Goodbye Tennessee, Hello New York

Well following my last post, I made a quick trip to Tennessee last weekend to see the hubs and drove his car back to Houston.  He went straight from one away rotation to the next in Philadelphia. It is tough, but he is doing a great job making a good impression on the doctors and residents, doing very well in his surgeries and learning a lot about the programs.  He is also making the most of his time in these different cities and spending time with people and getting to know the community.  I am so proud of him!! These away rotations give him the opportunity to get to know potential programs for residency, allow the doctors to know him, and increase his chances for being accepted.  This is an exhausting process. Who knew everything that it would take to become a doctor.  But, we are almost there!

The trip went surprisingly well given that I had only three hours of sleep the night before. Here are some snapshots of my adventures.

The roadtrip began at 6:30am as I crossed over the bridge from Tennessee to Arkansas.  I passed a beautiful church out in the middle of nowhere, saw the sad aftermath from a fire that left everything black, and a beautiful rainbow.

About three hours into the drive, I stopped for a quick nap and grabbed a coffee at the Little Corner Bakery in Little Rock.  This adorable place was one of my favorite cafe's I have ever been to.  The bakery had a Razorback showcase was filled with adorable treats for gameday.  If only it were filled with Longhorn goodies...

 12 hours, 2 naps, 3 stops, and 1 movie later, I arrived in Houston and put the end to a successful roadtrip.  Seeing my hubby for a little bit made this all worth it!

Thankfully, driving will not be a part of my next trip to see him.  Only planes, trains, subways and taxis.  On to New York and Philadelphia this next week. 

 

Finally reunited in Tennessee

I finally got to see my wonderful man for the first time in four weeks!  It was a very short trip, 16 hours to be exact, but it was much needed.  I flew up to meet him during his last weekend in Tennessee then drove his car back to Houston.  Here are a few pictures from our time together in Memphis.  I will post my experiences from the road trip back in another post.  I am so happy that I don't have to wait another month again and get to see him in Philadelphia next week!

The empty airport at 5:00am on a Saturday. But so excited to see the guy at the other end of the flight!

Catching the first half of the Texas game.  Gosh I love this guy!

He did well and greeted me at the airport with flowers! This is the only pic I have of them below, but they made the trip back and I get to enjoy them during this whole next week!

 He took me out for a great dinner at Cafe 1912. I always love our conversations over a long dinner, a glass of wine and of course, dessert. 

 

We are so happy to be together!!!

Cafe 1912 - wonderful food. If you are ever in Memphis this is a fantastic place to try!

And they start rollin' in

We had a nice surprise this week when we learned that there were several invitations for residency interviews waiting in our inbox!  I don't think we had expected them to come in this quickly only a week after we submitted the application, but we definitely will not complain.  With the competition high and particularly tough in the area that B is applying for, I have set my expectations very low and would be happy with even a few interviews. But God is good, He knows just how to build B's confidence and we are thrilled!!! Now we just have to figure out how to schedule them all and start buying flights. 

This is a quick update and I apologize about the lack of pictures, but it is a beautiful Saturday folks and I have the pool and a Texas football game calling my name!

Tennessee Rotation

B has been in Tennessee for almost 3 weeks now and it has been a better experience than we could have asked for.  

Thanks to our friend Julie, he found a place to stay with a really wonderful guy.   B's life in Tennessee sounds anything but boring so far, he is out playing soccer with friends, meeting with a Bible study group, and going to birthday parties and even a goat roast.  I have never heard of a goat roast before, but it definitely sounds like an interesting experience. He is also really enjoying working with the residents and attendings and they seem to like him as well.  

This experience has been such a blessing that we couldn’t have planned or achieved on our own.  The Lord’s hand has been so apparent in the whole process from leading us to doing a rotation in Memphis to providing housing, friends, activities and a positive team to work with. We have been given so many good things that we have not expected or deserved and could probably get along alright without them, but for now God has chosen to place them in our lives and we will praise Him for it fully.  It is moments like these that remind me to be thankful for answered prayers and not take opportunities for granted when they work out smoothly.  Of course the past three weeks haven’t been all smiles and daisies. It has been tough with us being a part, Brad is fighting a bad cold, and there have been some sad days, but looking at the big picture it is amazing to realize what God has provided.

