Done with boards!

No more studying! Yeah! I took the pediatric board exam yesterday. It was a long day but it was fun to see some of my residency friends taking the test with me in Atlanta. I won't know the results till January (and I still haven't gotten my results from the medicine boards), but if I passed both, that means no more tests for 10 years! After innumerable tests over the past 25 years! Thanks, everyone, for praying. Now I can get ready for Kenya!!!

14 states, continued

I loved spending time with my nephew Samuel in his home in Arkansas last month. Of course it was fun to hang out with his parents Leslie and Bud, too! :) And the big news is that Samuel is now walking (though he waited till after I left to achieve that milestone)!

14 states in 4 months

My travels continue. I love having time to visit family and friends without work constraints. By the end of October I will have visited 14 states: AL, TN, MA, CT, NY, AR, IN, KY, NC, SC, GA, FL, IL, MI! I have discovered Starbucks and Panera Bread in each locale for studying - and a few unique independently owned coffee shops as well.

Here are pictures of my recent visit to Bradenton, Florida with my sweet college roommate Heidi, her husband Troy, and adorable little boy Luke - who calls me "isaa"!

Samaritan's Purse Orientation

Last week, I traveled to Boone, North Carolina for orientation with several of the other post residents in my program headed all over the world. I really enjoyed the chance to learn more about Samaritan's Purse and realize that truly the gospel does motivate everything they do as an organization. We also learned about peacemaking (conflict resolution) which was very helpful and we enjoyed hanging out with each other and with the other new SP international field staff. Dr. Jim & Martha Foulkes joined us for dinner one evening (pictured above). They served as medical missionaries to Zambia for almost 40 years - their stories were truly inspiring! They are another example of the "great cloud of witnesses" that surrounds us and spurs us on to persevere in the trials and blessings ahead (Hebrews 12:1-2). I leave for Kenya in less than 6 weeks! It's coming quickly!

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....

Rosemary Beach

Family vacations are always so much fun - but especially now that we have Samuel (my sister Leslie's son) to entertain us! He turns one this month and he is so adorable (but I'm not biased or anything)! We loved just relaxing at the beach and pool, running, reading, playing games, celebrating Samuel's birthday, and exploring Rosemary Beach together as a family. As my dad always says, "I just love this family!" Hopefully family vacation 2010 will be in Kenya!!!

No longer a resident!

Above is a picture from my med/peds graduation - I am now done with residency! After just 24 years of training (since kindergarten), I can now practice medicine without supervision - scary, humbling, and exciting all at the same time.

The next few months will be busy, but in a different way than residency. I'm very glad for the change of pace! I've begun studying for board exams - two of them (why did I choose med/peds again? - just kidding, I love it - except for the 2 boards part). The internal medicine exam is Aug 18 and the peds exam is Oct 12. I plan on studying in various libraries, Starbucks, and Paneras around the country as I visit family and friends one last time before leaving for Kenya. My departure date for Kenya is November 1 - which I know will come quickly!

Happy 4th of July, everyone! I'll be celebrating from outside the U.S. next year! (Do they have hot dogs and ice cream in Kenya?)

Dominican Republic Update

Thank you so much for praying for my trip to the Dominican Republic. God truly answered those prayers! I looked forward to clinic each day (which is not always the case in the U.S.!) and the chance to work with the medical students and catch their enthusiasm both for learning anything related to patient care (they're at the beginning of med school and mostly are in the classroom at this point) as well as their enthusiasm for sharing the gospel with each patient. Truly medicine is a great way to minister to people's physical and spiritual needs in a holistic way. And the amazing thing about the gospel is that even when you explain it 20 times a day, it doesn't get old - if anything it becomes more incredible!


Thanks to your prayers, my Spanish came back to me more and more each day. I remembered how much I like speaking Spanish - I'll be kind of sad to put that aside for the next couple years while I learn Swahili!


Though I was a bit nervous, I actually really enjoyed having the opportunity to share my testimony with the team. It's encouraging to have the motivation from time to time to review my life and the many experiences, good and bad, God has brought me through faithfully, especially those related to missions. And, as was evident from the feedback I received, my story is not unique - many people have had the same struggles and joys I have. I appreciated the chance to encourage others in sharing how God's plan for my life has been so much better than my plan.


One of the highlights of the week for me was visiting an orphanage for handicapped children in Santo Domingo (the capital). As this is a government-run facility, they unfortunately did not allow us to take pictures, but it was very fun just to play with the children for a few hours. Heartbreaking, too, though, as they seemed to mostly just lie in their beds and receive little attention. Our team included physical therapists and they worked with some of the kids while we were there. Most memorable was a little boy about 4-5 years old who was scooting around the floor on his bottom when we got there. By the time we left, after PT worked with him, he was walking while pushing a chair. The orphanage staff explained he had not walked before! Hopefully the staff will be able to continue some of the exercises the physical therapists taught them for the children. Regardless, it was amazing to see the image of God in the little children's smiles and giggles and to be able to love on them for a brief time.


The team had a great time together - lots of fun playing games, swimming, and hanging out. That's always one of my favorite parts of these trips - team fellowship and fun! And most of you know how much I love playing games! We even ate ice cream several nights - what more could I want?! We enjoyed our afternoon in the capital doing the tourist thing - Christopher Columbus's fort and the oldest cathedral in the Western Hemisphere, etc. We even happened to see part of the TV show "The Amazing Race" at the cathedral - random!


Anyways, thanks again for all your support, encouragement, and prayers.