Tribute to Jason Jeter

This is going to be a hard post to even write, but I feel it is something that needs to be recorded.

On Monday, November 7th I got a phone call from my sister that left me completely numb for the rest of the week.

At the young age of 34 years old, Jason Jeter, my sister's ex husband of 14 years of dating and marriage passed away.

[Just writing those words makes me cry...I knew this post wouldn't be easy]

Jason was and forever will be a part of my family. I was only 7 years old when Ashlie and Jason started dating in 9th grade. They continued to date throughout high school, college, and were married in 1999. While their marriage may have ended too short, their life together was such a wonderful thing to be a part of.

If you grew up with these two you always heard about "Ashlie and Jason" and knew they had something special. Their picture can be found at the back of their junior high yearbook, walking down the hall, holding hands. In their high school yearbook, you will find they were always voted "cutest couple" and "couple to make it last" and of course were named Homecoming and Prom king and queen.

I grew up with Jason. I was so young when he first came around that I can say, I have known him all my life. He was the only guy my sister dated, he is all I know. Their relationship was one I envied and looked up to all my life.

He was always smiling and always making people laugh. His personality was infectious and you just wanted to be around him.

I can't even find the words to explain Jason's life and what he has meant to me. He was a blessing to have as a part of our family and most of all, he made my sister happy.

We loved Jason so much and he will be missed greatly.

It still doesn't seem real. This may be my first loss that really, truly just doesn't seem real. I'm still numb and in shock. Jason is gone.

I look forward to the day that I will get to see him again. When I do see him again, I know he will be smiling and laughing just like this picture, ready to tell a joke to make me smile. He was so good at that.

I will forever cherish the memories that I have of Jason and will forever be grateful to have had him as a long time friend and brother-in-law.

I ask for your prayers for my sister, Ashlie, the entire Jeter family, and all those who knew and loved Jason. We are hurting because of this loss but can find comfort in knowing he is in the presence of the Lord and knowing we will meet again someday.

"Jason, I love you and miss you."

Rest in Peace

Jason Allen Jeter

February 24, 1977-November 7, 2011 

Jason was also a fabulous athelete. To read more about his golf legacy at Cameron Univeristy in Lawton, Oklahoma, click here. 

OSU Football Weekend and Anniversary Plans

What a great week this has been! I'm not even really sure why it has been but my mood is just bursting with happiness!

This past weekend, Wes and I made a trip to Lawton to see my parents. This was OSU's Homecoming weekend and we are usually in Stillwater participating in the "walk around" and going to the game. This year we decided not to go to the game but still wanted to get together to watch the game.

We got into town early Friday afternoon and took some time to go visit my grandparents. I don't do this often enough when we are in town and I'm so glad we made the time to this trip. We discussed with them about having Thanksgiving all together at Wes's grandparents house in Yukon this year. It has been hard trying to figure out how to spend the holiday's now as a married couple. Of course both families want us there but that is pretty hard to do, especially with me now working full time. So Wes's grandma invited my family to her house for Thanksgiving this year. And maybe next year we will switch it up and have Thanksgiving in Lawton.

We are so fortunate and blessed to have families that enjoy being with one another. I know this isn't always the case with many families and I am thankful for it. I am looking forward to starting new traditions with our families. It's so hard to break tradition and do something new but change is good. And it will only bring about new traditions that we will all learn to enjoy.

So Thanksgiving will be all together in Yukon. Christmas is still yet to be figured out. I have no clue how my schedule will end up but am hopeful that it will allow me to have Christmas Day off. If not, no biggie. It will all work out. :)

Saturday was game day!!!!  We get very excited about OSU football every year and this year has been even more exciting since OSU is doing so well.

My mom and I went to Affair of the Heart a few weeks ago and picked up some soup mixes. We knew the weather was supposed to get colder for the game weekend so we had already planned what our game day meal was going to be...chili!! Mmmm.....and it was SO good!!

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We let it simmer all afternoon and had it for dinner after the game.

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As our game day snack, Wes wanted to fix his jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon and cooked on the grill. Here is the grill master himself. :)

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These are awesome as long as all the seeds are out. :) I'm not a huge fan of spicy foods but these were done just right and tasted delicious!

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The dogs were decked out in their orange too!

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Orange shirts on...check! Game on...check!

