There are times in life to weep and in much needed contrast, times to laugh. (Ecclesiastes 3:4) I’ve had my fair share of both.  The weeping ones are my least favorite, but they help to make the laughing ones ever so much more appreciated don’t you think?  Quite unexpectedly, a time to laugh arrived this very Monday morning.  The relief and joy it brought to my heart were much needed.

It started at 6:45 am.  Alarm goes off.  Husband jumps out of bed, excited for his first day of Med School.  He says, “Oh no! I forgot to find my belt last night!”  I should include here that we had just unloaded the entire contents of our 24′ moving truck Thursday night and had not made unpacking our bedroom a top priority.  In fact we never found his suit and he had to get one at Goodwill for the first day portraits!

The gritty sound of ripping tape off cardboard boxes abruptly broke the morning silence.  If there is one sound little Ruby Jane cannot stand, it is that sound.  She comes unglued.  She is wounded by that sound.  Undone.  True story, the day our moving van arrived in KC, I left Ruby Jane sleeping soundly at Grandmas house and went over two hours early before the moving help arrived to tape up all the boxes so she wouldn’t have to hear it!  It’s kind of hilarious in a “Wes Anderson movie” sort of way.

We never found the belt, but Ruby did wake up quite traumatized.  So off to school he went, stomach aflutter and ill fitting pants and all the hope of a new adventure freshly begun.

About 30 minutes later he called.  “I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news.” His voice was merry but my stomach dropped, “School doesn’t start until tomorrow.  I’m a whole 24 hours early.”  A time to laugh.  Oh how we laughed!  Thank you, God! We so needed a good laugh.  The weight of it all was lifted, and we finally stopped for a minute to relax and enjoy this new season.

It will be hard and it will be long, but as Dr. Martin put it at Blake’s White Coat Ceremony Saturday, “take time to laugh…the days will be long but the years will go by quickly!”

Many friends and family have asked a lot of questions about what lies ahead for us.  Here is what we know.  Blake has two years of classes in Lynchburg, VA at Liberty University COM .  Then he has two years of clerkship where his learning/training will take place in a hospital.  We don’t know which hospital and we may have to move again for this part.  He will do several clinical rotations to get a better understanding of what area of medicine is the best fit for him.  After those two years, he graduates as a Doctor Of Osteopath and applies to work in a hospital as a paid resident under a D.O. or M.D. in the area of medicine he would like to practice.  Right now he thinks he would like to work in the E.R.  We know that could change and depends on what type of residency he gets into.  A residency can take anywhere from 2-7 years.  Yup, you read that right.

What will I do?  I will be at home parenting and making sure our pets heads aren’t falling off…(Dumb and Dumber reference)   I will continue to freelance design and I will try homeschooling the kids this year.  I can’t wait to get settled into our new place, make it all homey and start sewing and blogging again.  We’re excited to be Virginians.  We will be exploring the East Coast!  We have already begun by taking the girls to Sandbridge Beach for their very first swim in the ocean!  Here are some pictures of our first two weeks here.  They include Liberty University COM white coating ceremony, Ruby getting pink eye our first day here of course, first time at the beach, and our new townhouse move in day!

We miss our KC family and friends but we already love it here! Come see us!

-Andrea

I took the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains picture from the patio at Blake’s school building.  I pray it reminds him everyday that our help is from the Lord who has brought us here.

1I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
2My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.

3He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

5The LORD is your keeper;
the LORD is your shade on your right hand.
6The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.

7The LORD will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8The LORD will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.

Psalm 121