Cloud 9 has just landed in the real world. Gulp.

Today, it hit us.  All these changes?  Everything that’s going on?  Here is what we’re dealing with this year: first year of marriage, first year in a new culture, first year of med school, first year of my job.  New friends, new church family, new place to live.  All of this is catching up and trying to drag us down.  We’re not used to being married yet.  We’ve been married for a little over a month.  We broke down Dr. Wile E. Coyote’s schedule yesterday, and it looked great on paper.  But today, the FIRST day, it is a whole lot harder than it first seemed.  I don’t like when Dr. Coyote puts so much pressure on himself, and is that normal for med students?  And the headache that always comes with switching infusion sites, sending orders, and getting authorization AND insurance right where they are supposed to be has arrived.  I have gone more than two weeks past the last time I was supposed to recieve my medicine, and my symptoms are getting worse.  I have to be extra careful now.
But you know what?  It wasn’t long after we got here that we found friends and a church family.  They already love us and lift us up in prayer– I’m speechless.  And all the people at home that are praying for us?  We are so blessed.  I feel like that has been the theme of my life as of late: seeing all of God’s blessings in my life.  And, to top it all off, I started reading Ephesians today.  God chose us and predestined us as his adopted children.  He lavishes his grace upon us all, and we, his children, have access to his mighty power!  God takes every trial or bad thing that happens to us and uses it for his glory!  Not even the best author ever could do that!  Just God.  God, who loved us so much that he sent his son, who came to us and taught us and DIED for us.  When I love someone and I don’t see them for awhile, I might send them a Christmas card, but this?  Unheard of.  Everything God’s about is totally opposite of this world, and it’s quite amazing.
I have been warned by Dr. Wile E. Coyote himself that his appetite will be going through the roof (make four servings of every meal- two for Dr. Coyote during dinner, one for me during dinner, and one for my lunch the next day.  Got it!).  I have also been noticing that he is the best procrastinator ever (he is currently running a neck ahead of one of my sisters, who won’t read this blog post anyway).  Reason numero uno why he left his video game systems at home.  My husband is going to be an awesome doctor once he finishes up this adventure that he just began.  He is the only one I know that tells me excitedly, “I love this.  It’s biology all the time! Woo!”  He came home for lunch today, and I didn’t even get a chance to say much, because he was excitedly telling me what he had been learning that morning.  Everyone nerds out about something.  (What do YOU nerd out about?)
Prayers would be much appreciated for Dr. Wile E. Coyote and his studying, my MS, and my job.  We are trying to be spouses to each other at the same time as encourage one another and get things done.

I love you all, my readers!
Anna

An Update: Orientation Week Has Begun!

On Monday, Dr. Wile E. Coyote began orientation for med school! He has met his classmates and professors, has sat through tiring shpeals (is that a word?), and been pretty tired the whole day through. Everyone from home asks me “How’s married life?” as if that is a valid question. HELLO! I’VE BEEN MARRIED FOR A MONTH! HOW COULD IT NOT BE AWESOME!? Ahem. Yeah, it’s been going great. Now that I’m a distance away from everyone, I feel more of a need to keep “y’all” up to date on what has been going on in our lives!

My job at Sound House Music: I am the new lessons coordinator. After The Student came home on Monday, we went into SHM together, and he helped me move heavy stuff and decorate 2/4 lesson rooms that were not being used for lessons that night. I met 2/3 existing lesson instructors, also. So, two of the rooms we got vacuumed out and a little more than just posters up on the wall. I plan to go back more this week. It’s been a lot of background and behind-the-scenes stuff, and I’m kind of at a standstill until some more people get back to me. I’ll start getting paid when I start giving lessons. SHM has never had band lessons given through them before, so hopefully, there will be a lot of people jumping at it (even though I’m a little inexperienced, teaching music is one of my faves). And maybe, I’ll even get to give lessons pretty much full time (which would be awesome!). We’re looking for a guitar instructor now, because there is a waiting list of guitar students. And I’m trying to get ahold of some band teachers to discuss this new lesson thing with! And they were in need of a percussion instructor, too—good thing that’s my forte!