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Lexi and I

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My other half <3 Orange Power!!

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After the game was over (and OSU won, of course!) Wes and I went to the mall to find me some new boots. I couldn't not snap a picture of Wes in the shoe store. Such a good husband :)

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We had such a great, relaxing time in Lawton. We realized that we need to get out of Oklahoma City more often. It's always so refreshing to leave town and get away from the normal day to day routine. But of course, that refreshing feeling was short lived as the week started up and I had to work Tuesday thru Thursday.

I must say, 12 hour shifts are not easy but they do pay off when you get four days off. I will work three 12 hour shifts any day over working five straight days a week. So I have the entire weekend off which is so nice.

I can't believe it's already November. November is a very special month for us. Our 1 year anniversary is coming up in just 9 days! <3

Wow. Already ONE year?? Where does the time go??

We knew we needed to make plans to go somewhere to celebrate and to actually have the honeymoon we never got to have. It's so hard though because we don't want to spend a bunch of money (especially at this time of the year) but we know we NEED this trip. We owe it to ourselves and each other to take some time to spend together.

So we decided to save money by not going very far, somewhere within driving distance but far enough away that we feel like we are on somewhat of a vacation. I asked around at work if anyone knew of a good place to go and someone mentioned Beavers Bend in Broken Bow, OK. I hadn't heard of it but they said they had friends that go often and love it.

I looked it up online and immediately fell in the love with the cabins! We picked a the cabin we like the best and was the most affordable and booked it! We are going the 16-18th. I can't wait to just get away and spend time together. Here a few pictures from their website of the cabin we booked, Starlight Creek.

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This specific cabin has a huge window above the bed so you can star gaze at night. Pretty neat!!

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This sealed the deal for us when we saw this. A jacuzzi on the deck of the cabin. That will sure be nice on these cold November nights.

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As you can tell, the cabin is nestled in the trees, very private and quiet. We can't wait!!

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Needless to say, life is great right now. I couldn't be happier.

Better Late Than Never

One would think that with nursing school behind me that I would have plenty of spare time to blog more often, right?

Wrong....

I honestly can't tell you why I haven't blogged lately. I have thought about making a post many times but feel like there isn't much to blog about. How is it that life got less interesting after school? Just doesn't seem right to me. But I'm sure there have been plenty of things happening in the lives of the DeWitte's so it's time to update.

Therefore, I'm not really quite sure what direction this post will take, but it too much time has passed without a post, so here we go....better late than never. :)

As you know, I started working full time as of September 15th. Even though I absolutely love my job and feel very blessed to start out my nursing career in Labor and Delivery, it has been an adjustment for Wes and I.

I don't think I realized how much of (yet another) transitional period this would be for us. Our first transitional period was with me starting school and Wes starting his new job at the post office. Then just a few months later, it was the transition of marriage (which I haven't blogged much about and I should because we have grown so much as a couple since we said "I do") and just when we thought we were getting comfortable in our new lives together...another transition....new full time job for me and Wes working full time at the studio.

Without getting into all the hairy details, I will just say that we are having to remind each other to put our faith and trust in God and learn to lean on Him each and every day. Realizing and truly believing that it is no accident that we are at this stage of our lives. God has our lives planned and we have to continue to walk in faith, even in the times when life doesn't seem to make sense. God has continued to bless us and has revealed His mighty love and power in our lives.

By reflecting back on the many times that God has brought favor over us, we are able to stay strong in Lord and cast all our cares on Him. It is not always easy to do and requires a daily renewal of our minds to push through the challenging times and praise God for what He has done and has yet to do.

Our God is faithful, there is no doubt about it. God never promised us an easy life as Christians, but He did promise a life full of abundance and hope, if we just believe, have faith, cast all our burdens on Him, and love and trust Him to provide a wonderful future.

We will continue to grow together in Christ and challenge each other in our relationship with Him. This scripture has been up on our fridge for the past few months and has been an encouragement to us during this "season" of life. We are blessed.

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Here is what is on the other side of the fridge. This is the only way I can manage to stay somewhat sane in order to keep up with bills, appointments, my schedule, Wes' schedule....No wonder I haven't sat down to blog, and we don't even have kids yet!

