Medicine Board Exam

On Tuesday (Aug 18) I sat in a cold room for 8 hours picking answers to multiple choice questions - always fun! Hopefully I picked more right ones than wrong ones! I don't get the results for 2-3 months but I really appreciate all your prayers. I'm glad it's over! And now I'm trying hard to muster up motivation for board exam #2 - pediatrics (Oct 12) which is actually the harder of the two. But I'm also having fun in the process! Here's my parents and I at a preseason Titans game and my mom & I in front of a Nashville fountain:



Next stop: Bentonville, Arkansas!

Indianapolis

My sister Leslie, nephew Samuel and I traveled to Indianapolis last week to see family we don't get to see often enough! It was a fun road trip just the three of us (my brother-in-law had to work, so Leslie and Sam flew to Nashville and we drove up to Indy together). Here's Samuel and I in the tree at my grandparents house we liked to climb as kids:

These are my grandparents - Grandan and Grandma Chris. I really enjoyed our time just hanging out together on their screened-in porch - good conversation and laughing at Samuel!

We also took Samuel to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis - my sisters and I loved going there as kids - it's changed quite a bit but this dinosaur was still there. Sam loved playing in the sand and water in the toddler area - and we loved watching him!

We also introduced Samuel to our cousins Jacob, Rachel, Leah, & SarahBeth and to Uncle Jeff and Aunt Beth - it was great to get caught up with them again!

Samuel seems to learn new tricks weekly - now he knows how to slap your hand five and show "how big". And he "says" the sign "please" continually - to him it means, "I want that now (food, toy, etc.)!" He's adorable. I'm already getting sad about missing two years of his life while I'm in Kenya! Maybe he'll come visit! Check out my sister's blog for more pictures: www.budandleslie.blogspot.com.

Summer Travels

The best part about spending the summer to study for board exams rather than work is that I can study anywhere! I've loved having time to visit with friends and family far and near. And it's been fun to find unique study spots in various cities. In Boston I bounced around between the MIT library, U Mass Boston library, Boston Public Library, Harvard Square, various coffee shops, and beautiful scenic locations like this one:

Of course it hasn't been all work and no play! I lived with my college friend Shannon, her husband Jed and their adorable 17 month old daughter Clara while in Boston for 2 1/2 weeks. It was great to be roomies with Shannon again! Here we are picking raspberries and blueberries with Clara's friend Macai.

We also took weekend trips to Cape Cod and New York City! This is Clara at Cape Cod and Shannon, Jed, & I outside the New York Public Library.

Earlier in July, some high school friends and I met up in Little Rock, Arkansas. We hadn't seen each other in years and it was so fun to catch up and hang out together! This is me with Laura (and Baby Boy Hefley), Brandie, and Brandie's two children Cira and Aidan.

I'm back in Nashville for a week now studying at the Vanderbilt library and Nashville Public Library for starters. It's been fun to spend time with my parents on study breaks. Next stop: Indianapolis....