Overwhelmed

Can you tell that my last fall semester of doctor school is already kicking my booty? I am totally overwhelmed by all of the uncertainties in my life right now, but I'm so thankful that I have a Savior who is my constant through it all.

I have been clinging to this scripture today:

"Those who hope in the Lord

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint."

-- Isaiah 40:31

I could certainly use a little renewed strength right now; how about you?

I don't have any fun pictures to share with you today, but I do have something amazing to tell you. Some of you may remember that hubby had a terrible cycling crash over the summer, which resulted in some pretty substantial injuries. He has been waiting to have surgery because the doctor couldn't do anything until the bone had healed enough for the ligaments to be reattached. These past couple of months of waiting have been tough for hubby. He hasn't been able to ride his bike or sleep comfortably. Moving his arm the wrong way can trigger unbearable pain. He even had to quit working. Hubby met with the surgeon a couple of weeks ago and scheduled the procedure for Monday morning. The injuries were very serious and potentially life-threatening if one of the shards of bone came any closer to a near-by artery. The surgery was known to be complex, and the recovery long, painful, and brutal. Needless to say, we have been dreading surgery day.

Two weeks ago, hubby sat with the surgeon and poured over the images from the MRI, which showed the severity of the tears throughout his rotator cuff, labrum, and ligaments. Yesterday morning, the surgeon opened him up and found that most of the injuries had healed...a miracle!! The surgeon was shocked...he had very little work to do...just cleaned up some "angry tissue." So now hubby's recovery will be much easier and much faster than the 6 months originally predicted. I feel like God must have something incredible planned for hubby...maybe something that requires him to be able to use his arm? I can't wait to see what it is!! So even in this state of feeling overwhelmed, I feel incredibly thankful and blessed.

"On Christ the solid rock I stand,

All other ground is sinking sand."

Pomeranians & Peanut Butter

This past week has felt pretty significant to me because I realized that it was the start of my last fall semester EVER. I've had a fall semester every single since year since 1988...and now I am starting my last one. Somehow this blows my mind. I suppose it's because I've known I wanted to be a doctor ever since I was a small child, so I always anticipated being in school forever. And now that it's almost here...well, I'm a little overwhelmed. How is it that I, the girl who still loves on her stuffed polar bear and gets excited over chocolate dipped ice cream cones, will soon be someone's doctor? Blows.my.mind.

As usual, this weekend has gone by way too fast. Yesterday, I went to a reunion party for those of us that went to Guatemala together. We caught up, ate lots of good food, and watched a little documentary about our mission...in short, it was amazing. I made mini chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting for the party. I thought that making them small would somehow make them "healthier" (sounds good in theory, right?).

No matter how stressed and overwhelmed I may be feeling, I can always count on Heaven for a dose of cuteness and joy. Hubby has a tendency to pile laundry on the bed in my study, then he and Heaven will nap there. She also loves to perch on the bed and look out the window, growling at any dogs that may be out on walks down below. I was trying very hard to get some work accomplished when Heaven decided that it was nap time.

{"Come on, Mom. I want a snuggle buddy."}

{"It's really comfy up here! You know you want to join me."}

Who can resist a precious little ball of fur? Not me apparently. I joined her for a long afternoon nap, and now the weekend is over. I just can't say no to pomeranians or peanut butter.

Escaping from the Swamp Witch

A few days ago, I decided to blow off a morning of school work and spend a little time exploring with hubby. With our cameras in tow, we set off to take some fabulous pictures of old buildings and city scenes. As we were having lunch, I mentioned that I wanted to go to Orlando soon to search for a skirt I saw in Tampa that wasn't available in my size. Being the spontaneous couple that we are, hubby suggested that we go to Orlando right then and there. I am never one to turn down a shopping trip, so I quickly agreed and within minutes we were on the interstate. We had only gone a few miles when hubby suggested that we make a quick little detour on a particular exit because he was certain there were some good photographs to be made in that location. Being that I was giddy with excitement and my thoughts were spinning with all of the things I wanted to buy in Orlando, I agreed, thinking "This will only take a few minutes and then we'll be back on the road." After we exited, I quickly noticed that we were not in the city anymore. I had no idea where we were, and the surroundings were looking too much like "The Hills Have Eyes" for my comfort. Hubby assured me that this road connected to a road that led to Orlando (isn't this how it always goes in scary movies?). After a while, we came upon a park. We decided to get out and explore a bit, take some pictures, then continue on our way to Orlando.

{We found a deserted playground, so naturally we had to spend some time playing.}

{I'm pretty sure you're never too old to swing.}

The woods looked lovely, so we decided it wouldn't hurt to follow one of the trails out a bit and take some photos. It was much too hot for any animals to be out and about, but we enjoyed a gorgeous view of the river flowing below us. (Well, for a few minutes anyway. The suspension bridge starting swaying and I had to get off immediately. You never know when those things will just collapse, right?)

{View of the river from the bridge}

Without really realizing it, we ventured farther and farther into the woods. A swarm of insects found me to be a rather tasty meal for them, so I declared that I was over the woods and ready to go shopping. But the trail did not seem to lead us back to the start point...instead we were going deeper and deeper into the woods. At this point, I started to get a little freaked out. I was being consumed by mosquitoes, it was 100 degrees, and there were no other signs of human life. We started to pass landmarks that looked eerily like ones we had already passed. Hmmm...isn't this what happened to those kids in the Blair Witch Project? Certain that we were about to become supper for some swamp witch, we ran through the woods in the hopes that we would see a sign or map somewhere.

{While making our escape, we interrupted two grasshoppers having a romantic moment.}

At long last, we ran upon a sign pointing us back to the area where we had parked our car. Grateful to have escaped from the Swamp Witch, we stopped at a country gas station to reward ourselves with grape sodas. I'm pretty sure one of the customers in the store was a meth cooker...it was a very weird place. We never did make it to Orlando that day. I ended up ordering the skirt online, and all was right with the world again.

Treats

I must confess that I'm pretty good about treating myself when I've been working really hard (in psychology we call this "self-care", and it's considered a necessity...don't you just love that?). My holiday weekend is going to consist of working on my dissertation, writing patient reports, and working on internship application materials...so I definitely felt like I deserved a treat. I have a wide range of things that I do for "self-care", which include simple things like allowing myself to sleep in one morning, spending an afternoon with a cup of tea and a book, going to my favorite bagel shop before a long day of studying, and so on. Today I decided to treat myself to a few things off of my fall wish list, which included:

A ladylike camera bag for toting my Canon, lenses, and Holga

{Ginger tote from Epiphanie}

A structured mustard jacket with cropped sleeves...perfect for a Florida "winter"

{Jacket from Anthropologie}

A fun book to read when I need a break from neuro textbooks

What are your favorite ways to treat yourself?