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But the scripture right next to the busy calendar helps keep life in perspective and realize that we are being taken care of by a wonderful, heavenly Father who will continue to bless us and provide.

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As I sat down to blog this morning, I pulled out my camera hoping to find tons of pictures to share with you and remind me of what has been going on lately.

And it appears that I have gotten really bad about taking pictures again. The only pictures I have taken since my last post are of me and my new Bachelor's degree and official RN licence!

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Which, don't get me wrong, I am VERY excited about these! It crazy how you go to school, spends lot of money, time, energy....all for this moment....a piece of paper!! But those papers mean everything. Those papers are all the hard work and determination in one tiny sheet.

Whew...Sigh of relief....I did it!! It's done!! It takes that small piece of paper to make it actually real. I worked hard for that peice of paper!

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Bachelor's of Science in Nursing

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Licensed by the Oklahoma Board of Nursing: Registered Nurse!!

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I'm now an alumni divided....well sort of...I will always stay true to my FIRST alma mater, O-S-U!

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The only other pictures I could find were on my phone and who would you guess they're of? Lexi! She has been the sweetest dog lately. Her puppy stage is slowing down and she really is becoming a fun, (slightly) calmer dog.

She loves to take naps with us on Sundays. Everyone knows that Sunday afternoons are always the perfect nap days. It was a struggle when she was younger to get her to be still and lay down with us. But I think she is finally learning to look forward to those Sunday naps too. Sometimes I think she sleeps better than we do!

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She always has to be close to one of us. Sometimes strangely close. :)

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She was in desperate need of a haircut when I took this picture.

The crazy mohawk proves that to be true. haha

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And she eventually did get a haircut and could finally see again. :) Pretty girl.

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I worked the past three days and am pretty excited about staying home all day today. Wes is out at the studio recording all day, so that leaves just me and Lexi to relax.

Plans are to catch up on my shows from the week on the DVR, pick up the house, maybe do some laundry, watch OSU beat Texas, possibly a nap, and read my Nook. Needless to say, this is where you will find me.

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Sounds pretty intense doesn't it? It couldn't sound better!! Until next time....

  

First Day as a Real Nurse (aka RN)

That title is meant to be a joke. No RN does not stand for Real Nurse but ya know... it does kind of fit!

All of us have been waiting for the day that we will become "real" nurses and yesterday was my day!

Like I mentioned before, I will be working day shift (7am-7pm) for a few months while on orientation and then will move into my home of working nights.

I was unsure of how I would feel about having to work days since I was used to seeing how the unit runs during the night. But I was pleasantly surprised at how much I really enjoyed day shift.

I have been paired up with an awesome preceptor which makes all the difference. Unfortunately, I will only be with her for the first 3 weeks and then will be handed off to someone else to learn a different area of the unit. By the end of orientation, I will have been oriented to Post-Partum, Newborn Nursery, and Labor and Delivery. I love the way this unit trains its employees to be well rounded in their ability to work all three areas. This allows for more flexibility in staffing and ensuring all the needs of the unit are always going to be met no matter who is on shift that day.

So the next three weeks will be my Post-Partum experience. After going through Maternal/Newborn clinicals during school, I really had a liking for the Post-Partum unit. It was so laid back and easy going and my experience yesterday proved the same.

The moms and families are so easy to get along with, because at this stage of the game, they have their precious baby they have been waiting for 9 long months to meet and that is all they need. So our job is to ensure mom is recovering well and her pain in under control. Otherwise, we try to leave them alone and enjoy their new bundle of joy.

Yesterday we had four mom's and four babies to take care of all day. Even though this was a big load for just the two of us, it kept us busy and the day went by really fast.

That is the one thing I realized that is different than night shift thus far....the 12 hour shift goes by much faster during the day. And since our bodies are actually meant to be awake from 7am to 7 pm, I never felt like I was about to fall asleep. Pretty good deal considering a 12 hour shift can be brutal.

But it went GREAT! I love the facility, love the staff, and most of all LOVE my job!! I couldn't be happier with my decision to work in Labor and Delivery and most importantly, at this facility. I can tell it really is going to become "home" for me over the next few months and I look forward to the new friendships I am going to build along the way.

The new chapter has begun and it looks like it will be one filled with lots of excitement and fulfillment. The time is finally here and I am now living out my goals and dreams. Couldn't ask for more.