We are taking in these moments now and enjoying them fully because the next rotation may not be so easy.  But even then, we will continue to be joyful and look for God’s hand still at work.

On a happy note, I am really looking forward to going to Tennessee to see B in person next week!!! This will be our first time to be together in a month and we couldn’t be happier. One more week of Tennessee then he's on to Philadelphia.

A birthday without the hubby

Last weekend was my birthday and unfortunately B was still out of town.  This was probably the toughest weekend for us to be apart since he has been gone, but we got through it.  Thanks to all of my wonderful friends and family that helped me to celebrate - I still had a great birthday!

This amazing group surprised me out of nowhere with a dessert and wine celebration.  We had an incredible time, I absolutely love every one of them!

I didn't get a picture of us, but my good friend Brooke took me out to a great dinner at Benjy's and gave me this beautiful necklace below.  She knows just my style, it was the perfect gift.

 

I had a successful shopping trip and brought these pretty things home!

 My parents and sister-in-law came over for dinner and of course a birthday cake. 

And skyped with the hubs a few times - seeing him even on a computer screen always makes me happy!

And last but not least, beautiful flowers from the hubs. 

 I had a wonderful time with everyone for my birthday and am so grateful for them but I wish he could have been there for every moment.  I hope that this experience has taught B and I to not take birthdays and holidays together for granted.

Hook 'em Horns!

  The greatest day of my year is finally here.  The start of college football. 

I love everything about college football and the Texas Longhorns.  In my biased opinion, I think Texas is one of the greatest states for college football. I was surrounded by a sea of school colors at the gym for my Saturday morning workout as ESPN College Gameday played on nearly every TV screen.  During the rest of my day, I loved making eye contact with total strangers who were also dressed in burnt orange as we exchanged a good "hook 'em". 

Although yesterday should have been great, it was a terrible day for longhorn fans.  Well, atleast we did win 34-9 against Rice, but most Longhorns who were not able to make it to the game were left in the dark.  I know this Longhorn Network is supposed to be great, but really people, since nobody has agreed to carry it we can't even watch our own game.  Great planning.  So here I am left on the first day of college football cheering for other teams just because they are actually on TV and reading the play-by-plays of our game online.

I know there are a lot of people angry about this one so I won't go on a big soapbox. At least we can all watch our next game on the trusty ESPN 2.

Happy Labor Day weekend!

And so it begins - residency applications

Well today was a very big day for our household, we submitted the most important application of our lives (at least until this point).  

Just a few years ago, this handsome man received a white coat during his first year of medical school.

All of his efforts of spending thousands of hours studying, working on research projects, nights in the hospital, shadowing doctors and days in surgery have led us up to this point.  Today, we sent applications to residency programs all over the country. 

For those who may not realize, this is a big deal folks.

We have been working for years to build an outstanding resume that includes board scores, grades, research projects, activities, personal statements and letters of recommendation.  Yes, this application may not be that special, but the competition is unreal.  For the specialty that we are  applying for, each program may select anywhere from 1 - 5 people out of 500 applicants.  So this competition is tougher than tough. 

The application is only the beginning and now we get to look forward to the interview season, but whew what a burden off of our shoulders to have this thing done!

Now that I don't have to rush home to work on writing personal statements, research case reports, or searching through programs, I finally get to start a blog, and enjoy things like this!

It has not been the easiest road up until now, but the Lord has been completely faithful in providing every step and detail.  My hubby has been so wonderful to include me in this process and treat me like a teammate, so that we get to work towards this goal together.  It has been an incredible learning process for us. God's timing is always perfect and we strive to place our entire trust in Him during these next months as we wait to hear back for interviews. We thank you for your prayers on this!

How we got here

We first met in Aspen

 

began dating in New York City 

 

he moved to Galveston for medical school 

 

while I finished undergrad in Austin

then we were married 
 

and today we applied for residency 
and could go anywhere in the country for the next five years

and so it all begins.