Living in the Tension

Our pastor this morning in church spoke about the tension of wanting God more and being thankful for what He has done in our lives until this moment.

Two statements caught my attention:
"Joy is the capacity to simply realize that God is here, present in the situation"
"Thankfulness and gratitude are what keep our hearts tethered to the Kingdom"

Wow. This sermon tied so closely to another topic, one that my husband and I have been talking about quite a bit lately (hopefully he will have time soon to get on this thing and post about it...his thoughts often run deep and true). It is the topic of grace v. good intentions. In fact, we stayed up WAY past our bedtime last night (11pm!!!) pondering this very thing. And then in church this morning to hear that we have to learn to "live in the tension"...it all tied together so beautifully.

I hope you enjoy pondering the statements as much as I am.

Bing Crosby and good thoughts...

So last night my husband and I had the chance to watch a classic - "White Christmas" with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. Really, what would Christmas be without it?

As I sit here in the 70 degree weather that Tulsa has graced us with this morning (it's wonderful - I feel like I am back home again), I have been singing Bing Crosby's song all morning --- no, not the famous one that titles the movie -- the more obscure "Count Your Blessings"...

It goes something like this:

when you're worried
and you can't sleep
just count your blessings
instead of sheep
and you'll fall asleep...counting your blessings...

Isn't that a delightful thought? And so, I thought I would take a moment to do just that:

1. My heritage: Joel and I spent some time yesterday Skyping my family and I got to laugh with them and talk to them...really, how blessed am I? I understand God's love, grace, joy and forgiveness because of the awesome parents and siblings God has given me.

2. My husband: Marriage is like following Jesus - it's the best decision you can ever make...and your flesh will die daily because of it :) I would never call marriage "easy" but it is SO good and right. I married a wonderful man. He loves the Lord and me.


3. Financial Blessing: Even though where I work isn't famous for it's incredibly large salary, and we are paying for Joel to go to medical school - we are incredibly blessed. Two cars that don't have payments, a cosy apartment, a puppy, food for the table, clothes for our back, an emergency fund for those unexpected moments, money for date night, money to give---it's such a joy to know that we are MORE than provided for. Thanks to some awesome financial teaching and good choices we are safe and secure in His provision.

4. Our health: Joel works all day with people that are very sick. We are grateful in new ways continually with how well our bodies work!

5. Time to rest: Rest is one of those core values that Joel and I both deeply believe in. Joel is in the middle of the four toughest months he will have during rotations and yet somehow he has been blessed with 4 whole days off! That is nothing short of a miracle. In addition, he just found out that his next rotation doesn't start until January 5th...which means another 4 days off next week! Sipping green tea, a warm fire, freshly laundered blankets, time to take walks, a candle-light service. We really are blessed with time to truly rest.

There are a MILLION other things I could take time to write about - what about you? Where has God shown Himself faithful this year?

Here are a few recent pictures for you! Enjoy...Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Joel and I at a recent "ugly sweater" party

My mom and I at my Aunt Leah's "Thanks-mas" day...so great to see her!


A few recent pictures of Kueta T - my grandparents camp. This is the swing where my husband proposed - three years ago yesterday!

Well...that's all from here for now...

The Short List

Because all of our avid readers need updates :)

Our puppy -- really cute....when he's not chewing on EVERYTHING. But we sure do like him, he's a little gift from the Lord.

Melissa turned 27. Wow. This is at her lunch with people from work...showing off her "Benny Hinn" staff sticker. Nice.

Joel planned a tubing trip down the river with great friends for Melissa's birthday

There was a large rock that needed to be conquered

...and conquered it was.

Our dear friend Billy came to visit. Here he is by his picture on our map of prayer.

We got to go to the Global Missions Health Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. It was incredible. Such a time of refreshing & dreaming.

