In The Meantime

We have 20 more days to wait.  Where in the world is God going to send us?  We don't know.  But, in the meantime we are living our lives.


What else is happening in our lives?  Well, we had a blizzard, then we had a few short but wonderful days of spring like weather in which the snow all melted.  Then we got 10-12 more inches of snow in one night.  Joy.  I am done with the cold and snow by this point in the year.  But, I did learn the joy of snow-blowing yesterday.  Our neighbor let us borrow hers.  I got to snow-blow while Joel got some playtime in with Kyper.  Ky was playing outside, but once the snow-blower turned on, he was ready to go inside.

Kyper learned that I will let him spin in the office chair.  He asks nicely to go up in the chair and then either laughs while he spins or has a super serious face.  I took a video.  After this video, he grabbed his two teddy bears, Elmo, his two blankets and a small pillow.  He put those on the chair and then spun them around.  The next thing I know he joined them.  It was goofy.

More Waiting

Well, Joel did not get a match this time around.  We have mixed emotions about it.  We are shocked, disappointment and now more anxious than ever.  However, we also feel at peace and alright with the results.  One of Joel's top choices is in the MD match, which happens in March.  So, not all is said and done.  Joel will rank the MD programs he interviewed at and Lord willing he will match to one of those. Let the countdown to March 17 begin.

I think our main disappointment is that we have to wait longer, which also makes us more anxious.  So, continue to pray for us during this waiting time.  Pray that God shows us where he intends for us to be and that throughout this whole process we glorify him with our decisions and actions.

Teasers

David and Cara have some teasers on their blog from the Phillips family photo shoot.  Click here to see them.  If you want to see our gallery email me and I can let you know how to access it.

Snow Activities

We have gotten quite a bit of snow this year and let me just say Ky loves it.  He doesn't stand at the window longing to go out, but whenever we go outside he really enjoys himself.

On Saturday we took him sledding.   I actually did not do any sledding.  I let the boys enjoy that activity, while I took pictures. :)  I think Kyper loved it.  We walked to a little hill about three blocks away.  Ky got a ride in the sled there and back.  It was really snowing that afternoon, because we only stayed out about 20 minutes and by the time we walked back the sled tracks and our footprints were covered with snow.  You couldn't even see where we had walked.

Snowflakes on lashes...these are a few of my favorite things.

At the top, getting ready to go down.

Whoohoo!

How daddy got Ky up the hill.

On Sunday afternoon, Joel took Ky out to our backyard to play with the snow there.  He loved playing in the snow.  He couldn't walk, due to the depth of the snow, but once we set him down he had a blast.

Stuck?

How can I not love this kid?!

Just to show you how deep the snow is.

I had to show of his hat hair. (Can you believe I had it cut after Christmas?  It already needs to be cut again.)

Waiting

Well, we are in the waiting phase.  Joel finished residency interviews mid-Jan.  He interviewed for both D.O and M.D. residencies.  This is important to know, because there are two matches.  The first one is the D.O. match.  He had until Jan. 28 to put his rankings in the computer.  The hospitals had the same deadline.  You'd think since it is a computer matching program it would have results in minutes.  Alas, it is not that easy.  We are waiting, waiting and waiting some more.  Hopefully, this year we will be celebrating Match Day not Valentines Day.  The D.O. Match day is on February 14.  Ladies and gentlemen, we are in the single digits for the countdown.  9 more days!  Joel didn't and really couldn't rank as many programs as is suggested.  Students often rank 10-15, but there are only 8 D.O. neurology residencies, so even if he interviewed at all of them, which he didn't.  He doesn't have that many to rank.  And, he may or may not have ranked all the D.O options he interviewed at, so it is a little nerve-wrecking--this whole waiting thing.  So, on Feb. 14, we may find out that we have to wait another couple of weeks for the M.D. match or he will find out what D.O. neurology residency he matched to.  If he does not match to a D.O. residency, he can only rank 4 programs, since that is all the MD programs he interviewed with.  He has until the 24th to put those rankings in and that Match Day is in mid-March.

I am confident he can match to a program.  I personally hope he matches to one of the D.O programs only because we will find out earlier where we are headed for the next four years.  If for some reason he doesn't match, I am sure you will find out from me what a scramble is.  But, I won't explain that unless absolutely necessary.

