rain, rain

my view as I ate my lunch

It is raining in Seattle.

I have been known to complain about the rain lately. Like, a lot. But not today. Today I kind of love it.

Maybe it's due to the fact that we've just had a few warm, sunshine filled days and I am more forgiving of the weather. (I mean, I do live in Seattle.) Maybe it's because the rain doesn't feel as cold as it did last week. Just refreshing. Like it's here for a purpose. I'm not sure why I love the rain today and hated it before, but I am grateful for this new perspective.

And this girl. I'm grateful for her. And her charming me into buying a box of popsicles at the grocery store. She was right, they were the perfect treat. And so fun to eat in the sunshine. (thanks for the pic Leah, and for posing so cute Lainy.)

And this one. She makes me smile, especially her new habit of coming out of her room in all sorts of unexpected outfits (most of them pant-less).

And him. Oh boy, am I grateful for him.

Life is good. Rain and all.

Match Day

Friday morning we went to UW Medical School to discover our match results. The foyer was packed with nervous medical students and their families. Sitting very prominently in the middle of the room were tables full of these boxes, each one containing a little white paper with each student's match results.

At 9am the Dean of Student Affairs rang a gong and everyone opened their boxes. It was quite exciting! Some people grabbed their box and ran away. Most of us stayed and opened the boxes with shaking hands.

We discovered that Brad matched for his transitional year of Medicine at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane!

We are thrilled! It's an easy move for us to a much less expensive area, it's somewhat closer to family, Brad's schedule shouldn't be too grueling, and he even gets to do some surgery. Wahoo! Also, our friends from high school matched to the same program! They've been in Indiana for medical school and it will be fun to have their familiar faces around for a year.

After opening our boxes, everyone stuck around talking and congratulating one another. It was pretty exciting! We learned that the University of Washington matched the highest percentage of 4th year medical students to residency positions in the country. Wow. What a blessing to be part of this amazing school and amazing class!

It was fun to talk to people we know and find out where they are headed. It's such an exciting time for everyone! We stayed until Leah started whispering in my ear, "Go away people". I'm afraid she's not quite the social butterfly that her sister is.

We're so relieved to have the match behind us. We feel so blessed. We have been praying so hard since last Fall that the Lord would bless us through this process, and He definitely has. Brad matched at two outstanding, highly competitive residency positions. We are humbled and very grateful, and ready for the adventure. Spokane for one year, Boston for three! Bring it on.

(This was a map in the foyer. Each red pin represents a medical student and is stuck where he/she matched for residency. Brad is pointing to his pins in Spokane and Boston.)

P.S. In case I have neglected to explain clearly, Brad is going to be an Ophthalmologist. His residency requires one year of general medicine (Spokane)  before training in ophthalmology for three years (Boston).

Patience

I have been reading about patience this week. Here are some of my favorite discoveries. I've been thinking about them a lot.

From: Dieter F. Uchtdorf 
"Patience means accepting that which cannot be changed and facing it with courage, grace, and faith." 

"Patience means to abide in faith, knowing that sometimes it is in the waiting rather than in the receiving that we grow the most."

"The work of patience boils down to this: keep the commandments; trust in God, our Heavenly Father; serve Him with meekness and Christlike love; exercise faith and hope in the Savior; and never give up. The lessons we learn from patience will cultivate our character, lift our lives, and heighten our happiness."

From  Neal A. Maxwell 
"Patience is not indifference. Actually, it is caring very much, but being willing, nevertheless, to submit both to the Lord and to what the scriptures call the “process of time.” 

"Patience is tied very closely to faith in our Heavenly Father. Actually, when we are unduly impatient, we are suggesting that we know what is best—better than does God. Or, at least, we are asserting that our timetable is better than his."

"There is also a dimension of patience which links it to a special reverence for life. Patience is a willingness, in a sense, to watch the unfolding purposes of God with a sense of wonder and awe—rather than pacing up and down within the cell of our circumstance."

"Too much anxious opening of the oven door and the cake falls instead of rising! So it is with us. If we are always selfishly taking our temperature to see if we are happy, we won’t be."

So, here is how we are passing out time until Match Day:

I admit it has been fun. We are happy. And (despite my rantings last week) we have faith in the Lord and trust that He is in control and is involved in the details of our lives. We are excited to find out what is in store for us!

Limbo

Match Day is 10 days away. (In case you don't know, Match Day is the day that 4th year medical students find out where they will go for residency.)

I know what you're thinking, didn't Brad already "match" for residency in Boston?

The simple answer is yes. The more complicated answer is that Ophthalmology has an early match and that Brad's residency program in Boston does not include an intern year. He had to interview and apply separately for his first year of residency. So, while we are thrilled about going to Boston, we will not be going there until July of 2013. Our lives for the next year are still up in the air. Until Match Day.

I've been telling people that I feel like we are in limbo. When I looked up the definition of limbo tonight, I had a good laugh:
1: Roman Catholic Theology: a region on the border of hell
2: a place or state of imprisonment or confinement
3: an intermediate, transitional, or midway state or place
4: a dance from the West Indies in which the dancer bends backwards from the knees and moves with a shuffling step under a horizontal bar that is lowered after each successive  pass

Though definition 3 describes my view of our "limbo" most of the time, I admit I have sometimes thought of it as #2 and sometimes (dare I admit it?) even #1.

Basically, this waiting stinks.

I know what your advice would be to me because I've given it to myself. "Try to forget about it and enjoy this time. You'll never be here again." Yes, yes, YES!

But all I can think about are questions that for now must remain unanswered: Where will Lainy go to school next year? Where will we live? Will it be close to family? (I would love to be closer to family before heading back East.) Will it be a little house with a yard? Or another cramped apartment? How will we move? What will we take with us? etc. etc. etc.

See? It's enough to drive a person crazy! And I have been quite crazy, lately. Just ask my girls.

Nevertheless, I have determined to focus on the good. All this will soon be over and I can start planning and envisioning our life for the next year. For now, I'll try to live in the present and enjoy it.

Maybe doing the limbo would help... yes?

Lainy Swims

Lainy has always been nervous around water. She hated baths for a long time and only very recently stopped having anxiety when I'd wash her hair. We have wanted to get her into swimming lessons for a long time. In January we finally signed her up for a 4-year-old class at a nearby pool.

Her first lesson was horrible. The process of putting kids into classes was very chaotic so Lainy was left hanging on the side of the pool waiting for far too long. By the time a teacher finally made it over to her, she was silently crying. The teacher turned out to be very callous to nervous children, which only upset Lainy more and prompted her to scream and cry through the whole thing. I was pretty upset too. Despite being lectured by the teacher about it being "better to stay in the water", I pulled my terrified child out of the pool with ten minutes left and held her close. Brad and I debated about not sending her back, but decided that we'd give it one more week.

We showed up early for the next class and were greeted warmly by a new teacher who is fun and sweet and awesome! It has made all the difference to Lainy (and to me).

Now, after 8 lessons, Lainy can float on her back by herself,

 kick with a kickboard,

 and dunk her head underwater.

 Awesome! We're so proud of her!