Internally Blessed

I couldn't ask for a better situation right now! I am still loving my job at St. Jude and having a good time with my new roommates. I am so blessed that God opened up this living situation for me. This week was an exciting one for me! On Sunday I drove to Nashville to meet up with my cousin and her family. I hadn't seen them in almost 4 years, so it was great to spend the day with them.

At work this week I attended an Auxiliary club meeting. They had a guest speaker from the Blood Donor Center come talk to the group about giving blood. St. Jude for a long time has been the only hospital in the state of Tennessee with its own blood donation center in the hospital. One of the facts that stuck out to me is that when someone donates plasma, it's the equivalent of giving St. Jude $600. If they had to purchase it from somewhere else, that is how much it would cost. It's also cool to know that all donations (whole blood and plasma) are used at St. Jude only, within 5 days. So if you give blood you know that within 5 days you have directly supported a child's life. This is a great way for people to contribute to the Danny Thomas's vision that "No child should die in the dawn of life."

One of the projects I'm working on is an article about the St. Jude volunteer tour guides. I have been doing interviews and arranging photo shoots for the article that will be part of a quarterly newsletter. It's been a lot of fun learning about the tour guides and their experiences. Tours are open to anyone (you just have to sign up in advance). Out-of-town guests, school groups, local visitors, and donors are among those who come for tours. I have not been on a tour with a volunteer tour guide yet, but I had a few with staff members before I started working, and there is always something new to learn. Even though I saw the same places, the information was either new or just as fascinating as the time before.

Some of the smaller, on-going projects I'm working on are tracking sheets and data entry. Each time a volunteer itneracts with a patient, we track it. It's tedious to input, but valuable information for the volunteer program. I will be tracking my own interactions once I start working with patients in the next couple weeks. My role will be the same as volunteers - to be with a child (patient or sibling) while providing relief to the parents.

Thursday was an exciting day for at St. Jude! The hospital made on FORTUNE magazine's list of "Top 100 Companies to Work For." The is the second year in a row St. Jude has appeared on the list and even moved up since last year. I am not only proud of the hospital for this accomplishment but blessed to be a part of it.

My week ended on a very high note -  my birthday! :) It was a long workday but a good one. I had a few surprises from my family and a fun night with my roommates. They had planned a wine and cheese tasting party. I hate wine. But the cheese was good and I enjoyed meeting new people.