"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways aknowledge him and he will keep your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5&6

This was one of the favorite verses of my Great Grandmother. It has popped into my mind as I sit in the Grand Rapids airport and wonder when the next time will be that I return to this area.

As I think about what it means to truly Trust in the Lord, I realize how little I actually do of this and rather try to control every situation in my Type A personality way to doing things. Matt and I are finding ourselves at a life crossroads as we are contemplating where life is taking us after the completion of my Fellowship this July. It seems that there are several options that are feasable and none of which are "wrong." It is my prayer that as our friends and family you will join Matt and I in prayer as we embark upon this journey of growing up! :) 

I am very proud of Matt. He ran the Disney Marathon last weekend in 4hrs 50min. The temperatures were freezing for Florida and at the water stations the ground was covered in ice but Matt persevered! I, however, went back to the warmth of bed after I dropped him off at 4am! He refrained from taking his picutre with all the Disney characters that were cheering for the runners along the path but I managed to capture a few picutres along the route! Unfortunately I missed him at the 1/2 way point by a few minutes but caught up with him later.

I have found another Marathon for him to run. I even volunteered to run the 5K if he agreed to do it---The Great Wall Marathon in May which is along the Great Wall of China and full of steep/rugged terrain. The other option is the Big Five Marathon in South Africa in June where you run through a big game reserve past the lions and rhinos. The website actually describes how if you see a rhino on the trail you need to run past quietly (and quickly!). Not quite sure about that one!

Tragedy is very hard to understand.

Recently a wonderful resident's wife came in to the hospital with an unexpected abruption and a dead baby at 32wks. No risk factors, no reason why this should have happened. They are a wonderful Christian couple who were so excited to be having a baby. Contrast this to the 16 year old high school girl who uses cocaine and has no prenatal care and delivers a  gorgeous healthy baby. Really?

A group of extremely poor but kind people who live in poverty in Haiti are suffering from an earthquake. Their country which honestly was already in complete disarray is even harder off now. Children in orphanages that hardly had enough to eat are now without a home and likely food.

Here I sit in my home in Alabama and I am so blessed. I have never known what it is to be without shelter, food or drinkable water. I have electricity and indoor plumbing. I have a car to drive and money to put gas into it when it is empty. I am absolutely blessed.

There is an interesting Nooma series video called "Rich" by Rob Bell, a great pastor from Grand Rapids, MI that talks about how blessed we are as Americans. It is so true! You may be thinking that you don’t have that new TV or car or as big of a home that you want but if you have access to in the internet to read this silly blog then you are immensely wealthy! What are you going to do with your blessings? How are you going to share them with the poor in your town and those across the globe?

We can't believe that we have been married for 4 years! What is even more amazing is that we met and started dating over 7 years ago! Time has been flying by.

As we are contemplating where God is leading us next we realized that we know that wherever we end up that we know we will be happy. God has been so good to us and it is very hard to be discontent when you live with your best friend.

I am writting this from our room in a B&B in New Orleans.....let's just say that one of us can't handle his alcohol like he used to! :) We are planning on going to the Sugar Bowl tonight to cheer on the Florida Gators & I am excited to wear my blue/orange feather boa that I purchased last night! As you can tell from the second pic, shopping while drunk results in interesting purchases :)

I find myself having a recurrent daycream. It brings a smile to my face just to think of it. If you have ever had the pleasure of being at a teaching hospital then you will understand.

My dream day would consist of showing up to work and finding several people near delivery with beauitful fetal heart rate tracings. In a few moments one would be ready to deliver and I would proced to go into her room. Since I am at a teaching hospital typically I would have to round up the resident on call to come and join me, but on this particular day the residents are trapped in the elevator (Hallelujah!) so I am abe to deliver this patient on my own. It is for once quiet in the delivery room as I do not need to instruct anyone on how to properly put on their gloves, where to place their hands, etc. I could simply talk to my patient and enjoy the miracle of watching a new life enter this world.  Ahhh...it would be an wonderful experiece. Is that really too much to ask?

The snow put me into a Christmas mood so we decided to go out and get our Christmas tree. This was a somewhat momentous occasion since it is our first Christmas tree that we have had together. Every other year we have gone to Michigan for the holidays so we haven't had to have a tree of our own. This year my family is coming to visit us! I can hardly wait!

As we purchased our beautiful tree, Matt mentioned that this is the first time in his life that he has had a real live Christmas tree! This is unbelievable to me, particularly given that my family owns Christmas trees and we used to sell them from our front yard. Matt claims that his brother has an "allergy" to Christmas trees and that is why they always had to have a fake tree. I am skeptical as I have never seen him have a sneezing fit when he is outside in the woods! Hmmm.....

Anyways, our tree looks lovely and smells even more wonderful. It actually is starting to feel like Christmas! I have even started on our Christmas cards and who knows, maybe I will get motivated and start doing my shopping!!