Because God is who He is, we got to meet up with some of our very best friends there. David & Krichele Jeffcoach are such an encouragement and joy to us both. Like hearts, like humor. And also daring to try and be on the good-looking long-term missionary list :)

The four of us ate at this adorable (Mel's description) and delicious restaurant that seats about 15. Then the guy with the accordion walked in...are you kidding me? It was awesome.

It's fall here. And gorgeous. A season of change for us both as we look to the future with hope. More to come soon, but thought you might enjoy this little picture journey!

-- Joel and Melissa

Check it out

Very Thought Provoking

http://vimeo.com/1304280

The Excitement of Rotations

It has been such a blast to begin rotations and get my first taste of "real" medicine. I learned a lot in my first two years, but almost all that knowledge was passed to me by a book. Books are essentially people writing about their ____ (experience, knowledge, dreams, etc) so that people can share the ____ without actually having their own ____. Thus, I am very excited to set the books aside (to a large degree) and brave the world of helping real people.

It really is a test of bravery because the next two years mark the transition from brain to hands - quite a leap. It is not unlike the instant when a baby bird is no longer watching others fly, but is pushed from the nest. I claim the following adjectives... unnerving, intimidating, fun, practical, changing, and novel. I am so glad to be where I am. I am glad that God has carried Melissa and I through the first two years of medical school. I am glad to have such a beautiful, supportive wife as I negotiate my education. I do not believe passing my first two years would have been possible without her continual help.

Here is a list of my rotations thus far and a few highlights from each:

1. July 2008 - Dr. David Asher - OMT specialist at his clinic in Tulsa

• Dr. Asher is a Christian physician who takes care of chronic pain patients. He has designed his practice specifically to cater to his strengths in loving people. He takes over an hour with each patient, using that time to fully explain the confusing medical stuff and to perform thorough OMT on them. He showed me a great example of applying ones strengths in order to love people well.
  

1. Aug 2008 - Dr. Steve Nussbaum and Dr. Barbara Rygiel - two ER docs at their ERgentcare clinic in South Tulsa

• Both docs are also physician Christians! I am so blessed to have had two rotations under Christian preceptors. What a great way to start my clinical education. Melissa and I very aware of the need for more than cold, clinical information. I need watch Christ's love flow through the hands of His servants, so that I can model it.
  
• On this rotation I performed my first stitches!! Very cool! I actually saw several of my patients come back to have their stitches removed, and they healed up very nicely.
• I did two volunteer days at an ER with Dr. Nussbaum. Great chance to get early exposure to emergency medicine, since I am earnestly praying about it as a specialty.
  

1. Sept 2008 - Dr.Pickard - my required Family Medicine rotation at a clinic and hospital

• I took a mini-class on medical jurisprudence. Sounded quite intimidating, but what it amounts to is "how to not get your tail sued off." Said more nicely, "here is the law, follow ye in it." It was actually quite fascinating... now I know what tort means. Yay.
  
• Which brings us to today. I helped definitively save the life of my first person!!! WOAH! I helped on an emergency code and did chest compressions (CPR). I was crazy nervous! (even though all I did was push up and down... not very complicated) The amazing part is that the person who "coded" was successfully rescucitated. Apparently this is actually not very common.
  

I am so grateful for the opportunities I have had to learn. Melissa and I are earnestly praying for direction in the looming life decisions ahead of us. What specialty to choose? What organization shall we partner with? Who will go with us? What nation will we serve in? These questions and many more we are laying before God: He alone knows our path.

If you would like to keep us in prayer, here are a few areas in which we could truly use your prayer:

• Global Health Medical Conference. This is a huge gathering of people with hearts and passions similar to us. Sending organizations, individual missionaries, medical students, fantastic teachers, practical knowledge workshops... the list goes on. We are praying for favor with my November preceptor to get time off for this.
• The next step. We desire to start preparing now for the future God has planned for us. My medical education and Melissa's M.Ed. are like one-size fits-all T-shirts. We want to start focusing our activities and energies to tailor our the "shirt" to our specific calling. While we would love to know many details about the future, we most earnestly desire the next step.