Mini 1...Check!

Christopher's first exam was on Monday and we got his results back yesterday. He did so great. We are so proud of his accomplishments. He studied so hard and we are excited to see his great results. First tests are normally pretty tough because you don't know how the professors will ask the questions, but Christopher did really great. For a great job well done I got Christopher a little surprise.

Yes Blue Bell Homemade ice cream. What a perfect way to say, have yourself a blue bell country day! Haha! We have never found any ice cream here except for local ice cream and it doesn't taste like real ice cream. So when I saw this at the store yesterday I just knew that Christopher needed it. Since I came back to Oklahoma recently I had the luxury of being able to eat ice cream, but Christopher hasn't had any since we left in April. So what a perfect time to have ice cream than after his first big test.

From "Home" to "Home"

I think that I have truly been able to understand the famous saying "Home is where the Heart is". I have mixed feelings about it though. I made my trip to Oklahoma City for Emily and Michael Hemphill's Wedding, which was absolutely beautiful and they made the perfect Bride and Groom. It was especially nice to be able to see all of my friends and family. I realized that while being "Home" I didn't feel completely at home. And now that I am back "Home" I still don't feel completely at home. Now it may sound like an incredibly interesting statement but let me explain. I feel like the statement "Home is where the Heart is" is a very true statement because when I was in Oklahoma City I felt at home being with my family but not at home because I was not with the man I love. Now that I am back with the man I love I don't feel completely at home because I am not with the family I love. So I guess I just have to live with the mixed feelings of the statement. I will be at home wherever I am because I have someone I love close to me.

I had such a refreshing time being able to come home to civilization. It is absolutely amazing to me how different life here is on the island. I knew that it was different but I guess I had adapted so much to the island life that I just forgot. After stepping into the airport in San Juan I realized how fast past the United States is. Everyone is in a hurry all of the time. I have learned on the island to accept the slow simple life and I think I really enjoy it. Everyone here does what they want, when they want and in the U.S. everyone feels like they have so much to do and not enough time to do anything. Many times I feel like they forget what is most important in life. Just being with the ones you love and enjoying their company.

Now don't get me wrong I would rather be living in the United States but I have come to realize that the short time we are here is not as bad as it may have seemed. Although I really will miss my long HOT showers, hot water to wash the dishes in, a comfy bed to sleep on (that has lots of pillows), and most of all the luxury of being so close to drive to see all of my family and friends. I am just glad I am back with Christopher, helping him become the Doctor that he wants to be.

Please keep Christopher in your prayers this week as he takes his first big test on Monday. He has been studying so hard. He wakes up at about 6:30 and studies from about 7:30 in the morning until 10:00 at night. I just pray that his hard work will pay off for him.

Potentially Exciting News!!!

Christopher and I have heard some potentially really exciting news. We heard through the grapevine (not official yet) that Ross has put in a new clinical site at St Anthony's in Oklahoma City. This is huge. This would put us back in Oklahoma City as soon as we get off this island (year and a half). It would become even more significant because you have a better chance of attaining a residency at the hospital that you do your clinicals in, which would keep us in Oklahoma for the long haul. So keep this in your prayers that they do actually open up this clinical site.

We had an EARTHQUAKE! Ok so last week Chris woke up and went to school and at about 7:45, while I was watching TV, our bed, which I was laying on, started shaking. I was like OMG! It only lasted like a minute and it didn't like knock anything off the shelves but the bed was totally shaking. So I told Chris when he got home and he thought I was crazy because they didn't feel it at the school. But I just knew that was what it was, so last night at bible study I was talking to some of the girls and sure enough they felt it too. It was kind of like going into that little booth at the omniplex except nothing was falling over like it does on the screen. It was pretty cool, well not cool but interesting.

I have began to realize that road kill here in Dominica does not exist of squirrels and rodents. Here in Dominica road kill consists of snakes and lizards. I was walking the other day and all of a sudden a lizard just ran out in front of me. I was like well excuse me. So any way I decided I would take a picture of it. Now this could be the last picture that this particular lizard ever took because the next day in the same location I noticed the same sized lizard dead in the middle of the road.

So I have been continuing to bake bread, which really occupies my time significantly. I have been baking for Christopher and I and occasionally some of our friends will come over and want some of it, so I have been baking for them as well. I never thought that this would turn into a business or anything but I think I may have started something. I often get kind of bored here in Dominica so I have been trying all kinds of things and I think the new best baking I have done was some cinnamon raisin bread. Christopher seems to think it tastes like some you buy back at home. I am amazed ever day by what I am able to do here because these are things I would have never done back at home. I would have never taken four hours out of my day to bake bread. And why would you when you could just go buy it, but it really has made me appreciate the baking and cooking our parents do because sometimes it can be a lot of work.

Christopher is still studying everyday and I think that he is really doing great. His first mini (which is the first exam) will be on June 16. So being praying for him as he begins to prepare for that test.