Dr. Wile E. Coyote and Med School: As I mentioned, this week has been orientation week. Earlier this month, the First Year and I were trying to get plugged into a church and into whatever else.   We met a few people for lunch or drinks (sweet tea and pop…which they call soda here). So, we’ve talked with a lot of second years already. Doug told me after the first day of orientation that he feels so much more prepared than so many of the other first years seem to be. And I think he is! If I can be so vulnerable as to say that there’s been some stress already at the thought of constant studying, prioritizing, and getting everything done well? On both of our parts. We’d much appreciate some prayer. But it’s exciting, and Dr. Coyote is excited to be a student again! He LIKES learning, which is good for him at this point in life. So, him and a bunch of other med students or healthcare professionals or students are talking about something and I just shrug. I’M A MUSIC TEACHER. I don’t really care about some of the things they discuss sometimes. It’s interesting. Last night, we had a church meeting thing—the pastor’s wife got up and spoke about whenever her husband asks for testimonies, it reminds her of her grandma. “Don’t you have something to share for Jesus?” she’d ask. And as a girl, she didn’t. All this avoiding doing things for Jesus, and now she’s a pastor’s wife. I can relate. I would always tune out when someone would tell me why something happened or what was going on inside my body. I still have troubles listening when they tell me to stretch or exercise. And now I’m married to a man who will be a doctor! Irony? Nah. Go back to this post. God totally knows what he’s doing. Anyway, for classes, the students have to dress up professionally, so that’s another point of this week. Getting them used to getting dressed up and sitting in a classroom for hours of lecture. But hey—my husband looks good when he’s leaving for classes and coming home.

The Culture: I have been asked many times about this from folk back home. Nothing strange finds its way to OUR table, because I’m the one cooking. And I’m a Scandinavian and also a farm girl who grew up on a diet of steak and potatoes. And I haven’t had too much practice in cooking except for scrambled eggs and toast. And Minnesota’s infamous “hamburger rice hotdish.” You know, one of those meals where there IS no recipe, everyone just knows it? So, I’ve been beginning to go through cookbooks and following most of the directions and trying things out. (Thanks, Karen and Pam for the cookbooks, and everyone else who gave me fun new recipes to try!) I’ve been learning a lot. I learn by DOING, which is why this is good. The culture! That’s what this paragraph is about. I love the three-part harmonies that are so rich. Every Sunday, we can sing a contemporary song, but with the harmonies, it sounds totally different! And, I don’t know what’s in the water here, but there are so many people who, music just comes naturally to them. I was talking to my boss at SHM, and he said that he doesn’t like it, either. I mean, it’s cool, but we’ve both put in HOURS of practice, and those kind of people can just pick up a new instrument and play beautifully. Music is big around here. And I rather like it. The driving—apparently it’s only here in Pikeville where there seem to be no rules, but one must be careful and not too slow. Just go with the speed of traffic, because they don’t necessarily always follow the road signs. Just an observation.

Everything else: Wonderful. Our house is all set up, and kept tidy for the most part. It’s not big, but it’s home and it’s OURS. It’s been unseasonably cool this summer, and I am NOT complaining. We are making friends and hanging out with them a bunch. I have been learning to slow the speed of my speech. Even though I still have to repeat things a lot of the time and need them to repeat things at times. Also, I wouldn’t mind picking up an accent. It would be fun. However, my accent is unique, as well. I met someone who knew a Minnesotan years ago and was fascinated with the accent of the drawn-out “ooh”s. I guess I just have to meet in the middle or something. I’m a good mimicker, though. Just ask for an accent and I’ll try my best! 🙂

 

Keepin’ it real while living in this brand new state of Kentucky!

Anna