Our Newlywed Experience

Within the Body of Christ



Daily receiving life and grace from His constant hand:

"I said to the Lord, 'Thou art my Lord;

I have no good besides Thee.'" Ps 16:2



Friday, December 31, 2010

Study study and more study- with a lil life in between ;)

As I begin to process- I really don’t have a CLUE who my audience for this is!!!

Well, maybe a little bit of a clue. Friends, family, people from my hometown will stop me, text me, Facebook me about how “this post… that verse… this story…” meant so much to them. And that is beautiful. Because that is what this blog is for. Because Christ is ALIVE. And ACTIVE daily in my life. And I want-you-to-encounter-Him. His peace. His life.

At the same time- I realize my audience is also- myself! As another girlfriend shared with me about her own blogging experience, she talked about how precious it would be to look back on all this, years down the road. I capture these memories and lessons for myself.

Even this morning, as I looked back on my first blog post after school started, I was touched by [and learned again from!] what I had experienced back then:


“God is saturated in this in ways I’ll never realize on this side of eternity.”


Folks, it tickles me to death to be sitting here- first semester under my belt! Tickles-me-to-death. Some of you may be like “Um, Miss Katie, you have two years left…” Yes, I do. Two years.

Hear me now though- that semester, those first four months, are the hardest in the program.

When I would talk with people outside the program about how first semester was going they would say things like “Oh yeah, they gotta weed people out, huh?” Noooooo. This was not ‘weed out.’ This was REFINEMENT. Grueling, trial-by-fire refinement. ‘Weed out’ was through the application/ interview process when they chose 34 of over five-hundred applicants.

And as I blogged earlier about the amazing faculty at Methodist- each one of them busts their tail to make sure each one of those 34 make it through the entire way.

My darling hubby was so sweet and supportive throughout the ENTIRE semester. I felt like we made it through as a team. Here is one of the MANY ways he cheered me on- with roses!!! :D

My absolute favorite color roses. Yellow base with coral tips.

I tell you, our class is some group of people. People would check in on me to see how I was doing, how the class was doing. Every time it happened, I would think about our class as a whole and come to the same conclusion time and again- there is not a lazy one among us. Every last one disciplined and competent.

December 2012. Brace yourself for a new, seasoned generation of excellent Physician Assistants!


Tiffany and Staci- Oh how I adore these girls!! From Day 1 I knew sweet Tiffany would be the one always cracking me up, making me giggle, and keeping me sane- and she did :) It was wonderful meeting Staci and seeing how the Lord has absolutely brandished Uganda on both our hearts- anticipating the opportunity of doing a rotation in Africa with this lady :)


Miss Laura, the belly dancer. Swords are often involved. Mad skills, people. Watch out ;)

Charlie, Ashley, Me, and Karolyn in what ended up being quite a HILARIOUS photo shoot. This was the most calm, normal photo I had

It all went downhill from there…
I’m 99% sure this was uncontrollable laughter at something Charlie said/did… You know, as usual.

My lovely Kristen Neitski [‘night ski’ haha!] She’s a Chapel Hill grad, but I don’t hold it against her. How can you not adore her? :D

He’s pretty much a big deal.

 
My hubby is crazy. But crazy wonderful. And God saw it perfect to make me his wife. To nurture me. To love me. To make me pots of coffee, and give bear hugs, and peel me away from textbooks when they try to eat me alive. To keep me sane. To help me through PA school. To make me LAUGH. And for that I praise GOD!



It really was a beautiful thing of confirmation, something I reflected quietly about OFTEN during the semester, to watch Grayson throughout all of this. For Him to call and equip my spouse- to be husband to a Physician Assistant student. It was a beautiful thing. And I simply played worshipful spectator in all of that.

"The steps of a man are established by the Lord; and He delights in his way." Psalm 37:23

On top of my desk hutch, a constant reminder…


Grayson started playing in the worship band at the church we’ve been attending- Snyder Memorial Baptist Church. Such an incredible body of believers there! :D




Stay tuned!!

First Semester- CHECK!!

Ughhh, I love blogging. I’ve missed blogging. It’s my crack, basically.
Which is why I seriously would’ve thought there would be at least twenty posts in the past two weeks. Twenty, yes twenty. Hmm, high goals. Overachieving perfectionist-in-RECOVERY here, people.
I told one of my professors about the ‘perfectionist in recovery’ thing a few weeks ago and I thought she was going to suffocate from laughing- ‘what recovery?!?’ Sheesh.



Anyways, back to the stream of consciousness…  Where do I even START? Most chronologically recent events and work to where I left off? Or begin where I left off and work to most recent???
Ooo, I got one for ya. I call it Katie’s “Are You Ready for First Semester PA School???” Quiz.
Here’s how it goes:
            1. Find the closest Merry-Go-Round.
            2. Grab an edition of War and Peace.
            3. Hop on, spin the Merry-Go-Round as fast as it will possibly go, and crack open that mother of a book.
            4. You have thirty seconds.
            5. And a 247 question test afterward.
And go!
Did you enjoy it?!? Did you do WELL?!?!? If yes, then you are READY my darling friend! :D
Haha, but in all seriousness it DID feel like that. One of the most challenging semesters of my entire life. But so wonderful. It’s the oddest thing to sit here and realize I wouldn’t have changed a thing. I flash back to a month or two ago. I’m in my special nook of the PA building studying. Its dark [so either really late or really early] and I’m on the cell phone with Daddy. His words are as clear as crystal, as if he was speaking them this moment:
“Katie. If I could go back and tell myself ONE thing while I was in Medical School- I would tell myself to calm down. Enjoy your spouse. Your friends. Just calm down.”
Cause the Lord leads you through. Again. And again. And again.
Right now it is incredibly late. Instead of worrying about waking up the ‘sleeping hubby’, I’m cautious about waking up the sleeping puppies- two fuzzy black Yorkshires bundled up together in their lil crib in our study.  Clicking away while making a blueberry toaster strudel disappear. Yeah, will definitely be sweating away at some Pilates tomorrow morning.
Fading fast. Grayson and I are tackling a major nasty cold that hit us simultaneously. Bleh. Fighting it with lots of homemade soup. Calling it quits before tonight before my head hits the monitor. More to come tomorrow- got my blog muscles warmed up…  ;D