I am going to be coming back home on Monday June 2. I have really been having bittersweet feelings about coming home. I am soo excited to be back at home and see everyone, but I feel just terrible leaving Christopher here by himself. Now I know that I don't see him a lot during the day and that he is really going to be busy with this exam coming up but I just wish I could bring him with me. I have been trying to bake him enough bread to last him the two weeks, and go to the market for him so that he doesn't have to do any of that while I am gone. I don't want him to have to worry about dealing with the grocery stores here because that is the last thing he needs on his mind before a big test. So I hope I prepare enough for him to be alright while I am away.

We hope everyone is having a great day. We miss you all very much! We hope everyone is making plans to come visit us!

Just an Update

Christopher has been able to finish his first two weeks of class with a breeze. He is studying a lot but it seems for the most part that he is doing very well and grasping all of the concepts very easily for now anyway. He studies for about 3-4 hours a night but is doing really great. Lately he has been very excited to start intramurals. They played their first football game on Thursday. It was the first semester students against the third semester students. Christopher's team lost but they played really well and scored more than another other first semester team from what we have heard. He also started volleyball intramurals yesterday and although they won their game, Christopher said it wasn't very fun because they other team was not very good at all. I am not sure he will continue to play volleyball for the whole semester. Now although it may sound like he is spending a lot of time playing intramurals, he really isn't. They spend like maybe 3 hours a week on intramurals and the rest I feel like is completely devoted to studying. But the football intramurals are a huge deal here and there are normally a ton of people who come out and watch the games. Last semester we heard that at the final game there were like 200-300 people out their watching. So it is pretty crazy. 

In the meantime, I have been trying occupy my time by baking. I made four loaves of bread the other day because I was bored and all of our friends bought it from me. I was so excited. I just made it because I was bored and now people are beginning to ask me to continue to make it for them weekly or every other week. So that is exciting. It keeps me busy anyway. So I know that I have mentioned in the past about the grocery stores and how they don't really compare to the grocery stories back at home but here is a picture of James Store. It is the biggest grocery store here. Even though it is the biggest it isn't always the best because you have to make sure and check expiration dates here. James often sells stuff that are 2-3 months out of date. 

 

The other two pictures are pictures of local places to eat. Brothers is a chinese food place that is really very good and Perky's Pizza is some of the best pizza I have ever had. These two places are the closet to United States food. I mean in taste anyway. It is so funny here but because it costs so much for electricity here all of the local food places do not have air conditioner. So at Perky's you eat outside and in brothers they have big fans blowing instead of A/C.

I am excited to say that we have been here for a month tomorrow. Which means we only have 15 more here on the island and 3 until we come home for a break. Time has gone by really fast here so far and we are learning to enjoy the simple life. 

The Lord really has been working in our lives while we are here and it is amazing how blinded we were back at home by everyday luxuries. We truly have been able to enjoy God's beautiful creations. It is such a relief here to walk into a local store and hear Michael W. Smith playing in the background, or to walk into the local restaurant and the cook in the back is singing so loud you can hear him singing "How Great Thou Art". These simple things here keep us going because it is a constant reminder that our Lord is with us everyday watching over us and that he brought us here to do his work. We have learned more and more everyday the true understanding of living for Jesus and not for ourselves. 

Happy Birthday Christopher!

Today is Christopher's Birthday and we are trying to compensate for the different birthday atmosphere here in Dominica. Last night we went out to dinner for Christopher's Birthday at a place called Blue Bay. It was amazing. We sat on the beach while we were served the best Dominican food we have had so far. Christopher had the lobster and I ate the grilled Mahi Mahi. We both thought it was really very good. We went with Andrea and Kyle, Ashley and Ryan, Raksha, Siva, Vineet, Lou, and Carson. We had a great time celebrating Christopher's Birthday. 

After dinner the boys decided they wanted to go out on the dock near by and smoke a cigar and while we were enjoying the beautiful night and ocean view a man came up and offered us a ride back the Picard (which is where we live, we were in Portsmouth for dinner. It is about 10 minutes from where we live (by car)).  So we got to go in a boat back home, which was really fun. I just wish it would have been day time so we could have been able to see the beautiful land from the ocean. 

 

Today we woke up and Christopher went to play his first football intramural scrimmage. He has been looking forward to the intramurals since we got here so he had a great time. While we were out there something hilarious happened. Well it was kind of scary but definitely something you don't see everyday. A bull out of nowhere came and charged the boys playing football. Well when I say boys he charged a guy in a red shirt. The guy wasn't hurt, he just ran and hid behind a tree but it was so weird how the bull just came out of nowhere because we were in the middle of campus and we don't normally see the cows and other animals on campus but I guess anything is possible here.

 

For lunch we went to subway and then went back home for some Birthday cake. There is nothing like blowing out "candles" for your birthday. (I don't know if you can tell in the picture or not but they don't have birthday candles here in Dominica so Christopher just had to blow out a match. But it was still fun and I know that even though it was korny he liked it. 

