Happy New Year! (a day late)

Well since I was down for the count yesterday with some kind of stomach virus, this is coming to you on day 2 of 2009. I am so looking forward to what God is going to do this year. 2008 is going to be hard to top though! Just a few of the highlights:

• Running my first marathon
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• Getting engaged
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• Trip to Niagara Falls with Jamie for my spring break
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• Buying our first house
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• Finishing my 1st year of medical school even though grades were touch and go at the end
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• Trip to Uganda
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• Wedding!!!
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• Honeymoon in Jamaica which was amazing....wish we could go back especially in light of this winter weather
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• Surprising Jamie with the "man cave" upon return from the honeymoon (thanks to all our friends for all your hard work!!)
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• Getting our cute puppy, Schroder
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Spending the holidays with both of our families and the New Year with some good friends was a great way to send off 2008. I am excited to see what God will do in 2009. He has already proved Himself an awesome provider and is continuing to teach us how to trust in Him fully. Towards the end of this year, I have been struggling spiritually but as I have reflected on the past year God has brought to mind so many blessings and miracles, large and small, that have really helped me realign my focus to Him. Praying that you all would realize the blessings of 2008 and look forward to God's work in 2009!

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Christmastime is here again somehow. Once again, the year has flown by but 2008 has been one of the most eventful years of my existence for sure (more blogging about that later). One of the big events was buying a house and I love being able to decorate it (instead of a tiny apartment) for the holidays. We even have a real tree! Just a few pics of the beautiful tree below. More blogging when I officially finish school, I promise.

The tree with Jamie's tree topper of choice -- a tobogan

The tree all lit up

The nativity scene under the tree

join the conspiracy

In light of a Christmas season that has already seen people trampled to death over the perfect gift or the best deal, I hope you will watch and consider this video and it's message. The concept of the advent conspiracy is simple:

[Worship fully]
[Spend less]
[Give more]
[Love all]

However, these simple ideas may be harder to put into practice. I know that when I am focused on getting the right thing for the right person and how that will affect me financially I have a much harder time worshiping fully and focusing on Jesus in the midst of the madness. This year, I pray that we will spend more time than money, give more love than gifts, and focus on Christ more than a holiday. Will you join the conspiracy??

For more information visit: http://www.adventconspiracy.org

thanksgiving

Above is a picture from my Thanksgiving dinner. This year, my celebration was a little different than in the past. Dinner with the fam was on Wednesday and we headed back to Morgantown yesterday because Jamie had to work and because our community group was having a Thanksgiving dinner for some of our homeless friends who live on the Rail Trail. It was a great celebration and one of the only Thanksgiving dinners where you could hear the quote, "There's a man up there who is becoming a woman. He has boobies." After dinner, we stuck around and played some cards, listened to some after dinner tunes courtesy of Larry (see pic below), talked, and spent a lot of time laughing. All in all, it was one of my more memorable Thanksgivings and the beauty of it was it didn't feel like charity, it didn't feel like a handout....it felt like family. The people you see in this picture are my friends and family, the folks I spend every Sunday with and who accept me exactly the way I am. And for that I am thankful...

Dinner buffet style :)

Larry serenading us after dinner

An intense game of cards...

these are my confessions

I have a confession: I have a jealousy problem... I have an attention-seeking problem... I have a pride problem. I think, well actually I know, this is something everyone struggles with. The thing about my pride is that it's so easy to hide. In the midst of my seeming humbleness I am often harboring thoughts like "Why does that person get all of the recognition?" "Why are they successful when I'm not?" "Why am I not talented like that person?" "Why?...."

The thing about pride and insecurities is that they seem to feed off each other. That seems counter-intuitive, but ultimately insecurities ARE pride because they cause us to focus on ourselves instead of God or others. And when I am consumed by my insecurities and pride, I get tunnel vision. I simply can't keep my focus on God when those things are in my sight line.

Being in med school has further complicated this struggle. It's difficult to be in an environment where you are constantly told that what you do isn't good enough. So when it comes to these feelings welling up my problem is always how to "shut it down" (Jess's favorite phrase). And the more I think about it, the more I think that thankfulness is a big part of the answer.

I have SO much to be thankful for and yet I constantly fall into the trap of wanting what others have. When I remind myself of the amazing blessings in my life, I see how silly my complaining is. When I think of extreme thankfulness like that of Job who said (after losing everything I might add) "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord" or Joseph who said (to his brothers who sold him into slavery) "You meant it for evil but God meant it for good," I realize that I have a lot to learn in the thankfulness arena. So this season, I hope you will join me in realigning my focus, in being thankful not only for what I have, but for what God has given others because I know that His ways are higher than mine and what He has given me, and them, is exactly what we need.

bullet point update

Well, Katy, is this random enough for you? Instead of doing 6 random things for the third time, thought I would give a quick bullet update as opposed to the intense posts as of late :)

• One of the shows I somehow find myself watching lately (usually on Saturday nights when I am studying and waiting for Jamie to get home from work) is 17 Kids and Counting. The name pretty much says it all, but as crazy as it seems to me to have 17 children and 1 on the way it is also very interesting to see this HUGE family living absolutely debt free...makes me reconsider my own financial situation.
• I love music but every now and then (like now) I go through these phases where I don't want to listen to any music because nothing seems to fit quite right...weird, but true.
• I tend to have a love/hate relationship with running and despite that fact that I am training for a half-marathon that I will be running on Jamie's 29th birthday (Jan. 18) I am currently in the hate phase...maybe it has something to do with my weird music phase and the fact that I can't seem to get distracted no matter what music I listen to. Or maybe it's just that it's so cold.
• "A Lot Like Love" is on TV right now and I had forgotten how much I like this movie and its soundtrack. The Aqualung song "Brighter Than Sunshine" is one of my faves and consequently is the ringtone that plays when Jamie calls me.
  
• Our puppy seems to love dirty laundry. Below is a pic of him in his current favorite napping spot, our laundry pile....now if only we could teach him to actually do laundry...
• 'Tis the season of pumpkin ice cream! Edy's brand is amazing and only in stores for a limited time so I highly recommend trying it.
  
• I am getting excited to decorate a "real" house for Christmas as opposed to an apartment. Hopefully we will be getting a real tree...YAY!

TGIF?

Fridays tend to be lonely for me as a Trooper’s wife. On the day that most people are having date nights, going out to dinner, going to the movies, etc. I am usually home alone studying. Adjusting to a schedule that coincides with Jamie’s has been a challenge, especially with the recent addition of Schroder to our lives. I am still working on whether to be productive during the day when Jamie isn’t working or to attempt to make myself nocturnal like my husband. I admit, I’m not sure what the balance should look like yet. It is a weird paradox because I often feel like I am still single as far as hang out time with friends, Friday and Saturday nights at home by myself, etc and yet I still don’t seem to be able to carve out much alone time for myself. I think it is because when Jamie is at work I have procrastinated studying and other things all day long so I feel like it is crunch time to get things done in the evenings.

I often daydream about what it would be like if Jamie and I both had “normal” schedules. I imagine how wonderful it would be for both of us to come home in the evenings and just spend time together instead of studying, working, going to a million meetings, or crashing from sheer exhaustion. But this is where God has us right now so instead of dreaming about what things could be like, we have to roll up our sleeves and work to make things mesh with our current schedules….easier said than done, but something that is worth working for. That’s the thing about marriage – it’s not a happy ending, but instead the beginning of a lot of hard work toward happiness and most of all, toward glorifying God together.

On that note….back to my Friday night of studying ;)