WEEK 2 DONE!

In reality this past week was week 1 since the week before that was orientation.
SO, WEEK ONE: Aug 8-12
It was a success in our book. . .  Only one down and MANY more to go!

I have met some great women with awesome kids to play with and Dave has met some great guys to study with.  At this point things are going smoothly and we are prepared for rough times as school gets harder and moves at a faster pace. But for now we are enjoying the easy and slow transition into school. We have established a few things that will help keep the spirits high in our home.

1) We eat dinner together each night, this is something we intend on keeping no matter what. Even if Daves comes home for 30 mins to eat and then goes back to school to study more. This is a perk we get to enjoy because we live only a few blocks from school.

2) Family time/night! Each day Dave wrestles with the boys or kicks a soccer ball around outside with them. Again, this may change to 30 mins and could vary from day to day. But the boys LOVE anytime they get to play with Daddy. Family nights are Friday nights and we choose from a variety of things to do. This past Friday we played Sequence. Dave won each time!

3) Date night: Is Saturday. This past Saturday we stayed in and watch a movie after the boys were in bed. I predict that I will beat Dave at some card games on some of these Saturdays :) 

4) SUNDAYS: At this point Dave plans NOT to study on Sundays. But we know this could change and so for now, we will enjoy them. Last Sunday we hiked out to Boulder Caves and today we drove out to Imperial Gardens to buy fresh picked produce. 

Everything is still new and we want to remain humble during this whole process. We know it will get hard but we believe that God has called us here for a reason and in that we have faith that He is going to multiply our efforts if we continue to serve Him in everything. It was not meant to be easy. It is meant to be a challenge, to grow us closer to Him each day. We are here on this earth to bring glory to God and we have chosen to bring Him glory each and everyday serving Him with all our hearts in this season of our lives. We will choose to sing praises to God even on the roughest days knowing full well he will never leave us. We can either sit and complain everyday that this is too hard or we can shout songs of praise to HIM and let him lead us.

Psalm 118:24 This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. 

 Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

 Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Boulder Cave

 We got up and got out of Yakima for a day and it was wonderful too. We took the advice of a second year student at Dave's school and went out to Boulder cave!
 The boys were thrilled to be out hiking but even more thrilled when they learned that they could hike through the cave. I was less then thrilled when I learned that bats live in this cave. I have the heebie jeebies just thinking about it! However, I did walk through the cave with my brave boys who guided the way.
We look forward to our next trip back to explore the cave and the surroundings more!

another small cave below

We have happy little hikers that take after their Daddy! We look forward to exploring a lot more hiking trails in and around the Yakima area!!!

Haircuts

These are the "before" and "after" shots of their hair. They had not had their hair cut since April. These hair cuts took place on July 24th.

Welcome BBQ at PNWU

PNWU is Pacific North West University just if you were wondering.

DAY 4 of Med School: Tonight the SAA had a welcome BBQ for all of the first year students and the students families. Dave and I both had a great time meeting new people and the boys had a blast playing with ALL the other children. There are many families that attend this school and that makes me super exited!! Tomorrow I am going on a play date with a mom and her son to the pool.  I guess I had it in my head that I would be the only mom and I would be alone during this med school experience, but I am NOT!!! They are a lot of stay at home moms and we are all excited to have each other.

Dave first time opening his books. He has roughly 20 books. . . just a little light reading at night.

1st Day of School

Dave's massive amount of books for the 1st year

Dave's first day of medical school was Monday August 1st. We are excited about this new and upcoming adventure that lies ahead but also being real with ourselves that this is not going to be a cake walk.

DAY 2 August 1st: Today I attended my first SAA meeting. Not to be confused with AA or anything. :) SAA stands for Student Advocate Association. The group is mostly spouses and significant others who come together and support ALL of the med students. SAA puts together test-day snack packs, brunches/potlucks, BBQ dinners, game nights and so much more. Their goal is to support and encourage the med students as they embark on this new journey in life. That all being said, SAA supports the SAA! There are many stay at home moms who are looking for other moms in their same situation. It is refreshing to know that I can get together and share my heart with another wife of a med student and she knows EXACTLY what I am going through and that is precisely what I experienced today. . .after the meeting I was slightly overwhelmed and I had a nice chat with a couple of wives. I felt loved and cared for as they sat and reassured me everything would be fine and gave me some helpful hints of things they have done to make life work for them.

