Marching On

Last month was full of celebrations! David turned 24 on Feb. 1st and we celebrated with friends at a pizza place called Pi. We had lots of fun and finally found acceptable "Chicago Style" pizza in St. Louis. The next week, Jennifer and three of her friends from Olivet stopped to visit on their way to Kansas City for Winter Break. We loved having them and had fun at The King and I restaurant. We then headed back to our place to surprise Jenn with a birthday cake and ice cream. For Valentine's day/our 6 month wedding anniversary we had a nice dinner at home and David bought me an Open Hearts ring from the Jane Seymour collection. :-)

On the 19th I got to spend some time with Blake Reddick. It was so great to see a friendly face and spend time with him! The very next weekend I headed home to spend some time with my mom in celebration of her birthday. I was also able to spend an afternoon with my mother-in-law. It was so nice to catch up with her and have lunch together. I also attended Olivet's production of Little Women that weekend and spent some time with Britney Heald. I love and miss her dearly and it was great to see her and spend some time with her as well as celebrate her pregnancy! We are so excited for Jon and Britney and can't wait for their little bundle of joy to arrive!

Meanwhile, David successfully completed his GI classes and is now studying Skin, Bone and Joint. He also amazingly finds time to study for his board exam, manage several online sporting teams :-) and help me around the house.

Marching into March brought Jessica Jones (a friend from Olivet and bridesmaid in our wedding). It was amazing to have her stay with us this past weekend. I finally got into the arch and we also spent some great moments at the zoo. The weather has been so nice and it was great to be outside touring the city with her.

Great friends of ours are getting married this weekend! Matt and Kim will be tying the knot and David is participating in their wedding as a groomsman. We are excited for the get-a-way and the celebration of our friends love and commitment. The week following is David's spring break and we are planning to head back to Bourbonnais to spend time with family.

I am still studying for the NCLEX-RN and applying for jobs. The process has been long and hard, but I still have hope for the future.

I believe that is all for now!

In His love,

Kaylee

Still Kicking

It has been months since the last update but we are still alive and kicking.

Kaylee is all moved in, has her board exam coming up, and is looking for jobs.

I am studying Renal/Urinary for another week, will be going on kidney transplant rounds next week, and am preparing for my big test on "complete physical exam" skills on a mock patient.

I have also begun attempting to study for my first board exam this summer.

Kaylee and I are joining a new small group tonight consisting of couples (I was previously participating in a small group for graduate students). We will be studying Ecclesiastes, I'm intrigued.

The hispanic clinic I worked with so much over the summer has finally opened its doors and I anticipate doing some volunteer translation work there this semester.

The Global Health Learning Community I help lead was able to raise over $750 for Haiti last weekend. We donated it to Partners in Health. If interested you can contribute HERE!

As we move through Ecclesiastes I may try and post my thoughts on my other blog. Feel free to follow along.

Grace and Peace,
David.

Fire

I rode the train up to Chicago yesterday to enjoy the Chicago Fire/Columbus Crew soccer game with Kaylee.

The time on the train allowed me to get some studying in - and we had a great time at the game.

Unfortunately due to a questionable call, the Crew were able to come back from a 2-0 deficit at the half to tie it. This means they split the points and the Fire remain 3 points behind with only 2 games left in the regular season. Luckily the top two teams in each conference make the playoffs, so we could still win the MLS cup.

Below are the highlights of the game. The questionable call can be seen at 4:05.



Next week holds a Ben Folds concert and a Neuro Exam.

Grace and Peace - David

Apart Again

Well, Kaylee went back to Bourbonnais this week and began classes.

My first exam in Neurology is coming up so the studying has picked up here as well.

I forgot how monotonous things get when I'm living on my own. Especially the food.

I'm hoping to visit Labor Day weekend since we will have Monday off.

Kaylee gives me the impression that this will be an enjoyable and manageable final semester. It is strange to be attending with my sister, though.

I finally got Dental insurance and will be making an appointment ASAP.

The Global Health and Family Medicine groups I am leading this year are off to a good start. This weekend the Global Health group is sponsoring a First Aid tent at the "Festival of Nations" in Tower Grove Park. I have applied to make SLU a pilot institution in AMSAs Global Health Curriculum. We had a well attended community picnic for area Family Medicine students and faculty. And we have more exiting events on the calendar.

Well that's all I have time for.

Expect the next update from me after my exam on Labor Day weekend.

Settling In

It has been a busy couple of weeks since we last posted.

The AAFP Conference in Kansas City was a nice get-a-way. We attended several seminars on everything from how to improve our local Family Medicine Interest Group to Wilderness Medicine, but made sure to enjoy KC as well. We visited the Plaza, Jack Stack's BBQ, and enjoyed the downtown area. We also tried to find Menorah Medical Center, the hospital where David was born. We found it, but apparently the facility moved in 1996 leaving a Medical Research Center in the vacated building. The new hospital is very impressive. We also drove to the Nazarene Theological Seminary, as I(Kaylee) had never been.

This past week was orientation for the first year medical students and David has been assisting with activities to make this a smooth transition for them.

Thanks to your overwhelming generosity, we were able to do some shopping this week and have filled our house and made it feel more like home. Today we purchased living room and dining room furniture. :-)

I think David would agree that I have been performing valiantly in the kitchen. I have tried several new recipes and all have been edible if not tasty.

David begins Neuroanatomy on Monday and has been taking the necessary steps to prepare for this coming school year. I will continue to furnish the home and start to hang and arrange all the frames and decorative accessories in the house this week. Hopefully by the time I go back to school the house will be in order.

Time is flying by!

Homecoming

We have returned from a fantastic honeymoon week!

We left Chicago on Sunday after the wedding and made our way to Ft. Lauderdale Florida where we embarked a cruise ship by the name of "Enchantment of the Seas". The ship left port on Monday and we made stops in Key West, Cozumel Mexico, and Belize City over the course of a 5 night cruise. We got the chance to go Parasailing, Snorkling in the Great Barrier Reef, and toured some ancient Mayan Ruins on the coast of the Yucatán peninsula.

Both of our families were in St. Louis when we arrived and we got the opportunity to show them our new home and open gifts together.

Thank you all for your unbelievable generosity! We will certainly have no problems making this new house feel like home.

On Wednesday, we leave for Kansas City where we will be attending a national conference for family medicine residents and students hosted by the American Association for Family Practice. David is a chair for the Family Practice interest group at SLU so they have asked him to attend, and the residency in Belleville was so impressed with him this summer, they offered him a grant to finance his conference fee including travel and lodging.

Thanks again for everything and come back often for updates! (Leave comments too!)

P.S. Pictures coming soon!

Our New Home on Columbia

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Our new address is:

4981 Columbia Ave B
Saint Louis, MO 63139