July 4th in West Virginia

We are quickly adjusting to our new home away from home. We are currently sharing a four-bedroom college apartment with our friends from Wichita here in Morgantown, West Virginia. We will be here for the next few weeks while Marc takes a tropical medicine class through the medical school here at West Virginia University. I am currently on "leave" from work until we return to Wichita and enjoying staying home with both kids while Marc is in class all day. I have felt so much less stress since being here. I am now realizing the many roles I was trying to gracefully juggle while still working full-time. I have always been a fairly efficient person which helps me get done what needs to be done while still working full-time, but it is amazing now how much easier it has been for me to tend to my home duties like cooking, laundry, and running errands now that I am home with the kids. It has been a much needed break and I think the kids are enjoying more time with their mama. :) I am blessed to have some great nappers so when I plan Hailey's afternoon nap with Eli's I usually get a 2 1/2-3 hour break which is when I cook dinner and catch up on some email or read a book!

We had a great weekend finding some new treasure spots in Morgantown and relaxing with some new found friends. We decided to abandon our original plans of going to DC for the 4th since Marc had to be back for class by this morning and DC is about 3 1/2 hours away. I think the kids probably appreciated us not putting them back in the car for 7 hrs. after they spent 20 straight hours in the car a week ago. So instead, we met up with another couple (and their two boys ages, 4 and 9) who are here for the class and went to the river to watch the fireworks. This was the latest we have kept either one of our kids up (we got home around 11pm) but we had a great time.... and Eli LOVED the fireworks. Marc put some earplugs in his ears when it all started and he sat still in Marc's lap through the whole show. Hailey tried to doze off to sleep on my lap, but I could never get enough of the noise muffled out for her with the jacket I had over her ears. She was a trooper!

Eli loved chasing these balloons all over the place before the fireworks started.

The fireworks show was great!

I will try to be better better about putting posts up during our stay here, but while I have found more time to do certain things during the day, computer time has not been one of them. :) I hope you all had a Happy 4th!

Graduation/Father's Day Weekend

Life is about to get REALLY crazy so I figured I should get this post up before we start packing and moving our house tomorrow. We leave in just a few days for West Virginia! I can't believe the time is finally here. We will be in Morgantown, West Virginia for the next six weeks while Marc takes a tropical medicine course through the university. He has looked at his class syllabus and watched the first lesson online and is SO excited about what he is going to learn. I am looking forward to trying out my role as a stay at home mom of two and having a break from the clinic. We will be back in Wichita in August and then will leave for Niger, West Africa on January 10th where we will be until June 2012. We have a busy year ahead of us but we are really excited to take this adventure.

This past weekend Marc graduated from family medicine residency. We were happy to have both of our parents there to celebrate this night with us. Marc has worked so hard over the past three years. I could not be prouder of him. He has one more test to go in July and then everything will be official for him to practice family medicine wherever he wants! He received the highest score on a national examination he took a few months ago so I know he will do great on the one coming up as well. I think he always wondered if he would get to this point and actually feel ready to practice on his own but he does! I think that speaks volumes about what a great program we have here in Wichita. ;)

The residents with the faculty band

 My wonderful in-laws traveled the country over the last week attending Marc's younger brother's speech competition in Texas and then to Wichita to see Marc graduate (and then back to Texas to tour UT with Ryan for a college visit !). I know it meant so much to Marc that they were able to make it.

 Dr. Mcvay has been a spiritual mentor to Marc over the past year and such a source of encouragement to him. I am so thankful that there are men like this, even with a hectic doctor schedule, who are willing to invest their time in challenging the next generation to be more godly men, husbands, and dads.

The couple on the left in this picture did the international medicine fellowship last year and spent six months in Zimbabwe. They just had their second baby yesterday! Congratulations Lisa and John!

A few more dear friends that we will miss...

This is the family that we will be spending our next year with. We will be sharing an apartment with them for the next six weeks in West Virginia, living in an apartment next door to them for five months when we return to Wichita, and then traveling with them to Niger, West Africa for five months!

On Sunday morning, my parents took us out to breakfast for Father's Day before they had to head back to Arkansas. We had some yummy food that we all shoved inbetween entertaining our two slightly difficult children. :)

I am so thankful for having such wonderful men in my life. The patients I see in clinic continually offer a great testament to me of the powerful effects that happen when dads abandon their role to parent. It breaks my heart. I am thankful for having a dad who has loved and supported me through the years and for Marc who is an amazing dad to our children. Happy Father's Day!

Blessings

If you listen to a Christian radio station in your area then I am sure you have heard the song "Blessings" by Laura Story. I first heard this song a few months ago and it is one of those songs that can just move me to tears. Oh, how true these lyrics are for our lives! Laura's husband was diagnosed in 2006 with a brain tumor and they have since been led together through an intense trial. Yet, out of that trial their faith in God has prevailed and this beautiful song was written. It seems like the suffering around us never goes away, but I really feel like God uses those circumstances to teach us about His love for us, His faithfulness to us, and about how real and genuine satisfaction comes through Him alone. He is our constant that never changes even amidst the chaos we see. I love the last verse of this song. I truly think that all of this, as Laura says, "is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy." That "thirst" she is referring to is having a relationship with the one who created you. I hope you enjoy this song as much as I do!

Blessings - Laura Story

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things
Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

More Florida Fun

Here are some more pictures from our trip last week. It has taken me a little while to get these up. I must still be in vacation mode. :)

I would say we spent the majority of our time in Florida out by the pool. I think Eli would have slept on a raft if we would have let him! He cried so hard every time we made him go inside to eat or for a nap. It didn't matter if he had been playing in the water for hours... it never got old. He loved jumping off the little ledge from the hot tub into the pool. I think every body took a turn playing that game with him at some point during the week. :)

Hailey had a great time as well. She loves being in the water!

And the adults even managed to get in a few laughs in the pool!

We had so much fun going out to eat as a family. We went to Stinky's Fish Camp in Santa Rosa Beach, The Red Bar in Grayton Beach, Fudpuckers in Destin, and the The Back Porch in Destin.

Fudpuckers was Eli's favorite since they had a playground at the restaurant that you could play at while you were waiting. There were alligators (or crocodiles?) down below. Yikes!

The Red Bar

Eli had a good time sitting by Brandon who taught him how to play piano on the table.

The Back Porch

It is pretty hard to get this many people looking at the camera but we did it!

Well, are you still with me after all those pictures??? Here are the last of my "favorites" from the trip.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU Mom and Dad for a great trip. We had the best time and made memories that we will keep with us forever. :)