we liked until recently.
My best friend's sister in law has been posting pictures of the devotion book that she has been reading. Every time she posts anything, it seems to apply personally to her life. I found out which book she had and decided to start our bedtime story tradition again.
So back to me pouting. I opened up our Nook, and immediately started smiling. Here's what it said:
You are feeling weighed down by a plethora of problems, both big and small. They seem to require more and more of your attention, but you must not give in to those demands. When the difficulties in your life feel as if they're closing in on you, break free by spending quality time with Me. You need to remember who I AM In all My Power and Glory. Then, humbly bring Me your prayers and petitions. Your problems will pale when you view them in the Light of My Presence. you can learn to be joyful in Me, your Savior, even in the midst of adverse circumstances. Rely on Me, your Strength; I make your feet like the feet of a deer, enabling you to go on the heights.
And the scripture after that:
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
Like every other good and perfect thing that has happened in my life, I need to bring this job hunt before God. I prayed daily for the internship to Alaska, my internship at Iowa, my future husband, and so many other things that the Lord has provided. (Random side story, but I once prayed for my 8th grade boyfriend to hit a home run in a baseball game, and it happened! The poor kid was--let's say...better at football than baseball-- but as a result of two errors, and the fact that he was a super fast runner, he got that home run!!! Coincidence?? I think NOT!)
All joking aside, I am so thankful that God uses so many people to bring me back to Him when I have wandered astray, and when I have forgotten how important our alone time is. And who knows, maybe someone reading this post (if anyone even does) needed to hear how God is on the move, and it will lead them to spend more time with God. All I know is I am so thankful for a God who loves me all the time, and for all the people he has placed in my life to remind me when I forget.
For the past few weeks, I have been working on different projects in my internship--apart from clinical, management, and community rotations. The projects were assigned to us by one of our internship directors, Bridget. I was on a team with two other interns, Cindy and Amy, and we were told that we had to complete four tasks in two weeks:
Create a handout for patients who have a sodium or potassium restriction. Patients are put on these restrictions for a number of different reasons, and find it difficult to order off the menu when they do not know how much sodium or potassium are in certain items. The handout was supposed to make this process easier for the patient, and for the call center employees who take their order.
Enter values for missing nutritional components in CBORD. CBORD is a computer database where all information about food items and recipes is stored. Most items are linked to a nutrient profile on the USDA website, but some had to be entered in manually. Because the hospital has signed on to Michelle Obama's Partnership for Healthier America, it has to prove that we are abiding by certain guidelines. Those guidelines state that trans fat should not be existent in at least 60% of food items by the year 2015. However, with the food items that were entered in manually, most did not contain values for trans fat. Therefore, a day and a half was spent looking on food labels and on our food distributor's website to find these values. You'll be happy to know that most did not contain any trans fat :)
Re-evaluate the current in-room dining system and request changes, if necessary. Bridget told us that the management staff was hoping to open the in-room dining menu to make it the same as the already existing patient menu. In addition, they wanted to know if it would be cost-effective to offer this service to all guests of patients. We found that financially-speaking, this was likely a possibility. Logistically, it would be difficult in terms of space, work load for current employees, and the need for a larger work force in order to make this possible. We put together a presentation and get to show it to Doug and Bridget tomorrow afternoon.
Make instructional videos. We made two videos: Coumadin and Your Diet and Ordering from A La Carte. We wrote, acted, directed, and edited these videos--and I am pretty positive they are obviously done by amateurs--but the point is...we did our best! We even made a Blooper video, which was the best part of all. (The point of me writing all this was originally to upload the blooper video, but it doesn't work because of the type of file :( Sorry!)
Overall, we had a very productive week. We were able to complete all our assigned tasks rather quickly and for the most part, had a lot of fun doing so!
Well, it's a few more weeks down and that much closer to having a real job! These past few weeks have been spent in Retail Management. This rotation was a very eye-opening experience. Though my past experience in retail has been minimal, I learned a lot about how to manage people in a different way than I have ever been taught before. It's all about developing rapport and creating a sense of mutual respect within the work environment. I know what you're thinking... DUH. But I think we have all had a manager who...perhaps did not learn that. So let me tell you all about how these dietitians mastered the concept.