So now let me get back to some past events that have occurred here in the past few days since we haven't had internet I have not been able to update the blog. Christopher was inducted into the medical profession on Friday by the White Coat Ceremony. This is a day that Christopher and I have been looking forward to for a long time. I am so proud of all that he has accomplished and I know that what God is doing in our lives is so amazing that he has so many great things for us in the future. 

Let me kind of explain what the White Coat Ceremony is all about. This ceremony is when the new incoming medical students get to wear their White Coats for the first time. It is a huge ceremony that they have the president of Dominica come and along with him they had a few speakers followed by the actual White Coat part of the ceremony. Each student goes down in front and a current M.D. will put their coat on them. Following that they are then pinned with a Ross University Pin. The whole ceremony was very uplifting because they really praised all of the students for their hard work at getting to this point and it made the students feel like they were one step closer to becoming a doctor. I am so proud of Christopher and I know that he is going to do so great.

 

We wish that we could be in Oklahoma this weekend so we could spend the weekend with our families. It has been a big weekend with Christopher's Birthday and Betsy's graduation. Congratulation Betsy. We wish we could be there to see you walk across the stage but know that we love you and are thinking about you today. We miss everyone back at home! I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend.

June Cleaver and the First day of School

Yesterday was the first day of school for Christopher and I think that he really enjoyed it. I think that they started off pretty light on the information just so that they could get acquainted with the new material but even still Christopher spent the first afternoon studying in the library. This semester Christopher will go to class from 8-noon and then depending on the week he will have anatomy lab like 3 afternoons out of the week. So he will have some afternoons off.

While Christopher went off to school I got up and began my day of what I would like to compare to June Cleaver. I woke up and swept the floors and began my day of baking. I have never actually taken on this baking task besides making a few loaves of banana nut bread, so this was a new adventure for me. I decided that since the last time we went and bought bread from the market it went bad in two days, that I would make us some home made bread. So I took out my recipe for Talemy bread from Sittie and began my adventure of the day. Once the bread was done rising I decided that I didn't want to just make bread I wanted to make some cinnamon rolls, and while I was at it I decided that I would try to make some egg stuffed bread (only because it was the only thing I had left in the fridge were a few eggs). I was very excited when the end result turned out awesome. Christopher came home and he absolutely loved the cinnamon rolls and he said that the Talemy bread tasted like Sitties, which was what I was going for. Now for anyone who has made bread, it takes a long time for the bread to rise, so this ended up being about a four hour adventure for me. Just enough time to keep me busy while Chris was in class. I really enjoyed it and decided that my daily job may be to make bread/pastries and potentially sell them.






Something I find extremely interesting here on the island is the way that they build houses and apartments here. The way that they hold up the frame of the house is by trees. Unlike what we do by using boards. It is so interesting and really a great art. This place always has something that is new and interesting. Speaking of interesting we learned the other day that if Christopher Columbus were alive today the only place on earth he would recognize would be Dominica, because it has not changed since he was around.

Happy Mother's Day!

We are so sad that we don't get to spend Mother's Day with our Moms. It has become apparent to us while we have been here the things we take for granted and today we realize how much we take our parents for granted. There is nothing more today that we wanted to do than to spend Mother's Day with our Moms. Being the family people that we are we are very sad that we are missing out on the lunch dates with our Moms, but we know that they are being celebrated today by everyone else back at home. We love you all very much and thank our Lord everyday for giving us such wonderful Mothers. We would not be the same without each of you. 

Today we went to church for the first time here in Dominica, and it was very well needed. Although it was not like our church at home we really enjoyed praising the Lord with others and getting to meet great people. The church here is called Ross Christian Fellowship and it is more like an FCA than a church but they did have worship and a sermon. Today one of Christopher's fellow students taught the sermon but normally, from what we understand, a pastor from Oklahoma normally runs it. So we are looking forward to him coming back in June to hear him speak. He is a Baptist Pastor from Oklahoma so hopefully he will give us a sense of home. 

We met some really great people at church today and I feel sure that they are going to help us spiritually through this journey we are encountering. I was also asked to join a bible study. I am really excited about it because it is with a group of girls that are about my same age but who are all very nice and will be great to get to know. We will meet once a week on Tuesday nights so I am looking forward to that. 

Last night we went to eat with our neighbors Kyle and Andrea, and their friends Ryan and Ashley. We went to this place called the Iguana Cafe. It was really pretty good. Christopher and I both had the Mahi Mahi. Kyle and Andrea have been so great helping us get adjusted here in Dominica. We are so thankful for what they have done for us. Kyle is a fifth semester here so he will be done after this semester to head back to the States and Ryan is a third semester. But we are so thankful that we are able to meet other couples here who are great Christians and who are also great to be around. 

We hope everyone back at home has had a wonderful Mother's Day and we miss you all very much. We wish we could have spent the day with you but just know that we are constantly thinking about you and missing you very much.