Bethany French

It’s finally Christmas Day! And what an exciting day it was – discovering the treasures hidden in stockings, eating candy for breakfast, opening amazing presents, and spending precious time with family. Lots of laughs and lots of excitement. I got some awesome gifts – the biggest were a Garmin GPS, a new video camera, and warm winter coat! Yet, the gift that means the most to me was the time spent with my family. We took our time opening presents and enjoying what was inside. After “shaking the tree” (opening all the presents under the tree), my brother and I got to play a Christmas game. Our dad had hidden envelopes all around our house – the envelopes were numbered for the 25 days of Christmas. I had 25 envelopes to find and my brother had 25 to find. We had to search the house and find all the envelopes before we could open them. It was quite a hilarious search finding all the envelopes, but we eventually found them all. Afterwards, we got to open all the envelopes and discovered a small gift in each – gum, quarters, dollars, candy, and many more small surprises. It was a great game and definitely made this Christmas unforgettable. It is important to take in those special moments that happen at Christmas. To appreciate the beauty of the lights and ornaments, the selfless acts of kindness, and most importantly to remember the greatest gift for all mankind – Jesus, Our Savior. Christmas is a very special season and always I enjoy sharing it with my family.

I did finally make it home after driving in pouring rain from Macon, GA to Charlotte, NC. In Charlotte it started snowing and I drove in the snow all the way home! It continued to snow all night. On Saturday morning, there were 8 inches of snow outside my house! I couldn’t believe it – it was the most snow I have ever experienced. It was certainly a Winter Wonderland. My entire family got out and played in the snow! We sledded down the hill in our backyard, built a huge snowman that we named Elmer, had a snowball fight, and even slid down our driveway on a blow up float! It was the perfect day, not to cold and a little bit of sunshine. I stayed out in the snow from 10 am to 8 pm! It was such a fun day and I’m so glad I was home to experience it!

This is my last day in Georgia. I am planning to make the drive home to NC tomorrow. The weather fore cast is calling for an 80% chance of rain in GA tomorrow and a 60% chance of rain/snow tomorrow at home in NC!! I’m not looking forward to driving 6 ½ hours in the rain, but I am leaving very early in the morning so hopefully I won’t get stuck in really bad weather. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here in Georgia. I love making a trip here to a place that is still so familiar even though I moved 4 years ago. I always make a point to drive by my old house and see what it looks like. I like coming back to Macon and seeing what has changed and what has remained the same. I hope that I will always have the opportunity to remain familiar with this city and the wonderful friends I have here. It has been a great week and I’m glad I was able to make the trip. It’s nice to think that I will be able to spend the rest of my break at home relaxing, spending time with my family, and enjoying the happiness of Christmas. It would be awesome to have some snow when I get home….well have to see!

I have had such a great time this week in Georgia. I have had time to relax and sleep in, and also time to have fun and hang out with friends. I used to live in the city of Macon – you are literally 5-10 minutes away from everything – movies, mall, restaurants, park, etc. A new shopping center just opened new my old house and I have certainly taken advantages of all the great shops there. I have been out to eat at some great restaurants, and also enjoyed some delicious home cooking at Mrs. Sara’s house. I have even gotten to help one of my friends decorate their Christmas tree! It has been a great week and a great start to my Christmas Break.

It’s exam week, the final week before Christmas Break! Because I am in the RN-BSN program most of my classes are online. For final exams, I have three papers and one intense group project due exam week. The one face-to-face class that I took this semester was Art Survey and that is the only actual exam I have to take. I took it today at 8 am! After my exam, I went back to my dorm and checked out of my room for the break. Before going home for Christmas, I am making a trip to GA to see friends and family. I am very excited about my trip to GA! I am planning to spend about a week there and then head home to NC. Christmas break has officially begun!

For the last 3 years I have been a part of the Student Alumni Council (SAC) at GWU. Every year, SAC sponsors a Christmas Party for its members. This year it was at the home of Woody Fish, the VP of Development/Alumni Relations. Almost all the students in SAC were there, along with several esteemed alumni and supporters. We all enjoyed a delicious meal with ham, turkey, all the fixings, and lots of desserts! We students got to meet and network with alumni and enjoy an evening away from campus.

