How kindness can change a day

I took care of a family last week at the hospital whose son needed surgery. It was a wonderful experience as they were the nicest parents and their baby was quite adorable. They had mentioned to me upon discharge that they really appreciated all I had done for them and that they wanted to write my manager a note stating how thankful they were. This is very uncommon in health care. We have all kinds of parents and patients who will complain about the care they are receiving but rarely hear good reports of care or kind comments. This family absolutely made my week (and the fact that the surgery went incredibly well really helped). Today, the family came in for their follow-up clinic appointment, and after the appointment, tracked me down in the hospital in order to give me a small gift and one of the sweetest notes I have ever received. I was shocked, surprised, and felt so cared for. It even brought tears to my eyes. For them to go out of their way and do something like this while dealing with a post-operative infant and his two sisters was just so kind and generous. I do love my job, though like anyone, there are days when it's frustrating, hard, annoying, etc. This gesture has made me realize even more that parents and patients do appreciate our care.

On a harder note, B found out today that he did not get the job he had interviewed for. We are both quite upset/sad about this as we had really hoped for this job and the move that would come with the job. Hopefully this will lead us to better things, but it's so hard not to be disappointed. I've been praying a lot for guidance in this new phase of our lives and had thought this was the right move as there was even an open job for me in the same town, but apparently it wasn't. If you have room on your prayer list and can add us to it, I'd certainly appreciate prayers for guidance and patience over the next few months!!