Each day, the dietitians (Beth and Levi) go to "do rounds" in each area they are in charge of, which includes four dining areas. They manage more than 50 employees, including students, part-timers, and full-time employees. They know everyone by name and seem to keep tabs on how they are all doing; not only at work, but in their social lives as well. Each morning during rounds, they make sure to check in with supervisors of each area to see how things are going.
From an outsider's perspective, it was cool to see how relaxed the employees were when Beth and Levi came around. I know of many places where I was employed that when "the boss" came around, everyone suddenly became all-star employees with perfect posture and big smiles. Their work areas are magically in ship-shape and all customers are treated like celebrities. Even to an outsider, it can seem staged and insincere. However, when Beth and Levi come around, everyone continues to go about their business and do the jobs they are supposed to do because--get this--they're already doing a good job. I think that's the difference between earning respect and demanding it. Levi and Beth are approachable, fun, and fair, which I think the employees really appreciate.
In addition to learning a new approach to management, I also learned about creating new menu items, marketing, procurement, and recipe standardization. The hospital just signed on to Lady Obama's Partnership for Healthier America (PHA), which will radically change the types of foods that can be served at the hospital. By 2015, 60% of the meals served/sold at the hospital must comply to a certain set of standards. This required an in-depth view of what is already being served in each of the dining areas, trying to figure out what we already had to work with, and how we could fix the rest. It was my favorite project to work on! We got a spreadsheet of the nutrition information for each entree and side that is served at the hospital. The important criteria include percent saturated fat, total calories, and mg of sodium. For over 300 items, Dagny (my partner in crime for the week) and I had to write "yes" or "no", indicating if each food item fit into these standards. The next step was to take a few items that were close to meeting the requirements, but not quite, and see what we could do to modify those recipes. For example, one of the pizzas we looked at had 666 mg sodium, when the requirement was that it had to fall below 600 mg. The percent from saturated fat and the total calories were fine. So, what could we do to decrease the sodium? By looking at the ingredients containing sodium (cheese, sauce, and crust) and using half the amount of each, we were able to bring the sodium down to 593 mg instead. Plus, even though the other criteria were OK, we ended up decreasing both calories and saturated fat as well! And guess what? IT WAS STILL YUMMY! Victory!
Instead of gifts this year, my "other" family took us all on a cruise for Christmas. I can't remember a time when I have actually felt warm on Christmas Day, let alone in a swimsuit on a beach!
It. Was. Awesome.
We boarded the Carnival Destiny on Christmas Eve and took a five-day cruise to Nassau (Bahamas) and Grand Turk. We were also supposed to stop in Half Moon Cay, an island open only to Carnival cruiseliners, but the water was too rough for us to get to shore. Total bummer.
That is probably the worst thing that happened though; if you could even call it a bad thing, considering we got to spend the day outside--reading and bronzing our skin. Not many people can say that for a day-after-Christmas event!
The rest of the time we spent stuffing our faces with the best food ever. We're talkin' all you can eat frozen yogurt, lobster, strawberry bisque, shrimp, sushi, pizza, fruit, a chocolate buffet--I'm shocked I didn't need to be rolled off the ship!
Between meals, we got to stop at beaches, take little Allie to the kiddie pool...
(which as you can see, she LOVED.)
...get all fancy for dinners...
Stare at the amazing views...
...and spend quality family time together!
Can you say yearly tradition?!
A big thank you to John and Luanne Schmidt for making it happen!
Please excuse my absence in the last...mmmm...month or so. Clearly, I could never be a blogger for a living! I just finished up my rotation through Neuroscience, which was a great experience. It helped build my confidence, again, to see different patients with a number of problems that could be helped with nutrition! Yay!
I am so stinkin busy studying for finals next week (grad school + internship = need for more wine ;) ) but I will update you with more information. Basically I wanted to stop by and let you all know that I'm still alive! My new rotation is through Family Practice/Internal Medicine. Most of these patients have some kind of liver/kidney issues, so I know I will learn SO much. I promise to fill you in!
Until then, enjoy these pictures from the Jingle Bell Run in Iowa City. A few of the interns got together to run 3.1 miles to fundraise for Arthritis awareness and research. Notice the festive attire!
Seriously? Who has one of these? Answer: Ryne. He actually has two. hahah