After the SAC Christmas Party, I , along with several other SAC members went to the Festival of Lights in Dover Theater. The Festival of Lights is a very popular and well attended event at GWU. The Music Department arranges a concert of all the best Christmas music in which students and professors alike perform. There were performances by the concert choir, the hand bells, precussion, and instrumentals, with scripture reading mixed throughout. The audience even got to participate and sing along with familiar Christmas tunes. I performed in choir all four years of high school and played piano for 6 years - so I found myself singing along with many of the songs. I thoroughly enjoyed the concert and got to see many of my friends perform. Following the concert, everyone was invited to walk to the lighting of the campus Christmas tree with luminaries lighting the way. It is really a beautiful sight and a great way to bring in the season of Christmas!

Just wanted to update you on my status as a possible math for a bone marrow donation. During September, I was identified as a possible match for a bone marrow donation. I gave a blood sample for it to be tested to see if how good of a match I was. I went an gave my sample, but then didn’t hear anything for a while. I finally got a letter back this week concerning my blood test. The letter stated that based on test results, the patient’s doctor might select me to donate. However, circumstances have changed and the patient is not ready for a transplant at this time. The program could not give me specific reasons why this had happened, but there are several possibilities. Those being that: 1) The patient’s condition may have become worse and isn’t strong enough for the procedure, or  2) The patient’s condition may have improved, or 3) The patient’s doctor may have chosen another treatment. As of now, I am released from this patient’s search, but if the patient does need a transplant they may contact me again to talk about donation.

I’m glad that I heard back from the National Marrow Donor Program concerning my status as a possible donor. I truly hope that the reason the patient doesn’t need a transplant is because the patient’s condition has gotten better. Even though, I did not get to actually participate in giving a bone marrow transplant, I am still honored to have been identified as a possible match. It has been an educational and enlightening experience for me, and I’m very glad that I signed up to be on the Marrow Donor Registry. If you are interested in this program, I encourage you to sign up to be on the national registry. You may have the opportunity to donate life!

To learn more about the National Marrow Donor Program and sign up for the National Registry, please visit http://www.marrow.org/

Only one more day til Thanksgiving break!! Only one more days of classes/work until I head home. I absolutely can’t wait for break to begin. It’s seems that the semester has flown by, but then again there has been a lot of work and classes that have passed by as well. I am very thankful that I will get time to rest, relax and eat delicious food! My family is having Thanksgiving dinner at my cousin’s this year. This is her first time doing a Thanksgiving meal, so it is sure to be interesting! I am looking forward to the time with family, time to think of all the things I’m am thankful for, and of course, time to enjoy all my Thanksgiving favorites – turkey, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie – the list goes on and on. I’m so excited – It’s Almost Turkey Day!

White Elephant Gifts

The Holidays are officially here! The Student Nurses Association (SNA) wanted to do some holiday celebrating before everyone leaves for break. Because Thanksgiving break and Christmas break are so close together, the SNA Activities Committee hosted a Thanksgiving/Christmas Party for all SNA members.  There were decorations, desserts, party foods, and music. Everyone who attended the party brought a $5 gift. After enjoying some party food, we all sat in a circle with all the presents in the middle and played White Elephant. White Elephant is a party game (usually played at Christmas) where each player brings a gift – the gift can be nice/useful, or funny/useless. All gifts are placed in the middle of the circle of players. Every player gets a number. When it’s your turn, you get to choose a gift from the middle. You open the gift and show everyone. Now the fun part about this game is that, if you see a present you like that someone else has opened you have the option of stealing it from them instead of picking a new present from the middle. This game can get very intersting when gifts get stealen several times! In the end, everyone leaves with a gift.  We all had a great time playing and there was definately some stealing. Some of the gifts gave us some big laughs. It was  nice to hang out with nursing friends and not have to talk or think about nursing! The party was a big success and a great way to relax and take a break from studies!