Dave is only in orientation this week and he has already been assigned some homework. He was also given all of his books for the next year, his new school computer, his fancy doctor scrubs, an otoscope, stethoscope and a blood pressure cuff. He came home with boxes of stuff, he will need his own bookshelf for just his school stuff.

Life will be changing from this point on. We are prepared for some major changes, but God has this in HIS control and he has asked us to lean into Him and trust Him with all our being. He has opened every door to get us here and has even closed doors to push us more in this direction. Dave and I both were given a support network well before school started and that is only one way God has showed us we are in HIS control and on the right path.
During Dave's quiet time on the first day of school God showed him this verse and I think it may have to go up on our wall. 

Psalm 46 

God is our refuge and strength,
   an ever-present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
   and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
   and the mountains quake with their surging.^[c]

 ⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
   the holy place where the Most High dwells.
⁵ God is within her, she will not fall;
   God will help her at break of day.
⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
   he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

 ⁷ The LORD Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.

 ⁸ Come and see what the LORD has done,
   the desolation he has brought on the earth.
⁹ He makes wars cease
   to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
   he burns the shields^[d] with fire.
¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
   I will be exalted among the nations,
   I will be exalted in the earth.”

 ¹¹ The LORD Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Grandpa's and Grandma's Farm

It is official. . .we can not sit still. No sooner had we arrived to Yakima, unpacked and settled, we were back on the road again. This time we headed to the West coast to see MY family!!
We stopped in Raymond, WA to spend a couple days with my cousins Tony and Melissa and their two adorable kids Ethan and Averie. BONUS: My Aunt Virgina is staying with Tony and Melissa and I was able to see her too! The kids played and played while Dave and I caught up with our fabulous hosts.

My Grandpa and Grandma also live out that way in South Bend, Washington on a farm. We took our boys and Ethan out for a very long day on Grandpa's and Grandma's farm.

The boys helped. . .

collect eggs from the chickens

Feed the chickens

hold down the pig food while driving

Feed the mama and baby horses

Get the Hay to feed more miniature horses

feed the piggys

feed another baby and mama

and feed MORE miniature horses

they took turns pushing the wheel barrow full of food

He is a farmer :)

 The boys had a blast! So in all they fed, horses, mules, goat, pigs, cats, dog, cows, chicken and a sheep. It was good time had by all.

After a hard days work we headed to the creek to skip rocks.

Dave thought I was sporting a good look

Ethan and Benn made a tree fort

Baby loved his Grandpa

Ethan and Benn became best buds and grandpa kept them in line :)

Caleb had a front row seat to watch Grandma prepare an awesome dinner!

all that hard work and JJ crashed HARD

The pet bat YUCK!

 While Grandma was making dinner we found a visitor. . .a bat. Grandma bravely caught that thing in a jar and after the kids were done looking at it (THROUGH THE JAR!!!!) she disposed of that nasty thing.

We had a wonderful time and really look forward to our next visit to the farm. There is much to do and sweet people to love and Grandma's cookin is DELICIOUS! Oh, but Grandpa made the pot roast and it was perfect.

Wolf's Red and White

Aunt Virgina and Melissa just opened up a new place in town. Wolf's Red and White If you are looking for some fantastic fried chicken this is the place to be. WOW!! The flavor runs deep into the meat and the skin has that perfect crunch. It is DELICIOUS! They have many other things and we sampled a lot! Peanut Butter Milk Shake, Sausage egg and cheese biscuits, AMAZING pull pork rolls and AWESOME fries/jo jos. All of this food is fresh and hand made DAILY and it moves so fast that nothing sits under the hot lamp for more then 10 mins. If you are looking to order you best call ahead or plan to wait because this food is hot and fresh and it won't be around for long.

JoJos and they were AWESOME

Hard at work making a latte for a customer

 They also have an espresso machine and Melissa knows how to use it. She can make one mean latte! Be careful though you may get more then 2 shots in your cup.

Blueberry muffins, using the freshest ingredients, blueberries from right around the corner

He was mad because I would not let him sample the amazing food

the famous fried chicken! Get it before its gone!

 The Red and White also carries ice cream. Olympic Mountain Ice cream to be exact! Mountain Ice cream only uses ingredients local to the Washington Area making sure they are fresh giving the ice cream a rich and full, creamy taste! Go ahead stop in and see if you can resist a cup full of this ice cream!

 I love these women and what they are doing. They are working hard and love what they do and it shows. You can't go wrong with some good home cooking that is full of love!!