Along with this explanation, I would just like to ask for prayer requests. 
1.  Pray for us during this waiting period.  I really don't feel super anxious about it, probably because I have a good feeling about the result and feel confident in Joel.  But, there are times when the anxiety hits.
2.  Pray that Joel matches.  And, that he matches to one of his top choices.  (Don't worry we will be happy if he just matches, but I believe we can be forward with God and pray for specifics.  I know where ever we go whether it is one of his top three choices or one of his last, God planned that and he will provide.)
3. Pray that Joel doesn't need to scramble.
4.  Pray that we remember to glorify God throughout this whole process.

Thanks everyone for your support and prayers.  I am sure there will be a post in 9 days to let you know the results.

Stay tuned for a post about Ky's first time sledding.

Detroit International Auto Show 2011

We have lived in Detroit for four years--not consecutively mind you.  This is the first year we made it to the international auto show.  It is a huge deal around here.  Our friends Tim and Melanie came last year to go.  They spent the night ad then went.  We didn't go along last year, but this year we did.  Yes, Tim and Melanie came to visit and it ended up being the same time as last year.  They didn't come specifically to see the auto show, but we needed something fun to do inside on Saturday.  So, we piled into the car after Kyper's nap.  We took the People Mover to Cobo Center.  I have never seen the People Mover so full.  We were crammed into it like sardines.  There were so many people on the People Mover and they were almost all going to the auto show or the Red Wings game that was going on Saturday afternoon. 

I think Kyper got a kick out of the auto show.  He enjoyed it from his stroller most of the time.  But, Joel let him get out and run around the Land Rovers.  The guys working that area gave him a hat that they said he would grow into.  It is super cute when he puts it on.  Tim, Melanie, Joel and I all got free t-shirts from VW.

We had a lot of fun with Tim and Melanie besides going to the auto show.  We didn't do too much, but they came in on Friday and spent the night.  We had a relaxing morning and played the Wii.  We then went to the auto show.  After the auto show we were thinking of going out to eat, but it was so busy downtown we passed.  We headed back to our house.  We joined Tim's netflix family account, so we ended the evening ordering pizza and watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

Quick Trip to Holland

Since it was Texas' turn to host Katie and JP for Christmas, they decided to come out to Michigan for a weekend at the end of January.   Aren and Leah were able to make it too, since the snow-pocalypse waited for the week to come.

Joel, Ky, and I left Detroit around 7pm and were able to pick Katie and JP up from the airport.  Aren and Leah were already at Joel's parents.  We all stayed up too late talking.

Saturday, we had family pictures taken by Awakened Images.  David and Cara are good friends of ours.  Cara grew up in the same church as Joel and graduated with both of us from high school.  The pictures aren't up yet, but when they are I will let you know.  It was so fun.  Joel, Aren, and JP say that it has been over ten years since they had family photos done.  It was a good family activity.  After the pictures, we headed to JP's to warm up.  (We had pictures done outside downtown Holland.)  Saturday afternoon, the guys (well, not Ky) went to explore frozen Lake Macatawa.  They had way too much fun trying to put holes in the ice.  The girls stayed home while Kyper napped and had some good catch up time.  Joel's cousin Sam and his fiance and little girl stopped by too.  It was fun to see them.  Little Sophie grew a lot since we saw her in Oct. Saturday evening we played a rousing game of Wise and Otherwise. Overall, it was a very relaxing day.

Katie and I matched.  We didn't match this well in the pictures, but got a kick out of our similar clothing choices.

JP fishing with the rope they took along just in case.  Rog is doing something with his phone.

Rog was the moving target for snowballs thrown by Aren and JP

"Let's get this piece of ice here and see if we can make the hole bigger."

A cousins picture: Aren, Joel, Ky, Heidi, Sophie, Sam, JP, Me, Leah and Katie.

Sunday morning, Joel and I headed to my parents' house to have brunch with them and my brother's family.  It was good to see them.  Kyper loves my dad and while we are there as nothing to do with us.  We headed back to the Phillips house to have some Sunday dinner with them.  After dinner the guys explored the icebergs on Lake Michigan, while the girls had more catch up time and time to pack.  Once the guys came back my in-laws took JP and Katie to the airport.  Joel, Ky and I had one stop left--Subway for dinner and another chance to see our niece Mariah, who works there.  She is one awesome sandwich artist. :)

On the icebergs

The icebergs with Big Red in the background

There you have it.  Our quick trip to Holland.